Mar

The Trip Goes Full Circle: Ireland After St. Patricks

The Trip Swings Full Circle: Ireland After the Party
By Charles Karel Bouley II

And it ends as it began. Seven days previous, myself, my niece Heather McGrath (pronounced McGraww! In Ireland) and the very special Brandon Crispo hopped off US Air (willing) and hopped on to BMW Sport Adventure bikes through Celtic Riders (http://www.motorental.ie). Now, seven days later, we are back at Celtic Riders about to embark on a day trip to the “Garden of Ireland” the Wicklow Mountains and Wicklow National Park. It was Saturday, two days out from St. Patrick’s Day and the day of big rugby match that we wanted to return in time to see prior to going to the 0-2 Concert Venue to see the 20th Anniversary reunion of The Commitments.
Gone were the maddening crowds from a few days back. In fact, the Friday after St. Patrick’s Day 2011 was a sedate, controlled night in the Temple Bar area of Ireland, the part of Dublin set aside for the party animals and Bohemics.
In fact, Friday morning after St. Patrick’s as we walked to a tour at the Jameson’s Distillery (http://jamesontickets.visrez.com/ticket_booking) in the heart of Dublin, it was back to work for many. It wasn’t a four day holiday, so many Dubliners were back at work bright (?) and early Friday morning. Offices were bustling, stores and the locals were now mingling with the tourists that were left. Brits and others were filling the hotel rooms left vacant from the holiday for Saturday’s match. Little signs could be found of the night before, an occasional patch of puke and several people sleeping (yes, sleeping) along the bridges over the Liffey still in their party hats left to sleep it off; but for the most part, it was back to work.
The Distillery is another great tour as Jameson’s Whiskey is a big part of the Dublin and Irish culture. It sells over 31 million bottles world wide a year is the most popular Irish Whiskey made; it is also the fastest growing whiskey brand in the world. Established in 1790 by a Scot, John Jameson, it is distilled in Cork, Ireland with vatting taking place in Dublin. It is a single distillery whiskey, adhering to the single malt tradition with difference being Jameson’s combines malted barley with umalted or “green” barley. Then they use what is known as the Pure Pot Still distilling tradition and used sherry and brandy kegs brought from Kentucky and other places. The tour is great fun and ends with a tasting, and be sure to see the actual cat that caught 20 mice per day for the brewery. They stuffed it. No lie. It’s a great place for gifts for those that like whiskey as they will print the name of someone on a label of their Distillery Reserve, available only there in Dublin.

Dinner was in the Grand Canal Square area of Dublin, a newly redeveloped waterfront area that is where modern meets traditional on the waterfront. It is developing in to a very trendy area, think SoMa in San Francisco or SoHo in NYC and that includes the restaurants springing up. This is where you could get a bit of West Hollywood in Dublin; places like the Ely Gastro (http://www.elywinebar.ie/en/ely-gastro-pub.html) I suppose for locals this is great, but for me…ehh…I didn’t travel all this waysto have service I could get in America (read, less than stellar) and food that was more style over substance. The patrons really seemed to be enjoying themselves at the bar and I could see this as a very trendy night spot for young urban hipsters. There’s much better food in Ireland and places that mix more traditional Ireland with the modern. The Grand Canal is full of them, and so trendy, upscale, modern night life on an incredible waterfront by a spanking new theatre exists just a five minute cab ride from the City Centre.
Friday night Dublin was sedate, having shot an incredible amount the night previous. Pubs like Hogans or The Stag’s Head that were far too crowded to attempt were now readily accessible with good crowds and good fun. The George rounded out with an evening of dancing and street food (Cod and chips) in the Temple Bar and it was back to the hotel by 1am, the earliest!
Saturday night after St. Patrick’s Day was a huge concert event for Dublin, the 20th Anniversary reunion of The Stars from The Commitments. The film, now two decades old, and the actors and singers who made it all under the writing prowess of native Roddy Doyle came together for a special night at Dublin’s O-2 (http://www.theo2.ie/) . The house was filled to capacity as the various members of the group did R&B covers and a host of material from the movie and other albums. The band has broken up a few times over the years and as singer Bronagh Gallagher said in jest when they first came out “we’ve already broken up 20 times today. She was joined by Andrew Strong, Robert Arkins, Angeline Ball, Michael Aherne, Glen Hansard, Felim Gormley, Dave Finnegan Ken McCluskey and Dick Massey for a rousing two-and-a-half-hour set. Even though these are actors and such who have gone on with their lives, I see a tour in their future. The night was a mix of a Blues Brother’s concert and some real Irish spirit, a great combination. In fact Heather looked over and said “I didn’t know Ireland had this much soul!” and when Brandon exclaimed “Look, White people CAN dance!” I exclaimed, “They’re not White! They’re Irish!”
The after party at the Premium Club was the best industry after party I’ve been to, and I’ve been to countless. The Premium Club is on the third floor of the O-2 and singer Bronagh’s mom was behind us during the show. We got to hug that very pride woman and shake her father’s hand, you could see the joy in the parents as the daughter worked the room. Irish celebrities abounded, Bushmills was the drink of the evening and before one knew it, it was
But the star of Saturday was the ride, back on the bikes and out to see more of Ireland. Paul Rawlins and Liam from Celtic Riders met us after we transferred to the Radisson Blu hotel at the airport. It’s a grand hotel, with lush rooms and very modern appointments. It’s a big cab ride to City Centre, about 30 Euros ($45) but it’s worth it when flying out the day after because you can walk to the new terminals at the airport.
Rawlins was going to take us in to the high country, the national park just 30 minutes outside of Dublin. I thought after the ride to Cannamara that I couldn’t be overwhelmed yet again, naïve little me.
We headed out of town on the M50 and then quickly cut off to begin a twisting turning four hours that would lead us through some of the most spectacle views and scenery available in any country, any where and solidifying that it is worth going through a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course (http://www.msf-usa.org) and getting a class C in America and practice on rental bikes JUST to do this tour. Even if you never saw yourself on the back of one, this drive alone would make it worth months of preparation.
Along the way we stop at a graveyard for German soldiers from WWII. The Germans would fly over Ireland and run out of gas near the mountains and crash. The Irish would bury them out of decency and kindness. Ones that survived or lived through the crashes only to then die were sometimes heard asking “Why? Why help us?” As Paul explained Ireland was basically neutral and just felt it was the human thing to bury young men who were doing only what they were told. They weren’t an evil dictator, they were kids, dying and deserved a beautiful place to be. And they are in one indeed marked by one of the few remaining Celtic Crosses standing in the land

Next stop was a famous part of the Wicklow National Park and Wicklow Mountains (http://www.visitwicklow.ie/attractions/wicklow_mountains_national_park.htm). It’s in these mountains that many films of Ireland have been made, including a large battle scene from “Braveheart” with Mel Gibson PB (pre breakdown) that even got the Irish Army involved as extras. There’s a great vantage point (well, every 20 feet really) of the vast bog that is the beginning of the River Liffey in Ireland. Bog is Turf, which is thousands of years of compressed organic material that is moist. Things buried in it like people or animals are preserved almost perfectly. It is used for fuel, to burn, in homes and pubs after it is dried. While moist, it is the sponge that soaks up the rains that feed the Liffey which runs from that point to the sea through Dublin.
As we stood at its source the uniqueness of the place can be felt. Camping is allowed or just sitting for a while. There aren’t many resources around, so come prepared (gas, food, snacks, etc). It really was standing on the top of Ireland.

Heather McGrath, Brandon Crispo, Karel
Then it was more overwhelming beauty after more as we went by waterfalls, lush valleys and rivers out of every painting one has ever seen about lush country cottages. The road goes to the heart of the Wicklow Mountains, Glendalough where an ancient monastery, church and spire sit. A lovely lunch at the Glendalough Hotel and a stroll through the grounds juxtaposes the modern and the ancient all in a serene setting.

Brandon, Liam (from Celtic Riders), Heather, Karel and Paul (Celtic Riders) in Glendalough.
Leaving on the bikes it began to rain. This is a very dangerous time for bikers and the roads of Ireland are unforgiving; one doesn’t control or conquer them, one respects them or gets hurt, especially in these conditions. This is where bike and gear makes all the difference in the world.
AlpineStars supplied the gear (http://www.alpinestars.com) including the Gor-Tex jackets, gloves boots and pants. The wisest investment ever for a biker in these conditions whether in Ireland or Arkansas, Seattle to L.A. As the winds whipped and the rain began to fall hard, we were dry and warmer than anyone could imagine, even myself.
The BMW 1200 GS and F 650 GS, as Rawling says, “are the only bikes for Ireland whether in the West or here,” and I agree. From the heated hand grips to the incredible traction and sturdiness, as I rode with Heather as my passenger on roads that switchback and are barely 10 feet wide I actually wasn’t too worried to check out things like the village of Hollywood, yes, the first, the lake scenery, gorges, valley and other things along the way. It was an initiation by fire (well, rain) and thanks to the leadership of Celtic Riders Paul and Liam, the craftsmanship of BMW and the protection of AlpineStars, it proved to be another exhilarating experience.
We rode back and said goodbye to new friends, fast friends, friends we will be seeing again with our minds full of such joy, beauty, so much that it’s too hard to process. So here’s what Rawlings wrote in an email to me when I returned. “It was really nice to meet and talk to 3 down to earth American people, we enjoyed immensely bringing you all for a ride on Saturday afternoon. I know for a fact that Brandon’s never ever going to forget his baptism of fire riding in Ireland. I read his eyes during our ride when we stopped to admire the landscape and he was wired straight to the grid, electrified with adrenalin and pure happiness. That makes me so happy because these feelings are the feelings I want to bring out in overseas tourists when they visit our island.”
Well Paul, mission accomplished there.
Wired, electrified, adrenalin, overwhelmed, connected, alike, friends, family, laughter…how many adjectives, how many descriptors does the human language have; I need more.
In America, we are lucky if we take a week off from work by ourselves or with our families.; Let alone two or three or four. And in today’s economy, where there is so much uncertainty, the thought of a vacation has been put aside for so many.
But why do you work? To live? Define living. Is living working hard to simply pay corporations interest, conglomerates fees. If the past three years has taught us nothing it’s that living is what is important, connecting, being present, being there. People saved their whole lives for later, for retirement, never taking vacations longer than a few days, never spending money on a concert or play, and where are they today? So many were wiped clean, back to work.
We have to go and blow it out, go and explore, go and be different people and meet different people and see how NOT different we all are or else what is the point of being here? Today as I sit and wade through the bills from the last seven days, the calls, the “back to life, back to reality” I realized what I did was priceless and the relationships and memories I made forever.
Ireland may be a world away for so many of you, but let me tell you, it’s waiting to welcome you. It’s been welcoming people for thousands of years and will go on. Try to be one of those one day and do just a few of the things I may have suggested and you’ll see life from a whole different point of view when you return home.

Sep

Enough is Enough! The Noise from Florida Is Deafening.

Enough is Enough is Enough
Stop the Media Blitz about the Nut
By Charles Karel Bouley

OK, now this has gone too far.

Enough of all this fake protest over the nut-bag in Florida with less followers than I had guests at my last dinner party; the one that wants to burn the Muslim holy book. All this global outrage, including a comment from the United States President, at this media created hysteria has now got to end before it hurts someone.

Because no matter what anyone will ever tell me, burning a few books does not endanger our troops, outrage any more or cause any worse ripple effect then launching two illegal occupations of Muslim homelands, sustaining those occupations for seven and nine years (and counting) respectively and a refusal to acknowledge the Islamaphobia created by George W. Bush as he terrorized a nation and world for eight years—unstopped by Congress (including the Democratic led Congress since 2006)—with his NeoCon Right Wing Evangelical propaganda. That President told people he was preparing the Middle East for the return of Biblical angels; a statement by a Christian President with occupying forces in Muslim land, a statement backed up with things like “shock and awe.”

And as horrible as the nut-bag’s actions in Florida are, due simply to the disrespect of it all, I still believe blowing up neighborhoods with collateral damage called children, women, innocents whose only crime was living in a region deemed a danger by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and all the other unprosecuted war criminals is far worse. Killing people at a birthday party on camera and enjoying it is far worse. Asking our troops to go door to door in foreign lands with no clear goal is far worse.

We have destroyed the country of Iraq, period, end of story. It does not exist. There is a shell where a country once was with no real working government, inadequate defenses, infrastructure and the vast resources benefitting a small few and not the nation (please don’t say it sounds like here, or was that the plan?). It will be three countries one day, perhaps, or the starting place of a bigger conflict with Iran. Whatever it will be, it’s broken now, and is no way a unified, democratic peaceful ally or nation.

Afghanistan has been exploited by regimes that come in, and then realize, usually after bankrupting the nation, that the commitment is far beyond what any nation can actually commit to and afford, because the nation needs a complete and total revamp, rebuild, and needs a revolution (internal) to solve its problems. But the fact is, it’s broken, too, and our presence isn’t helping because our mission is still unclear. So, another broken country, broken before we found it, and it will be worse after we leave it.

These actions, and our foreign policy endangers our troops. Deeply ingrained hatred and misconceptions endangers our troops (on both sides). Allowing your President to deploy troops where there should be none, and attack strangers who are not our enemy endangers our troops and our security. Running a black ops torture chamber known an Guantanamo endangers our troops. Waterboarding with impunity endangers our troops. Not impeaching that President endangered our troops. Not forcing this one to completely withdraw (out means out) endangers our troops. And yes, Bashing Muslims in this country, be it stabbing a cabbie or protesting a Mosque, say it with me, endangers our troops (oh ya, and burning their Holy book).

But stop all the denouncing. Every major Christian leader should fly to Florida, form a human chain between this nut and the burn pile, and tell him No! We Christians know this is wrong and hateful and we stop you in the name of our Lord! Let them police their own crazies. But stop condemning and get up and do something. Go there, stop him. Put yourself in between. Show the Muslim world good Christians will stand up for them even to one of their own. But No. They’ll condemn and moan and groan but say “we have to let him, it’s his right in America…” Yup, it’s his right, but nope, you don’t have to let him. It’s your right to go there, and stop him. Show up, join arms, block the burn pile.

Or, in a show of solidarity, burn the Bible on Saturday as well to show that any God can withstand a good bon fire. Make smores, because only God can make a Smore, from the heat and be joyous that your God is more powerful than a small bonfire and that His Word has withstood much worse than a crazy guy in Florida. Burn your bibles to show the Muslims that it’s all just books being burned, not Gods or faiths (or religious leaders as the Catholics once did) but just pulp returning to ash. Show them your book and theirs are equal and that you both mourn the stupidity that day.

Or shut the hell up; Because the NOISE about it all is what is dangerous, not the act itself. I talk to thousands a day, my columns read by more than 50 people. If I burned a Bible on Saturday would it start world wide condemnation and protest? Would Obama comment about Karel. I doubt it. It would be seen as a radio stunt, like Beck’s rally, an entertainer doing a PR move.

So why isn’t this? This guy wanted Press, that’s all, and he’s clearly crazy. With Snooki and Lindsay and others we have enough Crazy in the news. We don’t need Christian Crazy, any more than we have it already.

There are insane people like this guy in Florida all over America with agendas as bigoted, as phobic, as ridiculous as him. Media does not cover them because it leads to no productive end, and bigotry and racism isn’t new or newsworthy.

He’s a miscreant. Don’t focus on him.

Our actions as a nation have been far more offensive to the Muslim world than this. Bush’s illegal occupation of Iraq and our failed mission in Afghanistan (wasn’t it to get Osama Bin Laden, then, we failed) have only harmed us more. Guys like the one in Florida and things like the Mosque in NYC will end as soon as we get our troops out of harms way all together when it is not necessary.

The Muslim world, and most Americans agree, neither Iraq or Afghanistan are necessary. Start with that, and forget the preacher. Wars endangers troops more than bonfires.

Jul

Leave Lindsey Alone!

The Morning Edit

It’s terrible when you have to defend people whom you neither like or care for; people that you might not give one iota for or against until they come under scrutiny for something that just can’t stand. Enter Lindsey Lohan and Michael Steele, the strangest of bedfellows.

First, there’s Lohan. Not since Brittney went crazy or Paris got arrested has the Los Angeles media been on such high alert. TMZ is on 24/7 lockdown to get the pertinent data out, from her nail polish with the “F U” written on it, to every sobbing minute of this life deconstructing in the court house. Her crime? Pissing off a judge. Truly, all things considered, she’s being punished far more than most for crimes where no one except herself was hurt. She missed court ordered alcohol classes for Cannes Film Festival; classes she would later make up. Judge Marsha Revell said “the court does not buy it…” when Lohan made her emotional pleas for freedom and sent her off to 90 days in jail and 90 days in rehab. Remember, he first offense was a DUI, drunk driving, where she crashed in to a curb. The second DUI ended in a small chase and cocaine allegedly was found. But everyone agrees the decision is because she is Lindsey Lohan. If the judge was lenient, then the myth of celebrities getting great treatment gets perpetuated. In this case, she actually is having a book thrown at her for being a celebrity.

Then there’s Steele. I’m not a fan and I might as well go on record in print with the “Uncle Tom” comment I made about him when he got the job on air. Yes, I said it, like I’ve said so many things. But I’ll never change my mind about why or how he got the position. Democrats elected a Black man and Republicans wanted to show they are inclusive, thus, the ultimate affirmative action. But the party never reflected diversity, racial equality, equal rights for all so he was a sham, a fake. However, even a broken clock is right twice a day. And recently, when he said Afghanstan was Obama’s war, that the American people don’t want it and that it is unwinnable, the attacks from both sides were quick. In fact, the Democrats took a press release written about war dissenters under Bush and revised it for Steele, calling his comments unsupportive of our troops, unpatriotic, on and on; the letter read like a Bush administration attack on an anti-war protester.

The problem is Steele was right about 2/3rds of his statement. Since Democrats have been in control of Congress, which controls war and war funding, since 2006, and since Barack Obama has been President since 2008 and over that time Afghanistan has only escalated to rival Iraq in costs and lives, it would appear both wars are in full swing . And Democrats need to own that. Right, wrong, make arguments here it doesn’t matter. Remember Vietnam was Nixon’s war, but Johnson started it. So it no longer matters that these two illegal occupations were George Bush’s dirty little payouts to his war mongering profiteer friends, but Congress and this President have kept them funded, kept them up, escalated them in some cases. No, Afghanistan and Iraq are now the part and parcel of the Democratic majority; time to stop blaming the evil dictator and own up. If any Democrat doesn’t like the fact that we must now own the war, end them, not around esoteric deadlines in the future. Stop the funding. In 2009 one of the only real Democrats in principal, Barbara Lee (D-Calif) introduced a bill to stop funding the war in Afghanistan, making money available only to bring troops home. H.R. 3699 died, of course, no support, no publicity, no will to make it happen.

So the party of peace is the party of war, like it or not, and you can’t kill the messenger, in this case, Michael Steele.

So two people coming under attacks; one for behavior neither outrageous nor egregious for someone that grew up famous and the other neither untrue nor far off the pale.

Before all the members of MAD comment on this about the seriousness of drunk driving, NO ONE believes what Lohan did was all right. She’s rich, get a driver (or was, rumors are she’s broke now). But the entire nanny philosophy the court has taken, you can’t drink, you must go here and there, do this do that or else…really? This is what the City of Los Angeles and the People of the State of California want to spend what little money the city and state has on prosecuting? As the state begins to pay its workers minimum wage because it can’t come up with a budget and is broke, as education is cut, police cut, fire cut, services needed, as real criminals go untried, or worse, released early due to overcrowding, Lohan is the fish we need to fry? Of course not, but she’s the brunt of the outrage that should be targeted elsewhere.

Think about this. A person stood on the deck of the Deep Water Horizon rig in the Gulf and told someone to shove salt water down the pipe instead of mud, because it’s cheaper. Another person knew the concrete Halliburton was using wasn’t the proper grade or strength. And CEO Tony Hayward knew and knows he runs a company guilty of felonies outside of Deep Water Horizon, and knows that this disaster did not have to happen. Tony Hayward, and the staff that ordered the salt water and others have caused a tragedy that has killed 11 people, and has killed an entire region and maybe it’s way of life and people.

Not one of them has served as much time as Lohan has or will. Not one has been in court as much, or is as monitored as Lohan.

George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Karl Rove and the other neocons are war criminals by their own admissions. Bush authorized torture, illegal occupations, hell, they were all part of a coup d’etat in 2000 where the neocons used the U.S. Supreme Court (duplicitous in it) to make a ruling on Equal Protection, something not at issue and not under the prevue of that court. Dick Cheney released the name of spy and let Scooter Libby take the wrap.

None of the above have served as much time as Lohan has or will. Not one has been as monitored as Lohan.

On and on I could go, listing Bush era criminals that will never, ever serve one day in jail, but Lohan must. Not one of them reduced to tears for their crimes, but Lohan was. Not one of their careers ruined or disrupted, but Lohan’s will be. In fact, the neocons have gone on to prosper, from starting PAC’s and collecting millions, to doing book tours, speaking engagements or taking high profile private sector jobs.

As for Steele, it’s true he’s just a placeholder, a face put up to show the party is something it’s not. And he’s usually full of ridiculous rhetoric from a dying party, a party of racists (the rhetoric over immigration and Arizona is proof enough for me), of criminals, a party whose members would leave poor America without the lifeline of unemployment checks because the poor or unemployed are just lazy and should get out there and take whatever job there is (of course, there aren’t any, but don’t confuse them with facts).

But as ridiculous as he is, he’s right about Afghanistan. We, the People need to own those wars. They are still being fought in our names, and if we don’t like it, then end them. It really is that easy. It was that easy to go in to both of those countries. We occupied them in days. We can leave in months.

His statement, this one statement, was very near the truth. And it’s an ugly truth, a terrible truth, a truth we can’t escape any longer; these are no longer George W. Bush’s wars or failures, there everyone’s now, ours, mine, yours, Republican and Democrats have supported the wars if nothing else through approving the funding. Democrat’s fears of being called anti-war, un-American, unpatriotic have kept them silenced and impotent; so much so that the only one brave enough to say what needs to be said about the war is now the head of the party that started it. Now that’s irony.

There’s plenty of reasons to get rid of Michael Steele, this isn’t one of them.

And for god’s sake (any god named or unnamed) leave Lindsey alone. So she likes to drink, so does a whole lot of America. So she’s a young girl who had money and fame and enjoyed it just a bit too much. Leave her alone. If she wants to self destruct, let her. Take away her license, period. Don’t let her drive at all. If she does, arrest her. But all this drug rehab (what if she likes them?), alcohol rehab (again, what if she enjoys drinking, is this not America?), and SCRAM Bracelets (secure continuous alcohol monitor).

And speaking of SCRAM bracelets, it’s rich a court weighs in on Lohan’s addictions while our addiction, Oil, is killing an entire region. Leave Lohan alone, or else we should all start wearing SCROM bracelets, secure continuous OIL monitors. Because of lust for oil is killing more, costing us more, and hurting us more than Lohan’s lust for Mojitos.

America, worry about your own addictions, and leave Lindsey alone. And Democrats, worry about the two wars you are funding and conducting, and stop worrying about those that are pointing out that it is, in fact, you that are now funding and conducting them.

To hear segments about these and other topics (both issues covered on the 7-6-10 shows) go to the podcast at www.radiokrl.com

Jun

Morning Edit Video

A quick read thru of the HuffPost article on video.

Morning Edit-We’re All Human from Karelchannel on Vimeo.

Jan

Karel Back on San Francisco Radio!

KFI, KGO, KNX, Karel has been in major radio for almost two decades. As the new decade begins, Green960, the Home of Stepahanie Miller and Randi Rhodes is bringing Karel back to the Bay Area in a big way. John Scott announced on Thursday, Jan 7, 2010 that Green 960 San Francisco, would become the local affiliate of the Karel Show starting Monday, January 11, 2010. The show is currently heard on KRXA Monterey as well as KUDO Anchorage and now enters the number four market in the country on Clear Channel’s talker. Karel, who lost his job at KGO after shouting obscenities during a break that subsequently went out on the air during a news report about “Joe the Plumber,” will do afternoon drive on KKGN “Green 960,” an AM station that has a liberal point of view, daily 3pm to 6pm.

“This is very exciting,” John Scott said on air at his State of the Station event announcing Karel on Thursday. “He’s a content monster, from radio to web, HuffingtonPost columns to …well, everything!” he added. “Not to mention he’s an incredible and unique talent. I don’t think any programmer in talk radio doesn’t know of him, he’s really made a presence for himself for years now. I hate to defer to one of his on air comments, but it’s actually true: the union IS full of hosts but there isn’t but ONE of him. We’re very glad to have him. And he’s very open to new directions, new avenues for the 21st Century and the new decade.

“John Scott and Don Parker have championed my return since the day KGO fired me, literally. They both called that day, neither knowing what they could do. Parker went on to put me on Energy 92.7 until it sold, and Scott supported me through my podcast and on air promotion of it and my live shows. Now, the two are at the same place, so bringing me in seemed natural,” Karel stated.

“I can’t wait to get back in the market. I have friends, family…many call them fans or listeners, mine are friends and family that share their drive or their lives with me for a few hours a day. I’ve missed them,” he added.

“I’ve got a big RED button in front of me, and I’m in seven second delay before I even get to the station. Then they are in delay. So, we have MANY failsafes, but this time, I control the dump button, not an engineer hundreds of miles away…” Karel added when asked of KGO.

“Jack Swanson, the head of KGO Programming, emailed me his congratulations, now that’s class,” Karel stated. “But the real story here is Hal Ginsberg and Kathy Phillips, along with Stacey Cohen. Hal, at KRXA, has taken my show from the moment KGO fired me. When Energy dumped me, he stuck with me however we had to do it, from prerecorded podcast to live show at night, to moving me to afternoon drive at his station so I could expand the show on to others. Then, Kathy Phillips at KUDO did the same, kept me on, kept me in the loop. Because I kept doing a daily show for them, I am now able to take it in to the number four market. And they’re coming with me!”

“And then there’s John Scott. Finally! He’s been in my corner since day one. Truly. And Don Parker has already put his money where his mouth is and changed formats on his other station at night just for me. These guys, well, you rarely find programmers and executives that truly believe in what you do, in your voice, and the importance of keeping it out there,” Karel added. “I’ve been so lucky. To start in this business with a pro, Malcolm Burman behind me. Then he made it possible for David G. Hall and Mark Austin Thomas to find us [reference to Karel and Andrew!]. When I left them, I worked briefly with Robin Bertolucci and Bill Lally, who had yet another unique approach to radio. When that ended, it was Trish Robbins, Jack Swanson and Mickey Luckoff. Now, it’s John Scott and Don Parker. Geez, I’ve been employed by a who’s who of radio, and to have them believe in me…all I need now is Mel, Bill Hess or Phil Boyce to smile upon me!”

Karel’s show will be exclusive to the Bay Area from 3pm to 4pm, with KRXA and KUDO (and soon, others, if Stacey Cohen, affiliate relations, has her way) joining in at 4pm. The show will be live and take calls, interactive chat room at www.radiokrl.com and so much more.

“I like the idea of Bay Area-only for an hour. Look, even though I have broadcast from my solar powered studio at my home, Park Howard, in Long Beach, CA for eight years now, I am a Bay Area local. How can you be in their community every day, in the city at least twice a month, and NOT be a member? Gavin [Newsome] and I text on a regular basis, we are friends, and we talk of the city and life there. I am connected to the Bay. My middle name is Francis, for goodness sake, the city’s namesake! And besides, I’m gay, and back in the 20th Century it used to be Mecca,” he laughed.

Karel, whose published name is Charles Karel Bouley, has had #1 talk shows at Citadel/ABC’s flagship station, KGO AM 810 San Francisco (#1 overall station) and for KFI AM 640 Los Angeles and The Karel Show can be heard in various markets including on Green 960 San Francisco, KKGN, KRXA 540 Progressive Talk Monterey/Santa Cruz, KUDO Anchorage Alaska at Green960.com San Francisco and more.. He is an entertainment reporter and film critic as well having worked for KNX 1070 Los Angeles (CBS). Karel also has filled for Bill Press on his national show on a regular basis. The show is available at iTunes as a free podcast and on Foneshow.com Karel Podcast

He is a blogger for the HuffingtonPost.com and is a columnist for the #1 gay/lesbian newsmagazine The Advocate at Advocate.com, The Long Beach/OC Blade and IN Magazine Los Angeles, as well as Billboard and others. His book of essays “You Can’t Say That” is published by Alyson Press. His music is available at iTunes and other online stores and he maintains a blog, podcasts and message boards at www.radiokrl.com and can be reached at karel@iamkarel.com.

Outside of radio and print, Karel is in an in demand stand up comic and entertainer, having done one man shows in San Francisco and Los Angeles and toured all over the country for almost 20 years as a recording artist and comic prior to radio and continuing through. He has performed at Cobb’s Comedy Club in San Francisco, headlining with Bruce Vilanch, The Comedy Store Los Angeles, The Laugh Factory Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA and does one man shows at the Hotel Nikko’s Rrazz Room in San Francisco. His show has been taped for cable TV.

Karel is also producing several show with Nickelodeon and Food Network’s Mark Summers including TheFoodGroup.tv and MusicMoto. An avid motorcyclist (he rides an Aprilia Mana 850 and Piaggio MP3s) he now is incorporating that love in to TV and radio endeavors as well. TheFoodGroup.tv mixes great food, wonderful chefs and newsmakers in a unique dinner party where tongues wag and microphones record it all and MusicMoto mixes musicians, entertainers and their bikes. Both are at major networks for placement.

Karel also appears as a guest on topical issues having appeared on such cable news networks as CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. He is a regular guest as a Macintosh Computer expert and even did two seasons as a lead actor on TNN’s “Ultimate Revenge” hosted by Ryan Seacrest (an improved practical joke show a la Punk’d) created by industry veteran Woody Fraiser. Karel produced, directed and wrote a marriage equality PSA that won second place in GLAAD’s “I Do” contest, being aired at OutFest and on national television, featuring 12 youth and a cameo by Thomas Jefferson.

Karel made history with his late partner (on and off air) Andrew Howard as the duo became the first openly gay male couple to host a major market talk show when they took over afternoon drive at KFI AM 640 Los Angeles (following Rush Limbaugh and Dr. Laura on the #1 talk station in the country). Upon Andrew’s untimely death in 2001, Karel went solo and personally changed state law in California so he could pursue a wrongful death lawsuit on behalf of his partner. He does his shows from his studio at the home they shared, Park Howard, in Long Beach, CA, where he lives with his dogs and cat.

Sep

Karel and the Aprilia Mana 850

Karel is proud to break in a brand new Aprilia Mana 850, Manny Junior, as well as his two MP3′s from Piaggio. Look for a review on the 2010 Aprilia here soon.
Daniel Amspaugh came over and we took some photos of the new 2010 Aprilia Mana 850 with it’s first rider, me!, on it. Also, my MP3 250 (gio) and 500 (giotron) are featured here as well. Thanks to amspaugh and special thanks to Aprilia.

Karel on Junior

Karel on Aprilia

Karel meets his new Aprilia

Sep

What’s Left of America to Save

I am leaving the Democratic party. It is with heavy heart that I change my affiliation to Independent. I’m 46, have been a registered democrat since I was 18. My parents were from the East Coast, and proud Democrats. But it took the Democrats taking over, being in power, for me to see that Democrats talk a good talk but do not have the spine to walk the walk. They buckle under pressure, even ridiculous, obtuse pressure.

But it’s not just the Democrats. I’m going to ask my country soon the horrible question, “them, or me.” Truly; either we start listening to, following, promoting educated, sane, individuals and doctrines or I will seriously consider leaving the country. Because after all, what kind of country is it now, or will it be if this discourse and noncourse of action keeps up?

The Democrats are losing me over health care and the wars. Healthcare was the cause of Ted Kennedy’s life, and has been part of the platform for as long as I can remember. Democrats were the champions of single payer, universal care, the only solution for this ailing country. Medical insurance companies are evil entities profiting off the doling out of care to needy Americans, pricing people right out of policies while turning record profits. They will not do the right thing, ever, unless it’s right for their stockholders. After all, that’s all they care about, their stockholders, CEOs, investors; that’s who their clients are, not sick patients or policy holders. They are revenue streams, not people.

And I think I’ve been clear on the wars, both Iraq and Afghanistan, from the get go. As I sit and listen to the White House talk about more troops in Afghanistan, not less, as I hear some arbitrary 2011 deadline for Iraq at $10 billion a month, well, again, I go back to the core Democratic platform of no war, peace, diplomacy, NATO, allies and such. In 2006 when Pelosi took over Congress, war funding should have stopped and impeachment on the table. In 2008 when Obama won and Democrats got a majority in the House and Senate, war funding should have stopped and troops called home.

Instead, war funding continues to both wars, escalation in one, and many of the same generals are in charge with no clear cut mission or end in sight.
So you get to Washington, get a ruling majority, and can’t provide basic health care for the people, or get enough Democrats to agree that a low-cost public insurance policy as a choice is at least something because they obviously are too busing banking lobbyist money from insurance companies and big pharma just like their Republican counterparts. And they can’t or won’t end the wars.

Then there’s the idiot factor getting to critical mass, so much so that it is harming our nation. The Tweet ‘heard round the world from Sarah Palin, think about that, a 140 character or less sentence posted on a bulletin board for teens with too much time or adults with not enough human contact (don’t get me wrong, Twitter is a great toy, but that’s what it is, a toy)….anyway, a has-been political hack who can neither run a family, her state or certainly a nation, makes a remark based in zero fact about “death panels” and suddenly the health care debate goes south, people start toting guns to political rallies and Fox News feeds talking points to morons to shout out in public to derail any real conversation.

And they are allowed.

And now, just when many thought it could not get more surreal, there are people being given microphones and column inches, some of them elected officials, to protest the President of the United States speaking to school children because they are afraid that he will “indoctrinate” them to become socialists. And these people are not being laughed out of the media, called morons and put in the looney bin, oh no, actual sane people have to sit down and discuss the ludicrous and mentally ill behavior.
George H.W. Bush addressed school kids about the War on Drugs and how drugs were bad, mmkay….the speech was put up on satellite and schools tuned in, probably the same schools threatening to not carry the President’s message to the kids. Public schools, no less. Yes, that Bush told kids drugs were bad, except the record amounts of Ritalin and other drugs big pharma were pumping them full of every day; no, those drugs were or are good, drugs that make you feel good, those are bad. Yes, that message really worked as we now look to legalization to save our broke asses.

And let’s not forget where George W. Bush was on 9/11. He was reading “My Pet Goat” to a group of young, impressionable children. In fact, when the nation got attacked, the kids got to see how a real President springs in to action when they, and their country, are in danger. George W. Bush, war criminal, torturer, illiterate boob, a man who should be on the Megan’s Law listing for war criminals (if there were such a thing) so you could keep him out of your neighborhood or know when he moved in, him speaking to a group of young children, fine. But Barack Obama, too much?

These people are either the fringe, and should be treated like the Klan, like anti-semites, like the Lindon LaRouche clan by the media, never given mikes or credibility or air time, or they are a credible, viable entity. And if the latter is true, time to leave the country or, like England, tell these idiots it’s time they pack and go and start their own ignorant colony of bigots and frightened, uneducated people. And no, you can’t have the South. We could always rehab it. But you could take a lot of people from there with you. Either way, we are not the United States, we are the divided states and the divisions are now getting ugly.

Every speech the President makes, every press briefing from the White House Robert Gibbs gives, each and every day kids in public school should watch, listen, and talk about what is going on and what is being said. No wonder we are a nation of civic idiots, many can’t name the branches of government, supreme court justices, hell, even who their own representatives on state and federal levels are or even how many senators each state has! And a way of breaking that cycle is by educating a younger generation, getting them involved, getting them excited about the process. The first black president of the United States wants to speak at your school and your parents object? Your school objects?
Republicans don’t want your kids to hear a well-versed President, and they certainly don’t want kids involved in the system unless it’s to pimp them out. This or that cause is “for the children” or here, kids, collect money for Afghanistan (Bush did that) or attend the funeral of your dad or mom as the are blown up in war, but stay away from the President!
And they’ve used words like “indoctrinate.” Like the President is going to brainwash the kids and they’re going to come out communists, or worse, liberals. And the media repeats this drivel and suddenly it’s real.

What it is is an international disgrace and I’m getting tired of these divisionists, these ridiculously idiotic and mentally simplistic drones being led by people who should know better. America, it’s time to rise above or bail out.

Truly, are the people of the United States worth saving? Republicans don’t think so. They’re not even worth covering with health insurance unless it suits corporate interests to do so. They’re not worth equality, and the divisions over women’s rights and gay rights prove. They’re not worth saving, as the bail out of corporations is hailed as a success while unemployment soars, foreclosures abound and every day someone decides between food, rent, medicine or a utility bill. We have millions sitting in the dark because billion dollar power companies can just cut off their power, we have millions without food because the billion dollar food industry doesn’t really care, and we have Americans without a voice because Fox News raises the voices of the lemmings to a peak where everyone just wants to tune out.

No, Democrats are doing nothing to prove they have the spine to lead. There should be no bipartisianship right now. The other party destroyed our country. Why listen to them now? We are bankrupt, out of work, out of money and running out of time. They’ve been in power eight months and not one major part of their platform has been passed. We are still at war on three fronts (Iraq, Afghanistan and Korea), there is no social safety net for those who are losing unemployment and will have nothing at all on which to rely, no medical coverage for all, no improvements in living and working conditions for the poor, no immigration reform, don’t ask don’t tell still exists, DOMA…on and on. While Bush and Cheney and their Congress and Senate rammed things like warrantless wire tapping, illegal occupations of sovereign nations, torture and the biggest affront to the Constitution, the Patriot Act, down the throats of Washington and America, Democrats can’t even pass a bill that gives Americans an actual option to the omnipotent insurance companies, equalize civil rights for other tax paying Americans by letting them marry and constantly let the mentally ill fringe derail their message and their legislation.

No, the Democrats are losing me. And if America and American’s don’t shape up and start taking control, shutting these destructive and un-American voices down and the media turning a blind eye to the fringe other than to report on their absurdity then Canada or France may end up being a nice place for me to retire one day. That’s if we this country survives as an entity even that long.

It’s not looking good.

Aug

Lack of Outrage Outrageous

The Lunatics are, In Fact, In Charge

by Charles Karel Bouley

There’s a wacked out reward system going on in world culture these days and the concept of responsibility and/or repercussions is as obtuse as the Octomom getting a reality TV show.

A cop, who may or may not be racist, arrests America’s foremost African American scholar, who may or may not have an attitude, for the obvious reason that his authority was challenged, his superiority impugned. Instead of him getting some counseling to help him deal with his obvious super-badge complex he gets invited to the White House for a beer and then gets a standing ovation at a police conference in Long Beach, CA.

An entertainer who reaches millions via a comedy and parody network masquerading as a news network (read Fox) creates a nickname for a doctor he thinks is cute and funny, Tiller the Baby Killer, and that doctor, Dr. Tiller, ends up dead at the hands of an American grown terrorist. That entertainer is allowed to stay on the air, the network allowed to continue to pay him huge amounts, zero repercussions, no show cancellation, no public shunning.

A Vice President commits and admits to war crimes on national television and he is rewarded with a large book deal and rises to be the one of leading spokespersons for his party of war criminal supporters.

A woman has a litter of children putting them, and herself, in danger and creating a living situation destined to be detrimental to the well being of her brood, and she gets instant fame and a reality TV show.

Another couple that had a litter of children does a show that possibly helps deconstruct their failing marriage, it implodes putting their family and their brood at risk, and instead of privacy, solace, instead of trying to save their most sacred of institutions, the institution so fragile it must be protected from evil people who may want to join in of the same gender, they opt for full disclosure in front of cameras. Instead of pity or even condemnation, they get superstardom, illicit affairs at high priced resorts and on yachts in the warm island nations and perhaps another series.

The worse a celebrity behaves, the better his or her press and ultimately a revival of their usually sagging careers.

An administration tries to terrorize a nation by altering alerts and the person that knows remains quiet until paid to tell it in a book and gets press time instead of prosecution for duplicity.

A subhuman electrocutes intelligent, caring creatures, has the teeth removed from the females so they can’t fight while being raped tied to a table named for that very act, smashes them against concrete if they displease him, spends a short time in jail, pays a small fine and is back in his chosen profession, making large sums and being supported by many fans.

An animal kills 270 people on a plane and he gets released on compassionate grounds, when it is clear he showed none to his victims or their families and is undeserving of any himself.

A president invades a sovereign nation under false pretences, removes its dictator but offers no real plan for reconstruction or renewal for its people, allows torture, attacks the Constitution and the people it governs with illegal invasions at home and retires in style and people line up to hear him speak. Compare that president to Hitler and get denounced by both sides of the political spectrum; even though in retrospect that president may, in fact, have warranted it more. Then have many of those same people doing the denouncing turn around and compare another president to Hitler themselves, complete with graphics, wave swastikas, derail an important debate and they get rewarded through success and media credibility instead of denounced as ill-informed mouthpieces of a media conglomerate’s propagandist campaign.

Bring guns to political rallies and be hailed as freedom advocates instead of dangerous lunatics on the fringe.

I understand to forgive is divine, but this is really taking things way too far. Forgiveness is not something every person who offends deserves and the shift of somehow rewarding bad behavior with credibility, fame or riches has eclipsed any and all reason. In other words, it appears the lunatics really are running the asylum.

And compassion, which is defined by Webster’s as “sympathetic pity and concern for the suffering or misfortunes of others…” can be shown, but is it compulsory that it be unilateral?

The Scotts felt it was compassionate to release a man in jail for killing hundreds of others. We’ve released criminals for these reasons, not ones such as these, but still, those convicted of crimes, in some cases, even violent ones.

But my father used to say, you made your bed, now lay in it.

When you kill, if you get sick you’re going to die in jail (unless there’s the death penalty which makes that a moot point). You’ll have health care, probably better than many Americans, but you’re not getting out. Sorry. The compassionate thing to do would, of course, offer euthanasia, but we won’t be that compassionate even to our terminally ill, no, for the state or country to approve killing you compassionately you have to kill someone, terminal illness? Suffer. I digress. So short of euthanasia, basic medical care, no suffering, die in prison.

We need to adjust our focus on what exactly compassion, forgiveness and the rewarding of truly offending actions means to us as a people. Because many people are getting tired of doing the “right” thing and having their lives slip lower and lower, having their deeds unseen, their ideals unheard.

In fact, many I know in this country, in my country, in the United States are beginning to shake their heads in utter disbelief, not recognizing the country, or the world, in front of them.

Commit a crime, you are responsible for what happens to you. Act superior in a badge, you are responsible what happens to you. Betray your country, you are responsible what happens to you. The problem is nothing really happens to you, or, in most cases, good things happen to you. So why behave?

Compassion is not rewarding those who betray, who kill, who offend in horrendous or destructive ways. Forgiveness is not empowering, elevating or rewarding those who behave despicably. Humanity is not granting the wishes of someone who, through deeds and actions, has proven to be some how subhuman.

We need a common sense reboot in this world, and particularly in this nation. A Libyan getting a hero’s welcome for killing is just another stab at America’s comatose sense of outrage. That outrage is a sleeping giant and it’s time to awaken it. Not a violent outrage. A human outrage. A rebuking of the absurd, a return to the bottom line and a strong dose of common sense.

What the Scot’s did is an outrage. Sorry. It is. Obama inviting this moron to the White House while millions of Americans that do good for our country every day will never meet him is an outrage. Cheney being allowed to speak in print instead of from a cell is an outrage. Bush not at the Hague on trial is an outrage. Rewarding immature and opportunistic individuals who show no regard for their own family is an outrage. An entertainment channel inciting sedition in order to derail a chance for 50 million Americans to be able to access healthcare is an outrage.

The fact that not only do we do nothing about these outrages and countless others is, in fact, outrageous.

Aug

Freedom Without Equality Is Just A Medal

Freedom Without Equality Is Just a Medal

By Charles Karel Bouley

August 12, 2009 the first openly gay man to be elected in the state of California, Harvey Milk, will be given the Medal of Freedom Award by President Barack Obama. It’s a well deserved award, one too many years in the making. But like everything else done for or to the gay community that is seen as positive, it’s a two-edged sword because honoring someone for their activism and impact on a state or nation while their cause is still unfinished, their people still unequal is interesting indeed.

The Medal of Freedom is the highest honor paid to a civilian, along with its brother the Congressional Gold Medal (voted on by Congress). The award is for individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” President Harry S. Truman planted the seed for the award in 1945 with the Medal of Freedom to honor civilian service during World War II. President Kennedy signed Executive Order 11085 establishing a new award with a new medal but keeping the name while expanding the awards purpose and boosting its prestige level nationally and internationally. Honorees do not have to be American citizens but must simply merit the award in the view of the President, advisors and the Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board (established in 1957 by President Eisenhower and expanded by President Kennedy).

Now Milk, who would be 79 this year had he not been shot by Dan White 31 years ago in 1978, certainly meets the criteria for the award. His life, his politics, his movement and yes, his death, changed California politics and the tone of politics in the nation. He was a symbol of possibility and yes, a huge symbol for the rights of gays and lesbians throughout the country. His death hurt, the trial hurt, it all hurt, and galvanized a movement even more. He took on Bryant and Briggs and won and did it with flair and even sarcasm, with the trademark “My name is Harvey Milk, and I’m here to recruit you!” a jab at the assertion that gay teachers were in schools to recruit young people to be gay.

The spirit of Milk was alive not only in the cineplexes over the last few years thanks to Sean Penn but in the streets and halls of government in California, as the ugly Proposition 8 battle waged. Well funded religious interests successfully attacked the California State Constitution by removing the equal protection clause for gays and lesbians, somehow saying that equal doesn’t equal equal, that all members of the state are NOT, in fact, equal and protected by the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. It creates a legal contract with legal benefits that only certain members of the state can enter based solely on gender and rooted squarely in religion. Milk would be exploding right about now.

As the marriage debate raged nationally in 2006 after Gavin Newsom granted marriage licenses in his city, as 11 states that year then voted to outlaw same sex marriage and some states even went so far as to ban domestic partnerships or gay adoptions, as George W. Bush spoke nationally about a amending the U.S. Constitution, the very document that protects freedoms, by putting in a provision banning same sex marriage, Milk would have been rallying people and holding every Democrat to task.

As a highly decorated soldier that appeared on the Rachel Maddow show on MSNBC and simply answered “yes” to the question “are you gay” is kicked out of the military, as same sex spouses are denied benefits for wounded or killed loved ones, as needed translators and personnel are removed during a time of war for no other reason than sexual orientation, Milk would again be taking every Democrat, every American to task.

As Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, as Bush and Obama have both defended it, Obama’s administration going so far as comparing same sex marriage to bestiality and every other fringe coupling known to man, or animal, in its defense of DOMA in 2009, Milk would rally against it, denouncing any Democrat that supported it, including Barack Obama.

So it’s with great wonder that I ponder what Milk would have done if he were alive August 12, 2009, to go and collect his medal. Would he take solace that on the medal there are 13 stars to represent the original 13 colonies, and six of those colonies now have same sex marriage or recognize those done in other states or would he be angry at the 44, including his own, that do not allow or have voted against marriage equality?

Harvey Milk served as a diving officer on a submarine in the Navy during the Korean War and went on to be a diving instructor at the Naval Station in San Diego reaching rank of lieutenant, Junior Grade. Would he look the Commander in Chief in the eye as he received his civilian award, would he look to the leader of the greatest fighting force in the world, and be honored or outraged at the ridiculousness of being honored for your activism to advance the civil rights of people whom, with one signature, the presenter of the award could rectify so much of the institutionalized inequality that exists?

Would he grab the medal and say how much he likes jewelry, that he may need matching earrings and then begin to speak to the fact that pandering to a community is fine, recognizing those in it admirable, but doing so while approving through your inaction the oppression of that very community is simply unacceptable?

The fact is, at this point in American’s history, I’m not sure Milk would even accept. I truly am not.

I posed that question to actor Alan Cumming during an interview for an upcoming story in the Long Beach and Orange County Blade. He is openly gay, comes from a Scottish and European background, but became an American citizen so he could vote for Barack Obama. He missed that by three days, but still is a proud American now, a gay American at that.

“I don’t know that he’d be too happy about it really,” he stated. “If the Obama administration had given the community some kind of clue or agenda of some kind. If they had said, ‘look, we really have to do healthcare and the economy right now, but in 2010 the agenda is going to include repealing DOMA, getting rid of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and working on marriage equality for all’ then maybe. But their actions in some ways have been negative towards the community, including their brief in defense of DOMA. They didn’t have to do that. So with no real vision as to what they plan to do for the community specifically and when, and some of the recent activity, I’m just not sure where he’d be on this.”

Where he’d be is a second class citizen receiving the highest civilian award his country has to give. The schizophrenia of that situation would not escape him. It’d be like a slave receiving a service award and then being put back in the slave quarters. No? Too harsh? Really? This weekend my best friend Daniel Amspaugh’s sister got “married.” But she didn’t really, because she couldn’t’. She, and her tax paying partner, live in Long Beach, CA. And 51% of this state thinks civil rights can be approved by the masses, granted and denied based on religious belief. That’s not societal slavery? Be a part, pay your taxes, but don’t live with us as equals? Do as we say not as we do?

How would Milk feel about the prosecution of crimes committed against gays and lesbians in this country, when so many juries still return lesser sentences for killing or beating a gay person versus another. Gay panic defenses are used, the person freaked out when they found out the other was gay and went in to a panic or rage and couldn’t control themselves. Hell, even movie stars like Tom Cruise are able to prove damages to the tune of millions of dollars against tabloids that allege he’s gay. Somehow, being associated as gay can cost one millions of dollars in hurt and damages to this very day, like being called a pedophile or something. When Milk himself was killed Dan White was basically slapped on the wrist (think twinkie defense, he was amped out on too many twinkies…) serving two of five years for gunning down two people in cold blood and things haven’t gotten much better than that today. When transgendered Gwen Araujo was beaten and killed her killers got anywhere from six years to 15 years for slamming her head through a wall, beating her to death in a garage and then burying her in the hills all at 17 years old. Her crime? She was a man living as a woman. The first jury deadlocked and there had to be a retrial, after all, when the football players found out that they had been having some kind of sexual activity with a boy, well, how could they not be expected to freak. As Madoff sits for 150 years in jail for a financial crime, shows where our priorities lay.

And in California where it will be years before marriage equality is obtained, where its supreme court wussed out and did the wrong thing, where religion sways the ballot box through financial might…well, I wonder if he might up and move to Iowa, where at least he could marry whatever partner he was with at the time.

Harvey Milk, and Billy Jean King, deserve to be openly gay champions receiving the Medal of Freedom award from the President of the United States. But more importantly they are Americans that deserve or deserved equal rights and protection under the law from the government over which that president presides and from the civilian population of which they are a part.

Anyone that saw Milk speak knew one thing: no matter what, he wanted gays and lesbians to have hope. He wanted them to remain hopeful that things can, would and will change if we care enough to change them. He wanted everyone on the bus, championing causes like affordable child care facilities, free public transportation, a board of civilians to oversee police, neighborhood issues, family issues. He wanted his hope to be infectious, and maintained humor by pranking public officials like Diane Feinstein and the mayor and being often outrageous on television or in person in some way.

He dated younger men and never had a relationship longer than six years of any real substance (according to all accounts) yet formed a strong family of friends and coworkers that remain loyal to this day and while he may or may not marry himself, would advocate for everyone’s right to do so.

He’d use his acceptance speech to inspire, to instill his trademark hope, and to put more than few politicians on notice that he, or his wards, were coming for their jobs.

“Like every other group, we must he judged by our leaders and by those who are themselves gay, those who are visible. For invisible, we remain in limbo–a myth, a person with no parents, no brothers, no sisters, no friends who are straight, no important positions in employment. A tenth of our nation is supposedly composed of stereotypes and would-be seducers of children. But today, the black community is not judged by its friends, but by its black legislators and leaders. And we must give people the chance to judge us by our leaders and legislators. A gay person in office can set a tone, can command respect not only from the larger community, but from the young people in our own community who need both examples and hope”

Let’s hope Barack does more than award Milk, let’s hope he takes the spirit and lessons Milk taught and actually begins changing things for members of his country still oppressed by institutionalized bigotry and religious dogma.

To listen to Karel’s show or read more please go to http:/www.radiokrl.com

Aug

Tuesday on the Show

Tonight, we look at being Present but Absent with author Dan Rasmus, author of listeningtothefuture.com and Head of Business insights for Microsoft.

RadioKRL Blog

Tagged with humor …