At some point, people who are LGBT identified need to ask ourselves — why socialism?
Introduction to Liberty Wolf
2012 in review Happy New Year 2013!!!
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The new Boeing 787 Dreamliner can carry about 250 passengers. This blog was viewed about 1,700 times in 2012. If it were a Dreamliner, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.
destruction of Pyramids coming as Sufi shrines are destroyed
I’m at an amazing writer’s retreat in the Yucatan peninsula and am enjoying ocean, glimpses of jungle, the inspiration and companionship of my fellow writers here and at directed, structured and luxurious work space and work time. So, my novel is coming along very well and quickly. I am grateful for this marvelous opportunity.
That’s the personal news.
On the political front I’m upset to read about the possibility of the pyramids being destroyed. From Commentary here: Islamists calling for pyramids’ destruction
And, while that destruction is only in the first phase of distressed imagining, in Mali, radical Islamists are tearing down Sufi shrines, here: Sufi Shrines in Mali Destroyed
Not sure when people in this country will wake up to the vast and horrid destruction that this particular brand of Islam (Radical Islam) is bringing to the entire world, including the Islamic world, but I do hope – it is soon.
Leaving the left, Media Matters and paradigm shifts
Neo-neocon is probably my favorite ex-lefty. She actually was never an extreme leftist but nonetheless she was not, as she is now, a neocon. My own political persuasion registers most strongly as neocon and as moderate libertarian on all those political tests. Neocon is misunderstood by many, and most neocons are former leftists (David Horowitz) who had a very radical and deep change of heart. It is characterized primarily by a hawkish foreign policy and often, socially liberal attitudes. That’s me: pro-Israel, anti-radical Islam, hawkish on defense, and fiscally fairly conservative — socially liberal (pro-choice with reservations but pro-choice, and — pro-gay marriage). And I don’t whine on about “white supremacy” or the “patriarchy” or even about “transphobia, homophobia, fatphobia, racism and sexism”. Those things exist, in some way, shape or form, but they are not the screen through which I view the world. I am a happier person for that. I believe in individual liberty and individual rights first and foremost over the primacy of collective identities.
I consider now, most of what I believed in the past, these obsessions with race, class and sexual orientation and gender identity to be “mind trash”. I mean, while certainly again, there are concerns about discrimination that are real, an obsession with who is “privileged” and who is not, with deconstructing for instances of these “isms” — is a waste of time. A big waste of time and of a life.
Neo-neocon writes often about her own journey from left leaning to right leaning and all the pain along the way. Mainly, the sudden and abrupt loss of friendships, sometimes, amounting to people leaving in the midst of a conversation at a party, and never speaking to her again. Yes, it can be that way. It is a common story, nearly all political apostates from left to right tell it and — it is most likely the hardest thing about this transformation. And, it is a transformation, a “paradigm shift”. Today, Neo-neocon writes below about this and refers to the Ace of Spades here at his blog…
A lot of things that have bothered you for…years — which haven’t seemed to make sense to you, because your brain was screening the truth from you — are suddenly going to make a lot of sense indeed. And you’re going to be kicking yourself for not seeing it sooner, like an optical illusion that suddenly changes from a lady’s face to a candle.
I think it’s a great description of a process I know well. But Ace, what’s with this “lady’s face to a candle” business? I always thought it was either two faces to a vase:
And, at Ace’s blog there is an excellent post about Media Matters and their anti-semitism:
I have read about recent outings of Media Matters as being very connected to the white house, like through an IV drip. Apparently, Media Matters gets daily updates from Valerie Jarrett, who is a top adviser to the Prez. And, they’ve attempted to target Fox News by finding dirt on the personal lives of their anchors and pundits, and – by even “planting a mole”. Pretty crazy stuff. Here more about Derschowitz and his take on Media Matters:
Here from a Daily Caller article by Jeff Poor:
In 2008, Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz came out in favor of then-Sen. Barack Obama in his presidential election contest with Arizona Sen. John McCain. He said Obama and McCain had similar positions on Israel, but gave the nod to Obama because of his liberal stance on things “unrelated to Israel.”
That could change in the 2012 presidential contest between and the yet-to-be-determined Republican candidate. In an appearance on Jay Severin’s Boston Talk 1200 radio show, Dershowitz spoke out against two organizations that have close ties to the Obama White House: Media Matters and the Center for American Progress.
“Media Matters and Center for American Progress are two extremely left-bigoted groups that are so virulently anti-Israel and anti-supporters of Israel that they’ve gone over the line from anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism,” Dershowitz said. ”They now use the term ‘Israel firsters,’ the way anti-Catholic bigots used to use the term ‘Vatican firsters’ or ‘Irish firsters,’ as if to suggest Americans who support Israel have dual loyalty. This false charge goes back to the Bible — goes back to the Book of Esther, goes back thousands of years. It was one of Hitler’s justifications for killing the Jews: ‘Dual loyalty, they’re not good Germans, they’re not good Americans,’ whatever it is.”
Dershowitz has been vocal against Media Matters in recent days, making that charge of anti-Semitism. However, his classification of the Center for American Progress as borderline “anti-Semitic” is noteworthy because both Media Matters and the Center for Progress have received money directly from billionaire left-wing financier George Soros, who has faced similar charges in the past.
“These two organizations have been found to be anti-Semitic by many of the objective monitoring groups,” he said. “And now they are closely associated with the Democratic Party and I have said very clearly there is no room in this tent for me on the one hand, and for Media Matters and for this other group on the other hand. We can’t be in the same tent. I will not be in a tent with fascists, with supporters of Ahmadinejad, with supporters of Hamas, with supporters of Hezbollah, with anti-Semitic bigots, whether they’re Jewish or not. Some of them are Jewish. Some of them are not.”
Read more: David Duke of the extreme left
from the wandering apostate – the Bay Area
Finally, a break from my hiatus in blogging and back to the blog! First, a bit more about me, Liberty Wolf, your wandering apostate…
Here, a snapshot of where I come from:
I give these queer activists enormous kudos for laughing at themselves! They got the speech cadence down perfectly, notice how their very speech has become “postmodern” resisting closure. Even statements end up sounding like questions. Sometimes I miss the Bay Area, and sometimes – I do not!
And, nearly everyone sounds nasal when they talk! How is this possible? But, they do! Heh – (good job queer anti-racist radicals – if you can laugh at yourselves, there is hope for the world, after all…) I mean, really – right?
Me — yes, that’s me!
I’m Tweeting!
And, yes, that’s me folks! And, Sponge Bob! No political statement here, only a friendly hello. Just getting started and I will also have updates to follow soon here on Liberty Wolf, and of course, on Twitter. I’m just getting started there.
Click on the photo to my Twitter page!
I’ve moved to Denver from San Francisco, so the last two months have been crazy. But, I am resettling and though it is cold out here, so far, so good. I plan to revamp things here a bit and also, to get back with a restart and reset for the new year. I think I’ll become a bit more candid and open this coming year… And, maybe jazz things up a bit. The photo is the beginning.
One year for Liberty Wolf — (!!!)
I noticed that it has been a year since I started this blog. So, I’d like to insert a short and earnest celebratory gesture. In other words, YAY!
So, certainly, the blog has a long ways to go, and I’m only scratching the surface. It’s a kind of notebook, and modest in its ambition. Well, at least at this point. I’m still exploring and learning and noting what I find of interest.
Now, how did I go from left to right? What happened actually?
Simple. I began to read the other side.
So, in the hope that someone else may stumble on this blog and begin their own journey of questioning and investigating — I begin it’s second year.
Hello world!
Welcome to my blog! I’m just getting it rolling but I’m hoping that in time it will grow and become a flashpoint for thinking about politics and culture – although mainly politics. I’m a recent traveler to the world of liberty and the right. For many years, I was a leftist and a progressive, and while those individuals call themselves “liberal” I prefer to call them leftists. I mean, scratch the surface and besides their take on some social causes like gay marriage, “liberal” are anything but “liberal”. There is a totalitarian impulse that is very strong and that lurks just beneath the surface. When I discovered that, I began to change.
I am writing this blog primarily from the perspective of a classic liberal. I believe in economic and personal liberty, small government, a strong national defense, and lower taxes. I believe in the power of each individual to make a difference and to win or fail, based on who they are and their efforts, and I don’t see people first as their membership within a collective identity – their race, sexual orientation, sex or gender or any other characteristic. I am an odd sort of American Patriot, and a believer in all the inspiration and beauty and clarity that western civilization has to offer. Although I certainly value and look to other civilizations and worlds for inspiration as well. I believe in free enterprise (that’s right – I believe in capitalism!) and our own constitutional republic, in liberal democracies, and the separation of church and state. While I am not a social conservative by any measure, I respect social conservatism as an impulse and discipline that has an interest in the continuity and safety of future and present generations, and which is skeptical of radical social change that is untested. However, I am aware that often there are also narrow minded people or social luddites to be found among social conservatives, and I try to figure out who is who. I am re-examining everything. I am not pro-abortion, but I am pro-choice. I am also very importantly a free speech absolutist! My own trajectory toward a classic liberal perspective is driven by a strong dislike of censorship and any form of soft tyranny. I am pro LGBT and against simple bigotry of any kind. In fact, I am a trans man, a transsexual man, an FTM, so — I believe that life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness can bring people to transformative lives and changes outside the mainstream, and that is positive. I am thankful, so thankful to live in this country and in this time, when I can access so many miraculous medical technologies and so much social freedom. And, did I forget anything? Last but not least, and this is very important, I am pro-Israel.
While I dislike identity politics, I am certainly entwined with its genesis and its complexity. I am an American Indian on my mother’s side, and Hispanic – Sephardic (Anusim) on my father’s side. My life has certainly defied easy categorization and so now does my political thinking.
I am also a poet and have been involved in creative pursuits my entire adult life: performances, music, a little acting, and mostly writing. Primarily, I’ve been a poet and writer. But, yes, I’m what used to be called a bohemian. This makes me an unlikely classic liberal. Although, if you really think about it — maybe not. There is, after all, nothing more crucial to creativity than freedom, and the imagination cannot thrive without it. And, so, I come to celebrate, explore, speculate and write from freedom to freedom – and to share that journey with whoever visits here. I don’t have all the answers, but I certainly am trying to enjoy and share the journey.
Welcome to Liberty Wolf!
Liberty Wolf 