Robs Thoughts

June 28th, the 40th Anniversary of the Gay Rights Movement

Rob Samuels — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 09:14:07 +0000

The Stonewall riots were a series of spontaneous, violent demonstrations against a police raid that took place in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York City. They are frequently cited as the first instance in American history when people in the homosexual community fought back against a government-sponsored system that persecuted sexual minorities, and they have become the defining event that marked the start of the gay rights movement in the United States and around the world.

American gays and lesbians in the 1950s and 1960s faced a legal system more anti-homosexual than those of some Warsaw Pact countries. Early homophile groups in the U.S. sought to prove that gay people could be assimilated into society, and they favored non-confrontational education for homosexuals and heterosexuals alike. The last years of the 1960s, however, were very contentious, as many social movements were active, including the African American Civil Rights Movement, the Counterculture of the 1960′s, and antiwar demonstrations. These influences, along with the liberal environment of Greenwich Village, served as catalysts for the Stonewall riots.

Very few establishments welcomed openly gay people in the 1950s and 1960s. Those that did were often bars, although bar owners and managers were rarely gay. The Stonewall Inn, at the time, was owned by the Mafia. It catered to an assortment of patrons, but it was known to be popular with the most marginalized people in the gay community: transvestites, effeminate young men, hustlers, and homeless youth.

Police raids on gay bars were routine in the 1960s, but officers quickly lost control of the situation at the Stonewall Inn, and attracted a crowd that was incited to riot. Tensions between New York City Police and gay residents of Greenwich Village erupted into more protests the next evening, and again several nights later. Within weeks, Village residents quickly organized into activist groups to concentrate efforts on establishing places for gays and lesbians to be open about their sexual orientation without fear of being arrested.

After the Stonewall riots, gays and lesbians in New York City faced gender, class, and generational obstacles to becoming a cohesive community. Within six months, two gay activist organizations were formed in New York, concentrating on confrontational tactics, and three newspapers were established to promote rights for gays and lesbians. Within a few years, gay rights organizations were founded across the U.S. and the world.

On June 28, 1970, the first Gay Pride marches took place in Los Angeles and New York commemorating the anniversary of the riots. Similar marches were organized in other cities. Today, Gay Pride events are held annually throughout the world toward the end of June to mark the Stonewall riots^.

The above information was taken from Wikipedia, and I applaude those who, 40 years ago, became tired of the discrimination and stood up for themselves, and for others. We today continue on for EQUAL Rights, and we too shall overcome one day.

In the word of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., ” I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

One day.

The Current Civil Rights Movement

Rob Samuels — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:14:55 +0000

Ding Dong The Witch is Gone…..

Rob Samuels — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 07:38:22 +0000

which old witch, the bigoted homophobe one.

Carrie Prejean Stripped Of Miss California Title

The Miss California USA Organization, in conjunction with the Miss Universe Organization and with the blessing of its owner, Mr. Donald J. Trump, announced today the termination of Carrie Prejean as Miss California USA 2009, citing continued breach of contract issues,” the Miss California Organization said in a statement to Access Hollywood.

The group kicked the controversial beauty queen from her post due to “contract violations including Ms. Prejean’s unwillingness to make appearances on behalf of the Miss California USA organization,” the pageant’s Executive Director, Keith Lewis, said in a statement.

Looks like she was too busy trumping around to the Right Wing Fundamentalist churches, preaching her message of discrimination and hatred to actually be Miss California USA.

Maybe her and Palin can pose together in American Flag bikinis

Just Stopping By….

Rob Samuels — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 04:43:53 +0000

Nothing major to update, just keep working in order to try to pay the bills, and keep gas in the car (at $2.85 per gallon that’s not very easy).

I’ve noticed that WalMart is starting to stock less of items, and at 2 different stores I went to this past weekend they were out of many items. That never use to happen.

I’ve also noticed that the meat aisle is the least congested aisle in the store, and after looking at the prices I can see why.

Oh well, such is life anymore.

More Good News…..

Rob Samuels — Thu, 07 May 2009 08:51:52 +0000

unless you are a bigoted, homophobic Right Wing fundamentalist who wishes to believe true hate crimes are Hoaxes, or a Miss California Carrie Prejean who thinks she speaks for the entire Country (only the narrow minded ones):

Maine’s governor signed a freshly passed bill Wednesday approving gay marriage, making it the fifth state to approve the practice and moving New England closer to allowing it throughout the region.

New Hampshire legislators were also poised to send a gay marriage bill to their governor, who hasn’t indicated whether he’ll sign it. If he does, Rhode Island would be the region’s sole holdout.

The Maine Senate voted 21-13, with one absent, for a bill that authorizes marriage between any two people rather than between one man and one woman, as state law currently allows. The House had passed the bill Tuesday.

It is about time that people stop discriminating, regardless of Race, Sex, Nationality, Religion, or Sexual Orientation.

Neither God, nor Jesus, nor any other God would approve of open hatred in their name, and I guarantee that if Jesus was here he wouldn’t be holding up signs saying “Burn in Hell”, or saying that the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard was a hoax, nor would you find him in a church that preaches hatred.

Also, I doubt that Jesus would call Obama a “abomination”, as many on the far fringes of the Right do.

So much hatred out there, and so much of it is wrapped up in a false “religion”, and even in a political party that loves to stoke the hatred.

At least the rest of the country is moving in the right direction finally.

The Most Ignorant Statement I’ve Heard Today

Rob Samuels — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:17:09 +0000

Today a Republican Representative made an ass of herself on the floor of the Congress, and shows just how ignorant and hateful some people (in the Republican Right Wing Religious Fundamentalists Party) are:

During debate on hate crimes legislation taking place today on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) claimed that Matthew Shepard’s death was “a hoax.” While Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard looked on from the House gallery, Foxx, who managed the floor for those opposed to the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act, spoke saying, “the hate crimes bill that’s called the Matthew Shepard Bill is named after a very unfortunate incident that happened where a young man was killed, but we know that that young man was killed in the commitment of a robbery. It wasn’t because he was gay. This – the bill was named for him, hate crimes bill was named for him, but it’s really a hoax that that continues to be used as an excuse for passing these bills.”

On the night of October 7, 1998, two men led Matthew Shepard to a remote area east of Laramie, Wyoming where they demonstrated unimaginable acts of hate, killing the twenty-one year old college student because he was gay. This hate motivated murder sparked a national outcry to expand hate crimes laws to protect the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The perpetrators of this heinous act are now both serving life sentences for Matthew’s death.

Feel free to write to this ignorant woman at :

http://www.foxx.house.gov/?sectionid=95&sectiontree=3,95

Yahoo’s 100 Movies to See Before You Die

Rob Samuels — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:01:42 +0000

0-9

*
12 Angry Men (1957)

*
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

*
The 400 Blows (1959)

Directed By: Francois Truffaut

Starring: Jean-Pierre Leaud, Patrick Auffay
*
8 ½ (1963)

Directed By: Federico Fellini

Starring: Marcello Mastroianni, Anouk Aimee

*
The African Queen (1952)

Directed By: John Huston

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley
*
Alien (1979)

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver, Veronica Cartwright
*
All About Eve (1950)

Directed By: Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders
*
Annie Hall (1977)

Directed By: Woody Allen

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton
*
Apocalypse Now (1979)

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall

*
The Battle of Algiers (1967)

Directed By: Gillo Pontecorvo

Starring: Jean Martin, Yacef Saadi, Brahim Haggiag
*
The Bicycle Thief (1948)

Directed By: Vittorio De Sica

Starring: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola
*
Blade Runner (1982)

Directed By: Ridley Scott

Starring: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young
*
Blazing Saddles (1974)

Directed By: Mel Brooks

Starring: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens
*
Blow Up (1966)

Directed By: Michelangelo Antononi

Starring: David Hemmings, Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles
*
Blue Velvet (1986)

Directed By: David Lynch

Starring: Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper
*
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Directed By: Arthur Penn

Starring: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
*
Breathless (1960)

Directed By: Jean-Luc Godard

Starring: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg
*
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)

Directed By: David Lean

Starring: William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins,
*
Bringing Up Baby (1938)

Directed By: Howard Hawks

Starring: Cary Grant, Katherine Hepburn
*
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Directed By: George Roy Hill

Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Katharine Ross

*
Casablanca (1942)

Directed By: Michael Curtiz

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid
*
Chinatown (1974)

Directed By: Roman Polanski

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston
*
Citizen Kane (1941)

Directed By: Orson Welles

Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore
*
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Directed By: Ang Lee

Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Ziyi Zhang

*
Die Hard (1988)

Directed By: John McTiernan

Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Alan Rickman
*
Do the Right Thing (1989)

Directed By: Spike Lee

Starring: Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
*
Double Indemnity (1944)

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Starring: Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson
*
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden
*
Duck Soup (1933)

Directed By: Leo McCarey

Starring: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx

*
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Dee Wallace Stone, Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore
*
Enter the Dragon (1973)

Directed By: Robert Clouse

Starring: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
*
The Exorcist (1973)

Directed By: William Friedkin

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair,

*
Fast Times At Ridgemont High (1982)

Directed By: Amy Heckerling

Starring: Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold,
*
The French Connection (1971)

Directed By: William Friedkin

Starring: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider

*
The Godfather (1972)

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan,
*
The Godfather, Part II (1974)

Directed By: Francis Ford Coppola

Starring: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton
*
Goldfinger (1964)

Directed By: Guy Hamilton

Starring: Sean Connery, Honor Blackman
*
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1968)

Directed By: Sergio Leone

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef
*
Goodfellas (1990)

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci
*
The Graduate (1967)

Directed By: Mike Nichols

Starring: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross,
*
Grand Illusion (1938)

Directed By: Jean Renoir

Starring: Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, Erich von Stroheim
*
Groundhog Day (1993)

Directed By: Harold Ramis

Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

*
A Hard Day’s Night (1964)

Directed By: Richard Lester

Starring: The Beatles

*
In the Mood For Love (2001)

Directed By: Wong Kar-Wai

Starring: Maggie Cheung, Tony Leung
*
It Happened One Night (1934)

Directed By: Frank Capra

Starring: Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert
*
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Directed By: Frank Capra

Starring: James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore

*
Jaws (1975)

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss

*
King Kong (1933)

Directed By: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Shoedsack

Starring: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong

*
The Lady Eve (1941)

Directed By: Preston Sturges

Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn
*
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Directed By: David Lean

Starring: Peter O’Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
*
The Lord of the Rings (2001,2002,2003)

Directed By: Peter Jackson

Starring: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Viggo Mortensen

*
M (1931)

Directed By: Fritz Lang

Starring: Peter Lorre, Theodor Loos, Otto Wernicke
*
M*A*S*H (1970)

Directed By: Robert Altman

Starring: Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt
*
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

Directed By: John Huston

Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet
*
The Matrix (1999)

Directed By: Larry Wachowski, Andy Wachowski

Starring: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
*
Modern Times (1936)

Directed By: Charlie Chaplin

Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Paulette Goddard
*
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Directed By: Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones

Starring: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin

*
National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)

Directed By: John Landis

Starring: John Belushi, Tim Matheson
*
Network (1976)

Directed By: Sidney Lumet

Starring: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch
*
Nosferatu (1922)

Directed By: F.W. Murnau

Starring: Max Schreck, Gustave Von Wagenheim, Greta Schroeder,

*
On the Waterfront (1954)

Directed By: Elia Kazan

Starring: Marlon Brando, Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb
*
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)

Directed By: Milos Forman

Starring: Jack Nicholson, Louise Fletcher, William Redfield

*
Paths of Glory (1958)

Directed By: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou
*
Princess Mononoke (1999)

Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki

Starring: Billy Crudup, Billy Bob Thornton, Minnie Driver
*
Psycho (1960)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh
*
Pulp Fiction (1994)

Directed By: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman

*
Raging Bull (1980)

Directed By: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty-Gentile, Joe Pesci
*
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, Paul Freeman
*
Raise the Red Lantern (1992)

Directed By: Zhang Yimou

Starring: Gong Li, He Caifei, Cao Cuifeng
*
Rashomon (1951)

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Masayuki Mori, Machiko Kyo
*
Rear Window (1954)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Raymond Burr
*
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)

Directed By: Nicholas Ray

Starring: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
*
Rocky (1976)

Directed By: John Avildsen

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young
*
Roman Holiday (1953)

Directed By: William Wyler

Starring: Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert

*
Saving Private Ryan (1998)

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tom Sizemore
*
Schindler’s List (1993)

Directed By: Steven Spielberg

Starring: Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes
*
The Searchers (1956)

Directed By: John Ford

Starring: John Wayne, Jeffrey Hunter, Vera Miles
*
Seven Samurai (1954)

Directed By: Akira Kurosawa

Starring: Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune, Yoshio Inaba
*
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Directed By: Frank Darabont

Starring: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman
*
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Directed By: Jonathan Demme

Starring: Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, Scott Glenn
*
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)

Directed By: Stanley Donen, Gene Kelley

Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor, Debbie Reynolds
*
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

Directed By: David Hand

Starring: Adriana Caselotti, Harry Stockwell
*
Some Like It Hot (1959)

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Starring: Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon
*
The Sound of Music (1965)

Directed By: Robert Wise

Starring: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
*
Star Wars (1977)

Directed By: George Lucas

Starring: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
*
Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Directed By: Billy Wilder

Starring: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim

*
Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Directed By: James Cameron

Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton
*
The Third Man (1949)

Directed By: Carol Reed

Starring: Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles
*
This is Spinal Tap (1984)

Directed By: Rob Reiner

Starring: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest
*
Titanic (1997)

Directed By: James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet
*
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)

Directed By: Robert Mulligan

Starring: Gregory Peck, Mary Badham, Phillip Alford
*
Toy Story (1995)

Directed By: John Lasseter

Starring: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Don Rickles

*
The Usual Suspects (1995)

Directed By: Bryan Singer

Starring: Kevin Spacey, Gabriel Byrne

*
Vertigo (1958)

Directed By: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: James Stewart, Kim Novak

*
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)

Directed By: Rob Reiner

Starring: Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher
*
Wild Strawberries (1957)

Directed By: Ingmar Bergman

Starring: Victor Sjostrom, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Ingrid Thulin
*
Wings of Desire (1988)

Directed By: Wim Wenders

Starring: Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander
*
The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Directed By: Victor Fleming

Starring: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger
*
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

Directed By: Pedro Almodovar

Starring: Carmen Maura, Antonio Banderas
*
The World of Apu (1959)

Directed By: Satyajit Ray

Starring: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore, Swampan Mukerjee,

Pork

Rob Samuels — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:16:55 +0000

I’m sitting here reading how Congress has sent the President a $410 Billion spending bill, which President Obama is going to sign today. Now, to me, $410 Billion is a lot of money, but doesn’t look so bad compared to the $750 Billion Dollar Bailouts that have been thrown out like candy in a parade (hummmm, that’s one way I can save grocery money, start hitting parades……).

One reason I supported Obama was his vow to cut out Pork Barrel Spending, and to bring responsibility back into a Government that was throwing money at anything and everything (except at me, of course), so I am more than disappointed that he plans on signing this Bill that is known for its pet projects and pork.

What really irks me is that the White House is saying that they are not responsible for this because it is ” last years business”, thus justifying President Obamas signing of something he campaigned against doesn’t smack of being a hypocrite because “it is left over from last year”.

The Bill was just passed, and the President is going to sign it today, and it is March 11, 2009………………………………so that means it is this year, not last year.

Even though I am a Democrat (a vocal one, at that), and I voted for Barack Obama, I can not stand double talk, and I really think that the President should stand up to Congress and say “I’m not signing this until you remove the Pork”, especially when we are bailing out Banks and Wall Street, and the economy keeps falling.

I still support Obama, and I understand that our country is in a unique situation that hasn’t been seen since the 1930′s, but if you are going to promise change, then do it, don’t say “it’s leftovers”.

And come on Congressional Democrats, don’t forget that having power can change during the next election, especially if you don’t keep the promises of change you made during the 06 elections.

After all, Rush, Republicans, and even Donna are watching

Politics……….

Rob Samuels — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 20:09:52 +0000

I must admit that I find it very amusing to read and hear Republicans who are all up in arms about President Obama. Amusing because these people stood by for 8 years while W and his corporate friends raped this country, ignored the economy, and mired us in an expensive military campaign that really should never had occured. Amusing because their man W had blatant disregard for the Constitution of this country, and violated it at his, and Cheneys, whim. Amusing because their President W was so incompetent that he allowed Wall Street and Big Oil to crush this company throughout his terms, and left the problems of the nation for the next President to clean up.

Now, I am not one who favors Government Bailouts, no matter what they call it, and I was vocally against the one that Bush cheerleaded through a weak Congress last year, and I’m leary of the one that was just signed, but at least it shows someone in the Government has finally noticed that our economy is going to Hell.

Obama has been in office for……………what, not even 2 months, and many on the Right are talking and writing about President Obama like he is the AntiChrist, and the Rapture is just around the corner. Obviously these people have never taken a job where they replaced an incompetent person and had to deal with cleaning up the mess.

Sadly one can see how Politics, and ideology, are going to make this a long 4 years. I admit that I voted for Obama, and I’m proud of my vote, especially when you look at who he was running against, and I believe that Obama is the candidate that was most likely to turn our economy around, but I do not believe that Government is going to solve our problems. I do not believe that Obama is going to be the Saviour of the country, but I do not believe he is going to destroy the country, make us weaker, or sell us out to Hamas. Unlike the past 8 years, I believe that Obama will have the opportunity to turn the worlds view of us around.

I am not deluded in any way, haven’t drank the KoolAid, believe that every person should be responsible for the choices they have made (hello banks getting billions in bailouts, listening???), but I do not see how these people who HATE Obama so much can not see any positives? After all, the public voted, the public decided, and I’d like to hear these people put out their own ideas as to how to turn the country around.

But then again, it is just way to easy to criticize, and takes too much time and thought to actually effect a change yourself.

Not Much

Rob Samuels — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 04:10:29 +0000

Well, not much has been going on here, so really nothing to post.

Trying to avoid the news; layoffs, politicians pretending to have solutions, oil down but gas prices rising………

Haven’t been to Starbucks in months……noticed they are closing more stores and their profits are down, maybe because they are too high priced???????

Just a thought.