Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson, the family patriarch. After Robertson made homophobic and racially insensitive comments in his interview with GQ A&E temporarily suspended him. But that was really short lived as A&E has since lifted his suspension. Robertson’s remarks reflect the views of an American cultural subset the GOP. His suspension made him a tribune of modern conservatism. Conservative Republicans (not just opportunists like Sarah Palin, but party standard-bearers) felt impelled to rally to his side without actually echoing anything Robertson said. A&E is obviously more concerned about its bottom line then human right and equality.

Fact …. Duck Dynasty broke the season finale of AMC’s “Breaking Bad” in ratings. It’s really sad that we live in a country that has so many people that align with Robertson’s beliefs. Here’s the topper to the Duck Dynasty story.

Yesterday the gun maker Mossberg announced they are teaming up with the Duck Commander (Phil Robertson) to produce a line of nine different shotguns, as well as two semiautomatic rifles and a semiautomatic pistol.

Friday will be the 50^th year anniversary of JFK’s assassination …I’m giving away my age when I admit to this but I do want to share the experience. I was in Jacksonville, Fl on November 22, 1963. When I came out of class I heard that the president had been shot. I immediately ran back to my dorm. Every window was open….they HAD NEVER BEEN open before that day.….I heard radios giving updates. When I entered the lobby of my dorm there were 100’s of students surrounding one tiny TV.

Four of us decided that we wanted to go to the funeral …hey it was Thanksgiving week and I’d only miss three days of school. So off we went in a beat up jalopy. I don’t remember how long it took us to drive to Washington. The only memory I have of the trip from Jacksonville to Washington was hearing on the radio that Jack Ruby has shot Oswald.

When we arrived we parked and immediately went to the Capital building. The line waiting to walk through the Rotunda stretched for miles. My girlfriend and I only wearing Madras shorts and sandals freezing were determined to get a glimpse of JFK’s casket. Someone brought us a blanket and we wrapped ourselves in it and continued to stand in line. No one spoke there was a strange silence. We were the next to the last group that got to walk through the rotunda. The memory of standing in that room seeing JFK’s casket is engraved in my mind….it was a turning point for my generation. After college I went to work for Bobby Kennedy …..and we know how that ended!

Ted Cruz will more then likely receive the GOP nomination because of his on stand against Obamacare. This guy is dangerous. The Republicans have created a new mantra …Obamacare is making America into a nation of part time jobs. A statement that is absolutely false as proven by the Dept of Labor statistics…OH hello… these guys have fail to mention that FdEx, UPS and many more companies have used the ”less then 30 hours” to deny their employees health benefits way before Obama was even elected to the Senate. Cruz thinks he’s more intelligent, more principled, more right than pretty much everyone else in Washington. Barbara Boxer likened him to “Joe McCarthy” because during the Hagel’s conformation hearings Cruz without a shred of evidence insinuated that Hagel, a fellow Republican, was on the take from America’s enemies.

When I started this newsletter I had Bush… than I moved on to Palin ….than Romney…NOW CRUZ!! American never ceases to provide comics with great material.

Personally I think America has hit a new bottom. We look like a bunch of children to the rest of the world. When China begins to say that America is no longer the world’s power source we are in trouble.

We are a humiliating failure in the eyes of the world. We aren’t fighting an external threat: no foreign terrorists. We are simply in chaos caused by our inability to deal with our own finances…

The only good part of this insanity is watching the Republicans reach a 74% disapproval rating among Americans. Who would have thought that the rebellion against the Affordable Care Act, a Supreme Court–sanctified law of the land, would send these creeps off a cliff?

Did you know that Ted Cruz the idiot that start this whole thing is the son of a Texas pastor who directs Purifying Fire Ministries? His father was a precursor of the Tea Party, even before the Moral Majority.

Even when our children in DC find a short-term solution Ted Cruz will come back and roar his ugly head to start this mess over again. Our Founding Fathers would be horrified and terrified of what we have evolved into. Someone please tell these red neck creeps that the Constitution is not the Bible….so stop trying to rule America by thinking that it is.

LET ME EXPLAIN….in less then 4 months the 2014 Winter Olympics will begin. The International Olympic Committee has taken almost no meaningful action in response to Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law. The International Olympic Committee also prohibits athletes in making any political statements or protests.

If an athlete should wear a Rainbow pin or carry a Rainbow flag it might lead to being ejected or penalized by the IOC.

So how do we stand up against the Russian anti –gay propaganda laws? For months both Athlete Ally and All Out tried to find a solution. In fact the Russian anti-gay propaganda legislation is a violation the Olympic Charter. They put their heads together and came up with Principle 6…what is Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter:

“Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.”

Athlete Ally, along with the company Idea Brand and professional football player Brendon Ayanbadejo, came up with and developed the idea of using the very name, Principle 6, along with a logo that can as a statement to rebuke Russia’s laws and a method for athletes and fans to express their convictions.

What a brilliant idea! Please go to Athlete Ally join their campaign along with Olympic athletes across the globe to uphold Principle 6?

It seems like the Republican party is holding America hostage because they want to defund ObamaCare. Regardless of the fact that millions of Americans visited the new online health insurance exchanges when enrollment opened yesterday. The numbers show that there is that a major desire for the affordable coverage that President Obama had promised with his health care law.

Federal officials said more than 2.8 million people had visited HealthCare.gov yesterday causing the site to actually crash. But the republicans keep insisting that Americans don’t want ObamaCare.

So doesn’t it make sense to shut down the government because you didn’t get your way? This situation makes America look like a bunch of kids in a schoolyard that can’t get along. Their actions are unconscionable! Shuting down the giverment is not the way America is supposed to work.

I can go on and on and ….but it’s the beginning of the Medicare season and I have too get to appointments….I’ll try to finish my thoughts on this later….but just in case I don’t …..enjoy this read it says it all. …

New Rule: Conservatives Who Love to Brag About American Exceptionalism Must Come Here to California

In an interview Pope Francis faulted the Roman Catholic Church for focusing too much on gays, abortion and contraception, saying the church has become “obsessed” with those issues to the detriment of its larger mission to be “home for all.”

HE WENT ON TO SAY…. “The church has sometimes locked itself up in small things, in small-minded rules,’ Francis also said. “The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.”

These comments do not mean that suddenly the Pope approves of gay marriage, abortion rights or contraception,. He said that the church’s the positions on those issues are “clear,” but he added that the “the proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives.”

Hopefully the Pope’s comments will open up a venue of ongoing dialogue about the issues of concern to LGBT Catholics.

The Pope’s statements came at time that I have just experienced the Jewish holidays…my Rabbi gave a sermon about moving from judgment to compassion. I pray that this is a time in history that we can see even the Catholic Church become less judgmental and show more compassionate towards the LGBT community.

Read the entire interview….

Boehner just announced that House Republicans WILL move forward with the Tea Party’s plan to threaten a government shutdown over Obamacare. The House is planning on passing the CR [continuing resolution] that would lock the sequester savings in and defund Obamacare. A lot of House Republicans seem to believe they can force President Obama to accept a “defunding” of the healthcare reform law by threatening a government shutdown or a default, that’s because these guys have promised to inflict political pain on any Republican who doesn’t go along. They even have a name for a republican that doesn’t go along …. RINO’s (Republicans in name only)

Let’s not forget the Koch brother’s group, Americans for Prosperity… they have already spent millions on ads fighting healthcare reform, and have begun a new campaign to delay healthcare reform.

I don’t get it…why are the Republicans so opposed to any healthcare reform when so many Americans are in desperate need of healthcare? These guys are playing with shutting down the government as a solutions to defunding ObamaCare. Passing a new budget is now contingent on eliminating ObamaCare that was voted on and passed by both chambers of Congress.

So here we are again….at midnight on September 30th government funding runs out …then what?

At last the robo calls have finally stopped. In one hour last Friday I received 3 calls from Quinn and two from Weiner. By Sunday I wanted to pull out of the wall.

I was astonished by the percentage Christine Quinn lost by. Her campaign imploded! What happened to Quinn?? I don’t think that Quinn could never get past the fact that she conspired with Bloomberg to engineer the legislative over throw of the referendum the public had overwhelmingly endorsed that gave him a third term. I think it crystallized the core complaint against her. How much of a role did running as an open lesbian play? As the guy that cuts my hair said….”It’s the hair that turned people off”

Corey Johnson worked hard! I ran into him on 8th Ave on one Saturday night talking to people and handing out flyers. In fact I ran into Corey a lot ….he was out working the street everyday. I never saw Yetta out here. Yetta has done a lot of great things for Chelsea especially around the loss of St. Vincent’s and Hurricane Sandy. I thank her for her effort. I look forward to working with Corey to help make District 3 a better place to live.

I’m happy that a lot of New Yorkers took the time to vote!

For days, I have been listening to all the news and asking myself what is the appropriate action take and what’s in our best interest on the situation in Syria.

If there’s no global response to the use of poison gas on civilians the world will be a much more dangerous place. Unfortunately because of China and Russia the United Nations Security Council is meaningless, Europe is not equipped and the Arab League is worthless. So who is left? USA!

I do believe that Obama and Kerry are struggling to find the best solution to a very complex situation. Involving Congress in the decision making process at least has started a discussion on the issue.

I’m struggling with what can be the proper response. I fear that bombing could make the situation worse. My greatest fear is if we do bomb that it would unleash a reign of terror from Iran to Iraq to Syria….and there likely will be more terrorists attacks on American soil and around the world.

Do we address the horrific Syrian issue and ignore the millions that have been killed in the Congo?

How about the financial cost? Our infrastructure is deteriorating…we are moving towards looking like a Third World Nation…our airports, highways, subways and educational system all require attention.

As I enter into the Jewish New Year, a time of contemplation I will search for an answer and pray that those who do make the decisions will make the correct one….if there is such a thing.