Did everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief a few weeks back when the Supreme Court ruled that mentally retarded criminals should never be executed for crimes committed? Technically there’s a low-on-the-scale IQ level requirement that must be met to qualify, but if you have one chromosome too many and you brutally murder a few people you wont be executed by the state. Kind of reminds me of what some parents used to tell their kids when they encountered retarded individuals for the first time and asked why they were different. Some parents would say that these children were different or special because when they were born they were touched by God and that when they die they will go to heaven. This made for a lot of confused normal children wishing they were retarded so they would definitely go to heaven. A guaranteed entry to heaven, even if given a lethal injection or the electric chair for doing something bad like murdering a bunch of people is quite a perk for mental retardation. With the archaic “eye for an eye” Old Testament trend America seems to be favoring these days, execution would be thought of as negated if the tard ends up in heaven anyway. Knowing as well that this won’t happen anymore anyways is making being mentally retarded kind of an attractive prospect, really. Hmmmmmmm. And when did this issue become so important suddenly, getting undivided attention when the whole issue of capital punishment looms over us with forever-conflicting camps opposed or in favor? Just chipping away at it bit by bit? What next, manic-depressives will be spared from execution? When the government begins to focus on smaller issues like this while skirting other more important ones or very quietly changing certain rights in light of extreme situations like, oh say wartime or some other monumental unifying event I always get a bit suspicious. Sometimes I think our president and his administration and the government would definitely prefer it if the population of America were mentally retarded—or just a Special Olympics record shot put throw away from that mental level. I’ve long had a theory that in the past two decades the media and many other constants, trends, and specialized focus or lack of focus in areas of education, health care, organized religion and more have slowly been wearing down and deadening the masses intelligence, logic, and ability to reason and form opinions independently, to question things, to fully exercise ones rights in a democracy. One of the most common examples of this regularly downward spiraling intellectual vacuum would be the turn modern broadcast television has taken towards that tabloid talk show and reality TV style of programming—the shows that pit real people against each other to play out their conflicts and dramas before millions of viewers, and the desert island bound Lord Of The Flies for adults survival/stunt shows, programs that make normal people eat bugs and sheep eyeballs or crawl through sewers or be buried in maggots to win money, cameras catching and confronting a woman cheating on her husband right in the act, four girls fighting for the attention of one guy on a date, child custody court cases with the most abominable parents ever, 50 wannabe brides competing for one millionaire bachelor, or the best explosions, accidents, criminal mishaps or hostage situations caught on video, or audiences deciding which guest is the biggest hoochie. It’s the kind of sick attractions that pull the viewers into a vapid world of lowest-common-denominator entertainment. There’s nothing stimulating or requiring much intelligence about watching brain-dead human swill chosen for their lack of composure, manners, good grooming or ability to read, having it out on television while awaiting the results of a paternity DNA test. A nation that is so totally wrapped up in who will win on Survivor is a nation that will be led by a man they never really elected to office. A nation that tunes in to America’s Most Wanted or Cops is a nation that swallows the concept of the existence of a common evil enemy of our nation, as told by a leader we never elected. Add a few childhood years of addictive combat-style violent video war games, religions preaching intolerance, breeding hate, applauding hate crimes, a deteriorating public education system, and a sudden reason to defend our nation in a way that involves bombs, combat, and slaughtering the enemy and you’ve got a nation of instant patriots, wannabe heroes, flag wavers as anxious for war as they are for the premiere of Attack of the Clones. People are so ready to hand over their trust to a fearless leader and act accordingly, as if conscientious objector was a term they never heard. Things are so much easier when you know the common evil, be it the atomic bomb or the Communist Threat or American trained foreign terrorists. It doesn’t matter that we’ve given them everything they used to attack us, only that they have attacked us and defined the enemy. It seems so simple to the masses yet upon close inspection so many questions arise regarding how our country let this happen, but it’s easier to play this round as if they were touched by God when they were born and are definitely going to heaven. Kind of sounds like the same deal Muslim terrorists who die in the line of duty get. In spite of the Supreme Court ruling, America is still prepared to execute retards with regularity, for the war effort. They’ve been grooming and conditioning them for years.
So the big gay weekend came and went with a fair amount of fun and a minimum of pain, especially for myself, as I slept through all the scheduled festivities of Sunday, having enjoyed the previous days festivities perhaps a bit too fully starting with a visit to the dyke march. I of course gravitated to the stage area in Dolores Park where I knew I’d find Nancy Kravitz or Mr. Nancy doing what she does so well at street fairs, gay day and other various functions—manage the stage. How does she do it all, tour Europe and Japan playing kick ass bass with her first rate band Fabulous Disaster then return and lend her first rate skills to these big community events. Mr. Nancy is a true organizational Virgo jock, a real asset to events like this and the Folsom street fair for years now. She rules, pure and simple, making our summer seasons rock all that much more. From there I went to Castro street to buy brand new underwear for Gay Day, a little personal tradition and proceeded home to prepare for an event called The Shaft being held at the space formerly known as the Campus Theater in San Francisco’s most fragrant of hoods the tenderloin. The event featured several DJs from various queer rock clubs around town as well as more techno or electronic DJs in the basement, not to mention live sets by Nick Name from LA, Agnes, and our very own four diva-strong drag rock sensation Pepper Spray who were really fun, spinning through a set of familiar and carefully chosen hit songs old and new.
DJ Pinky Ring had just breezed in from LA having worked as a stylist on a new video for Imperial Teen with the extraordinary Steve Lady, a queen whose elegance and class is greatly missed, spending more time in LA than here lately. Pinky Ring was certainly showing no signs of exhaustion as he kept the basement rocking to his unique mix of tacky and hilarious retro-electro excursions. In fact he never sounded better and is definitely my favorite twisted sick fuck DJ sensation in the city. The crowd gathered for this event was really a stellar mix of friendly folks legendary old pals and bratty punks male and female, all having a good time until I couldn’t believe how late it was! Some of the venues dancers spiced up the evening with purely sexy displays and flirtations and I couldn’t help but sense that people in general were heartily imbibing in plenty of drink and drugs with a certain gusto reminiscent of yesteryear, which of course made me feel all warm and fuzzy. I’d say the event was a big success that might bring more similar parties and interests to the only gay strip/porn palace in the city. Good work, folks. So fun in fact that I didn’t feel bad at all about missing Gay Day.