Let's Make Christmas Simple

Let's Make Christmas Simple

I was raised Catholic. I went to Catholic School and attended Mass every Sunday until I was 18 years old. My father and mother were devout Catholics; in fact, I wanted to be a priest till those teenage hormones kicked in. Growing up as a Catholic and Italian, guilt was no stranger, nor was the fear of dying and going to hell. I was indoctrinated into believing that I was born with sin on my soul and must be baptized to erase that sin, otherwise if I should suddenly die, I would end up in limbo and never go to heaven and see the ‘face of God’. Missing Mass on Sundays was a mortal sin and I would go to hell. There were lots of reasons to end up in hell and suffer an eternity of fire. Heavy? You better believe it!

I came to realize that the Church taught that almost anywhere I turned there was the Devil tempting me to commit all kinds of sins because he wanted my soul. How does one deal with all of this? The only way is to become a priest (the kind that does not prefer children), or live a true Catholic life: attend Sunday Mass, attend confession, receive communion, contribute money I couldn’t afford and censor everything I read or watched, as well as my sex life.

When I finally came to my senses, I realized I had been duped.
I read a lot. I also read the Bible. I wanted to see if any of it made sense. By the time I was 27 years old, I had let go of the church and its’ restricted teachings and finally felt free. My family was horrified when I announced that I didn’t believe that Jesus was the son of God or God himself and the Holy Trinity was conceived by men and there was no such thing as the Immaculate Conception. We’ve been scammed all our lives so that the Catholic Church could get rich off our fear.

But through it all I always believed in Christmas, not as a fact, but as an idea – an idea that through the years has been manipulated by greed and merchandizing. I am disgusted by the fact that Christmas has become so commercialized that most of the world has forgotten what it truly means.

If taken literally, when the three wise men came to visit the baby Jesus they brought gifts, small gifts, one from each of them, which through the years has translated into ‘Let the Shopping Begin!’

Let me ask you, is it better to give a child a gift of love that will instill a sense of well being, security, self confidence and happiness which will endure a lifetime, or a video game that will wear out and is often filled with blood and violence and could possibly twist their reasoning? What greater gift then to share the wonder of reading books? Instead of spending money we don’t have to buy stuff that will eventually break or be discarded and teaches nothing, spend time with them, time that will give them memories that will last a lifetime.

Whether you are a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Mormon or any other religion that exists, Christmas can only mean one thing - love. If you want to believe it is Christ’s birthday that’s OK. If you don’t, that’s Ok too.

Let’s change the meaning of Christmas from, ‘let’s shop till we drop’ to ‘whom can I help today’? Wouldn’t it be great if we could continue this selflessness throughout the year?

Let’s let go of the selfishness and the ‘me’ attitude and think of us as one; one color, one religion, one race – the Human Race…. One! It’s so simple.

I wish us all a Happy Holiday and a New Year filled with
Love, Health, Friendship, Generosity, Forgiveness, Abundance, Gratitude and Creativity.

Dom Minasi

Thank You Jerry Springer

I want to thank the right wing media for showing us how and what Middle America thinks. Of course they are not responsible for the way they act. We can thank Jerry Springer for that.

Years ago when I found myself in a bind, I moved in, for a short time, back to my mother’s house. To say the least, this was very traumatic and the slight beginnings of an ulcer. It also was the beginning of a healing between my mother and me that was long overdue.

The house was a two family structure with an apartment upstairs that was rented. I got the spare bedroom in my mother’s first floor level apartment plus the whole finished basement. As a musician/composer and a teaching artist, some of my days started at 8:30 AM and some started about 1PM. Regardless it did not matter. I would awaken about 6:30 AM, have coffee and go to the basement to practice, compose and work on lesson plans for my classes. On the days that I started work late, I would usually go back upstairs and have breakfast with my mother. My mother would get up around 9:30 AM.

This is where the healing happened. We would talk and argue about everything. No topic was left untouched. My mother was not well educated or sophisticated, but she was smart and no one could ‘pull the wool over her eyes’. She loved acting dumb, just so she could see how far someone would go to try and con her. Her greatest line was, I’m just an old lady and I don’t understand things. Bless her soul she understood everything.

My mother was also a racist as well as a was a devout Jesus loving Catholic (sound familiar). She also hated Gay people. I would say to her, Ma! When you come back again, you are coming back as a black gay women. Her attitude was based on fear and not being educated. She did not know any black or Gay people. She had no idea of black families or gay families. If you weren’t Italian, you couldn’t be trusted. The mafia was good and they protected their own.

Before she died, she needed home care. The Universe acts in strange ways. Many of the nurses were black. She became very close with some of them and her attitude changed.

Why am I writing about my mother when I should be writing about Jerry Springer?

It was during those morning get togethers’ and sometime afternoon gatherings that my mother would put on the Jerry Springer Show. I would sit there, keep my mother company while she watched the most despicable people scream, kick, bite, curse, attack, cry and act out like I’ve never seen before. I, who have worked in mafia owned striptease joints and have seen everything, had never watched spectacles such as these. To say the least, I was in shock. My mother would laugh and enjoy this while I would get angry and say, how can you watch this garbage? She learned a lot about all kinds of people from that show. It enforced what her own prejudices.

She would dismiss me, but in my mind these TV programs were not funny. How can people go on TV and act this way? Why did we as an audience allow it and why, to this very day, is this kind if mental midget ness still on the air? We see it in the so-called reality shows and now we see it in the town meetings, Congress and in streets of Washington DC.

When ex president, Jimmy Carters, says he sees it as underlying racism, there is polyphony of voices from the right-wing community. Where was the outrage when New Orleans was devastated by Katrina and it’s citizens left to rot? I personally saw it as racism. What about the lies that got us into a war that cost billions of dollars and American lives? I saw that as the worst kind of dishonesty. How about the profits the insurance and drug companies make or the banks or Black Water or the dishonesty of the right wing Republicans?

Before you can claim dishonesty or lies, you have to be honest and truthful first. To quote a wiser man, “ let he who is without sin throw the first stone’

Let’s see the Republican Party and the right wing conservatives and media own-up before they stir-up!

Everyone in this country has a right to speak up, disagree, march, even shout, but do it with some dignity and self-control. Show respect where it is due. The office of the Presidency demands respect. This president more than any deserves, at the very least, some kind of co-operation and in a dignified manner. You can disagree with every word he says, but disagree properly not like some thug.

Again, we have to thank Jerry Springer. He opened the door for thuggish behavior. He showed the American people how it's done and ‘boy’ did they learn'.

Imagine this, anyone working for Fox News, in order to get hired has to take mandatory classes in:

1.How To Be A Thug and Get Away With It
2.How To Be Rude,
3.How To Lie On The Air and Look Like or Sound Like You’re Telling The Truth,
4.Go Out and Commit A Crime, We’ll Hire You!
5. And the Piece de Résistance you must watch 60 Jerry Springer Shows In One Week

Complete this and you will become a full-fledged Fox News person or better yet, you can work for Russ Limbaugh or get elected to congress!

Again I say, thanks Jerry. You did a great job!

DM

What America Is This

A few months ago, January to be exact, I said I would not write another word about politics’. I was elated that Barack Obama was starting his first term as the first black president and that Democrats had the majority in Congress. This was historical. Finally we will see some light.
Boy was I wrong!

The Democratic Congress turned out to be the do nothing congress and they have let the Republicans walk all over them. For some reason, in my naiveté, I thought we had heard the last of the BS, but we haven’t. Almost every night, there’s Dick Cheney or Karl Rove on TV spouting their rhetoric. Now that Cheney doesn’t have to worry about an upcoming election, he seems to have embraced to his daughter Mary’s lesbianism, and his daughter Liz is on TV almost every night.
Why is Liz on TV, well besides the Torture Thing (we really do not want to get in to that) there's the Birth Certificate thing.

Oh, you mean that’s still going on?

Of course it is. Certain broadcasters and politicians better known as Birthers (I rather they be called Idiots, but that’s just me) are all over the media demanding proof that our President was born in the USA. They contend that he wasn’t and until they see proof of his birth, they will be relentless in their search for the truth. Well proof was provided and yet it was not accepted.
What do you think?

Could it be racism that is really behind this is barrage?

No not in our country! Right! (Sarcasm)

A bunch of white, right wing Christian Republicans can’t stand the fact that we now have a black president in office. Not only is he black, but, he is educated, speaks with intelligence and he has brought honesty and dignity back to the White House. Something the Bush administration was supposed to do. Instead they brought us lies, deception, scandals and shame while they led our Arm Forces into harm’s way. Thousands died while they made their profits and Raked the American People Over the Coals.

This past week out President has been called an angry black racist. Why? Because of a stupid incident that could have been avoided if both parties and Obama would have thought before they spoke Unfortunately it gave the A-holes a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the situation and throw more fuel into the flames.

Why would they do that?

It stands to reason that if they say it more and more, it will take angst off of them and we can re-focus on the President. And you know that the American people are so gullible that if you say something enough times, you make it true. Not only is our President illegally in office, but also he is a angry racist.

How far does this have to go before someone says Stop!

Obama is a very cool guy, he doesn’t address this stupidity, but we as a whole should. How do we address it? Start emailing, calling, write to every congressman, senator, news station and media outlet. Tell them that if they don’t put a stop to this nonsense. We will!

How?

The vote and money speak!

1. Vote the politicians out
2. Turn off the news stations
3. Stop buying the products they advertise.
4. Flood the Internet with youtube visual statements denouncing these politicians and media groups.
5. Create our own media, by ignoring the media that is already out there and refuses to stop talking about this.
6.Blog, Blog, Blog!

There are better things to be concerned about in this country than the garbage they spew and concoct. like the five Christian politicians who belong to a secret society of five. A bible group that is wracked in scandal. One must wonder what they study in this group or do they compare notes to see whom they slept with that week besides their wives.

What America is this?

What happened to the good old days?

Did they ever really exist or has it always been this way and we didn’t know it? Now that we do know and the rest of the world knows too, are we better off for it?

Do we have to know every little thing?

When John Kennedy was having his little affairs at the White House, did we know? No! Were we, and the rest of the world better off for it? Yes !

Do you think that he would have been taken seriously by the Russians if they thought of him an as sex maniac. Would we, as a nation trusted him less?

Bill Clinton who was in my estimation a great president, but because of his stupid indiscretions and media frenzy, is still laughed at and hated by many. Yet that same many who hate him, neglect to see the same stupid ness and indiscretions in their own party. No wonder we are laughed at by the rest of the world. We have become a Jerry Springer Society where gossip, scandal and celebrity are a steady diet fed to us by idiots.

What America is this, that I, a virtually non- existent entity in this enormous spectrum of political madness, am compelled to write this and speak out? And why aren’t we as a nation horrified at what the Russ Limbaugh’s are spewing on the pubic?

What America is this that has taken one of our own precious rights, free speech, and turned it against us?

What America is this?

What America is this?

Dom Minasi: a concerned citizen