We live in an era when many are quick to condemn and ridicule glamorous aspects of philanthropic events in this town to perpetuate the notion that societal elite are oblivious to the times that we live in and the challenges facing the every man. Despite a focus on financial industry miscues, among the greater minds at large in the business and financial services community, there is in fact a very real sense of the interconnectedness of our lives.

The Financial Services Cares Gala to Benefit the American Cancer Society

On the eve of the upcoming Financial Services Cares Gala, I head downtown to Lower Manhattan’s World Financial Center to the office of John W. Thiel, Head of U.S. Wealth Management and the Private Banking and Investment Group for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management.  As an advocate for finding a cure for cancer, Mr. Thiel serves as chairman of the Manhattan Region Financial Services Cares Board of the American Cancer Society. He also serves as a Trustee on the Board of Florida State University’s Foundation. Thiel, along with Black Rock, the largest asset management firm in the world, will be honored  at The American Cancer Society’s 7th Annual Financial Services Cares Gala on Monday, June 18, 2012 at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City. He will receive the 2012 Eugene D. O’Kelly Award.  I wanted to speak to the man who rose from humble Midwestern roots to lead a distinguished career in public accounting and the insurance industry to come to lead Merrill Lynch, the very firm whose history is tied to the democratization of capitalism. History buffs will note that the founder, Charles Merrill helped bring Wall Street to Main Street allowing ordinary Americans to obtain equity stake in the industries that built this country. As goes Merrill Lynch so goes Main Street has been a truism most of my life.

When I finally met with Thiel, he played down the significance of the award personally, emphasizing instead the significance of the night, “the spotlight is on New York, and the financial services community is all here.” Expected to be in attendance are many of Thiel’s industry competitors. I wondered frankly what he thought of this, would there be tension? Despite the competition, Thiel emphasized that there is mutual respect among and for many in the industry, “it’s one night to put the gloves away and rally for the American Cancer Society.”

Thiel has arrived at his station in life through discipline, principled hard work, long term planning, centered on the fundamentals, which has given the man a strong long game not just in the investment game but in life. Thiel has lived and worked through professionally, the lessons of the economic downturns of the early 90’s, the tech bubble and the most recent financial crisis, only to emerge stronger and more well regarded in the industry and by his peers.  He arrived in a post 9/11 New York City, in 2005 during a period of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty at a time we were still licking our wounds and trying to move forward, before we were rocked once again by the financial collapse of 2008.  Where many others pursue pipe dreams and engage in wishful thinking in boom times, hoping only to be lucky, Thiel’s approach perhaps emanates from his years in public accounting and the memory of what it was like to be broke and to have to map pursuit of the American Dream from Ground Zero. He gets it and what the every man feels.

BULLISH ON: John Thiel’s Philanthropic Commitment

Sitting in the chief’s World Financial Center offices on a bright sunny day with the Statue of Liberty in the distance and the rising World Trade Center to his back, the revitalization of Lower Manhattan in full bloom, I found it hard not to be bullish on Mr. Thiel and Merrill Lynch. John Thiel is a centered and principled gentleman with a steady view of the world, a genuinely warm and engaging demeanor and a sincere humility that evidences the core of his character. Frankly, he is a man better than his resume or the simple summary of his life accomplishments, one who glossed over rather humbly his Horatio Alger like background to focus on what matters to him most:  the eradication of cancer and specifically the never ending work of the American Cancer Society. Thiel has motivated those in the orbit of his life to commit ‘to create a world with less cancer and more birthdays.’ A year since my mom  passed at the Hope Hospice in Cape Coral,  Florida, and there is nothing I would do to celebrate one more birthday with her. Thiel’s fight is not simply good business, the right thing to do or even noble; it is simply personal to him and that is what matters most.

Thiel is a man who has progressed because he seems possessed of the same steely determination and optimism of folks like Larry Silverstein who forged beyond the hassles of rebuilding and those who questioned whether it could be done and done better, to convert many former and existing opponents of the rebuilding process, who saw a reinstallation of the former Twin Towers as the only conceivable alternative. I know because I was one of them. And though I deeply respect the work of the Twin Towers Alliance and hoped myself to see a version of the iconic Twin Towers rise again, I must acknowledge that in my heart,  as is being documented by Project Rebirth, I do believe Lower Manhattan is finally rising in a manner that we can be proud.

Perhaps in the end, the best leaders don’t simply pander to the average man’s sentiments but help us all to evolve by guiding us with their leadership. Thiel is a man with both the character and poise to lead the rise of the financial community from a troubling era where capitalists, community and political leaders and average citizens all point the finger of blame at one another, to a new dawn and a more prosperous tomorrow.  Sometimes the best New Yorker’s arrive here from….. some place else. With all due respect to Julie Menin, John Thiel, is also one of the reason’s Wall Street [is] Rising.

Thiel is one of many untold stories in this great metropolis that put better in context how, during a time of turmoil and flatter profit margins, an abiding humanity underlies the commitment of business leaders to sustain and fortify a modern society by keeping many philanthropic and cultural institutions in the black. From the illumination, education and cultural enlightenment of our children, to providing opportunity and upward mobility, critical health care and other transitional services to members of our community in need, the work of philanthropically inclined citizens in the financial sector, like John Thiel, forges onward in the occupy humanity movement.

“The Road to the gates of Heaven is not paved with the dishonor of creating further injustice through self righteousness here on earth about god’s will with respect to the gay community. Bigotry is furthermore an economic drain on society, unless you think the work of gay capitalists, entrepreneurs, blue collar workers, professionals and creatives is not part of the GDP, so please do not try to tell me that the economy and gay marriage are separate issues. The civil rights of all of our citizens and all of god’s children are relevant to the progress of our nation.”    – Christopher London (2012)

Equal Rights For Gays Do Not Undermine the Rights of Non-Gays

This past week, the President of the United States of America, for the first time stated publicly and unequivocally, directly from the White House, his support of marriage equality for same sex couples. This was truly a watershed event in the civil rights movement for the LGBT Community that traces its rise to the Stonewall Riots in New York City in 1969.    Opponents of marriage equality, traditionalists and those guided by traditional family values ought to relax, recognize and comprehend that gay marriage has not bee mandated upon straight people. I am pretty sure that straight folks are still free to be straight, marry and procreate with members of the opposite sex. Those who are not gay certainly remain free to live their own lives in accordance to their interpretation of biblical law. Even those of us who are of the belief that gay pairings fly in the face of God’s natural law must recognize and understand that no where in scripture or elsewhere has God licensed individual citizens to enforce the power and judgment of God upon individual citizens.  To do so would also be in further contravention of equal rights under the law under the U.S. Constitution, which is actually the ruling document of this nation.

God’s Law Should be Enforced by God not Moralists who Claim to Speak for God

If gays are truly living unholy lives not in accordance with God’s law, and God is to render any kind of judgment therefor, he or she can do it in his or or her own time. You and I both are alleviated of performing God’s role here on this earth and should thus be  liberated to focus on your own life, and not the private life of your neighbor. The exercise and pursuit of  so called traditional family values ought not to stand in defiance of exhibiting humanity towards our fellow citizens. With all due respect to the eloquent Tony Perkins,  a conservative politician who heads the Family Research Council, I respect those among us who fight to insure that families and children of this nation receive their rightful priority in our national agenda both in terms of sustaining our civilization and working towards creating more humane environments for our nation’s children and their parents.  Your role in that regard is valid to a point.  You are not God. God has not licensed you to determine how our citizens should be treated under the law of the land which is the U.S. Constitution.  When you thus take things a step further to prevent gay people from marrying and committing to one another, challenging their individual liberty, that is a manipulative distraction and definitely not the key to vaulting America into leading the world.  Doing so will not further stabilize traditional families but only lead to greater tension and societal instability.   Am I my brother’s keeper? Yes I am, but I am certainly not his overlord. Nevertheless, I must love him as I would myself. Forward and onward my fellow Americans.

FORWARD: Weaving & Mending the Tapestry of American Life

The political debate in America ought to be about how to get business thriving, how our country can compete better in a more competitive global economy, how we can elevate the forgotten pockets in the Appalachian region where our countrymen are hurting from the impact of globalization, how we can repair urban blight and social decay while building the security of the middle class and luring the elite of the world who live in more oppressive environments in other countries to come get their educations and fulfill their entrepreneurial dreams here in America. We can better Rebuild America and ‘Drive America Forward’ but luring the top talent from around the world to build their dreams in our nation.  We should invite and allow the world’s elite minds and souls to weave themselves in and become part of America’s tapestry. New York City should commit itself to being the model city for the best and brightest the world over and then it can serve as a shining example to the rest of the country that differences among people are not to be feared but perhaps celebrated.

The challenges we face as a nation are different ones in some respects than we faced before. New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s thought process on enlightened immigration policy is one which needs to be examined, understood and embraced. New York is where it is in 2012, regardless of one’s critique of the Mayor on individual issues because he was forward thinking on a grand scale and he also ultimately came to embrace aspects of the Giuliani legacy, even in times where the cities coffers were less flush with cash than they were in the 1990’s. That post 9/11 New York City did not slip into a 1970’s abyss is testament to New York City’s political leadership. Consider that the Mayor has as many critics on the right and on the left and I would say that when you infuriate folks on all sides you are in all likelihood striving to do what is best for the whole of society. To that I say Mazel Tov. Do I agree with every decision made by every leader? Hardly, but I see merit often in the grander mosaic and vision. We are all human and we all fail and succeed.  I am a New Yorker, I have seen the best and the worst in my lifetime over the last 50 years and was informed by those in my family who were here at the turn of the last century. Frankly, I think we are lucky to have had the Mayoral leadership that we have had for the last 20 years. That is just New York.

On a national level, we ought not fighting about how to prevent some folks who relate to the same sex differently than the majority of us do from partnering with one another, so that they too can be liberated to fight the fights that matter and also be focused in elevating our society. The LGBT Community and immigrants to America alike contribute to the economic vitality, prosperity and spiritual core of this country whether you like it or not and whether you respect how they live. And truthfully, why should we be at all concerned or shall I say be pre-occupied with denying the LGBT Community equality? How will it advance America to remove from the team certain folks by reclassifying them as lesser Americans?

BIGOTRY = An Economic Drain on Society

Is the American way ‘truth and justice for all’ or only for some? Which is it?  And please do not try to tell me that the economy and gay marriage are separate issues, (see:  the position taken by GOP: ‘GOP: Economy tops gay marriage as campaign issue’) for  I would argue that they are intertwined. A divided society is less productive ultimately. Bigotry is thus an economic drain on society. Intolerance and injustice are very much tied to the economy because it unsettles otherwise productive members of society from their pursuits in life that drive the economy to defend their station as citizens of this land.  As we seek to move this nation forward, it is important and perhaps critical to consider that economically speaking, the LGBT Community is a somewhat vital contributor to the nation’s economy and our Gross National Product (GNP). Unless you think that the work of gay capitalists, entrepreneurs, professionals and creatives is not part of the GNP or GDP, you might want to consider that gays make steady contributions to society by working in Science, Technology, Venture Capital & Finance, Manufacturing, Entertainment, Medicine, Law, Academia, Publishing, the Arts, Theater, Fashion etc. Many members of the LGBT Community own enterprises that employ gays and non-gays alike. And many are significant philanthropists funding causes near and dear to many of us who seem to be less sympathetic to their shared desire for equal standing.  Don’t believe me? Ask the owners of restaurants and hotels, wedding planners, florists, photographers in your own community whether gay marriage is useful for their business.

Think twice before you condone the idea of treating members of the LGBT Community as lesser Americans. Maybe if you do, then all those “homo’s” will move overseas and build the economy of other nations and America can be a productive “gay free” nation like……. IRAN.  Productive members of society should not have to expend time and effort defending their sexuality and the manner in which they love from citizens who believe that God has given them license to discriminate. If they do, we all lose.

Rational Discourse vs. Dehumanization Tactics

This is why regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent you have to appreciate that Barack Obama, the sitting  President of the United States has finally stated public support for marriage equality.  Obama has evolved like many of us, myself included, continue to on this issue.  This does not mean that there are not thoughtful and rational arguments to challenge any candidate for high office or his or her re-election effort.  President Obama is not above reproach as a leader and like any sitting leader deserves to be challenged.  There is nothing wrong with having a legitimate policy debate and bringing it to the American people. The case against the Obama Presidency all to often has been made on false terms and via use of dehumanizing code words and divisive and ridiculous rhetoric that appeals to our fears and not to our intellect. Andrew Sullivan in the Daily Beast, makes some valid points in a piece wherein he postures that Obama’s long game may end up out smarting all of his critics:

“The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he’s a wimp. The attacks from both the right and the left on the man and his policies aren’t out of bounds. They’re simply—empirically—wrong.”

Where  I take further issue is when that debate degenerates into blaming this President for every misfortune befallen to the people of this land, as if we were in such a stellar place in 2008, and then further attempt to  radicalize a President who inherited a country in the verge or in the midst of economic collapse and at a major crossroads,  by dehumanizing him and referring to him as a radical socialist, terrorist Muslim sympathizer, a thug and not cut of the same American cloth but different and then further when all else fails, through the use of angry white male’s rhetoric of last resort….gay bashing and inferences of ‘you’re so gay’.  A perfect example of gay bashing is yesterday’s cheap shot at President Obama by Senator Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), whose testicles I would personally like to stuff down his down throat, for playing to his own ignorance and those listening to him with his cheap shot on the President. Then again that is just me as I usually find that men of such ilk don’t have the balls to truly refer to themselves as “Men”.

As reported in the LA Times: U.S. Senator Rand Paul remarked on President Obama’s decision to publicly support same-sex marriage by saying, “Call me cynical, but I wasn’t sure his views on marriage could get any gayer.”

Senator Paul’s juvenile remark only illustrated for the wider public the depth of the man’s ignorance and undermined the stature he was building in wider society, at least in my eyes, by effectively dismissing the President with all the veiled disrespect of calling someone a silly or “stupid homo.”

The Road to Heaven is Not Paved by Injustice & Self Righteousness

We ought not, however, to be engaged in these unproductive battles to differentiate rights between citizens based on their sexual preference. We need to move beyond unproductive and divisive dialoque’s on these wedge issues so that the entire country is charging forward in all cylinders. That is the America I want to live in. My values may in many cases be far more traditional but nevertheless should not traditional values embody loving all those that are different than you or me? Are we not all God’s children? I do not profess to know what is God’s plan or the path to heaven, if it exists, or what kind of life  is the most holy, and I have and will continue to make every conceivable mistake there is to make in the remainder of my time here on earth, but I do not think that the road to the gates of heaven is paved with the dishonor of creating further injustice through one’s own self anointed self righteousness and judgment exhibited thereby, here on this earth, towards the gay community – and about what other consenting adults should be doing or not doing behind closed doors and who they cannot help loving. And yes that is an evolution for me as well.

Forward:  With More Humanity, Love,  Sanity & Tolerance

As stated to me by another one of my enlightened female role models: “We groom our generations to want more, do less, take as much as you can and give as little as possible.” So instead maybe we should come to be happy with preserving our health, taking responsibility for ourselves and the community we live in and commit to loving and supporting family units of all kinds and commit to building a more humane society over all and at least figure out what we can do to make our society more humane and just and spread our love to more and more of our fellow citizens. I think only great things can come from spending more time loving our fellow man than judging him.

It seems so simple on so many levels and so utterly achievable if we as Americans appeal to our better angels rather than fermenting politics of division.

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See also

-The True Colors Fund: The True Colors Fund was co-founded by Cyndi Lauper to inspire and engage everyone, especially straight people, to become active participants in the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality and to raise awareness about and bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. For more information please visit: http://www.truecolorsfund.org

-Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast – Barack Obama’s Gay Marriage Evolution

-NPR Interviews Andrew Sullivan on Obama’s Support of Gay Marriage: Obama’s ‘Marriage’ Move Is ‘Conservative’ and He ‘Let Go Of The Fear’

-Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast – How Obama’s Long Game Will Outsmart His Critics

-Bruce Gottlieb, The Atlantic – Of Course Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance Is Political—So What?

-Michele Weiser, Boston.com – OPINION: Obama Supports Gay Marriage… So What?

-Politico, Cyndi Lauper Loves Obama’s True Colors

-NY Times, P. Baker & R Swarns – After Obama’s Decision on Marriage, a Call to Pastors

-Daily Kos: An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America

This past week President Obama, in a White House interview with Robin Roberts of ABC News, made big news with a historic pronouncement of his support of marital equality for same sex couples, i.e., gay marriage. While the coverage in this part of the world of the President’s evolution on marriage equality for same sex couples, has been largely well received, skeptics and cynics remain, even among some progressive voices like Mike Lupica of the Daily News who penned a column ‘Obama does right thing on gay marriage, but won’t score much’ and Lady Bunny who asked readers of the Huffington Post in a blog “Am I the Only Gay Who Eyes Obama’s ‘Evolution’ on Gay Marriage With Suspicion?”

While Lupica may ultimately be right, it is likely for the posture assumed by Lady Bunny that cast aspersions on the President for not going far enough. And that is truly disheartening. Maureen Dowd in the NY Times (after this piece was initially written) also condemned the President emphasizing as follows:

“Why doesn’t he just do the exhilarating thing immediately? Why does he always have to be dragged kicking and screaming to principle? Not everything is a calculation. His embrace of gay marriage was not a profile in courage. It was good, better than continued “evolving,” but not particularly brave. He has been in office three and a half years and he is running for re-election, trying to bring back the thrill with a lot of constituencies and donors who felt let down by his temporizing. Who knows how long he might have kept evolving, while his advisers gamed it out, if Joe Biden, Arne Duncan and Shaun Donovan hadn’t forced his hand by speaking out in such an unabashed way in support of same-sex marriage.”

My answer to Mike Lupica, Lady Bunny and Maureen Dowd is the same.  President Obama is the President of the entire country. He is not in the same position as New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg or Governor Andrew Cuomo.  The simple reality is that he cannot brow beat the entire nation on this issue because the nation is still evolving.  The simple reality is also that he cannot govern if he cannot get re-elected. He inherited a host of complex problems along with a cynical, distrustful and volatile electorate that has had several years of being steadily massaged by the activist right demonizing Obama for his inability to solve instantly every problem created by his predecessors who have  demonized him for his different’ness and branding him a traitor, a terrorist Islamic sympathizer and and a socialist, among other things.   Rick Santorum essentially referred to him as a “Nigger”,  a “Government Nigger” and now Senator Rand Paul, essentially called him a homo by saying that “he did not think Obama’s views on marriage could be any gayer.” Under these circumstances,  I could see why he might be slow to evolve to a position which might give the forces of intolerance in battleground states and an engaged and well funded opponent one more issue to brand him with, ‘gay’.  As stated by Andrew Sullivan, “Of Course Obama’s Gay Marriage Stance is Political – So What?” And yes, maybe he is cooler than this guy.

The people, a friend of mine, has referred to as the “Whiners” ought to recognize because of how entrenched are forces against marriage equality that the President’s symbolic statement of support for gay marriage is in fact historic. It does not mean, however, the battle is over.  The President’s role as leader is to persuade folks and get them to come along with him and not to brow beat those who disagree with him. The leader of the free world has endorsed marriage equality. Like it or not, the votes to make marital equality the law of the land are not there yet.  As aptly stated by Scott Raphael, a commenter on Gawker in a pieced entitled ‘Barack Obama’s Bullshit Gay Marriage Announcement’:

“The moral issue is totally black and white. The social issue of getting folks to accept it is not, and will take time. You can’t expect a politician to commit career suicide when he is in a position to actually continue to make slow progress on the issue in his second term. It’s foolish to think it’s even a good idea to!”

Or by another commenter:

“As few as five years ago, a sitting president vocalizing support for gay marriage was a pipe dream. I too want *more* and *now*. However, that desire does not negate the fact that Obama has probably done more for LGBTQ rights than any other president in history. I’m not suggesting that we should now sit by complacently; rather, I’m suggesting that we be appropriately thankful for powerful allies while we work to continue the momentum.”

Andrew Sullivan in a piece entitled: “How Obama’s Long Game will Outsmart His Critics” perhaps fills in the gaps of understanding for the so called whiners who complain about Obama’s timing:

“The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he’s a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all.”

Obama is the first black President facing a significant reelection challenge in uncertain, if not turbulent times, and yet he dares to pronounce his evolution on one of the biggest wedge issues of our time in terms of support for gay marriage in a bold fashion and and that only merits a passing nod by Lupica for playing follow the leader to Cuomo and recrimination from Gawker,  Lady Bunny for not going far enough and Maureen Dowd of the NY Times for being too calculated. Really? WTF! Gay Conservative writer, Andrew Sullivan gets it. Why can’t you? What freaking planet are you on?  In the blunt words of Sarah Silverman, quoting Newark Mayor Cory Booker, stated:

Gay marriage, she said, “is something that Newark Mayor Cory Booker said it best: Some things are not meant to be a vote. Some things are a right. And if things like that were left for a vote, he said, I wouldn’t be where I am today – meaning anything that is civil rights. Because people don’t always know what’s best. Their fears keep them from being open and being fair. And so that would just be not up for a vote.”  “Gay marriage, legal, with a big fucking apology for the past few years,” she added.

True Colors: Obama A True Leader According to Cyndi Lauper

I offer the statement of recording artist Cyndi Lauper, also a co-founder of  The True Colors Fund, in response to President Obama’s public support of marriage equality:

“President Obama continues to be a true leader for equality and I have never been prouder to call him my president than I am today. The president’s support of marriage equality gives hope and encouragement to the millions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people who feel ostracized and alone.  The words of the president have reinforced that they are worthy of dignity, respect, and love – just like everyone else. As a supporter of the president and a longtime advocate for young gay and lesbian Americans, I am thrilled about today’s news and I’m looking forward to my visit to Capitol Hill, where I will tomorrow appeal to members of Congress to fund programs supporting our homeless LGBT youth.”

The President expressing his evolution on this matter in what is expected to be an extremely close election in uncertain times, frankly illustrates some cajones that Mr. Lupica and Lady Bunny could have been a tad more gracious in acknowledging, especially given the volatile polls. Obama needs the votes of voters across the United States, Cuomo and Bloomberg needed the votes in New York State and New York City respectively.

President Obama clearly deserves more credit than he will get from some corners in America. New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo deserves credit for leading the way on passage of marital equality in New York as does Mike Bloomberg for being an outspoken supporter of gay rights. New York  is, however, one of the most progressive states in America.  In the end,  Cuomo’s stance in support of marital equality elevated Cuomo’s stature.  Obama’s evolution will make Andrew Cuomo seem even more mainstream nationally, if he runs for the Presidency in 2016 as many suspect he will. This is no knock on Andrew Cuomo nor does not make what he did any less righteous or significant. The foregoing being said, do not let anyone tell you that President Obama came forth to pronounce his evolution on gay marriage for political gain. It is not clear in the short term rush for votes, whether the President’s evolution and historic pronouncement helps him in his re-election effort. Despite marital equality having majority support in the wider population of the country, the President’s position poses a far greater risk to his re-election effort than it did to Cuomo’s or Bloomberg’s standing in New York. In North Carolina, a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage defining marriage as solely between a man and a woman, recently passed by a 61%-39% margin. As stated by Christian Science Monitor, ‘North Carolina gay-marriage vote could hurt Obama reelection bid’.

North Carolina is a key battleground state Obama hopes to win and ironically, the 2012 Democratic Convention will be held in Charlotte this summer. The President’s position risks alienating a wide swath of the national electorate that has been misled on this wedge issue for political gain by his opponents in the GOP for years.  The President has done what few before him have, risked his Presidency on doing the righteous thing. Those who take risks for equality of all citizens deserve to have the rest of us stand along side them.

OBAMA’S Principled Stand vs. The Latter Day Joseph Smith: A Mormon Con-Man

In my estimation, President Obama thus deserves the unequivocal support of anyone who claims to stand for equal rights in America. If you truly believe in equal rights for all citizens then you must support the President and not someone like Mitt Romney who is a truly hollow man, a political charlatan and Mormon Madoff who has shape-shifted all over the political spectrum on this issue, including manipulating LGBT activists while seeking higher office in Massachusetts, only to stab the LGBT Community and pivot to the right to raise his national profile with conservatives and position himself for a run for the Presidency. As I have stated previously in a post on Cape Cod Today:

“Romney’s carefully nuanced position on gay rights is politically expedient and depends on whether he is running for the Senate, governor of Massachusetts or seeking the Republican nomination for President.”

And in essence that is perhaps the reason for Matt Drudge’s bromance with Mitt Romney, which allows him to forgive Romney’s insincerity and complete and total lack of integrity, including the lack of candor by the Mormon Bishop regarding  his LDS Cult’s high profile support of Proposition 8 in California and his regular and ongoing consultations on social issues, with high brass at the Utah based Mormon Church of Latter Day Saints.   This is  something that should dishearten not just ex-Mormon’s manipulated by the mind control tactics and spiritual indoctrination and repression by the LDS Mormon Cult but those who have gotten a troubling glimpse behind the Mormon Curtain and who do not share its values, which is an over whelming majority of Americans. That a hollow man with no core principles or values is running for President on shifting platitudes and who has been less than candid about the depth of his spiritual guidance and control by  an institution which has been exposed as a fraud by people related to him (i.e., see:  Park Romney, a cousin of Mitt Romney and a Mormon apostate) is a major concern.

Traditional Values & Christian Upbringing Are Not in Conflict with Gay Rights

Truth told, I was raised Catholic in New York City by a family with more traditional values with very little connection to or exposure to the gay community, aside from picking up the Village Voice, listening to the Village People or reading generically about people I never crossed paths with; the gay world and even the gay pride movement was largely a caricature for me.  In 1969, I was more consumed with the Amazing Mets than I was knowledgeable or old enough to even understand that the Stonewall Riots represented a turning point in Gay & Lesbian Liberation and the commencement in earnest of the LGBT Movement.   Furthermore, I  spent my summers in the 1970’s at Camp Good News, a Christian summer camp in New England, the very same one that Senator Scott Brown attended at a time that he claimed in his book to have been molested as a child. I then also attended an affiliated camp known as Chop Point in the town of Woolwich, Maine. My experience at both camps was not at all like that of Scott Brown.  Even so, despite all I learned at those places and at St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church,  I developed an inclination towards Jewish women and an appreciation to an almost fetish degree for those who came from different backgrounds and life experience than my own.  My father grew up in a rather prominent family based in Armenia, Quindio in Colombia, South America and grew up  in somewhat of a life of privilege compared to my mother who grew up in a working class Italian/German family in Chelsea back before it was hip, trendy and gay and more of a working class neighborhood that was an extension of Hell’s Kitchen.

HUMANITY: We Are All God’s Children

My parents always reminded me that the beggar on the street, the homeless man or blind woman was no different than me. And likewise, they also reminded me that just because a man lives in a big house and has attained all the trappings of professional and material success and wealth, it did not mean that said individual did not also suffer the same pains of the every man. Everyone takes hits in life.  Some get knocked down and out.  Some come back and some who seem to lead more privileged lives suffer experience untold pain and suffering.

My parents although they came from different socioeconomic backgrounds and ultimately divorced, reinforced in me that the best they could do was prepare me so when the hit came to me whether it was disease, financial misfortune or bankruptcy, career impasse, challenge or failure or even heart break that I would be filled with the love and belief in myself to come back.

God’s Little Green Apples Always There to Remind Me

And then it happened. I took a fall, a precipitous one. I went through that journey of the dark night of the soul. I gave up on myself.  In the midst of all this personal life drama, a strange thing happened, my eyes opened. When you walk in another man’s shoes you begin to understand, understand how the other man feels and how he sees the world. It is surely an interesting vantage point and it made me stronger but it is not a place I am in any rush to head back to. My parents theories were validated. In my climb back from the abyss I will never forget the random acts of kindness, in particular those of the most “Christian” like in spirit, some of whom were members of the LGBT Community and who had no reason to help me.  I remember those frankly more than the judgments of the less than gracious I incurred during my descent. So maybe when you see a drunk, a beaten woman, a stupid whore, a retard or a ‘fucking homo’ ….what I see is one of God’s children there to remind me I am just like every single one of them. That my friends is why people different than you cross your path, to remind you. The LGBT Community is there to remind us that we still do not have equal rights for all citizens. And that is something that no American should take pride in.

Given my upbringing, I too once held steadfast in my belief that marriage was a life commitment/contract exclusively between a man and woman.  It was easy for me because that is how I saw the world and assumed it always worked,  even if I came to see far too many often weasel out of their commitments in unscrupulous ways. Nevertheless, in all the time I attended Catholic Church, religious instruction, Christian Camp and some Protestant masses and even Jewish temples or in my studies of the bible and Christian theology  in college, for some reason I never came across that section that outlined my right to stand in judgment to deny my fellow man or woman equal rights under the law because they happened to love a member of the same sex. This is so, even though I had not evolved like Obama has and was myself uncomfortable with aspects of gay life and rationalized that civil unions were sufficient. The label to me is less relevant if you simply confer the same legal rights to couples who contract and commit to one another.  I was an economics major who also studied religion and philosophy in college. At one point, I even contemplated converting to Judaism but again I saw nothing there. Then again,  I do not profess to be any rabbinical scholar. I even long believed that certain faith and family organizations, posing as impartial  “family advocates” who sought to protect the family unit were actually doing so, even though they passed judgment that some types of families were some how less.  I do not see how anybody who truly loves and supports the security of children would want children who are under someone like Rosie O’Donnell’s care, not to have that care because she is a Lesbian.

To the learned scholars out there, including those who claim to be closer to god than me perhaps  maybe because you think being over 6 feet tall to my 5′11″ is the reason you are closer to heaven,  but please give me the section and page number in any religious scripture where God has given individual citizens power of attorney and license to anoint oneself God’s spokesperson in order to discriminate against another one of God’s children. If gays are truly living unholy lives not in accordance with god’s law, then let god deal with it in due course and focus on your own life.

Huckleberry Huckabee Wanders off the Farm

You may even be a Huckabee who got his own show on Fox. But to me, when you send out fundraising blasts shortly after the President stands for equal rights for all citizens and you decide that is some sort of a call to arms and ‘defining issue’ for the coming election,  in my mind that makes you simply  simply a divisive Huckleberry who wandered too far off the farm in Arkansas.  May I remind you Sir, of your own former oral fixation? O.k. relax I am not inferring anything regarding  a penchant for sauseech. I understand that fixation was for Apple Pie, Pork Chops and Fried Chicken. I can relate. God knows I wished I could keep my own mouth wired shut at times, as much as others have tried to do it for me. But nevertheless the over weight have also been subjected to discrimination. Why as a former unpopular fat man can’t you see the LGBT Community as the unpopular fat kids?

If I have more authority and am somehow more equal than someone else please let me know because my ego wants me to  believe that I might be better than some of you, whether I am more fabulous or not. You see, I look at my fellow man, rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, fit, fat or skinny, male or female, gay, straight, bisexual or transgender and what I see is a human being with skin and bones who breathes, bleeds, laughs and cries and feels pleasure and pain, just like me. Life will kick us all in the ass sometimes. We don’t have to give it any assistance in that regard.

When a man beats a woman or when someone calls someone a retard, a drunk, a homo, a whore et al etc., know this, if you are so religious, how do you know that homo, that whore, retard or drunk is not Jesus or God himself? God did not create Human Pinata’s for some of us to take swipes at. America is not some scene out of Clockwork Orange. It’s easy to love people just like you, but can you love people not like you? If you don’t already, you need to learn to. It is 2012,  ignorance and contempt for your fellow man is what holds us back as a people.

My friends, I can’t wait for the day that the political prostitutes can no longer conquer and divide us on wedge issues but instead only appeal to our better angels. Until that time and perhaps to assure that time comes about sooner rather than later, I say support Obama’s re-election because he is the only candidate in the race who won’t compromise on equality to obtain the votes of the unenlightened and to keep them that way.  The enlightened must stand with him and along side him, as well as march to the polls in record numbers  this coming fall.

Time to get to work. The LGBT Community is still there to remind me there is work to do. Now they should be reminded to get all in and behind the President.

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The True Colors Fund was co-founded by Cyndi Lauper to inspire and engage everyone, especially straight people, to become active participants in the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality and to raise awareness about and bring an end to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth homelessness. For more information please visit: http://www.truecolorsfund.org

My friends, I must confess that I was born of Queens and was raised  and lived among Kings & Queens….counties, that is; a veritable Earl of Sheepshead Bay and one time Prince of Kew Gardens and perhaps even a King of Corona, long before ‘Me and Julio [were spotted] down by the school yard’, at P.S. 14 on Otis Avenue or even at the Corona Ice King (raspberry or cherry please) or striking balls with bats in the national pastime down at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  On a side note, though we thought we were wonderfully talented we had no Tom Terrific from our favorite local franchise of fellow Metropolitan’s among us. In those days a Cosmopolitan was a a magazine for women. Today, however, we can all happily drink from the same vines as  Tom Seaver, Mr. George Thomas Seaver – to be polite, in a full bodied product from the Seaver Vineyards as if every day was a simply amazing one in 1969.

I am thus a man of Bridge & Tunnel nobility and a veritable Royal Class of New Yorkers, a regular reader of New York’s Hometown Newspaper and “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” Please do know of course that I have never sought to trade off that standing and have instead settled for walking among the people, along side of folks like you.

Truth  told, my preferred carriage or mode of transport was always rather regal. My taste in that regard has not changed.  In my youth it was the D, E & F trains. In later years when I came to reside on the other side of the moat in Manhattan, I took the green numbered cars of 4,5 & 6 while living in Carnegie Hill for the better part of a decade, and even the Red ones of 1,2 & 3 (much like I took the Red Line and the Green Line while living in the Boston/Cambridge areas during my days in New England) when I moved to the Upper West Side/Morningside Heights. Notably, in recent years, due to the works of quintessential New York leaders like the former Mayor of New York City, a Prince of the City who led the turnaround of New York City and who later came  to be known as America’s Mayor in  Rudolph W. Giuliani and the Alliance of Guardian Angels led by Curtis Sliwa, my means of transport has been increasingly secure, with minimal risk of stage coach robberies which Americans of an earlier age were subjected to while traveling in or across this region.*  (*Note: Yes,  there are critics and more nuanced views of the Giuliani legacy, yet whatever one thinks, lessons due remain for future leaders who will look to aspects of his success referenced in Fred Siegel: “The Prince of the City: Giuliani, New York and the Genius of American Life” to shape their governance. This legacy has continued under Commissioner Raymond Kelly and Mayor Mike Bloomberg, one of the greatest philanthropists in this period of American history, even though their leadership styles have been different.)

This is simply how I roll as a man of privilege, class and style.  Yet, in this whole debate about the 1% vs. the 99%, sometimes the shortsighted acts of others simply force me to accept that I simply  might be a tad better than both — at times.  Capische?

Despite the royal lineage referenced herein and previous coverage of fundraising affairs of the Central Park Conservancy, I found myself on the outside looking in this past week as I was denied for  the first time in the past 8 years as the Editor & Founder of ManhattanSociety.com,  the opportunity to cover the famed FLO Luncheon or Hat Luncheon, one of the more regal fundraisers for the Central Park Conservancy hosted by the Women’s Committee. It had me wondering whether it was my association with one of the parks in the outer boroughs that cost me my societal standing with an elite group of proud Upper East Side Manhattanites committed to the maintenance of the people’s park at the heart of our metropolis. Why a private non-profit, managing a space in the public trust would choose to manage, control or limit social or society press that had afforded it and its benefactors and honorees traditionally positive coverage, in such a manner is curious. But I diverge and will explore this in my next blog post.

Mother & Son, Circa 1999

Women are on my mind these days. I am well aware of the many challenges women face still in America and around the world. But for me it is even more personal.  It has been a year since my mother was diagnosed with Lung Cancer which spread to her spine and brain and took her life shortly thereafter in the Summer of 2011. Yesterday was Central Park Conservancy’s FLO Luncheon which for the first time in 8 years, my website, ManhattanSociety.com did not receive an invitation to cover it despite our prior coverage being widely perceived as favorable (that story will be laid out in a coming blog post so do return for some juicy details), but on Thursday, May 3rd I will be at Cipriani 42nd Street to cover the 2012 Women Who Care Luncheon: A Benefit for United Cerebral Palsy of New York City which will honor many women, including a special lady I have a great deal of respect for in Patricia Duff (see also: NNDB, IMDB, Blog) who founded and heads an organization called The Common Good which is covered regularly by ManhattanSociety.com, including most recently a discussion with Gloria Steinem along with a screening of  “Gloria: In Her Own Words.” On May 8th I will be at the New York Historical Society’s Strawberry Festival Luncheon will honor Chelsea Clinton. And then on May 10th the New York Women’s Foundation will host the 25th Annual Celebrating Women Breakfast honoring among others Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. And then on May 13, 2012 it is Mother’s Day.  Given all of the foregoing, I would expect that my mother would want me  to reflect and honor her life by being striving to be a better man each day that I am alive and following the lessons taught me from her own life.

Who Am I?

I have been asked on a number of occasions who I am, what I stand for and how did I become this way. Sometimes the inquiry was intended as a compliment, other times it was made perhaps out of shear frustration and confusion with my approach, but  finally in a number of other instances it was intended as an insult.  While it may be useful, from a communication standpoint, to be understood to achieve certain objectives, in those instances where those that did not get it or me, I was never insulted for their inability to grasp the import of a less conventional man. In some cases, perhaps a rapprochement might be necessary but yet in other cases I soon realized that it was perhaps not necessarily worth time to justify the essence or foundation of my character as a man.  Conventional thinkers have a hard time grasping unconventional people, and thus sometimes you can help them by simply walking away from them.  For, in this life, I know that I have already experienced profound love, lust, happiness and loss.  Were I to die today, I would rest comfortable in the knowledge that I have taken all that life could give in terms of punishment and need not solicit anymore.  Likewise,   I have sampled sufficiently from the tree of life, enjoyed its plentiful bounty and been given the opportunity to continue to plant seeds to infuse my spirit in to those who may out last me here on earth.  This gives me solace in the fact that while maybe there are things that cannot be changed in the here and now perhaps can be changed when I am gone.

A Revolutionary Builder of Souls: Virginia Bernadette Saunig-Roche (1-31-39 to 8-24-2011)

In my mother’s company, I always felt truly rich for it was always clear that I was in the presence of a revolutionary builder of souls. On the eve of the anniversary of her  diagnosis with Lung Cancer, which took her life soon thereafter, a little less than a year ago in the late Summer of 2011, while the pain of her loss is still fresh in my mind, the lessons of her life instilled in me are ones which I believe must be passed on.

Because of my mother, the women I have evolved to most admire have most often been strong, independent minded women committed to their own evolution, who were “resilient and self-reliant”.  Much like my mother, they could do it all. And much like my mother, they often had to explain away their success or hold back their achievements, accomplishments or superior insight because it might undermine men the stature or confidence of men relying on their wisdom.   Many of my heroes and favorite artists are women.  I am sure that some even see a place in their life for cold heartless bitches. Personally, I do not go that far, but I do have an appreciation for those who like author Arden Leigh who can embody being ‘A Weapon of Mass Seduction’. ‘‘The New Rules of Attraction: How to Get Him, Keep Him, and Make Him Beg for More is a philosophy any reasonable man would love to unwittingly embrace. Let the deception begin. But I diverge.

For the preferred type of women, a man was certainly a welcome or useful accessory but not a necessary component for their survival. While I embraced those kinds of women in my professional life, my romantic life was a mixed bag. Maybe I thought that I did not have enough to offer them? I am not 100% certain but all too often I rushed to those who I thought I might be able to assist rather than those who might complete me; some even ‘had me at hello’ but before too long I was already headed for the door.  At this point, with the clock winding down, all I can say is that may the epilogue to my mothers life be that I finally get the most important and obvious lesson of all, to embrace and support women of strength, independence and character who choose to embrace and accept me, a man with both alpha and beta personality attributes, whose passion and pursuits are not always conventional. The reward I seek may sometimes have no value to the more conventional man. I do however, know, accept and appreciate that I need the love, if not the vital energy of a strong woman infused into me much like plants need sunlight. Unlike a predatory vampire stalking his prey, I will let nature take its course; therein lay the conundrum of the beta man, he may not invest the time only to learn that she’s just not that into you. Besides which he won’t be tempted to hire a Wing Women or employ the Wing girl method. You can instead figure out how to get a Scorpio man to fall in love with you.

“Though all Scorpios do not spend their lives pondering the mysteries of life …  truly evolved Scorpios can learn to use their power to help and inspire others”, and this is what I hope to do hereby.   I honor my mother, my god and my country by embracing powerful feminine spirits who gravitate towards me and choose to steer carefully and respectfully away from those who offer a mere frolic and detour that will result in taking me off a productive trajectory in what remains of my life. I recommend you do the same. For I know that I no longer frankly have the time.  Those are my values as taught to this Scorpio man by the woman whose sign was brewed in the Age of Aquarius.

The Lessons Learned/Distilled

Female strength comes in many forms. Know, understand and accept that. But more importantly, recognize it when you see it.  Don’t run from it. Fear not strong women. I am certainly not scared of them. Instead I am scared more of weaker and manipulative women who will detract from your pursuits in life and set you back from accomplishing your ultimate destiny.

Nurture and support a woman’s strength and independence for it is the best emotional venture capital investment that a man can make in life.  More and more men will come to grasp that as fact. As men grow increasingly more secure with women’s strength they will in effect become more liberated from self imposed servitude towards the wrong women and be free to love a woman for being all those amazing things that even you as a man are as well and some of those things that you are not.  And even so they will still accept you. If you need an arithmetic lesson: 2 + 2 = 4 and 1-1=0  Many of these women know that but too few of us men know that.

A real man should have little or no desire to restrain, inhibit, control or undermine a woman’s power and feminine strength should he be lucky enough for it to find and embrace him. Likewise he is not controlling, jealous or possessive in his romantic relations with her. Even when overwhelmed by desire for her, he stands back and let’s her roam free in the wild, taking care of his other business in life, until her return. If you satisfy her needs, quench her thirst and stimulate her mind, body and spirit on many levels, rest assured and be confident….for she will return, only to savage you for you patience in dealing with her evolution away from you and to celebrate how you too have evolved in her absence. This coming together and apart is part of the process of developing your spirits and power mutually and independently. Fear not the absence of your loved one, but instead do something with that time.

Our society will only grow stronger if we nurture and support the independence and strength of women in our personal relationships, in our country and worldwide in our human policy. As the anniversary of my mother’s passing draws near and in a month of women being honored while also facing challenges around the world, I am reminded that perhaps my ultimate purpose is to help others who would dare to repress women to recognize we as a people can only lose, if our women are less or if we strive to make them less to appease fragile male ego’s.

God bless America. God bless the women of America and everywhere on this planet they meet those who would contain their dreams and their passion. Tear down the walls that impede their progress and we will remove those impediments to our own evolution.
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About: Virginia Bernadette Saunig-Roche (1-31-39 to 8-24-2011), was born in Chelsea section of Manhattan to working class American parents of German, Austrian and Italian descent. Virginia attended St. Colomba’s Catholic Parochial school and attended mass regularly at St. Colomba Church.  As an adult, Virginia resided on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for nearly a quarter century working in media ad sales and the barter industry, before retiring to Cape Coral, Florida with her second husband, James P. Roche (who worked in property management for the Trump Organization and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for nearly 3 decades) where she passed in the summer of 2011 at the Hope Hospice survived by her four sons, two sisters and her grandchildren.  In September of 2011, I, along with my older brother Stewart, eulogized our mother at a service held for her at Church of Our Lady of Peace, a Roman Catholic Church on the Upper East Side of Manhattan which she regularly attended during her days in Manhattan. My development and perspective were impacted strongly by my mother’s Catholic faith, common sense and wisdom as well as the regular nourishment she provided me and her other 3 sons with her flavorful and hearty meals, especially on Sunday. She will never be forgotten by those that were touched by her grace, wisdom and humanity.

Tebow-mania has hit New York.  As reported in the NY Times: “In a move that diversifies their offense but threatens to undermine Mark Sanchez, the Jets on Wednesday agreed to a trade for Tim Tebow, the popular but polarizing quarterback from the Denver Broncos. The deal is pending N.F.L. approval.”

The Denver Bronco’s signing of Peyton Manning made Tebow expendable.  Despite Tebow’s infectious winning ways and his leading the Bronco’s to a victory in the playoffs over the Pittsburgh Steelers last season,  it was perhaps too much for the Broncos leadership team to pass up the chance to retain the services of  Peyton Manning, widely regarded as one of the best quarterbacks of this era.   Hall of Fame quarterback and Bronco’s President John Elway signaled that he wanted to go with ‘Plan A’ and in letting go Tebow he acknowledged ‘We Don’t Have a Plan B’.  Elway in explaining his belief that Peyton Manning was the man best able lead the franchise in its  pursuit of another Lombardi Trophy, paid Tebow a great compliment.  As reported in the Wall Street Journal, at a news conference introducing Manning, Elway offered that he was exploring all options for Tebow:

“Tim Tebow is a great kid. If I want someone to marry my daughter, it would be him,” Elway said. “But I think with the opportunity to have Peyton Manning’s services, we had to take advantage of that. Now that it’s happened, we have to go back and address Tim and see what the best situation is for the Denver Broncos, as well as him.”

To some it  was perhaps a no brainer for the New York Jets brass to acquire the former Heisman Trophy Winner. After all, he did lead the Florida Gators to a victory in the BCS National Championship Game over the top ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in 2007 and has two NCAA Championships to his credit.  Tebow also lead the Broncos past Mark Sanchez and the New York Jets late last season, into the playoffs where in a ‘Mile-High Miracle’ the Broncos upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in dramatic fashion.  Media reaction has been mixed. ESPN New York has labeled the trade ‘A Logic-Defying Move.’ Critics like the New York Post’s Steve Serby stated that the Jets should ‘Take a pass on a QB who can’t’.  Joe Namath labeled the acquisition a ‘publicity stunt.’ Questions remain whether Tebow will diversify the Jets offense, serve as a compliment to Mark Sanchez or a distraction. Or as postured on ESPN,  ‘Mark Sanchez is the key to Tebow-mania’. To his credit, Mark Sanchez stated on a radio show ‘Tim Tebow will do great ‘no matter what happens.’

Tim Tebow is a winner. It is plain and simple. Any discussion about Tim Tebow should begin first and foremost with the fact that he is a proven winner. Tebow is a man who gets the most of his god given talents. Some will argue that there are more purely talented quarterbacks in the NFL.  Few consider him a franchise QB in the same vein as Peyton Manning, Eli Manning or Tom Brady;  ‘All he does is win’.  You would get no argument from me on that score and I suspect even Tim Tebow knows that he still has to develop and fight to create a legacy as well as simply maintain a job in the competitive NFL.  Tebow is young and has proven relentless in his commitment to improve every aspect of his game, to prove doubters wrong and to otherwise simply be the best that he can be while he ‘LEADS’.  Doubters point to his passion for his Christian faith as it if that is emblematic of his problems. Last I checked, New York counts among its citizens and sports fans people of faith and I believe that we even have a few churches here in Manhattan. A belief in god is only a disqualifying credential among the soul less. But that is besides the point, Tebow can play.

As Sinatra famously said, ‘If I can make it there, I will make it anywhere.” Tebow has presumably taken the doubters with a grain of salt by now. New York is for winners. Winners come here. Winners want to compete here. It is awful when you lose in this town.  But for those who have witnessed the championship runs of the New York Yankees and New York Giants in recent years, it is quite special to have that media glow and millions of fans behind you. The light is about to shine even more brightly on a man who has come to the world’s biggest stage.

As a New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan with a stint outside the city in my adult years in Westchester County and as one who lived through the torturous 70’s and 80’s drout, I am only to pleased to have in our city, Tebow, a man I met and photographed several years ago during the Heisman Trophy Awards week in Midtown. And I pray he sticks with the New York Jets, even if he may have a hankering for Jacksonville and even if still others may wish he goes back there.

Welcome to New York City Mr. Tebow. Let’s hope god is a Jets fan cause I already know he is a Tebow fan.

Adriana Ferreyr

George Soros and his damsel in distress, Adriana Ferreyr, a  Brazilian beauty who appears  to be a veritable renaissance woman, are back in court after failing to reach a settlement over alleged misrepresentations in their five year affair that resulted in her suing the legendary octogenerian financial king for $50 million. According to the New York Post:

George Soros offered to pay his Brazilian bombshell ex-lover Adriana Ferreyr $1 million to settle her grievances after she accused him of backing out of a promise to buy her an Upper East Side apartment, sources tell us. But furious Ferreyr turned down the lump sum, insisting she is determined to sue billionaire Soros for up to $50 million after he promised to buy her a dream, $1.9 million East 85th Street pad, then instead gave it to his new girlfriend, Tamiko Bolton, who — according to Ferreyr — he’d claimed was his nurse.The warring pair head in to court again April 17, with Soros demanding a judge throw out her case against him.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game some might say.  Truth told, I have always been intriqued by George Soros and think he is undoubtedly one of the most brilliant men of our time. Even so, smart men often make stupid moves and are tempted to behave badly when in the pursuit of  younger women.  Fact is some extremely affluent players, for whom millions are relative pennies to the average man, get away with seducing pretty young things all on the mere suggestion if not bold representations, express or implied, that they will  shower them with gifts down the road, take care of them and otherwise enable their lives or grease the wheels of their independent success in a meaningful way.  If you ask me, some of these young ladies are foolish if they don’t get something more than what amounts to a facial on the front end for a promise on the back end.   Soros is I am sure well aware that his wealth and power is very much an aphrodisiac for many women, but he should also know that  cheapness is a buzz kill and brings your stature down to that of a poor man with a small penis.   Power and status may give you currency with sought after younger women, even those who possess the youth, raw beauty, talent and creative spirit of someone like  Adriana Ferreyr. You must however be able to part with a few shekels,  especially when you seem to have an endless supply of them.   So what if you ‘lose’ a few more coins if the one who brought you such pleasure should walk upon the conclusion of your affair with honor, dignity and grace and without anger, hostility or sadness?  You never want to tell a woman that she is worth less than the world if she literally gives it all to you in terms of her innocence, youth and beauty.  Is that not priceless?    It is thus, in my opinion,  truly in bad form, especially when what she requires to move on peacefully is relative chump change but you decide to haggle.  It makes you akin to the character Wimpy the Moocher from Popeye the Sailor who famously was known for the tag line:  “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

Well the girl clearly gave up the  hamburger (or the pink taco whatever the case might be) and  then some for the better part of five years man. George why make Adriana grovel?  How do you put a price on five (5) years of a young woman’s life? Or worse, why low ball her?

The non billionaire, working class or professional working class drone or low 7 figure salaried slave either pays by the minute, the hour or by the life time if he gets married. You have got to pay to play in this town. There is no way getting around that. That is the deal even when you are not 80 years old, at least for women of a certain caliber, like renaissance women with the brains, beauty and talent of the Brazilian knockout. All you have to do is take a walk into Lavo New York on East 58th Street between Park and Madison Avenue  on a week night in this ‘half hooker economy’ to realize that pretty young things, pro or not cost more than a cocktail or two or future promises of affection.  Most expect you to show them the money up front and that is true even and especially if you want to put a ring on it.   Now, I am not in any way suggesting that Adriana Ferreyr is a hooker. Even so,  there are rules of engagement in the realm of ‘transactional romance’; a certain protocol, manners and etiquette when a gentleman hopes to freely partake of  a young woman’s special gifts, especially if there are no representations of a permanent relationship with the house and the white picket fence, or in New York City, a Penthouse view at 1 Central Park West.  You are simply deluding yourself if you are an 80 plus year old wrinkled man, even one who has all the power and intelligence in the world, and you think she is charmed by the cellulite on the back of your saggy old ass or shriveled up scrotum with grey hair. You get to the point where you do not have to watch Hitchcock, Halloween or Friday the 13th to scare yourself but can simply stand in front of a full length mirror upon exiting the shower. So if you are feeling me man then perhaps you are getting the picture. There is undoubtedly a major sacrifice here on her part no matter how intriquing a character you may be.  As a man you should always be eternally grateful for the wanton things that some women willingly do to give you memorable nights between the sheets or on the living room floor, a limousine or in the shower. You get the picture? Cleaning toilets at the Waldorf Astoria rather than at an uptown youth hostel is nicer but it is still cleaning a toilet. Some times the old pipes have a good degree of rust and soot for a plumber to contend with.

In my opinion, it says alot about a man’s character that George Soros would rather pay his attorney William Zabel than the 20 something year old creative and talented beauty who nurtured and bedded his wrinkled hide for the better part of five years.  Is not he better than this?  You see I always thought he was. This would be especially bad for the philanthropist’s brand as a human being if he promised to shower Adriana Ferreyr with gifts and security, including a $1.9 million apartment before welching on the promise and giving it to some other young thing who was also simultaneously nursing the octogenerian billionaire and financial overlord. Soros is a smart man. He has to know that there is a better way to treat a young lady, especially one with the class, manners and breeding of Ms. Adriana. Seriously, look at this woman.

Soros lawyer William Zabel also notably represented the now deceased philanthropic racketeer - Jeffry Picower, the largest beneficiary of the Madoff Ponzi Scheme, in his business dealings before he was found upside down drowned in the pool at his Palm Beach estate by his lady’s lunching Palm Beach Socialite wife, just as the Department of Justice (and perhaps some Russian mobsters) were closing in on Picower. Soon thereafter, Picower’s wife Barbara Picower, in a landmark settlement orchestrated with Picower attorney William Zabel, disgorged $7.2 Billion in ill gotten gains.  The gangster’s wife, Barbara Picower was permitted to keep her home and $200 million so she could continue doing her good works — shuttling around to Palm Beach luncheons with other ‘philanthropists.’ Let me be clear, in my opinion, Ms. Picower is akin to a mob moll’s widow. The insincere twat who was ‘married to the  mob’ can stuff her fucking crocodile tears up her tight philanthropic ass. Pieces of human garbage like this along with Ruth Madoff who has moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, her son Andrew Madoff and Shana Madoff continue to roam free and you wonder why there is an Occupy Wall Street movement? Give these bitches ‘a dog’s leash’ and tell them to do the Mark Madoff vertical mombo. If you were a black kid in the Bronx and you stole somebody’s wallet on the subway, rather than a white family of financial criminals who destroyed thousands of families lives, you would be rotting in a cell at Rikers Island.

Why are Picower, Madoff and Zabel relevant? George Soros should not want to be in the same sentence as any of those guys for what amounts to short change with a former girlfriend. He has enough ‘fuck you money‘ not to get his hands dirty.  Zabel has a reputation as a fix it man, sort of like the Bruce Cutler (mob lawyer) for high society types.  As aptly surmised in the NY Times, “William D. Zabel has spent his career striking complex deals for wealthy families in sticky situations.” He may have a propensity for representing GUILTY people who suicide themselves rather than pay the piper or face the music. Does the word PUSSY ring a bell? Yes, Jeffry Picower was a dirty slimy stinky pussy of a man who had he lived should have been hanged at sun down in Lower Manhattan in front of the famous Wall Street Bull – that is truly if there was any meaningful justice for financial criminals in this town. Capische? Now, I do not suspect that Soros is gonna drown himself over a few million dollars or what amounts to just another day at the office. So he may have to lose what amount’s to a days pay to settle up with a young, beautiful and sophisticated Brazilian woman who presumably did assorted nasty things on a regular basis (for five years!!) with a guy who is closer to resembling a cast member on The Dawn of the Dead than Warren Beatty in Shampoo or Michael Douglas’ Gekko in Wall Street.

Let me ask you, can you imagine giving head to an 80 year old Shrek? He promised her “an apartment”….how about the phucking Kennedy Compound brother? Do you hear me now? [ Ewwwwwwww yeah this blog is irreverent, what the phuck do you think happens when you send a kid from Queens and Brooklyn to the Ivy League? We may both have shopped at Brooks Brothers but I am no Romney. That much is clear. I am also in no rush to 'get rid of Planned Parenthood.' But I diverge.]

Soros is a sage business man, wiser than most, history has proven so. But even he has to know that it feeds into the bad narrative about selfish, greedy and indifferent financiers when you would rather pay another fellow geriatric sleazeball in a suit than a woman who went to bed with a dirty old man for five years. Squabbling with a youngster over a few million dollars, really? When you get to be 80 years old, wrinkled and chubby consider yourself fortunate that you have the billions to get a beautiful and talented 20 something year old to satisfy your manly urges. Who cares whether she truly loved you?  It is irrelevant. She nurtured you. Besides which you cannot take it with you.  Give the kid her cotton candy and be done with it. No I am serious, pay the girl.  This is silly. The poor young thing had to go to bed with a living corpse for the better part of 5 years.  Sorry George, I love you man but look a man has to look at himself in the mirror and recognize his shortcomings. When I am your age, I am not sure I even want to touch myself.  Hell, I am not sure I want to do so now and I am approaching 50. Given your net worth of over $20 Billion, you are in effect haggling over buying your sugar baby an ice cream cone or a slice of pizza. FEED THE KID!!

At the Conservative Political Action Conference this year, Andrew Breitbart promised a crowd of activists damning videos of President Barack Obama as a student at Harvard Law School. The videos, Breitbart said, would show people “why racial division and class warfare are central to what ‘hope and change’ was sold in 2008.” “In this election we’re going to vet him,” Breitbart famously vowed. As noted in the Washingto Post, in retrospect, given what his progeny at Breitbart have since brought forth, this was a case where ‘Showmanship Prevailed’ over meaningful discourse.

‘Big Ideas’ Don’t Come out of Mad Boys with Little Minds and small…packages

The bluster surrounding the release of the video of Barack Obama hugging the deceased Harvard Professor Derrick Bell at a rally in support of greater faculty diversity and in particular in support of Ms. Regina Austin, a then visting faculty member at Harvard Law School in 1991 (who happened to be my former Torts professor at the Universty of Pennsylvania Law School and who is now The William A. Schnader Professor of Law back at Penn Law) and the voluminous right wing blogs written in support of this so called scandal come across with all the depth, reflection, anxiety of a “man” (figuratively speaking) who is perhaps a tad consumed if not entirely cuckolded by a girlfriend  who might prefer a thick slab of KOBE BEEF to Hebrew Frank or a Vienna Sausage. The foregoing statement is actually quite kosher and not anti-Semitic. I have been advised that Hebrew National Franks are of high quality and may in fact be quite tasty, but they do not come in the size of Polish Kielbasa or Mustamakkara (black sausage).  While I empathize with their plight, that is perhaps something he, depending on which Breitbart writer you are referring to Ben Shapiro or Joel Pollak,  can better work out in therapy with a psychiatric professional. And I am only half kidding.  You see the dialogue that Breitbart and his progeny bring forth may expose some old but deep rooted insecurity about their own masculine prowess in terms of  not measuring up, behind closed doors, to the successful, powerful and endowed black man.

Nevertheless, In the video of the rally at Harvard,  Obama asks a crowd to “open up your hearts and your minds to the words of Professor Derrick Bell.”

As reported by CNN:

On Thursday morning Joel Pollak, Breitbart.com’s editor-in-chief, appeared on CNN’s Starting Point to defend the importance of the video.

“The bombshell is the revelation of the relationship between Obama and Derrick Bell,” Pollack said. “Derrick Bell is the Jeremiah Wright of academia. He passed away last year but during his lifetime he developed a theory called critical race theory, which holds that the Civil Rights movement was a sham and that White Supremacy is the order and it must be overthrown.”

This characterization of critical race theory sparked a feisty debate between Pollack and CNN’s Soledad O’Brien, who contended that it was a “complete misreading of critical race theory.”

In the article that accompanies the video, Breitbart.com’s editor-at-large Ben Shapiro calls it a “smoking gun” and promises that more information on Bell’s activism will be released soon.

“This is just the beginning,” Shapiro writes. “And this video is a smoking gun showing that Barack Obama not only associated with radicals, he was their advocate.”

BREITBART’S ‘Dirty White Boys’ Get Their Panties in a Twist Over Nothing

So let me make sure I got this right.  Barack  Obama, then the Editor in Chief of the Harvard Law Review, hugged the first black  tenured professor at Harvard Law School, who was veteran of the civil rights movement in America and who engaged in controversial and thoughtul scholarship involving  CRT – Critical Race Theory on issues of race, law and power in America at a rally promoting greater diversity in Harvard’s faculty and thereby Obama is a “radical”?   Some ‘dirty white boys’ who wanna be Breitbart and lead the Tea Party got  their panties in a twist over this? Really?  Only in America is having a conversation or expressing support for critical thinking or critical thinkers, ‘radical’.  And if you are asking me do I know whether any of these intellectual thugs have small Weiner-Schnitzel, I do not, but when you behave like a man with one…you know what they say.

The rage of Joel Pollak and Ben Shapiro of Breitbart over Obama’s association with black intellectuals while a student at one of our nation’s most elite instituions of learning, at the top of the food chain, in the Ivy League,  is frankly surreal and beyond ludicrous.  This is, however, ultimately one of many shots to be fired over the bow by the lunatic fringe in the effort to paint the nation’s first non-white President as radical, extreme and not at all like you and me. As suggested above, it may also belie some deep rooted anxiety about their own masculinity.

OPPRESSED GROUPS HAVE A RIGHT TO INTROSPECTION, SCHOLARSHIP & SPEECH

Know that I do not feel threatened by ‘Black Power’, Gay Pride, Native American pride, La Raza or Zionism. Those who have risen from an oppressed history have a right and dare I say a duty to question the evolution of society, the treatment of their people henceforth and to engage in rational and critical thinking, scholarship and public speech even, in an effort at preserving their station if not rising up beyond it and all perceived or real challenges to their continued progress. That is America.  Now for the record, while I come from a multicultural background, I have never been a slave so I cannot not identify personally with the history of the  black man in America. Nor can I personally identify with the the Jewish people and a Jew who may have had relatives who died or survived  the Holocaust in the century just passed. But I can say that were I either a Black or Jewish man, I would be cautious of getting too comfortable and might not ever take my freedom or standing in society for granted.

SEEDING WHITE ANGER & JEWISH MISTRUST OF THE PRESIDENT IS THE END GAME

America is a melting pot of people who understandably have pride and an interest in understanding the truth about their history and national origin. As an American of Spanish, Colombian, Italian and German/Austrian heritage I might be able to sign up for a few pride related groups myself.  I am not Irish but ‘Kiss the Blarney Stone’ if I won’t be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. Movies like Gangs of New York fascinated me, if only because it exposed, how politicians took advantage of racial and ethnic differences for political gain. Now we have “journalists” or social media entrepreneurs who do so to gain traffic, notoriety and mainstream media TV appearances and to have a role in GOP politics.  There are far too many racial pragmatists still to this date, who when pushed come to shove, probably truly do not hate individual people based upon the color of one’s skin or nationality, but who given the opportunity to gain power might seek to play off steroetypes and racial fears for political gain and/or personal profit. These folks I would argue can be every bit as dangerous to the fabric of our nation as the men in white sheets and pointed hats, the KKK or the Nazi’s in Germany, if they are allowed to rise unchecked in a vaccum of intellectual critique

Critical thinking and scholarship is perhaps a radical idea for some folks. For them,  critical thinkers who operate outside their acceptable paradigm, are in essence radical.  Can Pollak and Shapiro be this stupid?  I highly doubt it. Like Obama, they both got their law degrees from Harvard Law School, that elitist institution that Breitbart and others famously referred to as “Beirut on the Charles” River. They are Tea Party operatives, not journalists, who are politically and ideologically motivated to achieve an intended result, the removal of a black Democratic President from the White House.  In that regard and towards that end, anything and everything is justifiable.  They will echo George Wallace if they have to in coordination with the Republican candidates who at present seem to running a template of the Southern Strategy playing on white fear.  What they are doing is feeding into the irrational threat that some insecure white men have of the radical black man rising up to challenge the white man to his very station in life, his job, his pension and even his woman.

Obama’s record as President over the last three years has its strengths and weaknesses.  Some which can be defended. Other aspects  which can be fairly critiqued.  Say whatever you will but the man’s record is not that of a  ‘radical.’  And given his propensity for wearing ’Mom Jeans’ Obama is clearly more of middle America than Breitbart’s Tea Party hipsters.  You see because regardless of what the truth is about Derrick Bell’s critical race theory or CRT, the black man is hardly in a position to take over America at the present time and turn the white man into his slave but much like the Jew who fears a repeat of the Holocaust, its fair for the Black man to consider or contemplate a downgrade in his societal stature and a repeat of his enslavement on a whole other level.   Hell if he should dare speak up or hug some one that certain white men deem radical, passionate men will rouse the militia to come get him and bring his ass down a level.  One is hard pressed to find such a fundamental shift in the existing paradigm, especially at a time when America’s white elite have consolidated power and wealth at the very top.

So forgive me if you will, but for all of the hoopla surrounding the release of this ‘bombshell video’ of Obama at a rally for Derrick Bell at Harvard Law School in 1991, it is truly underwhelming.  As crtics have noted, it is a ‘ total dud’ and ‘falls flat’.  Furthermore, it exposes the barren hypocrisy in the agenda of some quarters on the right and how far they will go to achieve certain aims in their effort to “silence African-Americans attempting to seriously discuss race in America.” Stand up, speak out and get shut down and called a racist radical.

Obama’s statement as a Harvard Law School student in 1991 to “open your hearts and mind” to Professor Derrick Bell, even if his scholarship is controversial or even radical in the minds of some is not of concern to me nor should it be to people of rational minds and hearts.  Even if one cede’s to the right a  misinterpretation of Bell’s critical race theory, that still is not evidence that Obama is a radical, as much as he was a man enveloped and engaged in the learning process.   Furthermore, the real world changes the idealism of many a student, myself included.   Breitbart’s echos of George Wallace will not succeed in painting Obama as a radical, nor will it ultimately succeed in putting a fissure between the Black and Jewish community as intended.  ‘Pray for Andrew Breitbart.’ The charlatan’s blogging for Breitbart are not on a mission for truth in America. They are instead simultaneously pursuing a Southern Strategy seeding white anger and attempting to undermine the Jewish vote which traditionally has gone to Democrats in an effort to regain the White House for the Republican Party.  They are also I suspect hoping to provoke a cautious but determined Democratic President with bonafide military credentials into a premature war with Iran, not on his terms or at a time that is in the best interest of the United States of America but on those preferred by AIPAC and Israeli President Bibi “Nyet and Yahoo!”

In conclusion, my response in short is to stand down and piss off. President Barack Obama is the Commander in Chief. So yes little boys, a black man (partially to be exact since he is also half white) is in the White House and as far as anyone can tell, he has not done anything radical yet except engage in critical thinking. For some, that is truly radical indeed.