Pointing the Gun...

The Reverend Terry Jones down in Florida has cocked a loaded gun. Unfortunately, the weapon is pointed directly at the head of members of the United States Military and Foreign Service Personnel serving abroad.

To understand the enormity of the insult of his proposed book burning to adherents of the Islamic faith, one has to understand that to Muslims, the Koran is not only a holy book, but is also viewed as the highest form of the Muslim art of calligraphy.

The western equivalent of this act would be the burning of Leonardo's "Last Supper" along with a incredibly rare copy of the Hebrew Torah and a copy of Guttenberg's original printed bible. This one crazy man's act is the equivalent of declaring war on Islam, not on radical terrorists, but on Islam itself.

Book burning in itself is a hideous act. Books are the means by which this civilization passes the knowledge of our past to future generations. I am reminded of Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451. In this classic novel, the government burned all books and to preserve the knowledge, individual memorized books to pass on to future generations.

Exactly what is Terry Jones trying to accomplish? Will burning the Koran make the United States safer from radical Islamists? No, it will actually make it easier for that militant faction to recruit new terrorists by convincing young men that we, in the United States, are looking to eradicate their religion and culture. Will the burning of the Koran make terrorists less likely to attack the United States? No, according to the Pentagon, the State Department and the President of the United States it is an act guaranteed to bring retaliation upon our own vulnerable troops posted throughout the Middle East. Will this bring us better relations in the Arab world? No, it will make relationships with the allies we do have in that area of the world more fragile.

The only persons who benefit from this proposed horrendous act is the Reverend Terry Jones, the head of a small community church with less than fifty congregants and the sly politicians who want to ride his coattails. This mail order minister is looking to make a name for himself by putting his country at risk and making a mockery of the intent of first amendment rights. It is one thing to call fire on a street corner. It is quite another to yell fire in a crowded theater.

Why Does An Author Do a Political Blog?

Taxes, Global Warming, Unemployment, Jobs Shifted Overseas, Social Security, Healthcare, Wars, Poverty, Discrimination...

Every writer, whether they write fiction, non-fiction, romance, poetry or erotica has a point of view substantially influenced by the world around them. I write GLBT erotic romance. Because of what I write, politics influences my work. "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," gay marriage rights, fundamentalist parents reactions to gay children, prostitution, job discrimination-- all of these factors play a part in my novels, whether the novel is a contemporary novel about rock and roll bands like Shattered Glass, or a SciFi novel like The Sarran Plague.

However, there are situations that I don't get to write about going on in this country. In this blog I will discuss these issues both large and small. Last week I heard a news item on both radio and television that struck me as incredulous. They made an action figure out of Dexter, the character from the Showtime show of the same name. If you are not familiar with the character, he is a serial killer who murders other serial killers and then proceeds to butcher them in his basement. Personally, I'm not fond of the show. It is too bloody and nasty for me. However, it is a popular series.

I don't object to the doll, however bizarre I think it is to sell an action figure of a serial killer as a hero. What I do object to is the hypocrisy of the retail outlets that have it for sale. Most of the time, if you wish to read a gay erotic romance, you have to download the item from the publisher on line. If it is presented in paperback, you still have to order it and have it shipped to your home. Erotic novels contain sex and romance. GLBT erotic novels describe sex between men, between women or between males plus a woman or females plus a man. In the general context of erotic romance, the sex leads to love and what writers call HEA (Happily Ever After). The market for these books is not limited to to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgendered persons. Ordinary American men and women buy, read and enjoy these books. The problem is, they are not available at most retail outlets.

Can someone please explain to me why a romance book that contains sexual acts leading to commitment and, if they live in the right state, marriage, is so bad it can't find a place on a retail shelf or even on the shelf in a mainstream bookstore? Yet some of these same stores put dolls exploiting the TV notoriety of a serial killer in the toy aisle, complete with fake blood, saw and plastic bag of sawed off body parts. Does this mean that a loving relationship between two people of the same gender is, in fact, worse than idealizing a serial killer? This country is more comfortable with horrific violence than it is with sex. Very strange...