Death in Suffolk County

When he first moved out there it was like going to Middle-America.  Nothing but the occasional strip mall to interrupt farmland.

I mention this because he moved out there and put his life on the line everyday to defend it because it WASN'T NYC.  He had had enough of the intense violence (he was an NYPD Homicide Detective).  To hear news like this makes me sad.

What is happening in the world?  I am the big 'ol dyke child and that concerned my Dad because he feared for my safety from a Cop and Father perspective.  Yet, today, we are seeing senseless violence against so many people.  Gay, Non-White, etc.

IT REALLY MUST END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I HAVE HAD E-F**CKING-NOUGH!

Besser ein ende mit Schrecken als ein Schrecken ohne ende

It's the institutional othering that is a nasty American legacy.

Education is a step along the way - and progress has been made.  Thank heavens that today's youth don't see gender, sexual orientation or race the way our parents or grandparents did.

But beyond that, hate crime legislation needs to be comprehensive and enforceable.  At their very basest level, all attacks one to another are reprehensible.  But when innocent people are targeted merely for the color of their skin, nation of origin, religion or sexual identity - an additional element of premeditation or bias is added.  We must establish and enforce anti-hate laws and make examples of those who perpetrate them to say "this is no longer acceptable in America."

Governor, I thank you for your attention to this issue and for bringing it to our forum.  My thoughts and prayers are with this poor young man and his family and friends.

I appreciate your vigilance and willingness to punish such crimes as appropriate.

Thanks for your continued presence here on Pam's site.  You rock. :)

The east end of Long Island, in spite of its close-to-NYC cachet, is not much different from any other area with third-rate education and backward choices for kids trying to figure out who they are and that they want to be.  It's like Manhattan 40 years ago or other major cities 20 years ago.

While it will make everyone feel real good to throw the book at the kids who committed this despicable act, it does absolutely nothing to prevent future atrocities.  No one is making the connection between the failures of our society and our economic policies.

In this context, we should ask our governor why he has proposed massive cuts in education and social programs this week.  Hundreds of billions of welfare for the obscenely wealthy; regular folks are just disposable.  People who feel disposable do a lot of fucked up things.  I guess vicious hate crimes are just too complicated to understand.