An Open Letter To Mark Wahlberg

Dear Mark,

I kinda like you as an actor; loved The Italian Job, loved Boogie Nights; am still trying to forgive you for The Happening.

But this isn’t about your film career, is about you. I read all the time what a standup guy you are; a staunch supporter of our troops and, more importantly, our veterans when they come home; I read that you’re a doting dad and a loving husband.

But then I also read that you haven’t always been such a good guy. I read that, in 1988, at age sixteen, you were a bit of a thug, into crimes and drugs, and one night you and some friends decided to still some liquor from a convenience store. In the process, the Vietnamese owner of the store caught you, and you beat him, causing him to go blind in one eye, and then you beat another Vietnamese man with a stick.

I, too, was a bit of a rebel at sixteen. I once took my Mom’s car without permission, though, luckily, no one lost an eye. But I digress…

Now I hear that you want the law, and also all of us, to kind of forget about that, and have yourself pardoned for your crime and have your record expunged.

A few stories going around as to why, and why now:

Story #1: as co-owner of Wahlburgers, a hamburger joint, you want to expand the franchise throughout California but this pesky felony conviction will stop you from making any more money; except that you’re doing it anyway.

Story #2: as a huge supporter of the military and veterans — and good on you, as I said, for that — you would like to become a reservist and, again, that pesky felony conviction won’t allow it.

Story #3: you say your past conviction might stop you from working with law enforcement to help at-risk youth to the degree you want, but you do that anyway.

And so you filed an application with the Massachusetts Board of Pardons that read, in part:

“I am deeply sorry for the actions that I took on the night of April 8, 1988, as well as for any lasting damage that I may have caused the victims. Since that time, I have dedicated myself to becoming a better person and citizen so that I can be a role model to my children and others.”

Well, Mark, here’s my take: can that Asian man, whom you blinded over a case of booze, now suddenly see? No. So, every day that man wakes up — and he wasn’t the only person you attacked that night, nor was he the first person you ever beat up — remembering how he used to be able to see and now he can’t because some dickhead who has now become a rich movie star hit him in the face with a stick.

I’m all for forgiveness, and I’m all for growth, and if you want the forgiveness fine; I hope your victims can forgive you. But, if you want to be pardoned — which basically means you never did the crime — because you want to open more burger joints or want to become a part-time military man, well,  too bad for you.

When you commit a crime, you take the punishment, and you don’t get the crime expunged because it’s hard on you if you can’t. I still think you need to wake up every day, in your posh Beverly Hills home, remembering what you did. That store owner does not have his sight back and never will, so why should you get a pass?

We might forgive you, but should we forget? And should you, legally, at least, be allowed to act os though this never happened?

But that’s just me.

Black Lives Matter

I am not a black man in America.

I am just a man in America who's tired of seeing black men gunned down in the streets because they were "in the wrong place at the wrong time" or they were 'walking while black."

I am tired of seeing people, and dare I say it, mostly white people shrug when they hear the news. When you shrug at the news that means you find it acceptable; it isn’t. Stop shrugging.

I am tired of The Conversation because every time this happens we have The Conversation and then we go right back to talking about the latest Kim Kardastrophe — that is NOT a misspelling — or whatever piece of fluff passes for news that day. Not having The Conversation is the same as shrugging; nothing is accomplished, nothing changes. Nothing is said until the next black man lies dead in the street.

It's time we stopped killing people in the streets, mostly black men, whether they be innocent or guilty. It's time to stop assuming that because a man is black he is automatically a threat, automatically guilty, automatically dead.

We cannot keep letting this happen, and keep talking about it, and then do nothing to stop it. That’s insane.

Racism is a problem in this country, even though we — well, some of us — pat ourselves on the back for electing a black president. We’ve seen how that’s played out over the last six years.

All I can think about is that if Michael Brown was a young white man shot by a black police officer, we’d be having a whole different reaction to this story.

That's not America, and that's not right.

Have the conversation. Do something. Black lives matter.

ISBL Asshat of the Week: Oklahoma Teabagger Scott Esk

You know, when it comes to politics, and anti-LGBT wingnuts, Oklahoma seems to have cornered the market on the crazy.

I mean, they have their Republican — of course — Governor, Mary Fallin, who wanted the state-owned National Guard to strip spousal benefits from straight married couples so she could discriminate against The Gays after DOMA died.

And there’s Oklahoma Republican Senator Tom Coburn who, after a devastating tornado struck his home state, needed time to think before sending help because he wanted guarantees on other budgets cuts. Fifty-one people dead — 20 of them children — and Coburn needed a minute.

Add to the mix, Republican Congressman James Lankford who thinks it should be legal to fire a person just for being gay because gay is a choice.

And, let us not forget Queen of the Wingnuts, anti-gay Sally Kern who has blamed The Gays for everything from bad weather to terrorism and the fact that she looks like a 1950s grandmother on Petticoat Junction.

So, really, is it any surprise that Oklahoma is also home to Scott Esk, an aspiring candidate for the Oklahoma House of Representatives who thinks it should be legal to stone homosexuals to death because, well, The Bible.

On his website, Esk makes it very clear that our laws do not come from the government but rather they are written and enacted by God. He is, of course, huge on state’s rights, pro-gun and pro-life — how’s that for an oxymoron, emphasis on moron — pro-family and lower taxes. Well, that’s a Republican, and a ‘Bagger, for you, but it’s his thoughts on The Gays I find the most repellent; go figure.

It all started with Esk having a Facebook chat with someone named Alan Bates, presumably a friend of his. Bates posted a link to an article about Pope Francis and his ‘Who am I to judge gay people?’ statement. Well, Esk hit the fan, as you can see from the screenshot below:

Esk started throwing out the Bible verses that those ALLEGEDLY good Christians use to justify hating homosexuals; he quoted that old standby Leviticus 20:13 so you know where his head is at. Up his ass, but I digress.

Esk first claims that Leviticus 20:13 gives people, and by people I’m sure he means only those ALLEGEDLY good Christians, the right to judge others, and then adds that it is man’s role to put others to death for atrocities like The Gay, and that if we don’t start killing The Gays, well, God will punish those who don’t; you know, she’ll earthquakes to Haiti and hurricanes to New Orleans and the Jersey Shore, Britney Spears to Vegas.

Now, he is just quoting the Bible, right? He doesn’t actually mean The Gays should be killed … right? Well, when Bates asks Scott Esk if he thinks The Gays should actually be put to death, he replies:

“I think we would totally be in the right to do it.”

Now, you can say it’s Facebook and folks say stupid stuff all the time on Facebook; even those folks running for political office. But Esk also told on Oklahoma newspaper, after being asked, again, if he really believed The Gays should be stoned to death, that stoning was done in the Old Testament and that it “came from God” so, yeah, start the stoning.

Then, of course, because as crazy and delusional and fucked up as he is, he realized he’s running for public office and backtracked a bit saying he would never introduce legislation making it legal to stone The Gays he just wants y’all to know that if you do it’s because … God.

Oh, and if his anti-LGBT stance isn’t abhorrent enough — and it should be — let’s also understand that Scott Esk once called 911 because he saw a group of Hispanics outside a shopping mall. They weren’t doing anything, mind you, but, you know, Hispanics equal illegals equal crime equals 911.

Oklahoma, you have some of the wingnuttiest politicians I have ever seen, so do you really think you need to throw Scott Esk into the mix?

Seriously? No wonder he's the ISBL Asshat of the week.

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