Transgender  Transparency  

                                                                

What is behind the push to embrace transgenderism? Is it not to force everyone who lives in unquestioning acceptance of their God-given gender identity to be as confused and tormented as those who live with extreme discomfort in their own skin?

Is it not that those who question God about His ability to be God as absurd as the clay pot critiquing the potter? They are dissatisfied with how they were made, too short, too bald, too hairy, too unattractive, too masculine, too feminine; where does this gender dysphoria end?

Our backslidden culture has toppled off its Judeo-Christian Foundation. It has become politically correct to question God and even his existence. The rebel says out of understandable bitterness and pain, “If you are a good God, why did you allow me to be molested and abandoned by the people who were supposed to take care of me? Surely a good God would not leave me in such a horrible situation, so I conclude you are either a cruel or ambivalent God and I must make my own decisions from here on out. Your rules and boundaries don’t apply in my domain.”

A compassionate society can relate to the cause of this pain and turmoil but not cave in to the illogical response to throw the baby out with the bath water. Both those who insist on mainstreaming perversion as well as those who persecute those with gender dysphoria are wrong.  We as a Commonwealth seek justice and protection and health for all people, however this bill known as the Bathroom Bill will force all of us to live in confusion and to wear a costume of compliance with a resentment that will result in greater friction and violence toward those who unjustly and selfishly force their fellow citizens into psychological contortions, extreme discomfort and anxiety for those women who have been abused to be confronted with males in their locker room or restroom.

Biology does occasionally make mistakes but even the genetic blooper is not God’s fault. The Creator of the original design but sin and selfishness have corrupted and degraded our DNA as the study of epigenetics now shows.

A compassionate society as our commonwealth aspires to be should support those who are confused but never conform to their confusion as the Bathroom Bill demands of the majority and even victimizes the most vulnerable. This is democracy run amuck and a tyrannical misuse of the law.  

To protect our most vulnerable citizens and children we must oppose HB 4253 (formerly HB 1577). 

 

Chris Noonan Funnell

May 11, 2016

TV Turn-Off Reflections from 2002

While our TV was gathering dust on National TV Turn-Off Week our household was peaceful and reflective. Millions of households all over America have participated each April for the past eight years. My fourteen year-old, a Turn-Off veteran, took the News article in which he and I were interviewed on the “Real Turn-Off” going on in our home to English class. Not too often does a kid get to bring to school a newspaper article about himself with color photo for a current events assignment.
For those of you who read the article and wondered if we completed the week – hey, no problem! We have the TV turn-Off thing down. The trick is to start when your children are young by reading to them or playing games.
When your children get to that difficult time known as the teen years, they will be accustomed to applying self-control and hopefully have learned life can be enjoyable without staring into a screen for hours on end.
Our society has become entertainment-oriented instead of one based on the work ethic of past generations. In the process history is filtered through this lens and is being rewritten for the screen at laser speed. Since schools have substituted social studies for history very little actual fact is being transmitted. The founding fathers have been viewed as irrelevant “dead white guys”. When you expunge their memory and the values that motivated them from history books, there isn’t a lot left to talk about except feelings, and not very good ones at that. Some colleges have majored on the mistakes that were made like slavery and displacing Indians without teaching what was done right.
Recent results of testing on history in our public schools showed only 18% proficiency in fourth grade and it goes downhill from there. Last week I substitute taught for that grade level and was reminded that this is the time we learn about the birth of our nation. I enjoyed reading a picture book about George Washington and learned he wasn’t known as a particularly a good speller as a kid. By the time he was 14 he had an assignment to copy and perform an astounding list of 110 European rules for good behavior which I wish I could get my son to adopt. “Undertake not what you cannot perform, but be careful to keep your promise”. Come to think of it, he nailed that one on TV Turn-Off Week!
After we plugged in the television I found myself pressing into the couch instead of my study of the Book of Revelation which I had gotten halfway through along with commentaries by a man who believes in the Rapture, which is the subject of the popular “Left Behind” series.
I caught the final segment of a PBS series “Frontier House”, a documentary about three modern day “families” taking on a challenge to live like pioneers for six months. Coincidentally it validated concerns I expressed about our losing our national edge and becoming soft. They were evaluated by experts and found severely lacking in firewood to get through the long Montana winter. Though the menfolk seemed to be enjoying all the chopping and building, kind of like Tim the Toolman circa 1880’s, the women were not happy with their role of non-stop cook and washer without indoor plumbing. One woman was counting the days until her return to the world of push-button appliances. For this wealthy couple it was only a game because they knew a mansion was being prepared for them in California. For the original settlers they probably hoped for a mansion waiting in heaven.
Their children had adjusted to the one room schoolhouse and one boy was totally lit up with excitement about a hands-on archaeological dig. Weeks later, after returning to the twenty-first century that boy played almost exclusively with video games. The girls who had been at home on the range were shown lazing in their hot tub overlooking Malibu as they reminisced about their pioneer life which didn’t seem so boring after all compared to life in a mansion. They had gained the perspective to perceive their luxury as overkill. “How many times can you go to the Mall?” one sister asked the other.
Locally another experiment supported my statement that statistically youth today would not understand why they should protect the Constitution. Proof came when two “big guns” of democracy visited a class recently at Boston Latin Academy. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy has been conducting a “Dialogue on Freedom” program since 9/11 and invited Senator Ted Kennedy along for the ride since he is one of the generals leading the charge for education reform, albeit seated backwards on his horse.
The Boston Latin students credited Socrates and not the Judeo-Christian tradition for inspiring the Founding Fathers. Here in the Athens of America as the two Kennedy’s sifted through the thinking of post-modern teens looking for evidence of the moral infrastructure that under girds our Constitution and The Declaration of Independence, no trace of biblical values was found. Instead they uncovered the fact that truth lies buried in a shallow grave of misinformation.
Kids today have been robbed of the facts and moral guidance they need to carry the banner of freedom into the future. TV shows mock and malign traditional values and serve up heavy doses of cynicism. Jerry Springer-type shows proliferate while decent shows are canceled. The patriots who established our democracy and those who died to maintain it lived by values that are being questioned and silenced today. The war on terrorism seems to have taken a back seat to political correctness as biased politicians and pundits take aim at Judaeo-Christian Values and Tea Party Patriots even using the IRS to silence what not so long ago were voices for American Values.
In the voting booth or while holding the remote control we are free to choose. It is as easy as pushing a button. TV turn-off is about lifting our eyes up to see the big picture.
Chris Noonan Funnell, May 18,2002 updated April 26, 2014

My Irish American Princess Cowgirl Hat

St. Patrick’s Day 2015 was just about a month before my husband David’s final step in his yearlong cancer treatment, the ileostomy reversal, and removal of the ostomy bag. 

No more bag and no more chemo which at intervals had to be administered by a battery powered pump attached to a special port in his chest.

We had come through the worst winter on record in Boston with several feet of snow dumped on our driveway which took a community effort to keep clear. One day I saw a train of military dump trucks passing our house. I had to go out in the sub-zero weather to see what was going on. The Governor had sent the National Guard to the head of our street in Medford which always has drainage issues. 

All day they carted off loads of snow to a nearby ball field converting it to a snow farm. We thought that the snow mountain would never melt until July and leave a mud sty fit for pigs rather than a playing field for youth soccer. To our surprise in April things were back to normal. The March winds were blowing “In like a lion…”and drying out the moisture.

We decided to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day last year by going out to an actual movie theater using two AMC passes gifted to us for Christmas, by a sweet young couple in our church along with a crisp hundred dollar bill which we’d designated to go out for dinner after “Snowmageddon” and the chemo-trails were behind us.

I rarely went out during that time but on a trip to Christmas Tree Shop I grabbed up the last Kelly green cowgirl hat with rhinestone tiara design. I have always wanted a horse and used to have an Annie Oakley outfit when I was small. Well, so far I got the hat but not the horse; still workin’ on that dream.

I decided to wear my green hat on St. Patty’s day to the movie theater and then out for a celebratory pint of Guinness. My WASP husband, Dave, who hasn’t a stitch of Irish in his DNA has learned to go along with my shenanigans, green nail polish and all.

 We entered the new Assembly Row Theater and took the escalator to the top floor only to be sent back down to turn in our passes like peons for admission tickets.  (This did not set well with the princess but she determined not to let anything rain on her parade).

We had chosen American Sniper out of the several films offered and we were not disappointed. It is a great story about a true American hero who served in Iraq. He was a uniquely skilled marksman with a heart. As a consequence he suffered debilitating PTSD. But when he returned to his wife and family he understood it and used his coping skills to help others. War changes people and he did not return the same person, his widow explained.

Neither has my husband returned to be the same person after his long battle with colo-rectal cancer, but he is gaining strength, battle tested, is leaner, more focused and is cancer free! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

It was a windy day March 17^th 2015 and we had something to celebrate. I hoped we’d go try one of the new restaurants in the trendy section on the Mystic River but after the movie Dave was ready to go home. So after the matinee the prince and princess headed for the parking lot. I was still wearing my bright green tiara hat when a gust of wind ripped off my crown and I surged forward to catch it as it rolled along the ground. Dave quickly stated he would not chase after it in his condition. I decided I would have to be the one to retrieve it but in mere seconds it had rolled around the corner and my heart despaired of catching it in my high heeled boots.

A tall, dark young man had come out of the theater behind us and must have been inspired by American Sniper because he quickly assessed the situation and shot off after the hat saying ”I got this!” and chased after the renegade princess hat which was now rolling down Grand Union Boulevard. The cross wind had taken it down the middle of the street like a stampeding bull with cowboy in hot pursuit. We watched standing in amazement in the frigid wind. Dave was so cold he went ahead to warm up the car while I watched my young hero finally round up the runaway hat, turn back catching his breath after running a city block for a stranger.  I had time to get my gloves off and dip into my wallet to pull out a fiver for the young hero. As he handed me the slightly bruised hat I thanked him profusely offering the bill which he refused at first. I detected a slight accent and somehow suspected he could actually use the small token of my appreciation.

 “Please have a beer on me!” I insisted like the princess I felt to be after such a kindness. He took it with an ever so slight continental bow. The IAP (Irish American Princess) never made it to the pub that St. Patty’s Day but she thinks she might have encountered an angel.

Chris Noonan Funnell                                             March 3, 2016

Cruz unmasks the Inner Donald

New York Values Kerfuffle Unmasks the Inner Donald

For the truth-starved conservative grown tired and lean waiting for their much maligned values to find place at the table in the presidential primary, the Republican debates have been a smorgasbord of delights. Even the lesser lights have said things we longed to hear and the front runners say it louder and longer as their poll numbers reflect our applause.

The debate on Jan 14^th had something for every taste bud on the Red-State spectrum. There were a couple of candidates of the RINO variety I could have done without. We are hungering for red meat after so much pablum and empty promises from the current administration. Hope and Change became ‘Hope to Change Back’ to the country we once were.

The highlight of the evening was when Ted Cruz was challenged to defend his campaign trail statement about Trump having “New York State Values”. Cruz encountered moderator Maria Bartiromo herself a New Yorker, who made it personal; Cruz opined that everyone knows what New York values are but she pressed him to explain, poised like a cat about to pounce on a cornered mouse. His humorous retort …”well, if you are a New Yorker perhaps not.”

 Cruz in his usual style articulated how in recent years New York has become a hot bed of progressive liberalism, solidly pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, and politically correct beyond the bounds of the majority of American comfort zones.  One poll says 65% of Americans think we are on the wrong track, though those living in Sanctuary Cities like New York and Boston live in an altered reality unaware of their actual distance from mainstream America blinded by the liberal media and political cartel.

Trump may have exposed his true colors under a relatively new veneer of hyper-conservatism born of his win-win mentality in business.

Trump took the opportunity to turn the tables on Cruz and played the 9/11 card, extolling the people of New York City for their endurance of such a horrible catastrophe. But this was not what Cruz was referring to and he applauded New York’s resiliency. This may have actually been a revealing moment about Trump’s famous killer instinct; his willingness to say anything to win, to the detriment of all…his party and his country.

Bread and Circus, from Powerball to Superbowl distracts us from recognizing the freedoms lost, the price our children and grandchildren will pay for our inattention, whether by ignorance or apathy, to the criminal behavior of those in power.

In a Trump presidency when the stage make up and blonde tint fades and the comb over hairs disappear, Trump the conservative, may be unmasked as more committed to his own ideas than moral issues.

We know he’d be tough on illegals and refugees from Syria. He’d build and effective wall to keep out terrorists and stem the tide of foreigners seeking American jobs and sending money out of the country. He’d strengthen our military and use it when needed to regain our dignity after the humiliation suffered when our Navy was forced to surrender to Iran before releasing billions of dollars to their coffers.

But would Trump appoint pro-life, pro-family Supreme Court judges?  This is questionable due to his “New York values”.

When pressed for an apology the day after the debate Sen. Cruz replied  "I apologize to the millions of New Yorkers who've been let down by liberal politicians."
"I apologize for the working men and women of New York who are denied jobs — jobs that have been plentiful just south of Pennsylvania — because Gov. Cuomo bans fracking. I apologize to all the pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-Second Amendment New Yorkers who Gov. Cuomo brazenly told have no place in the state of New York because that’s not who New Yorkers are," Cruz said on "The Sean Hannity Show."
Speaking to a separate group of reporters, Cruz also said, “I apologize to all of the African American children who Mayor de Blasio tried to throw out of their charter schools that were providing a life line to the American dream."
"And I apologize to all the cops and firefighters and 9/11 heroes who had no choice but to stand and turn their backs on Mayor de Blasio because Mayor de Blasio over and over again stands with the looters and criminals rather than the brave men and women [in] blue.”

Give me more truth and less coverage about movie stars and drug lords, Star Wars, sports scandals, lottery mania escapism. We have some serious work to do. This could be our last call for a national turn around.

Ben Carson warned…”Don’t let secular progressives drive out our Judeo-Christian ethics.”
Our enemies, and we have them, are using our freedoms against us, circling us like a pack of hungry wolves.
Without a true Conservative in the White House enforcing our Constitution, strengthening our borders and military, gaining peace through strength, vetting immigrants and returning jobs and economic growth to American citizens…we will have failed our children and grandchildren and as Angela Jolie has warned see our daughters raped in the public squares.

Chris Noonan Funnell           Feb 27, 2016
             

Buyers and Sellers of Bitter Butter 2016 (A rewrite of Bitter Butter of 2000)



This article was first written in 2000 when George W. Bush began his first term. There had been an extended battle for the presidency and ballots were being hand-counted in Florida as the nation looked on. It came down to a Supreme Court decision in favor of Bush who won the electoral vote. Al Gore won the popular vote though some have disputed those results as well. A few sore losers have never got over that court ruling and never gave Bush a chance. Instead, partisan and racial bitterness has continued to plague politics even though in 2008 America elected its first black President, Barak Obama. This month we celebrate the birthday of the late Dr. Martin Luther King for his inspiring words and work on behalf of civil rights and freedom.



Betty bought some bitter butter, but the bitter butter was too bitter for the better batter, so she bought some better butter for the bitter batter and made the bitter batter better!



Spoken quickly this tongue twister has been useful, over the years to impress small children with my verbal skills. Teaching art for nearly a decade gave me a front row seat on the state of the American child and family. I have seen the frustration of a child who cannot find a crayon to match her skin color. I made a point of ordering the multi-cultural art supplies that are now available. In January our art lessons included making posters about MLK. Children are more malleable and accepting of differences but they do pick up tensions and attitudes from adults like veritable sponges. The problems lay with the adults not the kids, initially.



I yearned for the kind of eloquence Dr. King was noted for to sooth and inspire those who had taken offense during the extended and contentious election season, so I took some time out to jot down some thoughts under the influence on my drug of choice, caffeine, at a bookstore coffee shop. While waiting for something profound to percolate up with consolation and healing for my irate, disconsolate African-American compatriots, my eyes fell on a poetry display. If only I could soothe angry, frayed emotions with a poem or an essay as persuasive as those of the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.



I hungered for the right words…a soft answer to turn away wrath.

But what did I know sitting in suburbia without a person of color in sight except on the cover of a poetry book by Nikki Giovani, whose writings I remembered from college. I considered buying the book in hopes of broadening my understanding and cross-cultural bridge building. I began to read but after reading one, two, then a third poem, I suddenly felt I was in the wrong aisle. Ms. Giovanni was not into bridge building, but actually was calling for bitterness and reverse racism…bitter butter!

I put the book back on the shelf and the bridge collapsed into a sea of negativity. Instead of soothing words I got my Irish up.

How many Bettys are buying this bitter butter? How many spread it on their toast each morning and serve it up to their kids daily like they did during “the Troubles” in Ireland?

The recipe for peace and progress calls for better ingredients.



Unfortunately, a decade later, President Obama used his January 13, 2011 Tucson speech to lecture the nation about goodness. What he lacked in content he made up for in length. He took advantage of the tragedy to infer that the violence of a deranged anarchist is preventable if we all quiet down and live in harmony. He called for “public healing and civil discourse” while shamelessly or cluelessly, transferring guilt to those who speak out. “… let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each others more carefully,” This from the same person who said about his determination to foist the Health Care monstrosity on the nation…"if they bring a knife to this fight, we'll bring a gun."

He went, on and on and on and ended up souring what should have been a soothing speech from one leading by example.

In 2016 we are seeing racism flare-ups as the "Black Lives Matter" mantra is repeated when a black person dies at the hands of the police. President Obama never fails to use these tragedies to call for more gun control even though the greatest gun violence occurs in cites like Chicago, NYC and Detroit where gun laws are strictest. How long will these harangs go on?
Martin Luther King born January 15, 1929 and assasinated in 1968 said in 1965:

    "I know you are asking today, "How long will it take?" (Speak, sir) Somebody's asking, "How long will prejudice blind the visions of men, darken their understanding, and drive bright-eyed wisdom from her sacred throne?" Somebody's asking, "When will wounded justice, lying prostrate on the streets of Selma and Birmingham and communities all over the South, be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men?" Somebody's asking, "When will the radiant star of hope be plunged against the nocturnal bosom of this lonely night, (Speak, speak, speak) plucked from weary souls with chains of fear and the manacles of death? How long will justice be crucified, (Speak) and truth bear it?" (Yes, sir) I come to say to you this afternoon, however difficult the moment, (Yes, sir) however frustrating the hour, it will not be long, (No sir) because "truth crushed to earth will rise again." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (Yes, sir) because "no lie can live forever." (Yes, sir) How long? Not long, (All right. How long) because "you shall reap what you sow." (Yes, sir)"

 ..."How long? Not long, because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice."

(Please see my previous post about the movie Selma which I recommend)


Chris Noonan Funnell

Free lance writer/Columnist











??