Adam J. Choit

It’s a brand new year and there’s more writing soon to come, but I thought for my first blog post of 2013 I’d create my first ever meme.

Here’s my original Facebook post as well..

With the 2012 Presidential Election upon us,  and with Barack Obama and Mitt Romney about to have their first debate, I began wondering what a conversation between them might be like pre-debate, behind closed doors.  I figured it might be something like this video I put together –  essentially a friendly meeting and a rehearsal.

Originally I was hoping to keep the video shorter, around three to five minutes, but found it quite difficult to do so.  I wanted to be sure to hit on what the candidates might prefer to talk about during a debate, but also hit on those topics that both Obama and Romney would want to avoid.  I also thought it important to hit on a few other important topics, such as the (counterproductive-to-the-American-people) role the Commission on Presidential Debates has in the election process.  In addition, the NDAA and Federal Reserve are also important issues that I thought needed to be brought up, both of which will probably be ignored or purposely misconstrued by the moderators and candidates during actual debates.

The goal was to go after both candidates equally, highlighting their flawed, and often common viewpoints on important issues.  In some ways, the goal was a condemnation of our two-party system, not necessarily just personal attacks on Obama and Romney.  In their personal lives, they might be very nice guys — even family men, or whatever.  But when it comes to being politicians, and understanding, protecting, and defending our Constitution, they’re both terrible.

Yup, it’s true.  By now most of you have heard the confirmation that Chick-fil-A, the fast food restaurant chain openly supports anti-gay groups and political agendas.  Chick-fil-A’s President Dan Cathy, told Baptist Press that the chain is “guilty as charged” in supporting the biblical definition of family.  I think we know what that means.  A report from LGBT advocacy group Equality Matters concluded that Chick-fil-A donated more than $3 million between 2003 and 2009 to Christian groups that (openly and actively) oppose homosexuality.

As far as I can follow, logic dictates that homosexuality is not something is to “be for”, or “opposed to.”  It just is — and is someone else’s sexual orientation.  Gay men and women all over the world are having sex right now.  Do people opposed to homosexuality feel like their rights are being infringed upon?  right at this very second?  If not right at this moment, then when?  You let me know.

Many people are (justifiably) coming out (no pun intended), condemning Mr. Fil-A.  People are Facebooking and Tweeting, “I’m never eating there again!”  But I’ve also seen posts that reflect my sentiments, “I’ve never eaten act Chick-fil-A but now I’m definitely not going there” …or something to that nature.

But I feel like me merely “continuing not to go to Mr. Fil-A’s restaurant” doesn’t really actively punish them for their open support of discrimination.  And while it’s not my duty to do so, sometimes going beyond a simple boycott is a good thing.

So, along with my previously-unknowingly, now-knowlingly boycott comes an encouragment.   I encourage any and all gay people to stop by your local Chick-fil-A for bit. Not to cause a scene, or to yell, or to even protest — at least not in the conventional way.  But I say hold hands.  Lovingly kiss nearby these little shithole fast food joints.  Just let them know what’s up.  I just think it’d be funny if there were gay people hanging out outside Chic-fil-A spots for some period of time, but not going inside to eat.

So pretend to be a customer.  Tease ‘em.  Just enough for the local employees to notice —just enough for them to report this nuisance up to corporate headquarters, to well, give them that much more to worry about these days, in addition to the media firestorm.

To reiterate, I’m NOT encouraging anyone to break laws, to be violent, or to be vulgar in any public setting.  But if you’re gay, and a fan of PDA’s (public displays of affection), and find yourself in the Atlanta area, Chick fil-A’s corporate headquarters is at 5200 Buffington Road Atlanta, GA 30349.

It’s been a while since I posted my last rhyme, and as promised, my latest piece is about the N.D.A.A. (the National Defense Authorization Act). Specifically, I wanted to address really only a couple of sentences (provisions) within this bill, that was signed into law by President Obama right around New Years Eve, 2011.

In a nutshell, in the name of protecting this country from terrorists and terrorism, the President now has the right to order the military to arrest ANYONE, including American citizens, merely on the suspicion of a connection to terrorism. The language in the bill is vague, and potentially dangerous to the future of this country. And not only can the military now arrest any American citizen without just cause, you can be detained without seeing a judge, lawyer, or trial. Detained indefinitely that is.

This is all being done “to protect us” says the President and our politicians who support this heinous legislation (that violates our Constitution). Let me remind you that pretty much all fascist governments throughout history practiced similar policies as this provision in the N.D.A.A. In fact, Adolf Hitler passed similar legislation, legally. This all sets a very dangerous precedent for the future of the country….and the scary part is this legislation overwhelmingly has the support of BOTH the Democratic and Republican parties in this country.

For my first Ron Paul-themed rhyme, I thought it be best to do something about what’s probably Dr. Paul’s core issue, the corrupt Federal Reserve system.  For rhyme number two, I wanted to further examine a specific topic that’s particularly important to me — Israel.

I am a Jewish person living here in America, yes.  But I’m not from Israel, and have never even visited there. So what really drove me to further pursue this topic? — probably the mainstream media’s continued twisting, distorting, and perversion of Dr. Paul’s views on many issues, including Israel.   Dr. Paul’s views on what America’s relationship with Israel should be, is something that I fear is too often misunderstood by the average person.

Yes, your eyes and ears aren’t deceiving you.  I’m rhyming.  Yes.  Rhyming.  Sort of rapping.  Doing spoken-word poetry, a cappella style.

Call it what you want, but here’s a video about politics, and you guessed it — Dr. Ron Paul.  Believe me, rhyming, and rhyming about politics is not something that I ever expected to be doing, let alone sharing with the world.

As far as rhyming goes, I actually did go through a brief phase of my life back around 2004, when I was writing some spoken-word stuff.  So technically, I do have some (limited) experience with spoken-word rhyming.  In fact, years ago I actually performed twice at “Da Poetry Lounge“  Tuesday nights at the Greenway Court Theater, over on Fairfax here in Los Angeles.  I just remember being insanely nervous, and reciting my words a mile-a-minute.

In terms of politics,  I’ve always had some interest in that — but was never actively involved or even very passionate.  If the subject came up, I’d have go-to phrases like “I’m not active, but I try to be aware of what’s going on.”

But somehow someway within the last year, the more and more I watched and listened to Dr. Paul, I realized that he makes a lot of sense. I may not agree with all of his views (no one agrees with any candidate 100%) — but in my opinion, what separates Dr. Paul from the others, is that he’s really the only one going after our flawed system, which has gotten away from any semblance of a sane Constitutional government.

Believe me, I’m no expert on politics or the economy, but still feel I have something important to share with everyone that can have a positive impact.

Originally I thought I’d eventually just shoot some video blogs of me talking about political issues, but instead came up with the idea to do some rhyming — just thought it’d be a much more interesting and perhaps entertaining way to share information with the world.  And what better for my first rhyme than something about one of Dr. Paul’s core issues as a politician –The Federal Reserve system.

*Note – If you’re wondering why I titled my video “Jewish American Guy…” It’s because given how too often the mainstream media would like us to believe that Dr. Paul is anti-semitic, and that he doesn’t have very many Jewish supporters, I think it’s important that people know Dr. Paul has lots of Jewish support.

After “Where’s My Crosswalk?” has made the rounds on the Internet this week, Fox 11 followed up with a story about this area of Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA — between Gardner and Poinsettia by Guitar Center, Sam Ash, & Aroma Cafe.

No mention of me or my video, but hey, at least they’re covering this and helping the cause.

Because there needs to be a crosswalk on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA — between N. Gardner St. & N. Poinsettia Pl. How dare they inconvenience me by making me horseshoe around at the closest, but rather distant traffic light.

It’s not exactly the safest place out there, either.

As some of you may already know, a while back I contacted the L.A. D.O.T. suggesting we need a crosswalk, right near Guitar Center on Sunset Blvd in Hollywood, CA.  Since the city dismissed my suggestion, I made this short documentary which shows very much why a crosswalk is necessary for pedestrian safety.  A crosswalk in this location would actually benefit local economy as well, by making it more convenient for pedestrians to get from business to business.

Please watch & share, help force the city to take action. #wheresmycrosswalk

With Hurricane Irene making it’s way through the east coast over the weekend, much of that region of the country was on high alert.  Not to downplay the damage caused by Irene, but it was nowhere near the damage that Hurricane Katrina caused.  Katrina sadly took the lives of almost 2,000 people.

Post-Katrina, former President Bush took a lot of heat and was accused of not doing enough to help the victims of this disaster.  He was accused of not acting quickly and steadfast enough.  Not only that, but with New Orleans being a city that has a rather large black population (many not exactly the wealthiest), Bush was accused of being racist — someone who doesn’t care at all about poor black people, and black people in general.

Now, while nobody (or at least it should be nobody) has ever thought Bush was the smartest person around, I never really thought of him as racist.  Racism itself isn’t always as overt as it used to be, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t still exist.  If a giant tornado was threatening a bunch of wealthy white people in Texas, I bet President Bush would’ve reacted to that much differently than Katrina.  Bush might not use the n-word, but his ignoring, slow-to-react behavior was yes, a form of racism — because it was a declaration of where priorities were.  It was a showing of favoritism, in a way.

Anyway, if Katrina happened during the President Obama’s presidency, we would all like to think that the federal government would’ve done more to help —- and not because Barack Obama is a minority, but because he has better moral sense than Bush.

Nevertheless, it’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback, and talk about the I woulda-coulda-shouldas, but I doubt President Obama cares more about black people than Bush.  Obama probably doesn’t care white people either.  Then who would Obama be most eager to help out in a disaster? — You guessed it, he’d probably only help bi-racial people, and ignore everyone else.

I don’t know if you people know much about Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, but I’ll tell you one thing, I sure don’t know all that much about him.  However, last night on the Colbert Report, I learned that, well, he exists.

Beyond that, I also learned that he’s an apparent Republican Presidential candidate — and as a devout Christian, feels much of his career aspirations are god’s aspirations as well.  In fact, on August 6th, he’ll be holding an event called “The Response: a call to prayer for a nation in crisis” — an event where he may officially announce his candidacy for President in 2012.

Here’s an excerpt from the event’s official site, “I sincerely hope you’ll join me in Houston on August 6th and take your place in Reliant Stadium with praying people asking God’s forgiveness, wisdom and provision for our state and nation. There is hope for America. It lies in heaven, and we will find it on our knees.”

As easy as it might be to make a fellatio joke, or to point out that praying will fix absolutely none of America’s problems, I have other issues with Mr. Perry’s event.  For one thing, it’s extremely exclusionary.  It’s fine if these Evangelicals want to fill a football stadium, but as a governor of one of our states — what ever happened to separation of church and state?

And what is the deal with the fasting?  People sitting in a football stadium not eating is going to fix this country?  You’re probably thinking who am I as a Jewish person to criticize fasting, but there are major differences between fasting for Yom Kippur or Ramadan — compared to fasting for the purposes of Perry’s political gain.  For Jews and Muslims, fasting is personal act, and one that is based in ritual.  Perry’s urge for a fast is arbitrary and pointless, in my opinion.

Now, as disgusting as it is that Rick Perry is deceiving (ignorant) people into thinking that praying and fasting is going to fix our economy, foreign relations, etc etc — it’s even worse that this event can be considered a wasted opportunity for real philanthropy.

I mean, if tens of thousands of people are gathering together, at least request that they bring canned foods with them to donate to charity.  At least set up booths at the venue where people can donate money to good causes.  And by good causes, I DON’T mean to religious organizations or to Rick Perry’s campaign.  Yes, many churches often do great charity work, but hey, I don’t need any middle man.  There are plenty of charities out there without religious affiliations.

Perhaps this event will have those opportunities I talked about above for the people.  Perhaps there will be some tangible benefits from this event — but as of now, I don’t see anything about that stuff on the website.  All I see is nonsense, fluff, and religious jargon that is going to get our country nowhere fast.