Freeze Dried Rat Vomit Tourism

I’ve had a few dreams lately where I’m either pining for a vaca or feverishly planning one.

In last night’s sleepy-time movie, I was chatting with a friend and his wife. I was whinging about needing a holiday when he mentioned, “Mary makes a little trip to Paris each year.” I’ve never been and she goes every year? Boom, in dreams-time, we started planning this year's trip.

Here’s the thing—for this next journey, I gotta go someplace relatively close. That is, if it takes a full day to get to my destination, it’s too far. Jen and I need a relatively short jump.

The U.S. is a big, wide place—a three hour domestic flight can take us to some interesting places. I hear tell there are some gorgeous beaches in South Carolina. I understand that New Orleans is big fun. The Great Smoky Mountains grace North Carolina and Tennessee. Kentucky has Berea, a town chock full of weavers, instrument makers, furniture artisans, jewelry designers, glass workers, potters, painters, sculptors, and musicians. Sounds like my kind of place, no?

Know what pops up first when I Google Kentucky though? Kim Davis Leaves Kentucky Jail, Vows to 'Keep on Pressing'

She’s become an extremist right wing martyr, right up there with Cliven Bundy. I suppose that was the plan all along. The wing-nut welfare rolls grow long.

Davis and her supporters, these backwards, christianist, violent bullies scare the fuck outta me and they're a HUGE reason, THE reason, why I’m disinclined to go all tourist-y anywhere but the NorthEast and West Coasts.

From Raw Story’s coverage of Davis’ supporter’s rally:

“You, sir, are the one that’s in contempt of the law,” said the Rev. Philip “Flip” Benham, head of Operation Save America and father of would-be reality TV stars David and Jason Benham. “You, sir, are the one in contempt of God’s court, you’re in contempt of the Constitution of the United States of America, of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and sir, you need to repent.”

No, you brain dead piece of freeze dried rat vomit, you are wrong, wrong, double plus wrong. Read the fucking constitution—you know, even this scary-ass (if you’re one of the American Taliban) FIRST AMENDMENT:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

So then, you can worship whatever god(s) you like, you can be a strict adherent to its/his/her laws no matter how nutso BUT you can’t make/force that on me or anyone else.

I know that there are sane people in Kentucky, that not all Bluegrass Staters are brutally bigoted, bible-thumping, theocracy pushing oppressors-in-the-wings. Still, if I'm to have a relaxing holiday, I don't want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, fearful of some cretinous, flannel shirted, overall clad, Republican pawn popping up, taking exception to my being.

I think I need to go meditate on the seawall or take a long trike ride or something.