Funny Odd Thing, Life....

The American Taliban Picks Their "Anti-Romney"

2012-01-14T17:18:00.000-08:00

The wingnuts of the America Taliban. (the ultra religious conservatives who form the power brokerage of the base of the Republican Party. The folks who want to take their religious beliefs and turn them into civil law and inflict them on the rest of us.). Apparently these people can't bear the idea that a Mormon who once supported mild, timid steps towards equal rights for Gays and Lesbians might end up as the 2012 Republican Presidential nominee .

So the nuttiest of the nutty all gathered in Texas this past week to anoint their preferred uber-evangelical alternative to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

So more than 150 ultra religious conservatives met at a Texas ranch this past Friday and Saturday. Among the bigger names: Tony Perkins of Family Research Council; Gary Bauer, a former presidential candidate; James Dobson, who used to head Focus on the Family; and Don Wildmon, who once ran American Family Association.

The mission of this "emergency meeting" was to unite behind someone who they feel is a true-blue religious conservative for the Republican nomination. This group is desperate to defeat President Obama, but they distrust Romney on key issues such as their desire to ban reproductive rights and marriage equality. In addition, many of them feel Mormonism is not a true Christian religion, and as a result, Romney isn't "one of them".

Add to this the problem that despite his best efforts to run from his pro-gay rights past, Romney's past statements in favor of basic civil equality for Gays and Lesbians, are regularly coming back to haunt him as he has sought to woo social conservatives.

One of the problems of living in a digital age, if you happen to be Mitt Romney, is that his pro-gay rights past keeps cropping up in archived footage and flyers. Which makes it kinda awkward when you are trying to show the American Taliban base of the GOP that you hate Gay Americans, and love Jeebus as much as they do. (Cue Rachel Maddow with the details...)

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Tony Perkins, the head of the ridiculously misnamed Family Research Council. (A group the Southern Poverty Law Center has certified as a Hate Group), tried to lower expectations going in to the meeting down in Texas this past week. Perkins claimed that the meeting was not "anti-Romney" but rather pro-issues that mattered to social conservatives.

Yet earlier today Perkins triumphantly tweeted the Texas bigotfest has crowned former Pennsylvania Senator and gay sex obsessed nut job Rick Santorum as their preferred choice for replacing President Obama and thus bring their brand of Sharia law to the country starting on January 20, 2013.

Which is actually pretty funny given what Rick Santorum's name is a euphemism for.

For those of you who are not aware of the definition of word "Santorum", you can google it. It stems from the former Senators personal obsession, (and yes that is the right word,) with gay sex. Rick Santorum is consumed by thoughts about gay sex. It is what he talks most about.

Jobs? National Security? The environment? Nope, none of those issues even come close to being what turns Rick Santorum's crank the fastest. Seattle advice columnist and activist Dan Savage tells the story of how the former Senator's name acquired its new meaning...

So now we have Senator Frothy Mix as the official "not Romney" candidate of the American Taliban. What is most interesting about all of this, is not the crazy stuff Santorum regularly says, or even the entertaining spectacle of Mitt Romney desperately trying to run from every position he ever held prior to 2004.

The real story here is how at least on the front end of the GOP primary process, the 2012 Presidential race is largely a bizarre repeat of what happened at this point in 2008. (cue Rachel).

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The Republican Party faces a tough choice. Go with Romney and face a campaign that from an electoral standpoint would be a replay of 2008, and risk alienating the only real core constituency they have left. Or, go with Santorum and be saddled with a candidate and a campaign that is completely removed from the issues the vast majority of Americans actually do care about. Namely, jobs and the economy, which would take a far back seat to Santorum's preferred crusade to ban birth control and forcibly divorce thousands of American couples currently married under state laws in places like New York, Iowa and Connecticut.

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I say the GOP should follow their hearts, embrace the bigotry and start uh.... spreading the Santorum message!

I have made no secret of my disappointment with President Obama. I have found him to be an ineffective centrist corporate apologist, rather than a bold progressive leader. But what is now crystal clear, is that while President Obama may be largely ineffectual, he is not, like ALL of his potential Republican challengers, completely insane.

Happy Holidays from the U.S.

2011-12-30T17:15:00.000-08:00

Well we made it to the U.S. Just fine. I am sitting in my parents kitchen in Waunakee, Wisconsin as I type this blog entry.

Big thanks to our good friend Jeff Koren who gave us great advice on how to handle the pitfalls of US Customs and Immigration . He said I should go through the "visitor " line at passport control with Eric and that way we went through passport control together. Sure enough, we breezed right through!

Got in last Friday and had a wonderful Christmas with my Parents and my Sister and her family , who also flew out from California. There even was a light dusting of snow still on the ground here , so we ended up having a White Christmas after all.

We then had a fantastic celebration for my Parents 50th Wedding Anniversary on December 27th. There was a special church service where they reaffirmed their wedding vows, which was followed by a dinner and party with over 60 friends and family .

We are here through New Year's and will fly back to London on Monday. It is always surprising how fast the time goes by. There is never enough time to see all the people you want to see, and who want to see you. So to folks who we were unable to connect with this trip, our apologies, but there was just too much going on and too little time.

It is always great to get back to Madison. I grew up here so it is always "coming home": for me. Showing Eric around the UW Madison campus you find yourself awash in memories.

Yet as is always the case, you tend to notice the changes more than the things that have stayed the same . Which is interesting, because it tends to be little things that change.

One of my favorite stores on State Street; (The Puzzlebox) is no longer there, yet State Street Brats remains as a constant. A firewall against a tide of changes that might wipe away all Madison traditions.

Lots of people have asked us, if living in London is "all that different" compared to here. And the answer is obviously, yes. It is very different. Yet at the same time it is not so different. It is the paradox of how do you define "home". Where you grew up will always be home, in the sense it is where you come from. Yet home is far more a matter of where your life is. This will always be where I am "from", but it is no longer where my life is.

There have been some wonderful moments this trip. One of the most amazing has been introducing Eric to one of my oldest friends.

Some long time readers of this blog may recall one of my first entries was about my dilemma over reconnecting with my friend after being out of touch for many years. As has been so often the case in my life, I am very lucky to have friends who are far braver and much wiser than I am.

No politics in this posting, sorry. But have no fear, I will have much to say about the nuttiness of the Iowa GOP Caucus next week. The near collapse of the Euro, the Mayans predicting 2012 as the end of the world, and of course random thoughts on Doctor Who....

Happy New Year Everyone. Thanks for reading along!

Finally!! ... And it looks BRILLIANT!

2011-12-21T00:48:00.001-08:00

Who's ready to go back to Middle Earth? :)

Thoughts on the Death of Kim Jong Il

2011-12-19T03:32:00.000-08:00

There has been various reactions to the news that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il has shuffled off his mortal coil. The North Korean Central News Agency announced the news with one of their customary over the top performances.

The issues that arise from the transition of power in North Korea are clearly very serious, given the spectre of political instability in an insular, paranoid nation that possesses an atomic weapon. The issue of instability in the North is always a troubling one for South Korea. The idea that the Korean Peninsula will someday reunify, is one South Koreans hope for, yet in practice the idea of the border between North and South coming down, is a problematic one for South Korea.

North Korea is for all intents and purposes a sealed bubble. The image of the Korean Peninsula from space tells the story. You see the vast web of lights that outline South Korea, and the pitch dark outline of the North with one pinprick of light being the Capital Pyongyang. North Korea exists with the vast majority of its population knowing only what they have been told by the Government.

Now imagine for a moment, waking up one day and finding out that everything you have ever been told, taught or believed about the world was in fact, completely wrong. Now times that by twelve million people, and you see the dilemma reunification poses for the South. Unlike with Germany, Korean reunification would create a refugee crisis on a biblical scale, almost over night.

I remember my first visit to the border area between the two Koreas (the "DMZ") . It was in 1997. It was , as you might imagine, a unique experience. It remains essentially the last remaining front of the Cold War. It will be fascinating to watch the transition of Power there. Kim's appointed successor is his third son Kim Jon Eun, who is in his twenties, but was recently made a four star General in the North Korean military.

It is in everyone's interest that the two Koreas reconcile peacefully. The late Kim Jong il was nothing if not unique. His flamboyant personal style and odd personality traits made him an easy target for comedy. The greatest example of course, being "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who used Kim as central villian for their movie "Team America - World Police". Giving the "dear leader" his own moment in cinematic history, and a song to go with it.

So we bid farewell to the "dear leader" with a look back at his moment of movie musical glory.

A Christmas Mystery....

2011-12-14T13:22:00.000-08:00

We have a little bit of Christmas mystery on our hands.

Today we received a package addressed to both Eric and I that contained this wonderful ceramic Doctor Who collectors TARDIS Cookie Jar.

There was no card, and no name on the package, just a return address near Manchester.

We are thrilled with the amazing gift, we just would really like to know who it is from so we can say thanks!!!

Right Wing Theo-fascist Nut Jobs are REALLY REALLY Mad...

2011-12-07T07:25:00.000-08:00

It has not been a good week if you are a bigoted Gay-hating evangalooney-toon member of the American Taliban. First, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a remarkable speech at a United Nations conference commemorating the anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

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That same day, the Obama Administration took steps similar to those already taken by the British Government in making how nations treat their LGBT citizens, a factor in considering future foreign aid. (via the huffington post.)

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is announcing a wide-ranging effort to use U.S. foreign aid to promote rights for gays and lesbians abroad, including combating attempts by foreign governments to criminalize homosexuality. In a memorandum issued Tuesday, President Barack Obama directed U.S. agencies working abroad, including the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, to use foreign aid to assist gays and lesbians who are facing human rights violations.

The President also ordered U.S. agencies to protect vulnerable gay and lesbian refugees and asylum seekers. "The struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender persons is a global challenge, and one that is central to the United States' commitment to promoting human rights," Obama said in a statement.

Add to that, the fact the most rabidly gay sex obsessed homophobe running for the GOP nomination just can't seem to get any love from GOP voters. Rick Santorum, may as well be Ron Paul for all the attention he is getting these days.

So channelling that frustration, Santorum beats his "gays are destroying our nation" drum louder, harder and faster in hopes that the Tea-baggers of Iowa will finally notice him. (hat tip to thinkprogress.org) Rick Santorum told a crowd in Spencer, Iowa this afternoon that equal rights for gays and lesbians would “destabilize the family” and “accomodate a different values structure.” “It’s about what America’s basic moral values should be that would be reflected in the law,”

If that wasn't enough, just last week Marine Gen. James F. Amos, the man who was for a time, the face of opposition in the military to lifting the ban on gays serving openly, acknowledged his concerns were unfounded. In fact, he says, Marines have embraced the change. He said that at the annual ball in Washington this month celebrating the birth of the Marine Corps, a female Marine approached Amos' wife, Bonnie, and introduced herself and her lesbian partner. "Bonnie just looked at them and said, `Happy birthday ball. This is great. Nice to meet you,'" Amos said. "That is happening throughout the Marine Corps." In an Associated Press interview, Amos called the repeal in September "a non-event."

Having all this in the space of less than a week was just too much for the American Taliban, and their collective heads pretty much exploded. Matt Barber, the oh-so butch, spokes-bigot for the Right Wing hate group the "Liberty Council" attacked Clinton and President Obama for having an “obsession with the radical homosexual activist agenda.”

Over at the Family Research Council, (another group certified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a Hate Group, just like the Klu Klux Klan) they didn't even wait for Hillary Clinton to finish her speech before they started sputtering with incoherent rage. FRC "Senior Fellow" Peter Sprigg (aka "Porno Pete" due to the extensive 'research' he likes to do in sex clubs and at fetish events, about the dangers of Gay Porn,) spewed: "It is startling that President Obama is prepared to throw the full weight and reputation of the United States behind the promotion overseas of the radical ideology of the sexual revolution."

Sprigg's boss and everybody's favourite white supremacist and faux Christian , Tony Perkins couldn't contain himself, and had to had his oddly effeminate voice to the chorus of rage on the wing nut right, saying that Obama is hostile and disdainful toward Christianity, and that Christians who voted for Obama should repent, saying; “Any Christian that voted for Obama in 2008 should be repenting [and voting differently] in the next election," Perkins told the Christian Post. "This administration has been the most hostile toward religious freedom.” Apparently, according to Perkins, if you say torturing and killing gay people is a bad thing, you are infringing on his religious freedom.

Not one to be left out of a good hate fest, Texas Governor and political rodeo clown, Rick Perry chimed in saying, "Just when you thought Barack Obama couldn't get any more out of touch with America's values. ... This administration's war on traditional American values must stop."

SO just to be clear, Rick Perry feels upholding the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a war on American Values. You know, it worked out so well the last time The Republicans nominated a Texas Governor with a 4th grade vocabulary and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head, with God, I can see why the GOP might be considering giving it another go.

Wow! I am so glad Rick Perry cleared THAT up for all of us! It's not unemployment, climate change, a broken financial sector that bilked the country out of trillions. No! The real problem facing America is that Gay Soldiers hate Christmas!! Why didn't I see it before!

And of course... last but certainly never least. We have everybody's favorite hate mongering dementia patient soiling his adult diaper over all things Gay. Predicting that his personal angry God will SMITE Barack Obama and the rest of us godless liberals for daring to , actually follow the example of Christ, and do that whole work for justice stuff. According to Pat, God really hates that!

What the past couple days have made clear is what the American right wing nutters plan to do in 2012. The GOP can't run on their economic plan, because that is what drove the economy off the cliff in the first place. They can't run as the Party that "fights the war on terror" since they completely failed in more than seven years, to get Osama Bin Laden, but the Obama Administration got him in three. They cant run against Obamacare, because there is no such thing, and they cant run against Nancy Pelosi because she isn't Speaker of the House any more. So what's left to motivate their small minded, fearful, angry base to get out and vote?

Oh yeah... The Gays!!

All kidding aside, these people are insane. But the great irony here is still the baffling twister-esque contortions on the issue of Marriage Equality by President Obama. He has his Secretary of State stand up before the world and say loudly and clearly that "Gay rights are Human Rights". He issues executive orders saying loudly and clearly that nations that persecute their LGBT citizens will lose out on American aid.

He says DOMA is unconstitutional , won't defend it in court, even refrains for enforcing it in a select few cases. YET when asked to support the right of all Americans to marry he cowers behind nonsensical babble of supporting equal rights, but marriage is only between a man and woman. Then says his position is still "evolving". Does the President actually think that by refusing to support marriage equality, there are people who will vote for him who otherwise wouldn't?

When the best the other side can come up with is Newt Gingrich or Mitt Romney, it's not like the guy has that much to lose by standing up for a core Democratic constituency.

No Place Like Home for the Holidays?

2011-12-06T05:33:00.000-08:00

The old song goes; “There’s no place like home for the holidays...” For many Americans living overseas, that means getting on planes and trekking across the globe to spend the holidays back in the good ‘old U.S. of A. Nothing could be finer, right?

Well in theory, yes. This year, Eric and I will travel to Madison, Wisconsin to spend Christmas, New Years, and my Parents 50th wedding anniversary with my family. THAT part of the trip, actually “being home” for the holidays is fine. We both are really looking forward to time with family and friends back in the United States. That’s not the problem.

It’s the “going “ there that is the issue. Not the travel itself. British Airways will get us from London Heathrow to Chicago O’Hare non-stop with their usual decent service, moderately edible food, and passable in-flight movie options.

Then after a 2 hour layover, American Eagle airlines will take us the final 40 minute or so hop from Chicago to Madison with little effort. No, the problem is what happens during the lay over between these two flights.

As a married couple, one would think the process of entering the United States would be simple. Right? After all, for the vast majority of bi-national married couples, (couples where one spouse is an American citizen and the other is not...) entering the United States is a pretty straight forward exercise. As long as you have all the right spousal visas etc. The non-citizen spouse should have little or no delay joining you on the other side of the little booths over at baggage claim. Guess again.

For bi-national married couples who happen to be of the same gender, Immigration and Passport control at any major American airport, is for lack of a better metaphor, something of a crap shoot, all depending on the mood of the homeland security passport control agent you encounter.

For both Eric and I this is the most stressful part of the entire trip. To such a extent, that were it not also my parent’s golden wedding anniversary, we probably would have opted not to come at all.

Because of the ridiculously mis-named “Defence of Marriage Act” (or DOMA) , the Federal Government is barred from recognizing Eric as my Spouse, despite the fact that we are legally married in the United Kingdom. So the Department of Homeland Security must treat Eric not as part of my family, but instead as just some non-American guy who is travelling with me.

So after an 8 hour transatlantic flight, we will stagger into the international arrivals hall and then (thanks to DOMA) have to split up into different lines to get through passport control. Eric who has a valid multiple entry tourist visa, will go the non-US Citizen line, while I go through the line for Americans and US Permanent Residents .

Eric will get to the little booth and hand his landing card and passport to the Agent. Now, let me explain why both of us tend to get very stressed at this point. Eric is a Malaysian Citizen permanently living in the UK. He isn’t British, but is travelling from Britain, his passport is Malaysian (an Islamic country) but he isn't Malay or Muslim. He is Chinese, and Buddhist. His landing card says he is visiting the United States to see his in-laws in Wisconsin. But he isn’t in the US Citizen / Permanent Resident line with his “spouse”. All of this, often will mystify and confuse the US border agent.

Eric will then be subjected to a barrage of more than slightly aggressive questions. Such as "So who is it you are travelling with, what is your relationship with this person, and where are they now?" All in spite of having a VALID multiple entry tourist visa. He will patiently answer all the questions (usually three or more times). At this point, the TSA Border agent's brain completely fails to grasp the concept of two men travelling together as married couple. As a result , Eric is “pulled aside” for additional screening that has at times, lasted more than four hours, where he is asked the exact same questions all over again.

All because the U.S. Federal Government (which happily taxes me to support the Dept. of Homeland Security,) can’t treat us the way the British Government, treats us, as a married couple. Thanks to DOMA

In the past it has gotten so ridiculous that once I stood outside the international arrivals gate at the San Francisco Airport, loudly threatening to call all my members of congress and every single media outlet in Northern California if they didn’t let Eric through NOW! (Thankfully at that point, they did...) Mind you that was in San Francisco, a city where the concept of a same-sex couple travelling together was hardly unusual. This trip it will be Chicago O’Hare that will once more, put our faith in the Department of Homeland Security to the test.

How would you feel if; 1) In order to even be with, let alone marry the person you love, you had to move overseas. Then; 2) every time you wanted to visit your family, it was entirely possible that based on nothing more than a border agent’s mood, (not for any logical reason, evidence or probable cause), your husband or wife could be detained for hours, or even barred from entering the country.

All for no other reason, than the basic legal protections other married couples enjoy, we are denied, because the Republican Party needs to keep Gay and Lesbian Americans as the one group they can still legally hate, and discriminate against.

Welcome to our world, Happy Holidays. To our friends and family back in the States, we are looking forward to (hopefully) seeing you soon.

Dave & Eric

Why Barack Obama will be Re-elected. Continued....

2011-12-04T15:15:00.000-08:00

Writing this week in The Washington Post, conservative heavyweight George Will, examines the now two-horse race for the GOP Presidential nomination between former Massachusetts Governor, Willard, "Mitt" Romney, and former House Speaker, and Georgia Congressman Newt Gingrich.

In the piece, Will characterizes the reversal in political fortunes of the two as a move from "bad to worse". In fairness, George Will is not what you could call an unbiased observer. His own wife is an advisor to rival GOP Presidential candidate, Texas Governor Rick Perry.

When the topic of Newt Gingrich comes up with his fellow talking heads, on ABC's, "This Week", George Will tends to make it clear, he doesn't take Gingrich even remotely seriously.

As far as Mitt Romney goes, in his piece in the Washington Post, Will compares an Obama-Romney match up to Harry Truman going up against Thomas Dewey. Hardly a metaphor for Republican success. So who does George Will think the GOP should pick to go up against President Obama next November? Former U.S. Ambassador to China, and Utah Governor Jon Huntsman.

Huntsman's positions of being in favor of civil unions for same sex couples, believing in climate change and evolution, mean he is the one candidate in the current GOP field who is not either, woefully opportunistic in their policy track record, or completely insane.

Thankfully for Democrats it also means he is the one man who the Republican Party will never, ever, not in a million years, pick as their nominee. For the simple reason, the nutjob theocrats who now control the GOP would never allow it.

Why not? Simple. It's the same reason they are now willing to overlook Newt Gingrich's three marriages and track record of serial adultery. Huntsman, like Romney is a Mormon and that just gives the Evangelical nutjobs of the GOP the willies.

The fact that the opinion of George Will, one of the American Conservative Movement's most prominent minds is being completely ignored, is a fascinating glimpse into the Republican Party of 2011. Their lockstep allegiance to an American Taliban-esqe conservative social agenda at all costs, will all but hand a second term to Barack Obama on silver platter.

It will be interesting to see what will happen when the Republican Party, which went completely insane when they lost to Barack Obama the first time, faces the reality that his re-election was far more their own doing, than a result of anything the Democrats did.

Why President Obama will be Re-elected in 2012...

2011-11-30T07:17:00.001-08:00

Pretty much says it all, doesn't it... ?

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Amazing Ad from GetUp Austrailia

2011-11-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

This is the latest ad for Marriage Equality from GetUp Australia. Like so many Americans I have scratch my head in wonderment at how simple and yet powerfully effective this Ad is. All the while lamenting the fact that back in the US, the HRC and their assorted ilk have yet to come out with anything even half as good as this...

It's time.

From: getupaustralia | Nov 24, 2011 | 1,279,076 views

Please share this with friends and loved ones.
donate to put on Australian tv: http://tiny.cc/gkuwp
sign petition: http://www.getup.org.au/marriagematters

music: Oliver Tank - Last Night I Heard Everything in Slow Motion

Now that Thanksgiving is Over...

2011-11-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Christmas-mania can begin... So what better way to kick things off, than with the best version of this song, EVER...

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone Back in the U.S.!

2011-11-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

GOP 2012 - Why There is Nothing Left to Say....

2011-11-20T11:40:00.000-08:00

Blogging tends to be something of a self-indulgent pastime. You pour your thoughts, ideas, opinions, pet peeves, hopes and dreams out onto a keyboard and post them on the internet with the hope that they are read and understood. Yet with some topics there comes a point where there is nothing more you can say.

With the 2012 Republican Presidential primary process, we have reached such a point.

For the most part I have not posted much about the 2012 Republican Presidential candidates. Mostly because I kept expecting the somewhat crowded, and nonsensical herd of lunatics to eventually thin out, leaving two or at the most three, semi-rational contenders for the GOP nomination.

Yet less than three months out from the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary, the most amazing thing so far about the 2012 GOP race has been the complete lack of sanity, rationality or even reality. There have now been 11 GOP "Presidential Debates" each one less rational than the one before it. Culminating with last night's "Family Values Debate" in Iowa. Hosted by the American Family Association. A group that the Southern Poverty Law Center has officially classified as a Hate Group.

I have posted in the past about AFA and what bunch of hate-filled nutters they are. It boils down to this; They are the American Taliban. They want to take their extremist religious beliefs and codify them into Civil Law. All the while shrieking hysterically about the (non-existent) threat of Islamic Sharia law taking over America. I won't waste time or blog space re-hashing the limitless examples of how insane these people are. If you are really that curious you can see for yourself, by clicking here.

The "debate" was not carried on any of the American television networks. This event was so, ugly, so far removed from reality that even FOX News didn't broadcast it. So when your "Presidential Candidates Debate" is too nutty for even FOX, congratulations; - the Shark has officially been jumped. So much so, that the two Republican hopefuls who most need to win the approval of "social conservatives", didn't even bother to show up. Former front runner Mitt Romney, and current "is he still running?" candidate John Huntsman, both Mormons, knew that their own religious beliefs would be as big a target as abortion and Gay Rights.

Knowing that there was no way they would get out of there with their political lives, they wisely opted out. Which then prompted this twitter hissy-fit response from the AFA's spokes-bigot. (hat tip to joemygod)

So last night, six of the eight GOP hopefuls strove to show the AFA and its assorted minions just how uber-socially conservative each of the them was. Struggling at times to show just how much more they hated Gays and Women's rights to control their own bodies, and loved Jesus, than their opponents.

The best moment, came when a question was asked, about a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. (DOMA), the Federal Law that bans recognition for Same Sex Marriage. Former Godfather's Pizza CEO and alleged serial sexual harasser Herman Cain just couldn't resist showing his complete ignorance of the U.S. Constitution.

Did you get that? According to Herman Cain, and Newt (thrice married serial adulterer) Gingrich, the President of the United States can just "overturn" Supreme Court rulings he doesn't like. Well, that's nifty.

The result of all this may well be the death of political blogging until after the 2012 GOP National Convention. Why? Simple, there is nothing left to say. There are only so many ways to express gob-smacked incredulity. Eventually the English language exhausts itself trying to express shock and dismay at people so completely detached from reality, devoid of sanity, and ignorant of basic American principles.

People who truly believe that those who ran our economy into the ground for the benefit of a select view, are to be admired, and people who created prosperity and opportunity for all are "socialists out to destroy America".

The level of delusion on the American Right Wing, is beyond belief. It is no longer Political, it is pathological.

To anyone who would even be considering voting for any of these people. I have only one question. Why do you hate America?

Yeah ok... I admit it...

2011-11-09T07:40:00.000-08:00

This video made me a little homesick...

The City from WTK Photography on Vimeo.

Real homophobes don't Google

2011-11-09T01:45:00.000-08:00

Brilliant column by San Francisco writer Mark Morford.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Mark Morford, SF Gate Columnist
Wednesday, November 9, 2011

CBS, Google, Levi's, Starbucks, New Balance, and Xerox are among the 70 companies and cities that have signed an amicus brief stating that DOMA, the 1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act, hurts business. --NCRM.com

Woe to you, oh modern card-carrying homophobe. For it can't be easy to be you right now, what with all the terrifying changes taking place, all the dramatic sexual upheavals and flagrant displays of "unnatural" love being hurled like exotic sushi in your plain hamburger face these days. Oh, you poor dear.

I see you there, glumly sipping your Starbucks gingerbread latte while Googling Swedish fetish porn in between checking the latest news on NASCAR.com in your lightly stained Dockers and beat-up Nikes, Cartoon Network blaring in the background, tattered copy of Shooters Monthly on the bedside.

I see you there, mumbling angrily at how New York has had legal gay marriage for four whole months and so far, no hellfire, chaos, no petrified Christian children melting into goo in the streets. I see you horrified at how seven other states and 10 countries are thriving happily with gay marriage, God apparently not really giving the slightest damn about how anyone expresses their consensual, reverential, wholehearted love, so long as they just do.

To be fair, I suppose it's too soon to tell if the end of DADT means our valiant U.S. military, during our next war, will end up offering the enemy a giant cupcake disco meth party, instead of kicking ass and keeping those pinko commie terrorists from poisoning the beer supply and stealing your HBO.

Did I say HBO? What a shame you have to give that up, no? Same goes for all those other brands, shows, shoes and companies I mentioned above, given how they all openly disrespect you and everything you stand for. Or haven't you heard?

Behold, dear homophobe, the upwards of 70 major U.S. companies who have just signed an amicus brief -- basically a formal f-you complaint to the federal government and its odious Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) -- saying the damn thing is bad for business, forces discrimination and inequality in company practices, was written by/for angry encephalitic right-wing thugs who don't know their God from a hole in the seminary wall. I might be making up that last part. But only barely.

Which companies are protesting DOMA, you ask? Starbucks. Google. Microsoft. Levi's. Nike. Time Warner Cable. Aetna. New Balance. Xerox. The list is impressive indeed, especially given how it's more or less an addendum to a much longer list, one that includes all the other enormous U.S. companies who already openly support gay rights, like Apple and Disney and Pixar, like Hershey and Coca-Cola and Dell, American Express and Mattel and even big media daddies like Time Warner, Inc. and Viacom. Et al.

Are you not furious, righteous Republican homophobe? I bet you are. I bet you're dialing your angriest, most confused buds right this moment to write letters, post barely punctuated rants to the hate forums on Free Republic, call in to Rush to demand a Tea Party-wide boycott of every single one of these sicko companies.

I mean, you can't really call yourself a true American, a real Christian and still openly wear Nikes or Levi's, use Microsoft or Google, or watch Warner Brothers movies, can you? If you really walk your anti-gay talk, well, every one of these companies should be banned from your life, right?

It shouldn't be too bad. Easy enough to kick that Starbucks addiction to the curb. Damn them to hell with their Norah Jones and their mediocre espresso, anyway. Same goes for those hippie perverts over at HBO. Can grudgingly live without Air Jordans or New Balance tennies, too.

But oh, cutting out Google might be a little trickier, as that means the end of Gmail, Gmaps, Google Earth, Google Plus, YouTube (!), you name it (I'd suggest switching to Yahoo, but alas, they love those icky gays too. Maybe Bing? Oh wait, Microsoft. Uh-oh. Is Lycos still around?)

But hey, you can make do, right? Screw those depraved, godless companies. Who needs 'em? At least you have Fox News. And Exxon. And, um, Pilgrim's Pride. They make deep-fried frozen chicken blobs. So you're good for basic protein. Suck down a giant platter of breaded, hormone-injected patriotism while sipping a silver bullet and watching some NASCAR, and all is right with the world, am I right?

Oh dear. Bad news, lovebug. It seems Time Warner owns the broadcast rights to every single NASCAR race nationwide. Time Warner! Dude! They love gays! As if that weren't bad enough, they also own NASCAR.com. WTF?

Would you like to read that again? A clearly pro-gay megacorp basically owns the straightest, manliest, most pseudo-macho sport in the entire known world next to beating things with clubs and skinning buffalo with your teeth. Whatever will you do with your boycott now?

Before you answer, might want to check out what else you're going to do without. Time Warner, for one, is everywhere.

New Line Cinema movies, Loony Tunes cartoons, TT Games? Gone. Sports Illustrated, People magazine, Practical Parenting, Motorboat Monthly, Shooting Times? You know it, honeyball. What about DC Comics (Superman, Batman), CNN, Harry Potter? Sorry. Totally gay, each and every one. (Yes, I know. Harry Potter was a no-brainer. But still).

Did I forget to mention CBS? That's right. No more "CSI." No more "Survivor." Damn homos are everywhere.

It's OK, take a moment. I can hear your head imploding in abject confusion. How could this be? How could these powerhouse companies be sucked into the vile gay agenda that's destroying the land, brainwashing our kids and making it OK to order arugula salads and enjoy trance music and the BMW 3-Series?

Don't worry, homophobic American. No one really expects you to boycott all these companies, or even any of them. No one expects you to actually walk your hateful talk. It's not really possible anyway.

Besides, the backwards lug in you and the jaded cynic in me could easily argue that most of these companies couldn't care less about gay rights, per se. They only really care about the money DOMA costs them. They care about health care expenses, administrative overhead, profit and loss. They only care about, you know, capitalism. And everyone knows, capitalism doesn't discriminate. It's an equal opportunity exploiter.

But unfortunately for you, I'm not sure that really matters anymore. Be it for economic, moral, political or cultural reasons -- or more likely, some wondrous combination thereof -- gay rights and gay marriage are gaining on you. Fast. I know it, you know it, even capitalism itself knows it. Your imminent obsolescence is assured.

Not sure what that means? It's OK. You can Google it.
© 2011 Hearst Communications Inc.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mark's column appears every Wednesday on SFGate.com

Lawrence O'Donnell Makes Mincemeat Out of The American Taliban

2011-11-08T13:58:00.000-08:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

For all our fellow DOMA exiles...

2011-11-06T09:04:00.000-08:00

huge hat tip to our brilliant friend Peter for this one!

Married In London

Janis Ian

We're married in London
but not in New York
Spain says we're Kosher
The States say we're pork
We wed in Toronto
The judge said "Amen"
and when we got home
we were single again

It's hard being married
and living in sin
Sometimes I forget
just which state I am in
Thank God I'm not Catholic
I'd be a mess
trying to figure out
what to confess

My passport in Sweden
says I've got a wife
Amsterdam tells me
I'm partnered for life
but back in America,
Land of the free,
I'm a threat to
the national security

If I were a frog
here is what I would say --
It's hard being green
It's hard being gay
but love has no color
and hearts have no sex,
so love where you can,
and bugger the rest

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2011-10-30T05:46:00.001-07:00

Cardinal Spirit - circa 2011... Wow.

2011-10-22T09:02:00.000-07:00

I came across this Video on Facebook today. It is a mass "lip dub" done by the students Sun Prairie Senior High School in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. The American High School that I graduated from in 198... something or other... Watching this video I was struck by some amazing differences and changes that have taken place there over the past quarter century.

The first and most noticeable the new School building, which makes the old hallowed halls look like something out of bad 80's after school special. But even more striking is the the diversity of the Student population. When I attended SPHS there were three students of color , that's it. SPHS today makes a Benetton ad look monochrome.

Then there is the just the fact that so many students came together to make this. I will confess, I don't think I could ever imagine my own classmates coming together to do anything even remotely similar. Well, maybe, but highly doubtful.. It seems that times do change, and change for better.

Wow... Well done SPHS!

Right To Love... An American Family

2011-10-18T11:24:00.000-07:00

Trailer to a fantastic documentary about one American family's journey towards equality. I have such deep admiration for Jay and Bryan and the magnificent family they have in Northern California.

If you have not done so already you really should check out their amazing blog and their YouTube channel.

Thirteen Years Later, Remembering Matthew Shepard.

2011-10-07T02:37:00.000-07:00

Wednesday October 7th, 1998 was a fairly ordinary day in Chicago. I was working for a small consulting firm in the near West suburb of Oak Park, and had spent the day in a series of fairly productive meetings. So I felt pretty good when I got home from work. I was puttering around my apartment making dinner when I picked up the remote control for the TV and turned on CNN. The lead story was a brutal attack of a young man in Laramie Wyoming named Matthew Shepard. Shepard, age 21, had been beaten into a coma and left tied to fence along a rural highway outside the city. The news report noted that the victim was a young gay man and was not expected to survive.

I remember walking down into “boystown” (the north Halstead area of Chicago, and the center of the city’s Gay community). There were lots of people standing around outside the bars, and restaurants along Halsted Street, talking about what had happened in Wyoming. A makeshift memorial had been set up on the corner of Halsted and Roscoe.

I walked into the 7-11 there on the corner and bought a small votive candle, lit it and placed it with the growing number of candles, handwritten notes and flowers that were being placed around a picture of Matthew that someone had printed off the internet. I stayed for a little while talking to people who were gathered there. Some people were angry, others sad, but we all knew that something in our own community had changed as a result of what had happened, hundreds of miles away in field outside Laramie.

In 1998 I had just moved to Chicago after being overseas in South Korea. I was in the middle of my own “coming out” process, and was gathering up my courage to have “the talk” with my parents when I went home for Thanksgiving in a few weeks time. I will admit the news of Matthew Shepard’s brutal murder shook me up. Suddenly the decisions I was making to live openly and honestly as who I was, had potentially fatal consequences.

On an intellectual level you always knew that there were “gay bashers” out there. People who were so conflicted about their own sexuality that they felt the way to “cure” themselves was to attack others for what they feared most about themselves. Yet now those hypothetical risks, were not so hypothetical. What's more, those cosequences now had a face, and a name.

As I walked home, my thoughts turned to Matthew Shepard’s parents. What must they be thinking and feeling? Had they known Matt was gay? Did it really matter? Years later I would have the great honor of meeting Judy Shepard, and hear her tell her own powerful story .

Thirteen years later, I marvel at how my own life has changed. I am married to an amazing man, we have incredible friends and loving families who remind us every day, that the world is not as bleak and dark a place as it seemed, on that October night in 1998.

Yet I am still saddened and angry that there are many people in America who honestly feel that Matthew Shepard got what “he had coming to him”. That demonizing , discriminating against, and even murdering Gays and Lesbians is somehow “doing God’s work”.

People with a vested interest in keeping LGBT people as the one group it is still safe to hate. People who seek to profit, personally, politically and even economically from fomenting deadly hatred and fear of others. Bigots whose actions and beliefs are the farthest thing from being Christian, yet claim to have a monopoly on what they claim God thinks and who they claim "God hates".

I really don’t have a point to make here, other than to say it’s important to remember Matthew and so many others like him who have died as a result of hatred and bigotry. If you want to get involved, here are a few great places to start...

The Matthew Shepard Foundation: http://www.matthewshepard.org/

The Trevor Project: http://www.thetrevorproject.org/

The Ben Cohen Stand Up Foundation: http://www.standupfoundation.com/

The We Give a Damn Campaign: http://www.wegiveadamn.org/

Thanks,

Dave

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

2011-10-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Like Voting on Other People's Rights? C'mon Down to the South!

2011-09-30T14:44:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

More Seriously Cool Footage from the ISS

2011-09-28T13:23:00.001-07:00

The "Southern Lights" as seen from the International Space Station

When Bigoted Hypocrisy Replaces Sanity and Patriotism ... Welcome to the GOP

2011-09-23T15:47:00.000-07:00

Last night was one more of the seemingly endless Republican "Presidential Candidate Debates". A sad pathetic effort to make people think that the 2012 election campaign is somehow in full swing in September of 2011.

I didn't watch the latest American Taliban bitch-fest. For one, I would have had to stay up until 4 am here in London to catch it live. For another it was on FOX News, and if given the choice of undergoing a combination root canal - colostomy or watching Fox News? Pass the Novocaine.

So I missed what was the defining moment for the modern Republican Party. It was the moment where all the slogans, all the speeches, all the remaining trappings of any resemblance to a legitimate political party seeking to offer an alternative electoral choice to the American People, finally fell away. Revealing for the entire world what is left; Rancid, ugly hate filled hypocrisy.

The modern day Republican Party, which has made it's living off of claiming to "support the troops" more than anyone else, showed the world just what a warped twisted lie all that patriotic posturing really is.

From The Hill
Some members of the GOP debate audience booed a gay soldier who asked via video whether the Republican candidates would reinstitute the recently repealed "Don't ask, don't tell" policy of banning openly gay soldiers.

After Stephen Hill, who is serving in the Army in Iraq, asked his question, a handful of members of the audience booed loudly. None of the Republican candidates responded to the audience's reaction. Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) answered that "Any type of sexual activity has no place in the military" and that he would return to the policy of requiring gays and lesbians to stay silent on their sexuality or get thrown out of the military. His response garnered loud applause.

Here it is...

I have said it before. The Republican Party of 2011 has nothing that they can ask the American People to vote FOR. Their policies are designed to direct all resources and opportunity to only the top one tenth of one percent of Americans. Anyone who doesn't fall into that category of the uber-wealthy is in the mind of the GOP, insignificant and disposable.

Dying as result of poverty is to the GOP, a natural cause. Anything government does to help anyone outside that one tenth of one percent, is "Socialism!!", and President Obama is some Indonesian-Kenyan-Marxist-Leninist-Islamic Manchurian Candidate, planted in Hawaii decades ago as part of some long term plot to destroy America.

All that doesn't really play well on a bumper sticker. So the GOP knows their only hope is to give America something to vote AGAINST. To do that you need voters to be two things, angry and afraid. So the plan for 2012 is simple, get Americans angry at the scary Black man in the White House, and get them afraid of....?

Well, let's see. The GOP can't campaign against Women, Blacks and Jews anymore, (at least not openly, Pat Buchanan apparently didn't get that memo.) Telling Americans they need to hate Hispanics has turned out to be a losing electoral strategy thanks to America's shifting demographics, and the "Islamo-facist" boogie man lost it's punch when it became clear most of the post 9-11 terror alerts were based far more on George W. Bush's poll numbers, than any actual intelligence. So who's left?

Oh yeah... The Gays. When the GOP is too crazy for life long Republicans like Senator Alan Simpson, you know the Republican Party has jumped the shark.

In 2011, the Republican faithful will jeer and boo at an American soldier, serving his country and risking his life in a war zone because it fits the narrative of who their party has told them they should fear and hate.

This is not about "Don't Ask Don't Tell", or even about what the assorted Republican candidates think about LGBT rights. It is about living up to words they spout so freely, professing their admiration and support for those brave men and women who risk their lives serving our nation in the military.

We now know what all those bold "we support the troops more than you...", words were... A lie.

Another Teen in America is bullied to death...

2011-09-21T16:48:00.000-07:00

From Buffalo News

Jamey Rodemeyer needed help. At 14, he was grappling with adolescent demons that could torment grown men. And when he was online, he wrote about it.

"I always say how bullied I am, but no one listens," he wrote Sept. 9. "What do I have to do so people will listen to me?"

Just over one week later, Jamey was found dead outside his home of an apparent suicide.In the months prior, he routinely blogged about school bullying and thoughts of suicide in between upbeat posts about his pop star idol Lady Gaga and the ordinary types of teen rants typical for kids his age. On Sept. 8, he wrote: "No one in my school cares about preventing suicide, while you're the ones calling me [gay slur] and tearing me down."

He put up a separate post that day letting everyone know it was National Suicide Prevention Week. On Saturday night, he posted a lyric from Lady Gaga's song "The Queen" on his Facebook page: "Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door."

Then around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, Jamey posted two final messages to his main public Tumblr blog. One said he really wanted to see his great-grandmother, who had recently died, and one offered thanks to Lady Gaga.

That was his last entry.

Jamey did have bad days. Issues of bullying and even suicide talk were not new to many of Jamey's family or friends. They were common topics for him and seemed to ramp up to an extreme level when other students started making taunts with gay references to Jamey about 12 months ago on his Formspring account, which permits anonymous posts.

"JAMIE IS STUPID, GAY, FAT ANND UGLY. HE MUST DIE!" read one post.

Another read: "I wouldn't care if you died. No one would. So just do it :) It would make everyone WAY more happier!"
------------------------------------------------

Earlier this year Jamie had created and posted a video for Dan Savage's "It Gets Better Project"

It's hard to know exactly what to say when something this horrible this preventable happens. What is clear is Jamey's school and teachers failed him. Failed him with fatal consequences. I could write for pages and pages about how so many self-proclaimed "Family Values Conservatives" have Jamey's blood on their hands today.

I could go on and on about how the dehumanizing rhetoric of hate groups like "Focus on the Family" and the "American Family Association" directly contributed to this young man's tragic death. I could write for days on end about how the quest by hate mongers and bigots like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum to prevent anti bullying programs in our schools is killing our kids....

But no amount of words on a screen or a page will bring this remarkable young man back, it won't bring back any of the lives that have been lost to hate . So I will simply say, those who hounded this young man and others like him to their deaths, are the farthest thing from Christian. They are evil itself, and I have no doubt that they will rot and burn in hell. With all their hate which they are so sure will buy their way into heaven, they will instead, find themselves standing before God, who will look away and say: "I do not know you ..."

The streets of heaven are too crowded with Angels tonight. I am sorry Jamey. America failed you . Rest in peace.

Left Behind - from "Spring Awakening"

You fold his hands and smooth his tie, you gently lift his chin.
Were you really so blind, and unkind to him?
Can't help the itch to touch, to kiss, to hold him once again.
Now to close his eyes--never open them....

A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For the fool it called a home.

All things he never did are left behind.
All the things his mama wished he'd bear in mind,
And all his dad had hoped he'd know.

The talks you never had, the saturdays you never spent.
All the 'grown-up' places you never went.
And all of the crying you wouldn't understand.
You just let him cry, 'make a man out of him.'

A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For a fool it called a home.

All things he ever wished are left behind.
All the things his mama did to make him mind,
And how his dad had hoped he'd grow.

All things he ever lived are left behind.
All the fears that ever flickered through his mind.
All the sadness that he'd come to own.

A shadow passed, a shadow passed, yearning, yearning
For the fool it called a home.

And it whistles through the ghosts still left behind.
It whistles through the ghosts still left behind.
Whistles through the ghosts still left behind.

Seriously Cool....

2011-09-19T14:15:00.001-07:00

A time-lapse of images taken from the International Space Station gives us a space-eye view of what it is like to fly around the Earth

This movie begins over the Pacific Ocean and continues over North and South America before entering daylight near Antarctica. Visible cities, countries and landmarks include (in order) Vancouver Island, Victoria, Vancouver, Seattle, Portland, San Fransisco, Los Angeles. Phoenix. Multiple cities in Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mexico City, the Gulf of Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, Lightning in the Pacific Ocean, Guatemala, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and the Amazon. Also visible is the earths ionosphere (thin yellow line) and the stars of our galaxy. Raw data was downloaded from;

The Gateway To Astronaut Photography of Earth
"http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/sseop/mrf.htm ".

Virtualdub was used to create the final movie.

"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is officially repealed.

2011-09-19T14:00:00.000-07:00

It would be funnier if it were not TRUE...

2011-09-18T03:47:00.001-07:00

Remembering a September Morning...

2011-09-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

The media, and the blogposphere has been full of all sorts of remembrances and commentary around today's ten year anniversary of the attacks on September 11, 2001.

To be honest I was trying to avoid the topic. Not out of any sense of personal pain, but more out of respect, for those people I know who were far closer to the events of that day than I was.

My experience that day was a surreal one. I had gotten up very early and caught a flight from Chicago Midway to Houston. I was heading there for work. It was about 20 minutes into the flight, the seat belt sign had just turned off, and people where shifting about, getting comfortable. I had just pulled out my laptop to work on the presentation I was going to be giving later that day. Suddenly the seat belt sign came back on, and the crew announced that everyone was to return to their seats and prepare for landing, the flight would be returning to Chicago.

The Pilot then came on the speaker system to say that there was nothing wrong with the plane, and we were returning to Chicago because the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) had ordered the flight to return to "clear air traffic". He said that was all the information they had, and he apologized for the inconvenience.

Everyone on the plane thought the same thing. (Not terrorism.) Chicago Midway had upgraded to a new Air Traffic Control System earlier in the Summer and a few weeks prior, there had been a series of glitches that had delayed several flights. Everyone groaned, made comments about "Government Efficiency" assuming it was yet another problem with Midway's system that was going to mess up our day.

A assumption that was bolstered by the fact that we were not returning to Midway but rather we were diverted to Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

The woman sitting next to me was happy about this thinking at least it might be easier to get on the next flight out to Houston. I nodded, and said "I hope so", thinking of how I might salvage the rest of my schedule that day and make my afternoon meetings on time.

It took us about 30 minutes of circling over O'Hare before we could land. Sitting in a window seat I watched as the line of planes waiting to land stretched to the far horizon and oddly enough, no planes were taking off. I commented on this to the woman next to me, and she said "wow Midway's systems must be really screwed up!" I laughed and said that what we get for Ronald Reagan having fired all the good Air Traffic Controllers. She laughed and said she had forgotten about that.

We landed and had to wait an additional 20 minutes to get a gate. but finally pulled up to a jetway , and we all lumbered off the plane into the gate area I was getting annoyed because people were not clearing the area in front of the door but were all standing around the televisions that were tuned to CNN Airport. I was about to say a loud "excuse me!" when I happened to look up at the TV and saw CNN replay footage from ABC of the second plane hitting the World Trade Center.

CNN then cut to live shot of a column of smoke and ash where the World Trade Center Towers were supposed to be, but weren't. I called my office and my boss told me not to come in, The area in downtown Chicago around the Sears Tower was being evacuated. I called my parents and let them know I was not in Houston, got on the CTA Blue Line and went home.

The rest of that day I did what most Americans did, watched the news, and when the images became overwhelming, I put on my roller blades and went blading along the Lake Michigan shoreline.

It was brilliant sunny day. One of those late Summer, early Fall days that you get in Chicago that make you appreciate what a beautiful city it is. As I stopped at Oak Street Beach and admired the downtown Chicago skyline, I didn't think that somehow the "world had changed". But rather I found myself thinking how the United States now had finally, sadly, had joined the rest of the world.

Before that that morning, Terrorism was something that happened in other places, Israel, Lebanon London, Belfast , places far away. Even the first World Trade Center bombing for many people, didn't seem like international terrorism. After all, the people responsible were caught when they tried to get the deposit back on the rental van they had used. (How sinister could people that dumb be?)

That is what changed I think, it was the moment America lost the illusion that somehow our two oceans would keep us safe from global terrorism.

For friends of mine who lived in New York on that day, I understand that this week is a much different experience for them. A good friend of mine is a New York City Police Officer who lost an arm in the attack that day. Another friend of mine worked for an investment bank housed in the North Tower, she had a doctors appointment so she didn't go into work that morning. For her, today is a reminder of the 15 friends and co-workers who she lost that day.

For the numerous friends of mine who have served, and currently serve in both Afghanistan and Iraq with the American and British Armed Forces, they deal with the effects September 11, 2001 on a far different level than most people ever will.

So this evening, I will attend the 9-11 memorial service here in London, at Westminster Abbey. Where people will remember the events of that day, pray for those who were lost, and show solidarity and support for friends for whom this anniversary is far more personal than political.

God Bless America, God bless us all.

Last Nights GOP Debate in Less that 1 Minute...

2011-09-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

(hat-tip to Buzzfeed)

The Sound of Silence....

2011-09-05T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks...

Yes I am still alive and kicking. I know, I have not posted in a while. Sorry about that. I don't really have a good excuse other than "well, I've been busy...ya' know?" Which really isn't all that good of a reason. Truth be told, after watching the start of the U.S. 2012 Presidential election campaign kick off last month, with the Iowa straw poll. I wanted to blog about it, but every time I would try to write something, I'd just get annoyed and develop a headache.

Why? Because, as the 2012 campaign begins, it looks like United States is once again poised to prove our stupidity to the rest of the world.

The current crop of Republican GOP candidates are at best, mindless dolts who honestly think destroying the middle class, and turning America into a third world nation of a few have-it-all's and a mass of have-not's is a good idea. Or, they are at worst, Anti-American right wing theocratic wingnuts, who truly hate our freedoms as much as any Islamic extremist ever did. At this point, it is honestly hard to tell which is the case.

The most recent Republican to throw his ten gallon hat into the ring is current Texas Governor, Rick Perry. Who, among other things, thinks creationism should replace teaching evolution in schools, and thinks that God is telling him to run for President.

People over here on this side of the Atlantic ask me if the Republican Party could be even remotely serious about nominating "another one". Meaning another Texas Governor with a frail grasp on reality and a penchant for confusing the voices in his head with divine instruction. I'd like to assure them that America is not THAT stupid, but the most recent CNN Republican presidential poll, suggests that at least, on the Republican side, America may be just that stupid...

According to a CNN poll released this week, Perry has a commanding lead among Republican voters nationally.

The rest of the crop of GOP candidates is just as much fun. You have former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, and Minnesota Congresswoman Michelle Bachman. Both of whom think the greatest crisis facing America, is all those Gay couples getting married. According to both Santorum and Bachman, recent moves towards marriage equality in the U.S. are responsible for; (among other things...) Unemployment, the recent earthquake that rattled the American East Coast, Hurricane Irene, and bad weather in general.

Not to be left out, Perry, along with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney; ( who up until Rick Perry joined the field, was himself the GOP front runner). Quickly signed on to a "pledge" by the right wing hate group "The National Organization for Marriage", basically promising to ban all civil rights for LGBT Americans, and make fighting for those rights a crime.

If that isn't enough fun and frolic for you , according to the entire GOP field, ALL forms of government regulation are bad.. very very bad. Especially anything that regulates what corporations can do to their employees, their customers or the environment. Oh, and anything that protects workers, consumers or the environment is now referred to as "job killing" in all GOP/Fox News talking points.

Along those same lines. Anyone who is in the top one-tenth of one percent in terms of income in the United States, according to the GOP should not have to pay taxes.

The reason being , the uber-wealthy are all magical "job creators". And paying taxes might hurt their feelings, and then they wouldn't create all those wonderful jobs that they did during the Bush years thanks to those magical tax cuts... Oh, wait, I guess that didn't actually happen.

Not ones to be held back by facts, the GOP candidates are once again preaching the gospel of "trickle down economics". If we just give more money to those who already have lots of money, then it will all somehow trickle down to everyone else. (Remember that one from the Reagan years? )

But according to the GOP, we can't require the "job creators" to use all that money to create jobs, because that would be unfair. So when the top one-tenth of one percent takes all that money and just pockets it, creating no jobs whatsoever, folks like Perry and Ron Paul will insist it's not really their fault, it's (wait for it... ) according to GOP hopefuls, all that Government Regulation that has gotten in the way.

These people are seriously insane. So if the current 2012 GOP field is so utterly wacktacular, why am I worried? Simple, I am worried because the American electorate has a ridiculously short attention span and a track record voting against their own best interests.

Add to that, the painful truth that President Obama's first term has been one long experiment in poltical weakness.

The Republican Party discovered early on, the sad and very inconvenient truth that President Obama, is a good man, an intelligent man, who is very weak.   President Obama is not a Leader, he is a negotiator, and not a very good one. On issue after issue, from Health Care Reform, to Wall Street Reform, Congressional Republicans, found that President Obama, would accept a really bad agreement, if they simply threatened to leave him with no agreement at all.

As a result, the GOP learned very quickly , that it was all too easy to back the President into a corner, where his natural urge to "find common ground", meant he would abandon his stated principles and simply give in. All the while making very eloquent statements about the value of bi-partisanship.

So now we have the beginning of the 2012 election campaign where President Obama's one major accomplishment, health insurance reform, is in fact a motivating issue for Republicans, who are now campaigning on the "I promise to repeal Obama-care" bandwagon.

Obama-Biden 2012, will be a tough sell to many Americans, who vote based on one question and one question only;  "Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago?"   The answer for far too many Americans is sadly, no.

It doesn't bode well, when the only real answer the Obama Administration has come up with so far to that stark reality, is to say; "But...think how much WORSE it COULD have been if we hadn't been here!"

It's like telling someone who is unemployed, "Hey! At least you don't have malaria!"   Factually true, but unhelpful.

My fear is President Obama will simply campaign like he did in 2008, and the American electorate will do exactly what he told them to do back then...   Vote for change.

Ok , you gotta admit...

2011-08-21T11:22:00.000-07:00

For a Network TV Promo.. this is pretty cool!

When the Arc of History Doesn't Bend ...

2011-08-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

It's a breezy Summer evening. We have the windows open and there is that wonderful, faint far-off tinge of fall in the air that you sometimes get in early August. Summer is by no means over, thank goodness. But, you know it's on the downward side, and eventurally the leaves will turn. These "dog days" of Summer are still light well past nine o'clock in the eventing but, you can't help notice they are not as light as they were past ten o'clock, just a few short weeks ago.

You can smell all of that on the breeze... Change.

As we saw in 2008, as a political tool, the call for change can be very powerful. Just as powerful is the threat of change, as we saw in the circus debate over health care reform back in 2009 and 2010. Now in 2011 we see the impact of a lack of change. Lack of change in our economy, our national sercurity, and our general lot in life as nation.

I just finished reading Drew Weston's powerfully written essay in last Sunday's New York Times, entitled ; "What Happened to Obama?"   To be honest,  I didn't want to read it.   Weston is a Professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and one of the most eloquent and cohereant voices on the American left.   I knew that if I read his analysis of President Obama one of two things would happen. I would either get angry or I would get depressed; and either way I'd end up with a headache, and I hate headaches.

I now have a headache.

I had orginally thought of going through Westen's essay point by point and explaining how so many of us have been thinking, saying and feeling very much the same things for more than two years. How we have lamented lost opportunity, been baffled by a lack of principle, lack of direction and even a lack of the passion that so fueled then Senator Obama's meteoric rise to the Presidency. But the truth is, I'm tired, and   you can read the piece for yourself.    What stands out for me is this one passage:

"THE real conundrum is why the president seems so compelled to take both sides of every issue, encouraging voters to project whatever they want on him, and hoping they won’t realize which hand is holding the rabbit. That a large section of the country views him as a socialist while many in his own party are concluding that he does not share their values speaks volumes — but not the volumes his advisers are selling: that if you make both the right and left mad, you must be doing something right. "

President Obama seems to think that if he does everything he can to not take any confrontational, or even strong positions, then independent voters will identify with him and think "he's reasonable and middle of the road, just like me!" They won't.  The truth is, they will see President Obama for what he is, either a weak man who was not up to challenges of the Presidency, or as a weak politician who's desperate cacluation of what he, and those around him think will get him re-elected, trumps all other considerations.

The American people voted in 2008 for "change", what did that mean?    Depends who you ask.   What is so ironic that it might have been funny, if happened in another country, is how the Right got suckered in just as much as the Left did.    To hear Republicans tell their version of recent history, President Obama makes FDR look like Rush Limbaugh.

They fling the word "Socialist!" around like a four year-old with a water balloon.    Marching on the Mall in Washington D.C., as they scream nonsensical slogans like "Keep your Goverment hands off my Medicare!"   You want to laugh, but it's too sad.   The level of delusion on the American right defies any sort of analysis. It's just crazy.

To say the Obama Adminstration has been anything other than spinelessly centrist, is to be divorced from reality to such a degree that you can only conclude the vitriol coming from the American conservate movement is in fact, no longer about poiltics at all, but is entirely based on the President's race.

I voted for President Obama, and yes I will vote for him in 2012. Yet the sad truth is, it feels like once again, Americans are faced with the choice of picking the lesser of two evils.   Vote to re-elect President Obama, and you are a sucker who fell for the same shtick twice. Vote for whatever GOP-teabagging-lunatic the Republicans nominate to run against him, and you are an idiot, who clearly would happily shoot yourself in the foot, if you could only get your hands on the firepower.

What I lament the most, as we head into what promises to be the ugliest Presidential campaign in America's history, is what might have been. Real health care reform, real immigration reform, a repaired financial system that holds those who nearly destroyed our econonmy accountable. Equal rights for all Americans, and a sense of stewardship of the enviroment that would have made Teddy Roosevelt proud.   All lost opportunities. Lost in a sea of polticial timidity.

They say the arc of history beds towards justice. As what may end up being just his first term, heads into it's final year, the arc of the Obama Presidency is bending towards... nothing. It merely blows in the wind like a tattered cloth. Desperate to find the prevailing wind and ride it.   Yes I will vote for the President in 2012. Yet all the while, wondering if a choice between cowardice and crazy is worthy of the effort.

Last Night's Special Comment on the Debt "Compromise"

2011-08-02T07:37:00.001-07:00

A Quarter of a Century Later....

2011-07-22T09:40:00.000-07:00

The great Midwestern humorist Garrison Keillor sings a song about being someone who has "left" his hometown and moved away. His "Song of the Exiles" has always held a certain resonance with me.

Like Keillor, I grew up in a small town in the American Midwest. My "Lake Wobegon" was in Sun Prairie Wisconsin. And like many who grow up in small towns I viewed it as a place that you grow up in, then leave, as quickly as you can. And I did. After High School I left. I went away to college, then I lived in Europe, in Asia and then Chicago, San Francisco and now here in London.

This weekend is the 25 Year reunion of my High School Graduating class. No, I won't be going. Not out of any sort of disdain or desire to be curmudgeonly. It's a matter of time and distance. To travel from London to South Central Wisconsin for two days just isn't really all that practical. Also, I have never attended any of the previous reunions. The 5 and 10 year reunions seemed just plain silly, and I honestly don't recall where the 20th was or if there even was one. Yet, the run up to this weekend's get together back in Wisconsin has been interesting. Mostly due to Facebook. It has enabled the organizers to track down and reach out to a fairly large number of alumni.

Which has been an odd experience...

Over the past few months, I have been contacted and even "friended" (to use Facebook lingo...) by people who I literally never have had a sustained conversation with in High School ...ever. People who back then may as well have been total strangers, given how much interaction we had. Yet now twenty five years on, there is an implied bond, due to the commonality of where and more specifically, when we all graduated from High School. Consequently a verse from Keillor's song keeps floating back to me:

"What's their names I knew back when
Never liked each other that much then
But memory has been kind and now so are they.
I'd like to see those folks again..."

It's safe to say that "back in the day" I was not someone who was in with the "cool kids". My varsity letter (yes I have one) was in Extemporaneous Speech. (Yeah, I know... you actually can letter in that, who knew?) So no, I didn't fit in very well. My vocabulary and interests were not really typical, and differed from most of my classmates. And for better or worse, Sun Prairie Wisconsin was not a place that smiled upon being "different". As a result, I was never going to be someone the student body of Sun Prairie High would consider "popular".

At the time in 1986, I viewed Sun Prairie High School as something that was to be endured, survived and quickly left behind... far, far behind. Yet looking back, if I am honest, I will admit that I did enjoy High School. I had wonderful friends, and for the most part had great teachers. (Granted, one or two of them should have been hauled out and beaten with a stupidity stick, but overall, Sun Prairie Public Schools did okay...)

So now in 2011 I find myself in the odd position of feeling nostalgic, not just for the experience and the time in my life, but for the people as well. Even for those for whom it can be said we were definitely not friends. But that is the beauty of the passage of time. Memory is kind, and none of us are who we were at age 17 or 18.

So the people who will gather together at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin are folks I do not know. But honestly wish I could meet them . We have in common a significant period of time in our lives that though, long past, played a huge role in making us all the people we are today.

So to the SPHS Class of '86, I raise a glass on the other side of the world, and wish you well, and.... yes, I wish I was there, to see who it is we all have become.

Go Cardinals...

Today's Senate Hearing on DOMA

2011-07-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

Senator Al Franken (D-MN) destroys the loads of crap being spewed by "Focus on the Family" as fact based testimony on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on President Obama

2011-07-12T08:36:00.003-07:00

As always... Keith sums it up, brilliantly. Sadly I doubt very much anyone in the White House has the courage or the basic intellect to listen...

Bill Maher calls it like it is.... Brilliant..

2011-07-10T03:44:00.000-07:00

If you are an American who isn't a muli-millionaire or billionaire and you are still voting for the Republican Party... You are an idiot.

Department of Justice Makes History... very very quietly.

2011-07-06T13:31:00.000-07:00

via Lambda Legal - On Friday, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a brief strongly arguing that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional in a case brought by Lambda Legal and Morrison & Foerster LLP on behalf of Karen Golinski, a lesbian federal court employee denied medical coverage for her wife, whom she married when same-sex couples could do so in California.

The DOJ had previously announced they would no longer defend DOMA, but this is the first legal filing in the country in which they have fully argued to a court that DOMA is unconstitutional. They asked the federal court not to dismiss Golinski's claim.

First of all, this is very good news. The Obama Administration has finally actually and demonstrably evolved. This administration has gone from defending DOMA , to saying they wouldn't defend DOMA, but would keep enforcing it, to not defending it, and selectively not enforcing parts of it, to last Friday's legal brief. Which for the first time argues forcefully that DOMA , or least section 3, (the part of it that bars federal recognition of same sex marriages), is unconstitutional and cannot stand.

“Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act … unconstitutionally discriminates,” the brief states. “It treats married same-sex couples who are legally married under their states’ laws differently than similarly situated opposite-sex couples, denying them the status, recognition and significant federal benefits otherwise available to married persons.”

The Justice Department contends LGBT people are a suspect class, or a group likely subject to differential treatment, because they’ve been subject to a history of discrimination, they exhibit immutable characteristics, and they’re minorities with limited political power. Additionally, the brief contends sexual orientation bears no relation to a person’s ability to contribute to society.

Wow... This is a big deal right? I bet the national media coverage of this has the wing nuts of America's right wing going crazy.... Well, not so much.

As it happens there wasn't any national media coverage of this. News of the brief was not even posted on the Department of Justice web site. The brief was filed on late Friday night, before then 4th of July holiday weekend, pretty much guaranteeing any news of it would get buried and missed by the White House press corps.

This, at the end of a week where President Obama hosted LGBT activists to mark the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York. One might have thought the President would have shared news of this historic shift in Administration policy there, in a room full of representatives of a key segment of the Democratic base that has become increasingly frustrated by President Obama's reluctance to take any firm steps in the direction of supporting Marriage Equality.

Nope... not a word. It is as if the entire process was done to attract no attention, or as little as possible.

Here is the full brief:

DOJ-OppToBLAGMtD

I suppose moving from being indifferent to being a "closeted supporter" of Marriage Equality, is step in the right direction. Albeit one done quietly on tip toes....

Great Interview from Countdown With Keith Olbermann

2011-07-02T03:02:00.000-07:00

Keith talks musicals and gay marriage with Dan Savage...

Take a Bow Bozo....

2011-07-01T08:16:00.000-07:00

We say goodbye to Cable TV's premiere Rodeo Clown. Happy Trails Glenn Beck. When you are deemed too crazy for even Fox News, that is saying something...

Take a bow Glenn... you've earned it!

We Hold These Truths...

2011-06-30T15:05:00.000-07:00

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

I will confess to a having a mild obsession for the American Declaration of Independence, It is a magnificently written document that expresses in glorious Jeffersonian prose, the hopes, and dreams of the people living in those thirteen British colonies in 1776.

Not surprising, the Fourth of July, has always been one my favorite holidays. I love all the Americana that goes with it. When I lived in Chicago, I would practically force my friends to come with me and picnic in Grant Park where we would sit on the grass eating watermelon, waving sparklers and listening to the Chicago Symphony play “Stars and Stripes Forever” as the fireworks boomed over our heads.

It was always at that moment, seeing the thousands of people around me cheering and waving flags, I’d feel so fortunate to have been born an American. A nation that, despite all its flaws and foibles , has nevertheless, never stopped striving to be that place Katherine Lee Bates called “American the Beautiful”.

The experience of celebrating American independence from outside the United States is not a new one for me. This will be the tenth July 4th holiday in my life, spent as an “ex pat” . Six of those were spent in Germany, one in South Korea and this next Monday , will be my third here in the UK. Friends and co-workers here, were surprised to learn I was not going to take the day off next Monday. I had thought about it, but when you get right down to it, Monday, July 4th, is just another workday here. So when in Rome... or in this case, London...

Yet being honest, I will admit there are other reasons I find myself feeling somewhat ambivalent about the Fourth of July this year, and it (as always) goes back to the document that started it all. That Declaration of Independence. Here is what the ubiquitous internet oracle Wikipedia has to say about the declaration:

" The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III, and by asserting certain natural rights, including a right of revolution.

Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, the text of the Declaration was initially ignored after the American Revolution. Its stature grew over the years, particularly the second sentence, a sweeping statement of human rights:

I have always loved those words, because at their core, they proclaim why American was designed to be different. What would set us apart from the other nations of the world. No feudal systems of hereditary privilege for us, thank you very much. You keep your Kings, and Dukes and Earls and Viscounts and whatnot.

For us, America would be a place where even a skinny mixed race kid from Hawaii, with a name like Barack Hussein Obama can grow up to be President. (Hey Europe! Do ya’ like apples? Well, how about them apples!)

The United States of America would be democracy in its truest form. "E Pluribus Unum" From out of many, one with liberty and justice for.... Well, you know rest. At least that's how it's all supposed to work.

The problem is, as a nation we have an unfortunate habit of not always living up to our Jeffersonian prose. Especially when it comes to that whole, all men are created equal, bit. It took us over 140 years after the abolition of slavery to elect a President who wasn't white.

As recently as 40 yrs ago, many people argued that to apply that idea of equality throughout the country was a violation of "States Rights". Many in Southern States said it was State Law that should decide who could work where, who could go to what school, how some people could vote, and who could marry who. All based on the color of a person's skin.

In the 1963, President Kennedy took the issue head on.

The lesson of the great civil rights struggle of the 20th Century was that the Federal Government has a role to protect the rights of all Americans from bigotry and discrimination cloaked in the camouflage of "States Rights". Jefferson's exhortation of unalienable Rights, wasn't just for some people living in some parts of the United States. It was for everyone. Well at least it is supposed to be. In 2011 it turns out those rights are for... almost everyone.

The argument of states rights is back. In the 21rst Century it is not race, but rather the idea that Same Sex couples might deserve the same BASIC civil rights and protections as everyone else, that is causing more debate than the proposal to declare independence from Great Britain provoked back in 1776.

So the United States continues to cling to a law that prevents any recognition of Same Sex couples by the Federal Government. Of course I am talking about the ridiculously mis-named "Defense of Marriage Act." (DOMA) It provides the legal excuse for the United States to discriminate against me and my spouse, and over 40,000 bi-national same sex couples just like us.

So thanks to DOMA, the Federal Government has a problem with my wanting to enjoy the same rights as any other American. It is the fact that the person I am legally married to here in the United Kingdom, has the audacity to be the same gender as I am. Now if Eric was female then Uncle Sam would give us his blessing no questions asked. I would be able to sponsor my spouse for permanent residency in the U.S. and my government ( that I support through my taxes), would beam it's approval down upon us both. But the fact that Eric is a man just as I am, means that as far as my government is concerned , our relationship doesn't even exist.

Now, I really didn't want to leave my country. Unlike Sarah Palin and the scared gullible bigots that hang on her every twitter posting, I really do believe that the greatness of the United States lies in our diversity. "E Pluribus Unum" - Out of Many , One. Yet for me to do something as basic as have that pursuit of happiness. To be with the person I am married to, I had to do just that. Leave my country.

So now I live here, in the United Kingdom. Because unlike in 1776, in 2011 it is the people of Great Britain who have more civil rights and greater freedom than Americans do. Unlike in 1776, in 2011 it is the American Government, not the British Crown, that subjects its people to unfair taxation without representation. Unlike in 1776, it is The United States of America that has politicians seeking to preserve a status quo of inequality and treats groups of its own citizens unfairly.

What is perhaps most confusing for us, and thousands of couples like us, is that in 2011, that states right argument is not being made by bigoted, angry State officials. This time the argument that basic civil rights should be left up to the states to decide, is being made by the first African American President of the United States.

So for the federal government to step in and enforce the constitution is the feds "poking its nose into what states are doing"?? I will say it again; if Presidents' Truman, Kennedy and Johnson had all approached civil rights for African Americans, the way Barack Obama is for LGBT Americans, the Military, public schools, and most public services would still be segregated in many parts of the U.S. His own parents would not have been allowed to marry in 3/4 of the country.

I can't help but wonder how Barack Obama would feel, if in order to stay together with his wife Michelle, he had to leave the U.S and move overseas. Oh wait... I don't have to wonder how he would feel...

He'd feel like I do.

Have a great Fourth of July Weekend everyone. Those of us in "DOMA Exile" will be thinking of you , and waiting for America to finally live up to those words Jefferson penned, 235 years ago.

Marriage....Why Some "Conservatives" are Losing their Minds...

2011-06-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

I once blogged about how the arguments against Marriage Equality for Lesbian and Gay Americans were at best, seriously flawed and in all truth, nothing more than fear mongering driven by a warped and twisted mis-use of the Christian Faith.

With the passage of Marriage Equality in New York, the passage of Civil Union legislation in Illinois, and the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell"; 2011 has not been a good year for hating "the Gays". Yet with national polls showing that for the first time, a majority of Americans support Marriage Equality, the hate groups on the right, and far right who make their living on spreading that hate and homophobia are reacting to their recent setbacks in classic and all too predictable ways...

They are losing their frigging minds...

The ridiculously mis-named hate group the "National Organization for Marriage" has developed only what can be described as "twitter turrets syndrome". Their spokesbigot, Bryan brown has been blurting out random twitter postings vowing almost jihadist like political vengence on all the NY State Senate Republicans who supported Marriage Equality in the Empire State.

The good folks over at the Catholic League took time out from blaming the victims of Clergy sex abuse for what Priests did to them, to vent their rage and indignation that all people in New York were going to be treated equally under the law. Their proposed solution? Why write their particular brand of Catholic -Sharia Law into the United States Constitution of course... Cue spokesbigot Bill Donahue

"Standing in the way of a constitutional amendment is the legitimate reluctance on the part of federal lawmakers to decide what many believe to be a matter for the states. But given that we are left with the scenario of the people vs. the elites, we are quickly reaching a tipping point, and when that happens, chances are good that this issue will be resolved by a constitutional amendment."

Nothing like taking a felt tip marker to the nation's founding documents when people you don't like get treated equally to you, is there Bill? Not to be left out , everyone's favorite demented hate monger, Pat Robertson weighed in with his favorite tune. "GOD WILL DESTROY AMERICA!

If you have a strong stomach for a bucket of extra crazy with a side order of hate, this video should make your day...

Interestingly enough there is one other notable person who is on the record as opposing Marriage Equality who we have not heard from. President Obama.

The President says his view on Marriage Equality is "evolving". I guess that might make sense if you define evolution as going backwards. In 1996 Barack Obama said he was in favor of Marriage Equality. Now in 2011, President Barack Obama has a problem. In 2008 he clearly said he is opposed to Marriage Equality for Gay and Lesbian couples, because Marriage is an issue he says should be decided by the States. but at the same time he says he believes those same couples should have equal rights.

Uh... huh?

By that logic Barack Obama feels the federal government should have let states decide voting standards and not pass the Voting Rights Act. Racial integration should have been left up to individual States to decide, and the Loving v. Virgina court decision that struck down laws against interracial marriage was an overreach by the federal judiciary.

So if Presidents' Truman, Kennedy and Johnson had all approached civil rights the way Barack Obama does, the Military, public schools, and most public services would still be segregated in many parts of the U.S. His own parents would not have been allowed to marry in 3/4 of the country.

And in all likelihood, rather than being President of the United States Barack Obama would be an underpaid teacher at a small Black College, who would have to pass a test, and pay a special "tax" each time he wanted to vote.

The New York Times on today's Editorial Page couldn't help but comment on the contradictions...

On Thursday night, when same-sex marriage in New York State was teetering on a razor’s edge, President Obama had a perfect opportunity to show the results of his supposed evolution on gay marriage.

Unfortunately, he did not take it, keeping his own views in the shadows. The next night the Republican-led New York State Senate, of all places, proved itself more forward-thinking than the president on one of the last great civil-rights debates in this nation’s history."

So clear and obvious is the case FOR Marriage Equality that today the American Medical Association issued a statement saying that Marriage Equality is even HEALTHY. Saying in a statement released today: “The AMA now joins every other mainstream public health organization in America in making the case for providing the freedom to marry – and the critical safety-net that comes with marriage – to loving, committed same-sex couples.”

So it begs the question. Why are social conservatives hell-bent (pardon the expression) on doing as much damage to the lives of Gay and Lesbian Americans as they can? Because the bible tells them so? Not really. The bible says a lot more about hatred of others, and about loving your neighbor, and about lying. In fact the bible has 8 verses that mention homosexuality and over 300 that condemn heterosexual behavior. This isn't about following the word of God... Not even remotely.

My favorite television show, "The West Wing" tackled that issue head on in a story where the White House was hosting a reception for Talk Radio hosts. Including one not so loosely based on "Dr." Laura Schlessinger. Who famously called LGBT Americans a "biological error."

The American Right Wing's opposition to LGBT rights is very simple to explain. It makes money. The far right in the United States has nothing left to run for. Their policies don't work, their ideas of; "Let's tax the poor, give that money to the rich and everybody will be better off!" Have failed, and failed miserably. The last four national elections in the United States have been, for the Republicans about two things, and two things only.

Anger and Fear.

To win elections the GOP fully understands it needs two things. It's rabid, non-thinking base, and enough independent voters to get to fifty percent plus 1. That my friends is the Karl Rove play book. To do that they need their base out in full force. The GOP base is a group that is not really all that big on voting for things, rather they are far more motivated to vote against things. So the Republican Party and the rabid dog social conservative movement that owns it now, is desperate to keep one group in America it is still safe to hate. Still safe to vilify. Still safe to say "look out! they are coming for you !".

For the GOP those groups used to be Blacks and Latinos. But the demographics of the U.S. Population have changed in ways that make that a losing proposition nowadays. You can't bash women, or Jews anymore (sorry Pat Buchanon...) The whole "every muslim is a terrorist" ploy stopped working when it became clear George W. Bush raised and lowered the terror alerts based on his poll numbers. So who's left? Oh that's right.....The Gays.

Desperate Bigots...

Someone once asked me what would I ever do if I won a huge lottery jackpot. I'd file lawsuit after endless lawsuit against these anti gay bigots to make them pay for the harm they have done to millions of Americans all in the name of politically expedient hate.

from DailyKos

2011-06-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

New York State Passes Marriage Equality

2011-06-25T01:11:00.000-07:00

Pride in NYC is going to be quite the party ...

Think Progress has the details...

Welcome Back Keith...

2011-06-21T14:31:00.000-07:00

We sure missed you Big Guy...

The Democratic Party Wants to Lose...

2011-06-19T04:26:00.000-07:00

When it comes to shooting yourself in the foot, and pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory, no political party on earth even comes close to the skill and acumen of the Democratic Party in the United States.

This past week in Minneapolis, MN was the annual Netroots Nation conference. A gathering of progressive bloggers, organizations and activists from all over the country. For many attendees this was a chance to share a growing frustration on the Progressive Left, with the Democratic Party in general, and the Obama Administration specifically.

Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold opened the event with a great keynote address, where he challenged progressives to keep the pressure on politicians and political parties. Yet for many progressives, 2012 is looked upon with a painful mixture of anger, disappointment and yes, even disinterest. The frustration of the left with President Obama covers a wide range of issues. From the issue of detention of terror suspects in Cuba, to Jobs and the Economy to perhaps what is the most baffling contradiction of all. President Obama's bizarre almost twister-esqe policy contortions on the issue marriage equality.

Back in 1996, then Illinois State Senator Barack Obama answered a questionnaire sent out by Windy City Media, a Chicago LGBT media company. One of the questions dealt directly with the issue of Same Sex Marriage. Here is a scan of the actual form Barack Obama filled out and sent in the the LGBT newspaper the Windy City Times:

In response to the questions, US Senate candidate Obama wrote “I favor legalizing same-sex marriages,and would fight efforts to prohibit such marriages,” and then signed his signature to the bottom of the form. Pretty clear right?

Well apparently not...

While answering questions at Netoots Nation, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer claimed the 1996 questionnaire, which has Barack Obama's signature clearly on the bottom of it, was "actually filled out by someone else." "If you actually go back and look, that questionnaire was actually filled out by someone else, not the President."

Faced with one of its own officials claiming a document that clearly has Barack Obama's signature on it was a forgery. The White House was quick to move into damage control, issuing a statement:

“Dan was not familiar with the history of the questionnaire that was brought up today, but the president’s views are clear," The statement said. "He has long supported equal rights and benefits for gay and lesbian couples and since taking office he has signed into law the repeal of 'Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,' signed into law the hate crimes bill, made the decision not to defend Section 3 of DOMA and expanded federal benefits for same sex partners of federal employees.”

Hmmm... Interesting, but still does nothing to answer the real question here. This was a very lame evasion of the real issue. So, the White House Communications Director "was not familiar" with the questionnaire, but said it was "litigated during during the campaign" and the President wasn't the one who filled it out? So Dan Pfeiffer is psychic?

Netroots Nation had a great panel discussion on the growing dissaffection with the President in the LGBT community, entitled "What to do when the President is just not that into you..." If you have the time, the panel is worth watching. The basic message to come out of the discussion was one of disappointment with the reality that Barack Obama is not a progressive on civil rights.

Watch live streaming video from freespeechtv at livestream.com

On top of everything else, this week saw the media and political circus surrounding New York Congressman Anthony Weiner (D) reach a fever pitch. As many key Democrats, including President Obama, saying that Weiner should resign. Here's an excerpt of the exchange between NBC's Ann Curry and President Obama on the matter:

ANN CURRY: Should Congressman Anthony Weiner resign?
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, obviously what he did was highly inappropriate. I think he's embarrassed himself, he's acknowledged that, he's embarrassed his wife and his family. Ultimately there's going to be a decision for him and his constituents. I can tell you that if it was me, I would resign. Because public service is exactly that, it's a service to the public. And when you get to the point where, because of various personal distractions, you can't serve as effectively as you need to at the time when people are worrying about jobs and their mortgages and paying the bills, then you should probably step back.

Now, the issue is not, and has never been, one of Anthony Weiner's behavior. It was bad, and wholly inappropriate for a member of the U.S House of Representatives. The issue is, and remains; Why is such behavior acceptable when a Republican does it?

In their baying calls for the political head of Congressman Anthony Weiner, the GOP practically handed their own blatant hypocrisy to the Democrats on a silver platter with bow tied around it, and a card the read "USE THIS PLEASE!" It was a golden ticket giving the Democrats the chance to finally frame the issues of Republicans putting partisan gain above, country above sanity and above decency. It was a issue begging to be flogged on every Sunday talk show, talked about in every cable interview and press conference.

This was the chance to finally place front and center in the national debate the issue of the Republican Party's singular aim of politics over reality at any and all cost. So what happened? I'd let you guess, but that would be too easy. So I'll let the always brilliant Rachel Maddow bring you the sad saga...

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The Obama 2012 brain trust would be wise to listen to the conversation currently happening on the Progressive Left. They need to come to grips with a blindingly obvious conclusion, Barack Obama can't run the campaign he ran in 2008.

Obama 2008 ran Barack Obama as a bold progressive, but Barack Obama as President has been at best, a timid centrist.

David Axelrod seems to be betting that whoever the Republicans nominate to run against the President, will have so much Tea Party baggage from the GOP primary process, that independent voters will flock to re-elect President Obama. The flaw in that thinking is the same one the John Kerry campaign suffered from. The GOP knows that to win it will need BOTH it's base and the independents. The Democrats seem to think they just need the independents.

The GOP will have a long primary season to drum up support, energy and enthusiasm from their Base. The Democrats wont. The Obama Campaign's hope that independent voters will remember the nuttiness of the GOP primary when they go to vote in the General Election is at best, wishful thinking, and in truth woefully ignorant.

The Obama Administration has managed in three years to alienate the Labor, Latino and LGBT communities. It's true that these groups of voters generally won't vote Republican. Yet unless President Obama can show he can be more than a man who gives eloquent but meaningless speeches, the Democratic base, may simply stay home on election day.

I am starting to think the Democratic Party doesn't want win.

Best Tony Awards Opening Number.. Ever!

2011-06-13T05:28:00.001-07:00

The Difference Between Weiners and Baloney...

2011-06-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Over here on this side of the Atlantic, the media has been riveted to the saga of professional footballer Ryan Giggs whose multiple affairs and legal manuervering to hide it from the press and public, spawned a much larger debate on the issues of privacy, and legal injunctions which are often used to prevent the press from reporting on private indiscretions.

The story here has been so big, that I nearly missed the latest bit of fun and frolic from back over on the other side of the pond....

Back in the U.S., a well known member of the U.S. Congress, found himself on a scandal of his own, where a whole series of jokes have been writing themselves!
(via the GuardianUK...)

A painfully embarrassing week for the New York Democratic congressman Anthony Weiner was brought to an excruciating denouement when he admitted that he had sent sexually suggestive photographs of himself over the Internet, confessed to lying to cover it up but said that he was not resigning.

In a half-hour press conference during which he at several times was fighting back tears, Weiner made a total and grovelling apology. After days in which he had at first claimed the photographs were hacked out of his computer and sent without his knowledge, he said he took responsibility for his "dumb" actions.

"To be clear, the picture was of me, and I sent it. I'm deeply sorry for the pain this has caused my wife, and our family, my constituents, my friends, my supporters and my staff," he said.

(Insert ready made "Weiner" joke here.....)

Sigh... and for that matter.. eww! (I won't post the pictures in question here, if you are really curious, you can Google them for yourself.)

A number of friends of mine on the political right have had a great deal of fun with this "scandal" over the past few days. Right on cue the Republican Party was in front of any camera and microphone with calls for "Congressman Pervert" to resign. After all what Congressman Weiner did was shameful, and... icky...., AND he had the audacity to LIE about it! That is certainly a "beyond the pale" offense... right?

Mind you , the REPUBLICANS would never tolerate that kind of thing in their caucus... right?

You have to love this age of digital media we are living in... Cue Rachel Maddow with today's reality check....

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Now as much as I find what Anthony Weiner did, to be ... Well, I was about to say unbecoming of a member of Congress, but apparently this sort of thing is par for the course there... That being said, as much fun as it would also be to rehash famous GOP "Sexting" scandals, (one of the more famous ones of which involved underage congressional Pages.) It hardly seems worth the effort.

It's gotten to the point where blogging about Republican hypocrisy doesn't even require any real work. It is a narrative that writes itself.

When Our Heroes Fail Us....

2011-06-04T06:19:00.000-07:00

"If you're looking for heroes, don't look to me..." - John Edwards, 2008 campaign ad.

By now the long sad story of the rise and fall of former Senator, Vice Presidential and Presidential candidate John Edwards has come to its sadder conclusion with a federal indictment for violation of campaign finance laws. Edwards is charged with using nearly one million dollars of campaign funds to cover up his extra-marital affair, and child with television producer Rielle Hunter.

I supported John Edwards when he ran for president in 2004, and again when he ran in 2008, I was even a blogger for his campaign on his "One America" website. I donated money, I volunteered at rallies and worked phone banks for the Edwards campaign in California. When the news of the affair and love child with Hunter broke, like many people I was very angry.

Lots of people asked me at the time if I "regretted" supporting his campaign. That is complex question. At the time I blogged on here, that the issues and positions Edwards publicly championed in his campaign were still as relevant and important as ever. The actions in his private life didn't change that.

What angered most Americans about the whole sordid saga, was what John Edwards did to his wife, Elisabeth Edwards. I can't say that I knew Elisabeth Edwards, but I did have a number of opportunities to meet her, and on two occasions had the chance to talk with her one on one. She was an extraordinary person. In 2007 she was the only national democratic figure to speak at San Francisco Pride. That same year, she gave an amazing speech at the San Francisco Human Rights Campaign Dinner. I was sitting in the audience that night.

As I sit here in London, typing this blog entry, I think of my political scrapbook. It is a very odd bi-partisan collection, The photos and autographs range across the political spectrum. From Ronald Reagan, George HW Bush, Dan Quayle, Liddy Dole, Bob Dole, to Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and yes, both John and Elisabeth Edwards. Stapled to the page that has autographed blog entries from the Edwards Campaign blog, is a small note I received from Elisabeth Edwards in early February, 2008.

I had emailed the Edwards campaign asking the Senator to take a stronger stance on the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. I wrote telling Eric's and my story of how this horribly bigoted, discriminatory law denied basic civil rights to us and thousands of other bi-national same sex couples just like us.

I went on to explain how DOMA was forcing me to choose between my country and the person I love. I included a link to the youtube video Eric and I had made to support the Uniting American Families Act, a proposed law that would right that wrong, and grant immigration equality to couples like us.

I honestly didn't expect to hear anything back. Maybe one of those generic "thank you for your feedback, and support", emails. What came in the mail two weeks later was a one page handwritten note from Elisabeth Edwards. She wrote ;

"David, thank you for sharing yours and Eric's story with us, I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to make the choices you are facing. Please know that you and Eric are in John's and my thoughts. Like you , We hope to see the day when the discrimination against LGBT Americans is a thing of the past. Your Friend, - Elisabeth Edwards"

When the Edwards campaign came to end in the early Spring of 2008, like many Edwards supporters, I was torn between supporting Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama. The night before the California primary I called both campaigns and asked why they should get my vote. The Clinton campaign volunteer I spoke with talked mostly about what was "wrong" with Barack Obama. The Obama volunteer I spoke with talked about Obama's commitment to equality and opportunity for all Americans.

I voted for Obama.

As I watched the news reports on yesterday's federal indictment , a friend of mine in Arizona texted me and asked if I felt "betrayed' by John Edwards. No. John Edwards didn't betray his supporters, he betrayed his family. He failed and disappointed his supporters, and it looks like he will continue paying the price for that failure in a number of ways, personal, financial and political.

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Yet as with so many other political figures who have fallen in similar ways, to expect a candidate to be something more than human is not realistic or fair.

That being said, I can't help but wonder about that road not taken. I wonder how different 2011 might have been, if John Edwards had lived in private the life he portrayed in public

The United States of Stereotypes... Enjoy!

2011-05-31T11:52:00.000-07:00

(hat tip to the Huffington post)

Take That! Newsweek...

2011-05-30T04:15:00.000-07:00

(Hat tip to JoeMyGod)

Earlier this year, Newsweek Magazine ran a piece entitled "America's Dying Cities..." One of the cities it named was Grand Rapids, Michigan, which came in at number ten on their list,

Being from Madison, Wisconsin originally, I normally would not mind the national media engaging in a bit of Michigan bashing, but this seemed to be hitting below the belt.

Many cities in the U.S. are struggling to recover from the recession , but to label a city as "dying" is a bit much.

The good people of Grand Rapids seem to agree. They responded to Newsweek's death notice for their city with the following video.

Now I know lots of people who really hate this song, (I'm not none of them, but I will grant that is one of those tunes that should be forever banned in Karaoke bars..) But you have to give props to the folks in Grand Rapids. The video is brilliant....

The Obama's Are In Town....

2011-05-23T13:27:00.000-07:00

Reaching Out to an Old Friend...

2011-05-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

Back in 1995 at the University of Wisconsin I met a remarkable man named Kevin Robinson. He was at UW on a fellowship to the UW Law School. We hit it off immediately, our mutual love of politics led to a great friendship and hours of spirited debate.

When our paths parted in 1997 we promised to keep in touch. Over the years this became something of a running joke, as we invariably would lose touch and track of each other for two or three years, then one of us would stumble upon the other's contact info and fire off a note or voice message. This would lead to hours on the phone or instant messenger catching up.

Today, I was going through some old emails and found a chat log from my last conversation with Kevin in late 2008. Smiling to myself I thought, "well, it's been two and half years, time to catch up!" Remembering that Kevin was teaching at Bryn Mawr College, I went to the Bryn Mawr website to track down Kevin's email ...

What I found on the Bryn Mawr website was this..

Posted February 12, 2010

The Bryn Mawr College community is struggling to come to terms with the loss of Assistant Professor of Social Work and Social Research Kevin J. Robinson, who died unexpectedly last weekend at the age of 40. The community was notified with an e-mail from President Jane McAuliffe, who described Robinson as a “treasured colleague” whose loss is deeply felt.

Dean Darlyne Bailey of Bryn Mawr’s Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research has announced that the College will host a memorial event to celebrate Robinson’s life and work on Sunday, March 14, from 2 to 4 p.m. in Thomas Great Hall. members of the Robinson family will join the Bryn Mawr community as it remembers him.

A small funeral service for family, friends, and fellowship will be held on Friday, Feb. 19, at 7 p.m. at the Watkins, Garrett and Woods Mortuary, 1011 Augusta Street, Greenville, South Carolina

Robinson’s sunny, gregarious personality and unusual ability to forge meaningful connections with others made him especially well suited to community-based participatory research (CBPR), his preferred method of study. In CBPR, researchers consult members of the populations they propose to study before framing research questions and designing experimental protocols.

“The community drives the research,” Robinson explained in an interview two years ago. “They set the priorities and have an interest in the findings and the dissemination of the findings.”

At the time of his death, Robinson was at work on a project funded by the Centers for Disease Control, in which he partnered with the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation and the The Colours Organization, Inc., a service and advocacy group for LGBT communities of color in Philadelphia.

Its hard to describe the range of emotions I have been feeling this afternoon. Shock, sadness, and yes, intense guilt for allowing too much time to go by before I reached out to an old friend. As I sit here and type this, I can almost hear Kevin say "David Paul... don't get all deep and moody on me!" Yet it's damn hard not to...

What stands out most for me today is the painful truth that in this age of Social Media, "keeping in touch" can't be a matter of Facebook Friends, Twitter Following or Linkedin Connections. It has to be real, it has to be personal and it has to be human.

If you have a friend in your life who you haven't spoken with recently, a wonderful friend who tends to pass in and out of your "real time" life every so often like a comet on an irregular trajectory. Please, take a moment grab that comet by the tail and pull it in for a hug, a phone call, or even just a "hello" over a cup of coffee. Don't allow that friendship to slip out of reach.

My deepest (albeit belated) condolences to all who were blessed to have had Kevin in their lives. I know I was.

Put on Your "rapture jammies" kids! The end is neigh!

2011-05-18T12:17:00.000-07:00

In all the news of Wills and Kate getting married, Osama Bin Laden getting what he deserved, and various and sundry Republican wannabees deciding NOT to run for President; I have been woefully remiss in mentioning the BIGGEST news story of them all!

*ahem* THE WORLD IS GOING TO END THIS SATURDAY!! .... No really. Seriously, a crazy guy said so on the internet, so it must be true!

Here we go again... Harold Camping, (the loony tune 'Lurch the Adams Family Butler', of Wingnut Radio,) is saying (again) the world is going to end. But wait it gets better! Apparently the REASON the end of the world is happening now, is because San Francisco is full of ..... THE GAYS!

(via JoeMyGod)
The San Francisco Chronicle reports today that End Times proponent Harold Camping credits gay pride events and same-sex marriage for hastening the arrival of Saturday's rapture. Camping also says that 200 million Christians (only) will ascend to heaven in three days (time zone by time zone, beginning at 6PM, you'll recall) with the rest of us to be turned into pillars of salt, destroyed by earthquake, or burned alive in a hail of sulfur. All that will take place over the next five months because the Earth itself isn't scheduled to explode until October 21st.

The funny bit? When I hear or read nonsense like this, part me thinks, "wait.... we all get five months where the world will be free of all the rapture wing nuts? Cool!"

In all seriousness, I can actually understand why these people are so eager for the world to end. The real world scares these people, a lot. I mean think of it, Women voting, freedom of expression and thought all over the place. All that "science stuff" that contradicts their views on ....well, everything. On top of all of that, there's this black guy in White House!

So, I guess if I was a bigoted, reality-challenged half-literate moron, who believed the Earth is only 6000 years old, and was convinced the Human Race started with two fully formed people named Adam and Eve. Who rode around a garden on dinosaurs chatting it up with talking snakes? The 21rst Century would probably scare the crap out of me too.

So to my friends in the SF Bay Area, when you see Harold Camping and his tens of devoted followers, camped out in downtown Oakland, all waiting to get "Beamed Up" to wing nut never-never land. Smile as you walk by and say "Have a nice trip!" You'll make their day. Which is a warm memory they all are going to need, when the world is still here, come Sunday Morning.

Take it away Criswell....

The American Right Wing and "Obama Derangement Syndrome"

2011-05-17T14:22:00.000-07:00

It might actually be funny if it wasn't the truth...

Yeah, I know... I haven't posted in a while...

2011-05-15T05:44:00.000-07:00

Getting settled here in London, finding my way around at my new company and just life in general has gotten in the way of posting. Sorry about that. Needless to say there has been lots of news.

Being an ex-pat again is an interesting experience. Watching things in the U.S. from this side of the Atlantic is always both a new, and enlightening perspective. As the bigoted, hate-filled Moron-a-thon that is the GOP Presidential Primary season gets under way, We take moment to introduce our GOP 2012 hopefuls...

We have examined previously the glorious bucket of extra-crispy crazy that is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. His latest bit of fun and mentally unbalanced frolic is his own warped version of "School House Rock" where kids can learn Huckabee's own personal version of American revisionist history. The videos are neo-con schlock on a scale so nutty that it has to be seen to be believed.

UK politics here in even at its nuttiest is nowhere near as insane as what now passes for normal in the American GOP

UPDATE - Mike Huckabigot rides the WAAAAAmmmublance about how he can't run for President, because the vast overwhelming majority of the reality based world realizes he is a complete nutjob.

Oh joy

2011-05-04T10:40:00.000-07:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Lawrence O'Donnell on the Differences Between Presidents

2011-05-03T13:35:00.001-07:00

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Cue the Painful Squirming on the Right...

2011-05-02T07:02:00.000-07:00

It's a tough day to be an Obama Hater.... But you have to give the wing nuts credit for tryin....
(via Huffington Post)

WASHINGTON -- Most reactions from Republican leaders to news of Osama bin Laden’s death emphasized the U.S. military’s role or praised former President George W. Bush, while downplaying President Obama’s role in the seismic event...

Speculation already abounded Sunday night that bin Laden’s death by U.S. Navy SEALS in Pakistan would be a huge political boon for Obama. Republicans tried to give the president just enough credit, without giving him too much.

Republican leaders in Congress varied in how they credited the president.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) did not mention the president, saying that America was “grateful for the heroic efforts of the many men and women around the world who have fought and who are still fighting to protect the world from terrorism. Though they may never make the headlines, we are ever mindful of their many sacrifices.”

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) thanked Obama after the military and additionally thanked Bush.   House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said Obama had “followed the vigilance of President Bush in bringing Bin Laden to justice.”

Bush himself said Obama had called him Sunday evening to share the news and that he had “congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission.”

Obama, in his nine-minute speech from the White House Sunday evening, mentioned Bush only once, remarking that Bush had expressed after 9/11 that the U.S. war against al Qaeda was not a war against Islam.
--------------------------------------------------------
So let's take just a moment to remember the "vigilance" of former President George W. Bush....

Osama Bin Laden is Dead

2011-05-02T03:07:00.000-07:00

"I've never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure." -Mark Twain

President Obama addresses the nation and the world...

The news of the operation in Pakistan that finally took out the world's number one terrorist, was greeted here in London with a sense of relief. Also, with a undercurrent of concern that the scenes of jubilant celebration in the United States, while completely understandable, could serve as a rallying cry and recruitment tool for Al-Queda leaders who are still at large. That being said, I for one am quite happy the bastard is dead.

The President's speech hit all the right notes. President Obama payed tribute to those who died, those who served and continue to serve and restated the truth that the United States is not at war with Islam. Taking care to again draw the distinction between violent extremists, and a religion that billions of people around the world, including in the United States, peacefully follow.

Yet even now, there are people in the United States who just cannot get past their personal hatred of President Obama and the Democratic Party. A former university classmate of mine, and neo-conservative blogger just couldn't help himself, when he posted on Facebook how he was glad President Obama hadn't "given up on the War on Terror, like many in his party wanted him to."

There is no way you can respond to something that irrational, that mindlessly partisan and that demonstrably false. So you shake your head, click "unfriend" and join the rest of the world in the reality-based community.

As much as the scenes of celebrations in New York might make some people uncomfortable; the sense of euphoria at "ground zero" is understandable.

I remember 9/11/01 very well. I was actually on an airplane. I was flying from Chicago to Houston for work, when about 20 minutes into the flight we suddenly turned around and returned to Chicago. The pilot assured us there was nothing wrong with the plane, but that the FAA was grounding all air traffic. Everyone onboard assumed it was a problem with the Air Traffic Control system at Chicago's Midway and O'Hare airports, which had experienced problems earlier in the week. It wasn't until we got into the terminal, we saw CNN and found out what had happened.

So with so many people around the world, I am relieved and happy to hear the news that Osama Bin Laden is gone. At the same time, mindful that the violent extremist ideology he championed, is still very much alive. We owe it to those who have died to continue to be vigilant.

Yet if today's news shows us anything, it is proof that the aims and tactics of terror groups like Al-Qaeda will, in the end, only result in the terrorists own violent demise.

Royal Wedding Thoughts...

2011-04-29T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well here is the photo. We waited along the Mall with thousands and thousands of other people after swearing we wouldn't get anywhere near Central London today. Yeah, well... How often does London throw this big of a party?

First the Wedding. It went off without a hitch. The weather forecast said it was going to rain. It didn't. Anti-monarchist protesters said they were going to be out in force. The weren't. Pundits said the crowds would be unmanageable and unruly, and nothing could have been further from the truth.

It's hard not to get caught up in the hype of an event this big. The global audience that watched these two people get married today was estimated at over two billion. Why?

To be honest? I really am not sure. There are the obvious reasons. It's a live history lesson.. The British Monarchy is living history. To steal the quote from the movie "The Queen"; it is an unbroken line going back over a thousand years. It's hard not be fascinated watching this institution change and adapt to the 21rst Century.

You can argue the issue of how ridiculous the idea of hereditary privilege is in this day and age, and many here in London are. London's biggest talk radio station LBC 97.3 FM, had no shortage of callers on both sides of this issue. With the majority of callers expressing enthusiastic support, for the Royals, and what today's pomp and pageantry has done for the morale of the whole nation. But there were other callers who were just adamant in saying they feel it's crazy to keep paying millions of pounds a year to support a group of people who's only qualification is having been born into the Windsor family.

Yet if you are going to argue strictly from the perspective of cost, today pretty much killed that argument. The cost to the British taxpayer, (of which I am now one..) to maintain the Monarchy is around 70 million pounds a year. Estimates of how much money this wedding has generated for the British economy so far is low-balled around six hundred million pounds. Not a bad ROI. (Return On Investment.)

If nothing else, I am totally behind anything that gives British composer John Rutter an excuse to compose new music. His new piece "The Anthem" commissioned especially for today's ceremony was amazing.

So at least for today, the debate over the merits and costs of a Constitutional Monarchy was put aside. Billions of people all around the world, joined the over one million people in Central London, (including this new Londoner), in wishing "Wills and Kate" all the best.

Why the "Birthers" Will Never Accept Reality...

2011-04-28T13:22:00.000-07:00

Rachel tells it like it is..

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Anyone who still is flogging this issue is either an idiot, a racist or simply full of shit.

Headline : Cranky Nutjob Soils Adult Diaper Over DOMA...

2011-04-28T02:39:00.000-07:00

Ah... Pat Robertson, the comedy gift that keeps on giving. (hat tip to JoeMyGod)

Lets be clear. Pat Robertson is not a Christian. Oh he is very good at claiming to be. But there is very little coming out of his mouth, that bears any relation to the words of Jesus Christ. Pat Robertson's religion is in fact, Pat Robertson. Pat is a dedicated disciple of his own bigotry and opportunism.

Pat Robertson’s one true God is the money and conservative political power, that peddling hatred has earned him over the years.

Lest we forget just how anti-American this lunatic actually is, let's revisit one of his greatest hits. Here with his favorite backup wacko, Jerry Falwell. Pat and Jerry manage to blame everyone but Osama Bin Laden for the attacks of 9-11.

It long past time for this bitter and sadly demented old man to be taken aside, given something soft to chew and put to bed. The only "higher calling" Pat Roberson is interested in serving, is himself.

The ridiculously mis-named "Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA), is an affront to ALL Americans. I love how Conservatives like Robertson love to champion protests against companies like Disney and Apple for the their progressive stances, but when Progressives do the EXACT SAME THING, to protest business that support bigotry and discrimination, that is just "unbelievable".

I am not going to wast time and blog space going through the facts on how EVERYTHING Pat Robertson and his assorted ilk, have said about same sex marriage is a complete lie. If you really want to read through it all, feel free to go here.

I do have hope that eventually the United States will grow up and leave behind the likes of Robertson and his fellow snake-oil salesmen of hate. In the meantime, the rest of the Western World still looks at us and shakes it's head.

Hear That Odd Popping Sound?

2011-04-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

It's the heads "birthers" exploding all over the United States....

via Talking Points Memo...
Hoping to end a long-running "controversy" over whether he was born in the United States, the White House released President Barack Obama's long-form birth certificate on Wednesday.

"The President believed the distraction over his birth certificate wasn't good for the country. It may have been good politics and good TV, but it was bad for the American people and distracting from the many challenges we face as a country," the White House's Dan Pfeiffer wrote in a blog post.

"Therefore, the President directed his counsel to review the legal authority for seeking access to the long form certificate and to request on that basis that the Hawaii State Department of Health make an exception to release a copy of his long form birth certificate," wrote Pfeiffer. "They granted that exception in part because of the tremendous volume of requests they had been getting."

Check out the birth certificate:

A Conversation with a "Birther"

2011-04-26T14:09:00.000-07:00

Radio Host Michaelangelo Signorile had a call on his show from a man in Alabama who is convinced that Barack Obama is not an American. The call is a stark examination of how no facts, no amount of proof, no birth certificate will EVER satisfy these people. They are desperate to believe that the Obama Presidency is the result of some vast conspiracy.

This call to the show from Winston in Alabama confirms why the birther conspiracy will never go away, a fascinating look at why crazy beliefs endure. Even after all the facts were explained to Winston, and after he appeared to agree that the facts were right, he still held doubts that President Obama was born in this country.

What's clear to me is that birthers have other reasons for which they dislike the president, even hate him -- and some of those reasons are too ugly, perhaps, for them to even admit to themselves. Hence, they cling to this conspiracy even after it's disproved.

London is not ready...

2011-04-22T06:18:00.001-07:00

Not by a long shot.

A bit more than a year out from the biggest logistical challenge London has faced since the Battle of Britain, what is painfully clear to even the casual observer is just how "not ready" this city is to host the Olympics.

Tourists tend to praise London's public transit system. Before I lived here I would regularly lament the failings of the Chicago Transit Authority and the San Francisco BART and MUNI systems, wishing they could "be more like the trains in London."

I take it all back.

To the ELevated trains of Chicago's Red Line I humbly beg your forgiveness. To my beloved BART and MUNI trains from SF Civic Center station, I take every sarcastic remark I ever made, chew and swallow them. You are marvels of urban engineering and models of efficiency compared to "the Tube".

I now know why as a visitor, I always thought. London Transport worked so well. For the most part, visitors only really use the tube in Central London (zones 1 or 2). Also tourists usually are not on trains at Rush Hour. Around 6pm they're at their hotels getting ready to go out to dinner or theaters/clubs in the West End.

London Trains seem to do pretty well if all you need is to get from Earls Court to Leicester Square during off-peak travel times. Beyond that? It's one big game of "signal failure roulette".

Let's pause here for just a moment to address that great all-purpose excuse for any major problem with trains in and around greater London...

"Signal Failure".

Back in the 1970's on the now legendary British scifi TV show "Doctor Who", whenever actor Jon Pertwee couldn't pronounce a particularly technical phrase in the script; he'd substitute the phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow", in place of whatever it was he didn't want to try to say.

I'm convinced "signal failure" is London Transport's version of this. I moved to London on April 8th, and EVERY DAY I have been here, there has been an announcement of "signal failure" at one or more points on the Train System.

So as stand writing this on my blackberry in the stifling heat of yet another idled Jubilee line train; I can't help but pose the question:

If London can't manage to keep its train running through an average rush hour commute, how on earth will this city cope with the world's biggest sporting event?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

VERY Cool Time-lapse Video

2011-04-17T07:13:00.000-07:00

San Francisco to Paris in two minutes.. very cool! (Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan)

SF to Paris in Two Minutes from Beep Show on Vimeo.

New Chapters....

2011-04-09T15:39:00.000-07:00

Hey there folks,

Well the move is done. I arrived in London this afternoon and Eric and I made it home with all four bags relatively easily. Its been an exhausting and emotional week. Leaving my job at Kaiser Permanente on Wednesday, and getting everything moved out my San Francisco apartment, sadly didn't leave a lot of time for goodbye's. To all the folks who have emailed saying; "What?!? You've left!" I am sorry there wasn't any extra time.

This move would have never happened on time without help from some of the most amazing people in my life. My Sister and Brother-in-Law Leah & Jean Georges Demathieu were miracle workers helping clear out my apartment. Also, I never would have been ready and able to move without the help of Rudy Guerrero, the most amazing friend anyone could ever ask for, who helped haul and lug and carry and was an amazing source of morale support through this whole daunting process.

Saying goodbye to San Francisco was very bittersweet. Finally being able to move here to London and start the next chapter of my life is wonderful, yet at the same time it is odd to leave a city and people that has been home for seven years.

So as my (now former) co-workers at KP Learning and Development like to say... Onwards!

Brilliant... Just watch it.

2011-04-04T20:50:00.001-07:00

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Thank you GOP for restoring my faith in just how crazy you are...

2011-04-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

I will admit I have been somewhat distracted over the past few weeks as I have been packing for my move to London.

As a result of having my head in boxes for the last two weeks, I have not paid close attention to what has been going on in the newly GOP controlled House of Representatives.

Which, as it turns out is a real pity. As I have missed what amounts to comedy gold, courtesy of the the Teabagging Wingnuts of the new Republican majority. The always brilliant Rachel Maddow brings us all up to speed on the latest fun and frolic...

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Wow....Just when you think the well of wingnutty-ness has run dry, the GOP rises to the challenge and doubles down on the crazy. Lets review. shall we?

According to Donald Trump, (yes, the really bad hair guy, Donald Trump) President Obama was not born in the US because there are (according to him) no pictures of the young Barack Obama prior to age 13. BARACK OBAMA PICTURES: The early years - chicagotribune.com - Opps.

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THEN, we have our current involvement in Libya. Remember back in oh... say 2002 and 2003 when ANYONE criticized the war in Iraq, the greater Wingnuttia went berserk with shrieks of How DARE you criticize the Commander-in-Chief in a time of war, you traitorous America-hating, troop-hating commie bastard! Why do you want the terrorist to WIN?!

Fast forward to 2011, It now seems as if our dear right-wing patriots are only patriotic when the GOP holds the keys to the Oval Office

And now, we have the glorious MYTH that somehow the GOP now cares about and is focused on, JOBS. Hmmm really?

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The Republican Party is now a very bad, very sad joke. One silver lining in all this, is that once the cirque du' insanity that will be the 2012 GOP Presidential Primaries is over, America will most likely re-elect Barack Obama with the largest plurality since 1984, when Ronald Reagan stomped on Walter Mondale like a bug at an exterminator convention.

Ireland Moves Forward... The US? Not So Much....

2011-04-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

Amazing Public Service Announcement currently running in Ireland...

Meanwhile in the United States the ridiculously mis-named hate group "Focus on the Family" is launching a counter campaign that is PRO- bullying and is actually offering cash prizes to anti-gay Christian students who make the best video about how it's totally right to bully, shame, and ostracize gay kids for their sexuality.

According to Focus on the Family Spokes-bigot Candi Cushman;

,LGBT groups use bullying prevention to "promote their homosexual agenda, including the idea that homosexuality is normal. Focus on the Family education expert Candi Cushman said that the group is against bullying but that bullying prevention “is being hijacked by activists.” She claims that anti-bullying programs are gay activism in disguise and that these programs conceal their true purpose.

Eliza Byard, Executive Director, of the The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) had this to say about Focus on the Family's opposition to anti-bullying efforts in schools...

Focus on the Family has tried to discredit GLSEN's efforts to make schools safe for all students since our founding in 1990. These most recent attempts show that, once again, Focus on the Family either doesn't know what it is talking about or simply don't care about addressing bullying, or both. The policies we support - which, by the way, include protections for bullying based on religion - have been shown by years of research to make a difference in young people's lives. That is why nearly 70 national education, youth service and civil and human rights organizations endorse the Safe Schools Improvement Act. In terms of LGBT youth, we certainly hope that Focus on the Family agrees that the current environment in which nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT students experience harassment each year in school is simply unacceptable. But we won't hold our breath.

The wing nut social conservative Right knows that Anti-bullying efforts are a direct threat to their ability to fund-raise by dehumanizing Gays and Lesbians. Focus on the Family is desperate to get control of the Bullying debate and get control of it FAST. Because, if you say it is wrong that a kid was bullied because they were gay, you are really saying there is nothing wrong with being Gay; and FOTF has too much invested in their hate, and can never allow that to happen.

This in spite of the clear evidence that bullying based on sexual orientation was the direct cause of a number of tragic teen suicides across the the United States last year.

These people are insane bigots, They are so filled with hatred for people who don't share their sad twisted anti-American, anti-Constitutional world view, they would seek to stop efforts that could help save kids lives.

This past year, as this...American equivalent of the Taliban obsessed over DEFENDING the bullying to death of Gay Kids, the news was been filled with story after story, of a Gay Teen somewhere in America who was bullied into taking his or her own life.

Focus on the Family has spent millions of dollars saying that Gays and Lesbians are "attacking families" and are out to "destroy traditional marriage", that Gays and Lesbians have a "Radical Agenda" and are a"threat to children". So I am sure the LAST thing Cushman would want to do is have to answer for the impact that her "work" has had in putting the lives of American kids at risk in their own schools, every day.

While the rest of the civilized world continues to move forward it is hate groups like Focus on the funding..er.. I mean "family", that seek to turn the United States into a theocratic backwater of hatred and intolerance.

Well, that didn't take long...

2011-03-31T11:31:00.000-07:00

Two days after announcing a hold on same sex couple deportations, the USCIS says "whoops! Not really!" (hat tip to The Advocate)

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Official: No Hold on Gay Immigration Cases

By Andrew Harmon

Immigration officials say they will no longer put a hold on the cases of binational married gay couples, just two days after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that action on such cases would be halted pending further legal guidance.

Wednesday morning USCIS press secretary Christopher S. Bentley toldThe Advocate that the agency had received legal guidance to lift the hold it had issued Monday. The guidance was issued in the form of written communications from the Office of the General Counsel at Department of Homeland Security (USCIS is a component of DHS).

Bentley declined to release any of the written documents at this time, saying it was privileged communication. He emphasized that the official policy itself within DHS had never changed.
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Well so much for that... Turns out the "Abeyance" or hold on same sex partner deportations is over.

I don't know WHY so many people are surprised by this... ALL of the promises made by then Senator Obama, to the LGBT community in 2008 were just hot air.

We will hear them again in 2012. The President will barnstorm around the country claiming HE repealed Don't Ask, Don't Tell. He didn't. Congress did. The President didn't lobby, didn't act, didn't do diddly-squat. Oh sure, AFTER all the work was done, he was glad to jump in. The ONLY thing he did was sign the bill. Important to be sure, but hardly "fierce advocacy".

Over the next 18 months, the President will tout how he has "Stopped Defending DOMA" (while hoping nobody asks about the ENFORCEMENT of DOMA, or how for the first 3 years in office he defended DOMA by comparing same sex marriage to incest...)

So I guess it's time to (once again) point out the BLINKING OBVIOUS... (everybody join in.. this time with feeling!)

PRESIDENT OBAMA IS NOT A PROGRESSIVE or EVEN A LIBERAL.

President Barack Obama, is a centrist. A timid one at that. He wants to govern but he doesn't want to actually have to lead. Now that being said, we all can agree that he is light years better than ANY of the GOP Wingnut lunatics that want to replace him. But frankly, at this point, that isn't saying much.

Also, what is even more apparent this past week, given his behavior; it is starting to become clear, that deep deep down, the President believes the Gays are kinda icky. To be fair, I think he feels BAD about believing that, but not bad enough to actually change anything.

We waited, my husband and I. We hoped, we donated, we campaigned and we believed. Now three years later, we have this latest 'bait and switch- back" on DOMA and Immigration equality. It has just proved to us, that we were right this past year to give up on President Obama, and move to the UK.

I said this on Monday, and it keeps ringing true; The BEST the LGBT community can hope for out of Barack Obama, is that he moves from a position of actively opposing marriage equality to one of passive indifference.

My Reaction to the USCIS Announcement

2011-03-29T13:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revealed that deportations of people who have overstayed their visas, but are in a state-recognized same sex marriage, are now on hold. (From Metro Weekly:)
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Following up on reports from this weekend, Metro Weekly just received confirmation from Christopher Bentley, the spokesman for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, that cases of foreign partners who are married to a same-sex partner and would otherwise be eligible for a green card are on hold in light of questions about the continued validity of the Defense of Marriage Act. Bentley writes, "USCIS has issued guidance to the field asking that related cases be held in abeyance while awaiting final guidance related to distinct legal issues." He notes, however, "USCIS has not implemented any change in policy and intends to follow the President's directive to continue enforcing the law." The legal distinction means that although DOMA is still being enforced, the USCIS is using its discretion to hold off on denying green card applications where applicable.
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A lot of people have sent me text messages and emails today asking me if I am excited and happy about this "significant step forward" for same sex bi-national couples.

Sigh....

I'm sorry but this is all nonsense, wonderfully symbolic nonsense, but nonsense all the same.

Green Card Petitions by same sex couples will not be approved as long as DOMA is still on the books. Also this does NOTHING for bi-national same sex couples who are currently living overseas, or for couples where the Non-American partner is not currently in the U.S.

As far as the Administration taking this "significant step" goes... There is also no logical reason that the steps taken this past month; (declining to defend DOMA in court, putting pending deportations on hold ect.) couldn't have been taken THREE YEARS AGO. That might have helped move current court challenges to DOMA through the system faster. Instead we had the Obama DOJ filing legal briefs defending DOMA by comparing same sex marriage to incest... How soon we forget huh?

The legislation recently introduced to repeal DOMA is dead on arrival in the House of Representatives. Why? Simple, the GOP and it's rabidly wingnutty base are desperate to keep LGBT Americans as the one last minority it is safe for them to promote the hatred of, for fundraising purposes.

When the Republican Party wants to deport children BORN HERE because their Parents were not citizens, do you honestly think these politically opportunistic bigots are going to sit idly by and allow same sex couples even a small dose of equality?

I am very glad that the couples who were facing forced separation have been given a reprieve, but unless DOMA is repealed it will be only a temporary one.

I know this feels like it should be seen as some sort of positive step forward, but I just can't get excited because Barack Obama (with one eye on his re-elect) has moved from active opposition to Marriage Equality, to passive indifference.

This is window dressing ahead of the 2012 re-election kickoff. Which Huffington Post says is coming in April.

Nothing more...

Earth Hour 2011 - Tonight at 8:30pm Pacific Time

2011-03-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

The Illustrious Jabba The Huckabee will now Accept your Donations...

2011-03-25T15:01:00.000-07:00

(hat tip to JoeMyGod for this latest bit of American Taliban ass-hattery)
Speaking to his faithful minions at the Shereton in West Des Moines, GOP Presidential hopeful, Rev. Mike Huckabee, ranted how the threat of Gay Marriage will destroy America, and that stopping it might even cost you your Job!
.

Wow... There is just way too much Crazy here to even begin to pick apart. If you are going to argue about who God gave land to, you might want to check with the Native Americans, who I imagine would take issue with Mike's claim of divine ownership.

The singularly Caucasian audience was almost roused from their rubber-chicken induced stupor by Huckabee's dire exhortations of a battle of Good vs Evil, and his fierce stand against those who would "enslave us". (Mike better be careful, Wall Street might take those references personally....)

Also you can't help but wonder, how thrice-married serial adulterer Newt Gingrich will deal with Huckabee's assertions that only a monogamous marriage is "true".

Let the glorious circular political firing squad that is GOP Presidential Primary politics, begin!

Happy 80th Birthday William Shatner!

2011-03-22T15:11:00.000-07:00

Big Immigration Equality News Out of New York...

2011-03-22T14:56:00.000-07:00

hat tip to John A over at Americablog

--------------------------------------------------------------

Bi-National Lesbian Couple Can Press US Marriage Claim

It what appears to be the first such action of its type, an Immigration Judge in Manhattan has adjourned deportation proceedings for the Argentine lesbian spouse of an American citizen to allow the couple to proceed with their application to have their marriage recognized for purposes of federal immigration law.

Monica Alcota, 35, who came to the US a decade ago, married her partner of nearly three years, 25-year-old Cristina Ojeda, last August in Connecticut.

The couple’s attorneys, Lavi Soloway and Noemi Masliah, argue that their clients’ marital status should qualify Alcota for permanent residency, as would be the case with any different-sex couple.

A 2010 US court ruling striking down the Defense of Marriage Act’s denial of federal recognition for legal same-sex marriages, they say –– coupled with the Justice Department’s recent decision that it could not and would not defend DOMA’s constitutionality on that point –– opens up the real possibility that Alcota and Ojeda may be accorded recognition.

In a March 22 hearing in the US courthouse at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan, Immigration Judge Terry A. Bain gave the couple the go-ahead to press their claim with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) –– a unit of the Department of Homeland Security –– through what is known as Form I-130, a petition to have Alcota recognized as “the spouse of USC.”

For now, the couple’s case has been adjourned until December, a decision supported by the government's attorney.

“It is almost impossible to overstate the significance of what happened in there,” Soloway said immediately after the hearing. “An adjournment based on an I-130. It would never have happened a year ago. I don’t think I even would have filed it.”

Describing the development as “huge,” Soloway also credited Bain with being “very kind, very generous” in her handling of the case.

Brilliant...

2011-03-17T13:40:00.000-07:00

Today on the House Floor, Rep Anthony Weiner (D NY) thanks the GOP for their clear laser-like focus on the issues that TRULY matter to the American People...

(hat tip to JoeMyGod)

Last Night on American Network Television..

2011-03-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

On FOX no less...

Fear, bigotry, hatred and homophobia lost.

All those who ranted that such a thing, as what happened last night on prime-time TV would "destroy America", are now exposed for what they really are. People like Newt (thrice-married adulterer) Gingrich, Sarah (unmarried pregnant daughter) Palin, Tony (gay kids should just kill themselves) Perkins, and Maggie (hating people is what I do best) Gallagher all got their asses kicked last night. Their fear mongering, lies and outright hatred of other Americans failed.

So what was it that defeated them? What showed the world that everything these hate mongers have said is just ignorant bile with no basis in reality or truth?

Just a tiny little television show.... called Glee

Over the course of today there have been a slew of reactions across the blogosphere, the vast majority of which have are overwhelmingly positive. There were a few comments posted on the Los Angeles Times media blog from people claiming to be "concerned parents" who didn't feel it was appropriate for teens to see two boys kissing. One commenter claimed the kiss was too "confusing" for her teenage daughter.

Really?

If these kids are any indication, it's safe to say that the teens of America were not at all confused by last night's episode.

Moving On...

2011-03-13T19:10:00.000-07:00

In the Spring of 2004, I moved to San Francisco. I had lived in Chicago for nearly 6 years. When I was part of the large scale lay offs that swept through the Banking industry back in the early 2000's. It was geographically and culturally not nearly as big a move as when I moved to South Korea, back in the late 1990's. Yet it felt nearly as big.

Now 7 years later, I once again sit in my apartment surrounded by boxes, faced with the daunting task of culling through the bits and pieces of my life. Deciding what to pack, what to discard, what to give away. Once again, I am moving. Leaving a city that I have grown to love, a job that has been fun, challenging, and always rewarding. Leaving friends who made this crazy place feel like home, and leaving family who moved here themselves only few short years ago, as well.

Moving is always something that prompts introspection. Whether you want to or not. Lots of people have asked me "what will you miss?" When they ask that, they of course mean, what aspect of living in San Francisco will I miss after I leave. Of course there are lots of "things". Yet, like any big transition you find yourself looking more, at the difference between the person I was when I arrived here, and who it is, that will be leaving San Francisco in April. Older? Yes of course. Wiser? One would hope. I learned a lot about myself and life in general living here. Regrets? A few, but isn't that the case with all things in life?

Back in 2004 when I started this blog over on the now-defunct AOL hometown, then moving it to Yahoo 360, and finally here to blogger. I entitled it "Funny Odd Thing...Life." It is quote from one of my favorite writers, the late, great Douglas Adams. In his series of books, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy", the main character, Arthur Dent, is a man who keeps having the most improbable things happen to him on nearly a daily basis. When he repeatedly asks others he encounters why all these crazy things always happen to him, invariably the person would shrug and reply; "Dunno.... It's a funny odd thing.... life."

I will confess, that over the years, I have often felt a lot like Arthur Dent. When I was a kid, growing up in South Central Wisconsin , I think it is safe to say (and those who 'knew me when', would probably agree.) I really didn't "fit in". My vocabulary, sense of humor and interests where always very different from that of my peers. I was into Monty Python, The Goon Show, and Douglas Adams. I hosted my own local television show, I watched Doctor Who, listened to movie soundtracks and knew all the lyrics to songs by Gilbert and Sullivan. In short, I was a funny odd kid.

But like so many funny odd kids, I eventually found my own way. As a teenager, I moved to Germany, then back to Wisconsin for college. Then, in my 20's I moved to South Korea. From there, I found my way in my 30's to Chicago, and eventually, to here, in San Francisco. Now in my fourth decade, I find life is no less funny or odd. I fell in love, I got married, found a new job, and as a result, I am moving again. To London.

So as I sort and pack for this move. I am grateful for everything that the past seven years has given me. Along with that gratitude is a great deal of excitement. One of my favorite composers is Stephen Sondheim. In his musical "Sunday in Park with George", there is a great song about change, and the mixed feelings we often have when facing it. Like Arthur Dent, like George, this funny, odd kid... is looking forward, and is excited to Move On.

We Interrupt this Blog for a Very Good Cause...

2011-03-09T11:36:00.000-08:00

Hey there Funny Odd Thing'ers...

I don't usually post "action item" kinda stuff on here. But this is a special case. I'd like you all to meet Joshua Jurack. Josh lives with his two brothers and two sisters in Virgina. He is the VA Goodwill Ambassador for the Muscular Dystrophy Association-- Josh is a great kid, who is dealing the best he can with the effects of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

So I am asking my readers to take just few moments to watch this video, and if you are so inclined - to please consider making a donation to "Team Joshua's Hope" . Josh and his family are fighting to help find a cure for all those who suffer from muscular dystrophy.

On 4/2/2011, MDA will be hosting the Muscle Walk to raise money to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy. Together, let's work to make a muscle, make a difference.

Thanks,

Dave