As some of you have remarked in emails and text messages, it has been about two weeks since I have posted anything new on here and yeah.. I really don't have a good excuse. Or maybe I do... Lately it has been hard to write about the current state of politics and culture in the United States without wanting to scream obscenities and throw things at the television.
There is a wonderful Ivor Novello song from the soundtrack to the movie "Gosford Park". The title is "The Land of Might Have Been..." As we approach the 2010 mid-term elections I find that title resonates all too well with how I feel.
The common consensus among the political punditry says the Republicans and the corporate created and funded Tea Bagger monstrosity it has spawned, will at the very least gain control of House or Representatives if not also the Senate. Though, most projections have the Democratic Party holding on to the Senate by a narrow margin.
The fact is, in 2010, the face, voice and mind of the Republican Party is made up of people who are racist, xenophobic anti-constitutional nut jobs. Reality and fact play no role whatsoever in their world view. When pressed to explain why they "feel" the way they feel. Or when asked to explain their fox generated talking points in greater detail, you get this...
It has been popular to make comparisons to the "Republican Revolution" of 1994, when Newt Gingrich lead the GOP to a midterm trouncing of Bill Clinton and the Democrats with their "Contract With America". ( It is interesting to note that none of the items in that 1994 "contract" were ever actually enacted by that GOP controlled Congress.) Still it is worth examining what the GOP is promising that they will do THIS time if they win back control of congress.
The very idea that there is a role for Government in the welfare of the American People is what the Republican Party is running AGAINST. The idea that insurance companies can deny you health insurance for a pre-existing condition, regardless of what that condition might be, is what the Republican party is running FOR. The idea that if you lose your job and are unemployed it is your fault, is what the Republican Party is running FOR.
The idea that oil companies are the real VICTIMS if they are made to pay for the damages their own negligence has caused , this is what the GOP in 2010 stands for.
Then on top of all of that we have Barack Obama and the Democrats. Citizens of the Land of Might Have Been.
We might have had real health care reform and a Public Option for Health Insurance. But instead we got mild tinkering with insurance coverage that while a good first step, will benefit insurance companies more than it will help the broader problems with Health Care in America.
Now we have a GOP that is seriously running ON the premise, that for a insurance company to NOT be able to deny you coverage or just drop you for a pre-existing condition, THAT is the real crisis that has to be fixed.
We might have had real financial reform in the wake of the abuses and excesses of Wall Street. But instead we got mild tinkering with with Credit Card rules and the same players who took our financial sector the brink of collapse have been allowed to stay right were they are doing the same things.
We might have had real advancement of civil rights for all our citizens , including LGBT Americans. With an inclusive Employment Non Discrimination Act, repeal of The Defense of Marriage Act and the ending of the military's ridiculous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy of forcing patriotic and skilled American Service Personnel out of the military simply because they are Gay or Lesbian. But instead we got speeches, nice inspirational speeches that were meant to provide cover for political cowardice.
So after spending two years trying desperately to woo non-existent Republican support for an agenda that an overwhelming majority of Americans elected him and his party to enact. President Obama seems to finally be grasping the political reality he and the Democrats are now facing. If the Republican Party gains control of Congress, President Obama and the Democrats will spend the next two years trying to defend the meager accomplishments of the last two years from repeal, and doing little else. In a recent speech in Ohio, the President finally seemed willing to take the GOP on.
So I can't help feeling like the last two years have been such a wasted opportunity. Barack Obama ran with such passion, energy and vision but has governed with such timidity, as to make me wonder if Candidate Obama and President Obama are even the same man.
I understand the argument that if the Democratic base doesn't get over our "enthusiasm gap" all of these dire predictions of the damage a GOP controlled Congress would do, will come true. And I also understand , and have even made the argument, that cowardly Democrats are still better than any of the current crop of Republicans.
Yet the truth is, I am having a hard time getting energized about a choice between apathy and evil.
If the Democrats lose control of Congress Barack Obama will spend the next two years with even less to show for it than his first two. Not much of a record to run for re-election with.
Nobody expects the President to win every battle. I just wish it didn't seem like Barack Obama was so afraid of fighting the battle. I guess what I really would like is for life to occasionally imitate art...
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The Bad News from Lake Wobegon...
It's hard to know exactly how to begin talking about this...
I am a big fan of writer, essayist and radio host Garrison Keillor. His radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" Was something of a tradition for my family when I as growing up. We always listened on Saturday afternoons on Wisconsin Public Radio. Our family even attended the show in person on more that one occasion.
Keillor's stories of his fictional "hometown" of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota tend to resonate with those of us who grew up in small towns in the Midwest. Often his monologues about; "The News From Lake Wobegon" felt like they could easily have been taken from the streets of my own hometown of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
I think what always resonated for me, wasn't just the Norman-Rockwell-esque imagery, or the jokes about growing up Lutheran. Rather for me, it was Keillor's stories of how growing up, he felt like an oddball, in his little town.
Like Keillor, I was an awkward, uncoordinated kid who preferred books to baseball gloves, and never really felt like I "fit in". Like Keillor, my daydreams were often of the day I would "see my town in the rear view mirror", as I left to begin my "real life". Also like Keillor, I tend to think more fondly of my small town years later as an "exile" , than I did as someone who had to live there.
Keillor always ends his stories with the tagline; "That's the news from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
Yet the truth is, I am not sure I will be able to listen to the News from Lake Wobegon anymore. It was one year ago, I posted a blog entry on a news story out of Anoka, MN entitled; "The News from the Real Lake Wobegon". I wrote about how the The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, had agreed to pay a $25,000 settlement to the family of a high school junior after two teachers harassed the boy and subjected him to classroom jokes, comments and innuendos concerning his perceived sexual orientation.
The student, who was not gay had gone to school officials numerous times complaining about the harassment but was ignored. Now a year later we find out what else has been going on in Anoka, MN. Students have been dying.
Anoka, MN, is the real life inspiration for Garrison Keillor's fictional hamlet of Lake Wobegon. The High School has had three teenagers commit suicide in the past year. All three students have something in common besides being students in the same school district. All three teens were relentlessly bullied for being Gay.
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Growing up Gay in a small town is quite simply an exercise in terror. On some level every day had some undercurrent of fear of your "secret" being discovered. The ultimate put-down was to say something was "gay" or to be called a "fag". You see the kids who were even slightly effeminate or "different" getting tormented on a daily basis.
The Trevor Project, in conjunction with National Suicide Prevention Week launched a powerful new ad campaign "I'm Glad I Failed."
The ad campaign is aimed at LGBTQ youth who contemplate suicide as a result of homophobia. The ads feature young people with stories of how intolerance and harassment led them to attempt suicide, and how they are glad those attempts failed because their lives have changed for the better.
This Saturday will be the first in a long time where I won't be tuning in to listen to the "News from Lake Wobegon" . Because I know what the news is. If you are a Gay or Lesbian youth in Anoka, MN, your life isn't valued.
You live in a community that is quite happy to just stand idly by while you are bullied to death, to the point of even starting a petition drive to PREVENT anything from being done about it.
I want Garrison Keillor to talk about this. I want him to tell the people of his hometown to stop killing their kids. I want him to tell his audience that the real news from Lake Wobegon Minnesota is that the women may be strong, and the men may be good looking, but the children are expected to kill themselves if they are Gay.
And that has to stop.
Keillor's stories of his fictional "hometown" of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota tend to resonate with those of us who grew up in small towns in the Midwest. Often his monologues about; "The News From Lake Wobegon" felt like they could easily have been taken from the streets of my own hometown of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.
I think what always resonated for me, wasn't just the Norman-Rockwell-esque imagery, or the jokes about growing up Lutheran. Rather for me, it was Keillor's stories of how growing up, he felt like an oddball, in his little town.
Like Keillor, I was an awkward, uncoordinated kid who preferred books to baseball gloves, and never really felt like I "fit in". Like Keillor, my daydreams were often of the day I would "see my town in the rear view mirror", as I left to begin my "real life". Also like Keillor, I tend to think more fondly of my small town years later as an "exile" , than I did as someone who had to live there.
Keillor always ends his stories with the tagline; "That's the news from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."
Yet the truth is, I am not sure I will be able to listen to the News from Lake Wobegon anymore. It was one year ago, I posted a blog entry on a news story out of Anoka, MN entitled; "The News from the Real Lake Wobegon". I wrote about how the The Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, had agreed to pay a $25,000 settlement to the family of a high school junior after two teachers harassed the boy and subjected him to classroom jokes, comments and innuendos concerning his perceived sexual orientation.
The student, who was not gay had gone to school officials numerous times complaining about the harassment but was ignored. Now a year later we find out what else has been going on in Anoka, MN. Students have been dying.
Anoka, MN, is the real life inspiration for Garrison Keillor's fictional hamlet of Lake Wobegon. The High School has had three teenagers commit suicide in the past year. All three students have something in common besides being students in the same school district. All three teens were relentlessly bullied for being Gay.
From The Minnesota Independent.:
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The woman sobbed as she told her son’s story to the Anoka-Hennepin School Board on Monday. “Hi, I’m Tammy Aaberg, the mother of Justin Aaberg, who was a gay student at Anoka High School who committed suicide July 9th of this year.” The school district has become ground zero in the battle between those who want safe spaces for LGBT students and those who want any mention of homosexuality banned from high school campuses.
According to LGBT advocates, Justin’s death is one of three suicides by gay students in the last year, and while the district says it takes bullying seriously and has beefed up discipline against harassment, it has spurned invitations by LGBT groups to do anti-bullying education. To make matters more complicated, a group of parents opposed to homosexuality has formed to put pressure on the board not to bow to LGBT interests.
The district — the state’s largest, with around 40,000 students — made headlines last year when the Minnesota Department of Human Rights alleged that two teachers conspired to harass a student, Alex Merritt, who they thought was gay. The news led to protests at school board meetings urging the district to adopt stronger anti-bullying policies and offers by LGBT groups to provide education. The school board rebuffed those efforts.
Now, with news of three suicides by LGBT students within a year, family and friends who have lost loved ones are demanding the district make changes.
“For those of you who have never had a gay child, you need to know it is one of the scariest things to learn because you know that they will need to deal with a lot of criticism and harassment in their lives, and it makes me worry,” Aaberg said. Justin’s family and friends told the board that he had been bullied at Anoka High School before he took his own life. “Do you think my son Justin deserved to die because there are other kids who feel superior by picking on him and no staff member will stop them?” she asked the board.
Two LGBT students also used the public comment portion of Monday’s meeting to describe their feelings of isolation at school. Christina, who graduated from Anoka High School and who was friends with Justin, said, “When experiencing these problems, you can’t go to your parents, where you face rejection from those you love the most.” She continued, “You can’t go to your church if you are in condemnation from a religion you’ve always embraced.”
Megan, another 2010 graduate, took issue with the school’s policies. “It says that it is better for students to go to their home or their community or their church. I can’t go to any of those. I go home and my parents tell me I am cursed. I go to my church and I am rejected and condemned. I go to my community? What community do I have to go to?” Megan was referring to a 2009 school board policy that says sexual orientation is not to be taught in the district.
Teaching about sexual orientation is not a part of the District adopted curriculum; rather, such matters are best addressed within individual family homes, churches, or community organizations. Anoka-Hennepin staff, in the course of their professional duties, shall remain neutral on matters regarding sexual orientation including but not limited to student led discussions.
That policy, the AH District 11 Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, has become the battleground for LGBT advocates and members of the religious right. Last July, a shadow group of parents formed in the district with the intention on staving off any advances for LGBT students. The Parents Action League launched its website in June along with a petition that reads;
“Whereas homosexual behavior exposes participants to many life-threatening health risks; and whereas the classroom environment needs to be solely focused on academics; Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of Anoka-Hennepin School District No. 11 do whole heartedly support and desire that the School Board adhere to … the AH District 11 Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy.”
When the Minnesota Independent asked who founded the group and if it had any connections to other “pro-family” groups in the state, an unsigned email came back: “We think our website explains very well what we’re about and who founded it – citizens in the Anoka Hennepin School District.” “Whereas homosexual behavior exposes participants to many life-threatening health risks; and whereas the classroom environment needs to be solely focused on academics; Therefore, we the undersigned citizens of Anoka-Hennepin School District No. 11 do whole heartedly support and desire that the School Board adhere to … the AH District 11 Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy.”
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Growing up Gay in a small town is quite simply an exercise in terror. On some level every day had some undercurrent of fear of your "secret" being discovered. The ultimate put-down was to say something was "gay" or to be called a "fag". You see the kids who were even slightly effeminate or "different" getting tormented on a daily basis.
For so many LGBT youth, High School is not, the "best years of your life", it is frankly something to be survived and put behind you as quickly as possible. And here we see the "good people" of Anoka, after having had three of their own teenagers bullied to death, are apparently trying to get people to sign petitions to dish out even more hate against their own kids.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for LGBT Youth. Organizations like The Trevor Project have been working to help communities address the problems and provide education, resources and support. The ad campaign is aimed at LGBTQ youth who contemplate suicide as a result of homophobia. The ads feature young people with stories of how intolerance and harassment led them to attempt suicide, and how they are glad those attempts failed because their lives have changed for the better.
This Saturday will be the first in a long time where I won't be tuning in to listen to the "News from Lake Wobegon" . Because I know what the news is. If you are a Gay or Lesbian youth in Anoka, MN, your life isn't valued.
You live in a community that is quite happy to just stand idly by while you are bullied to death, to the point of even starting a petition drive to PREVENT anything from being done about it.
I want Garrison Keillor to talk about this. I want him to tell the people of his hometown to stop killing their kids. I want him to tell his audience that the real news from Lake Wobegon Minnesota is that the women may be strong, and the men may be good looking, but the children are expected to kill themselves if they are Gay.
And that has to stop.
Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Wow.. the end of an era...
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley announced today he would not seek a 7th term. I lived in Chicago for 5 years before moving to CA. Love him or hate him, you can't deny that like is father, he was a poltical force that forever changed the face and direction of the City of Chicago.
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
Giving "credit" where credit is due...
As the combat mission in Iraq comes to an end. Rachel Maddow gives us a brilliant look back on just how we got here in the first place...
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thoughts on Ken Mehlman
Former Republican National Committee Chairman, and Bush Campaign Director, Ken Mehlman this week confirmed what had been pretty much common knowledge in Washington D.C. That he was in fact, Gay.
A lot of folks have emailed and texted me asking what my thoughts are about all of this. I am still framing my reaction to Mehlman's announcement, and will post something this weekend.
In the meantime, as usual. the folks over at the Daily Show nailed it...
A lot of folks have emailed and texted me asking what my thoughts are about all of this. I am still framing my reaction to Mehlman's announcement, and will post something this weekend.
In the meantime, as usual. the folks over at the Daily Show nailed it...
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Gay Old Party | ||||
| ||||
Sunday, August 22, 2010
A Question of Presidential Leadership....
Dear President Obama,
On June 11th, 1963, the man who sat at the same desk in the same office you now occupy, and said these words.
Now, nearly half a century later, our nation is once again in the middle of a great debate over Civil Rights. However this time, it is not the color of an American Citizen's skin that is the defining factor some would use as the basis for discrimination, but rather the issue today is, sexual orientation.
The defining lines in this Civil Rights debate are just as clearly drawn as they were in the debate some 47 years ago. On both sides sits a core document. Those who would deny equal rights to millions of Americans claim that 8 verses of the Bible, command nothing less than the codification of one a religious viewpoint into civil law. On the other side sits the Constitution of the United States which says:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Now when an entire sector of American Citizens are denied that basic equal protection under the law, officials from your Administration, one which would not have been possible, or even conceivable without the leadership and courage of your predecessors, complain that victims of discrimination, and those who support their cause, are just whining members of some nebulous "Professional Left".
On June 11th, 1963, the man who sat at the same desk in the same office you now occupy, and said these words.
Now, nearly half a century later, our nation is once again in the middle of a great debate over Civil Rights. However this time, it is not the color of an American Citizen's skin that is the defining factor some would use as the basis for discrimination, but rather the issue today is, sexual orientation.
The defining lines in this Civil Rights debate are just as clearly drawn as they were in the debate some 47 years ago. On both sides sits a core document. Those who would deny equal rights to millions of Americans claim that 8 verses of the Bible, command nothing less than the codification of one a religious viewpoint into civil law. On the other side sits the Constitution of the United States which says:
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Now when an entire sector of American Citizens are denied that basic equal protection under the law, officials from your Administration, one which would not have been possible, or even conceivable without the leadership and courage of your predecessors, complain that victims of discrimination, and those who support their cause, are just whining members of some nebulous "Professional Left".
What have seen from you Sir, is great speeches. Great words, on the need to treat all Americans equally. You have said all the right things. Yet all the while, your Administration continues to for all practical purposes, stand idly by while the civil rights of millions of the citizens who's constitutional rights you swore to preserve, protect and defend, are denied.
Are you really that surprised that many Americans who supported you, are now confused and disappointed?
Are you really that surprised that many Americans who supported you, are now confused and disappointed?
Mr. President, this is not just about equal rights for Gay and Lesbian Americans. This debate is not just about the separation of Church and State. This is about the role of the President of the United States to uphold the Constitution. Your predecessor, John Kennedy, was certainly warned by his advisors that taking leadership to uphold the constitutional rights of people of color was politically dangerous. But JFK knew that to sit at that desk, the desk you know sit behind, meant you couldn't pick and choose who the Constitution protects based on how it might play out at the polls.
When faced with the question are people who are not white, equal to people who are. President Kennedy did not hesitate, he did not equivocate, he did not have to carefully craft his answer like in some rhetorical game of twister. He did not give an answer where he desperately tried to not say he was for civil rights for Blacks, while at the same time not saying he was against it either. When you were asked about the civil rights debate of this generation, your reply was at best, a painful attempt to placate everyone while offending no one.
What the nation saw was, the first African American President, advocating for "Separate but Equal" treatment of millions of Americans.
What the nation saw was, the first African American President, advocating for "Separate but Equal" treatment of millions of Americans.
Mr. President, I understand your Administration, and your political party are afraid. You are facing an energized Republican Party. A party that has found out that your desire to build bi-partisan consensus can be used to stall and even stop your agenda. As result, you are going to have a real uphill battle selling your accomplishments to the American electorate this November.
What was supposed to be "Heath Care for All Americans" turned out to be health insurance reform for some Americans, that will greatly benefit those who had a vested interest in stopping health care reform. What was supposed to be holding those responsible for the collapse of our economy accountable, became mild tinkering with regulations, and business as usual for those who made billions of dollars off the misfortune of millions of Americans.
And now, with the issue of Civil Rights, we find at the moment we as a nation are once again most in need of Presidential Leadership, the chair behind the Resolute Desk, appears to be empty.
President Obama, the time as come to show the nation you have courage to sit at the desk. The time has come to uphold the Constitution for all Americans.
The time has come turn words into action.
President Obama, the time as come to show the nation you have courage to sit at the desk. The time has come to uphold the Constitution for all Americans.
The time has come turn words into action.
Friday, August 20, 2010
First Amendment Karma....
This past week, conservative radio talk show host Laura Schlessinger announced she would be quitting her syndicated radio program at the end of the year. She told CNN's Larry King this was a result of her "first amendment rights" being usurped by groups who were angered at her repeated use of a racial epithet with a caller on the air a few days earlier...
Not one to miss out on a chance to jump on to some free publicity, Sarah Palin, the failed former half-term Governor of Alaska tweeted her sisterly support almost immediately.
What I find interesting, is the reaction in the conservative media-sphere to all of this.
Both "Dr" Laura, and Sarah Palin are framing this as a case of the Schlessinger's rights to free expression having been violated.
I remember back in the Spring of 1990, there was a trial involving the Cincinnati Museum of Art . The museum was hosting an exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe . Dennis Barrie, the director of the museum was charged with violations of the city's obscenity code. A Jury acquitted Barrie and museum but the resulting public relations fallout cost the museum a number of major donors, who pulled their support.
At time time, there were a number of voices on the political Left, who decried the efforts by conservative groups to boycott support for the museum as a form a censorship.
I was the editorial editor of my college newspaper, and remember writing that the First Amendment has to go BOTH ways. It is just as much a form of free speech if someone chooses not to donate to a museum because of something on display there. I remember taking heat from some of my more progressive friends who felt I was condoning censorship by mob rule.
Now it is interesting to see this issue coming back to haunt conservatives. The same people who in 1990 championed the rights of "pro-family" groups to boycott the Cincinnati Art Museum, now claim that progressives who boycotted the sponsors of the "Dr. Laura" show are guilty of violating the first amendment.
Sorry, but no. The first amendment is clear. It prohibits the government from preventing the exercise of free speech. The same First Amendment that gives the American 'Family' Association the right to boycott McDonald's restaurants for not banning gays eating there, also gives Gays and Lesbians the right to boycott Dr. Laura for calling millions of Americans a "biological error".
It was during the height of the constroversy around Schlessinger's "error" comments that the brilliant writers of NBC's "The West Wing", had art imitate life, with an exchange between the fictional President Bartlett and a fictional talk-radio host "Dr. Jenna Jacobs".
In an interview with USA Today, Schlessinger said she was pleased to see "other doors opening" for her, as she leaves her radio show. I am actually glad to hear that. I would miss "Dr. Laura", if for no other reason, she and others like her are a vivid reminder of how freedom of speech goes both ways.
This past week has shown once again, how often the Dr. Laura's and Sarah Palin's of the world, claim to love the Bill of Rights, but feel it should only apply to them.
Not one to miss out on a chance to jump on to some free publicity, Sarah Palin, the failed former half-term Governor of Alaska tweeted her sisterly support almost immediately.
Both "Dr" Laura, and Sarah Palin are framing this as a case of the Schlessinger's rights to free expression having been violated.
I remember back in the Spring of 1990, there was a trial involving the Cincinnati Museum of Art . The museum was hosting an exhibition of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe . Dennis Barrie, the director of the museum was charged with violations of the city's obscenity code. A Jury acquitted Barrie and museum but the resulting public relations fallout cost the museum a number of major donors, who pulled their support.
At time time, there were a number of voices on the political Left, who decried the efforts by conservative groups to boycott support for the museum as a form a censorship.
Now it is interesting to see this issue coming back to haunt conservatives. The same people who in 1990 championed the rights of "pro-family" groups to boycott the Cincinnati Art Museum, now claim that progressives who boycotted the sponsors of the "Dr. Laura" show are guilty of violating the first amendment.
Sorry, but no. The first amendment is clear. It prohibits the government from preventing the exercise of free speech. The same First Amendment that gives the American 'Family' Association the right to boycott McDonald's restaurants for not banning gays eating there, also gives Gays and Lesbians the right to boycott Dr. Laura for calling millions of Americans a "biological error".
It was during the height of the constroversy around Schlessinger's "error" comments that the brilliant writers of NBC's "The West Wing", had art imitate life, with an exchange between the fictional President Bartlett and a fictional talk-radio host "Dr. Jenna Jacobs".
In an interview with USA Today, Schlessinger said she was pleased to see "other doors opening" for her, as she leaves her radio show. I am actually glad to hear that. I would miss "Dr. Laura", if for no other reason, she and others like her are a vivid reminder of how freedom of speech goes both ways.
This past week has shown once again, how often the Dr. Laura's and Sarah Palin's of the world, claim to love the Bill of Rights, but feel it should only apply to them.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
So Are Ya' Pregnant Yet???
The good folks over at the Huffington Post bring us the latest last gasp of insanity from the Theocratic Republic of Teabagistan...
California voters had sound reasons and were not motivated by anti-gay bias when they outlawed same-sex unions in 2008, sponsors of the ban said Monday while urging a federal appeals court to stop gay weddings from resuming.
In addition, the state's interest in promoting responsible procreation through heterosexual marriages would be harmed if gay marriages were permitted while the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviews a previous ruling that overturned Proposition 8, lawyers contended in legal filings.
"The record leaves no doubt, none at all, that California, 44 other states, and the vast majority of countries throughout the world continue to draw the line at marriage because it continues to serve a vital societal interest that is equally ubiquitous – to channel potentially procreative sexual relationships into enduring, stable unions for the sake of responsibly producing and raising the next generation," the lawyers wrote.
When you have this much craziness to choose from, it's hard to know exactly where to begin. So lets start with pointing out the obvious; When the supporters of Prop 8 say "the record leaves no doubt..." by "record" they mean whichever one of the voices in their heads was loudest that day.
So having failed with the "You can't let the Gays get married because Jeebus hates 'em." argument, the proponents of Prop 8 are trying their favorite last-ditch argument one more time. Since they couldn't offer any proof of their claim that Same Sex Marriage will harm children, hey have tweaked it just a bit. Now letting the Gays marry will cause straight people to stop having children all together. Because, the true purpose of Marriage is to be first and foremost a Baby Factory.
It's hard not to wonder if the National Organization for (some people's) Marriage even knows they have become a sad parody of a Monty Python production number...
The defendants in Perry v. Schwarzenegger have once again decided to simply pull wackiness out of their asses and call it fact. This is why these bigots keep losing in court. On FOX News they spew their nonsense and never have to offer any proof. Courts of Law, however tend to require that all that pesky stuff called "evidence".
Last week Tony Perkins, the Grand Wizard of the 'Family Research Council' was on "Face the Nation". He tried his darnedest to spin opinion into fact, but that sneaky David Boies kept insisting on bringing reality into the conversation. (Tony hates it when that happens...)
So the last ditch legal argument of American Taliban to stop Same Sex couples from getting married next Wednesday is this; Unless you are churning out kids every nine months your marriage is not valid, and is even a threat to State of California.
Seriously, these people are insane.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Fear & Fundamentalism: How the GOP & FOX Made, then Lost Control of the Tea Party.
Some thirty years or so later, it all seems so sweetly naive in its simplistic humor. The over the top nature of the joke is what made it funny. Now in 2010, if you were to erase Reagan's name and put say.... Sarah Palin, or Newt Gingrich or Glen Beck, then the cartoon is not so much funny as it would be frighteningly accurate in how the Neo-Conservative movement of the early 21rst Century really does see the world .
It was strategy that served the GOP well in 1994, 2000 and 2004. Yet in 2006 and 2008 the strategy fell apart as the impact of the Republican Party's disastrous choices became clear. And in 2008 it didn't just fail but it actually backfired and drove millions of independent voters away from the McCain Palin ticket and straight to the Democrats. Creating blue states in Colorado, Nevada , Iowa, Virginia and North Carolina.. Places where once such a thing would have been unthinkable Like many people I was curious to see what the Republican Party would do in the wake of back to back electoral wipe outs.
Regardless of your politics you had to admit that in principle at least, that was pretty amazing. Republicans talked of the need for a "big tent". and used words like "inclusion" and "diversity". For the first time since 1994, it looked like the GOP was going break out beyond it's base. But interestingly enough. something quite different happened. Instead of learning from past mistakes, the GOP doubled down. They became the rabid right wing party of "Hell No!" But what is significant is WHY that happened.
The base of the GOP, which has, for the last 15 yrs or so, dutifully sent checks to the Republican Party, is not intellectually conservative. It is ultra socially conservative. These folks are not reading the American Spectator or National Review Online. They are older, overwhelmingly white evangelicals who in every election since 1992 have met in church basements and were told they needed to help fight the "Liberal attack" on America and her families.
And, truth be told, in 2000 it worked. but just barely. It took the U.S. Supreme Court to actually decide who won the Presidency. But starting in 2000, that same GOP Base started asking what were they going to get in return for their time, effort and money? The holy grail to the social conservatives was and still remains, the overturn of Roe v. Wade. The GOP, knowing that this was really not "doable" at least in a first GW Bush Term, struggled in early 2001 with how to placate a now very active and riled up GOP base.
Then of course, in September of 2001, everything changed. Like the Germans and Japanese in the 1940's , like the communist in the 1950's through the 1980's. Fundamentalist Islam provided a new enemy to fight, and (more importantly for the GOP), 911 gave America something to fear. In 2004, the Republican Party went into full -throttle "be afraid" mode.
In 2004 the GOP successfully waged a campaign based almost entirely on fear of the Middle East. A campaign that was able to convince a majority of Americans that a former college cheerleader who went AWOL from the Texas National Guard loved America more than a decorated war hero. But, also that they needed vote against their own economic self interest and give massive tax breaks to the top 2% of Americans, and massive deregulation to Wall Street and the Energy Sector.
And it worked, for the most part. But the base, while sufficiently afraid of "Islamo-facists". Was still restless and cranky, and the economy was starting to tank. As it became clear that even a giving Bush a second term wasn't going to deliver on eliminating a woman's right to choose, GOP needed a bone to throw to this now very scared, very angry, and increasingly unemployed group of Americans it had worked so hard to rile up. The answer? Give them the Gays.
Then in 2008 the Democrats nominated Barack Hussein Obama. and the GOP base went berserk . The McCain-Palin Campaign played the fear card as hard as they could. with catch phrases like; "He Pals around with terrorists", he has "suspicious associations". "He doesn't love America!". The results were as disturbing as they were predictable.
Towards the end of the 2008 Presidential Campaign even John McCain had to step in and correct his own supporters in the GOP base. People who were now convinced. that the Democratic Nominee for President was nothing less than a Muslim Manchurian Candidate. Planted here over 40 years ago to eventually bring about the total destruction of America and our way of life.
As a diminished opposition party the GOP could do little more than just try to obstruct the new Administration at every turn, It was just a matter of time before this group of voters went looking for something new. Something that spoke to their world view, and affirmed their fears.
This was a job for FOX News.
Like all good Media organizations. FOX News knows who their viewers are. And where political parties have a goal of getting voters to the polls every two years, a T.V. network's goal is to get people to tune in every day. Rupert Murdoch and Company saw the door and ran through it. They would "Give the people what they want." They would throw the angry GOP base a party, and not just any party...
They would throw a Tea Party.
One of the first rules in marketing is not just that endorsements create sales, but also that sales create endorsements. Soon a whole flock of "B" and "C" list Conservatives like Sarah Palin, Representatives Joe Wilson, Michelle Bachman, and Tom Tancredo. Talk show hosts like Glen Beck and Michael Reagan were all hitching their wagons to the Tea Party Express. Soon even "A" Lister's like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity, and Bill O'Reilly hopped on not daring to risk being left behind.
In 2010 we had a midterm election where the Republican Party was desperate to harness the anger, energy and fear of the Tea Party in hopes of turning that into numbers at the polls that November. The GOP Created the Tea Party out of it's own scared angry social conservative base. But it quickly discovered this monster has a mind of it's own, and can turn just as quickly on Republicans as it does on Democrats. In a number of states, incumbent Republicans have found them selves the target of Tea Party primary challengers. Claiming the Republicans are not conservative enough.
The Tea Party says they "want their country back". The vision of America they hold as "their country" is one where an ultra-conservative religious based social agenda is enacted into Civil Law. Abortion, Affirmative Action, Gay and Lesbian Rights, Separation of (their) Church and State, the social safety nets of Medicare/ Social Security and Public Education are all abolished.
Victory for the Tea Party means turning the United States of America into Teabagistan.
The Tea Party is the American Taliban. Granted, their methods are not same. The American Taliban does not use violence like their Afghan equivalent. (Though the family of Dr. George Tiller might disagree with me on that.) Yet the American Taliban with their "don't tread on me" and "watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants" rhetoric, all while brandishing side arms at rallies, certainly carries the implied threat of violence. The American and Afghan Talibans are alike in terms of their aims. Which is to take a narrow extremely conservative, even fundamentalist ideology, codify it into law and force it on everyone else.
The GOP is completely dependent upon and beholden to a bunch of lunatics, who hate the U.S. Constitution. To win the Tea Party back, the GOP has to promise things the Tea Party wants. Things like the overturning of Roe v. Wade. A constitutional Amendment banning same sex marriage. Repeal of the 14th and 17th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
That's just for starters, we haven't even scratched the surface in terms of the every man for himself- screw the poor - to pay the rich, economic ideas the Tea Party likes to toss around. Stuff like, completely deregulate Wall Street , THEN turn Social Security into Goldman-Sachs' personal stack of casino chips.
The Republicans and the Tea bagging monsters they have spawned are nothing less than completely and utterly anti-American. The Tea Party likes to wave around copies of the U.S, Constitution, but aside from a few selected lines from the 2nd Amendment, they don't actually believe in it. I know President Obama, as a former professor of Constitutional Law, has actually read the rest of it.
Then in 2012 we saw something really interesting. The GOP's conservative base, along with the Tea Party wrote the narrative that Republicans chose to believe. They collectively decided to believe that facts were wrong, that facts clearly had a liberal bias. All the polling data that clearly indicated re-election for President Obama simply HAD to be wrong. Anyone who said different was a liberal plant who was trying to make conservatives "feel bad" and consequently suppress GOP/Conservative voter turnout. It made the morning after the 2012 election must- see viewing on cable news.
Now as we head in to the the 2014 midterms and the half way point in Barack Obama's second term, we see the GOP desperate to tame the monster it, along with FOX news has created. Tea Party primary challenges to well known establishment Republicans are becoming the norm, not the exception. The GOP is now faced with the reality of demographics, and the fact that gerrymandered districts, and blatently racist voting restrictions enacted in ultra-conservative states will only help so much, and won't help at all when the insurgent political threat comes from the Right, instead of the Left.
We see a Congress where Republicans will literally allow the governing of the nation to grind to halt, lest any actions they take in any way help the President to do his job, and thus enrage the Tea Party faithful to label them all "RHINOS" (Republicans In Name Only). I was never a big fan of Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom", his follow up series to the brilliant "The West Wing", but in one episode he captures perfectly the cul-de-sac of hate fulled ignorance the GOP has been painted into by its own creation.
What started as a gimmick on FOX News now may very well be the death knell of the Republican Party. Transforming the Party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan into a splintered, fragmented mob of ageing paranoids. With the only thing holding them together is the fact their hatred of other Americans, (be they Liberals or "not true" Conservatives), outweighs their love of their own country.
This was a job for FOX News.
Like all good Media organizations. FOX News knows who their viewers are. And where political parties have a goal of getting voters to the polls every two years, a T.V. network's goal is to get people to tune in every day. Rupert Murdoch and Company saw the door and ran through it. They would "Give the people what they want." They would throw the angry GOP base a party, and not just any party...
They would throw a Tea Party.
In 2010 we had a midterm election where the Republican Party was desperate to harness the anger, energy and fear of the Tea Party in hopes of turning that into numbers at the polls that November. The GOP Created the Tea Party out of it's own scared angry social conservative base. But it quickly discovered this monster has a mind of it's own, and can turn just as quickly on Republicans as it does on Democrats. In a number of states, incumbent Republicans have found them selves the target of Tea Party primary challengers. Claiming the Republicans are not conservative enough.
The Tea Party says they "want their country back". The vision of America they hold as "their country" is one where an ultra-conservative religious based social agenda is enacted into Civil Law. Abortion, Affirmative Action, Gay and Lesbian Rights, Separation of (their) Church and State, the social safety nets of Medicare/ Social Security and Public Education are all abolished.
Victory for the Tea Party means turning the United States of America into Teabagistan.
The Tea Party is the American Taliban. Granted, their methods are not same. The American Taliban does not use violence like their Afghan equivalent. (Though the family of Dr. George Tiller might disagree with me on that.) Yet the American Taliban with their "don't tread on me" and "watering the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants" rhetoric, all while brandishing side arms at rallies, certainly carries the implied threat of violence. The American and Afghan Talibans are alike in terms of their aims. Which is to take a narrow extremely conservative, even fundamentalist ideology, codify it into law and force it on everyone else.
That's just for starters, we haven't even scratched the surface in terms of the every man for himself- screw the poor - to pay the rich, economic ideas the Tea Party likes to toss around. Stuff like, completely deregulate Wall Street , THEN turn Social Security into Goldman-Sachs' personal stack of casino chips.
The Republicans and the Tea bagging monsters they have spawned are nothing less than completely and utterly anti-American. The Tea Party likes to wave around copies of the U.S, Constitution, but aside from a few selected lines from the 2nd Amendment, they don't actually believe in it. I know President Obama, as a former professor of Constitutional Law, has actually read the rest of it.
Then in 2012 we saw something really interesting. The GOP's conservative base, along with the Tea Party wrote the narrative that Republicans chose to believe. They collectively decided to believe that facts were wrong, that facts clearly had a liberal bias. All the polling data that clearly indicated re-election for President Obama simply HAD to be wrong. Anyone who said different was a liberal plant who was trying to make conservatives "feel bad" and consequently suppress GOP/Conservative voter turnout. It made the morning after the 2012 election must- see viewing on cable news.
Now as we head in to the the 2014 midterms and the half way point in Barack Obama's second term, we see the GOP desperate to tame the monster it, along with FOX news has created. Tea Party primary challenges to well known establishment Republicans are becoming the norm, not the exception. The GOP is now faced with the reality of demographics, and the fact that gerrymandered districts, and blatently racist voting restrictions enacted in ultra-conservative states will only help so much, and won't help at all when the insurgent political threat comes from the Right, instead of the Left.
We see a Congress where Republicans will literally allow the governing of the nation to grind to halt, lest any actions they take in any way help the President to do his job, and thus enrage the Tea Party faithful to label them all "RHINOS" (Republicans In Name Only). I was never a big fan of Aaron Sorkin's "The Newsroom", his follow up series to the brilliant "The West Wing", but in one episode he captures perfectly the cul-de-sac of hate fulled ignorance the GOP has been painted into by its own creation.
What started as a gimmick on FOX News now may very well be the death knell of the Republican Party. Transforming the Party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan into a splintered, fragmented mob of ageing paranoids. With the only thing holding them together is the fact their hatred of other Americans, (be they Liberals or "not true" Conservatives), outweighs their love of their own country.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Saturday, August 07, 2010
My 'Anthem' for Today....
This past week, I finished all the documentation and bio-metrics (fingerprints ect.) for my immigration visa application to get married, and move to the United Kingdom.
As the debate over basic civil rights for millions of Americans' right to Marriage Equality rages here in the United States, it's been hard not to feel more than a little bit like Anatoly, the Russian character from the musical "Chess".
So this morning as I finsihed putting all the documents together with my Passport and FedEx'd it the British Consulate in Los Angeles to be processed, this song seemed appropriate to have on the iPod...
My land's only borders lie around my heart...
As the debate over basic civil rights for millions of Americans' right to Marriage Equality rages here in the United States, it's been hard not to feel more than a little bit like Anatoly, the Russian character from the musical "Chess".
So this morning as I finsihed putting all the documents together with my Passport and FedEx'd it the British Consulate in Los Angeles to be processed, this song seemed appropriate to have on the iPod...
My land's only borders lie around my heart...
Friday, August 06, 2010
Stephen Colbert On the Prop 8 Decision
Brilliant... of course
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| How to Ruin Same-Sex Marriages | ||||
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Thursday, August 05, 2010
When Same Sex Marriage is Finally Legal in all 50 States..
Watching the latest BBC Proms concert has perhaps provided one suggestion for Maggie's next career move when being a professional bigot no longer pays the bills...
Take it away boys...
Wednesday, August 04, 2010
Why Prop 8 Was Completely Anti-American
There were speeches, (lots of speeches), music, flags, banners and lots of joy. Even though the decision in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, won't go into effect today. (There is a two day time frame for the court to consider a motion by opponents of Marriage Equality to stay the the resumption of same sex marriages in California while they appeal this case to the U.S. Supreme Court.) Yet the sense of vindication and victory in the California LGBT community is clear for everyone to see.
All of those key benefits associated with marriage are regulated on Federal level by the ridiculously mis-named "Defense of Marriage Act". (DOMA) and at least for now, that law is unchanged. Should the Perry case make it to the U.S. Supreme Court,(which it is pretty safe to say it most likely will), that law could very well change. Should the nine SCOTUS Justices uphold the ruling made today, it would in effect nullify all laws banning Marriage Equality in the United States.
So why did the pro- Prop 8 forces lose? I will talk about the legal issues in a minute. but what was amazing about this court case was how the supporters of Prop 8 were completely unable to provide any real evidence backing up their positions. I could go on and on about how hollow and empty the Yes On 8 arguments were, but Rachel Maddow does it so much better than I could:
We''ll set the spectacle of the Prop 8 trial, and the inherent silliness of the attempt to use "Gay is Bad because God Says So" as a legal argument, aside for the moment. the biggest reason why the plaintiffs in this case won, and why Prop 8 is completely unconstitutional is very simple. So allow me to lay it out for you .
1) Same Sex Marriage doesn't threaten or impact ANYONE ELSE'S marriage or family in any way.
2) You cannot put the civil rights of a minority up to popular vote. Rights are not subject to the whims of the electorate that is why they are RIGHTS.
3) Just because you don't like a particular minority, doesn't mean you get to make them 2nd Class Citizens
Judge Walker, puts it even more clearly on page 116 of his ruling where he writes that;
"fundamental rights may not be submitted to a vote, they depend on the outcome of no elections"
This is why Proposition 8 is fundamentally un-American, and un-constitutional.
Prop 8 took the whole idea of fundamental rights laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution and said that they were not inalienable. But rather subject to the mood of at least 51% of whoever shows up to vote in a given election. That is not democracy, that is electorally sanctioned discrimination, and it was an affront to everything our country stands for, and everything our nation's founding fathers stood for.
Proposition 8, denied basic, fundamental civil rights to an entire group of Californians, based solely on a desire by groups like the Mormon Church and Conservative Evangelicals, to put into civil law their belief that God hates Gay people. So therefore the law should treat them as less than everybody else.
If the U.S. Supreme Court fails to uphold today's ruling, they will have said that the United States of America is no better than the Taliban.
Decision in the Prop 8 Federal Lawsuit will be Announced Today
The Young Turks put things in perspective for us...
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