Osama Bin Laden is Dead

"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...

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...

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...

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?

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"

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...

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

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....

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.

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

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....

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...

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

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

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

(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!

Big Immigration Equality News Out of New York...

hat tip to John A over  at  Americablog

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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...

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..

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...

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...

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

The View from Across the Pond...

It is always interesting  to watch American politics from  the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.   As I type this blog entry I am sitting in the Pillars of Hercules pub in London's West End.

CNN International is  playing on the TV behind the bar,  and  former Arkansas  Governor  Mike Huckabee is pontificating  his world view. Huckabee seems to have grasped  the fact that  his only shot at  winning the  2012 Republican Presidential Nomination is to out-crazy everyone else   who is thinking about running.

In a radio interview with official hate group wingnut  Bryan Fischer Huckabee  gave one of the lamest non-denial, denials  we have seen  in a long time.   Criticized  for  stating the  out and out lie that  President Obama "grew up in Kenya" (he didn't)   Huckabee  doubled down. (hat tip to  media matters)

In a radio interview today, Mike Huckabee claimed that President Obama "has a different worldview and I think it is, in part, molded out of a very different experience. Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas. And I just do think that there is - again, I am not saying he's not a citizen, I've never said that, I've said the opposite. I've never said he's a Muslim."

Sure Mike, you're not saying the President is a Muslim, you're just saying he grew up going to a Madrassa somewhere in the Middle East or Africa.

So by that same logic; I'm not saying Mike Huckabee is a violent racist extremist who supports the Klu Klux Klan, I'm just saying that where most Americans grew up in States that taught how the Civil War was fought to end the horror of slavery, Mike Huckabee grew up in communities filled with lynchings, Klan rallies and pro-segregationist politicians.

So it's only natural that Huckabee would have a different world view than most of us.

Let's clear up a few things shall we?  If you think President Obama...

- was born in Kenya
- was born in Indonesia
- is a Muslim
- is a Marxist
- reformed health care so the government can kill old people,
- hates America
- is in any way similar to Adolf Hitler, or Joseph Stalin
- was not legitimately elected (by a landslide) as President
- is a Socialist
- is Fascist
- is the Anti-Christ

If you believe ANY of these things, you are either a complete and utter moron, lacking the basic intelligence God gave geese, OR you are a frightened racist who simply cannot handle the fact that the President of the United States is not white.   And if you are a politician who is trying to capitalize on that stupidity or  that racism, you are not fit to hold elected office of any kind, let alone that of President of the United States.

The rest of the world looks at the GOP / Tea Party lunatics and just shakes its collective heads. Americans clearly have a shorter attention span than your average goldfish. Forgetting the unbelievable damage the GOP inflicted on them, American voters turned right around in 2010 and said "thank you , may we have some more?"

What does the Republican Party offer? Job growth? Nope, the proposed GOP budget will result in the loss of over 700,000 American jobs. Liberty and justice for all? Nope, not even close. The GOP / American Taliban is on a quest to eliminate women's rights, and turn bigotry into civil law, and turn the clock on workers rights back to the late 1800's.

So as I sit here in London and gaze back across the Atlantic,  I see the Nation of my birth is at risk.   The United States of America is now in real danger of going from being the leader of the free world, to the laughing stock of it.

DOMA - The WingNut Freak Out Continues...

In the wake of  the Obama Administration's announcement that  it would no longer defend  in court section three of  the  Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the collective hysteria by  the 'Social Conservative' residents of  Teabagistan continues.



Over on the PoliFi Network er.. I mean  FOX News,  they  managed a  hit a double.  Not only did they get the facts wrong, (the Obama Administration will still enforce DOMA,  they just won't defend it in court). But they also managed  to tie the DOMA decision to their whole "Obama is a secret Muslim" narrative. Wow...



Then there is  the sad, pathetic spectacle of  former Arkansas Governor, Mike Huckabee.    Sigh... where to even begin with this.   I actually had a bit of a soft spot for Rev. Mike.    During the 2008 Republican primaries  he was one of the few candidates who would speak in complete coherant sentences.  Granted,  the stuff he said  was bat-sh*t crazy, but  he said it with charm.  Even when he said stuff like, he  "wasn't sure" about  the earth being older than  6000 years.



Mike Huckabee,  like former Republican Senator Rick Santorum,  and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, desperately wants to be  President.   To win the  GOP Nomination  you have to basically out-crazy everybody else who is running.   So  this past week,  Huckabee along with  his fellow 2012 hopefuls  went berserk  over  President Obama's decision  not to defend DOMA.   Huckabee went on FOX News  saying he opposes gay marriage on the grounds that, according to him, it destroys traditional families.

"There is a quantified impact of broken families," Huckabee said. "[There is a] $300 billion dad deficit in America every year...that's the amount of money that we spend as taxpayers to pick up the pieces because dads are derelict in their duties."  

Of course Mike didn't give any evidence, of exactly how traditional families are destroyed, nor did the talking bobble heads on FOX ask him how America's crisis of deadbeat heterosexual dads, is the result of same sex marriage.  Because why would you want to ruin a talking point by bringing facts or, gee.. I dunno, reality into the discussion.

Rev. Mike wasn't the only member of the WingNuttia   who was desperately  trying to show  how much he "hates the homos" this week.    Tony Perkins over at the  certified hate-group the "Family Research Council"  has all but  lost his mind over the past two days.  Ranting hysterically how this is an all out  "assault" on marriage and the family, that  President Obama was in cahoots with  Ted Olsen and David Boies.  The lawyers in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the pending lawsuit to overturn Proposition 8 in California.   

One interesting side bar to Perkins' reaction is his claim that GOP leaders have assured him that; "DOMA is safe on their watch". Which raises in interesting question. What if the hysteria on the Right is exactly what President Obama wanted?

 

The fact is,   the American Conservative Movement  is obsessed with  Homosexuality.   From same sex marriage, to Gays serving in the military, to same sex parents raising children. The Right Wing in American just can't help themselves. Any thing 'Gay', drives them into a bible thumping, scripture misquoting,  frenzy.

Congressional Republicans, many of them with one eye on the 2012 GOP Presidential primaries, won't be able to resist. Wave the rainbow flag in front of these people, and they'll charge like a bull in Pamplona. Completely ignoring all the other issues they claim they were sent to Washington to address, and it's starting too look like President Obama knows it.

Linda Hirshman over at Salon.com has a very interesting op-ed this week on exactly this topic.  In a piece entititled;  Obama sets a marriage trap -- for Republicans,  Hirshman examines  the risks  to the GOP should they not be able to control themselves and  rush into the DOMA issue, by mounting a Congressional  defense of DOMA in court. 

"Republicans and their lawyers will have to step into federal court and prove -- subject to cross-examination -- how the republic would be damaged if same sex spouses can get, say, federal railroad retirement benefits. As Boies said after dismantling that disqualified expert in the Proposition 8 trial, "the witness stand is a very lonely place."

Tony Perkins got a small taste of this, when he tried to use his usual talking points against David Boies when discussing the Perry case.

Hirshman  also points out in her Salon piece,  that having to defending DOMA  in court, would be very different from just braying about it on talk radio, or on FOX News where nobody cross examines you, and you never have to provide any evidence or proof.

It's very easy to go on Sean Hanity's TV show and say same sex couples are "attacking families". It's quite another thing to have to prove that  ridiculous claim in a court of law, where lying under oath has real consequences.

Given that  in 2010, when voters were polled to list  the issues they cared most about,  Same Sex Marriage came in dead last,  you have to wonder if Hirshman might be on to something.   The GOP led House of Representatives  already has shown their "laser focus on  economy",  is easily abandoned in favor of hot button social issues like abortion. 

So pop some popcorn kids!  It should be interesting to see if  the GOP can resist the  siren call of Gay bashing long enough to keep  all their  2010 promises of  "Jobs, Jobs, Jobs".     If the past 48 hours are any indication,  I'm guessing probably not.

Reaction to Today's DOJ Announcement re: DOMA

From the Huffington Post:
------------------------------------------------

WASHINGTON -- In a major policy reversal, the Obama administration said Wednesday it will no longer defend the constitutionality of a federal law banning recognition of same-sex marriage.

Attorney General Eric Holder said President Barack Obama has concluded that the administration cannot defend the federal law that defines marriage as only between a man and a woman. He noted that the congressional debate during passage of the Defense of Marriage Act "contains numerous expressions reflecting moral disapproval of gays and lesbians and their intimate and family relationships - precisely the kind of stereotype-based thinking and animus the (Constitution's) Equal Protection Clause is designed to guard against."

The Justice Department had defended the act in court until now.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney said Obama himself is still "grappling" with his personal view of gay marriage but has always personally opposed the Defense of Marriage Act as "unnecessary and unfair."  On Wednesday, Holder said the president has concluded that, given a documented history of discrimination against gays, classifications based on sexual orientation should be subject to a more heightened standard of scrutiny than the department had been applying in legal challenges to the act up to now.

The attorney general said the department will immediately bring the policy change to the attention of two federal courts now hearing separate lawsuits targeting the Defense of Marriage Act.

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

Predictably.. right on cue,  the  American Taliban immediately went berserk..

House Speaker John Boehner, apparently not remembering that the first two weeks of a GOP led Congress dealt almost exclusively with Republican efforts to take away American Women's reproductive rights; issued this terse little belch of hypocrisy.

"While Americans want Washington to focus on creating jobs and cutting spending, the President will have to explain why he thinks now is the appropriate time to stir up a controversial issue that sharply divides the nation," 

Yeah, because introducing  three separate bills to try to inject Government between a woman and her doctor is such a uniter.

In typical fashion,   the homophobic wing nuts  across the American Political Right,  stomped their widdle teabagger feet  and shrieked  hysterically  that the world is now coming to an end.  Noted pornography consumer and hate group spokes-bigot,  Peter LaBarbera  twittered  with rage...

Maggie Gallagher from the hate group "National Organization for (some people's) Marriage" Was all over Fox News spluttering  with indignation about how this means the end of the democracy as we know it.    Across the internet,  the whole sad little island of misfit bigots all had their  certified hate groups vomiting out  press releases,  screaming how DARE  President Obama not defend bigotry and discrimination. 

I can't help  but notice, that the day after I post an extensive blog entry, outlining my personal experience with the real life consequences of DOMA , the White House issues this statement. Now, I'm not taking credit mind you, but one does wonder who might be reading this blog. (*smirk*)   Ok, back to reality...   

What if anything does this mean for  the  thousands of bi-national same sex couples currently forced to choose between their spouse and their country?

The  Immigration Equality Action Fund, is current having its lawyers go over today's announcement  and  will be issuing a press release later today.  But  in the broader scheme of the fight to repeal DOMA,  today's decision by the Obama Administration  is nothing short of a legal earthquake.   It means that the current pending lawsuits against  DOMA  have  a much clearer path to eventually reaching the  United States Supreme Court.  

 Yet as welcome news as today's announcement is,  DOMA is still very much the law of the land, and  the process to undo it  will most likely  stretch on for at least the next two to three  years.   One side effect of  today's announcement is, that it may,  (as Slaggie Gillamonster so desperately hopes..) prompt the teabagging wing nuts in Congress to jump into the fray.  In her temper tantrum press release she spewed:

The good news is this now clears the way for the House to intervene and to get lawyers in the court room who actually want to defend the law, and not please their powerful political special interests.”

Apparently millions of tax paying Americans  are  what Maggie considers to be a "special interest".

Someone should have told  Maggie to be careful what she wished for.  The good folks over at  JoeMyGod are reporting at this hour that California Democratic Senator,  Diane Feinstein  has announced she plans to introduce a bill to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act.

"My own belief is that when two people love each other and enter the contract of marriage, the Federal government should honor that. I opposed the Defense of Marriage Act in 1996. It was the wrong law then; it is the wrong law now; and it should be repealed," the California lawmaker said in an e-mailed press statement.

Of course,  the chances such a bill has for passing the GOP/Teabagger/Loony-Toon controlled  House of Representatives is very slim to none. So as with Lawrence v. Texas,  the issue of same sex marriage, will most likely end up in the lap of the United States Supreme Court.

I am very happy to see the  Obama Administration finally  "walk the walk and not just  talk the talk"  on DOMA.    It does give Eric and I hope that someday we may actually be able move back the United States.