Try Not To Panic

Savory Sweets to Save A Life

2009-09-30T07:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to America's Healthcare:

The Faces of American "Health Care"

2009-09-17T16:17:00.000-07:00

Faces of American Health Care, Part 1 from austin considine on Vimeo.

via Sullivan

Shouts & Murmurs

2009-09-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

If you have ever read The New Yorker, you are familiar with the Shouts & Murmurs section, where a writer makes every effort to be clever and, oh so witty, when talking about, seemingly, everyday occurrences, while putting a slightly skewed twist on, say, mixing a Gimlet (see this month's edition). Well, lately, Shouts & Murmurs has been a little too cute for my taste and even less clever. It's almost as if the writers are in a constant state of frenzy, worrying that what they are writing is not clever enough for the sophisticated palette of the average reader of The New Yorker (or the editor, suppose). It has not been witty or sophisticate, recently. I can see why some might find the witty urbanite insufferable; if you have been reading Shouts & Murmurs, of late, I would have to agree.

Thought of the Day

2009-09-12T07:54:00.000-07:00

Harley Davidson motorcycles are rude

Hello

2009-09-11T08:05:00.000-07:00

Wow, it has been too long.
I haven't been doing anything too exciting (except a trip to Cambridge) and the state of politics has simply been too irritating and maddening to post anything (anytime I read about the state of politics, I just get depressed).
Like I said, not much has happened lately. I did go out to visit my friend Mikey and his boyfriend Greg in Cambridge, MA last week - had a great time! Thanks, guys - you were great hosts! Had a nice Lobster and cupcake dinner for my birthday while there-celebrated the big four-O(h).
As is usual, when I got back to the office, I realized how much I really don't like my job, I just don't know what to do about it (damn you economy!!) Why do vacations do that? I guess it's back to investing in the lottery.

Anyway, drop me a line anytime. Email is trynottopanic (at) earthlink-dot-net.

Don't Ask, Don't Tell...Don't Hope

2009-07-03T09:29:00.000-07:00

via Joe

Yes, it has been a long time since I've posted anything. My only excuse is I just haven't had the heart to keep this going. Although, the way Obama has been slapping the gay community in the face, I may have to start back up.

I had such hope for Obama on gay rights. Truly, the Fierce Urgency of Whenever.

The Torture Report

2009-04-07T08:25:00.000-07:00

Welcome to America under Bush/Cheney.
www.nybooks.com/icrc-report.pdf
via Sullivan

Now why won't Congress or the Obama Administration do something about this blight on America?

Via Greenwald:
"Note how warped our political culture is: Sen. Dick Durbin was forced to tearfully apologize on the Senate floor for accurately comparing our treatment of detainees at Guantanamo to the techniques used in Soviet gulags and by Gestapo interrogation squads, but those who perpetrated these war crimes have apologized for nothing, remain welcome in decent company, and are still shielded by our Government from all accountability."

Bubble Rings!

2009-03-16T13:58:00.000-07:00

via Sullivan

World Builder

2009-03-07T09:06:00.000-08:00

What kind of world would you create for the one you love?

Star Trek - The New Trailer

2009-03-07T09:02:00.001-08:00

Heeeee!

The Radical Right Revealed

2009-03-06T09:10:00.000-08:00

During this past week we have been witness to what the right wing really think about freedom.

Exhibit A:
"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,"- John Yoo, in a Bush administration memo entitled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activity Within the United States."

Exhibit B:
During Ken Starr's moment in the sun in the Prop. 8 hearing, one of the justices asked if the majority of California voters voted to repeal freedom of speech, she asked, if that vote would be valid? Ken stated unequivocally "yes".

Now on first glimpse, these two examples may not seem similar, but look closely at the motivations. The right wingnuts are stating that majority rules should always be paramount to minority rights. Which begs the question, what are the courts for if not to protect minority rights? As for John Yoo's assertion that the President of the United States of America can block freedom of speech and press rights, use the army to attack anywhere within the boarders of the U.S.? Well, I'm sure the President would only do those things to protect us. The same argument is used by the proponents of Prop 8. They only want to "protect" traditional marriage. See, it's for our own good.

The right wingnuts only want to protect us by taking away rights. Because a society without freedom for all is a society protected.

Proud to be an American where at least I...know...I'm...um...free? Brought to you by George Bush and the Gestapo

2009-03-03T10:15:00.000-08:00

Holy. Shit.
This is stunning. Absoulutely stunning.

"First Amendment speech and press rights may also be subordinated to the overriding need to wage war successfully,"- John Yoo, in a Bush administration memo entitled "Authority for Use of Military Force to Combat Terrorist Activity Within the United States."

via Sullivan

That feeling down your spine? That chilling feeling? That's what attempts to subvert the Constitution feels like.

From the White House on May 1, 2008:
"May 3 marks World Press Freedom Day. Just and open societies protect and rely on the freedom of the press. That freedom is enshrined in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, because freedom of speech is integral to a free society.

Brutal regimes and others who seek to stifle liberty often do so by closing down private newspapers and radio and television stations. They kidnap, arbitrarily jail, and beat journalists. Some journalists have been taken from their families for years, and others have been killed for speaking out. Many were killed by terrorists, extremists, and insurgents who seek to deny people even basic access to information as well as the right to free speech.

Journalists should be able to report without fear of persecution. In countries such as Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe, repressive laws severely restrict freedom of speech, and those who attempt to report are often imprisoned. In 2007, for the ninth consecutive year, China remained the world's top jailer of journalists, followed by Cuba, Eritrea, Iran, and Azerbaijan.

The United States condemns the harassment, physical intimidation, persecution, and other abuse that journalists, including bloggers and Internet reporters, have faced in China, Cuba, Egypt, Tunisia, Venezuela, and Vietnam, as well as the unsolved murders of journalists in Belarus, Lebanon, and Russia. We call on all governments to guarantee the inalienable rights of their people, including, consistent with Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the right to freedom of speech and the press.

America stands with those who struggle for their liberty, including those in the press who continue their work in spite of risks. During Fiscal Year 2007, the United States provided $78 million in approximately 40 countries to promote media freedom and freedom of information. As President, I have met with many journalists and editors who are struggling against forces that seek to suppress media freedom. We salute these courageous individuals, and we recognize the importance of the right to a free press in spreading freedom around the world."

via Think Progres

It's hard to know which side of his mouth Bush was talking out of.

Kiss Is Just A Kiss

2009-02-27T11:59:00.000-08:00

Because stright kissing is family friendly, and Gay kissing all sorts of bad, nasty...

Cars

2009-02-25T09:38:00.000-08:00

Mr. President, America did not invent the car. You know, FYI...

Otherwise, nice speech. Ambitious. Really ambitious. We'll see how this works.

Oh, Mr. Jindal? I'm not six years old. You don't need to talk to me as if I am. Try learning from an adult...like Obama.

Stock Market As A Measure Of...What Exactly?

2009-02-24T08:04:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time, TNTP!

Just one thing:
I find it funny that people (pundits, reporters, etc.) are using the changes in the stock market as some sort of rational barometer of how Obama's doing.
If the stock market (and stock holders)were at all rational, don't you think the stock holders would've told the companies they own to stop dealing in those pesky toxic mortgages?

President Obama's Whitehouse Web Page and LGBT Rights

2009-01-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

Support for the LGBT Community
"While we have come a long way since the Stonewall riots in 1969, we still have a lot of work to do. Too often, the issue of LGBT rights is exploited by those seeking to divide us. But at its core, this issue is about who we are as Americans. It's about whether this nation is going to live up to its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect."
-- Barack Obama, June 1, 2007

Expand Hate Crimes Statutes:
In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.

Fight Workplace Discrimination:
President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.
Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

Expand Adoption Rights:
President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.
Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS:
In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

via White House

Let's make sure these are not forgotten. We must keep Obama's pledges at the front of Civil Rights. Let's not be complacent like we were when Clinton was President.

Does Obama's Tolerance Have It's Limits?

2009-01-19T11:18:00.000-08:00

via Joe

The Ego-Driven Life

2009-01-16T08:44:00.000-08:00

Pastor Rick Warren, he of Saddleback Church and inaugural invocation, asks his flock to "to follow Jesus with the fanatical dedication with which the Nazis, or Hitler Youth, gave to Adolf Hitler"

What the HELL is Obama thinking by giving this guy a platform at the Inaugural?

Oh, but it gets better...
"Concluding his motivational speech, the Saddleback Church founder instructed his ranks in the stadium to hold up signs, from their official programs, with the preprinted message "whatever it takes". Warren then introduced, as leader of the first nation on Earth in which the P.E.A.C.E. Plan would be implemented, Rwandan President Paul Kagame.

In 1998 under Kagame's leadership Rwanda, along with the now officially "Purpose Driven" nation of Uganda, invaded the Democratic Republic of The Congo, touching off a conflict that has claimed more civilian lives than any since World War Two. On December 12, 2008, the United Nations accused Rwanda of aiding Congolese warlord Laurent Nkunda, accused of massacres and human rights violations and whose recent offensive has created several hundred thousand Congolese refugees.

In March 2008, Rick Warren's Saddleback launched an official national "Purpose Driven Living" program in Uganda, a country which was indicted in 2005 by the International Criminal Court for perpetrating "massive" human rights violations by invading and looting the natural riches of the Congo. Uganda is know for brutalizing its own population too. In the late 1990s under president Yowerie Museveni, whose wife Janet Museveni has spoken at Saddleback Church conferences, the Ugandan military drove upwards of two million Acholi tribe members in Northern Uganda, through a terror campaign of massacres and bombing, into crowded concentration camps on the Congo-Uganda border where many languish to this day, in what one Former Undersecretary for the UN has described as an ongoing, slow genocide."

What about his work with regard to AIDS in Africa?
"As described in a January 7th, 2008 Daily Beast article by journalist Max Blumenthal, the reputation of Rick and Kay Warren, for work on HIV/AIDS reduction, appears considerably overrated. As Blumenthal writes, "a survey of Warren's involvement in Africa reveals a web of alliances with draconian right-wing clergymen who have sidelined science-based approaches to combating in favor of abstinence-only education. Most disturbingly, Warren's allies have rolled back key elements of the continent's most successful initiative, the so-called ABC program in Uganda. Their activism, according to Stephen Lewis, the United Nations' special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, is 'resulting in great damage and undoubtedly will cause significant numbers of infections which never should have occurred.' "

As Blumenthal's article goes on to explore, one of Rick Warren's allies in Uganda, Martin Ssempa, has played a key role in reducing the availability of condoms in Uganda. Known for publicly burning a pack of condoms at Uganda's Makerere University, Ssempa advises Ugandan First Lady Janet Museveni on HIV/AIDS policy and has successfully lobbied the US Congress to de-fund Population Resources International, a world distributor of condoms. As abstinence-only has ramped up and condom availability decreased in Uganda, the HIV/AIDS rate has begun to climb."

via Huffington Post

I'm all for Obama's call to work together, but how do you work with a man that uses Lenin, Hitler and Mao as standard bearers of greatness?

Obama really need to rethink this.

SuperBarack!

2009-01-15T15:51:00.001-08:00

Mikey sent this to me because he "thought of me" when he saw.
I will repeat what I said to Mikey months ago: "If Bacack screws it up, it's not by fault"

But I'm totally down with this:

New Year - No Resolutions

2009-01-01T12:01:00.000-08:00

It's a new year here on planet earth which means...uh, well, not much, really. Well, there is the whole 19 days of the Bush error left! Yay!

Went over to Nick's place where Dan, Rich and Stephen were. Shortly after we rang in the new year, Dan, Rich and I went over to Chaps south of market where there were some photos taken that may, or may not, end up on Dan's blog or facebook page. Had a great time with everyone - great way to bring in the new year.

Also was introduced to this (prepare to laugh your ass off):

What's Synonymous To Christian Love....?

2008-12-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

Christian Hate!

Christian love is so deep that the Yes on Prop 8 folks now are trying to nullify the marriages of over 18,000 gay and lesbian Californians because of the passage of Prop 8. But fear not, they are doing this out of love.

Ahh, "Christian" love knows no bounds.

Shitty Cars

2008-12-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

Bush Wants Gays To Continue To Be Killed

2008-12-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Alone among major Western nations, the United States has refused to sign a declaration presented Thursday at the United Nations calling for worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.
via AP

Oh, Bush says something stupid about stepping on states rights.

The man is full of it.

What George Bush Has Done To America

2008-12-15T06:56:00.000-08:00

When George Bush entered the White House, the debt was 5.7 Trillion dollars. Since then, Congress has had to raise the debt ceiling to 11.3 Trillion. Congress had to raise the ceiling 13 times. 13. TIMES. Who will pay for the Republican's "conservative" policies? You and me.

We now have a bipartisan report on the abuses of Abu Graib and Guantanamo. We now know George Bush authorized tortured. If this is proof of a high crime, I don't know what is. George Bush and his cronies are criminals and should be treated as such.
If we let these crimes go unpunished, the promise that was America before George Bush became President, will truly be dead. Our laws our the very foundation of the United States of America. We cannot let one man flaunt our laws. America means nothing without our laws. If we allow George Bush to walk away from what he has done to the world and Amrica, we are nothing.

It's sad what one man can do to America. It's sad that this is how we are seen. Welcome to Bush's America. Feel Proud Now?

Drive By Review: Twilight

2008-12-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

What do you get you when you have a small northwest Washington town populated by a Benetton Ad with addtional sponsorship from Crest Whitestrips throw in a vampire "father" that sadistically makes his "children" attend highschool again and again and again and again (although his family are "vegatarians" - so, that's nice, I guess) add a dollop of "sex is so bad, you may very well be torn to shreds and (literally) eaten because of it"?

You get the cringe inducing Twilight.

P.S. Vampires are pretty.

P.P.S. Oooh, look he's brooding!

P.P.P.S. Oooh, look she's brooding, too

Bush Says "Fuck You" To America

2008-12-02T08:16:00.000-08:00

George Bush - (R) Stupidville is taking every opportunity to destroy everything in America. The man is pure stupidity - I'm amazed he can tie his own shoes without help. Then, again, maybe Laura does that for him.

Take a look at the last minute executive orders Bush is signing. I guess it's never too late to keep ruining America.

Health Care
- Cutting back Medicaid: New rules “narrowed the scope of services that can be provided to poor people under Medicaid’s outpatient hospital benefit.”

- Allowing healthcare workers to refuse procedures for moral or religious reasons: The rule would allow doctors, nurses and pharmacists “to refuse to participate in any procedure they find morally objectionable, including abortion and possibly even artificial insemination and birth control.” The rule also makes it clear “that healthcare workers also may refuse to provide information or advice to patients who might want an abortion.”

- Revising the rules for international drug trials: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently to no longer hold pharmaceutical companies to the standards of the World Medical Association’s Declaration of Helsinki while conducting human drug trials. The new rule requires “that pharmaceutical companies comply only with local regulations where the trials are conducted.”

- Narrowing the definition of combat related disability: A change made by the Pentagon in March narrowed the definition of combat related disability, “costing some injured veterans thousands of dollars in lost benefits.” The veterans advocacy group Disabled American Veterans called the policy revision a “shocking level of disrespect for those who stood in harm’s way.”

- Allowing states to set premiums and higher co-payments: A new rule “gives states sweeping authority to charge premiums and higher co-payments for doctors’ services, hospital care and prescription drugs provided to low-income people under Medicaid.” The New York Times described the rule as a “sea change” in Medicaid.

Labor
- Making it harder to take paid time off: Changes to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) “make it more difficult for employees to use paid vacation or personal days when they take leave for medical or family emergencies,” and state that “a worker with a chronic health condition is required to certify doctor visits at least twice a year for that condition.”

- Allowing truck drivers to work 14 hour days: Changes to Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration rules “allow truckers to drive as many as 11 consecutive hours” and work up to 14 hour days.

- Requiring labor unions to file extensive financial reports: The Office of Labor-Management Standards is moving to finalize a rule that would require labor unions to file extensive annual financial reports for trusts, such as pension funds, they have established to benefit their members (T-1 Form). This proposal is seen as an effort to overload labor unions with paperwork.

- Making it harder to regulate toxic substances on the job: The Labor Department is trying to complete a new rule, supported by business groups, that would “make it much harder for the government to regulate toxic substances and hazardous chemicals to which workers are exposed on the job.”

- Stripping collective bargaining rights from federal employees: Bush issued an executive order “that denies collective bargaining rights to about 8,600 federal employees who work in law enforcement, intelligence and other agencies responsible for national security.” 900 of these employees were already represented by collective bargaining units.

Environment
- Allowing mining near the Grand Canyon: A proposed rule by the Bureau of Land Management would prevent Congress from ordering emergency withdrawal of federal land from mining claims. The House Natural Resources Committee “issued such a withdrawal order in June for about 1 million acres near the Grand Canyon.”

- Allowing federal agencies to discount global warming when assessing risks to endangered species: The goal of the change is to “is to eliminate a long-standing provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires an independent scientific review by either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of any federal project that could affect a protected species.” Instead, individual agencies would decide whether a project could harm an imperiled species.

- Weakening the Endangered Species Act: The rules would eliminate the input of federal wildlife scientists in some endangered species cases, [by allowing] the federal agency in charge of building, authorizing or funding a project to determine for itself whether a project would be likely to harm endangered wildlife and plants.

– Eliminating environmental reviews of fishing regulations: A rule change proposed by National Marine Fisheries Service would repeal a requirement that “environmental impact statements be prepared for certain fisheries-management decisions.” Instead, the government would “give review authority to regional councils dominated by commercial and recreational fishing interests.”

– Allowing more emissions from power plants: The Environmental Protection Agency is “finalizing new air-quality rules that would make it easier to build coal-fired power plants, oil refineries and other major polluters near national parks and wilderness areas” by weakening the Clean Air Act.

– Opening protected wilderness areas to energy development: Despite being blocked by “federal court and administrative rulings,” the Bureau of Land Management is “reviving plans to sell oil and gas leases in pristine wilderness areas in eastern Utah that have long been protected from development.”

- Letting factory farms voluntarily decide if they need permits to discharge waste into waterways: The new rule “asks companies that run confined animal feeding operations to voluntarily apply for permits to discharge waste into waterways. If the operators don’t think they pollute enough, they are under no obligation to get permits.”

- Altering the definition of solid waste: This rule “effectively exempts about 1.5 million tons of hazardous waste that is recycled from a regulation that required such material to meet strict labeling, transportation and disposal rules.”

- Allowing snowmobiles in Yellowstone: Overturning a ban on snowmobiles put in place during the Clinton administration, the National Park Service “proposed that 318 snowmobiles would be allowed in Yellowstone per day while 50 would be given access to Grand Teton. That’s down from a combined 605 snowmobiles in a plan that was rejected by a federal judge in September.”

- Allowing coal companies to dump dirt and rock into streams: A proposed rule by the Office of Surface Mining “would allow coal companies to dump rock and dirt from mountaintop mining operations into nearby streams and valleys.”

Civil Liberties
- Allowing guns in national parks: The Department of the Interior plans to “rewrite the policy for the national parks, with the idea that federal regulations should “mirror” state laws on guns in parks. That would mean guns could be allowed in national parks in states where they are allowed in state parks.”

- Broadening law enforcements monitoring abilities: The new rule “would broaden the scope of activities authorities could monitor to include organizations as well as individuals, along with non-criminal activities that are deemed ‘suspicious.’”

- Issuing final rules to implement the REAL ID Act:The Department of Homeland Security issued a final rule to implement the REAL ID Act that sets minimum standards for state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. This rule has “rendered REAL ID virtually useless as a security measure, while still posing serious privacy problems.” The rule places no limit on the permissible uses of the REAL ID card by governmental or commercial entities, leading to concern that the REAL ID card will become a de facto national ID card.

Administration
- Protecting political appointees by shifting them to permanent posts: The administration’s shifting of political appointees to civil service posts in the Interior, Labor, and Housing and Urban Development departments, “at least initially will deprive the incoming Obama administration of the chance to install its preferred appointees in some key jobs.”
via Think Progress

If there was ever a time to write your Senator and Representative, this would be it.

Chris Is Pissed And You Should Be Too

2008-11-28T11:48:00.000-08:00

Don't let the haters win

In A Nutshell

2008-11-28T07:23:00.001-08:00

I am convinced the far right (indeed, the entire Republican Party - yes, I'm being redundent, here) truly believe ignorance is bliss

Drive By Review: MILK

2008-11-27T08:26:00.001-08:00

Went and saw MILK last night at the Castro Theatre (whre the mighty Wurlitzer was played which always brings a smile to anyone's face).

Here you go: Right when the openning credits/scenes started, tears welled in my eyes. As the film progressed anger built up as paralels to what Milk was fighting for and what Prop 8 means hit home.

After MILK ended I walked around the corner to my apartment and just looked out over the city. The fight is not over.

Yes on Prop 8 donors and next steps?

2008-11-18T16:17:00.001-08:00

You might want to take the time and take a look at the list of $5,000 donors to the Yes on Prop 8 campaign and then boycott their companies.

Let the boycotts begin.

And for those on the right, quite your complaining about be "unfairly" targeted. If you are going to use the tyranny of the majority to restrict the rights of the minority, you are going to get some blowback.

"When political attacks are launched from churches, political responses will be delivered to churches. If goddamned McDonald's had organized and paid for Prop 8, we'd be marching on goddamned McDonald's."
-Dan Savage

Now along with boycotting companies that gave money to the yes on 8 campaign, maybe we should conduct sit-ins at local government's marriage license office.

Funny Quote of The Day and Prop 8 Protests Aroun The Country

2008-11-16T08:12:00.000-08:00

From a protest over in Lansing, Michigan (where it is a bit cold, it seems):

"It's freezing cold here. We all agreed that, in the future, Californians should have the courtesy to be nationally-notable bigots only in the summer months."
via SLOG

We'll do better next time, Lansing.

For photos of the Big Ole Protest, Towelroad has a good mash-up

As for San Francisco's protest. It was huge. I can't remember seeing that many people in front of City Hall - maybe during gay pride.

Never Give Up! Never Surrender!

Dav Savage's Op-Ed

2008-11-13T09:22:00.000-08:00

As usual, Dan Savage breaks down the meaning of the anti-gay movements motives perfectly:

Anti-Gay, Anti-Family
By DAN SAVAGE
COUNTLESS Americans, gay and otherwise, are still mourning — and social conservatives are still celebrating — the approval last Tuesday of anti-gay-marriage amendments in Florida, Arizona and, most heartbreaking, California, where Proposition 8 stripped same-sex couples of their right to wed. Eighteen thousand same-sex couples were legally married in California this past summer and fall; their marriages are now in limbo.

But while Californians march and gay activists contemplate a national boycott of Utah — the Mormon Church largely bankrolled Proposition 8 — an even more ominous new law in Arkansas has drawn little notice.

That state’s Proposed Initiative Act No. 1, approved by nearly 57 percent of voters last week, bans people who are “cohabitating outside a valid marriage” from serving as foster parents or adopting children. While the measure bans both gay and straight members of cohabitating couples as foster or adoptive parents, the Arkansas Family Council wrote it expressly to thwart “the gay agenda.” Right now, there are 3,700 other children across Arkansas in state custody; 1,000 of them are available for adoption. The overwhelming majority of these children have been abused, neglected or abandoned by their heterosexual parents.

Even before the law passed, the state estimated that it had only about a quarter of the foster parents it needed. Beginning on Jan. 1, a grandmother in Arkansas cohabitating with her opposite-sex partner because marrying might reduce their pension benefits is barred from taking in her own grandchild; a gay man living with his male partner cannot adopt his deceased sister’s children.

Social conservatives are threatening to roll out Arkansas-style adoption bans in other states. And the timing couldn’t be worse: in tough economic times, the numbers of abused and neglected children in need of foster care rises. But good times or bad, no movement that would turn away qualified parents and condemn children to a broken foster care system should be considered “pro-family.”

Most ominous, once “pro-family” groups start arguing that gay couples are unfit to raise children we might adopt, how long before they argue that we’re unfit to raise those we’ve already adopted? If lesbian couples are unfit to care for foster children, are they fit to care for their own biological children?

The loss in California last week was heartbreaking. But what may be coming next is terrifying.

via NY Times

Big Ole National Prop 8 Protest In A City Near You

2008-11-13T08:04:00.000-08:00

Since I live in California, San Francisco, to be exact, I'm biased toward the San Francisco protest at San Francisco City Hall on November 15th @ 10:30 am.

San Francisco City Hall

For those not living in San Francisco, find your Big Ole National Prop 8 Protest here.

WHEN: SATURDAY 11/15
WHAT TIME:
8:30AM HST
10:30AM West Coast
11:30AM Mountain
12:30PM Central
1:30PM East Coast

The Enterprise

2008-11-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

The Brits got a 20 minute (spoiler alert) look at the new Star Trek...stupid Brits!

Olberman on Prop 8

2008-11-11T06:58:00.000-08:00

Were The World Mine

2008-11-10T08:17:00.000-08:00

Looks fun

Prop. 8 Protests for November 7

2008-11-07T08:19:00.000-08:00

Want to get your protest on?

San Francisco Civic Center, 5:30 pm. From Civic Center (Market/7th) to Dolores Park. Facebook event. "We have contacted local media and several popular websites have posted the event. Dozens of people have donated their time to hand out flyers. We are protesting on Friday in San Francisco because it was in San Francisco that the California Supreme Court decided to give equality to LGBTQ people earlier this year and it made San Francisco very happy. After all the work that so many people around the country and the Bay Area did to get to the point where we were earlier this year, we're not going to sit by and do nothing..."

Long Beach, California: Friday, November 7, 2008, 6:45pm - 9:00pm, Broadway and Redondo. "We will march from Redondo to Alamitos (Hamburger Mary's), to tell Californians, the nation and the world that we are not second class citizens and we will not accept being treated that way."

Santa Barbara, California: Friday, November 7, 2008 Time: 5:00pm - 6:00pm Location: De La Guerra Plaza Street: [700-756] De La Guerra Plz.

San Diego. "9 p.m.: Gather at Laurel & Sixth Avenue for a march to San Diego City Hall (located at 202 C St in Downtown). This grassroots march is being organized by community members who wish to "let our voices be heard" that we will not accept discrimination!

A protest in Salt Lake City is planned: "If Jacob Whipple gets what he's hoping for, at least 1,000 Utahns will turn out Friday night to protest the involvement of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in helping pass Proposition 8, a California ballot measure that effectively killed, at least for now, same-sex marriages in that state. The call for people to gather at 6 p.m. at North Temple and State Street in Salt Lake City is to show solidarity with those protesting in California, Whipple explained."
via: Towleroad.

America and that Fist Bump...

2008-11-06T08:44:00.000-08:00

...is spreading

Yes WE Did

2008-11-05T09:39:00.000-08:00

Prop 8

2008-11-05T09:13:00.000-08:00

Looks like it is going to pass. I want to think people that voted Yes on 8 did so because they have deeply held true beliefs, but I can't.

Deep down, I feel that people that voted Yes for Prop 8 truly have hate in their hearts. This is more than bigotry, this is hate. This is hatred for equality. Hate for freedom.

This is telling me to get in the back of the bus. This is pointing a water cannon in my face.

I'm trying to recall when I had the opportunity to take rights away from people. I can't recall ever doing that.

I wonder how it feels.

Sound Advice For Republicans...

2008-11-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

As Republicans survey the smoldering wreckage of the party of Lincoln and the inevitable reassessment occurs, here’s some free advice for them: stop lying about everything.

I don’t mean spinning and fudging and trying to put a good face on your policy positions. I mean stop lying as a first, middle and last resort about every last damn thing under the sun.

If you think a specific tax proposal is a bad idea, just explain why, don’t paint anyone and everything who might think it is a good idea as a communist. Don’t call birth control abortion. Don’t paint opponents as lovers of sex offenders. If your opposition is pointing out that the Constitution needs to be upheld, don’t call them terrorist sympathizers. If Americans are concerned about the economy, don’t try to blame people who were in office 30 years ago.

Stop lying. If you can. If you can’t, you will never come back as a meaningful political party.
via HorsesAss

Personally, I don't think Republicans know how to do anything but lie

In Which I Post Two Stories That Made Me Cry...

2008-11-04T14:32:00.000-08:00

I Didn't Vote For Obama Today
November 4, 2008, 9:37AM

I have a confession to make.

I did not vote for Barack Obama today.

I've openly supported Obama since March. But I didn't vote for him today.

I wanted to vote for Ronald Woods. He was my algebra teacher at Clark Junior High in East St. Louis, IL. He died 15 years ago when his truck skidded head-first into a utility pole. He spent many a day teaching us many things besides the Pythagorean Theorem. He taught us about Medgar Evers, Ralph Abernathy, John Lewis and many other civil rights figures who get lost in the shadow cast by Martin Luther King, Jr.

But I didn't vote for Mr. Woods.

I wanted to vote for Willie Mae Cross. She owned and operated Crossroads Preparatory Academy for almost 30 years, educating and empowering thousands of kids before her death in 2003. I was her first student. She gave me my first job, teaching chess and math concepts to kids in grades K-4 in her summer program. She was always there for advice, cheer and consolation. Ms. Cross, in her own way, taught me more about walking in faith than anyone else I ever knew.

But I didn't vote for Ms. Cross.

I wanted to vote for Arthur Mells Jackson, Sr. and Jr. Jackson Senior was a Latin professor. He has a gifted school named for him in my hometown. Jackson Junior was the pre-eminent physician in my hometown for over 30 years. He has a heliport named for him at a hospital in my hometown. They were my great-grandfather and great-uncle, respectively.

But I didn't vote for Prof. Jackson or Dr. Jackson.

I wanted to vote for A.B. Palmer. She was a leading civil rights figure in Shreveport, Louisiana, where my mother grew up and where I still have dozens of family members. She was a strong-willed woman who earned the grudging respect of the town's leaders because she never, ever backed down from anyone and always gave better than she got. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, and has a community center named for her in Shreveport.

But I didn't vote for Mrs. Palmer.

I wanted to vote for these people, who did not live to see a day where a Black man would appear on their ballots on a crisp November morning.

In the end, though, I realized that I could not vote for them any more than I could vote for Obama himself.

So who did I vote for?

No one.

I didn't vote. Not for President, anyway.

Oh, I went to the voting booth. I signed, was given my stub, and was walked over to a voting machine. I cast votes for statewide races and a state referendum on water and sewer improvements.

I stood there, and I thought about all of these people, who influenced my life so greatly. But I didn't vote for who would be the 44th President of the United States.

When my ballot was complete, except for the top line, I finally decided who I was going to vote for - and then decided to let him vote for me. I reached down, picked him up, and told him to find Obama's name on the screen and touch it.

And so it came to pass that Alexander Reed, age 5, read the voting screen, found the right candidate, touched his name, and actually cast a vote for Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Oh, the vote will be recorded as mine. But I didn't cast it.

Then again, the person who actually pressed the Obama box and the red "vote" button was the person I was really voting for all along.

It made the months of donating, phonebanking, canvassing, door hanger distributing, sign posting, blogging, arguing and persuading so much sweeter.

So, no, I didn't vote for Barack Obama. I voted for a boy who now has every reason to believe he, too, can grow up to be anything he wants...even President.
via TPM

and...wow...

Four years ago my husband and I adopted a nine-year-old boy. He’d been taken from his biological family when he was three and shuttled through six different foster homes in six years. The three of us have worked very hard to create our family. Our son has added to our lives in ways we could never have imagined. We love him very much.
This year our son, who is now thirteen, came out to us. Our son is gay. We are fine with this.

The amazing thing about our boy is that he goes to school every day and lives his life true to himself. He’s a happy child. He writes poetry. He skips. He’s a track star. He excels at algebra. He loves the Stylistics. He has a blinding smile. Most of the kids at his school love him. But some of the boys call him “faggot.” Yesterday our usually sunny boy, all five-feet-four inches of him, came home staring at the ground, visibly upset. Some of the boys at school were taunting him with cries of Yes on 8, the California proposition aimed at eliminating the right to marry for those who want to marry another of the same gender. The boys were punished by the school, but the damage was done.

Who are these followers of Jesus Christ who would tell my son, taken from his family at three, and homeless until he was nine, that he cannot marry and have a family of his own?

Today my thirteen-year-old son joined me in the voting booth. As I voted for Obama my son put his hand on top of mine. He did the same thing when I voted no on Proposition 8. He was late for school, but I can’t think of a better reason.
via SLOG

DiFi on 8

2008-10-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

There can be equality

Christianist and Fear - That's All Christianist Have To Offer

2008-10-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

Listen the the voice.
Hear the anger
the fear...

is this what our future should be?

...maybe not

Don't let fear keep us from progressing forward

California's Prop 8 - Vote "NO"

2008-10-23T16:35:00.001-07:00

Several weeks ago I sent out an email to one of the email lists my mother uses to send her, um, less than progressive emails. I want to post the text of the message here in the hope that someone that may be on the fence with regard to proposition 8 may come to see why voting "NO" on Prop. 8 is the right and just thing to do.

Here you go:

Many, I'm sure, have heard about Proposition 8, the marriage equality bill, on this year's California Ballot. Please take the time and allow me to explain why I this issue is so important.

Now, I have never really thought about getting married, because I am gay, the prospect was never something in the realm of possibility, but now that the possibility is here, it has allowed me to see things differently. What really has opened my eyes is not the fact that the California Courts have granted the right for me to marry; it was seeing friends marry their partners. Seeing how this new right has transformed their happiness to something more is a revelation. Seeing my friends get married and watching the deepening of their happiness and love is hard to describe. I get a sense of renewed love and a…renewed sense of a shared future. This new stability in their lives is undeniable. It's hard to describe the change I've seen in my friends, but I’m sure that many of you that are married and have witnessed your friends marry understand what I am trying to say.

The idea of not allowing so many of us to share what I have seen friends and family share, is something that would be more than a terrible injustice, it would be a blow to equality everywhere.

I'm asking you to vote "no" on Proposition 8 this November.

-Michael

You can donote to the "NO" on 8 campaign here.

Change Course! Change Course! Change Course!

2008-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, it seems the McCain Campaign will unveil a new speech today saying he is "a scrappy fighter on the comeback trail against an opponent who’s already 'measuring the drapes" in the Oval Office." He will go on to tell us how dangerous it is to have one party running all of government...ahem. And how Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid will raise our taxes, etc, etc, etc.
via Politico

This latest move by McCain to re energize his campaign (how many times does the man need to re energize his campaign?) is just another stunt McCain likes to make to show how he will "fight" for us. I look at it a differently. This just seems another erratic move on his part to try and save his badly managed and executed campaign. His first was the farce of picking Sarah Palin a person he only met once five years ago, and had a short conversation with before picking her as his VP pick, an unknown, and still unknown - although more is coming out about her, see: Troopergate, Rape Kit, Bridge To No Where, Pray The Gay Away, his "suspending" his campaign to put country first and save the economy (which he says is not his strong suit) and to try and delay the second Presidential debate which Obama, wisely said no. Walking and chewing gum is not one of McCain's strong suits, it would seem. Along with his campaign's negative turn of calling Obama a terrorist and a traitor (McCain's calling Obama a decent man at a rally doesn't hold water, especially since the ads are still running calling Obama a terrorist sympathizer)

Now with McCain's latest move, we see, again, how erratic McCain truly is. If the way McCain's management of his campaign is any indication of how he would be President, we may very well be in store for some bumpy rides. His list of stunts during the campaign make me wonder what kind of stunts he would pull if he were to become President and whether, as a country, we can afford a Stuntman in Chief.

Not Just Words

2008-10-09T09:23:00.000-07:00

We've all heard about how negative the McCain/Palin campaign has turned, how they are insinuating Obama is a terrorist and how the mobs they speak to eat it up.
We've all heard about how supporters at these rallies are calling to have Obama "killed", is a "terrorist".
We have seen how the McCain/Palin ticket do nothing to stop these taunts like people with integrity and humanity would.
What the Republican ticket is doing is to de-humanize Obama. They want to make him into the "other" scary figure. By inciting this kind of hatred, McCain and Palin are practicing what the Rwandan media did to incite people to kill the Tutsis. The media in Rwanda continually broadcast that there needs to be a "final war" to "exterminate the cockroaches."

This same kind of rhetoric was heard out of Israel towards Rabin, including accusations of treason, fliers picturing Rabin as an SS officer. McCain and Palin have created a fertile bed for actual violence, which in Rabin's case help create the context in which Rabin's murderer decided to take matters into his own hands.

Now, you may think I am being hysterical about this, but McCain and Palin, by associating Obama with terrorists that want to bomb the Pentagon, they are making Obama into someone, not only to fear, but to loath. By making Obama into a terrorist, McCain and Palin have painted Obama as the worse of the worse; in league with those that would do Americans harm. They are de-humanizing Obama. By de-humanizing Obama they take away that which elevates us above the animals, and, thereby, makes Obama into nothing but an animal.
This is not just campaign rhetoric, this is hate, pure and simple and people are buying into it.

Hate starts with words. McCain's words spreads an idea which gives licence for people to hate. McCain should be ashamed of himself, but McCain has no shame.

We are better than this...

When Opportunity Knocks, McCain Will Say Anything...

2008-10-09T08:40:00.000-07:00

"Tragically, the U.S. response to the 1998 embassy bombings was wholly inadequate...Too many Clinton Administration officials refused to act effectively to counter the dangers posed by al Qaeda."
--John McCain, August 7, 2008

"You could say, 'Look, is this guy, Laden, really the bad guy that's depicted?' Most of us have never heard of him before."
--John McCain, September, 1998, to Mother Jones, following Clinton's strikes on al Qaeda camps

Get Him

2008-10-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

"I'll get Osama bin Laden, my friends. I'll get him. I know how to get him. I'll get him no matter what and I know how to do it."
-- John McCain

One would think if John McCain knows how to get Osama bin Laden, he might have told Bush.

That One

2008-10-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

I think it is safe to say McCain lost and Obama won easily.

Obama was clear, had few stumbles and seemed vibrant, alert. If you are too use one measurement of how the debate went, take a look at how long Barack and Mitchelle Obama stayed in the hall. John and Cindy left pretty quickly afterword - I think it's because they realized no one wanted their picture. How many times did Obama have his picture taken?

One thing that has bothered me for a while about McCain (just one? heh) is how he is always saying how he knows how to "win wars", "talk to these people" (referring to world leaders), or "how to capture Bin laden". Really? And how is that to be done, John?

I have a joke to tell you. Ready? Here goes...John McCain. That's it.

Anyway, McCain lost, and...

won

California Marriage Amendment

2008-10-07T14:40:00.000-07:00

Some troubling numbers about Prop 8 in California:
According to the poll, likely California voters overall now favor passage of Proposition 8 by a five-point margin, 47 percent to 42 percent
via: CBS5

Now, as the article points out, polling is not an exact science, but for people that believe in equality, we have to be vigilant.

Equality is a good thing, so let's help with the fight for equal rights in California by donating here.

I've mostly been agnostic when it comes to marriage, but I have found there is something amazing that happens to some that get married. It's hard to describe, but there is a difference in two people when they marry. The best example is the way my brother seemed to be changed when he got married. He seems, somehow, happier and less stressed. There is power is that little word, marriage. I wish I could describe better the change in my brother, but it is there and it is real.

I don't know if I would want to be married, but, then again, neither did my brother, but having the choice is important.

Please talk to your friends and family and let them know why this is important.

P.S. I am going to try to start posting more, now

Biden and Whiners...

2008-08-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

I am happy with Biden as VP. I like his feistyness and his off the cuff remarks because they are usually spot on.

And I have to say, would all those Obamacons stop whining that they heard it from the AP wire before they got the text! Christ, you would think they were just stood up on a date, "oh, Barack Obama doesn't love me enough to be sure the cellular phone system is adavanced enough to send out thousands of texts at the very moment it should...sniff..."

PLEASE! Stop you damn complaining that you were not the first to know. Grow the fuck up. You are are telling me you never got a text from a friend that arrived a few minutes later than when it was sent? Really? Wow, you must be some kind of special fucking mother fucker.

Grow up and stop complaining you weren't "the first to know" Christ.

/rant

P.S. Still not sure when I'll be back with any kind of regular posting.

Maybe He's Being Ironic...

2008-08-14T08:28:00.000-07:00

"In the 21st century nations don't invade other nations."
-- Sen. John McCain, on the conflict in Georgia

um...

Drive By Review: Hellboy II: The Golden Army

2008-07-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

If it were a little better, it might not have been so easily forgotten.

Drive By Review: The Dark Knight

2008-07-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

"Wow"

The first thing out of my mouth as the credits roled - spontaneously, "Wow"

When someone asks me if The Dark Knight is really that good, I will have to say, "yes, it is that good"

"Wow"

I now return you to your scheduled break from TNTP...

Let's Take A 10...or so...

2008-07-14T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'll not be blogging for a bit - not sure how long I'll be gone.

Feingold and Dodd Amendment Fails - FISA Passes And The Founding Fathers Weep For America

2008-07-09T10:47:00.000-07:00

Update below

I guess some pigs are more equal than other's

via Crooks and Liars

Disgusting.

Here's a list how each Senator voted on the Feingold/Dodd Amendment to strip immunity from the FISA bill:

Question: On the Amendment (Dodd Amdt. No. 5064 )
Vote Number: 164 Vote Date: July 9, 2008, 11:55 AM
Required For Majority: 1/2 Vote Result: Amendment Rejected
Amendment Number: S.Amdt. 5064 to H.R. 6304 (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978)
Statement of Purpose: To strike title II.
Vote Counts:
YEAs 32
NAYs 66
Not Voting 2

Alphabetical by Senator Name Akaka (D-HI), Yea
Alexander (R-TN), Nay
Allard (R-CO), Nay
Barrasso (R-WY), Nay
Baucus (D-MT), Yea
Bayh (D-IN), Nay
Bennett (R-UT), Nay
Biden (D-DE), Yea
Bingaman (D-NM), Yea
Bond (R-MO), Nay
Boxer (D-CA), Yea
Brown (D-OH), Yea
Brownback (R-KS), Nay
Bunning (R-KY), Nay
Burr (R-NC), Nay
Byrd (D-WV), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Yea
Cardin (D-MD), Yea
Carper (D-DE), Nay
Casey (D-PA), Yea
Chambliss (R-GA), Nay
Clinton (D-NY), Yea Good for her!
Coburn (R-OK), Nay
Cochran (R-MS), Nay
Coleman (R-MN), Nay
Collins (R-ME), Nay
Conrad (D-ND), Nay
Corker (R-TN), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Nay
Craig (R-ID), Nay
Crapo (R-ID), Nay
DeMint (R-SC), Nay
Dodd (D-CT), Yea
Dole (R-NC), Nay
Domenici (R-NM), Nay
Dorgan (D-ND), Yea
Durbin (D-IL), Yea
Ensign (R-NV), Nay
Enzi (R-WY), Nay
Feingold (D-WI), Yea
Feinstein (D-CA), Nay She just lost my vote if she runs again...in six years!
Graham (R-SC), Nay
Grassley (R-IA), Nay
Gregg (R-NH), Nay
Hagel (R-NE), Nay
Harkin (D-IA), Yea
Hatch (R-UT), Nay
Hutchison (R-TX), Nay
Inhofe (R-OK), Nay
Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Isakson (R-GA), Nay
Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Kennedy (D-MA), Not Voting
Kerry (D-MA), Yea
Klobuchar (D-MN), Yea
Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Kyl (R-AZ), Nay
Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Lautenberg (D-NJ), Yea
Leahy (D-VT), Yea
Levin (D-MI), Yea
Lieberman (ID-CT), Nay
Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
Lugar (R-IN), Nay
Martinez (R-FL), Nay
McCain (R-AZ), Not Voting I guess the Constituion doesn't matter to this maverick
McCaskill (D-MO), Nay
McConnell (R-KY), Nay
Menendez (D-NJ), Yea
Mikulski (D-MD), Nay
Murkowski (R-AK), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Yea
Nelson (D-FL), Nay
Nelson (D-NE), Nay
Obama (D-IL), Yea
Pryor (D-AR), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Yea
Reid (D-NV), Yea
Roberts (R-KS), Nay
Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Salazar (D-CO), Nay
Sanders (I-VT), Yea
Schumer (D-NY), Yea
Sessions (R-AL), Nay
Shelby (R-AL), Nay
Smith (R-OR), Nay
Snowe (R-ME), Nay
Specter (R-PA), Nay
Stabenow (D-MI), Yea
Stevens (R-AK), Nay
Sununu (R-NH), Nay
Tester (D-MT), Yea
Thune (R-SD), Nay
Vitter (R-LA), Nay
Voinovich (R-OH), Nay
Warner (R-VA), Nay
Webb (D-VA), Nay
Whitehouse (D-RI), Yea
Wicker (R-MS), Nay
Wyden (D-OR), Yea
via U.S. Senate Page

Take note of your Senator's vote and write them.

Senate

Update:
While Obama voted for the Feingold/Dodd Amendment, he voted for cloture of the FISA Bill. Hillary voted for the Feingold/Dodd Amendment and voted against the overall FISA Bill, also. Hillary showed better leadership than Obama in this instance. Of course my cynical side tells me Clinton would have voted the same way Obama had if she were the Democratic nominee for President.

Obama's tack to the "center" does not explain his disgusting support for this anti-Constitutional bill. Obama needs to show more leadership and less politicking.
While I still support Obama for President, he has just lost any monetary support I was going to give to his general election campaign; that's about the only thing I can think of to do - it's not much, but it something.

Rule of men, indeed.

The ACLU has vowed to fight the FISA bill once President Bush signs it, thank goodnes.
I think I will send what I was going to send to Obama to the ACLU.

via Joe.My.God

Drive By Review: TRON, Wall-E, 10,000 B.C.

2008-07-07T09:09:00.000-07:00

Three reviews today...

Saw TRON (1982, Disney) with Chad at The Castro.

TRON:
Someone thought, "Fluorescent tape. Black light. Computers. Now that would make a cool movie." And they were right. Prescient.

Wall-E:
Leave it the minds at Pixar to make the dusty, cold, barren earth of the future preferable to that of the bloated, technicolor human existence of the Axiom. Brilliant.

10,000 B.C.:
Thoughts going through my head as I watched 10,000 B.C.:
"I'll keep watching because it's got to get better."
"Oh my gawd, it's not getting better."
"Scissors! Must. Stab. Out. Eyes."
"Oh, oh, oh. STOP IT, PLEASE!"
"Why? Oh, why?"
"Nooooo!"

Contempt For The Constitution

2008-07-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

We cannot allow ourselves to weaken what makes our society and country great; that no one person is ever above the law. By allowing the telecom companies to become immune to our laws because one man, the President of the United States, asked the telecoms companies to spy on us because we are, as a country, in a “crises”, is a precedent that cannot be allowed to stand. Nowhere in the Constitution is there a section that says the President may break the law. In fact, the Presidential oath of office states” “"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Well, perhaps, Bush thinks he is doing “the best” of his abilities to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Far be it for me to question Bush’s abilities, but…

It is generally known that Article II of the Constitution is where the contemptuous Bush/Cheney/Adington/Yoo anti-Constitutionalists get their bizarre and dangerous theory of executive power. If you read Article II, you will not see anything about the President being given the authority to command private citizens (or companies) to break the law. Yet, that is precisely what the anti- Constitutionalists are claiming; that they have the right to order private citizens and companies to enact their bidding because of claims they make about Article II, that he, as Commander is Chief is allowed to order such law-breaking (forget the fact that the Commander in Chief cannot even allow the armed forces to break the law – although, he has done that also).

But, it is not only the President and his administration that has shown contempt for the Constitution. The House of Representatives, by passing the flawed and dangerous FISA bill, have not only shown their contempt for the rule of law, they have shown a disrespect for We The People. Now, we should have seen this kind of contempt the House has for the Constitution when Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, stated “impeachment was off the table.” Again, the kind of contempt for what is part of the House’s Constitutional duty was pushed away as if the duty of Congress was somehow distasteful. Whether you think impeachment is the correct action for the House to undertake, is not what I am arguing, what I am arguing is that Nancy Pelosi revealed her own contempt for the Constitution by taking impeachment off the table, even when it was known the President authorized the illegal wire-tapping of our phones.

If we allow the Senate to pass the FISA overhaul next week, we, as citizens, will reward the actions of the Bush Administration’s illegal actions and state categorically, that, yes, the President can break our laws. The Constitution was written specifically to ensure that any imperial designs one may have while in power cannot and will not be allowed. Let’s not change the Presidency into an imperial power.

Let’s not allow this dangerous precedent to stand. Our government is By the People and for the People, not by the President and for the President. Let’s not forget our role in ensuring our laws are not trampled upon.

We have only until July 8th to make known our feelings about FISA. Please write your Congressperson and tell them "I like the WHOLE Bill of Rights -- Vote NO on FISA!"

Write your Senator

Do You Remember Matt?

2008-06-27T08:46:00.000-07:00

Well, he's still dancing.

and it's beautiful.

Thanks, Kelly.

Feingold's Objections Delay FISA!

2008-06-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

If you are wondering how a patriot acts, look no further than Russ Feingold. Because of his principled stand on not allowing retroactive immunity, FISA is postponed until after July 4.

Way to go, Russ!

If only more Senators understood the implications of FISA as it now stands, the country would be a better place.

via Think Progress

If you haven't yet, call you senator and tell him or her that the FISA bill cannot pass with retroacive immunity for the telecoms.

Senate

How Fucked-Up Is FISA? Really Fucked-Up!

2008-06-26T09:26:00.000-07:00

Myth No. 1: This bill is a compromise.

The House bill "is the result of a compromise," one of its architects, Steny Hoyer, D-Md., maintained the other day. But in truth, Hoyer and his colleagues gave the White House most of what it asked for, dramatically expanding the government's surveillance capabilities without demanding any serious concessions in exchange. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., calls the deal "a capitulation," and he's right. Why else would the White House express its approval so quickly, after a full year in which President Bush petulantly vowed not to sign any legislation that obliged him to concede too much? Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., offered an honest appraisal: "I think the White House got a better deal than even they had hoped." (emphasis mine)

Myth No. 2: We need the bill to intercept our enemies abroad.

One frequent refrain in favor of the new legislation is that without it, America's intelligence capabilities will dry up, leaving the country vulnerable to attack. The National Security Agency wants to intercept communications that pass through routers in the United States, even when both parties to the communication are abroad. The administration has argued that the NSA should not have to obtain a court order to intercept those communications. Seems reasonable, right?

Of course it's reasonable. So reasonable, in fact, that House Democrats proposed to fix the problem a year ago. They were rebuffed. Why? Because their plan contained too much judicial oversight. (They ended up folding, just as they have this time around.) So when people say that this legislation is all about exempting foreign-to-foreign communications that happen to pass through the United States from the warrant requirement, don't buy it.

You see, the new law goes a lot further, basically doing away with warrants altogether in the domestic-to-international context. Under the proposal, the NSA can engage in what David Kris calls "vacuum cleaner surveillance" of phone calls and e-mails entering and leaving the United States through our nation's telecom switches. Provided that the "target" of the surveillance is reasonably believed to be abroad, the NSA can intercept a massive volume of communications, which might, however incidentally, include yours. When authorities want to target purely domestic communications, they still have to apply for a warrant from the FISA court (albeit only after a weeklong grace period of warrantless surveillance). But where communications between the United States and another country are concerned, the secret court is relegated to a vestigial role, consulted on the soundness of the "targeting procedures," but not on the legitimacy of the targets themselves.

This is a huge departure from FISA. As Glenn Greenwald argues in Salon, the underlying suggestion of the new proposal is "not that the FISA law is obsolete, but rather, that the key instrument imposed by the Founders to preserve basic liberty—warrants—is something that we must now abolish."

Myth No. 3: The courts will still review the telecom cases.

Perhaps most controversially, the bill effectively pardons the telecom giants that assisted the Bush administration in the warrantless wiretapping program. They will now be shielded from dozens of civil lawsuits brought against them after their involvement was exposed. House Democrats insist that the telecoms are not automatically getting off the hook. Instead, the companies must go before a federal judge. But here's the catch: For the suits against them to be "promptly dismissed," they must demonstrate to the judge not that what they did was legal but only that the White House told them to do it.

This is another bit of face-saving window dressing, and its essence is best captured in a breathtaking remark from Sen. Bond: "I'm not here to say that the government is always right. But when the government tells you to do something, I'm sure you would all agree … that is something you need to do." That more or less sums it up—one part Nuremberg defense, the other part Nixon.

Myth No. 4: The Democrats must fold because of the November election.

It's no secret that congressional Democrats wanted to resolve the FISA debate before the August convention in order to avoid the perennial charge that they're softies. After the House vote last week, Barack Obama issued a statement backing off his earlier tough stance on telecom immunity. The calculus seemed clear: McCain had just reversed his own position on illegal wiretapping and was spoiling for a fight, arguing that "House Democrats, the ACLU, and the trial lawyers have held up legislation to modernize our nation's terrorist surveillance laws." You can't stand with the trial lawyers and the ACLU if you want to win a general election.

But does it really make sense to stand with AT&T and George W. Bush instead? As the Anonymous Liberal blogger pointed out, you could hardly ask for a more disreputable opposing team than a president with historic-low popularity and a bunch of corporate fat cats. And by reneging on his earlier position, Obama put himself in a box: If he lets the bill sail through the Senate, he will alienate his base. But if he attempts a filibuster or an amendment now, he will appear to be pandering to the objections of Moveon.org and other groups. It would have made more sense for the party leadership and the nominee to stick to their guns.

Myth No. 5: The law will be the "exclusive means" for surveillance.

The Democrats' most pathetic bit of self-deluded posturing involves the inclusion of a clause suggesting that the new law represents the "exclusive means" by which "electronic surveillance and interception of certain communications may be conducted." According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., this means "the law is the exclusive authority and not the whim of the president." But, then, FISA always said that it was the "exclusive means." And in 2001, pretty much on a whim, the president set it aside. So for those of you keeping score back home, the Democratic leadership is patting itself on the back for including in the new law a provision that was already in the old law—and which the Bush White House chose to ignore.

Here, then, is the bitter joke of the new legislation: From 2001 to 2007, the NSA engaged in a secret program that was a straightforward violation of America's wiretapping laws. Since the program was revealed, the administration has succeeded in preventing the judiciary from making a definitive declaration that the wiretapping was a crime. Suits against the government get dismissed on state-secrets grounds, because while the program may have been illegal, it was also so highly classified that its legality can never be litigated in open court. And now suits against the telecoms will by dismissed en masse as well. Meanwhile, the new law moves the goal posts, taking illegal things the administration was doing and making them legal.

Whatever Hoyer and Pelosi—and even Obama—say, this amounts to a retroactive blessing of the illegal program, and historically it means that the country will probably be deprived of any rigorous assessment of what precisely the administration did between 2001 and 2007. No judge will have an opportunity to call the president's willful violation of a federal statute a crime, and no landmark ruling by the courts can serve as a warning for future generations about government excesses in dangerous times. What's more, because the proposal so completely plays into the Bush conception of executive power, it renders meaningless any of its own provisions. After all, if the main lesson of the wiretapping scandal is that we need more surveillance power for the government, what is to stop President Bush—or President Obama or President McCain—from one day choosing to set this new law aside, too? "How will we be judged?" Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., asked in a stirring speech deploring the legislation yesterday. "The technical argument obscures the defining question: the rule of law, or the rule of men?"

via Slate

That tearing sound you hear? That's our Constitutionally protected rights being shredded by bottom feeding idiots.

Telecom Immunity

2008-06-25T08:28:00.001-07:00

There is something very wrong with the Untied State of America if we allow the FISA bill that is now in the Senate to pass(it has already passed the House).
If we give retroactive immunity to the telecom companies for breaking the law, we will have just lost a part of what it means to be an American. I cannot stress enough the importance that this FISA bill fail in the Senate. If we allow this bill to pass in its current form, not only will we be setting a precedent that the law only apply when convenient, we will, effectively allowing any future Presidents a free hand in dictating what laws should be applied under whatever arbitrary circumstance.
The Constitution was not written with an addendum stating "all laws are to be ignored if the President says so." That is essentially what this FISA bill is saying. We cannot allow that kind of thinking to stand.
Thank goodness Senator Dodd (you can read Dodd's great speech here), and Senator Feingold are standing up for the Constitution and the rule of law. Because of their leadership, the FISA bill has been tabled. If we could only have more Senators like Dodd and Feingold in the Senate, then the true meaning of America would be realized. As it is, too many Senators feel the law are an inconvenience for large multinational corporations.
It pains me to see how many in our Congress feel the 4th amendment should not apply to large corporations or on the whim of the President. When did our Constitution discriminate based on the size of a corporation or the amount of lobbyist are on the payroll?

I urge everyone to write your Senators and tell them we cannot let this FISA bill pass.

Write/Call your Senator

This bill goes to the very heart of what the United States is supposed to stand for. If we allow this FISA bill to pass, we are throwing away something so important to all of us, The Constitution.

Finally, I cannot express strongly enough my disappointment with Obama's support of the FISA bill as it stands. Especially since Obama had previously stated his opposition to telecom immunity. The only thing that has changed, I guess, is that he is now the Democratic Nominee for President. I am still processing what this means. I had such hope for Obama and his ability to see what is right. I'm just so dissappointed...

Quote...

2008-06-24T14:04:00.000-07:00

On the advice of some readers I picked up Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World where I learned that Genghis Khan banned torture in his empire.

So, yes, under George W. Bush the United States of America is regressing to an understanding of humane treatment of people that doesn't reflect the enlightened views of Genghis Khan. That's your feel-good thought of the day.

Matthew Yglesias

Public Financing

2008-06-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

Obama has decided to opt out of public financing for the general election. I'm okay with that, but not okay with the silly excuse he came up with. His stated reason is that the system is broken. Not a good excuse, he should have just come out and said, "look, I am not influenced by large cash donors like politicians before, I have received the majority of my money from $25-$100 donations. Public financing of campaigns was designed to stop the influence of large cash only donations, I have proved we can run campaigns with greater participation from the general public. Because of that, I will not take public money for my campaign."

It would have been that simple. Obama's stated reason is silly.

But I also think the hand-wringing of the MSM is also silly. They should realize that what Obama has done. He has made the political process more assessable to the general public, and, therefore, politicians more accountable. Rather than poo-pooing what Obama has done re. Public Financing, they should be applauding the way he has been able to bring the public into the democratic process. More participation = more democracy as it should be practiced. The MSM need to see that.

Rice Appeases Our Enemy...Naively...Or Something

2008-06-20T08:14:00.000-07:00

Secretary Rice is appeasing the enemy by talking to Hesbollah, which, correct me if I'm wrong, is exactly what Obama was trashed for saying his administration would do.

It's a shame when a official of the United States of America willingly puts American lives in danger by talking to the enemy. It's a shocking development that, I'm sure, the Bush Administration will denounce with all do haste. Um...

So naive

Crime Without Punishment

2008-06-20T07:42:00.000-07:00

With 80% saying the country is going in the wrong direction, the Dimocrats continue going in that very direction by giving the White House everything they want. Illegal wirtapping of American's phone? Yeah, that's cool!

Spineless.

The Democrats just said "Fuck You" to the Constitution.

Glenn Greenwald has it all.

Obama, Stop Comparing McCain To Bush!

2008-06-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

via Americablog

littleBIGGERchris

2008-06-14T09:28:00.000-07:00

There is a video blogger (the kids call it vlogging) that I watch every week...here's a sample of one of littleBIGGERchris' vlogs. Chris usually speaks when on his vlog, but I thought the song was catchy and oh so true.
Enjoy...

Go and take a look at his other vlogs - Chris is a kick.
I've posted Chris' blog link to the right

Supreme Court Reinstates Habeas Corpus

2008-06-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

The Supreme Court, in a narrow 5 to 4 victory, has reinstated a core right, Habeas Corpus.

For those that supported Clinton and now say they will vote for McCain instead of voting for Obama, I ask you to think about this...

Three of the five Justices in the majority -- John Paul Stevens (age 88), Ruth Bader Ginsburg (age 75) and David Souter (age 68) -- are widely expected by court observers to retire or otherwise leave the Court in the first term of the next President. By contrast, the four judges who dissented -- Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Sam Alito -- are expected to stay right where they are for many years to come.

John McCain has identified Roberts and Alito as ideal justices of the type he would nominate, while Barack Obama has identified Stephen Breyer, David Souter and Ginsberg (all in the majority today). It's not hyperbole to say that, from Supreme Court appointments alone, our core constitutional protections could easily depend upon the outcome of the 2008 election.

via Glenn Greenwald

If you vote for McCain, you vote for a deletion of our rights as citizens of the United States of America.

And think about what Scalia said:

Scalia said the nation is "at war with radical Islamists" and that the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."

I'm afraid of the dark man isn't a legal argument, Antonin. Nor is "it will save lives." Having cops on the street summarily execute anyone suspected of any crime in America might save lives, it probably would in fact. That doesn't justify suspending the Constitution and doing it. Scalia, like many conservatives, thinks that the Constitution was only written for the good times. In other words, it's only for when you don't need it.

via Americablog

Scalia and his buddies on the Supreme Court seem confused about their job. It is not the job of the Surpeme Court to protect the citizens of the U.S. from violence, it is the job of the Supreme Court to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

The oath taken the by the Justices of the Supreme Court:

"I, [NAME], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as [TITLE] under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.''

via About.com

I hope the varous people that supported Clinton and now say they will cross over to McCain know what is at stake.

Search in Yosemite for missing man who asked to be alone to read Bible

2008-06-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

"A search is under way at Yosemite National Park for a 22-year-old man who disappeared Sunday after telling friends he wanted to be alone for half an hour to read his Bible."
via SFGate

Clearly, we have all been Left Behind

Quote Of The Day

2008-06-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

"The RNC's new Barack Obama oppo site lists his experience in Chicago as "street organizer," rather than "community organizer," as the job is actually known. Classy. But I think Chris Hayes is correct to suggest they're not being creative enough. He writes, "Frankly, in order to elicit the maximum degree of racial stereotyping I would have gone with 'ghetto operative' or 'slum captain.'" I do like slum captain, but I'd probably opt for "corner agitator" or "stoop organizer." Or you could just cut the bullshit and say "Barack Obama is a known and unrepentant associate of many Chicago-based African Americans."
via Ezra Klein

A Tale Of Two Speeches

2008-06-03T20:07:00.000-07:00

First, Clinton.

It was all about her less than veiled innuendo that the election was stolen from her. She got the most votes. She won the most important states...etc...etc...etc. She cannot let go. Her speech was as classless as the Clintons have been througout this campaign. Not once did she even mention McCain, the real opponent, because in Clinton's mind, it is not John McCain that is the enemy, it is Obama. It was all about her and how she is stronger. Her speech was not given to uplift or unite the Democratic Party, it was to wound Obama. If there is any doubt that she won't help Obama, tonight she sealed the deal. She is against Obama. She will do what she can to wound him so she can say, in the end, if he loses, "see, I told you." Nothing said that more than her plea to her supporters to go to her website and leave their thoughts. The politics of triangulation at it's Clintonian best.
I wrote early on in the election that Primaries are about finding the best person for the Party, and early on, Clinton made it clear she is not running for the Party, she is running for herself, and she is willing to destroy anyone that gets in her way, including the Democratic Party.

Classless.

Now Obama.

The contrast of Obama's graciousness towards Clinton, his stated respect for her hard work at the beginning of his speech stands out in diametric opposites to Clinton's gracelessness, her classless, polarizing speech is profound.
Obama's speech was what we, we can do together to make the United States a better place. Obama's speech hit hard on McCain, the real opponent in the race, but not before Obama, deserved, praise of McCain's heroism and service to the United States.
Obama showed he can give as good as he gets in his speech tonight.
Obama's sound and reasoned postion on Iraq showed me he gets Iraq, but he also knows we cannot continue to allow the lack of political prgress to continue.
Obama was uplifting, hopefull and inspiring. What a change from the last 7 1/2 years of Bush fear and bullying.

Classy

I'm going to read what other bloggers have said now...'night!

Delegate Count

2008-05-31T18:11:00.000-07:00

For anyone that thinks Hillary Clinton is honest, has integrity - deserves to be President, one only has to know that Clinton insisted that none, none, of the Michigan delegates be counted for Obama. Her reason? Because he was not on the ballet. That's right, because Obama was not on the ballet, Clinton and her supporters said Obama should, therefore, not have any delegates. Because Obama was following the rules, the rules that Clinton signed and agreed to, he did not place his name on the ballet in Michigan because the rules said Michigan would not be counted. But Clinton does not care about rules, she only cares about herself[ish].

Clinton goes on about how everyone's votes should be counted, but back in December and January, the Clinton campaign was telling another story entirely. She was perfectly happy to stop counting votes in February when she thought she would have the nomination. My question is, why did Clinton think it okay to stop counting votes back in February, but not now? Of course the answer is easy, it's because she thought she had the nomination in the bag; when she realized she didn't have the nom in February, she moved the goal posts and suddenly saw some light that said all the votes should be counted...now that she needed more votes. Clinton's actions speak to her lack of integrity and honesty.

Clinton's actions during this whole delegate mess shows how she does not deserve to be President. America needs a President that we can trust. Clinton has shown she cannot be trusted, and that is why she should never be President of the United States.

America deserves better than Hillary Clinton.

"My momma taught me to play by the rules and respect those rules. My mother taught me, and I'm sure your mother taught you, that when you decide change the rules, middle of the game, end of the game, that is referred to as cheatin',"
- Donna Brazile.
emphasis mine

Drive By Reivew: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Dull

2008-05-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post my review of Indy IV.

"Eh"

I am going to steal what Kyle wrote about Indy IV, too - it's perfect:

"No one does action like Steven Spielberg and no one tarnishes memories like George Lucas"
via See Kyle Blog

Corporate Media Lapdogs

2008-05-29T08:11:00.001-07:00

For those following the latest from D.C., Scott McClellan's book detailing how the White House used propaganda to sell the war has set off a bit of a media firestorm. Well, Glenn Greenwald has a few great posts illustrating how the corporate media is, pathetically, defending themselves and their sad, lap-dog like, "reporting" during the run up to the war in Iraq. It really is a must read.

Here, here and here.

Wedding Bells

2008-05-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

I'm sure you know by now, but Californians of the gay persuasion will be able to marry on June 17th, not June 16th, as was previously thought.
via SFGate

And for those couple's that have always wanted to live in New York, the Governor has directed all state agencies to recognize any same-sex unions performed outside New York, which, presumably means, California, Massachusetts and Canada.

The religious ~~right~~ is losing this battle which is why they are trying, and succeeding, most of the time, to pass laws banning same-sex unions. They need all the older generation to restrict marriage before they die because they know the younger generation is more open to, dare I say, equality(?) than the older generation. It's as if they want to control us from the GRAVE! (If I knew how, I would attach some sort of ominous music here...)

Would You Like Some Whine With Your Delusion?

2008-05-27T20:21:00.000-07:00

"I have never seen anything like it. I have never seen a candidate treated so disrespectfully just for running. ... I can't believe it. It is just frantic the way they are trying to push and pressure and bully all these superdelegates to come out."
Bill Clinton, Sunday, May 25, 2008
Really? Never? Hmmm...

"Things I see happening in the Brown campaign lead me to believe something destructive is happening. I'd say it's time for Democrats to link arms, dig in our heels, set our sights and work together to put Bill Clinton in the White House in 1992."
-- Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin (NYT, 3/27/92)

"In an interview, Ronald H. Brown, the party chairman, said he wanted to maintain his neutrality but was compelled to speak out against what he described as the former California Governor's 'scorched-earth policy' of verbal assault on Mr. Clinton's record and character. "
-- NYT, 3/27/92

"It's mathematically impossible for Brown to get the nomination."
-- Clinton spokesman George Stephanopoulos on Clinton's last foe (NYT, 4/8/92)

"In the future, people will look back upon this week and this campaign as a turning point, not for Bill Clinton, but for the Democratic Party and for America."
-- Bill Clinton, after winning New York's primary (NYT, 4/8/92)

"People are starting to rally around the flag."
-- Dee Dee Myers, Clinton Press Sec'y (NYT, 4/10/92)

"It's time to close ranks. We cannot wait until July when we already know who has earned the right to be our nominee and who will be our nominee."
-- West Virginia Sen. Jay Rockefeller (NYT, 4/11/92)

"Indeed, reports circulating on Capitol Hill said the Clinton campaign was mounting a strong campaign to swing uncommitted senators behind the Arkansas Governor, and that Ronald H. Brown, the party chairman, was taking part in them."
-- NYT, 4/29/92

"I cannot imagine a set of circumstances that would keep Bill Clinton from having a majority of the delegates by the end of the primary season."
-- Democratic Party Chairman Ronald H. Brown (NYT, 4/29/92)

"Mr. Brown added that he had long hoped for an early nominee 'so we can focus our time and attention on George Bush.'"
-- NYT, 4/29/92

via Jed Report

"fathomless bullshit"
-Andrew Sullivan, May 27, 2008

"The problem is that Hillary Clinton, when she argues that past races went till June, is misrepresenting the critique of her candidacy, namely, that she's not running to win so much as she's running to wound."
-Ezra Klein, May 27, 2008

BushCo Hands The Drug Companies Exactly What They Want - Freedom To Test In The Third-World Without Standard Safety Protecitons

2008-05-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

BushCo has now said it will ignore the Helinski Accords.

Bush's FDA has just announced that it is going to scrap American participation in the Declaration of Helsinki -- the major international accord on ethical principles guiding physicians and other participants in medical research on human subjects. This isn't a decision involving mere medical bureaucracy -- it in fact clears the way for ethics-free drug testing, especially beyond American borders, and it means people will die, sometimes horribly.

The shift in policy now makes it possible for American drug companies to conduct tests on human subjects (most often in Third World nations) wherein victims of particular diseases can, in the course of testing, be administered pure placebos that do nothing to help them fight those diseases, while being told they're undergoing treatment. (The longstanding standards required such tests to administer the acknowledged standard treatment as the placebo.)

via Fire Dog Lake

Sinister.

Facts Are For Latte Drinking Liberals!

2008-05-19T10:47:00.000-07:00

For the third time Bill Kristol gets the facts wrong in his NYTimes column.

On Tuesday night, while the G.O.P. Congressional candidate was losing in a Mississippi district George Bush carried in 2004 by 25 points, Barack Obama was being trounced in the West Virginia Democratic primary — by 41 points. I can’t find a single recent instance of a candidate who ultimately became his party’s nominee losing a primary by this kind of margin.

Well, it took Jerry Skurnik all of "all of 2 minutes to find what Kristol couldn’t find"

What did he find?

On Feb. 5, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney beat presumptive GOP nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by 85 points in the Utah primary

There's more...

In fact, on the same day, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee beat McCain by the same margin Kristol touted as unprecedented — 41 points — in the Arkansas primary. As did Mitt Romney in the Colorado caucus.

This is at least the third time that Kristol has gotten the facts wrong in his Times column. In his debut column, Kristol misattributed a quote by Michael Medved to Michelle Malkin. Later, Kristol falsely claimed Obama was in church on a day that he was not.

via Think Progress

New slogan for conservatives:
"Conservatives: Difficulty with the truth. But who cares!"

Bush Administration Continues To Screw The Environment

2008-05-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

The Bush Administration, in its race to be the worse administration in the history of the world, wants to build power plants outside our national parks. The EPA, again, is going against what the EPA's own scientists say, again. Did I mention, "again"?

The new rule changes how pollution levels in parks are measured -- instead of frequent measures, the new rule "would average the levels over a year so that spikes in pollution levels would not violate the law." Just a common sense fix, you might say. But as one environmental advocate explains, "It's like if you're pulled over by a cop for going 75 miles per hour in a 55 miles-per-hour zone, and you say, 'If you look at how I've driven all year, I've averaged 55 miles per hour.'"

via TPM

Marriage: To Boldly Go Where No Two Men Have Gone Before...In California

2008-05-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

Takei was a child in a Japanese Internment Camp during WWII, Takei's partner and manager, Brad Altman have been together for 21 years will marry.
via Towleroad
Oh, and Takei was on a little show called Star Trek.

Ellen's getting hitched to Portia de Rossi, actress from one of the funniest shows, now cancelled, sadly, in recent memory.

Marriage

2008-05-15T10:19:00.000-07:00

We've got the right

Appeasment? Right Hand, Meet Left Hand

2008-05-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

Bush:

In a speech to Israel's Knesset, Bush said: "Some seem to believe that we should negotiate with the terrorists and radicals, as if some ingenious argument will persuade them they have been wrong all along.

"We have heard this foolish delusion before. As Nazi tanks crossed into Poland in 1939, an American senator declared: 'Lord, if I could only have talked to Hitler, all this might have been avoided.' We have an obligation to call this what it is — the false comfort of appeasement, which has been repeatedly discredited by history."

via SFGate
But, but, but...WAIT!
Gates:

"We need to figure out a way to develop some leverage . . . and then sit down and talk with them [Iran]," Gates said. "If there is going to be a discussion, then they need something, too. We can't go to a discussion and be completely the demander, with them not feeling that they need anything from us."

via Washington Post

Next Up At 10:00...

2008-05-15T06:56:00.000-07:00

The Cal Supreme Court is set hand down there ruling on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage today at 10:00 am today.

Sigh.

If the Supremes say same-sex marriage must be legal, instead of my mom asking if I'm seeing anyone, she'll probably start wondering why I'm not getting married.

Then, then, she'll want to know about grandchildren. Oh, gawd, this could be a disaster!

Endorse

2008-05-14T15:59:00.001-07:00

Edward has endorsed Obama.

And speculation of a Obama/Edwards ticket in 3...2...1

Apologies

2008-05-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

After reading this story (and others), sometimes I think the first order of business for the next President is to apologise to the rest of the world for the last eight years.

The damage Busch/Cheney have inflicted on our reputation is amazing.

Some Quetions For Clinton

2008-05-14T09:04:00.000-07:00

John Arovosis has some questions he feels the media need to ask Clinton:

1. Your own campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, told MSNBC last night that you will lose to Obama in overall pledged delegates. So the only way for you to win the nomination is by the superdelegates overruling the will of the people. That will cause a civil war in the Democratic party (I'll be helping to lead it). It will likely cause blacks to leave the party, possibly forever. It will disenfranchise the youth vote. The Netroots will likely declare war on you.
A) In what imaginary universe do you see the superdelegates risking a civil war for you?

B) How are you going to win an overwhelming majority of the remaining superdelegates, something you need in order to overrule the vote of the people, when the overwhelming majority of them are endorsing Obama?

C) Why are you willing to accept a civil war in the Democrat party in order to win the nomination? Doesn't that make you a traitor to your party?
2) The DNC has said that this drawn out nomination is hurting their fundraising and limiting the number of ads they can run against John McCain. You can't win, and by drawing out the nomination, you're hurting the DNC's efforts against McCain. Why does that not make you a traitor?

3) A congressional candidate and a senate candidate have both told us that your name on the ballot in the fall will be an immediate 5 to 8 point penalty in the polls for their races. This is because you are so hated by the right that your name on the ballot will inspire every lunatic to vote, and they will vote a straight party ticket, hurting every Democrat running. Explain why we shouldn't care that your nomination will devastate Democratic races across the country? Then explain why this doesn't make you a traitor?

4) A congressional candidate and a senate candidate have both told us that the drawn out nomination is hurting their fundraising, as donors focus more on the presidential election, but also as some major donors are not willing to spend money on the general if your name is on the ballot (because your name on the ballot will doom Democratic races in more conservative states). You can't win, and you're hurting Democratic fundraising across the country. Why doesn't this make you a traitor to your own party?

5) Groups like EMILY's List, AFSCME, and the American Federation of Teachers are still wasting large sums of money on independent expenditures to support your doomed candidacy. That money could be better spent on candidates who actually have a chance of winning, rather than a candidate who has already lost. You are literally taking money away from campaigns that need it. Why does this not make you - and EMILY's List, AFSCME and the AFT - traitors to your own party?

6) Because you're insisting on staying in a race that you've already lost, Obama is forced to spend money and time dealing with you, rather than dealing with John McCain. You are literally helping John McCain in this race. Why does that not make you a traitor to your party?

7) An increasing number of Democrats - Democrats who once liked and defended both you and your husband - now hate you, and are saying that the Republicans may have been right in everything they've ever said about you. Why are you willing to destroy your credibility and reputation in the Democratic party for a race that you've already lost?

via Americablog

[part of the] The Answer, My Friend, Is Blowing In The Wind

2008-05-13T13:08:00.000-07:00

A U.S. Department of Energy study says wind power is a viable answer to the energy problem.

Windmills spinning over the Great Plains and along the coasts could supply 20 percent of U.S. electricity by the year 2030 and put a significant dent in greenhouse gas emissions, federal officials said Monday.

Although wind farms now generate just 1 percent of the nation's electricity, a new report from the U.S. Department of Energy found that wind power could play a far larger role in the future. It could supply roughly the same percentage of the nation's power as nuclear plants provide today.
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In addition, the country's network of high-voltage power lines would need to be expanded and upgraded. Some of the country's strongest, most reliable winds flow over the sparsely populated Great Plains, and a nationwide "superhighway" transmission system would be needed to carry that power to states and cities that need it.

via SFGate

Let's hope the next President will see this reality and do everything possible to achieve it.

Quote

2008-05-13T11:20:00.000-07:00

"This McCain ad on global warming is hilarious. It says that one side denies the reality of global warming while the other supports "high taxes and crippling regulation." McCain you see, takes the moderate aproach we need: Admitting there's a problem without actually doing anything about it. Now that's a maverick!"
via Tapped

Translation: Republicans in a nutshell

Willfull Suspension Of Fact: West Virginia Edition

2008-05-13T11:10:00.000-07:00

When confronted with the facts, people don't listen. *sigh*

Twenty Minutes From The Past

2008-05-11T09:07:00.000-07:00

I posting this video for a couple of reasons:
1) I think it is impotant to see what one man thinks of Obama four months ago and how what he said then still pertains now.
2) He brings up issues about Clinton that now, more than ever, are coming further to light, e.g., character, integrity.
3) Rovian tactics. Four months ago, he saw the direction that Clinton would probably go. She did and has and contitnues to do so.
4) See how Obama has resisted the way "politcs are played" and kept his integrity, his vision, his idea of change. See how Obama has not changed his message (yes, there have been a few bumps in the road, I know), while Clinton has embraced the tactics of Karl Rove and George Bush and attacks with Rovian glee.

I ask that you take the twenty minutes to watch this video and think about what Clinton is doing now. And while watching this video, it is my hope you will see why I, and many like me, see Obama as the best person to be President of the United States.

Do we really want someone like Clinton, a person that so easily adopts the tactics of Bush/Cheney/Rove, to be President?

We cannot afford the kind of person that has so little integrity and character to be in the White House again.

It really is time for change.

oops, forgot to post where I got this video

Brothers and Sisters Wedding

2008-05-09T10:09:00.000-07:00

Towleroad has a some behind the scences talk and some tidbits from the set of the big gay wedding that takes place on Brothers and Sisters.

I'd totally marry Luke Macfarlane.

Dreaming Of Ponies And Rainbows

2008-05-09T09:47:00.001-07:00

Seriously, this picture makes Obama look like a love-struck teenage girl who has posters of N-Sync and ponies on her bedroom wall.

The Castro Theatre

2008-05-09T06:54:00.001-07:00

It seems our little Castro Theatre will be going all 'big time' on May 22 with the opening of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (I always wondered why The Castro never brought in the big Hollywood movies). Totally jazzed about this! Kelly will be in from Austin for the Mem. weekend and we plan on seeing Indy.
If you have never been to The Castro Theatre, it's a place that harkins back to the day of yore of the grand movie houses with cool murals and a really awsome chandelier hanging from the center of the theatre. Take a look at the pictures and read some of the history here, if you would like. Anyway, watching Indy at The Castro should be cool.

While I am totally jazzed about Indy at the Castro, I really am excited that The Black Hole will be playing. I was nine years old when The Black Hole came out and thought it was the coolest thing (not as cool as Star Wars, but almost).
Here's the discription from The Castro's website:

Long lost delusional genius Maximilian Schell has sights set on sailing his spaceship into a black hole, Robert Forster and his crew favor the opposite direction. Will it be Heaven or Hell - or both? One of the more bizarre sci-fi films of its time, the spectacular visual effects and impressionistic sets still impress as JB sucks you into his grand symphonic vortex. With Anthony Perkins, Yvette Mimieux and Ernest Borgnine, directed by Gary Nelson

"Robert Forster and his crew favor the opposite direction" - heh. Yeah, I'm thinking I would want to go away from a Black Hole, too. Then, again, I'm not filled with awsomeness like Maximilian Schell. Who is? I love that discription. That's one of the things about the management of The Castro, they have a great sense of humor. Anyway, how can you go wrong with Maximilian Schell and Ernest Borgnine. Ernest Borgnine!
The best part about The Castro? It is right around the corner from me.

P.S. Saw Planet of the Apes on Wednesday. I have to say, cool movie, but Charlton Heston? Bad, hammy actor - "Gawd Dammmmn Youuuuu Tooo Helll!"

Quote

2008-05-08T12:48:00.000-07:00

And don’t get me wrong- I am not for Obama because of what I am against. I am for Obama because he is a decent man, a break from the past, and really a once in a lifetime opportunity. He has treated us like adults throughout this primary, and it is time to act like adults. There will be times we feel he lets us all down, but we are not electing a diety. We are electing a leader, and Obama is that leader. It is time to get past the bullshit of the last 20 years, the battles I am really tired of fighting, and time to turn our attention to the really important issues of the day- the economy, the budget, our international presence, our crumbling infrastructure, our military, medicare and medicaid and social security, and on and on and on.

John Cole via DJShay of Kos

Senate Dems urge windfall-profits tax on oil companies

2008-05-08T08:13:00.000-07:00

Senate Democrats on Wednesday called for a windfall-profits tax on oil companies and a rollback of $17 billion in oil industry tax breaks as part of an energy package. The proposal also would impose federal penalties on energy price gouging and calls for stopping oil deliveries into the government's emergency reserve.
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The proposed 25 percent profits tax would apply only to windfall oil company earnings above what would be considered reasonable and only if those profits are not reinvested in refinery capacity expansion or renewable energy sources, according to a summary of the proposal.

via SFGate

First question that pops up is, who determines what a "windfall-profit" is?

I agree, the Congress needs to repeal the $17 million tax break we give to the oil companies - clearly, they do not need a tax break - not that they ever did to begin with.

I don't mind a company making a profit, so to punish a company for making profits seems to me a bit counter-productive - the wind-fall profit idea seems like pandering on the part of the Dems. We should use this time to change our policies on the environment and fuel efficiency, not pander with blame the oil company "solutions". Now, if there is price-gouging, that's a different set of problems.

I understand the pain ("I understand you pain"--Bill Clinton) people are feeling by having to pay for $4.00/gallon gas, but this seems to be the only way our country will get serious about fuel efficiency standards and our environmental laws changing. I used to live in San Diego where if you didn't have a car, you were pretty much out of luck - I hear from my family all the time about the price of gas, but if the U.S. just goes about trying to artifically turn back the clock, we will never get out of the problems we are in. The fact is, the U.S. only ever changes when we have to change - maybe the rise in fuel prices will make us take fuel efficiecny and environment seriously.

George Bush Helps Out McCain With Breaking Campaign Finance Laws

2008-05-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

With friends like these, who needs laws?

via AmericaBlog

Would You Like A Card, Senator Clinton?

2008-05-08T07:48:00.000-07:00

"Yes, I'll take the race card"

"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me."

"There's a pattern emerging here," she said.

via USA Today
There is a pattern emerging here, it's called race-baiting.

And what the hell does she mean by "working, hard-working Americans, white Americans"?
Actually, the implication is clear.

Very Presidential.

Quote Of The Day (in bold)

2008-05-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

You'll understand why it is the last part of this quote that made me chuckle.

A senior campaign official and Clinton confidante has told me that there will be a Democratic nominee by June 15. He could not bring himself to say the words "Hillary will drop out by June 15," but that is clearly what he meant. I kept saying, "So, Hillary will drop out by June 15," and he kept saying, "We will have a nominee by June 15." He stressed what a reasonable person Hillary is.

-Lawrence O'Donnell
via Huffington Post

Reasonable? Does a reasonable person need to stress their reasonableness?