The Right Is Wrong

Political columnist, and mostly-conservative columnist, Andrew Sullivan, who writes for The Atlantic Monthly recently wrote an article, he titled Leaving The Right writes why he thinks the party is over for American conservatives, and why he felt moved to make such a public break with his political blood brothers (and sisters). Sullivan's column in The Atlantic Monthly follows a few days after Charles Johnson, another mostly-conservative blogger who runs Little Green Footballs explained that The The American right wing has gone off the rails, into the bushes, and off the cliff. I won’t be going over the cliff with them.

This certainly has been a long time in coming, but I am glad to see that some American conservatives (the REAL ones, not the neo-con type) are beginning to--as Dear Abby used to say--wake up & smell the coffee...but, I guess in this case, the smell is more akin to the fetid stench of a morally-poisonous, parasite-laden brew of faux ideology concocted by cynical, selfish, fear-driven-money-loving opportunists out to serve their own special interests by leeching off a valid political belief system (that I nearly always disagree with, but which I can respect because I know that--like me--they believe what they believe because they love their country, and want to make it better. These TRUE conservatives and I want the best for our country...we just disagree on how to do it).

I know it may be hard to believe this--being as how I am as far away from "conservative" as Sarah Palin is from sanity--but I really do hope more true conservatives begin to smell the rot coming from the slow-but-sure death of their no-longer Grand Old Party, and get the fire in their collective political gut to not only stand up and say, "Enough is enough," but to fight to take back what was theirs.

I am a (mostly) proud Democrat & progressive, but I am--first and foremost--a (mostly) proud American, and it is my country (& even the world) that would reap the benefits of a strong (at least) two-party system. A civil political discourse amongst people who may not hold the same point of view can only make this country stronger.

With those who run today's American Right, it's impossible to have a real discussion of the issues of the day when they're not even interested in talking or compromising. Believing that they honestly know what's best for everyone else, bound-for-"glory", they proudly wear their blinders, cavalierly ignoring the will of all but the truest of believers, forcing their neo-con mirage of Utopia onto the rest of us--for our own good, of course! (<----Sarcasm)

You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one...

If you've been seeing & hearing those things that I have these past few days from the many friends who obviously loved Ted Kennedy, you have to have noticed that not all of them were his political allies & they didn't necessarily share his political point of view. People like Pat Buchanan, Orrin Hatch, John McCain, George Bush (the younger and the elder) all spoke of a man with whom they had many political differences, but whom they cared for personally.

So many times since his death, I've heard about how--even in the last months of his life--he wanted to be there & wanted to help take care of his friends, even as his own health failed and as he needed assistance himself. Til the end, it seems, Senator Kennedy still believed that it wasn't all about him...it was about those people who needed him & who loved him & who gave his life purpose. He was the youngest of his siblings who, through misfortune & unspeakable loss, grew to become the patriarch not simply of the family with whom he shared blood lines, but of a political family throughout the entire country with whom he shared common values.

One of the many stories I heard from one of his friends was about the time a reporter had asked Senator Kennedy how, with his near-aristocratic station in life, he spent so much time speaking about & seeking to help those much less privileged than he, and he asked the reporter, "Haven't you ever read the Bible?". The Kennedys never wanted for anything, thanks to his father, Joe Kennedy's financial prowess, but it was Rose Kennedy who instilled in all her children the idea that"to whom much is given, much is required". That early life lesson combined with the loss of his two older brothers who had sought public service through elected office--and both of whom gave their lives in the process--impressed upon Teddy the unique responsibility that was his as the last Kennedy brother. I cannot begin to imagine what a heavy burden that was for Teddy Kennedy.

I know that he was not a perfect man, and he was known for his raucous personal life & his own personal foibles & mistakes, but Teddy Kennedy believed in redemption, and he worked tirelessly--especially in the last half of his life--to earn it. Senator Kennedy fought valiantly to give voice to those--as Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia recently described them--"those whose needs exceed their political clout." He didn't win every fight & he still left this world with an unfinished agenda, but he was never petty or small about it. Teddy Kennedy kept the faith & fought on & stood for his values relentlessly & regardless of the prevailing political winds because he believed so deeply in what he wanted to do & what he wanted his country to be.

Franklin Roosevelt, before he was President, in nominating the former governor of New York, Alfred Smith, at the 1924 Democratic Party Convention, called him "The Happy Warrior" for his work at ending racial violence, and I think the same appellation would befit the former senior Senator from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, except that Senator Kennedy never saw his work as a war...he saw it as a work of the heart, where there need not be any more casualties.

Senator Edward "Teddy" Moore Kennedy lived a good, long, satisfying life, and in the end, when the time came for him to leave this world, he was surrounded by a large, loving family in the home he loved, and by a country whose greatness was due--at least in part--to his personal dedication to help lift the lives of "the least of these." He was given the gift of years that his brothers never had, and--in my humble opinion--he used them well, and he inspired so many of his fellow citizens to demand more, not just of their government, but of themselves.

In hearing all these tributes to this true American legend, I was reminded of a verse in the Bible I learned back in Sunday School, from Proverbs 27:19:

As water reflects a face,
so a man's heart reflects the man.

In my mind, as life was finally leaving Teddy's body, I just know that his heart was the last part of his physical being to stop...but in every one of us inspired by this great man, his heart & his ideals & the dream about which he always spoke & for which he gave his last full measure will live on long after the temporal shell crumbles away.

After all, isn't the dream supposed to outlast the dreamer?

Living & Loving In The Beehive State

Though he started out in the arcane world of professional baseball stats as a number-meister extraordinaire, Nate Silver has nearly officially morphed into the next big thing in political prognostication. With the same attention to detail & his nearly-trademarked kit-glove handling of ostensibly insignificant minutiae that he pours into baseball, Nate may have started out as an internet sports sensation, but his ability to not only read but forecast the direction of the political winds with as much apparent ease as his nearly dead-on sports prognostication has only served to add to Nate’s notoriety & “street creds,” as they say.

The day of the 2008 election, on his political website, 538.com, Nate predicted a final Electoral College vote in favor of Barack Obama of 349 to 189, off by only 16 electoral votes. While he (fortunately) incorrectly predicted that Obama would "narrowly [lose]…Indiana" to John McCain, he was spot-on in calling not only my own home state of Florida for Obama, but Virginia & North Carolina, too. I remember well hoping against hope that Nate was right, but having strong doubts about not only Obama’s ability to flip two reliably crimson red states like VA & NC to sapphire blue, but his chances of delivering a state like Florida with nearly every statewide office being held by the GOP as well as a nearly non-existent state Democratic Party over to the political light side. Nate’s proven adroitness in calling political winners with as much ease & nearly as much accuracy as calling baseball games has made me a true-blue believer. While I'm on the subject of colors, I gotta say that, as one of his newest fans, I think Nate Silver is golden! :-)


This is my admittedly long-winded preface to the issue about which I am really writing today. Nate is reporting on his website that Jon Huntsman, the Republican governor of Utah has announced his support for civil unions for same-sex couples. For me, it’s not as personally satisfying as if Gov. Huntsman had endorsed full marriage rights for same-sex couples and, in the best of all possible worlds, it would have been nice if the governor had made his sentiments known earlier in his political career as opposed to the end of his term, but, considering from whence comes this news—Ground Zero for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—this is really pretty big news!

In putting this announcement into proper perspective, Nate writes on 538.com that this die-hard Republican’s conversion is "in its own quiet way, just as much as a cultural signifier as [California’s] Proposition 8. The days in which bigotry can be exchanged for votes may be numbered."

One can only hope...and keep fighting the Good Fight.

A Little Queer Trivia

What is the largest city in the United States with an openly gay mayor?

Before yesterday, the answer would have been Providence, Rhode Island , with a population of just over 175,000. David Cicilline has been mayor of Providence since 2003.

As of 12:01 am, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009, however, the correct answer is: Portland, Oregon, with a population of over half a million. Sam Adams, former Portland , Oregon City Commissioner, was sworn in as Portland’s mayor by Oregon Supreme Court Justice Virginia Linder on New Year’s Day.

Interestingly enough, Providence Mayor Cicilline, is still the only openly gay mayor of a state capitol in the U.S. (Oregon’s state capitol is Salem).

Amendment 2 411 4 U...

A blog entry from my nearly-defunct MySpace & LiveJournal pages, dated March 11, 2007. It's all still just as valid today, though! Read on...

I saw a bumper sticker online at the Press For Progress website that I thought was pretty interesting. It was wordy for a bumper sticker, but it read, "If gay marriage is so destructive to straight marriage, why does Massachusetts have the lowest divorce rate?" I guess that some bumper sticker issues can't always be broken down to a couple words, can they? Anyway, I had not been aware of that fact and was wondering if it was just something some kind-hearted-but-poorly-misguided liberal came up with to help out our argument, so I went to work investigating on those wonderful tubes called the internets! While searching the Google, I actually found on the website of the U.S. Census info on divorce statistics. It seems the last year that is available for divorce statistics (for all the states who keep such records) for all the states is 2004, just coincidentally the year that marriage equality became the law in the Bay State, and guess what I found?!?! (DRUM ROLL, PLEASE) In 2004 (according to the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006, the link to which is http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/06statab/vitstat.pdf), Massachusetts, in fact, did have the lowest divorce rate (per 1,000 population), with 2.2 (the District of Columbia did have a lower rate at 1.7, however. Also, to be fair, 6 states—California, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana and Oklahoma--did not report divorce info, for one reason or another, so we are just talking about states that provide divorce stats). The state with the highest rate was Nevada (their rate was 6.4. I guess quickie marriages can sometimes lead to quickie divorces, too. Especially when you wake up the next morning wondering who the smelly drunk next to you is and why you have this hunk of metal adorning the ring finger on your left hand and a Marriage Certificate shoved under your mattress. Makes perfect sense to me why Nevada has such a high divorce rate, but I digress…)

I also remember a couple of the MANY quotes from the fear-peddling Henny Pennys on the Right who foretold the inevitable dangers of the falling sky and who swore that "the end of the world as we know it" was at hand. Just a refresher: "It's like a rolling ball of snow. It gets bigger and bigger. You allow it in Massachusetts, it'll spread to God knows where." - Massachusetts Democratic State Representative Emile J. Goguen, as quoted by the "Traditional Values Coalition" website and "We can look at those places where same-sex marriage has been legalized to see what the future looks like" - Ron Crews, President of The Massachusetts Family Institute, as quoted in the Washington Times, March 10, 2004.

Even more interesting with all this "end of all that is good and Godly" stuff that these people love to push is that the 2004 marriage rate for Massachusetts is the LOWEST rate of the three years they reported! In 1990, the rate for Massachusetts was 2.8 and in 2000, it was 3.0. Could it be things are actually IMPROVING in Massachusetts, where divorce rates are concerned?!?! I'm sure the too-perfectly coiffed ex-gov of the Bay State, Willard Mitt Romney, will do his best to take the credit for this fact, if he finds he needs it to bolster his standing amongst the far-right who owns his party.

In a similar vein, I thought it was oh-so-interesting that, taking a look at these state-by-state numbers, the so-called Red States (in this instance, those that voted for Bush in 2004—which represented 27 of the 44 states that reported divorce info in 2004) had an average divorce rate of 4.3 per 1,000 pop. vs. a rate for the so-called Blue States (the ones that voted for Kerry in 2004, 17 of the 44 states –plus DC--that reported divorce info in 2004) of 3.2. That's a nearly 35% higher average rate in those supposedly more conservative parts of America than in the supposedly "Godless" (one of Coultergeist's favorite words) liberal heathen holes! Wow! That's gotta hurt! ;-)

I realize that for those with a vested interest in pushing the same old "Rapture"-ous End Times ® theory of an angry God coming to kick @$$ & take names & toss the homosexules & their profligate enablers & cohorts in the burning ring of fire that these numbers and pesky annoying new-fangled "facts" and my blasphemous observations simply divert from their Constant Christian Crusade to push the illusion of actually doing something worthy for the Kingdom of God instead of what Christ ordained his people to do (ya know, the dirty, ugly work of feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, healing the hurting--thankless work like that). What I say and what I write just don't really amount to much to them. As Stephen Colbert once said, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias." But, I gotta say, that, if what "God's people" say is true, and if this is a sign of those much-longed-for-by-some End Times ®, and Gabriel's getting ready to blow that horn, as R.E.M. so colorfully puts it, "It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine."

1 hour & 24 minutes

That's how long my hubby & I stood in line today (on our 13th anniversary together, thank you very much!) at the local public library to cast our early votes. It was, by far, the longest time I've ever had to wait to vote in the 28 years (ouch! that number hurts) that I've been voting!! I had NO idea there would be SO MANY PEOPLE THERE!! No wonder Gov. Charlie Crist declared an election emergency & ordered the early polling places to stay open 12 hours a day (7 am - 7 pm, and a total of 12 hours this weekend, too). There had to be at least 300 other people there waiting in line with us. If you've ever been to Disneyland or Disney World, it was the kind of winding queue that kinda makes you dizzy & makes you wonder where your next step will take you! I have to say that, while no one LOVES standing in a painfully slow-moving line, I didn't see anyone leave or really complain much (beyond moaning about tired feet & how warm it was in the library). I guess I could have been doing something else for nearly two hours, but I know it was time well-spent & it made me feel good (my aforementioned tired feet notwithstanding) to do my civic duty. All-in-all, it was worth every minute (and then some), and a great way to spend part of my 13th anniversary.

When I finally got back home & read my local newspaper online (The Orlando Sentinel), I got some potentially good news (although, here in Florida, it's not wise to count your electoral chickens before they're hatched), but the hateful Amendment 2 seems to be stuck just a tad below 60% in approval (since 2006, in Florida, to add an amendment to the state constitution, you have to get 60% of the vote + 1, instead of the traditional 50% + 1). Of course, there's always the margin of error involved in polls, and the one involved in today's Orlando Sentinel article is plus or minus 4%, but still if it's at 55% support, if you took the pessimistic view (at least pessimistic for me), support would be at as much as 59%...which is less than what is needed for passage, but which is also too close for comfort for me! Of course, I'm hoping it's closer to the 51% mark (55% - 4%).

Anyway, voting for me for 2008 is done. If it's this bad on the Friday before the actual national election, I don't even want to think about what the line will look like come the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November! I am glad that part--for me--is over! Now all I have to do is keep nagging my friends & relatives to vote Obama: YES & Amendment 2: NO!

Is it too much to ask for 2 out of 2?? I don't think so.

Though I am as far from a Bible-thumper as one could possibly be (ya know, being the abomination to the Lord that some say I am), I am reminded of the verse from James 4:2, to wit, "...ye have not, because ye ask not."

Well, universe, I'm asking...

Republicans for Obama??

So, maybe, as the rabid Obama supporter that I am, I can't really convince you to vote for the junior senator from Illinois as the next President of the United States. Maybe it's hard for you to consider any of the arguments I make as a lifelong Democrat (who has been really dis-heartened & disappointed at my own party of these past 8 years when they've completely lost their backbones at a time when our country needed a STRONG loyal opposition) to support the candidate of the opposing party. Maybe all I say comes out as AUTOMATICALLY suspect when you're seeing things from a different point of view. That only makes sense, I guess.

I found this YouTube video of current mostly Republican voters who have said they are going to be voting for Obama this year. Each tells, from their own perspective, why they cannot abide voting for the candidate of the party to which they claim membership. Maybe--as I have been through the years--they've become disenchanted & disillusioned with the actions/inactions of a political party from who've they've expected so much more.

Seems, in listening to these people, that--as one of the participants in this video stated--whatever happens if Obama is elected cannot be worse then they've (actually, we've) endured these past long 8 painful years. Like me, the John McCain they see today is not the man he was in his real "maverick" years. He's given up so much ground & wasted the trust & good will of those who--even if they didn't support him--admired the man for his much-vaunted-and-sorely-missed "Straight Talk".

These conservatives in this video obviously cannot & will not waste their sacred vote on the shadow of man who really doesn't exist any more. They are tired of defending a party that has left them behind as that party loses its way & whatever used to be their moral bearings.

To paraphrase the Republican hero, Ronald Reagan, they didn't leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left them.

Here's what they are saying about why they have decided to place their trust in a man who is as un-Republican as they are feeling forced to become:

"....and a little child shall lead them."

Or in this case, a quarter of a million little (and not-so-little) children (from 1st to 12th grades) shall lead them!

What's so special about this poll??? According to Scholastic:

Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.

Obama's is 3 times larger than McCain's...

According to CNN's website, John McCain's lead over Barack Obama in his home state of Arizona is 7 points (45 to 38% with a 3% MOE), while Barack Obama's lead in his home state of Illinois is...wait for it...wait for it... 20 points: 56% to 36% with a 3.5% MOE! In short, Obama's lead in his home state is nearly TRIPLE what McCain's lead in his home state. I think it's also worth noting that in the Arizona poll, McCain doesn't even get support of half of those who were polled!

To be fair, polling for Arizona was done between Sept. 25 - 28 & in Illinois, it was done Sept. 15 - 18. Since things have only gotten worse for McCain since the middle of September (what with the ongoing economic collapse & the faux "suspension" of his campaign to get us all to believe that he was going to be our white knight & come galloping in on his (not-so) Straight Talk Express jet of a steed & heroically fix what he & his political pachyderm pals labored so mightily at breaking & coming up with--as my awesome Jewish friends call it--bupkis; his cranky behavior in the first debate; not to mention that mean ol' "gotcha" journalist, Katie Couric's torturing poor Sarah Palin with questions about foreign policy & John McCain's role in government regulation of the financial industry, and viciously forcing to her think of a Supreme Court case other than Roe v. Wade & practically screaming at her to provide the name a newspaper she reads; and, that snotty Tina Fey with the Sarah Palin glasses making fun of John's soul mate by repeating nearly word-for-word what Sarah had said to that beast Katie), I'm sure Obama's numbers in Illinois may be even better now (seeing as how Obama has improved ALL OVER THE COUNTRY lately).

The Plan For A Change

And, John McCain wants a 9/11-type commission to study the issue for a few months...or a few years...

Yeah, right!

Jesse Helms Dead at 86

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/07/04/conservative-icon-senator_n_110867.html

I never agreed with him & I am disgusted at what he did to make people like me feel like second-class citizens & less-than-human.

As with his brother-in-arms, Jerry Falwell, I will not miss him; I will not pretend I am sad that he is gone; and, I will not heap fake praise on a human being so undeserving. I do, however, wish his family quick relief of pain at their obvious loss, and pray that God is much more merciful with Sen. Helms than the Senator was with his "enemies" on earth.

Obama & The Gays (Part 2)

From the Advocate website...

Obama Pledges to Support LGBT Issues

Sen. Barack Obama released the following statement regarding the 2008 Pride season on Saturday:

“I am proud to join with our lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered brothers and sisters in celebrating the accomplishments, the lives, and the families of all LGBT people during this Pride season. 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 time to live up to our founding promise of equality by treating all our citizens with dignity and respect. Let’s enact federal civil rights legislation to outlaw hate crimes and protect workers against discrimination based upon sexual orientation and gender identity or expression. Let’s repeal 'don't ask, don't tell' and demonstrate that the most effective and professional military in the world is open to all Americans who are ready and willing to serve our country. Let’s treat the relationships and the families of LGBT Americans with full equality under the law.”

“We are ready to accomplish these goals because of the courage and persistence of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people who are working every day to achieve equal rights -- the gay couple who demands equal treatment in our family laws as they raise their children, the lesbian soldier who wants nothing more than to serve her country openly and honestly, the transgendered workers who asks for the simple dignity of being judged by the quality of their work. Generations of LGBT Americans, at once ordinary and extraordinary, have made possible this moment in our history. With leadership and hard work we can fulfill the promise of equality for all.”

Obama’s website has a section directed toward his LGBT constituency (http://pride.barackobama.com/). The site features the senator’s views on LGBT issues and allows visitors to search for pride events in their area. On Saturday Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed Obama and pledged her full support in helping him win the presidency. (The Advocate)

The REAL John McCain

Now THAT'S what I call HARDBALL!!

You may not believe it, but I am really not a confrontational kind of person & yelling & screaming is not usually my modus operandi, but I inadvertently saw this on Hardball last night (I was just wasting time waiting for my hero, Keith Olbermann, to light up my TV & my life) &, even though, in my humble opinion, Chris Matthews is a little too enamored of John McSame & has proven himself to be a bit of a Clinton-hater, and is altogether just not my cup of tea, politically- or televisionally-speaking, I was just mesmerized by his interaction with a hapless, screaming right-wing Bush lover named Kevin James (not he of King of Queens fame, by the by) trying to take down our Mr. Obama & trying to equate talking with your enemies with surrendering to your enemies (a la Neville Chamberlain).

To Chris's credit, he just couldn't let that bit of stupidity ride & repeatedly challenged Kevvy to specifically state what it was that Chamberlain did pre-WWII that the world now sees as appeasement of Adolf Hitler. It seems that (obviously NOT) College Boy couldn't answer the question. Seems the Kevster was more interested in trying to take down a few notches the guy he knows not-so-deep inside is probably gonna be the next President of these United States with some mindless spoon-fed right-wing pablum.

I can't believe I find myself saying it, but Chris was right*: we can't just talk to our friends in this world; if we want to make progress on some issues & make the world even a tiny bit safe & potentially more stable, sometimes--JUST SOMETIMES--we're gonna have to talk to our enemies. It's not like they're gonna go away if we pretend they're not there (no matter what President DICK Cheney & his sidekick Dubya & their fanboy Kevin seem to have concocted in their nefarious noggins)! TALKING TO YOUR ENEMIES IS NOT THE SAME THING AS CAPITULATING TO THEM...DUH!

You gotta give it to ol' KJ, though, even given his obvious anger issues, what he lacks in historical knowledge, he sure makes up in hysterical volume! I actually even felt oddly uncomfortable for the guy. Heck, I even almost didn't laugh out loud at his getting caught at his obviously flawed imitation of a Repugnant Party parrot!

Give it a watch! Mark Green, by the way (the actually obviously sane guy Chris was interviewing too, does a great job. Made me glad he's on my side!)

*in this ONE instance

"...an individual's capacity to establish a loving & long-term committed relationship with another person...does not depend upon...sexual orientation"

"Our state now recognizes that an individual's capacity to establish a loving and long-term committed relationship with another person and responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation..."

California Supreme Court Ruling S147999

Even the Governator of California says, "I respect the court's decision and as governor, I will uphold its ruling...and, as I have said in the past, I will not support an amendment to the constitution that would overturn this (ruling)."

Apparently the same infamous US Supreme Court that installed Dubya as President of these United States 7 long, long years ago may still yet be able to undo the right thing done today by California's Supreme Court with an appeal of today's ruling, but for today, at least, the Golden State has never been more golden!

WARNING: Expect to hear the "liberal media" talk about how badly this will damage Obama's chances in November. This old line has just been done to death! Call me overly-optimistic, but, ever since John McSame's home state of Arizona narrowly rejected the "Gay Marriage Ban" in 2006, I have begun to suspect that the fear-mongers of the RRR (Radical Religious Right) have begun to run out of juice, as they say, on the subject of marriage equality. They just can't scare most people now with talk of the great threat people like me pose to the "sanctity of marriage". Most folks nowadays have too many threats that are more real & more tangible to them than the monster called GAY MARRIAGE: like the cost to fill their gas tanks & the war-without-end in Iraq & a government that has become the enemy of the governed & is slowly squeezing the life out of the same rights it says it’s fighting to protect & what happens if they or a family member gets sick or hurt & doesn't have health insurance or if the health insurance they have won't even cover their particular situation & wondering how to they can afford their prescriptions and their groceries & how they can pay for college for their kids, etc., etc., etc., etc.

MSN story here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24649689/

Califormia Supreme Court ruling here:
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/080515_CA_SC_Marriage_Ruling.pdf

Judgment Matters

From MoveOn.org

http://www.obamain30seconds.org/vote/?v=view-1088-BJaAD7

Isn't there "a better way to judge our presidential candidates than by the jewelry they wear?"

From Crooks & Liars, regarding the non-issue of Sen. Obama not wearing a US flag lapel pin every minute of every day and his political enemies who think it means he's OBVIOUSLY unpatriotic (funny, but most of the ones criticizing him just happen to have forgotten their own pin whilst they are attacking him), the transcript of Bob Schieffer's commentary on yesterday's Face the Nation.

Finally, today, I watched the ABC debate the other night when that question came up again about why Senator Obama doesn’t wear a flag pin in his lapel. Since no one asked me, here is my thought on all that. I think it’s a nice thing if people want to wear a flag on their lapel. But I believe it more important to keep the flag behind our lapel in our hearts. I feel the same way about wearing my religion on my sleeve. It just fits me better on the inside. When I go to see our local baseball team, I do wear my Washington Nationals baseball cap. But am I less a fan if don’t wear it to work? The truth is I have been known to wear a red, white and blue stars and stripes tie on the Fourth of July. But am I less patriotic when I trade it for my Santa Claus tie at Christmas? Patriotism is no more about signs or pins than religion is about reminding others how pious we think we are. No, the proof in these puddings is not the signs that we wear, but how we act. Wouldn’t that also be a better way to judge our presidential candidates than by the jewelry they wear?

Amen, brother Schieffer, AMEN!

Link to C&L post:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/04/20/face-the-nation-schieffer-reminds-us-that-its-the-patriotism-not-the-lapel-pin/

Are you better off now than you were 8 years ago?

From the Democratic National Committee...

Obama's Top Ten vs. McCain's Top Ten

According to the Huffington Post, here are Barack Obama's Top Ten Celebrity supporters:

10. Jennifer Anniston
9. Robert De Niro
8. Chris Rock
7. Samuel L. Jackson
6. Scarlett Johansson
5. George Clooney
4 a. Ben Affleck
4 b. Jennifer Garner
3 a. Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg
3 b. Maria Shriver (Caroline's cousin & the wife of California Republican Governator Schwarzenegger)
2. will.i.am (The Black Eye Peas' singer)
1. Oprah Gail Winfrey

Link to HuffPo article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/20/top-10-celebrity-obama-su_n_96313.html

In comparison, who are the Top 10 5 supporters of the republican nominee, you ask? Well, after thorough research lasting many seconds, I have compiled my own list of John McSame Supporters:

10. ?
9. ?
8. ?
7. ?
6. ?
5. That guy who played Delivery Man #2 in Three Men And A Baby
4. Heidi Montag
3. Charlton Heston
2. Sylvester Stallone
1. Arnold Schwarzenegger (see #3b in the Obama list above)

Obama & The Gays

You can find Senator Obama's interview with the online Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgendered (GLBT) magazine, Advocate, at http://advocate.com/exclusive_detail_id53285.asp.

Personally, it's always good to hear any major candidate speak to the issues affecting people like me. During the primary season, it's more common to see the Democratic candidates speak their minds to us (MOSTLY in support of GLBT people). It will be interesting to see how much communicating is done with us once they have to reach beyond the usual Democratic base. I hope that what our (Democratic) candidates see as fair & right in April doesn't get swept under the rug in October!

I guess I live in hope...