Anonymous Sec's

Bent But Not Broken... A Message To The Horde

2011-10-05T22:06:00.000-07:00

Well, Horde...I'm putting this here for a coupla reasons. First, it's self-obsessed and sad. Second, I'm sure TNC indulges me because I've been around forever, but really...he can't possibly enjoy his comment section befouled by my Miss Lonelyhearts musings. I can feel him roll his eyes whenever I post. But honestly, I waxed so breathlessly during August that I want to finish the overshare to y'all.

Anyway, for anyone who paid attention, I thought I found a great guy here in the mid to late afternoon of my life. "Found" is incorrect. Brother chased me for 18 months. He was my age (fifties). Had a career and a car and our politics aligned well enough. Great dates (food, dancing, convo). Great, errrr, other stuff. I was clear about my intentions for a relationship (as opposed to a quick hit which actually has its place and an option I actually offered) and he agreed his focus was on the relationship aspect. I kept myself open because I didn't want my unlucky in love cynicism to jaundice the possibilities. (I know big words too.) I was beginning to be hopeful. We had a date where I went over to his house, went out for sushi, laughed really hard during dinner, came back and listened to the amazing music on my iPod (on a real sound system). I kissed him goodbye because he was going out of town for a family birthday. Great kiss, too.

And then nothing.

In the interest of not jumping to conclusions, I texted (jeez, R.I.P. Mr. Jobs) an "are you okay or have you disappeared from me" snippet. A succinct response of "Am okay. Haven't disappeared. Will be back next week" was received.

And then, he disappeared. Fell off the planet.

Finally, after a couple of weeks, I texted (seriously, Mr. Jobs, your genius is astonishing) 'Why, dude? Did you win a bet because if so, I want my cut. You enjoyed my A-Game (of food, dancing, convo, and ummmm, other stuff) and that warrants at the very least a 'hey girl, whatsup?' I'm low maintenance, not no maintenance." Response? "Apologies. Traveling, sick, work, family in town. My bad."

"My bad."

I waited a couple more days.

Then being the general smart ass that no doubt is part of the reason for my singledom, "What? No alien abduction?" And expressing that consideration is important to me and I'm not a chore. More back and forth via text but upshot was my excusing myself from the affair.

And here's the thing. My feelings were monumentally hurt during those three weeks of silence. But I'm reasonably okay, if not the worse for wear. I'm actually rather glad that, (1) I stepped up and relayed my feelings rather than let them fester and let my boundaries be broached and (2) after all this time and all the awful relationships I've had, I still have feelings to be hurt. I'm haven't turned into the kind of woman I wouldn't like myself to be.

And honestly, there's something shifty, hinky, shady in all of it that I am sure were I to know what the fuck it is (married, girlfriend, even though I asked and asked), I would be glad it is something in which I am not involved.

I don't want to feel across the board that men lie, and play at stuff, and it's rather disheartening that a 52 year old man thinks it's perfectly fine to behave so poorly, but that's not on me.

I suppose that's something.

Seriously, Steve Jobs is all over this situation and post. Big fan of text. I'm not confident I'd have been able to express the same over the phone. In person, maybe, but then that wasn't available. My, what the world has lost.

Also, just to be completely vain and self-affirming... That's me on the right. I'm still kind of a dish at 55.

That Day and Ten Years After...

2011-09-11T07:44:00.000-07:00

On September 10, 2001, I fell asleep with the television on. Nothing new. I sleep alone and the noise in the house helps me feel not so alone.

Constrained strife slowly woke me up. Opening one eye, I wondered what movie I was watching. I know just about every disaster movie and this wasn't a scene I remember. So I rolled over to pinpoint what movie I was watching. And then the commentator came on...I think it was Katie Couric...and fitfully stated in that newscaster fashion, that a plane had flown into the World Trade Center.

And I sat up in bed to watch a movie that had never been made.

I got out my bed to watch mayhem. And helicopters. And people waving white believing, perhaps, that an impossible rescue would be mounted. And people falling. And fire. And people I knew for a fact were dying in front of my eyes. On the living room television because I have to have the noise in the house to help me feel not so alone.

I could not leave the television for weeks. I watched the skies for weeks. I cried for weeks. I could not sleep for weeks. The people, I sobbed to my mommy late one night. All those people, Mommy.

All those people. But what got me, what still gets me, is that I could have been any one of those people hanging out of windows waving futile flags, surrendering my life, had a different target been chosen.

Today, as I listen to the names of those who died that day read, I know these surnames. I've known people with these surnames. They haven't gotten to the Rs yet, but I'm sure the FDNY lost some Ryans that day. My high school friend, Peach Ryan, is a flight attendant. Grounded on that day but if the fates would have had it, she could have been one of those who died.

So the people. All those people. People I could have known. People who could have been me.

Racist Dick Brought Low

2011-08-06T18:04:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: This was originally published on 2/11/10!!! Good lord. I'm bringing this to the top because it amuses me and I linked to here at FB, so why not stuff I like up front. Thanks.
-----------------------------------------
So Playboy interviewed John Mayer and the internet and its contributors have gone all Heathers, picked out some admittedly awful quotes and deemed him pariah. I'm sad to say that I contributed. I'm also loathe to link to TMZ but here's why he's not eating with the popular kids in the cafeteria.

But it's worth it to read the interview, header and all. Something I should have done before mouthing off. Blogs and politics are seductive that way. You read a snippet of something outrageous, have an immediate outraged reaction, and comment about your outrage. And other outraged commenters note your outrage by adding to it. And we're all outraged.

Here's my theory. This interview is irrefutable proof that he is a cocky 32 year old white talented male rock star who got to hang out in the studio with equally talented black folks. Let's say Jay Z and Kanye (himself no stranger to outrage) and maybe Common. Probably Jay Z, while counting his money, offhandedly told Mayer he was a badass guitar playing motherfucker. And then Mayer was just there being Jay's guitar playing motherfucker while Jay Z, Common and Kanye had some "we just talking bullshit" conversation about white-girl crazy. Mayer, stoked beyond the telling of it that Jay Z called him "motherfucker" got into the spirit of things, dropped some yammer about exacly how big Jessica's tits are and what it's like to fuck an almost virgin, everyone laughed (he made them laugh!!!!), got comfortable and nobody was self-censoring. John, imagining that it would be that way in the world for him because after all, his touring band is mostly black and they do the same thing with him and he's, well...John Mayer...and incorporated what he thought to be the truth of him hanging out with black folks for a minute and ran his mouth.

Now see, I blame Jay. And while I'm at it, I'll pull Common and Kanye's and John's band's coattails too. You know you should have told your bad ass guitar playing motherfucker that that bullshit you talk - is just that...bullshit. Don't REPEAT IT.

Yeah, AND. John should have never racialized his dick because if his dick is racist, then he is racist. Much as men like to refer to their peens as something other than they, it is not. It's attached to you, it is, therefore...yours. So, if you think it's just your dick that wants to screw Jessica Simpson*, it is not. It is you. Own it.

And if your dick doesn't open itself up to the concept of sex with black women, then you don't either. And that's hard for me, at least, to hear. It plays into too many insulting concepts about standards of beauty in America.

So, upshot? John was just talking out his neck.

Here's John apologizing. And I still like "Gravity" and he is a badass guitar playing motherfucker. Jack White's better though.

*It seems like I'm bagging on Jessica Simpson but I'm not. I think she's had a hard row to hoe - a row she doesn't understand.

Yikes!

2011-04-19T07:32:00.000-07:00

Posted without comment...other than "Um...Wow."

Open Letter to Dodai Stewart at Jezebel

2011-04-09T16:49:00.000-07:00

Hi, Dodai:

I'm a Jezebel lurker from way back. Jez Old School. Watched all the slap fights with Sinister Rouge and I GOT Moe.

So, I'm growing my hair out long one last time before I get too old for it to be appropriate. Yeah, I subscribe to the if you're eighty your hair shouldn't hit your butt; you're not going to prom club. Anyway, I'm growing it out. I've worn it short for almost 6 years now. Short. Really short. Amber Rose stole my haircut short. So now it's growing. And gray. It's gray, Dodai. Nearly all of it. **sigh** But it's a pretty gray, so I'm thinking when it's long, I'll have that Emmylou Harris/Helen Mirren thing going on and all will be right with the world.

But now I have to actually care for my hair. Or actually, I'll have to pay attention to it for it to have a style while it's growing. You can have short hair that's easy. You can have long hair that's easy. Hair in the middle is just work. I'm always looking for stuff that helps me not to have to spend time on my hair.

This young woman, Lauren Mechelle, has her own website and quite a few videos up on YouTube that really explain the care and feeding of thick "ethnic" hair. I don't know if Jezebel has already discovered her (since I can't lurk every day because I luckily have a job), but I thought 1) You should know about her and maybe if some of the women commenters get a load of just how much work it takes, they'd shut the frak up with "it's just hair" and 2) her videos are so explanatory that I want her to get some press so I thought I'd point you in her direction. Note particularly that there is a great instruction video on Curlformers - my new easy hair obsession.

Still love all your stuff, Dodai. Miss the old Jez terribly but hopefully, with the next election upcoming (has it already been 4 years??!), Jez'll kick up.

Sherlynn Hicks

aka Parasol (back in the day)

AnonymousSecs (now and still starless)

But Does It Show Pudge Fisk's Home Run?

2011-04-05T20:50:00.000-07:00

Ken Burns' "Baseball" is available via Amazon streaming. It's free if you're an Amazon Prime member.

Math is Haard

2011-04-05T19:27:00.000-07:00

A truer title never given. I've never had a knack for math. I always could arrive at a somewhat correct number (which I understand is not really math because numbers are by nature definitive), but couldn't really show or know how I got there.

So this is an informative post. As opposed to analytical, that is. With a question at the end. And maybe some in the middle.

Ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee, Representative Paul Ryan, released a budget proposal. This I'm pleased about. I seem to remember the "Roadmap for America" idea put forward before with something much less serious than what Rep. Ryan has put together, even though I may not agree with the Republican ideology.

The Congressional Budget Office has also released its analysis (pdf). It's over my head. It's all pretzel logistics and incestuous fiscal reasoning and future decade hopeful projections to me. I do believe that the system as it is is not sustainable and something has to be done. What? I dunno, but at least there are choices greater math minds than mine have to consider.

I'd love to be able to read the CBO's report, much like, say, fine-ass Ezra Klein does and give a non-partisan distillation, but seriously, Ezra has liberal ways. I'd love to read a Conservative or even a Libertarian distillation that I don't end up yelling something like "Are we just going to let our seniors die, or only well-to-do ones get to live"or "Dammit, we aren't each an island" at. But that's just my own liberal bent being reactionary. Plus, if I'm being totally honest, I'm knocking on the "senior" door - softly - am single and frankly don't want to die sitting at the nurses station in diapers in some sub-standard old folks' home because I have more time than life and that's all my vouchers will allow me. Megan McArdle seems to resent my baby boomer entitlement.

You know what I do? I pay my taxes. I pay my credit card bills. I let the government have that tax free loan I give them every year just so I can have extra bucks in my pocket every May.

So, questions.

1. How can a budget, any budget, be sustainable? Aren't there, by nature of the Republic, going to be changes? And isn't each change a ripple that will effect the projected outcome many fold?

2. Really, are we just going to let seniors receive only the care they can afford? Is a comprehensive and caring health entitlement for the aged not something we as a nation can extend?

3. Is it me, or is Megan McArdle's snotty asides infuriating? I just remember that if she's lucky, she's gonna get old too.

Is the Price Too High?

2011-04-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

I watched Jeremiah Johnson again today. I really love that movie, not the least of which is for Robert Redford. Yes, I have a weakness for the towheads and if ever there were a prototype towhead, it's Bob...well, I call him Bob...in my mind, y'see.

If you haven't seen it, it's about a man who, sick of war, turns his back on civilization and goes into the mountains to trap, sell pelts and exist in near solitude. He's meager at it at first, but is taken under the wing of an experienced mountain man, taught to be successful in the ways of hunting in lone existence and is then sent on his way. Through both tragic and humorous happenstance, he has a wife and a young boy to care for. He's alone no longer and fitfully comes to enjoy it.

When he seems to be most happy with this family he never wanted but now treasures, he is pressed into guide service by a group, including a soldier and a preacher, looking to rescue cohorts trapped in the mountains. He leaves his wife and boy

On their way to the rescue, he is made to desecrate an Crow burial ground. I say "made to" because his initially tells them that they have to go the 20 miles out of their way around. The preacher, full of pomp and righteousness with a handkerchief pressed to his nose so as not to smell dead Indians, asks why should he honor the Crow burial ground. The rescue party is not Crow. Those they are looking to rescue, who he says are freezing and starving, are not Crow. They must go through. Johnson reluctantly agrees.

They make it to the starving, freezing wagons in the mountains, and Jeremiah turns toward home. When he gets back to the burial ground, he sees his wife's trinkets strewn among the bones of the burial ground. He beats ass for home, only to find his wife and the boy slaughtered.

And here is where I recognized something.

Terry Jones, the Florida Koran burner, has the same bigotry and disdain for other religions, doesn't he? What arrogance it takes to publicly abuse the beliefs of others. Without apology. With full felt righteousness he pulled his church in league with his bigotry. And they brought the lighter fluid. Now, instead of a wife and child found murdered, we have UN workers dead.

The preacher in Jeremiah Johnson rode away to rescue and his life. Terry Jones will preach another day.

Sad.

Yeah, I get the "It's his right as an American to express himself" reasoning. But just because you can it doesn't mean you should. The Good Pastor Jones isn't the one paying for his expression, is he. It would seem he would consider the price too high.

She's No Anonymous Sec...

2010-06-29T06:58:00.000-07:00

Mad Men is back soon. Here's Joanie in all her Bam!Pow! glory. She's a secretary, you know. Just like ME! More on that later. Maybe.

Never What You Think It Is

2010-06-14T06:54:00.000-07:00

For about 18 months during half of my 7th and all of my 8th grade, I lived and went to school in NYC. It was the best year and a half of school. I was challenged with great classes like Latin and Medieval History. I had friends or at least people who meant something to me. Living with my grandmother and Aunt Marie, I wasn't surrounded by chaos and fights and alcohol and cruelty at home, only to have to play it off with my approximation of normalcy at school.

Those 18 months meant a lot to me.

I went back for this school's reunion this past weekend. Fairly few remembered me. Or if they did remember me, remembered that they didn't like me or really a less self-pitying point of view, remembered that I didn't matter to them in the same way they mattered to me.

That was hard. Harder still to ignore which I have been mightily trying to do for the past 48 hours. I'm good at denial and ignoring but I'm not having much success right now. I've cried during this time...not real tears because that would mean showing how I feel. I'm crying on the proverbial inside.

This is a constant in my life.

During the after party of her fifth grade classmates that they were kind enough to invite me, the unremembered one, I embarrassed my sister by being loud, demanding and obnoxious. Not of her but of the people around her. I apologized to her, but she didn't ask me why. She said "No worries," but didn't ask me why. If she had I would have told her that I was tired of people taking advantage of her. Long story, but she has been organizing and taking charge groups of uncooperative, privileged people and I saw that happening at this get together of her classmates. I spoke up loudly which I probably would not have done if I hadn't had that second half beer. **sigh** This is why I don't drink - it's cute when you're young and obnoxious when you're old. I'm old.

It wasn't because of whatever reason people who don't know me think. I suspect my sister has a reason why I was all obnoxious also. She, of course, has a bit more insight but I don't know. I don't know because she didn't ask and I didn't volunteer the info.

Nobody asks.

Nobody asks how the hysterectomy has affected me.

Nobody asks how afraid I am of dying alone.

Nobody asks how sitting next to an unaware bigot brings my life down.

Nobody asks how never being able to be excellent in my job depresses me.

Nobody asks how my self-loathing affects me.

Nobody asks why it's there.

Nobody asks why I don't cry.

I now have to take my uterusless self to a job I'm failing at while listening to the mildly bigoted ditz drone on next to me while I do the bidding of grown lawyers who think of me as the same ilk as a xerox machine.

Though I've ignored this space into internet oblivion, still too many people know this blog is here, so this is about all the pathetic blues crying that's barely appropriate.

In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida...and the 64 Crayola Box

2010-03-02T20:17:00.000-08:00

Speaking of advertising. I was directed to this from Andrew's. Man oh man. Heh. This ain't your grandpa's stoner trip. Big deal you scoff. Naw. CLICK THIS. Oooh. All the pretty colors.

“And Then There Was Salsa” from Frito Lay Dips on Vimeo.

The page takeover is what seals it. Here's another example for the Honda Insight. I don't watch broadcast much anymore getting pretty much all my content on the internet. I'm an advertiser's dream for this stuff. That page takeover. Wow.

Fun, huh? And speaking of colors. I am a big fan of OK Go's synchronized treadmill video. Here they play on kinetic motion to make something really interesting and fun. Trying to keep up with what's moving things forward is a challenge.

h/t Alyssa Rosenberg

The Catch? Old Spice...

2010-02-18T08:02:00.001-08:00

Bunch of caveats to the enjoyment of this brilliant piece of advertisement. One? It's Old Spice. Not my favorite. Two? Don't have a man to compare him to. Sad, but no worries. I think I'll just incorporate THIS man into my daily ablutions. (Geddit? Geddit?) Three? It's OLD SPICE!!! Four? No man is this mack, not even this man who they cast. Frankly, all that perfection would get on my fucking nerves. Five? Perhaps my fussiness is why I don't have a man. (Yeah, and nobody who used to be my man better pipe up with "yathink?")

The dominoes do fall, don't they?

h/t postbourgie.

Resolutions: Broken.

2010-02-10T14:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't quit smoking. I haven't written here twice a week. But I am getting out of the house. This weekend, I have a lunch date with silentbeep, a frequent commenter on my daily hangout blog, Ta-Nehisi Coates. I'm really looking forward to that. silentbeep (I'll have to ask her about that nom de blog) has a blog that I spent several hours on Saturday perusing.

Part of my problem with updating my blog frequently is that I write very slowly...and I'm a constant editor. I'll work a sentence 'til the comma cries. Also, a focus would be good. A focus other than politics, I think. And Pop culture is saturated with bloggers turning over its influence on life and I don't particularly have anything new and interesting to say about it.

I'm not given to writing about my job. First, I could get caught in a trick bag whining about the first year who threw me under the bus. Also, it's not fair to bag on folks who aren't able to defend themselves. But I do know my job and it might be interesting to talk about how I get it done. But then, when I come home from work, which is the only time I have to write, why would I want to rehash issues I leave behind.

I know music...but only most kinds. I have absolutely no affinity for hip-hop or rap. I don't understand a word that is said. Except for Tupac. I understand Tupac's every word. And The Roots. Some time ago, TNC posted a video of three rappers, Eminem being one and two other apparently famous and talented ones (see-what do I know) and the only words I understood were "Phyllis Hyman."

Television has been my constant companion since Playhouse 90 days. But I don't watch broadcast any more. And I don't go to theaters much. Everything can be gotten online - Hulu for tv and Netflix for movies. I'm a hell of a lot more selective than I used to be. Avatar, however, I've seen 6 times. Supernatural I download weekly. LOVE those boys. And Dean is mine so hands off.

So, anyone out there who knows me - do you think you might have some suggestions for a focus for me?

In the meantime, I post here the video to Sade's new single "Soldier of Love" that I have been playing nonstop since I downloaded it on Monday. Man, if there weren't ever truer words for me than "I've lost the use of my heart, but I am still alive" and "I'm at the borderline of my faith, I'm at the hinterland of my devotion" and "Still waiting for love to come, turn it all around" and "I am love's soldier." Those words give me such hope living in the absence of the ability to feel. Gah! Big ass gong going off inside me. Clang clang clang.

Note: for some reason links aren't working right now. Go forth and Google.

31 New Year's Resolutions

2009-12-31T19:41:00.000-08:00

1. Quit smoking for realz.

2. Write on this blog at least twice a week.

3. Write that book I have a great idea for.

4. Get out of the house more even though it scares the bejesus out of me.

5. Do yoga every day.

6. Get my bike serviced and ride on the weekends.

7. Lose 10 pounds.

8. Pay off at least one credit card.

9. Volunteer somewhere.

10. Quit being so sensitive.

11. Quit being so insensitive.

12. Comment at TNC more.

13. Write more quickly.

14. Think more critically.

15. Don't lose the mornings to the internet.

16. Don't lose the weekends to the internet.

17. Don't be afraid of making new friends.

18. Quit waiting for the other shoe to drop.

19. Visit Ray more.

20. Write Ray more.

21. Find a church.

22. Be nicer to my bosses.

23. Stay abreast of my finances.

24. Give myself a weekly facial, manicure and pedicure.

25. Learn how to wax myself.

26. Cook weekly and take my lunch to work.

27. Really practice on my guitar.

28. Stop being a misanthrope.

29. Throw away all the accumulated junk around my house.

30. Visit my mom at least 3 times a year...during the warmer months.

31. Live on cash only.

Brain Food

2009-09-20T16:47:00.000-07:00

Watch this several times and I swear you'll be smarter. If you disagree with the President's position on health care premiums, it will still give you food for thought.

Chickenshit on a Pump Handle

2009-09-09T20:03:00.003-07:00

Did I hear someone heckle the President of the United States? It was more than enough to see the entrenched Republican Rich Pimps sitting their wife-cheating hypocritical self-serving fear-mongering asses down on anything the President pointed out would help the Un-Rich, but then to have a member of those hallowed halls from the Republican side of the aisle disdainfully call out opposition? I don't even need to go back and see if Bush/Clinton/Bush/Reagan/Carter/Ford/Nixon/Johnson/Kennedy/Eisenhower (my lifetime) had to face that. It wouldn't be right for any of those men and it isn't right now.

It's as useless and insulting as chickenshit on a pump handle.

UPDATE: It was Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) who yelled out to the President "You lie." He called the President a liar in the Congressional Hall on national television (except for Fox). He has since apologized but... He called the President a LIAR.

UPDATE II: Reaction to outburst. Nancy's hairy eyeball is priceless.

Happy and Safe 4th of July

2009-07-04T08:18:00.000-07:00

Come near dark, my neighborhood is going to be raucous with the sound of illegal fireworks. I'm going to a friend's for pot-luck BBQ. Everyone be safe.

Anyway, this is far and away my favorite rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Kelly leads it off, Michelle holds her part, and Beyonce's mom didn't dress her. Oh, and goosebumps at the arrangement. The Supremes song-sigh near the end is so old-school.

Happy 4th!

All Your Answers Are Belonging To Me

2009-06-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

The best part of this video...the very best...is the blow-dry journalist asking Pres. Obama if he was influenced at all in his response in this press conference by John McCain and Lindsey Graham whining that Obama was weak.

This is a great compendium of how a public official is supposed to behave. They try to flat-foot him but he's just not having it. And watch the journalist who is annoyed by getting called on his foolishness. Obama gracefully calls it bullshit, yet answers his question nonetheless.

This Is How It's Done

2009-04-06T07:03:00.001-07:00

Shirley Bassey is 68 and still showing how it's done.

History Repeating
by RavenTV

H/T Crooks & Liars Late Night Music Club

Truer Words? Never Spoken

2009-03-10T19:38:00.000-07:00

The dependably astute young Adam Serwer neatly points out the obvious about the meme du jour that Obama is tackling too much.

A word to the wise for those who think this line of argument will actually succeed at curbing Obama's ambitions: A black man who just got elected president of the United States is not going to be daunted by a bunch of talking heads telling him what he will or will not be able to do.

Does anyone actually think that President Obama would abbreviate his aspirations because beltway pundits think he should? And as far as journalists go, they have become sheep, harmoniously bleating the new idea. They are lazy and static and uninterested in real stories.

Wonderful Rest

2009-03-01T08:16:00.000-08:00

Here's my bit of bigotry. I think anyone who doesn't get some spirit moving in them when they hear a good gospel choir is in league with Satan. By the end of this video, I was boo-hooing with joy for a good 5 minutes.

H/t Jack and Jill.

Feeling Big Now, Little Men?

2009-02-28T13:16:00.000-08:00

This made me want to vomit.

H/t Smooth Like Remy from SeattlePI.

Here. Watch it again. Throw up. Then watch what happens after they remove this young lady from her cell. Perhaps a longer form will put it in context.

I get that policemen have a hard job, but if you can't do it professionally, it's not a field you should be in. And you know what? This mouthy young girl at least got to live.

Oscar Grant did not. Do not watch if watching a young man face down on the pavement being subdued by several officers getting shot in the back upsets you.

I wish I could be more eloquent, but these two incidents just make me sick.

President's Address to the House and Senate

2009-02-25T07:49:00.000-08:00

UPDATE: I found and cropped this from Hulu.com. It won't automatically play.

BSG

2009-02-22T20:40:00.001-08:00

I'm watching Battlestar Galactica from the beginning. I'm halfway through Season 3. I forgot what a raging bitch Starbuck is.

Alan Brings The Nutty

2009-02-21T17:48:00.000-08:00

Keyes is, like, 2 seconds from calling President Obama the anti-Christ. I especially like his "Laugh, fools, laugh" line when the people off camera can't hold their giggles at the crazy. It's sad, though, too.

Panama Canal Locks

2009-02-11T19:25:00.000-08:00

This is so cool. I was intrigued by the Locks when I learned about them in, what...grade school? Wikipedia here. H/t Andrew.

Love

2009-02-10T20:51:00.000-08:00

Though I often wonder if I've just been single too long and heartbroken too many times and heartbreaker too many times and too uncomfortable with beings other than my poor dead cats (*sniff*) around me all the time and too selfish and too available and too thin-skinned and too cynical and too naive to ever have love, this video makes me kind of want it.

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

It would be nice if you signed this petition and help some people have what I'm too chicken to have.

Dollhouse

2009-02-10T19:10:00.000-08:00

Anybody that knows me knows that I am ALL ABOUT BUFFY. Here's the story.

I completely ignored Buffy when broadcast. Why would I want to watch some little white girl named Buffy no less, for an hour out of my life? Please. I'll pass. I ignored it for 5 years.

Then...

I was home sick as a dog on, like, Thanksgiving or New Years Day or somesuch, and FX ran a marathon. They didn't just run a regular marathon. Apparently fans picked the episodes to air and the order. I caught the two parter inaugural episodes of of Season 1 -- Welcome to the Hellmouth and The Harvest.

There is a scene in The Harvest. Jesse, geeky friend to geeky friends Xander and Willow, has been turned into a vampire. He's at the Bronze (local teen club), stalking Cordelia, the uber-popular girl bitch who in the past had been downright cruel in spurning his advances. Vampire Jesse watches her dancing and when a slow song comes on, he walks over, takes her hand and starts dancing. Unaware that Jesse is a vampire or indeed that vampires exist, Cordelia reverts to mean girl mode and says "Hello, Caveman Brain...." and continues to whine abuse at him. He fixes his deep vampire sex eyes on her and says "Shut up," and Cordelia melts and says "Okay. One dance."

I laughed my ass off and was hooked. Despite my awful illness, I think I stayed up 24 hours watching every episode they broadcast. I felt like the universe had let me down. Why didn't anyone tell me Buffy the Vampire Slayer was like this: well written tight as a drum story telling with suspense, humor and heartbreak. I felt really cheated and kind of ashamed of myself that I judged the show so harshly based on the title and what I thought it was. Bad. Bad me.

The finale to Season 5, entitled "The Gift" is, in my opinion, the best hour ever written for television. Watching each time, I whisper to myself "That's the bravest thing I have ever seen."

I gobbled up all things Buffy. I descended into deep nerdy geekdom and started writing for a fictional role playing website (now defunct) called LA By Night, which based its environment on the Buffyverse but in which you designed and wrote your own characters. The character I designed was a 200 year old vampire named Parasol. Hmmm. Maybe I'll revive her on an alternative blog. She was a good character.

I wore my zombie cult follower badge proudly. I proselytized about Buffy every chance I got, bringing several members into the fold. I went to comic cons. I paid big money to go to the John Kerry fundraiser creator Joss Whedon threw where I talked to him for, oh, 35 seconds and walked away renewed. I got tix to the broadcast of the last episode at the Hollywood Athletic Club with about 1500 of my fellow zombie cult followers. I found I liked my fellow zombie cult followers tremendously -- conversations with those who shared my obsession were long, deep, thoughtful and bonding. I bought books, magazines, action figures (yes, action figures that are STILL in the original packaging, you Philistines). No. I am not ashamed.

Every year, I hold a 10 day marathon of the entire series which, of course, I have on DVD. Each year, I learn and see something new about the Buffyverse and myself. What I perhaps glossed over last year when I watched, now has meaning and substance this year because of where I am in my life...even at 52. No. No. I am not ashamed.

The creator of Buffy is Joss Whedon who, if you're going by me, is a god walking amongst us. He can write the hell out of a scene and he gets women. He gets how women relate to men. He gets how women can't relate to men. He gets how strong women are naturally. He gets that women are no less human than men. He gets me. How do I know? Because I cannot count the times I've been watching Buffy weeping bitter salty tears on my couch going "Yeah, Buffy girl. I know. I know. I know." And Joss wrote and created that. He is brilliant and I throw the gauntlet at the feet of anyone who says otherwise in my presence. No. No. No. I am not ashamed.

(Here is an interview with Joss at Salon.)

He has a new series on Fox called Dollhouse, starring Eliza Dushku who played my favorite character in Buffy -- evil slayer Faith. It premiers Friday. Because I promised tribute to whatever entity governs television marketing, Hulu will have it up the next day.

I'll be stalking Hulu at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday morning.

Stating The Obvious: Is The GOP Tanking The Stimulus For Political Gain?

2009-02-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

From Brian Beutler (pronounced Boyt-ler), the young man who was shot by a mugger last summer in DC regarding Republican obstructionism to the stimulus bill. Playing off of John Cole's post about the purpose of partisanship re the bill:

...If you understand that the core of the Republican party loves nothing more than doing big business' bidding (and I'm sure they'd love to be helping big business right now) then you have to conclude that their current actions are intended to deepen the depression so that the Democratic party fails.
Basically what's happening is that Republicans are looking ahead to November 2010 and November 2012, while big businesses are looking ahead to their coming quarterly SEC filings, and that's bringing the GOP's two chief purposes into tension with each other. My guess is that if Mitch McConnell sat down with the good folks of the Chamber of Commerce, he'd try to convince them to eat big losses now in order to enjoy major perks when Democrats lose power. But that's a Devil's arithmetic that even big business can't countenance. Self-preservation has become the Republican party's only rudder.

Is the Republican Party that craven? Is being in power so important to the party that they would tank the American public for 2-4 years to achieve it? Or are Cole and Beutler just cynical?

Hmm. The House vote on the bill was telling. Eleven Democrats opposed the bill. Not one Republican voted for it. Not one.

Upshot? I don't think Cole and Beutler are cynical.

Note to self: Come ON, you lazy hussy. Will you please write something about the difference between Republican and conservative.

Off topic: Here is a good discussion between Beutler and Ta-Nahisi Coates in which they discuss Beutler's shooting.

Oh Man...Come On Steele

2009-02-08T13:10:00.000-08:00

Honestly. Only in the Republican bizarro world would obtuse thinking like this be even considered. Michael Steele on This Week w/George Stephanopoulos.

STEELE: But you've got to look at the entire package. You've got to look at what's going to create sustainable jobs. What this administration is talking about is making work. It is creating work.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But that's a job.

STEELE: No, it's not a job. A job is something that -- that a business owner creates. It's going to be long term. What he's creating...

STEPHANOPOULOS: So a job doesn't count if it's a government job? [..]

STEELE: ... That is a contract. It ends at a certain point, George. You know that. These road projects that we're talking about have an end point
STEELE: As a small-business owner, I'm looking to grow my business, expand my business. I want to reach further. I want to be international. I want to be national. It's a whole different perspective on how you create a job versus how you create work. And I'm -- either way, the bottom line is...
STEPHANOPOULOS: I guess I don't really understand that distinction.
STEELE: Well, the difference -- the distinction is this. If a government -- if you've got a government contract that is a fixed period of time, it goes away. The work may go away. That's -- there's no guarantee that that -- that there's going to be more work when you're done in that job.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Yes, but we've seen millions and millions of jobs going away in the private sector just in the last year.
STEELE: But they come -- yes, they -- and they come back, though, George. That's the point.

H/t Crooks and Liars.

I hate to compare men based on color but Steele is like the anti-Obama. Did Republicans hoodoo a rip in the time space continuum so they could get their own colored guy? Did they grab some middle management altverse box thinker and believing one is as good as the next, shove him through the shimmering hole in time? Listen, Bizarro Obama would be sharper than this. Remember that Star Trek episode where Evil-verse Spock had a goatee and sash and liked pussy and completely owned Kirk? Yeah. That's not Steele.

Work is not a job because work ends and jobs don't? Tell that to those who are losing jobs at Microsoft. Microsoft. Come on Steele. Lookit. I'll just out and out say that I'd really like you to do some good because you're a black man. There. I said it. I'm probably going to be diametrically opposed to your positions but still I'd like to kind of look at you kind of like I look at Colin Powell. Yes indeed -- Republican military careerist, but day-um. At least try to kick it up. And here you have an opportunity to make something substantive out of this position and prove that all the intelligent visible Negroes aren't all democrats. You can't do that if you're parsing the difference between work and a job to the working...er...I mean...jobbing, public on TV! It's stupid.

Oh, and just a thought. Do you think Republicans will be parroting your "work is not a job" line of reasoning as a salient talking point?

I don't think the stimulus is meant to be there forever and ever amen. It's for an injection of capital into the revenue stream to get the economy back on track, without any false economic bubbles, which in turn will give those small business owners capital to work with and expand their business to hire more people. I don't completely understand this economy in all of its subtle glory, but I think I understand that because I've been paying attention.

When You Put It That Way

2009-02-07T19:50:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here watching "Devil In A Blue Dress," enjoying Denzel (playing great fictional gumshoe Easy Rawlins) in all his fine fine fine glory and this scene comes on. Two white LA cops grab him at his house, take him to the station and use semi-"enhanced interrogation" techniques on him. They terrorized my baby.

It occurred to me that I can clearly imagine that Cheney (yeah, I know...he's on topic again even though I said I was through) would be okay with what was going on in that scene and much worse.

Blech. I've got to get Cheney out of my head, particularly if he's encroaching on productive Dreamy Denzel time.

I'd Have This Woman's Babies If My Eggs Weren't So Old

2009-02-07T18:37:00.001-08:00

Hat tip to my new prolific blog crush Smooth Like Remy.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I Can't Keep My Fingers Off The Cheney Scab; It's Bugging Me

2009-02-07T17:40:00.000-08:00

Keith Olbermann can get on my nerves. But I give him a pass most times because he piped up in his Special Comment about the flagrant gutting of the country by BushCo when no one else would. His righteous fury can be trying and I'm fairly certain he can be insufferable, but what he says is choice. Criticism of him says that he's the left wing version of Bill O'Reilly, which I call bullshit on because Bill O'Reilly's fury is based on inaccuracies and talking points and xenophobia and bigotry and bullying. Keith may be tough to take at times, but at the very least, he's got the Constitution in mind.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

So, let me get this straight. US Intelligence caught a terrorist mid-plot, tried him, sentenced him and in the process got information that told of a terrorist plan to mass murder US citizens, put the information in an August memo of 2001 to the then president and STILL 9/11 happened?

Why? Why would the Bush Administration ignore such a thing?

I Don't Resent You Driving A Porsche; Just Don't Make It Hard For Me To Maintain My Camry

2009-02-07T15:22:00.000-08:00

People who've known me a while know this story. I think it's on point regarding executive pay capping, at least as I'm thinking about it now. We'll see if it hangs that way when I finish writing it.

I used to work for a small mom and pop law firm specializing in personal injury. It's where I learned the craft of litigation secretaryism. In personal injury, most of the work is done on a contingency basis, i.e. the firm will front the costs of the suit until either a settlement or a verdict is reached. If there is a settlement or the case is won, the firm recoups the costs and attorney fees at a fairly hefty percentage, as much as 45%. There are all sorts of caveats but that's the basic structure.

So, in pursuing a case, it is in a PI firm's best interest to keep costs low, since they're fronting the money. Consequently, small PI firms use paralegals like associates and secretaries like paralegals and secretaries, of course. Also, the volume of cases is larger than non-PI because of that contingency issue; the more cases you are handling, the more possibility for pay day. And still also, even small cases have their value, particularly if some poor schlub has an opposing party dead to rights in neglect. That's why grocery stores are manic about wiping up spills and marking unsafe areas...as they should be.

Anyway, because of the volume, anyone working in PI will see and more importantly, learn on a pretty rapid basis, how a case runs. At smaller firms like the one where I worked (3-5 attorneys, 1 paralegal, 3 secretaries), it's a group effort for success.

The firm where I worked was fairly successful. They had been in business for over 15 years. The two partners and their wives lived a well-to-do life. They drove Porsches, lived in the hills, sent a bunch of children to good private schools and universities, ate out frequently, vacationed marvelously and dressed well.

They paid every two weeks, which if you're a wage slave like me you know it cuts your monthly salary in 10 out of 12 months to, in my case, $400 less monthly even though I was making annually about the same as my former job. Also, this firm paid with a hard check. No automatic deposit there. But again, it was a mom and pop shop, so I'm sure there was a reason for it, mostly that Mom was the bookkeeper for the firm and she had costs of doing business to pay on the professional side and two little angels to keep in private school, Porsche payments to make, vacations to take, etc., so cutting costs was not only in the firm's interest, but in her personal interest as well.

I don't say this with any bitterness. The firm had undertaken responsibilities as a business that I did not have as an employee. Just like in PI, they took the risks of business ownership, so it is more than fair that they reap the reward. I'm not unreasonable.

Here's where I was bitter. There was no set time that they handed out your paycheck. It was nearly always after 2:00 p.m. and often as late as just before you walked out the door. Every other Friday, I was mad. After 2:00 p.m., any money deposited to the bank is not posted until Monday. And to have the Mom of mom and pop drive her Porsche up at 4:30 p.m., sweep into the office after a day of shopping with Fred Segal bags in her hands to give me my paycheck that I could not take advantage of would make my blood absolutely boil. I didn't begrudge her shopping at Fred Segal, but I did begrudge her keeping my money, money that I earned by doing my best job possible, in her hands and in those Fred Segal bags, where I could not use it.

When the public sees the fruits of their efforts (a few ducats of that bailout money was contributed by me) given to companies that have CEOs paying more than our yearly salary for a rug, it makes us resentful.

It shouldn't have to be legislated what CEOs can make, any more than I should have to complain relentlessly about getting my pay on pay day. It is something that given the situation and dictated by moral conscience, should have automatically been done. However, well-to-do people often have absolutely no shame, so legislation and whining incessantly are necessary.

Hmmm. This kind of hangs together, though the equivalency is a bit off. Though... My blood boils about these bailout CEOs in exactly the same way it did every other Friday at the mom and pop legal shoppe.

Spending IS Stimulus...That's The Whole Point

2009-02-06T01:38:00.000-08:00

A self-indulgent, rambling, perhaps TMI post ahead. It's after 1:00 a.m. and it just kept writing itself. Meh. Blogging.

I know very little about economics. I should knock wood as I say this, but the economic crisis hasn't much affected me other than scaring the shit out of me on behalf of my country. I don't own a house, renting instead a house owned or nearly owned by someone else. I paid off my car this month. (Yay me!) I have no children to send to college. I have no husband with ex-wives I have to split my income with. I have no ex-husbands who need help. I have no hot deadbeat boyfriends with bad habits or artistic dreams.

I'm in more debt than I would like and have more credit cards than is probably wise, but I'm not tipping on the edge of the max. I take that responsibility seriously so I usually pay an amount over the minimum payment and I pay early. Though I worry about layoffs, I have a job at which I excel and am vain enough to think that if my company felt that I was no longer necessary, they would suffer with the loss of my efforts. I'm fairly secure in thinking I could get another one quickly...perhaps not at my current pay but working as a litigation secretary in a litigious town is sort of like working in the tampon industry or at a mortuary. No matter how hard times get, people are always going to need my services.

I didn't start saving for my retirement until I was well into my 40s so I contribute faithfully to my retirement. I don't want to end up in an old folks home drooling alone in a wheelchair by the nurses station. My retirement did take a big hit when the market fell, but I have enough working years left that I can only hope things will get rosier before I'm too old to work. I will probably be working into my 70s, God willing, the creek don't rise and I have my wits about me. (Nothing worse than an old incompetent legal secretary.) So retirement and visiting my mother fairly regularly are my big expenses.

I am living paycheck to paycheck but without the car note, I hope to change that slowly but surely.

So, if circumstances in my life maintain the status quo for a while, I should be okay. If they don't, however (and I can damn near guarantee that they won't because nothing in life does), I'm going join the half million people each month who are in a world of hurt.

There is before the Senate the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This is the stimulus it is offering to the economy:

Tax cuts ($275 billion):
Payroll tax cuts ($500 for each individual, $1000 for couples)
$2500 tax credit for higher education
$7500 non-repayable tax credit for first-time home buyers (for houses bought until July 1)
Education investments ($141.6 billion):
$79 billion in state fiscal relief to prevent cutbacks to key services, including $39 billion to local school districts and public colleges and universities distributed through existing state and federal formulas, $15 billion to states as bonus grants as a reward for meeting key performance measures, and $25 billion to states for other high priority needs such as public safety and other critical services, which may include education
$41 billion to local school districts through Title I ($13 billion), IDEA ($13 billion), a new School Modernization and Repair Program ($14 billion), and the Education Technology program ($1 billion)
$15.6 billion to increase the Pell Grant by $500
$6 billion for higher education modernization
Health care investments ($112.1 billion):
$87 billion for a temporary increase in the Medicaid matching rate for the states
$20 billion for health information technology, including electronic medical records to prevent medical mistakes, provide better care to patients and introduce cost-saving efficiencies
$4.1 billion to provide for preventative care and to evaluate the most effective healthcare treatments.
Welfare/unemployment ($102 billion):
$43 billion for unemployment benefits and job training
$39 billion for short-term Medicaid insurance and Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985 (COBRA) subsidy
$20 billion for the Food Stamp Program
Infrastructure investments ($90 billion):
$31 billion to modernize federal and other public infrastructure with investments that lead to long-term energy cost savings
$30 billion for highway construction
$19 billion for clean water, flood control, and environmental restoration investments
$10 billion for transit and rail to reduce traffic congestion and gas consumption
Energy investments ($58 billion):
$32 billion funding for an electric smart grid
$20 billion for renewable energy tax cuts
$6 billion for weatherizing modest-income homes

There must be sub-categories not published on Wikipedia -- i.e. how does the $6 billion get allocated for weatherizing -- the Republicans have their panties in a wad about because to me it looks like Ol' Glory unfurled. Oh, yeah. Spending is evil. Two'll get you five they want Food Stamps out out out.

Which brings me to Pres. Obama's remarks at the House Democrats’ retreat in Williamsburg, Virginia. Go here to C-Span for his remarks in their entirety. Upshot? It's there at minute 14:30. Spending IS stimulus...that's the whole point.

UPDATE: The video of that particular moment. H/t Smooth Like Remy.

Now, Wonkette Can Write Some Headlines

2009-02-05T07:37:00.001-08:00

I know I said I was through with The Corner too. This isn't actually me checking in on The Corner, per se. It's through a third party; one of my favorite third parties, Wonkette. They're hilarious. NRO Dildo Has Been Accurately Predicting President Obama’s Failures Since March ‘08. Now that's a headline.

See, what had happened was... Victor Davis Hanson, essayed Pres. Obama's apparent epic failure on The Corner. Wonkette saw. It snarkily and accurately conquered.

So who can elitist Washington journalists turn to for PROOF that Obama has already failed 1,000% at everything, forever? How about some dingbat National Review Online blogger who is consistently wrong about everything, always, but somehow gets a pass because he used to teach history and lives on a raisin farm in Fresno?

Victor Davis Hanson, come on down!

...

There is only one small problem with using a wingnut NRO blogger as the barometer of Obama’s presidential success: Victor Davis Hanson has been regularly announcing the complete, dismal failure of Barack Obama’s presidency since March of last year. Each and every time, Hanson has been wrong. No matter the historical analogy that might or might not been relevant, no matter the educated certainty of the tone — he sounds pretty smart next to mouth-breathing fartsacks like Jonah Goldberg or Kathryn Jean Lopez! — the endless hopeful predictions of Obama’s failure never manage to actually come true. But keep trying, Victor! Even a broken clock needs to be thrown in the fucking trash.

I can shout "Fuck You" at idiocy, but I have a hard time calling people names like "mouth-breathing fartsacks,." Go figure. So I pretty much rely on Wonkette to do it for me.

Also, per Wonkette, The Economist (The Economist!!) took the time to catalogue Victor Davis Hanson's consistent inaccuracies.

I'm Through With Dick -- Cheney, That Is.

2009-02-04T19:31:00.001-08:00

Cheap headline, I know, but after my morning cup of ire and then the 70 minute commute / hard ass day at work / 60 minute commute day, it's all I got. Headlines aren't really my strong suit anyway.

On topic. This is what a reasonable reaction to Dick Cheney's terrorizing boogedy-boogedy looks like. If I hadn't been so furious, I may have come up with a third of the elegance of this. (Though in my experience, a hearty "Fuck You" also serves a solid purpose.) From Joe Klein at Swampland, I post in its entirety.

Let's leave aside the fact that if Dick Cheney and his alleged boss had been more vigilant--if they had listened to the Clinton appointees like Sandy Berger who warned about Al Qaeda, if they had paid attention to their own intelligence reports (notably the one on August 6, 2001)--the September 11 attacks might never have happened. Actually, I can't leave that aside...but in any case, it is sleazy in the extreme for Cheney to predict another terrorist attack. For several reasons:

1. Some sort of terrorist attack is likely, eventually, no matter who is President.

2. Cheney has done here what the Bush Administration did throughout: he has politicized terror. If another attack happens, it's Obama's fault. Disgraceful... and ungrateful, since it's only Obama's mercy that stands between Cheney and a really serious war crimes investigation. Which leads to...

3. The means that Cheney has supported to combat terror in the past, especially "enhanced" interogation techniques, are quite probably illegal. He is criticizing the Obama administration for not being willing to defy international law.

4. Cheney's track record of mismanagement in Iraq and Afghanistan--his sponsorship of Donald Rumsfeld, the worst Secretary of Defense in US history-- disqualifies him from having any credible say on the security policies of his successor.

This is a man who should either be (a) scorned or (b) ignored.

My scorn is below. I shall henceforth attempt to ignore Cheney, along with those uncooperative, unproductive partisan hacks at The Corner (except for John Derbyshire whose writing style if not content I enjoy reading). He'll never again ruin my morning.

UPDATE: Another sensible reaction from Coates. Takeaway:

A man who knows he's right about something this serious, who truly has faith that history will vindicate him, who really doesn't care what other think (remember that "So?" moment) doesn't need to take to the papers barely a few weeks out of office. His conscience is clear in knowing that he did all that he could do, not simply to protect American lives, but to protect the American way of life. I'm not talking about gas-guzzlers and credit cards, but liberty and happiness. That man doesn't try to rehab his image. He knows that this country is freer and safer now, than it was when he came in. That man is secure in himself.

But that man isn't Dick Cheney...

Ta-Nehisi is always more generous than I.

Apparently, I am not through with Dick.

You Talkin' To Me? You Talkin' To Me?

2009-02-04T07:06:00.000-08:00

Three, count 'em, three Politico writers got together to do up this interview, entitled "Cheney Warns of New Attacks" with Dick the Dark Lord. What does Dick have to say?

"When we get people who are more concerned about reading the rights to an Al Qaeda terrorist than they are with protecting the United States against people who are absolutely committed to do anything they can to kill Americans, then I worry,” Cheney said.

Protecting the country’s security is “a tough, mean, dirty, nasty business,” he said. “These are evil people. And we’re not going to win this fight by turning the other cheek.”

Citing intelligence reports, Cheney said at least 61 of the inmates who were released from Guantanamo during the Bush administration—“that’s about 11 or 12 percent”—have “gone back into the business of being terrorists.”

The 200 or so inmates still there, he claimed, are “the hard core” whose “recidivism rate would be much higher.” He called Guantanamo a “first-class program,” and “a necessary facility” that is operated legally and with better food and treatment than the jails in inmates native countries.
...

“The United States needs to be not so much loved as it needs to be respected. Sometimes, that requires us to take actions that generate controversy. I’m not at all sure that that’s what the Obama adminstration believes.”

Yeah? Fuck you, Dick Cheney. Don't threaten me. 9/11 happened on your watch. Your watch. I watched my people jump out of windows on your watch. I haven't forgotten that. I cried for weeks. What are you going to do? Call your vast network of bloodmongers and make sure something happens. I wouldn't put it past you. You betcha there are dangerous people out there and you are one of them. You pimp my values? You corrupt my beliefs? You wipe your filthy feet on my rights and then threaten me? Fuck you, Dick. I despise you and what you've done to my country. Talk about respect? You lost mine when you sat around a boardroom and devised ways to have OTHER people torture human beings to get what you claim you need instead of figuring out a way to work for it. Work. Just like I do every single motherfucking day. You took the easy way and threw intelligence out the window. You're a thug. And an opportunist. And a fat cat. And right now my lips are drawn back with disgust, you cheap unimaginative entitled bully. Fuck you.

I'm too livid right now to write something coherent. Maybe later.

Something I'VE Always Wondered

2009-02-02T06:57:00.000-08:00

Do Conservatives Have A Voice At Yale?

Glenn Greenwald Don't Play

2009-02-01T20:23:00.001-08:00

Oh, no...he don't. He will call out anyone on anything at any time about what he believes is right. He was a constitutional law and civil rights litigator. Litigator. He is accustomed to getting facts and he will argue you or a point into the ground and won't let go. Even I was annoyed* with him over his haranguing then Sen. Obama's position on the FISA vote. Yeah, I disagreed with Obama on his position, but frankly, got tired of Greenwald being such a harridan about the point.

Greenwald took a position against appointing John Brennan as anything having to do with the Intelligence Community in the Obama Administration because he saw Brennan as condoning torture...and he wouldn't let it go, getting into several back and forths with other bloggers including Spencer Ackerman. Spencer, bless his heart, argued his point more than ably but admitted that arguing with Greenwald is not for the faint of heart.

Greenwald does not play. After years of working with litigators, some good, some bad, some lazy and some downright stupid, I think I can spot one who is not just in it for aggrandizement. Greenwald, I believe, is in it for the love of the Constitution and the rule of law and will slap anyone who sullies them in the face. And oh...to have been able to type or edit his legal briefs. He is the kind of lawyer who old lit sec battleaxes like me at the very least, respect.

And he hates hypocrisy. This update paragraph in his column today about what a DC whore Tom Daschle apparently is, is priceless.

When they met, Tom was 33 and married with three children, and Linda was 23 and single (and 3 years away from having been crowned Miss Kansas). He and his first wife then divorced and shortly thereafter married Linda. It's amazing how many politicians love to self-righteously tout what a "sacred and traditional cultural bond" is the male-female marital union even as they parade around with their much-younger latest wife, whom they met while still enmeshed in a "sacred and traditional bond" with their first wife.

Preach it, Glenny. This thought is an aside. You should really read the whole column. Greenwald thinks and writes in argumentative legal briefs. I don't always agree with him, but damn I love the way he sets it out.

* I am sorry to say that Too Sense is no longer in existence so the link within my post won't work.

Super Bowl XLIII

2009-02-01T18:10:00.000-08:00

Sick as a dog this Super Bowl Sunday with messy and unladylike symptoms. Damn breakfast at greasy spoons. Good to be alone. But I'm watching the game on the television I haven't turned on since, well, last Super Bowl Sunday. NBC isn't streaming it. The commercials are fun. Star Trek is coming out in May. I may have to unass the house and see it. And G.I. Joe. (Yay to my girl who follows Cobra Commander twitter.)

SGWhiteinFla at Smooth Like Remy predicts 34 to 21, Steelers. I dunno. It's down to nearly 10 minutes in the 4th quarter and it's 20/7 Steelers.

Oooohhh! Lookee what I found.

Of course, my job NOW doesn't make me feel this way, but God knows I have punched a steering wheel or two while shrieking behind rolled up windows. And also...I may have wept constantly going to and coming from work for perhaps a year or two IN THE PAST.

And word of advice. If you're crying over horses falling in love, it's time to find a lovah. What? I'm not crying. Don't be silly. It's HORSES for chrissakes.

Here are all the ads.

Sounds

2009-01-31T09:11:00.000-08:00

I found this music widget to add here. It's far from perfect. Some are just 30 second clips. Some are full songs but with funky tech or recordings not from the album. I'm sure it'll improve the more people use it. And I apparently have to re-do it if I want to add or delete songs, which I hate. I'm sure there are other kinks to it I'm not aware of. What do they mean by X number of 25 plays left? Is that aggregate for all or per site visitor(s)? And it's kind of disheartening to have to be part of the huge marketing machine. We shall see what unfolds.

Anyway, enjoy my eclectic taste.

Hmmm. I wonder if I can find Spencer's band The Surge.

You Think You Know Me Well, But You Don't Know Me

2009-01-30T06:19:00.000-08:00

Drat! TNC beat me to posting this so I have hat tip both him and Dana Goldstein at TAPPED. Dana longs for Michelle to express herself as she did here early in the campaign in Iowa.

This is why Juan Williams labels Michelle Obama "Stokely Carmichael in a designer dress."

It is my opinion that some white folks perceive "passion" as "angry" in black folks. Strong emotion, about anything, in black people makes some white people nervous. Good to know I'm not the only black woman who gets caught up in speaking truth to power and labeled an angry black woman.

Just for shits and giggles, if you're black, go to a local work Starbucks, think about how Michelle was mischaracterized using examples like this video. Let it hurt your feelings -- inflame your passions as it were -- and more importantly, let it show on your face. Oh, the injustice! Now glare. Glare real hard. If you've got expressive eyebrows, let them knit a sweater. I know. I know. You've become accustomed to being more apparently affable than that, but this is for fun. What happens?

Now, I happen to agree with the commenter at Dana's post who says this is wondrous to watch, but if Michelle had stayed this "passionate," Barack Obama wouldn't be president. But then I didn't think Pres. Obama could be elected until I was shamed by Iowa. I do know you can't call what you see what you see without an updo, glasses, five babies and pumps.

(Yeah, I have a serious irk on about Sarah Palin and the inequity and false equivalency she inspired. Virtually every pushback from Republican friends when discussing Palin during the campaign somehow involved "She's hot." But hopefully she's gone for a while. I'm working on it.)

I Get Mine, You Get Yours

2009-01-29T07:27:00.000-08:00

Megan Carpentier over at Jezebel (girl knows politics and has a head for finance and is another blog crush who I actually KNOW insofar as one can know someone solely through the internet) has her morning rundown on all things political. She has been saying for a bit that Pres. Obama should not compromise so much with Republicans, i.e. taking family planning out of the stimulation package per their vocal and public posturing (link forthcoming), because Republicans are not going to vote for whatever package he puts up anyway. It looks like she was right. Zero Republicans voted for the stimulus package, compromise notwithstanding.

Adam Serwer is a little miffed about Pres. Obama's compromise too.

I have to think about this some more. Pres. Obama has a great deal of political capital. Shouldn't now be the time to use it to basically crush what little Republican capital there is and push his programs through? On the other hand, he campaigned to be bipartisan - a change to the old way of doing things -- which is what he attempted to do compromising on the stimulus package. Is Pres. Obama's point to try to cooperate, regardless of how many Republicans voted for the package. Will he use the Republican non-cooperation against them?

Oh, To Have Been In That Line

2009-01-29T06:16:00.000-08:00

I saw this early Tuesday night but decided instead to write about Silly Williams. Gah! Now it's everywhere and I could have been first. No matter. It's amazing nonetheless.

Amazing Video on Stage of the Obama Inaugural Celebration
by JayZ15

Celebrities! They're just like US! This is exactly how I would have been. Except I'm not sure I'd be able to be so casual. I'd be amazed if I could squeak out a sound.

Commenter Bruce at TNC (where I lurk in the a.m.) has said:

The prez has a swagger about him in this setting...He's usually more low-key in political settings but the way he greeted the "hip-hop bourgeoisie" is kind of telling.

I think I know what he means, but I've asked first since it does no good to assume.

Waiting.

Well, I'm glad I asked. Bruce hasn't exactly said what it tells, but I think he chose the wrong adjective. It seems Pres. Obama's behavior around the "hip-hop bourgeoisie" is comfortable, at ease, and something to admire...I think that's what he means.

Quickly...

2009-01-28T08:25:00.000-08:00

I think there is a difference between Republican ideology and conservative ideology. More on that later.

iPhone blogging isn't so hard.

I've GOT To Get Ready For Work

2009-01-28T07:36:00.001-08:00

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Guantanamo Baywatch - The Final Season

Daily Show Full Episodes
Daily Show Tickets

Update On Speaking Of Shelby Steele

2009-01-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

This fangirl shit has got to stop. I can't help myself, though. Smart men make me squeee.

From TNC re Williams:

There's more. Williams has, of late, been obsessed with gangsta rap and the cultural failings of young black men. Chief among his complaints is how we talk about women. It simply boggles the mind that Williams would then invoke the most ancient of stereotypes about black women. Moreover, it boggles the mind that Williams would actually buy into this idea that Obama is actually some sort of closet radical. As a reporter and as writer--which neither Limbaugh, nor Hannity, nor O'Reilly, nor Scarborough are--I just expect a little more.

Go read the whole thing.

See. This Is How It's Done

2009-01-28T06:43:00.001-08:00

My God it's good to have a knowledgeable coherent man representing my interests. (Note that this is in two parts -- click on one of the screens at the bottom that come up at the end for the second part.) My long time writing crush Adam Serwer (link to his stuff in previous post) points out the exchange about who the frak are terrorists going to now blame for their lot.

ADAM: ...I just wanted to point out that this is what an effective taunt looks like:
Q How concerned are you and -- because people sense that you have a different political discourse. And I think, judging by (inaudible) and Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden and all these, you know -- a chorus --
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I noticed this. They seem nervous.
Q They seem very nervous, exactly. Now, tell me why they should be more nervous?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, I think that when you look at the rhetoric that they've been using against me before I even took office --

Q I know, I know.

THE PRESIDENT: -- what that tells me is that their ideas are bankrupt. There's no actions that they've taken that say a child in the Muslim world is getting a better education because of them, or has better health care because of them.

In my inauguration speech, I spoke about: You will be judged on what you've built, not what you've destroyed. And what they've been doing is destroying things. And over time, I think the Muslim world has recognized that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction.
ADAM: It's so much more effective than "bring it on..."

What always bothered me about GeeDub was how he was like the arrogant numbskulls I have worked for in the past. (None now. My current bosses belch rainbows.) "They" weren't lying when they said that he was the kind of guy you could have a beer in a bar with...and you'd have to crack on him when he smirked something stupid and grabbed your ass. I don't want a president I'd have to keep my back to the wall around.

Speaking Of Shelby Steele

2009-01-28T05:31:00.000-08:00

As Rikyrah said at TNC's post on the matter, somebody needs to call Ray Ray and Junebug and beat Juan Williams' ass. This little gnome sat his "lone liberal on Fox News" ass up on Bill O'Reilly's show and, without any provocation from Bill O, disrespected Michelle Obama by out and out lying.

I have the same problem with this as I have with most of what Shelby Steele writes. Untrue Republican talking points are broadcast by the Negroes Republicans can stomach. Michelle Obama has never blamed America. She has never victimized herself or her race. But the Negroes dance and dance.

I could fling terms about like House Negro, Slave Catcher, Tom, but are these invectives fair application to Mr. Williams? Williams has held it down in many arenas before they decided to allow his "feets don't fail me now" ass in the Fox manse. He is the author of the non-fiction bestseller Eyes on The Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965 and Thurgood Marshall — American Revolutionary. What changed? Money? Is Fox money that big?

Maybe it's not about Williams jigging in front of the white folks. Maybe it's more about his disrespectful history towards women. Perhaps, as ridiculously brilliant Adam Serwer wonders, he is one of those black men who pen essays like Why I Don't Date Black Women. Perhaps a black from a distance 6 foot tall accomplished serious black woman shrivels Williams like a dip in a cold pool. And since he doesn't have to say these untruths in front of Michelle, or the President for that matter, he can spout off whatever drivel he wishes. It's just too bad it's in front of Bill O'Reilly and a chick named Mary Catherine. I wonder what their reaction would be if he spouted off such untruths about...say...Republican Political Sex Pixie Sarah Palin. Would they still let him in the house then?

As I suggested at TNC, yeah. He needs his ass beat. By President Barack Obama on the basketball court.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: Nothing about this post is particularly original. During my work day, I scan the internet on my breaks and lunch hour, so I'm usually 8-12 hours behind in the break of the story and by then, everything astute that can be said about a subject has been said, as evidenced by Rikyrah's assertion that somebody needs to get Ray Ray and Junebug and beat his ass. This late in the game, I would only add "don't make me go get Big Mike."

Speaking Of The Corner

2009-01-26T21:25:00.000-08:00

Where the hell is Shelby Steele? Yeah, I know. Conservativism isn't monolithic, but the dominoes do fall. The mind-boggling self-interest disguised as thoughtful, personally responsible patriotism at The Corner brings to mind Shelby Steele. So sue me.

Oh there. He is.

Good lord. The writing assignment from the Wall Street Journal is "Hopes for the Obama Presidency." But Steele has a knack for shitty headlines ("...Why He Can't Win"), so we get "Black America Could Have Done Better."

Patterning himself after Rush, here are his hopes:

I hope this administration does not succeed in dumping vast amounts of printing-press money into the economy, so that taxes must later be raised to withering levels. I hope it fails to universalize health care or to sustain race-based affirmative action. I hope school choice happens in inner cities despite Mr. Obama's animus toward it.

Sigh.

To be fair, Steele is hoping for the failure of policies abject to conservative philosophy, not failure of an Obama presidency, but is one separate from the other? I don't expect everyone to get on the Obama train I'm riding. I'm perfectly happy to have each have their own. But wasn't this negative attitude decried as treason when those who didn't fall in line after 9/11 voiced their low opinions of Bush's policies?

I'm becoming convinced that sites such as The Corner and thinkers in Steele's vein are struggling. They are so used to defending their self-actualized personal responsibility bailiwick that when confronted with success from other quarters, they are stymied. Their imagination is lacking, so they revert to what, remarkably once upon a Reagan, worked.

I'm not quite there yet, but I may follow the example of a blogger whose site I cannot remember and just dismiss their selfish rubbish out of hand. But in doing that, is there the danger of echo chamber political conscience? Thought unchallenged is thought stunted, which is a large part of conservative philosophy's problem right now.

A good corollary question is "Are Republicans and Conservatives The Same Thing?"

Jesus. My head hurts.

I Write E-Mails

2009-01-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

The headline, text, included link and picture in Kathryn Jean Lopez' post at The Corner is:

The Obama Girls
are dolls. Literally.

My e-mail sent to Ms. Lopez is as follows:

What's your point?

Picture of EVERYBODY There

2009-01-26T17:30:00.000-08:00

The hits on this site are huge, so it takes a long time right now to load, but here is a link to a picture of Pres. Obama's Inauguration speech. The creator, David Bergman created it out of 220 separate photos. It's searchable and zoomable. The hook is that you can zoom into any part and see anyone who was there as if it were a picture in your hand.

Say Amen, Somebody

2009-01-25T15:41:00.000-08:00

At the very bottom of this post is by far my favorite part of the Inauguration. Rev. Joseph Lowery is a man of good will and good cheer. His faith in a God whose existence I at times doubt has borne him well for 87 years. It's so wondrous to behold I am sometimes taken with envy. He has withstood offenses I cannot imagine, yet came to that day as days beforehand, with an open heart and mind. A staunch supporter of LGBT issues as well as one of the first to endorse then Sen. Obama, he has made it clear that he stands for what was always taught to me as being right and fair, with a chuckle and a grin.

A brouhaha broke out over at TNC's blog over one of the last lines of his prayer, taken from a saying older than I am but one I'm certainly familiar with. It is particular to the black community. It went something to the effect of "If you're white, you're right; if your brown, stick around; if you're black, get way back." KevDog, whom I have cited here, posted on his blog:

Reverend Lowery ended things on a bit of a downer for me. On this, of all days, to lament the fact that White has yet to embrace right was uncalled for. A little petty too, I think. Up until that last line, he had me in the palm of his hand.

Look, everyone knows that we fucked things up in the past. We also know that we can do better. But for crying out loud, all we want is credit for trying. Would that have been too much to ask? This was our day too. This was the country’s day.

I saw this and posted something on his blog letting him know about the adage (which is actually based on a song) and that it wasn't something Rev. Lowery was bitching him out wholeheartedly about. Yet even in my explanation to KevDog, I was torn.

KevDog, by his comments and his blog, seems to be thoughtful and aware of the privilege born him by dint of his color. That is to say, he thinks of things deeper than what is presented, and that's a good thing. Also, I wouldn't want him to stifle his feelings. Talking about race in any form is hard frakking work and I applaud him his foray into the realm.

Here's the part that got me, though. This feeling of his, this what I think is a misunderstanding of the purpose of Rev. Lowery's words, are because KevDog and indeed a whole slew of white folks, have no idea what goes on in black culture. In my mind, that's 9/10ths of what the whole mess was with Rev. Wright. They don't know that black folks sit in church and listen to our preacher say a bunch of ridiculous stuff...FOR YEARS...and spend that time figuring out what we're going to fix for dinner and then attention comes back on point when the preacher says something meaningful to us. No idea about so much of what is rich there. What our sayings are. What our feelings are. How we express ourselves. It is, however, taken from us piecemeal to emulate or sell without regard to the whole.

I know so much about white culture because it's been the status quo. Rikyrah, a commenter on TNC's blog and contributor at Jack and Jill Politics, (and one I can count on to tell it like it t.i.s.), said:

So, Black folk and others are talking like they've always been, but it's like, suddenly, for the first time, White folks are listening. They're listening in mid-conversation and have no idea what came before in said conversation.

I also agree with the above poster who said Black folk don't have a choice but to have a Bachelors in White folk. It's requisite for you to be able to to function in America. And the higher you move in 'American (i.e. WHITE) society, you best be getting a PhD in White folk to survive'. The successful Black Professional has a skillset that is unparalleled, IMO.

White folk, on the other hand, can be grown, married, with children, and still be asking stupid questions like, ' Why is Malia's hair braided like that', or ' Why didn't Michelle comb Malia's hair on the first day of school'.

Ding ding ding. This is on the money, and probably what bugged me about KevDog's reaction, not that he didn't have a right to feel this way. But he didn't know because he didn't have to know in order to live and prosper. And then the racial paranoia in me pipes up with "That's what hurts your feelings? You're going to have to go harder than that to hang, son." But that's counter-productive and I really want discussions of race to be productive.

I also think that KevDog, who has professed great admiration of Rev. Lowery, was shocked and caught off guard that perhaps the Rev. may look at KevDog as one of the blue-eyed devils who subjugated him, which is a bracing thought to contemplate.

KevDog has since written something more substantive on his feelings. TNC put up another post admonishing that one doesn't deserve credit for doing what you're supposed to do. Comments went wacko again.

And Rev. Lowery's benediction still makes me say "Amen!!"

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

UPDATE: I have watched this at least 5 times this morning. I have to figure a way to post this permanently on my blog.

President Obama Spares My Wrath

2009-01-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Heidi Fleiss sat next to me in the middle seat on the plane home from Chicago; or rather, the puddle jump second leg from Chicago. She boarded minutes before takeoff in Vegas. She was accompanied by a diminutive man. She herself wore 3 inch flip flops and a leather coat that reeked of cigarette smoke. She stuffed the little guy's bag under the seat across the aisle that she wasn't sitting in. She cracked a new Popular Mechanics magazine and tore out all the subscription cards and threw them on the floor. She spoke of her father a lot. She kept her iPhone on the whole flight. She checked the internet. She slammed down the shade to the window. She kept flinging her hair. She and the young man across the aisle, who clearly recognized her, made eyes at each other; he kept waving his size 14s at her. She told the flight attendant she didn't want anything to drink by waving her away. She sat comfortably in her seat like neither I nor her diminutive friend were there.

She's a predatory sort with bad manners and lovely eyes.

I worried briefly that something catastrophic would happen to this flight, because in the scheme of divine providence and chaos theory, I suspect Heidi Fleiss is going to die bloody. I imagined the 11:00 news of the plane's destruction notable because Heidi Fleiss was on it...and then a brief retrospective of her exploits of keeping and building whorehouses, including a sound bite from Charlie Sheen. Nothing, of course, about the woman who sat next to her watching her spin her environment to suit only her.

When she nearly stepped on my laptop to deplane, my instinct to snarl "Hold up, you selfish ill-mannered pimp, let me get MY stuff," just wasn't there. Instead I said, "Just a minute, young lady, I need to get my laptop." She said "Oh, sorry," and waited.

This inauguration made me so happy, even flying home three days after next to a thoroughly unpleasant young woman couldn't ruin it for me.

We Can Always Do Better

2009-01-23T18:59:00.001-08:00

Way back, I wrote a screed about this young brother. I think he's one of the wickedest things on the internet. More to come about my trip home to watch the Inauguration with my mom. It was a way interesting trip.

I Swear I'll Be Back

2009-01-16T19:35:00.000-08:00

Uhhh, yeah. I had to take a break. I'll be back, though. I'm going home to watch the inauguration with my mother and will be back next weekend, weather permitting.

Consider the below my gift to you. Enjoy.

I Write Letters

2008-12-19T06:28:00.000-08:00

Hello there! Been away for a while, under a great cloud of some pretty freakout inducing health issues, and just didn't have the creative spirit to, well, create. THANK GOD for my misguided boyfriend Charles Krauthammer. He obviously knew this and penned one of his obnoxious missives just for me. Wasn't that sweet?

Chuck's argument against appointing Caroline Kennedy to Hillary Clinton's senate seat from the Washington Post:

Right idea, wrong argument. The problem with Caroline Kennedy's presumption to Hillary Clinton's soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat is not lack of qualification or experience. The Senate houses lots of inexperienced rookies -- wealthy businessmen, sports stars, even the occasional actor.

The problem is Kennedy's sense of entitlement. Given her rather modest achievements, she is trading entirely on pedigree.

I hate to be a good-government scold, but wasn't the American experiment a rather firm renunciation of government by pedigree?

I, of course, couldn't let this pass me by, health and ennui be damned:

This is lazy writing. Your premise of Caroline Kennedy's sense of entitlement is not supported by facts. What are you basing this statement on? What you have pointed out is others' and apparently your sense of Caroline Kennedy's entitlement. You do this all the time. You state what can only be in another's mind without proof to back it up. Lazy and if I may say, entitled opinion reporting. It's true if you say it? Gah!

It's not that I disagree with his idea that Kennedy should not get the senate seat on her name alone. I think it's a bad idea for the government by pedigree reason that Chucky states. What gets my goat about Chuck is his assumption of others' thoughts and beliefs and stating them as facts in The Washington Post. Gah, indeed.

How Do I Know About God's Judgment?

2008-12-13T08:12:00.000-08:00

Reinhold Niebuhr, was a theologian who applied his philosophy to politics and diplomacy. PE Obama is a "fan" of his; that is to say that Obama has stated that he respects Niebuhr's philosophy and how it applies to 21st century world affairs.

I found this interview between a dewy-skinned Mike Wallace and Niebuhr from 1958. Niebuhr's thinking is rational, generous, non-dogmatic in an affective way, yet secure in his understanding of his relationship with God.

It's 30 minutes long but the time flies because Niebuhr's answers compel your thoughts like dominoes. At the very end, he states something that aptly applies to my whole argument about Prop 8 among, in my opinion, other injustices perpetrated in religion's name. Wallace asks:

"Do you think that because you're a Christian you're a more valuable man in our society, or more worthy in the eyes of God than an atheist like Bertrand Russell?"

Niebuhr rightly states that he's already answered the question, but generously offers the following:

"Certainly anybody who says 'In the eyes of God,' is pretentious. How do I know about God's judgment? One of the fundamental points about religious humility is that you say you don't know about the ultimate judgment. It's beyond your judgment. And if you equate God's judgment with your judgment, you have a wrong religion."

EXACTLY!

Blogging is Easy; Commenting Is Hard II

2008-12-11T08:30:00.000-08:00

I hang out a lot at Ta-Nehisi Coates' blog, which to anybody who is reading me, is no surprise. The brother is smart and fiercely self-evaluating, curious almost to the point of annoyance, and completely nerdy. He's hip to Joss Whedon. I thought I was the only black person hip to Joss Whedon.

I don't comment much because I have a job, as I'm sure I've explained before. When I do, it is nowhere near the caliber of his other commenters.

One of TNC's more intelligent commenters goes by KevDog. TNC spotlighted his brand new blog named Beautiful Futility. I am completely jealous. I'm suggesting you take a gander.

Beautiful Futility has been added to my blogroll.

I've still got blogging ennui.

Mental Health Break

2008-12-03T22:14:00.000-08:00

I've had to take some down time. A bit of a glitch in my creative get-along. I'll be back up soon. Please don't go 'way.

I've Seen The Future

2008-12-01T19:54:00.000-08:00

See, Obama had this shizzat tight from jump.

Hill's maniacal laughter sure got smoothed out, dinnit?

Calling It What It Is

2008-11-24T05:00:00.000-08:00

From Andrew:

Even the word "torture" can be too vague and abstract a term. So let us state in plain English how Bush, Cheney, Tenet, et al. actually got information. They did it by subjecting prisoners to repeated drowning, or freezing, or heating, or sadistically long sleeplessness, or shackling or crucifying them until the pain could be borne no longer, or beating them until they pleaded for mercy, or threatening to kill or torture their children or wife or parents. Or all of the above in combination, in isolation, and with no surety of ever seeing the light of day again, with no right to meaningful due process of any kind, sometimes sealed off from light and sound for months at a time, or bombarded with indescribable noise day and night in cells from which there was no escape ever. This is what "under coercive conditions" actually means. It drove many of the victims into become mumbling, shaking, insane shells of human beings; it killed dozens; it drove others still to hunger strikes to try to kill themselves; and it terrified and scarred and "broke" the souls of many, many others. For what? Intelligence that cannot be trusted, and the loss of the sacred integrity of two centuries of American history. Did it save lives? We do not know. We do know that the people who are claiming it did have been unable to bring any serious case to justice based on their original claims, and are the people who are criminally responsible for the torture they have committed. Why would they not say it saved lives? And yet we have no other way to know. And we have the terrifying possibility that false information procured by torture provided a pretext to torture others in a self-perpetuating loop in which any ability to find out the actual truth is lost for ever. That, after all, is how some of the flawed intelligence that took us into Iraq was procured.

This paragraph tore my heart open. Andrew includes a picture that I cannot bring myself to post here. It is too profane. Is this us? Is this how we defend ourselves? Is this what we condone? I've written before about torture. Pragmatically. But to see it so graphically depicted...

What have we done?

Shot Callers?

2008-11-23T19:43:00.000-08:00

Jodi Cantor at The New York Times profiles friend-in-chief Valerie Jarrett:

To the outside world, Ms. Jarrett became an all-purpose ambassador. Before the Iowa caucuses, Ms. Jarrett tried to persuade black leaders that Mr. Obama could prevail; afterwards, she had to deal with their jitters. At one nerve-racking meeting last summer, Ms. Jarrett met in New York with black leaders, including the hip-hop moguls Sean Combs and Russell Simmons; Mr. Simmons grew so anxious that he had to leave the room, Ms. Jarrett said. They were worried that Mr. Obama was failing to fight back against attempts to stereotype him in racial terms.

“She could have told the room, You’re right, I will talk to Senator Obama,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. Instead, Ms. Jarrett was blunt. “There are those who are going to fight the race gap, but that’s not our role,” she said, telling the leaders to channel their energy into concrete tasks like voter registration.

Well, that's a bracing revelation. Sean Combs and Russell Simmons are considered Black Leaders; enough to merit inclusion in a meeting with other Black Leaders including Rev. Al and Ms. Jarrett.

Not that I'm not impressed by Messrs. Combs and Simmons and their successful business models. It's more than I've done. But would I honestly want either of them to have an opinion with sway in what Obama should do? Ms. Jarrett answered correctly.

Brother Old School Regales The Day

2008-11-23T10:33:00.000-08:00

Here's a missive from Brotha Old School. I've included links, most of which are from Wikipedia.

**************************

Not since the late 60s, with the rise and fall of the Panther Party, the demise of the process, (the use of chemicals, lye being the main ingredient, to conk or straighten the Black man's hair) and the birth of the natural (aka the Afro), have I seen such a great display of Black pride and unity. Marvin Gaye sang "What's Going On," Tricky Dick was in the White House and Cheech and Chong were making light of things.

Back in the day, Blacks referred to each other as my brotha or my susta and tried greeting each
other with Muslim and Swahili exchanges. Although, more often than not, they were mispronounced and their interpretations rarely understood; like "assalamu alaikum" or "bunny-gunny brotha." Both phrases were greetings expressed along with a raised clinched fist symbolizing the Black Power sign. It didn't matter whether you said it right or not. It was more of a fun and friendly gesture not to be taken too seriously. It was a rare era, when no matter what was your status quo, being Black, was the thing to be.

Now, all this Blackness, unity, and pride didn't set so well with J. Edgar and crew. So they craftily circumscribed, infiltrated, then meticulously set about dismantling, from within, most of the major Black movements that promoted such pride and unity. Reasoning? They just didn't favor our militant flavor.

But this new found sense of pride and unity generated today is of a cleaner, non-toxic, environmentally friendlier fuel that makes no indication for revolution. It's just the pure sweet simple joy found in witnessing this day of evolution. The enormity of the transition for recognition of the Black man's role evolving from the past couple of centuries is not just to be looked upon by America but by the entire world.

A new day? To say the least. A new millennium! A new world! Undeniably, a new era. Let me put a lil-some-um out there to ya about myself to shed light on my view about things. Understand that I, in no way, have ever been one to be politically inclined. Now, two years shy of 60, I find myself convalescing some shame for allowing my youthful inner city baggage to carry so far into my adulthood. I was one of them brothas more concerned with trying to hook--up with an Angela Davis look-alike in mini skirt and go-go boots, while on the constant hunt for some Acupulco Gold (the bomb weed of the day). My world was only as big as the Hollywood night life and the avenues off the Crenshaw strip. What went on beyond those boundaries, I mistakenly felt had nothing to do with my mama's baby boy.

Today, in following this election, I gotta tell ya, I've learned more about politics and the differences between the major parties than I care to admit. The excitement in watching history unfold, even for a piss-po-ass-excuse for a student like I've always been, has re-energized the few remaining brain cells that survived the frying of the 60s. Along with this rejuvenation came the flash backs to those times before the Bloods and the Cuz when brothas got along. When there was genuine comaraderie. Sadly, something this new generation has never seen.

Understandably, it took the collective effort of all races in America to elect the nation's first Black President. But what was such a a reassuring sense of pride and unity, was to see Black people come together as a body nearly as a whole, to stand behind the brotha. That was a double whammy inducement of pride. Pride for the brotha and pride for the people standing with him.

Throughout history, when ever a Black man has petitioned the White world's arena, it has never been enough to merely be equally qualified with his game. He's always had to be better. It is without question that the whole world knows that for a Black man to ever even be considered as a serious contender for the office of the President of the United States of America, he has to be bringing one hellava extraordinary game! So the fact alone the he was able to win, is enough of a resume in itself to state his qualifications. You just can't be Black and get that far and not be qualified. White people never have, nor ever would, allow such a thang. Beleeve dat!

So, again, I point out it was the collective effort of all the races in America to bring about this day. Understanding that point, I offer this insight to the Black experience, America tried to oppress Black pride and that's why some on the other side got it twisted with what the soon to be first lady meant when she said this was the first time in her adult life she was really proud of her county. I've revived the chant to James Brown's, "Say It Loud" to how it now can be expressed today:

Say it loud!

I'm Black and I'm proud!

Say it loud!

I'm Black and I'm proud!

Say it loud!

Caint-cha unda-stand!

I'm Black and I'm proud!

To be Ameri-can!

Let's Hear It For The Girl!!!!

2008-11-20T07:45:00.000-08:00

Via Ta-Nehisi Coates:

Government Runs How?

2008-11-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Since I know little more about the various governmental departments and offices, I thought that whenever I encounter info about it, I'd post it here. It'll help me and help you.

Per Marc Ambinder at The Atlantic:

Barack Obama has tapped CBO director Peter Orszag to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, my collegues at National Journal report today.

He's a youngish overachiever, just 40, and subscribes to the theory of what he once called "cool-headed, warm-hearted" economic policy. Judging by his blog, Orszag has smart and interesting things to say about the intersection of psychology and economics, the long-term vs. short-term effects of climate change legislation, honest budgeting and accounting, and lots more.

OMB is the executive branch's budgetary arm and management oversight evaluator. The director serves as a key presidential adviser on the economy and is responsible for projecting the fiscal consequences of any presidential decision. OMB would figure out how much Barack Obama's health care plan will cost, for example, as it gets introduced in Congress. It'll score every bill that Congress sends to Obama. It's the repository of policy, responsible for official statements. More to the point, though, is that OMB will administer Obama's transparency agenda. Regulatory reform will originate at OMB.

Good man to keep track of.

Shelby Steele

2008-11-17T20:11:00.000-08:00

Gawd, this man bugs me. The man is Shelby Steele and he crawls under my skin like a rash.

I can't embed it, so take a moment and watch this video interview between Steele and Peter Robinson, writer for the conservative website National Review Online. (Note what a denizen of NRO I've become -- they fascinate me.)

Done?

Okay, several things to notice. First, at no point during the interview does Mr. Steele refer to black people in the possessive. It's all about "they" and "them." From an argument's standpoint, as to him arguing the premise of his book -- entitled by the way "A Bound Man: Why We Are Excited About Obama and Why He Can't Win" (heh heh heh) -- cold reasoning takes a certain amount of disconnect from the inhabitants of the argument. I get that. But it makes me wonder, and not for the first time, if Mr. Steele is aware that he is black.

Second, he offers the idea that black people wear masks and as example, he names two black men -- horn players. Louis Armstrong, he says, wears a "bargainer" mask but what I distinctly perceived in his explanation, though he didn't say it outright, is that Armstrong is basically an Uncle Tom. Miles Davis, he says, wears a "challenger" mask. The angry black man. Both, he posits, got where they got to be by wearing a mask to make white people feel good about themselves and thereby acquiring a measure of success for themselves; Armstrong by tomming and Davis by scowling and making the white people LIKE it.

I don't disagree with his concept of masks. Anyone black who has watched an older friend or relative completely change in the presence of white people knows the ritual of the wearing of the mask. Hell, to some extent, most people of color don a mask at some point. Where I diverge from Mr. Steele's logic is that how white people feel about themselves enters into the equation. I don't think white people's self-worth is a chip in the game. White's feelings of self-worth is a secure given regardless of how much Satchmo grins or Miles grimaces. In the end, it's merely about being able to do what one does.

Third, and this is a tent pole of much of Steele's philosophy, that black agency promotes and fosters white guilt thereby rendering it a driving force in the success of any black person in America, specifically Obama as agent and recipient. That Obama may have offered an alternative path to the American electorate weary of lies and subterfuge, doesn't seem to enter his argument. I may be wrong in that since I have not yet read his book about how Obama can't win.

Last, Steele says in this interview, "White America has made tremendous moral progress since the '60s... And they've never given themselves credit for that." I'm firmly in the Chris Rock school of philosophy on this matter; you don't get credit for what you're supposed to do. And really, white folks don't need to give themselves credit when Shelby Steele is there to do it for them. Who is it then, honestly, stroking white folks' guilt?

This man just bugs.

Imagine Them Being Them At The Corner

2008-11-17T07:06:00.000-08:00

I read The Corner, National Review Online's conservative group blog, but it is no easy task. They can be the "base" the Republican Party genuflects to and they can be the intelligentsia the Republican Party needs. I've learned from reading The Corner that The Right is not monolithic.

One thing most noticeable about The Corner is that they just hate Barack Obama. No. Hate may be too strong a word for most of them. They are not impressed.

My immediate reaction to their not being impressed is admittedly racially paranoid. I really do believe that if you take the same Barack Obama and the only changes to him was he was white and his name was Bob Miller, these guys and many others would be kvelling at what an impressive guy he was. They may not agree with his politics, but there would be nothing but respect.

That can never be proved.

So I read The Corner...so you don't have to! I also stick my nose in at Free Republic where the Freepers run wild. Believe me. You don't want to go there unless you have to.

Here, at The Corner, is Byron York completely missing the point.

Everything Is Relative

2008-11-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

I have a great little space here. I get to glurg up what ever I want to glurg about, I e-mail a velvet steamroller message to family and friends, every so often I get to guest blog at Spencer's and writing and thinking life is great.

But I have no illusions. The post immediately before this one spoke of simple vs. complicated thinking. I am at the "simple" end of a score of blog sites where people post and comment about things so intricately intelligent that often I feel like a neanderthal contemplating infinity. I comment on occasion at these sites, but my comments are usually ignored. I've e-mailed these professional thinkers demurely pimping my blog and have been roundly ignored.

Of course my mind fills in the empty space where a response would be with "since I don't know this chick, better to not say anything."

But for some reason, I keep writing here.

Which brings me to my thanks to you who do read what I glurg up here. Thank you.

President-Elect Obama's 60 Minutes Interview

2008-11-17T04:56:00.000-08:00

The whole thing. In three parts. With commercials I believe.

UPDATE: The CBS News 60 Minutes site is down, so these can't be seen right now as of 9:18 p.m. on 11/17/08.

Part 1 - Obama and the Presidency

Watch CBS Videos Online

Part 2 - The Personal Transition

Watch CBS Videos Online

Part 3 - A Father's Promise

Watch CBS Videos Online

Good God, it's good to have a coherent thinking person in the Presidency. I never watched GeeDub because I thought him too simple for the position.

A little personal aside here, because the word "simple" makes me think of something. BOS accused me of being so high minded that it was beyond me to understand simpler concepts. I resisted responding "F U! Is that simple enough for you?" Our exchanges got, um, heated shall we say, though primarily from me. BOS really was amusing himself by getting my goat. That said, he was getting my goat by relating how "simply" he thinks about things and that's good enough for him and, according to him, a whole nother slew of folks that I apparently cannot relate to.

Perhaps. But that belief, that simple thinking is good enough, is a sure-fire way to stay mired in mediocrity. It doesn't challenge one to consider the possibilities. To consider the possibilities and how they can broaden and better and enrich one's existence.

President Bush was perfectly content being a simple-thinking man. He was proud of it. It is no secret that many who voted for him in 2000 and 2004 voted for him because they could relate to him...his simple way of thinking. He was just like them. They could have a beer with him, the old saw goes.

But the world is a complicated place with complicated problems. Foreign intra-hostilities cannot be solved by a simple "Hulk Smash!!" Allies cannot be assuaged by a back rub. You cannot look into a leader's eyes, see his soul and base foreign policy upon it.

It takes considered logical practical thinking to be a president. When our president walks into a room (or sit across the table from those designing to cause harm), people should feel secure that he's the smartest one present.

A simply thinking president should not be the bellwether.

This Post Has No Title

2008-11-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

I read somewhere and I wish I had bookmarked or saved it, a comment on a blog or a blog entry about torture. The point was that torture should not be a condoned legalized method of interrogation in U.S. policy. That is not to be so naive as to think that torture by U.S. entities would disappear. It won't. But, and the comment said as much, by making it an illegal tactic in U.S. intelligence gathering, it would thereby assure that torture would be the last tactic employed with full knowledge and acceptance of the responsibility of its illegality, and not a regular course of action.

It has shamed me that my country at the hands of the neocons has legalized things I was taught to believe were wrong. Torture is wrong. It's wrong and information obtained is, more often than not, unreliable. This amazing read in the New Yorker written by Jane Mayer is case in point. (Via Glenn Greenwald.)

Without more transparency, the value of the C.I.A.’s interrogation and detention program is impossible to evaluate. Setting aside the moral, ethical, and legal issues, even supporters, such as John Brennan, acknowledge that much of the information that coercion produces is unreliable. As he put it, “All these methods produced useful information, but there was also a lot that was bogus.

So what has been the purpose of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" employed by our government since 9/11? Has it been to root out Al Qaeda? How can that be when we purposefully ignored Al Qaeda's Hole-In-The-Wall, Afghanistan, in favor of attempting to create a shining the beacon of democracy in Iraq.

I'm trying to come to a purpose here. It's bothering me. Why has it been imperative that torture be employed? Why have laws and ideals been decimated for so few bits of knowledge? What was the reason? It's going to continue to bother me because there is no law separating me from others who know nothing of Al Qaeda.

I'd love to end this haphazard screed by tying up all my haphazard points, but I can't. It was just something I have been thinking about. Good news, though. President-Elect Obama says that he is closing Gitmo and ending the U.S. sanctioned practice of torture. I sincerely hope that he can and does.

Via ThinkProgress and Huffington Post.

Governator Logorrhea

2008-11-16T19:27:00.000-08:00

Since I've had this political awakening this election, I am now also going to try and concern myself with my home state of California politics. In 2003, there was in California a recall vote of Gov. Gray Davis. I voted against that recall because I believed, as limited and shallow my reasoning may have been, that Gov. Davis was being scapegoated for a California energy crisis. I felt that he was the elected official and if the good citizens of California, who voted him governor in the first place, felt that he should not be in the office, then they could bloody well vote him out at the end of his term.

I also felt that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the benefactor of a cult of personality that unfairly eclipsed the aptly named Gray.

Anything deeper, I sheeplishly admit here I knew nothing of.

I was in the minority on that opinion because Californians threw the bum out and elected Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Arnold is definitely a majority portion personality and what's left over, I am not sure is good thinking or opportunism. I haven't paid enough attention to judge. I will henceforth, however.

What I do know about him is something that the good governor from Alaska should take pointed notice of. This is how it's done.

Arnold knows how to talk excessively and mostly on point. He's informed enough to finesse anything that is not directly on point, somehow rolling it into making more than a bit of sense. Anything left over is muscled (heh) by with charm. It's like magic.

Stop Me Before I Cute Again

2008-11-16T16:56:00.000-08:00

I keep finding stuff Obama stuff online that I cannot resist posting. Yes, it is gratifying beyond measure to realize that our 44th president is a black man. I still can't believe it.

So...this picture is beyond cute, with her little afropuffs.

H/t Girls4Obama via Jack & Jill Politics

I'm Standing Right Here

2008-11-16T05:18:00.000-08:00

Not that I am particularly anxious for the GOP to get its bearings any time soon, but this clip is telling about what is wrong with the party.

The country is different than it was during the heyday of the GOP. Yet, they are still clinging (yeah, I said "clinging") to these ideals they speak of. Pat Buchanan, who I think is one of those racists who are perfectly fine with being so, sets forth the old party line. Mike Paul, republican strategist, offers up new thinking, and Buchanan can barely speak of it.

On election night, as me and my two friends looked at the electoral map of blue and red, red dominating the South, including Louisiana and Mississippi, two states the GOP watched drown, we all said the same thing..."Slave states." Their Southern Strategy of appealing to older male white conservatives disdainful of the colored people, is a losing proposition. I will go out on a limb and say that in 2012, if Obama has his game as tight as this election, more of those states (in addition to Virginia, North Carolina and Florida) will go blue as well, particularly if the GOP has old southern white male conservatives stuck in the glory days calling the plays.

...And Beyond

2008-11-15T14:24:00.000-08:00

My mother made me and my sister late for school to watch men fly into space. I took it for granted and was irritated that I would be late. Why didn't I see it as wondrously as it should be seen?

Any Excuse To Watch Barack And Fam

2008-11-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

It's a little early but...

From Another Reader...

2008-11-14T19:15:00.000-08:00

From my friend who just had a baby and three days after her Caesarian, stood in line for an hour to vote.

It's refreshing to see a Christian who is able to stand back and clearly see the inherent hypocrisy in some Christian teachings. Denying anyone the right to happiness certainly can't have been the intent of Christ. How is that even possible? And as for whether or not Proposition 8 is a Constitutional issue, the fact that anyone is trying to make legislation about it makes it inherently a question of Constitutional rights. If you try to argue that it must be because God says so, haven't you proven the point right there. This country, although founded on Christian values, was also founded on the basic principle of separation of Church and State. Is this not to prevent persecution like Proposition 8 from becoming law? The concept of "majority tyranny" certainly applies to this issue. Homosexuals in America are a minority who deserve to have their rights protected. This is unquestionably true. This sort of legislation is the very reason that the Founding Fathers of our great nation felt the need to include a Bill of Rights that ensured the protection of basic human rights to all. The concept of a true democracy demands that we never allow minority rights to be trampled on. Laws like Proposition 8 are a danger to the very sanctity of the nation and must not be allowed to sully the American ideal.

Cool Stuff My Boss Hips Me To

2008-11-12T20:45:00.000-08:00

From The Department of Saying What You Mean.

2008-11-12T07:41:00.000-08:00

Yikes!

And before I close, let me finish with this. I left the right because they were such assholes I could not stand it anymore. You left good graces with the left because you were too much of an asshole, and they troll-rated you into oblivion. I may have been wrong about a lot of things in the past, and will be in the future, but I left the GOP because it was a cult. I was the one who was suspicious about Obama in the beginning. I think I have a solid eye for bullshit. And for the record, if you want to see what a “cult” looks like, you might want to check your own comment policy. We allow dissent here, and appreciate it. You are so dimwitted and thin-skinned you delete anything that deviates from your own bizarre dogma.

Another Weigh-In From A Reader

2008-11-11T07:55:00.000-08:00

Damn. The politicians suckered us again. Another opinion from a reader.

So, here's my weigh in...

1) To say that policy is divorced from religion in the US is barely credible. In fact, God's name is on everything from courts to bldgs to dolla dolla bills baby. Should it be? IMHO, every policy that wishes to succeed better start with God, but I recognize that this is MHO.

2) Politicians' Mamas had babies not fools. Both the way the language was written in the original bill and its re-write by Jerry and his pals were meant to win friends and influence people. I'll go even further: Christians. In fact, all was designed to force us to evaluate policy through a Christian lens.

After the California Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in May, state attorney general Jerry Brown changed the description of Prop. 8 that will appear on ballots in November to reflect the fact that the measure will “eliminate [the] right of same-sex couples to marry." Formerly the wording simply affirmed that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized." (Attesting to the importance of the language, Prop. 8 supporters sued to keep the original description but were denied.)

True to form, we liberal Christians found ourselves in a quite a quandry. Truth, the Bible does not equivocate about marriage or homosexuality. And if we have been on the path tryin' to follow Jesus, we already knew it ain't easy to reconcile this condemnation with the love of Christ. Fortunately, the Bible makes it clear that we lowly Christians don't have to -- God's got that covered. We need only to "judge not" so we be not judged.

Enter a politically charged election. While God sees our hearts, Christians like I are not that good. We are left to surmise WJWD (What Jesus Would Do) ONLY because the politicians called the question. Not God. He still had it covered. Nonetheless, standing at the polls we had three options:

a) Vote our conscience
b) Vote our Bible
c) Don't vote the issue (intolerable, for reasons too obvious to waste space here)

I'll admit this single issue was the most difficult for me, a prototypical liberal Christian. I believe "marriage" to be a religious construct, one that exists exclusively between a man and a woman. And while I fully support same sex civil unions, I'm not naive enough to believe separate is ever equal.

Thank GOD I have two sane, simple influences in my life. First my pastor. Though he was prohibited by law from influencing anyone on any issue from the pulpit, he said simply this: "think about who has what to gain, and vote in a way that does the most people the most good." Second, my tweener daughter even simplified it more. "It's just not fair." Don't need to look any further to find WJWD. No on 8. No to defining prohibitions instead of rights.

So what's my point: Y'all fell into EXACTLY the trap the politicians engineered to get out the vote for other purposes, often self serving. If you feel the vote went the wrong way use your energy to work to fix it, rather than banter with each other. I predict you'll never agree.

By devisive design.

An Opinion

2008-11-11T06:57:00.000-08:00

From a reader (and friend I just saw in all his splendiferous glory on Saturday):

What seems to be clear about Prop. 8 is that it's not about gay marriage, it's about religious persecution. Domestic Partnership was determined by the California Supreme Court to be unequal to Marriage and ruled that same sex couples could legally marry. This is a legal decision, not a religious one. That is how the safeguards of our democracy sometimes work to protect minorities from the tyranny of the majority.

At the heart of this attack is a populous so blinded by their own religious bigotry, (an underlying belief that gay people are an "abomination" to their God), I honestly think that they aren't even aware of it. Why else would anyone vilify a group of people, especially who are of no harm to anyone? How fragile is your marriage that it would be undone by two people committing themselves lovingly to each other? This is a human rights issue and a civil rights issue. This is about a minority people, composed of all races and all colors and all nationalities, and born into all the major religions, that have to go out and find their tribe because they are not accepted by their own families or communities. Overwhelmingly, they are prejudiced against, imprisoned and put to death for being who they are. Hated for simply being. Whether you realize it or not, denying basic human rights to this minority, making them different, fuels a deep and perhaps subtle (religious) hatred that validates their persecution. Rise up and wake up. America promises us freedom from religion. Democracy relies on it.

I Know Such Smart And Accomplished People; Will It Rub Off?

2008-11-09T19:33:00.001-08:00

My brilliant and wildly foine friend Ron Mathoda quoted in the New York Times.

My fellow guest-blogger at Attackerman, Colin Asher's article in the Boston Globe.

Constant Craving

2008-11-09T15:57:00.001-08:00

Brotha Old School and I continued our back and forth yesterday off the pages of Anonymous Sec's. It got pretty heated, at least from my end. He was pulling my chain because he likes to. I continued debating the issue as same sex marriage is a constitutional issue and he, well, as Spencer pointed out, BOS' position wasn't quite clear. He seemed to somewhat acknowledge the constitutional justness of my position, but not much substance past "I don't care what you say. God. Says. So." He is fine with that. I am not.

Now, to be fair, I'm a blog computer nerd geek who has witnessed the blogosphere back and forth of point/counterpoint for years now. BOS clearly has a life, is new to the computer as well as blogosphere and is not so sophisticated in the rules of engagement. So other than being just really really really really mad at what I consider to be his hard-headed stance, I cannot fault him for engaging as he saw fit, at my invitation. (Also, it should be noted that getting mad isn't really the productive interwebs way and I am at fault for that. Mea culpa...but I'm still mad.)

The engagement, though, was thrilling if only for giving me the opportunity to clarify my position in my head. I do see it as a constitutional issue, albeit a state one. After the drubbing the US Constitution has gotten during the past 8 years, and frankly, my not really doing or saying anything about it (not that I had the power but it only takes one voice, y'know), I'm personally touchy about the promise of the Constitution being realized in daily life.

That said, there has been some rather harsh talk from the LGBT community about the effect of black voter turnout vis-a-vis passage of Prop 8, some from my beloved Andrew Sullivan. African Americans are 6.2% of the California electorate. Of that 6.2%, 70% voted yes on Prop 8. Those numbers are not enough to assign blame to a whole community.

I admit that, from a civil and legal standpoint, I have a hard time understanding how black folks can actively participate in what I consider to be discrimination. As evidenced by the back and forth yesterday between me and BOS, there are parts to this issue that I just don't get.

I believe in God. I believe that there is honesty and guidance in the Bible. For example, my sister who is more intimately acquainted with the Bible than I, pointed me toward The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians 6:10-20 when I was at a particularly challenging point of my life. I type it in its entirety here just because it just rocks and I want to:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may stand against the devil. For we are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the equipment of the gospel of peace; above all taking the shield of faith, with which you can quench all the flaming darts of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that utterance may be given me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak."

I read that and I feel like freaking Xena. So some of the traditionalism of religion touches me. Where I diverge, I think, is when the idea is put forth that the honesty and guidance that I find in the Bible compels me to be unfair to my fellow man. Some people, I guess, do. Since the church is a big part of African American cultural life, and religion is for the most part against homosexuality as a "practice," a good many African Americans are as well. This has given rise to this harsh and unfair backlash against blacks in relationship to Prop 8.

The election of Barack Obama has made me all bold in what I believe is possible, so let me say this. I fully believe that legal same sex marriage will be de rigueur in the U.S. in my lifetime. As I've said before, a good part of the electorate cannot be discriminated against indefinitely because the human spirit will not stand for it.

That said, considering the mind space of the electorate, it won't be achieved simply because it is the right thing to do. It will take work. Hard work. (I note my debate with BOS as Exhibit A.) If the Obama campaign taught nothing else, it teaches that it takes focus and dedication of monumental proportions to fight an uphill battle. It takes changing ways of thinking and doing and being. It takes reaching out to people who would never consider your stance in a million years and convincing them that your position is the right place to be.

The LGBT community, if it believes that blacks were the lynchpin of the passing of Prop 8, need to change their way of thinking and doing and being with the community to get it done, instead of blaming people for being who they are, which is really not a whole lot different from what they are asking for themselves.

I found this essay by Jasmyne Cannick via Jack & Jill Politics (note that you open her site and music starts playing which bugs the crap out of me):

Case in point the Jordan Rustin Coalition that was started by the gays out of West Hollywood because they felt that Black gays weren’t doing enough to fight for gay marriage. Hmmm–maybe we were doing other things that we just as important. Just a thought.

The group bills itself has a Black civil rights group for lesbians and gays but does nothing more than push the gay agenda for marriage onto the Black community by holding the occasional town hall meeting in Leimert Park. The one part of the Black community they know and feel safe in thanks to gentrification. At these meetings, they use their surrogates to tell Black people why gay marriage is a priority.

This group doesn’t do anything non-gay marriage related in the Black community—and what I mean by that is that you won’t catch the Jordan Rustin Coalition at the community meetings dealing with Black issues or out on the streets in the hood registering Black people to vote. In fact, GOTV (get out the vote) weekend, instead of helping to register Black voters, they wanted Black gays to go to Pasadena for a Sing Out for Coming Out Day. While I agree that encouraging Black gays to “come out” is generally a good thing—if and when we decide to hold a coming out event, why the hell would we do it in Pasadena?

I use this example to prove to you the continued misunderstanding of priorities of Blacks by gays and the ego and superiority complex that dictates the lengths to which gays will go to micromanage and push their agenda on Blacks.

It takes involvement and care to convince. Honest care, not agenda-based care. The right thing to do will not just win. If the example of 400 years of disenfranchisement of the black community teaches nothing else, it teaches that. Me trying to out-logic fundamentalists clearly won't do the trick. Lord, I keep coming back to the Obama campaign because it just is such an amazing example of how to get it done. I think the LGBT community needs to think about that to achieve their goal.

I'm here to help.

Best Day

2008-11-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

Oh, shit!

I'm Tryin' To Drive You To The Sto'

2008-11-09T08:31:00.001-08:00

Something about this article written by Kathleen Parker in the Washington Post about the historic momentousness of Obama's election bugs me. For those of you who are not aware, Kathleen Parker, southern white conservative, wrote an article in WaPo about how Gov. Palin was monumentally unprepared to be vice-president and was vilified by readers (who sent responses suggesting that her mother should have had an abortion). Watching the right lose their minds that yet another conservative had "betrayed" the party by disagreeing and calling it how she saw it could not be more illuminating on how the Republican Party has devolved into lunatics. (Note that the "lose their minds" link is from an article Parker wrote for Town Hall and I direct you to the comments.)

Yet and still, she is a southern white conservative.

But like many other Americans, especially Southerners, my life is inextricably intertwined with the African American experience. It isn't just a bit of thread or texture in life's tapestry, but is central to my emotional and psychological constitution.

Although a child during the civil rights era, I remember the protests, the sit-ins, the march from Selma. I remember the day Martin Luther King was shot -- and the following morning at school when all the black students stormed out of class, prompting my nervous English teacher to send for smelling salts.

Most important to me personally, I remember Dorothy, the woman who cared for me after my mother's death, and her two much-older children, Ronnie and Sylvia, who were an intimate part of my very young life.

I eventually learned that Dorothy was black, but to me, she was simply "Dot," the first person I was consciously aware of loving and the only mother I knew. My own was gone before I was able to discern that a mother is an entity separate from oneself.

She goes on to tell the story of how she spent her days in the "colored part of town" (she quotes this in her article) at Dot's mother's grocery store and how she couldn't go to the movies with Dot because the theater was segregated and the balcony was where blacks sat and how she saw the unfairness of this at four years old.

The article, I suppose, is touching. She's plainly writing from her heart in remembrance of the only mother she knew.

Yet...

My grandmother was a domestic, cook mostly -- she could throw down in the kitchen. But she also had been a maid and did other domestic chores for well-to-do white families on the Upper West Side. One job she had was ironing the family's clothes. This she did in the basement of the building in a cage. Let me say that again. In a cage. I seem to remember witnessing an 8 year old dress down my grandmother ironing his family's clothes in her cage, about something I do not remember.

This picture came to mind as I read Parker's article, fairly or unfairly. That is, as I see it, my issue. Parker admits her privilege and though I have problems with the whole "magic negro" aspect of her recounting, I choose to believe she is probably sincere in her feelings.

Yet and still...

A commenter to Parker's article in the WaPo points out her article "The Bubba Vote" in the Chicago Tribune, May 14, 2008. Referring to a voter's proclamation that he would not vote for Obama because he would be more comfortable with "someone who was full-blooded American who was president":

Full-bloodedness is an old coin that's gaining currency in the new American realm. Meaning: Politics may no longer be so much about race and gender as about heritage, core values, and made-in-America. Just as we once and still have a cultural divide in this country, we now have a patriot divide.
[snip]
Who "gets" America? And who doesn't?
[snip]
It's about blood equity, heritage and commitment to hard-won American values. And roots.
[snip]
What they know is that their forefathers fought and died for an America that has worked pretty well for more than 200 years. What they sense is that their heritage is being swept under the carpet while multiculturalism becomes the new national narrative. And they fear what else might get lost in the remodeling of America.

Republicans more than Democrats seem to get this...

During the campaign she trumpeted the Republic strategy of making Obama foreign and un-American, when in fact (and I believe she knew this), he was no more foreign and un-American than her beloved Dot.

I wonder how four year old Kathleen Parker would judge her own future actions.

A Break For Obama Appreciation

2008-11-08T13:05:00.000-08:00

Hat tip Ben Smith. Barack Obama roasting his now Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in 2005:

Something about his delivery reminds me of Johnny Carson.

Anonymous Sec's Argues Semi-Topless

2008-11-08T09:58:00.000-08:00

Sure, B.O.S. Pull the thread attempting to render me bare-breasted. But by using dogma that yokes unilaterally, you're pulling at the collar. You'll find no joy there. You're not addressing my arguments. Instead you're echoing those politicians who planted firmly on the courthouse step and said that interracial marriage was not God's will because it says so in the Bible.

In all of your missives, you stand steadfast in what you believe to be God's side in the issue. I defend your right to do so. Yet you have glossed over the civil aspect of the issue and your responsibility in that as well. Do you recognize that you don't live exclusively in the religious realm? You are garnering rights and freedoms from the civil aspect of life and proclaiming your religious belief to deny your neighbor those rights which you enjoy. As dearly as you hold your religious responsibility, you should hold your civic one, particularly when it comes to your neighbors, whom you love so.

If you agree that church and state are separate, as you seem to, then how can your religious beliefs hold dominion over your civil ones? Or your civil ones hold dominion over your religious ones, for that matter. Civilly, same-sex marriage has nothing to do with you other than your responsibility to guarantee to another citizen a right which you can enjoy.

The Bible may guide your spiritual life, but it does not in all things, otherwise you would be just as steadfastly trying to legislate against divorce, capital punishment, the Bush Administration, and zippers. You, as the founding fathers did, see the need for modern realities to compel fundamental thinking to change. Why is it that marriage between two adults who love each other is the line in the sand that cannot be crossed?

Okay, so I could go off on a huge argument about the Bible being the word of God interpreted through the congenitally limited understanding of man interpreted from a foreign language by men who had vested interests in what is said, but I won't. And I also won't go into what slight insult I take from the two separate Gods argument. And I won't point out that you say you're not holier than thou but proclaim that God is on your side.

I won't do that (much) because you have a right to believe as such.

Let's just hope some enterprising height bigot doesn't manage to get on the California Ballot next time a proposition to amend the constitution to say that men cannot consort with women taller than they.

B.O.S. Holds His Spiritual Ground While Unraveling My Sweater!!

2008-11-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'm going to put this up while I gather my thoughts for a response mostly because I want anyone out there to appreciate Brotha Old School's point of view which he shares with the many who passed Prop 8. It's what has to be countered, appreciated and not wholly villified as best as countering belief systems held in the soul can be if propositions like Prop 8 are to be defeated.

BOS writes:

Ms. Anne,

I can add the "n-e" now that you understand it's short for your pen.

I hadn't anticipated this becoming such a loose-thread issue. So I just wanna say, by keeping me pulling at it, don't blame me if your whole sweater becomes unraveled, rendering you topless. (More wishful thinking than a metaphor.)

A couple of things I gotta make clear here. First, understand, I have gay family and friends who are very dear to me. Secondly, in no way do I proclaim to be more holier than thou. In fact, at times, I stand to be accused of being a down right hypocrite. Which, ironically, qualifies me in God's eyes to represent.

I need you to bear with me here, if you will, if my response comes a little slow. I came up in the 60s and experimented with some things that perhaps I should'na. Sometimes collecting my thoughts can be an infinite repetitive effort.

What makes this situation a wee-bit awkward for me is, I've spent most of my life avoiding the law and politics. You might say, I gravitated more towards the aspect of the" affect" than to the "cause." But when, collectively all my social mistakes and misguidings begin taking their toll, it forced my hand to believe or not to believe. About God, that is. I chose to believe.

Coming up on the opposite side of the law, I learned a lot about rights and legal loopholes and that both could be manipulative. It usually all comes down to representation. Which as a legal sec, I'm sho you know. Far too often legal and constitutional terminology is ambiguous and is left solely to the mercy of belief for it's interpretation.

Time has unfolded new eras and ways of life, with some things anticipated, while others, never imagined. The founding fathers were sharp. But not so sharp where as they could clearly foresee in detailed account the evolving life-style of the 21st Century. They left a basic blueprint that one would hope would be carefully amended with the balance of good morals, judgement, and fairness.

Now, I may be cutting my own throat here with the next following statements, but nonetheless I'm compelled to make. The founding fathers could be regarded as hypocritical to the very constitution they wrote. Because in their day they did nothing to correct things such as freeing the slaves or giving women the right to vote. Which makes one wonder and ask the question as to why? Is what's good for the goose good for the gander? Were they just thinking, well eventually in time these rights will come into play? Or did they even mean it that way?

In their time, homosexuality, was not just a taboo, it wasn't even allowed in the closet. It had to be kept in the out-house. Do you believe they ever meant equal rights for all was ever to be interpreted as a comprise to the Sanctity and integrity of Holy Matrimony by same sex marriage? You think?

If you think that God approves of same sex marriage, then we're obviously referring to two different Gods, or you just simply haven't been reading your bible. Or should I ask, are you referring to the God of the bible? That's the one I choose to go with.

I have the utmost respect for you academic intellect, my dear, and have no qualms admitting that I'd quickly cower with most challenges in that field with you. But this is a spiritual issue that continues intensifying with your every utterance.

I'm no preacher and have no intentions of ever becoming one. In fact, sin kicks my ass on a daily basis. But in spite of that, I believe God is on my side with this issue and I can't lose with what I use.

Peace out,
B.O.S

Ms. An Picks Up The Thread

2008-11-07T22:20:00.000-08:00

I see I can't be totally frivolous with my friend Brotha Old School. I address this directly to you then, BOS.

Let's jump off all "blasphemous." "It's a God Thing" cannot be known. You may have faith that it's a God thing. You may believe that it's a God thing. You may have been taught it's a God thing. Your bones may ring with human certainty that it's a God thing. But you don't know that it's a God thing. For all you truly know, God may be sadly shaking her head wondering why her favorite experiment keeps eating its own.

Your oil and water analogy as to church and state is correct, and should stand as example in American jurisprudence. This was the point I first made that compelled you to write. Religion has no place (dog) in the question (fight) of civil rights granted the citizenry. The California Supreme Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to exclude same-sex couples from the legal institution of "marriage," even if such couples are granted the right to enter into "domestic partnerships" or "civil unions" based on the California State Constitution's guarantee of the "right to marry" and its guarantee of "equal protection" under the law.

This is not to say that you are compelled to believe in same-sex marriage. It does not say that you are bound to believe that it is not a sin. You are free to believe that same-sex marriage does not constitute "marriage." What it does say is that all citizens are guaranteed civil rights one in accordance with the next, without discrimination based on sex, race, age, sexual-orientation, height, weight, hair color, eye color, or any other superficial difference between human beings. How brightly your view of the institution of marriage shines in comparison to other institutions is immaterial. Civil institutions do not exist for only your benefit, but for the benefit of each as to the next.

These base rights you mention are what the California Supreme Court addressed in its ruling. They are naming marriage as a base right that is constitutionally available to all, without regard to political or religious beliefs, and that right is equally protected under the law.

I appreciate and respect your arguing from the perspective of religious belief. However, nothing in the California Supreme Court's ruling disavows your belief. As Wanda Sykes said, if you do not believe in same sex marriage, don't marry somebody of the same sex. Nonetheless, you cannot constitutionally abridge another, who may not believe as you, access to the base right that is called in civil discourse, "marriage."

You use a basketball analogy that doesn't quite ring true. No, you cannot and should not lower the hoop, but neither can you or should you exclude short people who can ball. If basketball equals marriage, then short people are homosexuals who have every right to play, provided they play by the rules, correct? By your analogy, you are naming basketball (marriage) a tall people (heterosexual) only game, when in fact short people (homosexuals) can indeed play despite your tall people (heterosexual) rule. You're prejudicially discounting short people from a game they are able to play, based on a rule that does not consider ability. You feel me?

As to the recipe analogy, both pancakes and waffles have flour to give them substance, eggs to bind, and milk to enrich. Consider if you will that if flour (human beings) is bound by eggs (love and commitment) to which if you can add varying amounts of milk (kids, mortgage, 401Ks), you still end up with the same cholesterol loaded ass-fattener (marriage) be it pancakes or waffles.

You are free to believe that marriage is sanctified by God. Hell, I believe that marriage is a sanctity of God. I just don't believe that God would disapprove of or deny any of her flock the blessing of true love and commitment and family based on who they love and smiles on such unions because she wants us to be happy. And frankly, my beliefs are just as valuable as yours. B'leedat.

Brotha Old School Responds Further To Ms. An On Prop 8

2008-11-07T21:51:00.000-08:00

Brother Old School is still calling me Ms. An but I think I'm getting to be okay with it. Short for Anonymous. I get it. Damn history. BOS responds:

Ms. Anonymous Sec., a.k.a. Ms. An.,

My point, "It's A God Thing!"

I say that, yet understanding, religion and politics have a mixing capability liking to that, of oil and water. Which often forces one to take a stand on one side or the other. For me, this proposition in which we debate, is closely characterized to the scenario of, doing right for the wrong reason, or doing wrong for the right reason.

Admitting, from the Civil Rights perspective, you post strong arguments. However, Ms. Sweet, lovely individual, the public institutions you reference the rights to, in my view , pale in comparison in their entities to that of the institution of marriage. You feel me?

But for the sake of argument, for rights in general, may I expound to the point that some rights come with conditions. These particular rights I refer to as "base-rights." Base rights you must qualify for in order to execute. Such as being of age to vote or buy alcohol. Gays have always had a base right to marry. To qualify you simply must be of age and marrying an individual of the opposite sex, to constitute husband and wife. Simply enough to qualify. However, totally un-acceptable to the case.

So, here, one proposes the question, does the case have the right to change the purpose? If you're short, do you have the right to demand the basket to be lowered in order to play basket ball. Or are you required in order to play to play by the standards? If you change the recipe to a dish, the dish then takes on a new characteristic and thereby should be called by a different name. Pancakes and waffles have very similar ingredients, but their slight differences are what make them what they are.

There is an aspect of society, myself included, who believes marriage is sanctioned by God, or at the very least, endorsed. Without God's approval, such a union, at best, can only be a secular civil union. Beleeve-dat. Which is why I say, it is, what it is...

Anonymous Sec's aka Ms. An, Responds To Brotha Old School

2008-11-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

I respond by email to Brotha Old School:

Miss Anne? Who you callin’ Miss Anne?

I’ve said it before, I’m saying it again, you write very well. That said, I’m not sure I understand your point. Are you asserting the separation of church and state? Or are you saying that each is at least partially intersects the other?

Prop 8 does not require religion to recognize same sex marriage, unless it is taking public funds. Here is a good No on Prop 8 article in the LA Times.

I think that people who voted Yes on Prop 8 can’t get their mind around the concept that religion should not dictate public policy. This public policy deals with affording all tax paying citizens equity under the law and access to all institutions. It would be like saying that you cannot use public roads if you are gay.

You wouldn’t want public policy to incorporate the tenets of Judaism (for example no pork, no Jesus, no embalming) into law; or Catholicism (no fish on Friday, no divorce, no birth control); or Santaria (slaughtering goats OH MY GOD!!!), would you? Nor does public policy have the right to dictate to Santaria that they can’t slaughter goats (OH MY GOD!!!).

It’s Sodom and Gomorrah.

Oh…and…

I find it interesting that California saw fit to pass a proposition that made chickens’ lives more comfortable and humane, but did not, in my opinion, do the same for homosexuals.

Just my opinion.

I mean no offense to Santaria.

Brotha Old School Calls Out Ms. An On Prop 8

2008-11-07T21:12:00.000-08:00

I got an e-mail from my friend, Brotha Old School, in response to my post More More No on Prop 8. I love Brotha Old School's writing, love challenging his thinking, love his challenging mine, and we have spent many hours in my backyard arguing some point or other. Brotha Old School, BOS for short, is but a few years older than I so we appreciate the same old school music and old school culture. We both agreed last summer that there was no way America was going to elect a black man, and wasn't it cute he was trying. He has a deep, abiding and fundamental faith in God. He's much more intelligent than he gives himself credit for, and much more hard-headed than he believes himself to be. I've cleaned his email up for punctuation only. He's taken to calling me Ms. An, which I'm not fond of. It's a clever take-off on my nom de plume fraught with all measure of historical connotations.

BOS says:

Ms. An,

I sit here in the early pre-dawn morning reading your most recent writing on your commentary about Proposition 8. You state, religion has no dog in the fight. That prompted me to think, gul, why-what-chew mean?!? That's the whole dul-gone kit and caboodle! The issue is between secular and religion! To take it a step further, it comes down to Holy Matrimony and Unholy Matrimony.

Correct me if I'm wrong, (which I know you will) but doesn't the over all definition of marriage derive, by-in-large. from the religious perspective? The real issue here is not the right of same sex unions, but the right to entitlement of those unions.

From the religious perspective, same sex marriage is an oxymoron and does not allow for the extension or amendment to the terms of Holy Matrimony. This is explicitly expressed in the example of Sodom and Gamour. (Spell Check?)

Now, tru-dat society, as a whole, is un-beholding to have to buy in to biblical concept. But with the same token, it has no right to amend or change that concept. The only way society can ever address both components to this issue fairly is to keep their distinctions separate and allow for their oppositions to define them.

It's really very simple to define. One is to be called Holly Matrimony, while the other, Unholy Matrimony.

I'm Brotha Old School, and I'd like to believe, this message is approve by God.

Those Who Don't Learn From History...

2008-11-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is why I don't watch talking heads on television. Clips like this are about all I can take.

I hope Chris Matthews, who is and has been, clearly enamored of Obama, is just not explain himself well. I don't see it as a journalist's job to make an Obama presidency work. That's President Obama's job.

I think what Matthews is trying to say, badly, is that parsing Rahm Emanuel's reasons for equivocation in front of cameras about Obama's offer to be Chief of Staff of the White House is not the job of journalists. Chris just likes Obama...a lot.

Joe Scarborough now tells us that journalism made a huge mistake in its selling of the war in Iraq in 2002. A little late, but he's right; blind PR for an Obama presidency, any presidency for that matter, does not serve the country. I would add that it should no longer be journalism's job to put forth frivolous insubstantial "criticisms" based on how someone is saying something rather than what is being said.

Change.Gov

2008-11-07T00:55:00.000-08:00

So, there is a website devoted to the office of the President-Elect. It's much like the Obama Campaign website.

Check it out.

Envy...Party Of One

2008-11-06T21:14:00.000-08:00

Karen Tumulty, correspondent for Time Magazine (dead tree and online) and contributor to the magazine's political blog Swampland, traveled with the Obama campaign. At the end, she stuck a tape recorder in people's faces and asked them what they'd remember. My favorite, from Robert Gibbs, senior great communications strategist and now (almost) Press Secretary for the Obama White House:

There's a rhythm to all this that you have to get used to. Most people in the country had heard him speak once, and it was at the 2004 Democratic Convention. So when he went to a meet and greet with voters, people expected to hear the convention speech. That took a little getting used to. During the primary season, at one of the labor cattle calls in D.C., he was the last [of nine candidates] to speak. There are about eight things that you're going to say to this group, and they've all now been said. I remember he was down after that because he just couldn't understand why it had gone so poorly. So we're flying to Iowa, and Reggie [Love, his personal assistant] and he are sitting next to each other, and I'm saying, "Senator, you just have to figure out how to enjoy this, you have to figure out how to have a little fun. Are you having any fun right now?" And he said, "I'm not having any fun at all." And Reggie, without blinking an eye, pipes up and says, "Man, I'm having the time of my life!"

Bonus: NYT story on President Obama's "body man," Reggie Love...with pix. Be sure to check out this young man's fine self in the pix.

Green eyed. Green eyed envy here for Reggie Love. What an adventure. What a job.

O'er The Land Of The Free

2008-11-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

When was the last time groups of Americans broke out in spontaneous harmonizing of the national anthem in the streets? Around about 5:00 p.m. on 9/11/01, I would venture to guess. It gets me. It gets me. Every. Single. Time.

H/t Andrew Sullivan.

Election day!

2008-11-04T06:19:00.001-08:00

Yay! Got stories?

----------
Well-behaved women seldom make history.

2008-11-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

Kristol's in poor company. Joe the Plumber's an idiot too.

Why won't Fox have ME, Anonymous Sec's the Secretary, on?

More More No on Prop 8

2008-11-02T13:56:00.001-08:00

Go with me here for a second. I was just thinking about marriage as an American institution. Other institutions would be education, the legal system, financial, transportation (highway, rail, air), the military, health care. That's a start. Am I correct?

Could access to any of these institutions be denied a citizen based on sexual orientation? The one that comes closest is the military, which in fact does not deny homosexuals the right to serve, but rather denies the right to proclaim. Still, these institutions are available to all citizens, I believe guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Therefore, the denial of the institution of marriage to a citizen, any citizen, is unconstitutional, which is what, I believe, the California Supreme Court ruled.

I say again that it is my opinion that the church, any church, has no dog in this fight. It is a civil issue, not religious.

Prop 8 may pass in California on Tuesday, (aided in no small part by big money from the Church of Latter Day Saints, I might add) but it will come up again, and will eventually be defeated. A society cannot discriminate against a large faction of its members indefinitely. The human spirit will not allow it.