Good neighbors

Connecticut is a beautiful state. I lived there for about a year. I've hiked the Appalachian Trail through there, from the New York line to Vermont many times and never failed to be enthralled by it's natural beauty. The people have an overly-high opinion of themselves, but I can live with that. They're good neighbors, even if they don't want us to put an electric cable across Long Island Sound. They've become even better neighbors last evening.

The last couple days, I've been starting off my morning rants by praising Republicans. I'm doing it today as well. Republican Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, good on ya:

(Hartford-AP, April 20, 2005) — Connecticut is now the second state to recognize same-sex civil unions, and the first to do so without court pressure.

Governor Jodi Rell signed the bill about an hour after the state Senate sent the legislation to her desk. The law will allow thousands of gay and lesbian couples in Connecticut to be given the same rights and obligations as heterosexual couples, but not an actual marriage license.

Vermont has approved civil unions and neighboring Massachusetts has gay marriage, but those changes came about only after same-sex couples won court battles.

[. . .]

I know Pam will tell me a civil union isn't the same thing, and the equivalent of the 'separate-but-equal' doctrine toward the blacks in the middle of the last century, but it's a good start. The Legislators and Governor did this on their own (without pressure from a court order from 'activist judges') and deserve to be commended. Ship the Governor off an email or letter, or make a call, telling her how much you appreciate her ability to compromise on legislation long overdue:

Mailing Address

Governor M. Jodi Rell
Executive Office of the Governor
State Capitol
210 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06106

Telephone

Greater Hartford Area: 860-566-4840
Toll Free: 800-406-1527
TDD: 860-524-7397

E-Mail

Governor.Rell@po.state.ct.us

Note: I just stopped by Pam's to see how she feels about this and she took it better than I thought she would.

Why do I let Fixer sucker me into this shit?

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Moderate
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Moderate
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

I like these things too. They're basically a crock with the result pretty much predetermined by their sponsors, but who cares?

Blanket Ass Wisdom

I get a lot of mail from various American Indian schools and foundations and such. Lemme tell ya, you send just one of 'em three bucks and they tell each other about you. They send me bookmarks, return address labels, and stuff like that. Anyway, I was just reading my e-mail and came across this in the latest attempt by St. Joseph's Indian School to garnishee my wallet:

In Lakota (Sioux) culture, we are all related. Each of us was created and brought together by Wakan Tanka - the Great Spirit.

Because of our universal relation, it is our duty to care for and teach one another ... just as the Creator intended.

What a concept! The oh-so-Godly right would probably call that an anti-American Liberal manifesto.

I'm a bad man

Yeah, I got suckered again, this time by Cmdr. Sue. I love these fucking things. Here's my score:

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Second Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Low
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Moderate
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Very High
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	High

Take the Dante's Inferno Hell Test

Wolcott on Joey Rats

Wolcott's a pissah!

His brain warm with Stove-Top Stuffing, Goodwin is one of those phony Sensible Moderates in the Glenn Reynolds/Mort Kondracke mold (and I do mean mold) who is always pretending to lecture and advise liberals for their own good. Forever telling Democrats to tone down their rhetoric, moderate their message, lose Michael Moore, embrace family values, act more hawkish, etc.

Today Goodwin ventures into theology without a map or a clue, treating the Catholic Church as if it were the Bush Doctrine in liturgical vestments.

"When our hearts sink because beloved baseball players are discovered to be chemical freaks or admired merchant princes turn out to be crooks, we can count on the Pope. He will be steady, consistent, unshakable."

I was raised Catholic, and even we never believed anything that moony. We loved Pope John XXIII, but we knew he had a lot of predecessors that didn't trail glory through the record books. The slightest acquaintance with Catholic history turns up popes who were as shady and crafty as the "merchant princes" Goodwin fancies still rustle among us.

So if Pope Benedict XVI continues to stigmatize homosexuals and condemns condom use, resulting in the further spread of AIDS in Africa and elsewhere, he's cool with that? He'd prefer consistency and message discipline over sanity and compassion?

Why am I even bothering to raise the questions? Of course, he would. Floodwaters could engulf both coasts, and Michael Goodwin, wearing a snorkel, would applaud Bush and Cheney for remaining steadfast in denying the existence of global warming.

I have no comment other than Wolcott should be on everybody's "daily read" tour.

What's good?

Re: My post below.

Ol' Yelladog has a great post up and it's something we can (have to) push:

That title is a bit facetious, but seriously... Roxanne recently had a great thread recently titled "What's so great about America?" and I read it with great interest.

[. . .]

The belief in the struggle for justice is deeply ingrained in the American character. Look at Abbie Hoffman, Cyrstal Lee Sutton, Karen Silkwood, John Brown, W.E.B. duBois, Mitch Snyder...

Every one of these people has touched your life. The Right would prefer that we forget all of them, and fall to our knees in abject deification of Nelson Rockefeller, Prescott Bush, Donald Trump and the fat oligarchs that run the country now. It kinda bothers me that no one saw fit to mention that rowdy and rebellious streak that typifies the thorniness of the American Left of the past 100 years.

That's our legacy, folks. That's the mantle we need to pick up and teach each other. They're not going to teach it to our kids in school

[. . .]

Let's get back to our roots. Let's hold up our icons, the agitators, the ethical, and the principled, the fair, and the good. The Republicans can't match our roster, because all their guys wear suits and only care about the bottom line. The Left cares about people and we have a Murderers Row of Hall of Famers to back it up. The Dems, and those farther left, have to remind the reg'ler folks the good that has been done for the common man. Who're ya gonna believe, the Party of Parks and King or the Party of God and Money?

A ray of sunshine, perhaps...

Go read this. It'll make you feel better. By Stewart Nusbaumer.

There are times when happiness, regardless of ugly circumstances, cannot be denied. This morning is one of those times.

I won't bore you with the body of the article. It's good. Go bore yourself. You'll thank me.

So ignore the lousy weather, the political sun is shinning. Block out that pomp and pomposity on your television, that’s not America. The Bush Administration is crumbling; the dream to destroy America is imploding. The saboteurs are desperate -- their gang is locked in the cellar. Dismiss those tigers gnawing on your toes, they're only kittens. Have a drink. When the White House and Congress are recaptured, there will again be sanity in America. The agenda will again include justice. The price of Jim Beam will again be reasonable. Hallelujah. Have two drinks. The house of Bush is collapsing. The Mother of America will survive.

Lemme hear a Hallelujah!, brothers and sisters!

Do I hate Christians?

Just this kind. From John:

[. . .]

We’re seeing something very similar in the equation of attacks on the Dobsons and Santorums of the world with attacks on Christianity itself. The logical error is that the form of rigid rule-based, Pharisee Christianity practiced by Ayatollah Dobson is merely a particular manifestation (or subset) of Christianity proper. One can be at peace with a whole range of Christian interpretations and soundly reject the anti-Enlightenment, anti-woman, anti-privacy, anti-freedom, anti-science, anti-homosexuality, anti-everything-that-doesn’t-look-and-think-just-like-me version of Christianity.

Exactly. As he also notes, they've done the same thing with the war on Iraq, too. Anyone that didn't support the war, doesn't support defending America from terrorism. They've even taken it a step further so that anytime someone criticizes something our government does, it automatically means they hate America. It's the faultiest of logic, but it works.

[. . .]

Go read his post.

And shave off that silly mustache...

As we know, the vote on Bolton has been delayed indefinitely due to that rarest of occurrences, an attack of conscience by Senator Voinovich (R-OH). Imagine that!

"My conscience got me," he said after the stormy two-hour session. He said he had gone to the meeting planning to vote for Mr. Bolton, but changed his mind after hearing the case against the nominee made by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, both Democrats.

"I wanted more information about this individual, and I didn't feel comfortable voting for him," Mr. Voinovich said.

A Republican with a conscience? How'd he get past the screening committee?

They're gonna try to make him pay. From Move America Forward (Warning! Wingnut site - ed.):

As a result, Ohio U.S. Senator George Voinovich will be the target of radio ads criticizing Senator Voinovich for his obstructionist conduct in today’s Bolton confirmation hearings.

What a bunch of assholes.

The LATimes offers both a reasoned opinion:

President Bush's nomination of John Bolton to become United Nations ambassador began as an embarrassment and is ending as a disgrace. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee was right to delay a scheduled vote and resist being railroaded by the administration into approving him.

And the perfect solution:

Bolton surely can't want the job now, with the world on notice that even the Republican Senate has its misgivings about his nomination. Bush may find it hard to back down, so Bolton should do him and his country a favor and step aside. Maybe there is a consolation prize the White House could offer him. How about ambassador to France?

Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!! That'd fix him! France will get over it eventually, I'm sure, and may have some serious fun with that jerk. I certainly don't want to see his petard that he'd be hoisted from! I'm very proud today to be from L.A.

"Joey Rats" Helped Bush Defeat Kerry

From AFP in Truthout:

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (aka "Joey Rats" according to Jon Stewart - ed.), the Vatican theologian who was elected Pope Benedict XVI, intervened in the 2004 US election campaign ordering bishops to deny communion to abortion rights supporters including presidential candidate John Kerry.

Sharply divided on the issue, the bishops decided to leave the decision on granting or denying communion to the individual priest. Kerry later received communion several times from sympathetic priests.

Nevertheless, in the November election, a majority of Catholic voters, who traditionally supported Democratic Party candidates, shifted their votes to Republican and eventual winner George W. Bush.

No wonder Bush broke tradition and went to John Paul II's funeral. He knew, as did the smart money, that Joey Rats was the prime candidate to be the capo di tutti capi of the Roman Catholic Mafia Church. He owed the new guy. Or maybe Bush wants to get some pointers on how to control a tremendous number of people by telling 'em what God wants and threatening them with everlasting damnation if they don't do it. Bush would love to be able to do that. Popes make presidents look like pikers in that department.

I fell away from the Church many years ago when I realized what a fuckin' racket it is. Possessed of untold wealth, it allows many of its sheep to starve. It conflates its own self-serving traditions with the desires of the Almighty and gets it to stick. Its blind rituals cause a lot of people to feel guilt and suffer over things that are beyond their control and aren't spiritually important anyway.

Butting into U.S. politics where it doesn't belong is one more reason I was right to drop out. The Church is a medieval organization that got the power it has during the Dark Ages and would like nothing better than to return the world to those times when it had unlimited power and the Hell with the rest of us. Pun intended.

Conscience

WASHINGTON, April 19 - A surprise last-minute defection by an Ohio Republican forced the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to postpone a vote that had been scheduled for Tuesday on the nomination of John R. Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations.

The chairman of the panel, Richard G. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, reluctantly agreed to put off any vote until next month to allow a review of what Democrats portrayed as troubling new accusations that cast doubt on Mr. Bolton's temperament and credibility.

[. . .]

"My conscience got me," he [Sen George Voinovich, R-OH] said after the stormy two-hour session. He said he had gone to the meeting planning to vote for Mr. Bolton, but changed his mind after hearing the case against the nominee made by Senators Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, both Democrats.

"I wanted more information about this individual, and I didn't feel comfortable voting for him," Mr. Voinovich said. [my emphases]

[. . .]

Tell (politely, please) Senator Voinovich that you appreciate his attack of conscience and the fact he is setting an example for other Repubs to follow:

Voinovich, George - (R - OH)
524 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-3353

Bolton is a certified madman and should be living in a room with rubber wallpaper, not representing this nation at the U.N. Jo says it best:

John Bolton no more deserves to be the UN Ambassador than the man-in-the-moon. M-O-O-N spells Snivelling Lackey. (apologies to Mssr. King, but what's up with all the self-referential stuff in DT VII?)...anyhow back to the latest incompetent up for promotion by the 1600 Crew (latest in a long line, no?)

[. . .]

Call, write, and email everyone you can and insist they vote against Bolton's appointment.

Update: 06:00:

Via Glen, more Repub dirty tricks in the effort to get this shithouse rat confirmed.

Public service

From Glen:

The American Family Association attests that I "took action on an AFA-sponsored poll, petition, or action alert." It's possible; but I swear that I only did it to tell them to go pound salt up their butts. (And this, my children, is how spam is born.) Nonetheless, I am now on their mailing list and I have been asked to forward this to my "family and friends." Far be it for me to refuse such a reasonable request.

[. . .]

The Party of God at work.

The Pope

This is probably the last I'll say about this. All you progressive Catholics who are optimistically waiting for reform? Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Did you actually think things would change?

Please

Get a fucking life.

Yeesh

The State Department decided to stop publishing an annual report on international terrorism after the government's top terrorism center concluded that there were more terrorist attacks in 2004 than in any year since 1985, the first year the publication covered.

Go read the Sister.

Skank Central

As we all know, Time magazine, which I have subscribed to for over thirty years and my family for thirty years before that, finally took leave of its senses and made Ann Coulter, the exemplar of white trash and all that is currently wrong with the American media, its cover girl (shudder). Hitler, OK. Idi Amin, fine. Manson, sure. Bush, well, everybody fucks up. Howsomever, this one takes the cake.

Cursor has thoughtfully provided a page with links to quite a few folks who have something to say about Time's losing its mind and putting that ____ (nasty four-letter word that I don't like to use; rhymes with "blunt") on the cover. Go read. Fun.

Update: Go read Wolcott on this subject. Scroll down a little.

ToDay's DeLay Part II

Damn, this DeLay shit's comin' fast and furious. It's getting hard to keep up. I fuckin' love it! I hope to be the first to bring you the tar-and-feather conclusion sooner rather than later, but for now here's Molly Ivins:

Tom DeLay, of all people, recently issued a fatwa on the need for good manners, a concept so bizarre there is no appropriate comparison. Let's reserve it as a future simile: "... as weird as the time Tom DeLay gave us all a lecture on manners."

In his new role as the Emily Post of politics, DeLay informed us, "It is unfortunate in our electoral system, exacerbated by our adversarial media culture, that political discourse has to get so overheated, that it's not just arguments, but motives are questioned." Did someone question his motive in taking an all-expenses-paid vacation from a lobbyist?

This would be the same Tom DeLay who said, "Screw the Senate," when he learned Bob Dole had cut a deal with Clinton to end the government shutdown caused by Newt Gingrich.

"We're in charge. We don't have to negotiate with the Senate." Same as above.

There is much more from DeLay that is unprintable in a newspaper. For some rich samples, try "The Hammer" by Lou DuBose, my sometime writing partner.

As to DeLay's claim of a vast left-wing conspiracy out to destroy the conservative movement, nonsense. I like conservatives. They're opposed to all questionable adventures abroad and for fiscal prudence and responsibility. It's right-wing nuts I can't stand.

Never thought I'd say this, but Amen to that. A good old-fashioned asshole conservative would look pretty good right about now.

Who's Yer Daddy?

Ratzinger got elected Pope. Finally. OK, media, on to the next clusterfuck.

Damn, I hope he doesn't like to take pictures of celebrities: he'd be a Pope-a-ratzi. That was too easy.

Maybe Half Vast

Go see Tom Tomorrow on the Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy. Since I'm about done with The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman, I thought it was apropos. It feels good to belong on the correct side.

ToDay's DeLay

This is from an article by Hendik Hertzberg in the New Yorker. It's about the "DeLay must stay" movement which both Democrats and Republicans buy into, albeit for way different reasons. Read, you'll see. Anyway, the last coupla paragraphs all by themselves were worth reading just for one sentence by DeLay which I have emphasized.

[..]

But when asked who is to blame for “activist judges,” he was jaw-droppingly candid:

"I blame Congress over the last fifty to a hundred years for not standing up and taking its responsibility given to it by the Constitution. The reason the judiciary has been able to impose a separation of church and state that’s nowhere in the Constitution is that Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had judicial review is because Congress didn’t stop them. The reason we had a right to privacy is because Congress didn’t stop them."


So there you have it, the DeLay agenda: no separation of church and state, no judicial review, no right to privacy. Next to this, the President’s effort to repeal the New Deal social contract by phasing out Social Security is the mewing of a kitten. DeLay may stay or DeLay may go. But the real danger is not DeLay himself. It’s DeLay’s agenda. It’s his vision. It’s his “values.”

I think DeLay should stay in D.C. Hanging from a lamppost. Now.