True Blue Texan

Girl Scout Promotes Cookie Boycott

2012-01-13T13:35:00.003-06:00

A Girl Scout in California is calling for a boycott of Girl Scout Cookies because a Colorado council allowed a 7-year-old transgender child to join a troop. Her video calling for the boycott has stirred up the expected controversy among LGBT activists.

As a former Girl Scout leader, I feel I can speak to her concerns. As a friend to my former Girl Scout and transman, I have a little more insight to this issue as well. She goes on and on about how unsafe this precedent is and how having adolscent boys in all-girl troops would be a violation of Girl Scouts own safety rules. First of all, she needs to get her pronouns and terminology correct. The child in question in Colorado, and any transgender youth who joins GSUSA, is not a boy. She is a girl and as such would benefit from being in Girl Scouts for all of the same reasons any other girl would. Secondly, the child in question is 7 and unlikely to present a clear and eminent danger to her fellow scouts.

The information she quotes from is factual. GSUSA did perform a study several years ago about the benefits of an all girl organization. Their findings are every bit as true for a transgirl as they are for any other. Perhaps, even more true. Being around other girls as she attempts to form her own identity as a girl can only be beneficial for that 7-year-old. Her fellow scouts will benefit as well.

The California scout is not only concerned about the introduction of transgender youth to Girl Scouts, she feels strongly that GSUSA should break their ties with WAGGGS (the international scouting organization) because of their ties with Planned Parenthood and that GSUSA should do away with their sex education program.

Clearly this girl has drunk the kool-aid.

Planned Parenthood does far more that provide abortions. Far more. Far, far more. In fact abortion services are just a tiny fraction of what they do. But after listenting to this girl and looking at her website, it's clear that's what her motiviation is all about. As far as the sec education materials that GSUSA has available, the thing to remember is that are not required. They're available for troops who decided to use them, they are geared towards older girls and they are NOT required for any badges, awards or other recognition. In other words, if this girl and her troop find them so reprehensible, they don't have to use them. However, other troops might not have the same outlook. They should be able to use them.

Here's really what I want to say to this girl and the adults who taught her to hate:

Did you just join up and not do any kind of research at all?

Did you think Girl Scouts was just camping and cookies?

Have you been living under rock for the last decade? Were you truly not aware that GSUSA is a progressive organziation and is not simply Boy Scouts for girls?

If you want your daughter in an organization that is primed to keep her barefoot and pregnant, teach her to be subservient and that sex is bad, then Girl Scouts is NOT the organization for you. Girl Scouts is all about teaching girls to be independent, caring, active members of society who think for themselves and are proud of who they are. Girl Scouts promotes girls and women's rights. If that's not what you want for your daughter, then find another group for her to join. But don't be surprised when Girl Scouts tries to keep up with the times.

And leaves you in the dust.

Rep. Rob Woodall makes commercial for the GA Dems

2011-05-25T15:00:00.000-05:00

No, seriously.

Remember this asshat from yesterday when he told a constituent at a town hall meeting she needed to take care of herself and buy her own insurance if her company didn't provide healthcare as part of a retirement package?

Well, at the same meeting, he had someone ask him why he didn't buy his own insurance and decline his government supplied healthcare. Especially since he had told her one of his goals was to do away with government AND employer supported insurance.

What did he tell her? Watch for yourself.

That's right, he told her why should he when it's FREE. Words escape me. How do I describe someone who is at once both so completely arrogant and so completely clueless.

He must be a ringer for the Dems. Cause really, all they have to do is play this video segment and the one from yesterday. A little editing, a little music, some voice over work as text relates some more of his statements and voila - instant commercial.

Of course, he is from Georgia, the state that gave us Paul Broun.

More Evidence That Republicans Hate You

2011-05-24T20:20:00.001-05:00

In Texas this week, Governor Big Hair signed into law a truly hateful piece of legislation. HB 15 requires that any woman undergoing an abortion in the state of Texas be required to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound. She may choose to look away but must listen as the doctor describes what he sees. Yes, that's right. She has no choice except to look away. She must undergo the indignity (and ladies, we all know getting a vaginal exam is no spring picnic) of having a condom-and-gel-covered probe inserted into her vagina.

This medical prodcedure has specific uses, according to NIH.

Transvaginal ultrasound may be done for the following problems:

Abnormal findings on a physical exam, such as cysts, fibroid tumors, or other growths
Abnormal vaginal bleeding and menstrual problems
Certain types of infertility
Ectopic pregnancy
Pelvic pain

Transvaginal ultrasound is also used during pregnancy to:

Evaluate cases of threatened miscarriage
Listen to the unborn baby's heartbeat
Look at the placenta
Look for the cause of bleeding
Monitor the growth of the embryo or fetus early in the prgnancy
See if the cervix is changing or opening up when labor is starting early

The State of Texas has added one more use.

Transvaginal ultrasound is also used during pregnancy to:

Force the mother to undergo an invasive procedure designed to discourage the abortion

Rah. So glad to be from Texas. I won't even repeat what Sen Dan Patrick (R-Hell) had to say.

So Texas has gotten it's long sought after bill to try to convince women to change their mind about an abortion. Sen. Patrick believes that if 20% of women change their minds that will "save"10,000 to 15,000 lives a year. Which goes well with this next tidbit.

US House Republicans' budget plans are calling for a reduction in funding to the WIC nutrition program. If this item remains in the budget that eventually passes, The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that WIC would have to turn way 325,000 to 475,000 eligible low-income women and young children next year. So those, 10 to 15K souls the Texas Sonogram bill is supposed to save? Well, they're on their own. Surprise.

But real beauty of the week came from Kansas State Legislator Rep. Pete DeGraaf. Kansas approved a ban last week on insurance companies offering abortion coverage as part of their general plans except when a woman's life is at risk. If an individual or employer wants to get medical coverage for an abortion in Kansas they will have to purchase a supplemental policy rider that covers only abortion.

When Rep. Barbara Bollier, a Republican who supports abortion rights, asked if it was reasonable to think women would buy such policies ahead of time, say before they're raped, the lovely Rep. DeGraaf replied this way:

"We do need to plan ahead, don't we, in life?" He continued, to groans from his fellow House members, "I have spare tire on my car. I also have life insurance. I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for."

Yes, you heard that right. He just compared an abortion rider to AAA. After all, every woman should expect to be raped in her lifetime. Avoiding unwanted pregnancies is entirely the responsibility of the woman, regardless of how that pregnancy occurs. If you want to be prepared and you're one of those heathen Pro-Choice types, then you buy yourself a rider. Otherwise, you just have to make lemonade out lemons, as Sharron Angle would day.

These people, and I use that terms loosely, hate women. They want us back in the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant. They want to return to the time when a man owned a woman's body. When rape was considered a property crime and compensation, if there was any, went to the male who "owned" the woman be he husband or father.

In truth, the current crop of Tea-Party-leaning Republican whack-a-doodles wants to return us to time before labor unions, before women's rights, before the Voting Rights Act, before anything as silly as the Clean Water Act or anything that regulates business in any way. They want to return us the era of robber barons. They care only about the pocketbooks of their wealthy cronies and supporters. If you can't afford to maintain your health insurance, pay for an abortion or feed your child, they don't care. It's your own fault for not working hard enough to get enough money to buy these things.

H/T to Juanita Jean, Crooks and Liars, Dallas News, The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, McPherson Sentinel

In Case You Needed Any More Evidence...

2011-05-24T13:54:00.000-05:00

Republican politicians are out for one thing and one thing only - themselves. To this end they have sold their souls to the corporations, the Koch brothers, et al. They refuse to let go of their "principals" even when what they're espousing is patently absurd on its face.

Here are three examples from today's headlines:

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), whom according to Think Progress, owns "a building worth up to $1 million, a dental practice worth up to $500,000, an antique store worth up to $500,000" and more, rightly earning the label "millionaire", told a town hall

Seriously. I ain’t wealthy. I built my own house, I wouldn’t do it again. I own my building, I have a dental practice. I live just like the rest of you folks. It’s all on paper, it’s not in cash.

And don't forget his 174K congressional salary.

Next is Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga) who told a constituent who asked, what do I when I retire and my company doesn't provide health care coverage to employees?, quote:

"Hear yourself, ma'am. Hear yourself," Woodall told the woman. "You want the government to take care of you, because your employer decided not to take care of you. My question is, 'When do I decide I'm going to take care of me?'"

In other words, she needed to plan better and save the money to pay for her own healthcare cause the government can't be expected to help you.

Speaking of help from the Government, today's winner of Asshole of the Day goes to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), He says that any federal aid to tornado ravaged Joplin, MO must be offset by spending cuts. Who knows how long that process will delay the release of funds. So, Joplin? You're on your own for a while. Maybe a long while. Maybe forever cause we know how those Republicans like to raise taxes. Maybe we can defund NPR to pay for the rebuilding. Of course, we could stop the wars in Afghanistan or Iraq and pay to rebuild Joplin and Tuscaloosa and Minneapolis on just the savings generated in a week. But that won't happen.

Grr.

Since our government is in no hurry to help Joplin, here's where you can go to help:
Red Cross
AmeriCares
Heart of Missouri United Way
Convoy of Hope

What Would You Do?

2011-05-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

This is a lovely reminder of the simple fact that despite what you may hear in the news, despite Governor Big Hair and despite the Religious Right and their spokespersons on the State Board of Education, Texas and Texans are far more open-minded than not. Yes, there are homophobes in Texas. But equally true is the fact that there are good and decent people willing to stand up to injustice and intolerance here as well.

I've never watched the series on ABC, "What Would You Do?" and I'm not generally a fan of reality TV of any stripe but kudos to them for tackling this topic. And kudos to those who spoke out against the biogtry.

It's the End of the World

2011-05-20T13:59:00.000-05:00

Or so says the now famous, or infamous, Harold Camping. Though all his billboards say it's going to start on May 21, which is tomorrow, what he really meant to day was it's going to start at 6PM local time AT THE INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE. So that's like 1AM here.

Oh, and just for grins he has a pamphlet all ready to go just in case, you know, NOTHING HAPPENS. Which apparently means that the end is still nigh just not yet here. Or something. Seriously, go read the article by Tina Dupuy on the Atlantic. She actually interviewed the old creepy dude.

I personally think he looks like the insanely creepy preacher man from Poltergeist 2. Here's Camping:

Here's the insanely creepy Preacher dude from Poltergeist:

Am I right?

At any rate, an untold number of people actually think old creepy dude has a point. So much so that they're preparing for end by giving away their money and quitting their jobs. Despite the fact that he's predicted the world's demise before and was wrong, there are still some that think he may be on to something. The rest of us? Having endless amounts of fun laughing at the old creepy dude.

I originally thought we should have a blow out end-of-the-world party Saturday, followed by another yay-we're-all-still-here party on Sunday. But since Harold says that end is coming sooner than I had thought, I may have to start tonight. Hmm. Is there enough alcohol in the house? Perhaps it's a good thing that Eldest is coming home this weekend.

Still, I expect that come Monday morning, I will still be here, as will the rest of the world. But just in case the world does end this weekend, you need to have seen this:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

John Lithgow Performs Gingrich Press Release

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

Video Archive

Which, of course, reminds me of this:

Shatner Reads Palin - watch more funny videos

Damn, still funny.

Did Florida ban sex and does God have tongue spots?

2011-05-11T21:17:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe. Depends on how you read the statute.

An act relating to sexual activities involving animals; creating s. 828.126, F.S.; providing definitions; prohibiting knowing sexual conduct or sexual contact with an animal; prohibiting specified related activities; providing penalties; providing that the act does not apply to certain husbandry, conformation judging, and veterinary practices; providing an effective date.

Technically, human beings are animals. So, on it's face that bit up there kind of implies that they did. But of course, that's not the entire statute.

“Sexual conduct” means any touching or fondling by a person, either directly or through clothing, of the sex organs or anus of an animal or any transfer or transmission of semen by the person upon any part of the animal for the purpose of sexual gratification or arousal of the person. [my emphasis]

And that bit implies that the person who wrote the law sees people as separate from animals. Whether or not you agree with her (and yes, it's a her. You kind of knew it had to be, didn't you?) it's rather clear her intent was to make illegal the act of a human having sex with an animal. Specifically, the news reports I've read mention a case of a goat and another with a horse, so she was thinking animal as in the 4-legged variety and not the kind that walks on two feet. Like Newt Gingrich.

So while the Twitterverse and blogosphere went a little overboard with the idea that Florida had banned sex and after October 1st Florida residents would have to confer with a vet, animal husbandry professional or conformation judge (which is a fancy term for those folks who judge dogs and such for shows) before having consensual sex, it just ain't so.

It does however raise another question.

The very fact that so many would assume that the author of the bill didn't believe humans were animals got me to thinking (always a shaky proposition). Why do so many people, especially those of the more, shall we say, conservative bent, think that way? Which of course made me think of those Christians who think the only way to read the Bible is literally. Thus, "God created man in his image" means that God looks like us and not say, the family dog.

Which I find patently absurd.

Aibhne happened to be sitting in my lap while my husband and I discussed this silly Florida law and meandered on over to Bible literalists. I pointed to her and said, that's an image of God right there. To which he replied, does that mean God has tongue spots?

Yes. Yes, it does.

What the Hell was She Thinking?

2011-04-29T15:43:00.000-05:00

As I may have mentioned, the company I work for is British. Our home office in the UK got the day off and we had lunch brought in (the VP made homemade Shepherd's Pie) and watched a replay of the wedding.

I somehow managed to miss this...thing...on Princess Beatrice's head. And I was sort of of looking for crazy hats cause it's a Royal Wedding and all.

Not sure how cause damn it's a sight. Must have been the alcohol.

2011-04-19T20:59:00.001-05:00

Day 6 - Possible escape tomorrow. Prayers, finger-crossing & other forms of barter appreciated.

2011-04-18T21:46:00.001-05:00

Day 4 of latest hospital stay. Sucks as much as ever. Good news is we may have found right drug combo. Must remember it for the next time.

We The People - Move to Amend

2011-04-09T11:58:00.000-05:00

There is a national movement that I have just discovered called Move to Amend. As the name suggests, they are working towards a constitutional amendment. Specifically, an amendment that would overturn the Citizens United ruling.

In recent Wisconsin elections, Dane county and the city of Madison passed referendums supporting this effort. Communities in California and Minnesota have proposed or passed similar resolutions.

On the Move to Amend website, I was unsurprised to find that Texas has no chapters. My husband is not an overly political person but this is something he feels strongly about - the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling was a disaster with wide ranging negative impact -something we agree on.

Move to Amend states the following:

We, the People of the United States of America, reject the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Citizens United, and move to amend our Constitution to:

* Firmly establish that money is not speech, and that human beings, not corporations, are persons entitled to constitutional rights.

* Guarantee the right to vote and to participate, and to have our vote and participation count.

* Protect local communities, their economies, and democracies against illegitimate "preemption" actions by global, national, and state governments.

The Supreme Court is misguided in principle, and wrong on the law. In a democracy, the people rule. We Move to Amend.

If this is something you agree with, I encourage you to check out their website and see if there are any local groups or chapters in your state. If there are none, think about starting one.

We are. Anyone want to join us?

Segway Jousting

2011-04-07T12:53:00.000-05:00

This is every bit as awesome and silly as the title suggests. Not a bad way to spend your lottery winnings.

Teacher Layoffs Growing in Texas

2011-04-02T11:38:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Fort Bend ISD, near Houston, announced it was laying off 470 employees. 195 of those were certified teaching positions. The district says that some of these teachers will be reassigned to new schools but doesn't say how many.

May 25, Round Rock ISD, my home district, announced 280 employee layoffs, 234 of them probationary teachers. Those are generally new teachers in their first two years of employment. The district warned that the next round of layoffs will come from contracted employees - meaning those teachers and staff beyond their probationary period. They also announced that classroom ratios will be increased next year to 27:1 for middle and high school and 21:1 for elementary.

Austin ISD voted March 28 to eliminate 490 positions. Some are administration but most are teaching and support staff.

Dallas ISD is looking at eliminating almost 3,000 positions, of which 1,300 will be teaching positions.

To the individual who told me that teachers wouldn't be losing their jobs, that it would just be a shell game moving costs to another budget line, I say this:

Forcing early retirement may seem like a shell game, and some teachers will take early retirement, but the lion's share of these layoffs will come from those who can't do that - the probationary or new teachers. They're now stuck with student loans and no job. Their jobs will be gone. Not shuffled around to another school, not reassigned to a different place in the budget but simply gone. When all is said and done, after school districts have reassigned who they can, encouraged others to take early retirement or resign, there will be fewer teaching positions. More students in the classrooms for the teachers that remain. Fewer support services for those students and teachers. Ultimately, those who will suffer the most are the students.

This is a nightmare. And not one we as a state will soon wake from.

"Bullied" screening at UCC

2011-03-28T19:12:00.000-05:00

If you're in the Austin area, please stop by the United Church of Christ at 3500 W. Parmer Lane this Sunday at 6PM. We're hosting a free screening of the Southern Poverty Law Center's documentary "Bullied".

The documentary tells the story of one high school student who held his school district accountable for the years of bullying he experienced while attending their schools. Despite repeated pleas for help, a suicide attempt and running away from home, this young man was forced to sue the school district before they would acknowledge the problem.

The film is about 40 minutes long and there will be a short discussion afterwards. If you aren't in the Austin area, I encourage you to find a way to view this film.

Henry A Wallace - a definition of fascism and a warning

2011-03-26T13:30:00.001-05:00

Excerpted below is a letter written by Henry A Wallace, Vice President under FDR from 1941-1945. Written in 1944 and printed in the New York Times, this piece is warning of the dangers of American fascism. It's clear to me that many of the things he warns us about are evidenced today in the Republican party, especially the Tea Party variant. You can read the full document here. Emphasis is mine.

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends. The supreme god of a fascist, to which his ends are directed, may be money or power; may be a race or a class; may be a military, clique or an economic group; or may be a culture, religion, or a political party. […]

The obvious types of American fascists are dealt with on the air and in the press. These demagogues and stooges are fronts for others. Dangerous as these people may be, they are not so significant as thousands of other people who have never been mentioned. […] The dangerous American fascist is the man who wants to do in the United States in an American way what Hitler did in Germany in a Prussian way. The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.

If we define an American fascist as one who in case of conflict puts money and power ahead of human beings, then there are undoubtedly several million fascists in the United States. There are probably several hundred thousand if we narrow the definition to include only those who in their search for money and power are ruthless and deceitful. Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. […] They are patriotic in time of war because it is to their interest to be so, but in time of peace they follow power and the dollar wherever they may lead. American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery.

Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. […]

The symptoms of fascist thinking are colored by environment and adapted to immediate circumstances. But always and everywhere they can be identified by their appeal to prejudice and by the desire to play upon the fears and vanities of different groups in order to gain power. It is no coincidence that the growth of modern tyrants has in every case been heralded by the growth of prejudice. […]

The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. […] They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise, but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interest. Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection. […]

It should also be evident that exhibitions of the native brand of fascism are not confined to any single section, class or religion. […] It is an infectious disease, and we must all be on our guard against intolerance, bigotry and the pretension of invidious distinction. But if we put our trust in the common sense of common men and “with malice toward none and charity for all” go forward on the great adventure of making political, economic and social democracy a practical reality, we shall not fail.

Those who will not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

H/T to jobsanger.

Bryan Fischer is an idiot

2011-03-24T23:14:00.000-05:00

The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity.

So says Brian Fischer at his column on RenewAmerica.

That someone has such a limited grasp of the Constitution and history is nothing short of amazing. He even goes so far as to quote a "Constitutional scholar" who says:

"The real object of the [First] amendment was, not to countenance, much less to advance Mahometanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity; but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects, and to prevent any national ecclesiastical establishment, which should give to an hierarchy the exclusive patronage of the national government."

Really? I seem to remember the First Amendment to our Constitution differently:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The parts of the First Amendment dealing with religion are commonly referred to as freedom of and freedom from religion. The government will not force a state religion (freedom from) and will not prohibit a citizen from exercising religious faith (freedom of).

I love that Fischer and his so-called Constitutional expert both seem to think Thomas Jefferson wanted to prevent the establishment of one Christian sect as primary but had no concerns about the free speech or exercise of religion for other religious faiths. Jefferson is who coined the term "separation of Church and State" and his interpretation of the First Amendment has stood the test of time. Plus, he was not really the kind of Christian that Fischer would have approved of - being a deist and eschewing orthodoxy.

These people who hold up Jefferson has the perfect example of a Christian Founding Father should really pay attention to history. Or at least let the man speak for himself:

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between church and State.

Or this:

Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve the homage of reason than of blindfolded fear.

There are more, of course. Jefferson was intensely interested in theology but not orthodoxy. He even went so far as to create an edited version of the Bible that removed all mention of miracles. Not really the kind of Christian Fischer and his cronies would like if they took the time to really get to know the man.

H/T to Texas Freedom Network for the article that led me down this rabbit hole.

Recipe for Hilarity with a dash of WTF

2011-03-23T21:20:00.000-05:00

Blend:
1 tank
12+ Maricopa County Sheriff Office SWAT members
1 bomb robot
Steven Segal

Add 115 chickens and one unarmed man.

Mix well. Spice with terror, miscellaneous armored vehicles and blown out windows.

Recipe makes 115 euthanized chickens, thousands in property damage and one community outraged.

This, they're outraged about. Crazy immigration ideas, not so much. Oi.

H/T to Daily Kos for a diary that made me laugh out loud and then shake my head.

Texas State Board of Education and the Lege

2011-03-22T22:34:00.000-05:00

It appears that the Texas Legislature is waking up to the fact the State Board of Education has royally screwed our children and, by extension, the future of Texas.

Amazing when you consider that the legislature consists of a 101 to 49 Republican supermajority. Texans across the board think the SBOE crossed way over the line last year with their adoption of a "we have to stand up to the experts" expert-free social studies curriculum.

There are at least 11 bills making their tortured way through the process as we speak. Some call for the complete dissolution of the SBOE, others seek to reform it. Most noticeable are three that specifically deal with how the Board handles curriculum votes and those experts they like to ignore. One other demands the nullification of the social studies curriculum and would force the Board to reopen the standards.

It is my fervent hope that significant change comes to the State Board of Education. Here's my letter to my representative, Larry Gonzales.

As a Texas Freedom Network Lobby Day participant, I was able to meet with your Chief of Staff, Chris Sanchez to discuss our legislative agenda. I wanted to thank you and Mr. Sanchez for this opportunity.

I believe it is critical that we do everything legislatively possible to rein in the State Board of Education.

There are several House bills currently in committee that propose to do just that. In particular, HB 3257 and HB 3504 are both important steps in eliminating some of the more egregious tactics that Board has implemented in the past. HB 3257 would require that the Board make any amendments available for public review 3 business days prior to a vote and require the final version of the standards to be posted for at least 24 hours prior to final adoption. Currently, the board is able to make changes right up to the minute that the standards are voted on. This bill would allow much needed time for scholars and Board members alike to have ample time to review amendments and the final standards. HB 3504 goes one step further and requires a two-thirds vote by the Board to reject recommendations of curriculum and textbook review teams. Currently, as we saw to the state’s detriment last year, the Board only requires a simple majority vote to reject these recommendations.

HB 2217 would nullify the social studies curriculum passed last year by the Board and force them to reopen the review of the standards. The Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning education policy think tank, has said that the Board has created a “politicized distortion of history” through the adoption of the current standards. Educators, scholars and voters in Texas all agree that this curriculum needs serious review.

These are but a few of the bills currently under review by the legislature; I would strongly urge you, as your constituent, to review all of the pending legislation and determine which ones you can support. The State Board of Education has made our proud state not only the laughing stock of the entire nation, but the world as well. Their blatant attempts to revise curriculum from a personal and political bias may well cost us jobs. Employers want to know that their prospective employee pool consists of people who have a firm grasp on history and science. Currently, this is problematic, at best.

I left with Mr. Sanchez a list of the current bills pending or in committee. Please take the time to review this list and throw your support behind this vitally needed reform. As someone intimately connected with Texas education, I hope that you share my concerns with the direction the SBOE has taken.

I will mail it to him tomorrow. I'm not really expecting a reply. My last letter to him after the Equality Texas lobby day has so far gone unanswered. I'm also faxing a note to each member of the House Public Education committee expressing my interest in seeing these bills make it out of committee.

I'm tired of sitting back and letting the lege do it's thing every two years with no input from me. Here's hoping that being the squeaky wheel has some effect. At least they'll learn to cringe when my postmark crosses their desk.

NaBloPoMo fail.

2011-03-21T18:23:00.000-05:00

Again.

I did try. I even blogged on the road, but Las Vegas got the best of me. And my money. Surprise. We had a great time, despite the complete inability to win a damn thing in the casinos.

We saw the Lion King at Mandalay Bay, ate entirely too much, spent more than we should have and discovered that the Hard Rock Hotel was...interesting.

That's an actual cymbal used as a lighting sconce. Pretty cool. So was the "mobile intimacy kit" that was in the room. This small, black box contained a pocket "massager", lubricant and two condoms. I brought it home and gave it to Youngest's boyfriend as his souvenir. What can I say? The Hard Rock appeals to a certain demographic - generally speaking - young. Although the music memorabilia all over the place was cool.

We got good news on Thursday as we were getting ready to leave. Myrddin showed up at the back door that morning. Aside from being a bit skinnier, he seems perfectly fine after his 6 day excursion (which was apparently NOT all inclusive). Just when I was getting used to the idea of being a two dog household he shows up. And I think he may have fleas. Joy.

We stopped by the Grand Canyon on our way home. It was a 3 and a half hour side trip that made us significantly late getting home. But worth it. All along the roadways we kept seeing signs that we should be alert for elk. For two hours we saw these signs but no elk. Talked to the Eldest as we were entering the park, hung up, lost service and what appeared over the hill?

A herd of elk.

Timing. Not our best skill. At any rate, we made it home. We spent Saturday and Sunday morning at a church retreat and I participated in the Texas Freedom Network's lobby day today.

I'm pooped. I need a break from my break. Alternatively, I could just go back to work tomorrow. Which I will do, but I don't plan on enjoying myself.

Viva Las Vegas!

2011-03-15T11:59:00.001-05:00

We got in last night after stopping at Hoover Dam, which was pretty incredible. Such as massive undertaking and, of course, the electrical engineer in Hubs was fascinated.

The Hilton conned us into paying $20 more a night to get their new "upgraded" room. In this "upgraded room" we've already had to have maintenance come up and plunge the toilet, the shower curtain is torn and the internet is virtually useless. The last is because of damage sustained in California by the tsunami. So, not Hilton's fault. However, the pillow top bed was worth every penny of the upgrade cost.

Tonight, we're going to see the Lion King at the Mirage. Last night we caught the tail-end of the Bellagio's fountain show and we'll try to catch it again tonight. Today, we're hitting the casino.

Today also happens to be our 25th wedding anniversary. When asked what the trick is to staying married so long is, my Hubs always answers: "marry the right person." Not much help to those advice seekers, but accurate. I would add that luck had no small part in it.

Also, we both just assumed we were in it for the long haul and the only way out would be pistols at 20 paces. Saves the messiness of a divorce. Sharing a sense of humor (dry and sarcastic), liking similar things (books, gadgets, games) and having similar outlooks on major things (politics, child-rearing) but still maintaining our separate-ness (he plays bridge and is very analytical, I'm a big picture/gestalt thinker). That's it in a nutshell. Probably not very helpful, but it's worked for us.

Now, I'm off to go lose some money at the blackjack tables. Hopefully, not too much. Wish me luck.

OMG GOP WTF New Hampshire! Edition

2011-03-14T12:25:00.001-05:00

Have you heard the latest group the GOP/TP wants to disenfranchise now? 18 - 20-year-olds.

A Republican in the New Hampshire state legislature thinks that this age cohort should be denied the right to vote because students are "transient inmates . . . with a dearth of experience and a plethora of the easy self-confidence that only ignorance and inexperience can produce."

So says state rep Gregory Doth in prepared remarks. Prepared as in this was not an off the cuff statement. No, he thought about it and decided this was what he wanted to say.

And he wasn't alone. New Hampshire House Speaker O'Brien agrees: "Voting as a liberal. That's what kids do," he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack "life experience," and "they just vote their feelings.

I urge you to go read the entire diary entry by Dante Atkins at the Daily Kos entitled Assault on Student Voting : Just the Latest GOP overreach. I can't link to it properly since I am composing this via email on my phone. But hey, the fact that I can blog while travelling 70mph on I-10 in Arizona is pretty damn nifty.

Viva technology!

On The Road Again

2011-03-13T20:06:00.001-05:00

We're off and headed to Las Vegas for our anniversary.

Eldest has reluctantly signed on to dogsit (and be sister-taxi). We bought them enough food and alcohol to feed a small army. The usual rules apply - the house better be in the same condition we left it in or reduced to literal rubble. No half-assed measures.

We just had dinner in Fort Stockton at John Chihuahuas. Service was really awful and the food (Tex-Mex) was just ok. Don't bother stopping there if you're ever in the ass end of Texas.

We left town about 1:30. We still have another 3 hours before we're out of Texas. Then it's a mad dash across New Mexico, way too long in Arizona (which we've been warned is one giant speed trap) and a hop, skip and a jump to Vegas. We expect to get there about 1:15 PM, local time. Yes, we're driving straight through.

It'll be fine. I know where all the 24 hour Shell stations are on our route.

See you in Vegas!

Nuclear Meltdown Possible in Japan

2011-03-12T23:02:00.000-06:00

Though the information coming out of Japan is understandably sketchy and confused at this point, there is growing concern that at least on of the nuclear reactors in Fukushima is in meltdown. There was an explosion yesterday and Cesium has been detected in the atmosphere. Japan's government has ordered the evacuation of residents within 20 kilometers of one nuclear power plant and within 10 kilometers of a second. More than 83,000 people live within 10 kilometers of the two plants, according to Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

This is horrible news. It's not enough that they have to deal with the worst earthquake in their history and the resulting tsunami, now there is this. This reactor is 250 km north of Tokyo. (For us non-metric folk, that is or about 155 miles, slightly less than the distance from Houston to Austin. )

Some are calling this disaster worse than Chernobyl. An 18 mile restricted zone is still enforced around Chernobyl 25 years later. We could easily see a similar zone go up around Fukushima. Perhaps even larger since there are multiple reactors there and it's possible that more than one is in danger of meltdown.

Remember, the effects of Chernobyl were felt far from the Ukraine. Today in Germany, the government buys wild boar meat from hunters to limit its exposure on the market. Why? Because it's radioactive. 25 years later, the wild boar in Germany are still finding cesium-137 in their diet of mushrooms and truffles, which tend to absorb more radiation.

Germany is 720 miles from Chernobyl.

While I doubt that it will happen, what happens if Japan, or a large portion of it, becomes uninhabitable? If Tokyo, with a population of 12 million, has to deal with radiation poisoning, how does the world respond?

Japan has a massive economy. If that economy fails because of these combined disasters, what happens to the world economy?

We're still very early in the aftermath. We'll learn more as the days pass. Right now, so much of the news we have seems conflicting. The human toll is still unknown. Death tolls and missing counts change regularly and depend on whom is speaking.

Right now, all I can do is pray. Pray that the engineers stabilize the reactors. Pray that the loss of life is minimal. Pray that Japan recovers from this blow.

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

2011-03-11T22:47:00.000-06:00

As I watched the videos of the earthquake I was struck by one thing - the lights didn't go out. They didn't even flicker. Every video I've ever seen of an earthquake in California, the lights flickered.

I know it's a silly thing to note in the face of so much devastation, but I couldn't help but be impressed by the high quality of Japanese construction.

The story is still coming out, in drips and drabs, as Anderson Cooper just said. We can expect more devastation and higher death tolls.

No matter how well you build, the massive force of a tsunami is something that cannot be denied. Watching the video of the wall of water moving inland, picking up cars and flattening buildings, makes you feel pretty damn insignificant.

When we watched the devastation emerge from Haiti last year, we responded. A country so poor clearly needed our help. The Red Cross has set up their 90999 number for donations. Text JAPAN to that number to send $10. Convoy of Hope has a text line set up as well. Text TSUNAMI to 50555 to donate $10.

There are other charitable and disaster relief organizations taking donations. My concern is that fewer people will respond to this disaster than did Haiti. In part because we've seen so little improvement in Haiti and people may feel that their money won't get where it is needed. My other concern is that people will look at Japan, an economic power house, and think - they don't need our help.

That won't be true, of course. This is the fifth largest earthquake in recorded history. Aftershocks as high as 7.1 have been recorded. For comparison, the quake in Haiti last year was 7.0. These aftershocks are major quakes in their own right.

The Japanese people have a long way to go and much hardship ahead of them. On a more personal note, my company is getting ready to open an office in Japan. We just announced the hire of our first employee there yesterday and anticipated opening the office in April. Our new hire is fine and managed to get an email to us. He is shaken but unharmed. Where we go from here is unknown.

My prayers go out to the Japanese people.

We Are All Americans

2011-03-10T11:42:00.000-06:00

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), the only Muslim in Congress, spoke today at Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) Congressional hearings on "radical Islam".

Republicans like King, who is personally channeling old Joe McCarthy, don't want to hear this. They don't want to be told that Muslim-Americans are real Americans. They want to believe that an entire group walks in the footsteps of Al Qaeda. They believe that radical Christians are "crazed individuals" acting alone and not worthy of a congressional hearing.

King is not helping this country by painting all Muslims with the same brush as the terrorists. It's just not true. No more than it's true that all Christians are gay-bashing, muslim-hating, gun-toting Republicans. Radical elements of any faith get more press. In the case of Christians, the radical right wing of the faith seemingly dictates the dialog in the country. They no more represent a majority of Christians than radical Islamists do for their faith.

Let us remember Mohammed Salman Hamdani as a shining example of a true American and a true hero. Let his sacrifice be a reminder that Muslim-Americans deserve our respect and not our suspicion.

Lost Dog

2011-03-09T12:45:00.001-06:00

Have you seen this dog?

If so, you can keep him.

Yep, Myrddin escaped this morning. Again. While wearing his $40 Thundershirt (which by the way, seemed to help last night when it started thundering) and outside with the other two for all of 10 minutes, Myrddin made his daring escape. We looked for him for about 30-45 minutes before we finally conceded defeat and got ready for work. Though we looked for him as we headed out of town since our route is one if his jaunt routes. No luck.

I thought I saw him once about 2-3 blocks ahead of me but he didn't even slow down, if indeed it was him, when I called. I am waiting for the call from Animal Control (he's chipped).

We've made signs to put up after work if 1) Animal Control hasn't called or 2) Some ~~irate~~ nice neighbor hasn't returned him to the back yard.

Damn dog.

RTT - dogs, politics and phones

2011-03-08T12:35:00.000-06:00

It's Tuesday! Go random with the Unmom. Grab the fugly button and join in the fun.

Myrddin's Thundershirt is getting mixed reviews. Hubs wants it to cancel all barking and whining. I'm pleased that it appears to settle him down when he gets anxious or overly excited. He's a vocal breed. I don't think anything short of removing his vocal cords will stop the barking. (Not gonna happen, don't worry.) It HAS helped him calm down when he got nervous during fireworks, has helped him control the urge to jump on people and reduced his barking when someone enters the house. It hasn't stopped his barking when he gets excited or frustrated when playing. All in all, I think it was worth the $40. He seems a bit less twitchy (such a technical term, I know) when he's wearing it.

Yesterday was my first foray into citizen lobbying. I participated in Equality Texas' Lobby Day and will be attending the Texas Freedom Network's lobby day later in the month. It was strangely satisfying to do something and express my concerns to people in a position of power (however small since we spoke to staffers). Will be doing it again. Definitely. Next one should be interesting since it's focusing on the State Board of Education, Sex Ed and more fun and exciting culture war topics.

I managed to leave my EVO outside over night. It fell out of my purse on Friday when I was bringing luggage in from the car. I found it the next morning covered in dew. It was still operational but would randomly shut down. I took it apart and stuck it in a bowl of rice over night. I have since had no issues. One more positive in the EVO's column. I doubt it would withstand going through the washing machine like our old LG phones did. More than once. But considering the replacement cost, I was thrilled that the rice trick worked. First time I've ever tried it.

My new favorite app is the Starbucks app that allows me to purchase my coffee with a 2D barcode. As in, the phone generates a barcode that the barista scans and Voila!. Coffee purchased. I can even manage multiple cards and reload cards from the phone. Pretty damn spiffy. Hubs said I was a bigger techofile than him when I geeked out over the joys buying coffee via my phone. He's just jealous.

New photo of Aibhne, the beast.

Every photo I took of her that day had a blur for a tail. She's a happy critter, that's for damn sure. Plus, who can resist those eyes? She likes to lay next to me and lay her head on my chest. Then stare at me with those big brown eyes. She gets lots of ear scratches and kisses whenever she does.

That's it for today. Go visit the Unmom for more random fun.

Equality Texas Lobby Day 2011

2011-03-07T22:51:00.000-06:00

I participated in my first ever Lobby Day today. After a bit of a rocky start where my group's leader never showed up and the only other group member left before we even headed to the capitol, I joined a group of really great women and one college student.

We visited Senators Steve Ogden and Kirk Watson and Representatives Mark Strama, Elliott Naishtat, Donna Howard and Larry Gonzales. Ogden and Gonzales are both Republicans that represent my districts.

Strama is the author of House Bill 224 that amends the Texas Education Code to require policy and program development, staff and parent training for the prevention and reporting of bullying, and amends the Education Code to include cyberbullying.

It's an important piece of legislation and one that our group focused heavily on in our meetings with staff members. The goal of Lobby Day is to place a human face on the issues and to let our legislators know the areas that concern us. We were also able to tell Representative Strama's staff member how much we appreciate his authoring of this bill.

The only legislator that we felt gave us any push back was my very own State Representative Larry Gonzales, or rather his Chief of Staff. When we spoke about the anti-bullying legislation he wanted to know how the bill would define bullying and said that many educators had voiced their concerns about the reporting portion of the bill and their fears that this would introduce an increased burden in a time of budgetary cutbacks and increased work load. We urged him to encourage Representative Gonzales to keep in communication with Rep. Strama about this bill and his concerns.

One of the most impressive things I learned today were the results of a survey commissioned by Equality Texas that asked 12 questions concerning LGBT issues. The results were striking and give lie to the idea that Texas is lost cause in this arena.

The poll found that 79.2% of Texans support uniform anti-bullying legislation to prohibit harassment in schools, including the children of gay/lesbian parents or teens who are gay. 75.4% support prohibiting employment and housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and 69.7% would extend that employment and housing support to transgender Texans. Even when broken down by political party, a majority of Republicans support 9 out 12 of the rights issues in the poll. Here are the results by political affiliation:

RIGHTS ISSUE	DEM	IND	GOP
Guaranteed right to visit their partners in a hospital	94.10%	87.60%	85.40%

Pass uniform anti-bullying legislation to prohibit harassment in schools	89.60%	78.80%	72.40%

Prohibit employment or housing discrimination based on sexual orientation	82.20%	73.50%	73.10%

Guaranteed right to make end of life medical decisions for a partner	88.80%	72.70%	68.90%

Prohibit employment/housing discrimination for transgender citizens	78.90%	67.60%	68.00%

Gays/ Lesbians have same legal rights with respect to their children	85.20%	68.20%	57.50%

Pass hate crime legislation for transgender citizens	79.30%	64.00%	57.50%

Partner's legal rights to inherit possessions if there is no will in place	83.70%	64.20%	54.30%

Allow gays and lesbians to get a civil union	76.80%	59.40%	57.60%

Extend domestic partnership benefits to government/public university employees	79.60%	62.60%	49.70%

Recognize same sex marriage if wed in another state that allows it	72.20%	50.40%	29.00%

Allow gays and lesbians to get married	65.20%	40.80%	27.90%

Those are hopeful numbers. They prove that even in Texas the group consensus is moving towards full LGBT inclusion.

Thank you to Equality Texas for organizing this event. Thanks to my group members. I especially thank all the staff members that took time out of their day to speak to us.

A Dream of Future Past

2011-03-06T19:12:00.000-06:00

I awaken to the scent

of moisture.

When I look about me

I see tree trunks shooting upward

towards a green, living canopy above.

Filtered from above,

the light feels soft and pleasant.

Sounds reach me from all levels

of the forest.

Bird song provides the melody;

the buzz of many insects

the bass undertone;

and the shrieks and calls

of the colonies of monkeys

hidden in the treetops

provide the counterpoint

in the living song surrounding me.

Besides the myriad shades of green,

I see wild, vibrant colors

decorating the trees.

All around I sense

the hum of life.

Life as it has been,

unchanged for millions of years,

delicately balanced

and glorious in its diversity.

Carried by the wind,

a new scent arrives,

the smell of death for the forest--

fire.

Sounds approaching

invoke the feeling of invaders

from another time.

Loud crashes,

steady thumps,

but instead of a marching horde of

the giant dinosaurs they sound like,

the lumbering machines of man appear.

The song of the forest has changed.

The simple joy of living

fades into the panicked screams of fear

that mute the sound of man

to an ominous rhythmic undertone.

I close my eyes against the sight

and when all falls silent

I look around me

and see the desert that I call home.

A dry and gritty wind

wipes away the last scent of forest

from my aching nostrils

as the brutal, unrelenting sun

bakes my skin

with its harsh reality.

My eyes cannot even cry

for what is lost;

my body has forgotten how.

Teachers v CEOs

2011-03-05T10:55:00.002-06:00

The Daily Show - Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Jon Stewart pegs it again. Whether or not you feel Wall Street is to blame for the recession, how can anyone believe that their bonuses are somehow immune and teacher salaries are up for grabs? I am so sick of hearing the tired old meme - "they only work 9 months a year". Well, your kids only go to school nine months a year, but teachers generally go longer. It varies by state, but most require some sort of continuing education. They stay longer and start sooner.

It may seem like they're getting a good deal because they have the summers off but, as usual, there's a bit more to it. If they choose to take their salary in 9 monthly chunks, they have no income those other 3 months.

I could go on, but someone else says it better:

Wake up America. The people that you've elected want you undereducated and misinformed. They're trying to systematically reduce our education system to the laughing stock of the developed world. They want to remove all rights won by women, force the gays back in the closet and remove every safeguard put in place over the last century to protect the American worker from management that sees them only as numbers on a spreadsheet and not as people.

The Miracle Known as the Thundershirt®

2011-03-04T22:29:00.000-06:00

If you've never heard of the Thundershirt® and have a "high maintenance" dog, you must go look at the videos.

Myrddin, our nutcase, barks at all sorts of things - people he knows, dogs barking on the tv, birds, motorcycles, the list goes on and on. He also gets very excited around lights - flashlights, camera flashes, etc. And he hates thunder and fireworks. He also has some separation anxiety.

He's a basket case.

I saw this item and watched the videos and thought, damn it SO worth $40 to try.

Myrddin's arrived yesterday. He's wearing it right now. He's much calmer. He didn't bark at Hubs and Eldest when they got home from dinner. He whined a bit when I was watching the barking dogs on the video but when I muted it and shushed him, he actually stopped. He didn't start orbiting the house looking for the other dog. Big improvement. HUGE.

We're still early in the process, but I have high hopes. He doesn't seem to mind it and he is much calmer.

The real test will be the next time is thunders.

Ahhhh!

2011-03-03T22:43:00.000-06:00

My monitor has decided that everything needs to be pink. Or shades thereof.

It's kinda creepy. And hard to describe. Eldest says it's "just red shifted" as if that makes it all better. Pissant.

Sigh. Why can we not make it through a single solitary month without something of significance breaking. Eldest says it's because we live in a trashy house and buy used appliances. Still a pissant.

She should stop looking over my shoulder and commenting while I blog.

Speaking of Eldest, she just appeared. Well, she did call first. But I had forgotten she was coming in town this weekend. One of her oldest friends is having a going away party. Said friend and her significant other are about to leave town for 5 months and go hike the Appalachian Trail.

When did the phrase "significant other" fall out of use? Or has it? Maybe I just don't run with the hip crowd anymore. And can someone please tell my husband that "sig oth" if NOT an acceptable abbreviation. Seriously, dude. I never heard it called that. I think you made it up. Makes some kind of engineering-y rational sense I suppose - 3 letters in each part of the butchered mess - but it's still wrong.

All the pink is giving me a headache and apparently hindering my ability to be coherent. BUT, I did get a post up for today. Go me.

Day 5 of being "single"

2011-03-02T20:46:00.000-06:00

My husband and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary the 15th of this month. The most depressing part of that statement is the fact that I work with people who have barely been alive that long. That's what makes me feel old. Not having 22 and 21-year-old daughters. Not being 47. No, it's the fact that I am old enough to be the mother of half the office and have been married long enough to prove it.

Hubs is out of the country, galavanting over in Germany at some insanely boring semiconductor conference. (At least it would be to me). Thus, the aforementioned "being single". He's been gone since last Friday and doesn't get back until this Friday. It's starting to get really boring around here.

As we were basically too poor to do much of anything exciting like travel when we were younger (say until we were 40), we haven't spent that much time apart. Hubs travels 2 or 3 times a year for this job but this is the longest he's been gone. The funny part? The conference runs March 1-3. He left February 25. I had the opportunity to talk to the President of the company yesterday and he was curious why Hubs was going to be in Germany for a week. Turns out, it's quite a bit cheaper to fly on a Friday. About $800 cheaper. Add in the additional cost of a hotel room for 4 extra days and the company still came out $400 ahead.

This weekend, the girls visited so I wasn't alone. (If you can call it alone with three needy canines). But last night, the solitary existence was a bit much. It doesn't usually bother me when he leaves on business but last night as I went to bed I almost broke down and let the dogs get into bed with me.

We've been told by the trainer that letting them sleep with us is a big no-no. And they've taken the news surprisingly well. They no longer even try to get in bed. Hubs loves not having a dog pushing him to the edge of the bed or adding their not inconsiderable body heat to his. Me? I didn't usually mind the dogs, but I conceded that it would be difficult to be seen as the alpha pair from the bottom of the dog pile.

The only real problem with this change of sleeping arrangements comes in the form of Aibhne. She is a morning dog. In the mornings, she wakes up way too freaking perky, way too freaking early. Since she's sleeping on the floor now, she wakes up and stays up at our first movement. God forbid I have to go to the bathroom at 5 am. To placate her whining, I let her get in bed. It gets us another half hour of sleep, generally. Sometimes more if it's obscenely early, like this morning.

Actually, I suspect she wakes up and realizes she's hungry. We've put her on a diet and lately have been trying to ensure that Myrddin eats all of his food. So she's no longer able to finish his. Which means, of course, that she's dying.

And always, always hungry. Even after she eats. She's really convincing, too. She has been known to trick one of us into feeding her a second time because she's so convincing. Lord knows, the crinkle of any plastic bag brings her running. She begs unashamedly. It's really hard to resist when she lays her head in your lap and stares up at you with those big brown eyes - "Mommy, look at me. I'm wasting away. So hungry." Yep. She's a pro.

If I could just get her to sleep in tomorrow morning. Maybe I should slip her a dramamine. Right now, of course, she's out cold. As soon as I finish this post, she'll pop up and be her usual dopey self. It's like having a perpetual 2-year-old in the house.

NaBloPoMo - In a Word

2011-03-01T21:01:00.000-06:00

Well, here I go again. Instead of the sporadic writing I've been doing of late, I'm going to attempt the NaBloPoMo thing again. This month's theme was intriguing - In A Word. So much room for exploration. I even made my own "badge" with Wordle.

In fact, it's that word cloud badge thingie that will probably be my prime source for inspiration.

Sunday night, I watched a documentary on Netflix called "The Age of Stupid". It's the story of how we killed ourselves through greed and ignorance and willful neglect of the planet. It's sobering.

We have such a small window of opportunity to change the way we live and save the environment. So small that it seems almost inevitable that the collapse will come.

Perhaps as a fellow blogger noted just recently, we're all suffering from mass suicidal ideation. In layman's terms, as Pete Postlethwaithe says in the film, perhaps we all feel the human race doesn't deserve to live.

I sometimes wonder myself.

I'm reminded once again of my Hubs "theory of the human race" that goes like this - humanity as a species should be viewed as a single organism, a child. He thinks we're about 13-years-old, more or less. At least, that's the way we act. We've moved from viewing the thunder as the sounds of an angry god to the understanding of meteorology. We know enough to think we know everything. Knowledge without wisdom. Sounds like a 13-year-old to me.

Without a lot of luck, we may end up like the child who willfully ignores everything and everyone that tells them to grow up. Unfortunately for the human race, if we don't mature and take responsibility for ourselves and our planet, we die. And we might just take every living thing on Earth with us.

You know, this idea of global climate collapse has been around for a while. I remember reading a book back in the 80s by Whitley Streiber and James Kunteka called "Nature's End" that talked about climate change and overpopulation. We've known for years what needed to be done and we did nothing, or next to it.

Just today, I read an article about solar-powered yarn. Created by Dr. Ray Baughman and his team at the Nanotech Institute at the University of Texas in Dallas, these fibers combine solar harvesting with battery storage in a super-light, super-strong nanotube. Dr Baughman says commercial applications are about 5 years away but that the military is very interested.

The idea of creating wearable photovoltaics isn't new. Google solar cloth and you'll see hits from 2002. Indeed, solar power is not a new technology at all. At my company, we have a pretty busy bunch of market analysts looking at renewables. They're very busy writing about massive PV installations in Germany.

Why, if we've known for 30 years that oil was a finite resource, that pollution from burning fossil fuels was wrecking the environment and that renewable energy was completely doable as a technology, have we gotten ourselves to this point? Why do we stop wind farms from being built because they'll ruin our property values? Why haven't we got a reliable, cheap electric car?

The answer to these questions lies in who benefits from making sure that we continue to be addicted to oil.

Just a hint: it's not you or me and certainly not our children.

Even the Republicans are starting to worry

2011-02-28T20:19:00.003-06:00

The Center for Public Policy Priorities released some rather startling, and depressing, research today. They focus on economic and social policies to help low and moderate income Texans. Their release today focuses on a county-by-county look into 4 areas that are getting hit hard by the budget shortfall:
Public Education, Higher Education, Health and Human Services and Medicaid.

I took I look at the Public Education numbers. They're damn depressing. Even Republican Senate Finance Chair Steve Ogden admits the budget proposal will "decimate public education".

The top 20 school districts by jobs lost are:

Houston ISD, Dallas ISD, Austin ISD, Frisco ISD, Plano ISD, North East ISD, Round Rock ISD, Lewisville ISD, Northside ISD, Leander ISD, Spring Branch ISD, Northwest ISD, Clear Creek ISD, Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, Denton ISD, Richardson ISD, United ISD, Comal ISD, Katy ISD.

Those 20 districts reside in 10 counties. Even that doesn't really tell the entire picture. Three of those schools are the only schools in their county in the top 20 - United, Comal and Clear Creek. The other 13 districts are in Harris, Dallas, Collin, Travis, Denton, Bexar, Travis and Williamson counties. For those of you not from Texas (and I had to look up Collin county myself) the metro areas that you're probably familiar with in those counties are Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, and San Antonio. In fact, with the exception of United ISD which is in Laredo, the other two districts qualify as part of those listed metro areas (San Antonio and Houston, respectively).

The total estimated job loss for those 20 districts - 32,725. The total for the state - 79,161.

When you dig a little deeper and look at district enrollments, the numbers look even worse. The top 5 districts in that list have a combined enrollment of almost 600,000. Nine of them have over 50,000 students. Two of them have over 100,000. Houston alone has 202,773. For comparison, that means Houston ISD serves more children than live DesMoines, Iowa.

Yet HISD is loosing 6,890 jobs. Now, some of those may not be teaching positions, granted. No, they'll lay off librarians and custodians and aides. But they will lay off teachers as well. Ask the ones who remain to teach more classes, with more students, with less support and all for the same salary.

It's not enough that the State Board of Education seems hell bent on ignoring science and history and rewriting curriculums to proselytize to children. Now the state would rather gut our education system from the ground up rather than raise taxes. Texas does not have a state income tax. Since starting one would take an amendment to the state constitution, there's virtually no chance of one. We could raise other taxes though.

But no. That can't be done. We must balance the budget without bringing in any more income. There's only one way to do that.

The cost will be borne on the backs of our children.

H/T to The Burnt Orange Report

Good News, Bad News and WTF News

2011-02-24T11:20:00.000-06:00

So, Good news first. Obama has decided to stop defending the Defense of Marriage Act, claiming that the Act is unconstitutional.. It's about damn time. Some are speculating that the Administration is setting up the Republicans by reminding them that Congress can chose to defend the law. Meanwhile, RWNJ heads are exploding

It's kinda of glorious all around.

Also in the Good News arena would be the dismissal of the Indiana Deputy AG for suggesting, and then defending that suggestion, that live ammunition be used on Wisconsin protestors. Stupid move, dude. And I hope the door didn't hit you in the ass on the way out.

Bad news would be the ongoing crisis in Libya. (Though after 40 some odd years in office, you'd think the media could decide on how to spell the man's name.) It sounds more and more like open rebellion and bloodshed over there. How it will end is still unknown.

More Bad News: Montana passed legislation to ban all local LGBT rights ordinances. So the more progressive communities in Montana have seen the state legislature wipe out their local laws to prevent discrimination. Way to go Montana.

In the WTF News department, we have two contenders for craziest news item of the day.

One would be Glenn Beck comparing Reform Judaism to Radical Islam, claiming both put politics ahead of religion. He has since apologized (which is WTF News in and of itself.).

Second would be a lovely piece of legislation introduced by Iowa Republicans that would grant criminal and civil immunity to any person who uses deadly force to prevent an abortion. Again with the idea to decriminalize murder when the victim is an abortion provider. Do they really want to move us back into the Dark Ages?

I think the Iowa legislation wins for WTF News item of the day. Of course, the day is still young.

Dude, you're barking up the wrong tree

2011-02-24T10:46:00.000-06:00

Here's a "comment" I got on my last post. Clearly, he doesn't realize I be of the female persuasion.

BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN Why American men should boycott American women http://boycottamericanwomen.blogspot.com/ I am an American man, and I have decided to boycott American women. In a nutshell, American women are the most likely to cheat on you, to divorce you, to get fat, to steal half of your money in the divorce courts, don’t know how to cook or clean, don’t want to have children, etc. Therefore, what intelligent man would want to get involved with American women? American women are generally immature, selfish, extremely arrogant and self-centered, mentally unstable, irresponsible, and highly unchaste. The behavior of most American women is utterly disgusting, to say the least. This blog is my attempt to explain why I feel American women are inferior to foreign women (non-American women), and why American men should boycott American women, and date/marry only foreign (non-American) women. BOYCOTT AMERICAN WOMEN!

I took a gander at the "site". It has one misogynist rant after another all written by different men. I have to wonder what he was thinking when he posted that comment. Was he just doing the Blogger two-step? You know, the next blog link at the top right of a Blogger blog. (I think you can only see it if you're logged in as a Blogger member) Click the link and leave the same comment on every blog he encountered. That's the only explanation I can find. Especially when you consider the topic of that post.

Men. Sometimes, you just want to punch them in the face.

Revolution and Theocracy Watch

2011-02-19T13:06:00.000-06:00

As I've watched events unfold in the Middle East over the last month, I've been reminded of a great TED lecture by Clay Shirky:

While his discussion is a bit dated - the November 2008 elections, China, etc - his points are fascinating, timely and prescient. As we saw in Iran last year and as we've just seen in Egypt and Tunisia, and now in Bahrain and Libya, social media has been integral to these revolutions.

More importantly, they have not just changed how we communicate, but they've empowered a generation. A generation less likely to be extremist. These revolutions have not been about extremist religious groups taking over, as in Iran in 1979, but the people challenging their governments to be more democratic, as in Poland and Eastern Europe in 1989.

And so, on the heels of Egypt, we have Wisconsin.

With a manufactured budgetary crisis, the Wisconsin governor has decided this is the time to break the unions. The Democrats in the state legislature have left the state rather than allow this legislation to pass. And the people have taken to the streets in Madison. Not a scheduled demonstration with a beginning time and an end time and designated location with designated clean-up. No. Just mass gatherings of people. Demanding that their government stop the madness.

This needs to happen more in the US.

In South Dakota, the country learned about an insane piece of legislation to redefine justifiable homicide to include homicide in the protection of the unborn. We learned about it through blogs, twitter and the new media. It became a national issue, not just a state issue. And the state has backed down.

In Congress, H.R. 539, "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act", added the language "forcible rape" in an attempt to limit abortion coverage. Through the new media, the country learned of this outrage and the language was removed. But that is not the end. No, the GOP taketh and the GOP giveth. They've now added language to the bill that allows hospitals to refuse to perform an abortion on a woman, even if that refusal threatens her life.

Now, the House has voted to suspend funding for Planned Parenthood. In part because of a poorly executed video "sting" operation a la James O'Keefe that has been shown to blatantly false. Still, truth matters less than the culture wars to the GOPers and their Tea Party brethren.

But there's more:

In Montana, a state representative has introduced legislation to overturn all local LGBT rights laws in the state and allow for discrimination on religious grounds.

In Wyoming, the state House passed a bill banning the recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages.

In Georgia, state Representative Bobby Franklin has initiated a bill that would define abortion as murder and require the investigation of all spontaneous abortions to determine if there was an human interference. Now someone, usually Franklin, introduces a bill annually that would define abortion as murder in Georgia, but this year he's added the "Uterus Police", as the Daily Kos calls it.

The list goes on.

It's no coincidence that all of this legislation, whether federal or state, has been introduced and passed, in some cases, by Republicans. The GOP was elected on the platform of jobs. Since they can't affect the job situation, they've turned to the culture wars. In reality, it's clear to me that they told people what they wanted to hear and then proceeded to do as they really wanted - which is turn back the tide on women's rights and dismantle any progress made on LGBT rights.

There is a unifying theme in all of this legislation. If they could some how get it all passed, we'd be one step closer to a theocracy, which, I believe, is the ultimate goal.

It's past time that those of us in this country who have no desire to see this come to pass, step up. We need to blog, we need to tweet, we need to go to the streets and protest the insanity.

Otherwise, when the revolution comes, we will be silenced.

Memory Lane

2011-02-05T22:38:00.000-06:00

Maybe it's the tequila talking, but today seems to have been a major trip down memory lane.

First, I was googling for something completely different,micro SD cards I think, and found this:

I completely geeked out in the optometrist's office. You see, way back when I was an actual photojournalism major I used a Minox B camera. A real life spy camera. There was one photography shop in Houston that sold and processed the tiny ass film canisters it took. They weren't the greatest of quality but it was a real spy camera. Imagine my surprise when googling something else that I found a digital version of my old camera (see above). And at only $148 at Amazon, quite a steal, I think. At least that's what I tried to convince my husband.

This is my Minox B. I have the original box, manual and registration card. It included a flash attachment that used the old square instamatic flash cubes. Remember those?

Ahh, memories. The modern version is all digital, has a built-in flash and is altogether AWESOME. Wow.

After that bit of nostalgia, I should not have been surprised by the trip down memory lane I took at dinner. With the help of my half of a pitcher of margaritas, I somehow or another remembered a moment from my childhood that, with the help of modern technology, was both amusing and sad.

Once upon a time there was this restrauteur in Houston named Sonny Look. He owned a few restaurant's in Houston including one Sonny Look's Sir Loin Inn. It was at this fine eating establishment that my 6-year-old (or thereabouts) self was taken along with the family. The Sir Loin Inn was one of those restaurants people went to for special occasions. No idea what ours might have been or exactly how old I was. Old enough to be a snot nosed kid and not old enough to know better, most likely. At any rate, I ordered/had ordered for me a petite filet mignon. Being the good Texan that I am and no doubt was, I had encountered this particular cut of cow before. When it arrived at our table, I was dismayed and disappointed at it's minuscule size. Therefore, I forked it up, held it up to the world and announced, "What is this?".

While I shared this particular childhood moment of tact with Hubs, I got to wondering...does the Sonny Look's still operate? A quick google search via my phone later, I discovered that, alas, it closed in 1991. But I found a website filled with Houstonians reminiscing about Sonny Look and his restaurants, among others.

Such is life in the connected age. It reminds us of where we've been and where we may yet venture. Use the power wisely, my young padawan. I'm off to prepare for tomorrow's class on "To Kill a Mockingbird" someone (who must be wiser than me) talked me into to teaching at church.

And to sleep off the tequila. Which order these two things occur in is yet to be decided.

Fox Nation Screws Up

2011-02-05T09:58:00.000-06:00

It's a shocker, I know. But with all the meaty news that's been going on around the world the past few weeks, and let's not forget Saint Ronnie's centennial, Fox Nation has the lovely story on their homepage:

Obama Botches Bible Verse at Prayer Breakfast

It's not enough that only 34% of Americans believe Obama is a Christian, Fox Nation decides to harp on the "fact", and I use the term loosely, that Obama misquoted the bible.

In actuality, Obama quoted Isaiah from the New International Version. Fox Nation quotes from the King James version. So, shocker, Fox was wrong. Despite this error being pointed out all over the internet and on their own comment section, the article is still on the home page. Truth matters? Eh, not so much.

I love the quote from Media Matters:

Somewhat ironically, while Fox Nation appears to be positioning themselves as the arbiters of authentic Christianity, they seem unfamiliar with the fact that there is more than one version of the Bible

Yes, there is more than one version of the Bible. Personally, I prefer the NRSV, but the King James version is often touted as the only "authentic" version. This tidbit always reminds me of those who believe the Bible is somehow meant to be taken literally. Despite the fact the it contradicts itself on several occasions and was written by men, inspired or not, the biggest thing to remember is that it was mostly written in Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic.

Let me show you a little experiment via Google Translate about the difficulties of translation. Let's take the phrase in question, King James version:

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I'll run it through Google Translate, first into Greek, then into Hebrew and back to English. We come up with this:

But waiting for the Lord will renew their strength; are aggregated with wings as eagles; starts running, and she's not tired; and are not faint

Clearly, Google Translate is not an expert translator. But when you are attempting to translate from a language like Greek, which has four distinct words for love: agápe, éros, philía, and storgē, whose meanings are complex but for which English often translates as a single word, you begin to see the difficulties. Not to mention differences in sentence structure and more.

Even when I just run it through from English to Greek to English, it comes out different:

But waiting for the Lord will renew their strength; These accumulate with wings as eagles; starting to run, and is not tired; and they shall walk and not faint.

The point here is that no single translation gets it right. Debating the merits of one over the other is something best left to scholars, of which Fox Nation apparently has none. What those of us who are non-biblical scholars are left with is a matter of preference. Which use of language do we like better. The King James has some mighty flowery language. Sometimes, that's wholly appropriate. Others, it just gets in the way.

One last little tidbit that made me giggle last night. The New International Version of the Bible is published by Zondravan. From their website:

As the world's leading Bible publisher, Zondervan holds exclusive North American publishing rights to the New International Version (NIV), which has sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and is the bestselling modern English translation.

Their website also mentions the fact that they were bought by HarperRowCollins Publishing in 1988. Guess who owns Harper Collins?

News Corp.

The Challenger

2011-01-28T13:29:00.001-06:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's hard to believe that it has been 25 years since the Challenger disaster. As I sit in my office, surrounded by colleagues who aren't old enough to have witnessed, or remember witnessing, this disaster, I feel old.

I watched the live coverage. I grew up in Houston, home of NASA. One of my high school classmates was the niece of an astronaut. Space exploration was a very real thing to me. One of my earliest memories is seeing the moon landing. I've written about that before.

I was beginning my own studies towards teacher certification when Christa McAuliffe earned the right to be the first teacher in space. It spoke volumes to me that the first average citizen that NASA chose to send into space was going to be a teacher. Who better to inspire the youth of our nation? Who better to explain space travel to the average joe than a teacher?

When the shuttle's O-rings disintegrated and that great cloud of gas blossomed, I knew something was terribly wrong. As the days and weeks and months progressed after the death of the Challenger, we learned that what caused the mistake was just plain stupid. Looking back on what lead up to the decision to launch in sub-freezing temperatures, one thing comes to mind - science should never take a back seat to public relations.

The risk was underplayed. Politicians, latching on to the imprecise nature of predicting systems failure, chose to interpret the numbers as they felt best fit their political agenda. Sound familiar? Science is rarely capable of providing us with a single, clear answer. The more variables in the equation, the more likely the answer is to be muddy. Can't prove 100% that there's a problem with the O-rings? Then we'll take the best case scenario that's been given us by managers more interested in keeping the money flowing and ignore the engineers.

More than the sad reality that politics played in this and other scientific enquiries, I look at our space program now and wonder - what the hell happened? The surviving shuttles are scheduled to retire this year. What will replace them? We have no replacements. Those plans have been scrapped. Future Americans scheduled to work on the International Space Station will reach orbit in the vehicles of other countries, most notably the Russians.

President Obama spoke of a Sputnik moment in his State of the Union address. But he wasn't addressing space exploration. That dream, that most American of endeavors, has died. Strangled in its crib by the idiocy of those who can't understand science, by those who wish to force science to fit their political agenda.

Humanity may conquer space. We may build on the moon and reach the stars some day, but that exploration and advance will not be lead by American ingenuity. The minds that managed to save the Apollo 11 crew with leftover parts and slide rules have been replaced by managers and politicians more interested in show than results.

We must find a way to escape this mud-ball we call Earth if we are to grow and survive as a species. I have always believed this. To do so, we must look to the future.

Something that I fear as Americans, we have forgotten how to do.

RTT - After a long hiatus I may be back, but then again...

2011-01-25T11:25:00.000-06:00

Yo. It be Tuesday. You know the drill. Head over to the Unmom, grab the fugly button and come join the randomness.

Ok, now that's over...I figured Random Tuesday was the way to get back into the groove, so to speak. Between Christmas and hospitalizations and recuperation, I have not been to inclined to sit and blog. For a while, sitting at the computer was not conducive to keeping the swelling from making my leg blow up and then when I was back to work, I had sooo much work to catch up on that writing on the job was not practical (when is it ever) and then being too pooped to do much more than collapse when I got home put a crimp in things too but now, I'm mostly back to my normal grumpy self. So, here I am.

While I was out sick/on vacation, our VP decided to make a Brochure template using our new desktop publishing software. He did a fine job, except for one little thing. All the ~~tacky~~, ~~meaningless~~, lovely image files the PR firm decided we should be using as our corporate imagery were too large to embed in the document. So he made them linked images. Which would have been okay if those images were stored on the local server. They weren't. They were stored on our UK server. It took five minutes for the finished template to open in our office. Not an exaggeration. So it's up to me to clean up his mess. I copied the images to our local server and relinked them in our copy. Now the file opens - poof!. Of course, it took half an hour to relink half a dozen images, but now at least the damn thing opens. He's a bright guy, usually. Why this solution did not occur to him, I have no idea.

It's good to be needed, I guess.

Much crazy shit has been going on in our country since last I blogged. Shootings, freshman Tea Baggers threatening to cut NEA and PBS funding as a a solution to our deficit, claims of "blood libel" by the professional victim, and here in Texas, Gov. Big Hair is positioning himself for a presidential run. How you say? By pushing through "emergency items" sure to be favorites with his "base" - a Voter ID bill , another to end "sanctuary cities", a bill requiring a sonogram before getting an abortion, and legislation calling for a balanced Federal budget. Yep, we're $27 billion in the whole as a state but the Feds need to get their act together.

Speaking of that enormous budget shortfall, guess what our Republican supermajority wants to cut first? Education. Sure, why not? Speaking of education, we got rid of one crazy person on the Texas State Board of Education and replaced him with someone who thinks Intelligent Design should be taught. Guess which subject area the SBOE is tackling next? Science. Way to go, fellow Texans. It seems Texas will continue to be the laughing stock of the nation. Austin ISD is already contemplating cutting over 400 teaching positions because of the budget problems.

I have a nightmare - a winning Perry/Palin ticket in 2012. If either or both of these idiots gets into the White House I'm putting in for a transfer to our UK office. I would rather live in the ass end of Northampton than here if that happens.

Ugh.

It's enough to make me want to scream. Or go look at cute doggie videos.

I know it's not Christmas but Bailey is too much fun to pass up.

RTT- Happy New Year?

2011-01-04T20:29:00.001-06:00

Mine needs to get better. PDQ!

Tis Tuesday and you should know what I mean by now. But, if you don't, head on over to Keely's and grab the fugly button.

Let me start with the mini-rant that is one part Blogger-complaining and one part craptastic Dell laptop-complaining. So it took like five tries to get the link above to work correctly without adding the 5 words after it to the link. I only added the one and did what I thought I needed to be able to continue typing without having to take extreme measures - which meant a carriage return, typing a word, moving the cursor and backspacing. Which is where the rant about the Dell part comes into play. This is Hubby's work laptop and he curses the damn thing every day. Away from his desk, minus a mouse and reliable internet, the thing is a beast...moving the cursor sucks, the keyboard is, well, a laptop keyboard. OK! I'm spoiled dammit. I know it.

Moving on.

It is amazingly difficult to type with an IV cannula in your left arm. Especially one that has been taped down within an inch of it's life. This sucka is NOT moving. As the above statements imply, I am in the hospital. I checked in around noon on New Year's Day. As I approach Day 5 here in lovely Scott & White, on my third IV, and with no end in sight, I cannot truthfully say it's been a great New Year yet.

I have Cellulitis. (I'd show you pictures, but the ones on Google image are just really horrific. If you're brave, you can go look for yourself, but I wouldn't advise it if you have a weak stomach.) This is same lovely diagnosis that I had almost four years ago minus and this is the important part) the co-diagnosis of Sepsis. So, while uncomfortable, ugly looking, generally unpleasant. I will survive.

As long as I don't go nuts from the combination of boredom and sleep deprivation.

On a lighter note, and Lord knows I need one, here is jewel from Jon Stewart:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Barack Obama Is Luke Skywalker

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog</a>

The Daily Show on Facebook

No, Jon. I don't think you're going to loose audience share. I saw your fans at the Rally.

Needless to say, I will be out of pocket for a while. I can get emails and check Facebook and Twitter from my phone, plus I have the usual basic cable extravaganza, so I am not completely cut off from the world. Still, I'm well enough to be bored to tears yet sick enough that I have to stay. Such is my life.

Good news is that Eldest brought over my new Stephen King book that I hadn't gotten a chance to read, so all is not lost.

Later folks.

Secret Santa Strikes Again

2010-12-28T17:55:00.000-06:00

I missed the arrival of my wonderful Secret Santa gift but opened it first thing Sunday evening. Inside was the newest Stephen King hardback and a large, beautiful Santa china doll.

Much thanks to my Secret Santa over at the Coffeypot. You done good.

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

2010-12-24T19:16:00.000-06:00

From the best version of the Christmas Carol, I give you, "Bless Us, One and All".

Merry Christmas.

DADT Breaks the Filibuster!

2010-12-18T12:05:00.000-06:00

DADT has passed cloture by 63-33!

Now it's on to the vote to repeal. There are some indications that the vote may take place as soon as this afternoon. Either way, this law is destined for the history books as repeal takes only a majority.

It's long past time that the US repealed this law and allowed all military personnel to serve with honor.

Happy Holiday Blogtastic Shout-Out

2010-12-18T09:39:00.000-06:00

Hey there all, it's that time of year. Since Jen at Sprite's Keeper has taken a break this year, Kate at Recommended Daily Dose has taken over. For those of you who don't know what the heck I'm talking about, this is a chance for participants to spread the bloggy love and highlight one of their favorite blogs assigned to them by Kate.

This year, I'm sending out the love to Aliceson at Feet Off the Table. Aliceson is one of this blog's faithful followers who comments regularly. She's even seen fit to friend me on Facebook. Her blog is full of her family, her dog and some really amazing photos. It's been great fun to watch her take her photography from a hobby to a business. She's got a great eye and I predict she'll do quite well. (I get to say so with all the authority of a never used Bachelor's in Journalism with a photojournalism concentration.)

I love reading her posts about her kiddos. They remind me so much of my own at that age. One part goofy, one part precious and all about seeing how much they can torment their mom with their antics. In other words, pretty typical. Though I do have to say that if Binny's wardrobe choices are any indication, she's got a future in the creative arts.

I hope you all go visit and say hi. Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Happy Kwanzaa and Happy Wear a Plunger On Your Head Day!

The Senate and DADT

2010-12-17T08:56:00.000-06:00

With thanks to Juanita Jean's.

Here's hoping that the Senate does the right thing, for once. The indicators are good that Reid has the votes. Though McCain is mumbling about a filibuster. Hopefully, someone will tell the old fart to sit down and shut up.

Secret Santa Soiree

2010-12-11T14:55:00.001-06:00

So this year, I get to blog about the gift I'm sending instead of the gift I receive, which is different. And kinda cool.

I got lucky and got a fellow Texan in the draw so this offered up all sorts of exciting possibilities. Since my giftee said she likes sweatshirts, I made this one for her on Zazzle, which by the way, is a really cool site that's easy to use and makes customized t-shirts and stuff.

She also said her favorite fast food was Chick-fil-a and Whataburger, so I opted to stay with the Texas theme and got her a gift card to Whataburger. My sister, who passed in 2001, lived in Georgia and whenever she came home to visit there were two restaurants that she always had to visit - Demeris Bar-b-que in Houston and Whataburger. So, the choice was extra easy.

About the sweatshirt - the phrase is an edited version of one my email signatures. The full version reads:

Texas-
The state that gave you Willie Nelson, Nolan Ryan and Walter Cronkite; Blue Bell, Shiner and Dr Pepper. Who wouldn't want to be from here?

Unfortunately, the entire thing wouldn't fit, so I had to edit. Thus, the extra comma. Makes it special, dontcha know. The art is my own personal logo designed for me by one of Youngest's friends. It's on the sidebar over there and it seemed the perfect opportunity to use it on something tangible.

This Secret Santa Soiree thingee is fun and challenging. I like trying to decide what to get someone and making it personal somehow. Merry Christmas to my Secret Santa recipient and all of you as well.

My New Motto

2010-12-03T13:14:00.000-06:00

This is too good not to share. H/T to Joe.My.God

"Intellect and romance over brute force and cynicism", my new motto. This is what television, and all art, at its best is all about. Opening people's minds and letting them view the world anew. And as for me, I will take intellect and romance over force and cynicism any day of the week.

All hail to the geeks.

World AIDS Day

2010-12-01T12:59:00.000-06:00

Today is the 22nd annual World AIDS Day. To date, some 25 million people worldwide have died in this epidemic. The latest numbers from UNAIDS, show that 33.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS worldwide. The largest concentration being in Sub-Saharan Africa. (Only six African countries are not geographically a part of Sub-Saharan Africa: Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara.)

Hidden in among the number of deaths and people living with AIDS is this number: 16.6 million.

An 'orphan' is defined by the United Nations as a child who has 'lost one or both parents'. Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 16 million children under 18 have been orphaned by AIDS. Around 14.8 million of these children live in sub-Saharan Africa.

In some countries, these orphans account for more that half of all orphans in the nation. For these children, without the AIDS epidemic, their families would still be intact.

The impact of these orphans is hard to calculate. In Nigeria alone, there were 2.5 millions AIDS orphans in 2009, or almost 2% of the total population of the country. In addition to the stress of watching a parent die, these children often have to become income earners for their families, face separation from siblings and stigma from the community. They often end up leaving school, face greater economic, health and nutrition problems than their peers and may suffer from higher depression rates. In all, it's a recipe for disaster as a generation of children is being neglected, undereducated and relegated to extreme poverty.

The first step in handling this problem is to teach prevention. We must also increase access to antiretroviral treatments and last find ways to support those already orphaned by providing access to education and health care.

We may never find of cure for HIV/AIDS, but we do know how to prevent transmission. We must educate people worldwide in condom use and remove the stigma associated with the disease. As much as I don't care for the Pope, his recent endorsement of condom use for male prostitutes is a first, baby, step in the right direction. It overlooks the fact that just over half of all adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are women and that the primary mode of transmission in Africa is not through same-sex contact but heterosexual contact.

So, on this day we remember those we have lost to this scourge and those still living with HIV/AIDS. Find a charity that you feel supports HIV/AIDS prevention. Here's a short list:

Keep A Child Alive

Unicef: United States Fund

Africare

Buy (RED)

UNAIDS

Kindred

2010-11-28T17:28:00.000-06:00

Apart and oft remembered

Resides a woman, small and neat.

Alike in countenance and heritage,

Thus far unmoved and remote.

Blood of my blood,

Yet Stranger to me.

Silence and distance,

Heartfelt and imagined,

Tattered the connection

Of kith and kin.

Blood of my blood,

Yet Stranger to me.

Dreams of future past

And chances gone awry.

Faces in a mirror of the mind

Searching for a way back again.

Blood of my blood,

Yet Stranger to me.

Connections lost,

No new ones forged

The past too lost in mist

To light our way.

Blood of my blood,

Yet Stranger to me.

Sing a song of sixpence

Pocket full of rye

When we come accounting

Will it come up nigh?

Blood of my blood,

Yet Stranger indeed.

Hallelujah Chorus - Flash Mob Style

2010-11-26T09:50:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Mad Priest.

And let me just say, having sung this piece, which is no picnic, these guys were great.

Thanksgiving Eve- or how I learned to stop worrying and love the upcoming Rapture

2010-11-24T19:51:00.000-06:00

So I had to work today. Well, to be specific, I was at work but I didn't do too much actual work. What did I do instead? Well, it all started with my blog reader.

And this little headline from Unreasonable Faith:

Looking forward to the Rapture but worried about your pets?

Well, I had to look into that. I mean, who wouldn't? I discovered this enterprising set of Atheists at Eternal Earthbound Pets. For the low, low cost of $110 you can guarantee that an unlucky Atheist will come rescue your pet in the event of the Rapture. Seriously.

My husband noted that there were no rescuers in Texas and that might be a business opportunity for us. After all, we're the wrong kind of Christian. The kind that most Rapture believing types would assume would get left behind. Like the pets.
Then he had to go and mention the idea of who would be Raptured and how we might tell if the Rapture had or had not happened. After all, it might have happened already if, and I quote,

a bunch of Born-again Christians disappear, could it be rapture? Who decides what constitutes rapture? You know all the Christianists left behind will deny that they didn’t qualify.

And that lead me to the idea to google this phrase: "how many will be taken in the rapture". Go google it. It nuts. So nuts in fact, that I found this lovely little website:

THE RAPTURE and START of WORLD WAR III – BY: December 21st 2010!

If you have a couple of hours, and don't mind killing a few brain cells along the way, go venture over there. Where you'll learn that the end of the tribulation will be on September 23, 2015. Also that by the end of Fall 2010 the following will happen:

Damascus, Syria will be destroyed
Catastrophic nuclear attack on New York City, Phoenix and other major US cities
Two massive US earthquakes
Russia AND China invade the US
Complete global economic collapse
Global food shortages

Wow, since none of that has happened, God better get busy. (Mental note: revisit on January 1)

After that, and numerous admonitions to watch a endless supply of videos, which I refrained from doing, I gave up. Apparently, whoever made this website doesn't understand the concept of pages, cause this screed is one long and never-ending page. It goes on and on and on and on and on. The scroll bar on the side of the page hardly moves even though to get to the point above, I had actually scrolled through the equivalent of about a dozen or more pages.

My husband was not appreciative.

WHY DID YOU SEND ME THAT LINK! These wacko’s make my brain hurt with their pseudo-logic and LEAPING interpretations!

To which I replied, with this:

While I found the above animation (found by googling "Rapture animation", I shit you not), Hubs was unimpressed. He even whined and asked "What did I ever do to you . . ."

My reply was, I thought, suitable witty.

Well, if I wasn’t having to hold up the entire conversation with my mad internetz skills, I might stop. But since you think you should actually be working, I must continue. Here’s a lovely website. I particularly love that he appears to have all his bases covered what with natural disasters, alien invasion, nuclear war and so on. Oddly enough stuck in amid the How to Survive…” links is one to “Gambia’s cure for AIDS”.. Oh never mind, I just checked it out. Amazingly enough it ties in with the End Times. Fancy that. Enjoy.

I include a small portion of the site (mentioned above) for your amusement:

Suffice it to say that after I reminded him that he wanted to leave early to make it to the store before all the turkeys were gone and I would stop torturing him with stupid websites once we left, he finished what he was working on in record time.

And I just had to share. After all, it was a day well spent trolling the internetz.

Have a Happy Turkey Day. Try not to kill your relatives. Especially the Republican ones. Me, I avoid the problem by staying away.

Voter turnout and the Mid-Terms

2010-11-17T10:02:00.001-06:00

More proof that you get what you vote for, or in this case, don't vote for.

Voter turnout among the eligible population was pretty piss poor. Especially in Texas. Texas tied for next to last place with Utah at 32.2% of the eligible population voting. (New York was the big loser at 32.1%) What does this mean? Well, for me in Texas, it means that just shy of 5 million people voted and determined who was going to lead, in this case straight to hell, our state.

Out of 15.4 million people who could've voted only 4.9 million did. Those other 10.5 million of my fellow Texans? They are the ones to blame for the fiasco that was the mid-term election this month.

Democrats in Texas, I have only one thing to say to you:

Get off your asses and vote!

You'll never know if you could've made a difference in this election because you stayed home. You made a difference in my district in 2008 but because you couldn't be bothered this go round our incumbent DEMOCRAT in the state legislature lost to someone whose only policy ads were about education (cause his wife teaches special ed) and whose attack ads claimed Maldanado was a no-show to most of her committee meetings. And for God's sake Williamson County, can you not get behind someone, anyone, to run against John Carter? I mean it's just a travesty that this ass hat runs unopposed. I want the freaking choice to vote against the walking pimple on the arsehole of humanity but you're not giving me the chance.

As for all those idiots who voted for Rick Perry, you've let the ideologues continue their rampage through our state. We may have managed to defeat the far-right Don McLeroy and Cynthia Dunbar in the primaries for State Board of Education elections, but we left 5 members of their "coalition" on the board and kicked out Geraldine “Tincy” Miller, R-Dallas; Rick Agosto, D-San Antonio; and Rene Nuñez, D-El Paso, who voted in opposition to the coalition. Those who replace them are unknowns at this point but for at least one - Carlos Garza, who defeated Nuñez, the signs are not good. He's been quoted thusly:

“Creationism I believe is true. I believe there should be a good mix. I think what the board did was bring in a mix.”

So, those Dems who stayed home? You could've saved Nuñez, but you didn't. You could've ended the reign of Governor Big Hair, but you didn't. You could've saved Maldanado, but you didn't.

The one thing that the average American can do to affect this nation, over two thirds of my fellow Texans couldn't be bothered to do. Seriously, it's the only benefit of citizenship that allows you a voice, but you prefer to remain silent. Until after the election, when you can complain to pollsters, co-workers and you mom about how the country is going to hell in a handbasket.

Well, my friend, you helped put her there.

h/t to Joe.My.God who started this morning's journey into vitriol. Way to go, Joe.

"Twitter-vesy"du jour

2010-11-11T14:39:00.000-06:00

Well, Google has well and truly done it now. Today's special Google logo for Veteran's Day is an abomination.

See that little red crescent under the American flag? Apparently, the evil-doers at Google have inserted an Islamic crescent under the American flag. Some say it looks like the crescent is being nuked. Others say it looks like the flag is burning. I say people are idiots.

Don't believe me? Go check out twitter. Or check out Gawker. Feel free to make fun of the idiots and their manufactured controversy.

Teh stoopid. It burns.

Those crazy Texas Conservatives

2010-11-10T12:13:00.000-06:00

For some reason they think I actually give a shit.

This is the email sent to me by the Young Conservatives of Texas and attached was a copy of the letter they sent to "most Republican State Representatives" this morning:

November 10, 2010

Dear Members and Members-Elect,

I write to you on behalf of Young Conservatives of Texas (YCT). YCT is the largest and most active conservative youth organization in the state of Texas. We are composed of hundreds of members at campuses across the state and thousands of alumni, all dedicated to advancing the conservative movement.

Recently, YCT signed-on to a letter released by dozens of grassroots conservative leaders calling for new conservative leadership in the Texas House of Representatives. Our new 99-seat Republican majority in the Texas House provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass a number of conservative reforms. However, the successful passage of a robust conservative agenda is put at risk by the leadership of Speaker Joe Straus.

To illustrate this point, I wanted to share with you the comparison of committee chairs that YCT included in our ratings of the 81st Texas Legislature, released in December of 2009. It contains a listing of committee chairs from the 80th and 81st Legislatures, with their ratings from the 80th and 81st Legislatures, respectively. The scores were drawn from YCT’s Legislative Ratings, which are measured on a 100-point scale and determined by a selection of approximately 30 up-or-down votes deemed to offer a clear conservative/liberal policy choice. As I wrote in the ratings, one of the most telling ways to evaluate a Speaker is to evaluate who he appointed as committee chairs because these people truly dominate the legislative process. And one of the most telling ways to evaluate a member is to evaluate their voting record.

The results of the comparison were disappointing. The average score of committee chairs appointed by Speaker Straus was a 42, a drop of 25 from the previous session. Straus’s appointments were drawn primarily from the coalition of 85 Democrats and liberal-to-moderate Republicans who elected him. Because of this, only two of Straus’s standing committee chairmen scored better than an 80 on YCT’s Legislative Ratings. By comparison, during the 80th Legislature, 11 committee chairs scored 80 points or more on our ratings.

As Chair of Calendars—the second most powerful official in the house with regards to legislation—Speaker Straus appointed Representative Brian McCall. McCall was the most liberal Republican during the 81st Texas Legislature, earning a score of 27 on YCT’s Legislative Ratings. As Chairman of Calendars, McCall delayed bills supported by the grassroots and blocked bills authored by certain conservative legislators completely from the floor.

If reelected, will Speaker Straus again appoint the most liberal Republican to replace McCall in control of the House’s legislative agenda? If so, a vote for Straus amounts to a vote to block conservative legislators out of the legislative process.

Also astonishing was Straus’s appointment of Democrat Rene Oliveira, who earned a 15 during the 81st Legislature, to chair Ways and Means. As Chair of the committee, Oliveira controlled the success or failure of bills aimed at reforming Texas’s flawed property tax system. Oliveira exhibited highly partisan leadership, refusing to allow any bill to exit his committee that was not authored or co-authored by a Democrat. As one would assume, this policy was devastating to various conservative bills aimed at reforming our tax system and cutting taxes.

If Speaker Straus is reelected, will Oliveria remain as Ways and Means Chairman? If so, a vote for Straus amounts to a vote against tax reform.

Please look at the attached chart and see the comparisons for yourself. These committee appointments are illustrative, but they are only one example of Speaker Straus’s liberal leadership. I urge you to listen to the grassroots who elected you, and who you have committed to represent. They know that if Straus remains as Speaker, the conservative agenda is put in serious danger. I urge you to listen to their concerns. I urge you to reject the flawed leadership of Joe Straus and elect a true conservative as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.

Sincerely,

Tony McDonald

Senior Vice Chairman, Young Conservatives of Texas

Now number one, I am profoundly touched that Tony thinks of me as a real-live journalist. He sent this email to 80+ people with email domains like austinchronicle.com and statesman.com and dailytexanonline.com so, I am finally using my degree in journalism. Booyah!

But really dude, have you read my blog? What makes you think I agree and/or care about what you think about Joe Straus or any of the committee chairs that you named?

I doubt Rep. Straus will retain his position since he appears to be what the Conservative whack-a-doodles call a RINO. God forbid that any Republican actually make an effort to work with a Democrat or have a moderate agenda. No, his days are numbered. I have no doubt that someone more in line with the YCT's rating system will get the job. I nominate Dan Flynn (R-Van) who has this lovely (partial) list of items he wants see made into Texas law:

• A bill allowing the open sale of raw milk at places such as fairs, farmer’s markets etc. Requested by constituents and supported by the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance, it does not allow for sales at commercial establishments such as grocery stores, etc

• A bill protecting public school teachers who have chosen to have the Ten Commandments displayed in their classrooms. The display of the Ten Commandments is a patriotic exercise, and it is made no less so by the acknowledgement of Texas’s religious heritage via the inclusion of the phrase ‘under God.’ in the pledge.

• A bill limiting the use of public funds to print certain public documents in a language other than English. This reflects simple principles that if you want to live here, learn the language and do not burden the State of Texas with millions of dollars worth of alternative language costs.

Let's get cracking on that sale of raw milk and displaying the Ten Commandments. I'm sure the $25 billion budget shortfall will take care of itself.

This Week in Crazy VI

2010-11-08T21:37:00.001-06:00

The Rally to Restore Sanity was great. The Tuesday that followed was not. This week's edition of "This Week in Crazy" is really last week's edition and this one's combined cause I've been a bad blogger. It will be less of a list and more of a rant. Apologies in advance.

Somehow or another, my fellow Texans went off the deep end. Rick Perry was reelected and immediately went on a whirlwind book promotion tour. His solution to the state's $25 billion dollar budget deficit (some estimates put it at $32 billion)? Opt out of Social Security and Medicaid. Yes, you read that correctly. My Governor (excuse me while I throw up) thinks that states should be allowed to opt-out of Social Security and that Medicaid is just too large a drain on the state. I guess Perry doesn't think the 3.4 million Texans on medicaid need health care. Even though the Federal government picks up 60% percent of the tab, the Heritage Foundation, that bastion of ~~reality-based~~ fantasy-based research, "estimates Texas could save $60 billion from 2013 to 2019 by opting out of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program" (CHIP). The Freepers are all for this idea, mainly because they think that a huge percentage of the people using Medicaid are either 1) dead-beats, 2) illegals or 3) dead-beat illegals. (I dare you to go read those comments on the link above, but only if you have a cast-iron stomach).

Not only did Texas reelect Governor Big Hair, Republicans swept the ticket. All major positions went to the Republican candidate and Texas House now has a Republican supermajority. That's really more frightening than having Perry in office for another 4 years, unless he decides to run for President in 2012. What were you people thinking? Seriously? Do you pay attention at all? Ugh.

Of course, things are not much better in DC. Republicans took the house and Eric Cantor (R-VA) thinks it's not enough. The GOP has no idea what, exactly, it wants but it's still threatening to take the nation down in flames if they don't get it. Specifically, Cantor refuses to take off the table the idea of a governmental shut-down or refusing to authorize the new bonds and thus causing the United States to default on the national debt. When I read that little tidbit I was shocked. Will the Republicans not be happy until they destroy this country? Of course, in their twisted thinking, it won't be their fault but Obama's. What. The. Fuck.

This week, Rush Limbaugh is promoting the idea that health insurance coverage for pre-existing conditions is welfare. And of course, every good Republican knows that welfare is BAD, therefore this provision must be BAD, too. No matter that without this provision, the health care reform is gutless. Nuts. Pardon me while I bang my head against a brick wall. I doubt it will drive the idiocy away but at least if I pass out I won't have to be assaulted by this drivel.

This country is insane and Texas holds the keys to the lock-down ward of the mental hospital. Secede. Stop paying into Social Security or Medicaid. Teach our children that McCarthy had it right and people lived alongside dinosaurs. Tell ourselves that Texas is open for business while ignoring the enormous budget shortfall.

I've lived in Texas all my life. I've defended her against those who would think the US would be better off without her on blogs far and wide. No more.

If Democrats in Texas can't put on their man suit and drive, they get what they deserve. And the same really goes for the entire country. I've read about the enthusiasm gap and the bitterness of those who feel Obama has ignored their cause. Much has been said about the idea of "teaching the Dems a lesson".

I say to those people, SCREW YOU.

You are every bit as much to blame for the shitstorm that is to come as any Tea Party or Republican voter. At least those people followed their convictions. What did you do? How have you punished the Democrats? What GOOD will come of this insanity? It takes years to fix the problems caused by previous administrations but only a single vote to make things worse. How is staying home or voting for the Green party candidate or some such bullshit keeping the madness at bay?

It doesn't. God help us all.

Rally Pictures

2010-11-01T22:38:00.000-05:00

Ok. I have a lot of these. So many that I couldn't get them all in a post. So, here's the link to my Picasa album. I think.

Rally to Restore Sanity

The Rally to Restore Sanity

2010-11-01T21:41:00.000-05:00

Well, we're finally home and I'm caught up enough to sit down and write up my experiences. The trip started out inauspicously. Before we even got on the plane, Youngest called to say she had gotten into a fender bender. Fortunately, our car seemed to be okay and we ran her through the drill. She was pissed more than anything.

The rest of the evening went well and we managed to stagger into Williamsburg just before midnight. The next morning came all too soon and we headed out about 5:45AM to try to get to DC by 9AM. I managed to get us to Springfield without falling asleep at the wheel and we joined the already growing hordes on the Franconia-Springfield Metro train. The Metro workers were great, providing the same bit of information over and over again without loosing their cool.

The train ride was relatively uneventful. When we got to the Smithsonian exit, we joined a huge number of people (which really wasn't huge. That number came later.)

We hurried over to our pre-arranged meeting place about 15 minutes late. I managed to get calls out to both of the bloggers I had arranged to meet but they were still on the road. Another blogger had emailed me from the road but I was never able to connect with her either. You all know who you are. I am so sorry that we weren't able to meet. I never expected that cell service would be virtually non-existent. I thought you all would be able to call me when you got to the mall and we'd meet up.

The number of people was truly amazing. Even at 9:30, two and a half hours before the rally started, there were a lot of people and more arriving every minute. My husband and I wandered around for awhile looking at signs and taking pictures. (Those are for another post). We finally made our way to a spot to the left of the stage and about 100 yards back. We had a good view of the jumbotron and preceded to wait. Since we had decided to leave the chairs at home thinking why pay $25 to check a $5 folding chair, we stood. Ouch.

Aside from that, and the fact that cell service ran out, food and water ran out and merchandise ran out (no one really anticipated the number of people who showed up.), the rally was great. One of my favorite parts was the song with Yousef Islam (Cat Stevens), Ozzy Osborn and The O'Jays. It was funny and great music. In fact, all the musical entertainers were really good. Even Kid Rock, who I'm not a huge fan of, had a great song.

But of course, the best part was the last. Jon Stewart's speech at the end of the rally was poignant and spot on. He appeared really moved at the number of people who came and who were interested in joining in the great experiment that is our nation.

I hope you got the chance to watch the rally on Comedy Central. If not, here is Stewart's speech.

Washington, DC was great but by the time the rally was over we were exhausted. We wandered around a bit but finally decided that it was just too much and there were too many people and sightseeing would have to wait for another trip. Besides, we had to get back to Williamsburg and officially check in with the resort. Seems getting your key and talking to Security at midnight doesn't count as actually checking in and since they closed at 10:45, we headed out around 4:30. Which was a good thing because we had to wait almost 45 minutes for a train that was packed like sardines. Oi.

Of course, when we finally made it back to the train station in Springfield, it seemed that no one had listened. Getting out of the garage and on the highway was a perfect example of first it's my turn, then it's your turn. Problem was everyone wanted to go first.

We spent Sunday in Colonial Willamsburg and then headed home. The trip back was uneventful until we got to Dallas. At which point, I left my phone on the plane. To whomever finds my Palm Pre, please recycle it. It's already been deactivated and replaced since American claims no one has turned it in. So, bad news was I lost my phone. Good news is I have a brand new Evo 4G. So, silver lining and all that. Thanks, Youngest, for sacrificing your upgrade for your dumb old Mom.

I am still tired and it may take a few days to catch up. I'm sorry that I didn't get to meet the folks I went to meet. That part well and truly sucked. But, I'm sure you all had a great time. I know I did.

If you haven't already, please vote tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter!

2010-10-29T18:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, all you poor sods who can't make it to DC, click on the twitter widget on the left. I'll be tweeting from my phone. I've even figured out how to use TwitPic.

Plus, I just totaly wrote this post on my phone. Technology rules!

We're Off

2010-10-29T14:37:00.000-05:00

Iam entering this at the free intertubes terminal at ABIA. So, number one that is very cool. And number two:

WE'RE AT THE AIRPORT ABOUT TO BOARD FOR OUR FLIGHT TO THE RALLY!

Bet you're jealous.

The Face of Homophobia

2010-10-26T19:51:00.002-05:00

At times, it's just amazing to see something so vile cross my reader. Via Change.org, Joe.My.God and Pam's House Blend.

Clint McCance, member of the Midland District school board in Arkansas, wrote this on his Facebook page:

"Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide. The only way I'm wearin' it for them is if they all commit suicide. I can't believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed themselves because of their sin."

Not satisfied with this piece of garbage masquerading as a Facebook status, he added this in the comments:

"Being a fag doesn't give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then don't tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die."

This person is a member of the school board. Change.org has a petition. There's a Facebook page calling for his firing. The school district website has removed the board members' names from their website but Joe Jervis managed to find the superintendent's email address and I share it here with you: dstanley@midlandschools.org. Be polite. If you feel so inclined, the school district's main office number is 501-345-8844.

When someone in titular power over students makes comments like these on a public forum, how can those who oppose the Student Nondiscrimination Act currently before Congress say that it's not needed? It is from this kind of open derision and hate that bullying is born. McCance stands as a example that hate expression is accepted as long as he is allowed to serve in his current capacity. Bullying is a learned behavior and this idiot is teaching.

We need to send a message to McCance and all like him that this kind of speech is only one thing - hate speech - and no longer tolerated. In the words of The Rev. Dr. Fritz Ritsch writing in the Ft Worth Star- Telegram:

I've had it with the bullying that comes from the church's bully pulpit. Our history of denigrating gays and lesbians has provided the "godly" rationale for centuries of hatred and abuse. It's a flagrant violation of the Gospel. Moderate Christians -- the silent majority -- need to stop being silent and speak out.

Indeed. No matter your religious affiliation, unless you're a Christian extremist, this kind of speech is an abomination. Add you voice to those who are demanding change.

Pretty by Katie Makkai

2010-10-24T21:06:00.001-05:00

Amazing beat poetry at its best.

In Order to Form a More Perfect Union...

2010-10-23T22:44:00.001-05:00

This week has been a roller coaster. First, DADT is lifted, then came the DoJ's emergency injunction. Lt. Dan Choi reenlisted in the Army and then his enlistment papers were shredded.

I've heard many arguments, most from the Obama administration, that since DADT was a legislative act, we must repeal that act legislatively and that's the only way to remove the law. That just isn't true. See, we have this thing called checks and balances. The judicial system can rule a law unconstitutional. From Wikipedia:

When the proper court determines that a legislative act (a law) conflicts with the constitution, it finds that law unconstitutional and declares it void in whole or in part. This is called judicial review. The portion of the law that is declared void is considered to be struck down, or the entire statute is considered to be struck from the statute books.

Sounds pretty simple, doesn't? This week, a Florida court ruled that that state's law banning adoption by homosexuals to be unconstitutional. The Florida Attorney General and all involved in the case agreed to withhold appeal. Thus, after 30 plus years, a court reversed a piece of legislation. It didn't require the state legislature to repeal the law. It just required judicial review.

DADT can go the same way. Anyone who tells you different doesn't understand one of the founding principals of our nation - our systems of checks and balances and the triumvirate of legislature, executive and judicial branches of government.

I don't claim to be a constitutional lawyer and my last Civics class was...well it wasn't called that at my high school but it was a while ago. I do remember, however, the idea of checks and balances. One of the primary roles of the judiciary is to provide judicial review and is in fact the key way that it provides checks and balances against the legislature.

U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips said DADT violates the First and Fifth Amendment rights of gays and lesbians. Thus, making the law unconstitutional. Specifically, she said the law violates both free speech and due process rights of gay service members. In making this decision, Judge Phillips was making a properly ruling on the constitutionality of a law, plain and simple.

There are two reasons I think the Obama administration should let the matter rest and abide by the court's ruling of unconstitutionality. One, the chances that this can be repealed legislatively are slim. They require that both houses of Congress stay under Democratic control, something that's debatable, and that the Democratic leadership grow a spine while the Republicans simultaneously decide to participate in government and stop obstructing. Two, do we really want to see this go to the Supreme Court? The same court that gave us Citizens United is how likely to rule in favor of the Log Cabin Republicans? Not very. This is perhaps the most Conservative court in modern history. Do you really think they're going to rule against the government's case?

Hopefully, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will agree with Phillips, Obama will concede defeat on legislative repeal and we'll finally see the end of this stupid law.

This Week in Crazy VI

2010-10-23T13:28:00.000-05:00

The crazy was in full abundance this week. So much so that it was really hard to decide the winner. At different points during the week, I thought I had it and then the next day...

Some of them were just silly. Like the Vatican deciding that Homer Simpson is Catholic. Seriously. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican’s paper of record, has declared “Homer and Bart are Catholics". They actually claim that the Simpson's is one of the few TV shows for children that has faith and religion as recurring themes. Their first mistake is in thinking the Simpson's is for children. The second is to think that the creators are in any way endorsing Catholicism. Must be a language thing.

The next funny was discovering that a Georgia state legislator who ran a campaign against teaching sexual health and such at the University level apparently owns a company that sells...wait for it...sex toys. Rep. Calvin Hill says that his company sells a lot of items and these must just have slipped by the censor, so to speak.

And the winner in the so crazy it's funny sub-category would have to be from Unresonable Faith, who posted two lovely videos by a husband and wife team of Christian "musicians", and I use the term loosely. I warn you in advance. You might want to have something to soothe your eyes and ears on hand. Maybe that video of Ozzy Osbourne eating the head of a live chicken. That might just be enough to counteract the images.

As commentor "Mike" said on Unresonable Faith,

“Things this bad have to be shared”
No, Vorjack, they do not. Things THIS bad should be encased in steel-reinforced concrete and tipped overboard directly above the Mariana trench.

Wow.

Now to the real crazy. This week's third place winner comes from Texas, I'm sad to say, where the Republican candidate for Congress in the 30th District, said this:

"We have a constitutional remedy here and the Framers says if that don't work, revolution."
"If the government is not producing the results or has become destructive to the ends of our liberties, we have a right to get rid of that government and to get rid of it by any means necessary," he continued.

Stephen Broden believes our nation was "founded on violence" so "the option is on the table."

The second place winner seems ready to work off that idea. Private security guards for Senate candidate Joe Miller (R-Alaska), "arrested" blogger Tony Hopfinger. They claimed that Hopfinger was trespassing. When the real police got there, they promptly told the security guards to release Hopfinger and return his equipment. While they had Hopfiner handcuffed and detained, security guards attempted to block other reporters from speaking with Hopfinger and erased the portion of his video camera tape that showed the "arrest". Rather than answer this blogger's questions about why Miller was disciplined in a previous job, his goons surrounded him and then detained him for tresspassing on public property. Miller is following in the footsteps of several Tea party candidates and refusing to talk to the media about character or personal history. Seems this question fell into that category and rather than issue a no comment, Miller had his goons "arrest" and then his campaign smear the blogger, calling him irrational. Well, someone was certainly irrational.

This week's winner is disturbing on many levels, at least to me. Latinos for Reform, who created the ad, is a republican polticial action committee that shares a PO Box in Alexandria, VA with several other PACs. The treasurer for several PACs, including Latinos for Reform, is Susan Arceneaux, a long time aide to Dick Armey and employee of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Remember them?

So this ad, which Latinos for Reform attempted to pay Univision $80,000 to air in Nevada, calls on Latino voters to NOT vote in November to send a message.

Univision has since returned the money and refused the ad. Robert de Posoda, "head" of the PAC, is maintaining that “Before the edit the tag line was ‘Don’t vote for those who betrayed you.’ After the edit the line was cut to ‘Don’t vote.’” Which is utter bullshit. The video is slick, with fairly high production values. To think that this tagline was inadvertently cut and no one caught it is laughable. What this is, is a blatant attempt by Republicans to keep Latinos away from the polls and benefit crazy Sharron Angle (who almost got her own mention here today for telling the Hispanic Student Union that she thought some of them looked Asian in a lame attempt to defend a race-baiting ad).

I've heard this theory before. That we must send a message to the Democrats by staying home instead of voting and punish them for not passing our legislation. What comes from Democratic activitists, be they LGBT or Latino, staying home?

Republicans win. And as we see above, that is not a great idea and only one that ends up punishing us, rather than the Dems.

"Call Me Malcolm" at UCC

2010-10-21T23:19:00.001-05:00

Tonight was the second class at United Christian Church where we're studying transgender issues and faith by watching and discussing the film, "Call Me Malcolm".

Tonight's discussion was focused on gender expression and hate crimes. We watched the segment of the film in which Malcolm visits with Pauline Martinez, a mother of hate crime victim F.C Martinez and discussed some grim statistics.

In 2009, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs there were "2,181 victims and survivors of hate violence". Of those, gender identity was known for 1,983. Transgender women accounted for "11% of those reporting". More concerning is the fact that 50% of these women were murdered. Of the 22 hate-related murders in 2009, 11 were transwomen. The other "11 cases were non-transgender males; most were also gender non-conforming or dressed femininely at the time of their murder." Read that last statement again. While 11 of these murders were of self-identified transgendered individuals, most of the other 11 victims were seen as being gender non-conforming. Indeed statistics from the Gender Public Advocacy Coalition indicate "that those most at risk for hate murder are young gender non-conforming or transgender people of color who present femininely or identify as female". Simply put, being a young trans or non-conforming person of color means you're automatically entered in a high risk group just by being yourself.

This confluence of prejudices is terrifying. This year is no exception with 12 murders on record and a month to go before the next day of remembrance.

These grim statistics, taken with the current high profile LGBT suicides, make me believe an argument can be made for a direct connection between between bullying behaviors and hate crimes. That indeed, bullying is a hate crime. NCAVP defines it this way (emphasis mine):

Anti-LGBTQ hate violence is defined as any act that an offender commits against a person or a person's property because of the offender's bias towards or hatred for that person's actual or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity and expression.

Hate-motivated violence exists across a spectrum of escalation and severity. A single incident may involve various types of violence. This is especially true of anti-LGBTQ hate violence. Verbal attacks, sexual assault, workplace discrimination, intimate partner abuse and beatings can all be motivated by hatred for an LGBTQ identity .

Confronting bullying is the first step in confronting LGBT hate crimes. If we allow our youth to act without consequence and continue to bully those they define as "other" then we set the stage for later escalation. It's time that we as a species agreed that it is time to grow up and stop the "kids will be kids" excuse for this kind of behavior.

As a Christian, I especially need to stand up against bullying and hate crimes and let the Austin-area LGBT community know that they are welcome at UCC.

The DADT Merry-Go-Round

2010-10-21T13:06:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Dan Choi reenlisted in the Army at the Times Square recruiting station. They obviously recognized him because it took 14 minutes for them to answer the door to his knocking.

Last night, the Ninth Circuit Court of appeals issued an emergency stay requested by the Department of Justice. The DoJ and Obama claim that they must appeal the decision by U.S. district judge Virginia A. Phillips that DADT is unconstitutional.

They must.

Bollocks. It's past time that Obama concedes that he will not be able to repeal this legislatively. I don't know what dream world he's living in if he thinks he's going to be able to do this come November 3 when the best guess says that the Dems are going to lose the House. If he couldn't get it done with a supermajority, he won't be able to do it when the Repubs take over.

More than how this ban is lifted is why it should be. We coddle the homophobes and old guard when we let them argue about unit cohesion, team identity and interdependences and all the other myriad reasons they give which really all come down to one thing.

Sex.

Once again, it's Dan Choi that says it best.

Dan Choi is a hero. A man who desperately wants to serve his country and represents the best of what the military is all about. Why anyone would think that he's a threat to the continued functioning of the US military is beyond me.

Give 'em hell, Lt. Dan.

Today, I'm wearing purple

2010-10-20T14:05:00.001-05:00

Are you?

RTT - bloggers, rallies and crazy-out-of-control dogs

2010-10-19T14:03:00.000-05:00

Hey! It's Tuesday. Head over to the Unmom for more random fun. Here's the fugly button.

Working on a blogger meet-up in DC. If you're going to be there and are vaguely interested in meeting me, I will be at the refreshment stand across the street from the National Air and Space Museum at 9AM Saturday October 30. Come one, come all. The more the merrier.

And can I just say that we are getting EXCITED. 10 days and counting.

We're researching special training for Aibhne. We took her to the dog park this weekend and it was a fiasco. She did a houdini and partially escaped her harness on exit of the car. Hubs tackled her and tried to get her back into said harness but the damn things always fight him and she managed to escape completely. She did jump back into the car when we opened the hatchback, so she wasn't a total loss. After he sat with her and told her what a bad dog she was while Youngest and I took the boys into the park, he eventually decided to try bringing her in. At which point, she made an idiot of herself growling and lunging at any and every dog who got close. So, she is officially banned from the park until we and she get some training on how to handle her aggression, bad leash manners and overall hardheadedness.

It's going to cost a bundle. She's too out of control to take a general obedience class and will need private lessons. As in, we're going to spend more to train us and the dog than we spent to enroll our kiddos in any two classes/activities as kids.

And Myrddin escaped from the yard. Again. Bastard.

Trying to figure out what to do in Virginia on Sunday while we wait for the plane. We have to check out of the Wydham in Williamsburg at 10AM and our plane doesn't leave Norfolk until 6PM. That's quite a bit of free time and yet oddly, not enough. We'll probably end up in Colonial Williamsburg for part of it. (which is the reason for not enough time) Any ideas?

And what to do after the rally? I'm leaning towards doing the tourist thing and wandering around the Smithsonian and visiting the Lincoln and Vietnam memorials. Hubs and I have never been to DC so any suggestions would be welcome. In particular, anyone know of a good restaurant?

Don't forget to check out the Unmom for more, and no doubt better, random.

"Call Me Malcolm" study at United Christian Church

2010-10-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

"Call Me Malcolm" is a documentary about a transgender UCC seminary student that our church has chosen to study. We held a viewing of the full film over the summer and had about 20 or so folks attend. The discussion then was very good and we decided to move on with the 6 week study.

As you may or may not know, LGBT issues, and specifically the T in that alphabet soup, are important to me. So, this seemed a natural outgrowth of my activism in that arena.

Our first class was last Thursday, and I intended to blog about it prior to that date but clearly did not. We had 10 people come to the class and watched the first 32 minutes of the film. Then we discussed the following questions:

1. Have you made a significant change in your own life? How did your family and friends react to your change?
2. Malcolm talks about how his parents reacted to the gender change in his life. Everyone
experiences many different changes throughout their lives. Has someone close to you made a significant change of any kind in their life? How did that affect you?
3. Sometimes family and friends can support changes, but still grieve the loss of who you used to be. How can people show support, but still acknowledge their grief or sadness at the loss of what was?
4. Malcolm spoke with Dr. Tinker about the way his culture looked at gender. What did you learn growing up from your culture about gender?
5. Malcolm was able to find resources at a nearby Gender Identity Center. Where can transgender people go in your community to learn more about transgender issues and resources?
Theological questions
1. Malcolm’s minister said that, in her theology, transgender people embody what it says in Genesis1:27, that human beings were made in the image of God, male and female. Given your experience of The Divine, what is your image of God and does it include gender?
2. Malcolm felt called as an ordained minister. All people of faith are called to use their unique gifts and talents to do God’s work in the world. How are you called?

We had a really great discussion and I hope that the rest of the meetings will be as well attended and frank.

My ideas on those questions? Well, I have a personal connection to the Trans community and learning about transgender issues has been a steep learning curve since E came out and began his transition. My personal reaction to his statement, "I'm transgender" was one of, oh, that makes sense. It answered questions for me and sparked many more. One of the things we (Eldest and myself) did early on in this process was invite E and his mother to a UCC Coalition for LGBT Concerns workshop. Shortly after E made his announcement, I found out the the Coalition was holding a workshop on the T in LBGT in a nearby city. We signed up almost immediately. On the way home, E's mom made the statement "God doesn't make mistakes."

Now, she meant this as a rebuke. Despite sitting through the same workshop that I had, see came away unmoved and adamant that her child couldn't be male since he had been born female. Thus, the statement. Well, I believe that the statement is true - God doesn't make mistakes - but not in the way she meant it. In fact, in just the opposite. E is not a mistake. His realization that he is transgendered isn't wrong. The changes in him, more than just the obvious physical ones of facial hair and deeper voice, are profound. He's happier and more confident. Who he was before was a profoundly unhappy and angry person. Someday, I hope his mother sees the change in her child as a positive one.

The fact that I could lead this study group at my church speaks volumes about the congregation and clergy. The church was very proactive in spreading the word amongst the LGBT community here in Austin about the class. We're speaking openly about issues that are very uncomfortable for many people. United Christian Church of Austin is an amazing place.

If you're in town on Thursday night at 7PM, feel free to join us. If you can't make it, the film is available at Netflix for rent and the study guide can be downloaded online.

This week in crazy V

2010-10-16T22:21:00.001-05:00

Well, here it is the weekend again and I almost forgot the weekly round up of crazy. Mostly because my own internal crazy kicked in this evening and distracted me rather completely (visions of lost reservations, see the previous post).

So, this week. Well, first we had the good news with the injunction against DADT. Then we had the inevitable bad news that the DoJ was going to appeal. Sigh. I don't really get it.

Besides that questionable act - some might consider it crazy - there were other genuine crazy goings on.

Honorable mention goes to the strangest movie review I have ever read. Debbie Schlussel's review of Secretariat was...well...nuts. She first calls Penny Chenery the "original Sarah Palin" but then goes on to blast her for leaving her husband and kids for a horse. She gives the film four Betty Freidans plus a Sarah Palin. Whatever the hell that's supposed to mean.

Our third runner up this week goes to West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin, who's running for Senate. He claims he's a Democrat and but you wouldn't really be able to tell it from his ad.

The only thing that really says he's a Democrat on his website is the fact that it uses the color blue. That and the link to an article denouncing his opponents use of actors portraying West Virginians as "hicks". Sounds like they're both ijits.

Second runner up is none other than arch-homophobe Tony Perkins. Perkins felt the need to speak out about the recent spate of LGBT teen suicides, but in his oh so predictable manner, he blames the victim. Money quote:

"Some homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal--yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are 'born gay' and can never change. This and not society's disapproval may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide."

Yes, it's not the endless torment of being bullied or humiliated by haters who've acquired their homophobia with their mother's milk. It's the "gay agenda" and the very idea that homosexuality is not a derangement that drives these kids to suicide. Not only does Perkins spew this hatefulness but he does so on the pages of the Washington Post. Yes, the home of Woodward and Bernstein and actual investigate journalism feels the need to give this man space to spread his bullshit. This pretty much typifies what's wrong with American media.

As vile and crazy as Perkins, et all are, this week's winner was clear. We've all heard of the Birthers, that steadfast group of nutcases who think the President is not an American citizen. Well Obama Derangement Syndrome has a new symptom. Now they want genetic testing to prove the President is actually the child of Stanley Ann Dunham and Barack Hussein Obama. They concede that there is apparently a certificate of birth for such a union but now claim that the only way they'll be convinced is with a DNA sample. The article on Western Journalism is baffling. Not only does the author say:

Disclosure of Obama’s vital records in Hawai’i will almost certainly show that he was born in Hawai’i to U.S. citizens, verifiable by genetic analysis. Hence at birth Mr. Obama would have been a natural born U.S. citizen. Official investigators should be prepared for this early result, and resist the pressure to consider it to be conclusive as to Mr. Obama’s eligibility as a natural born citizen when he ran for the Office of President.

He adds this whopper in the next paragraph:

The status of natural born U.S. citizen can be acquired – or not – only at birth. But it can be lost thereafter, by loss of citizenship. The term “natural born U.S. citizen” subsumes “citizen”. You can not be a natural born citizen if you are not a citizen at all.

So while this DNA test may prove the President's pedigree, so to speak, they're ready with the counter argument that Obama gave up his citizenship somehow or that the director of the Hawai’i State Department of Health, Dr. Chiyome Fukino, implied somehow that Obama had more than one certificate raising the idea that President Obama was adopted.

The entire article makes no real sense, relies on innuendo and doublespeak to get its point across and is patently insane. Although it was dated October 4, I didn't find out about it until this week via Crooks and Liars, so I'm counting as this week's winner in crazy. If they can make specious arguments about the President's paternity, call his father Obama the Luo tribesman and the President a "anti-American communist" then I can damn well name Caleb, whoever the hell he is, this week's winner.

With apologies to Davy Crockett...

2010-10-16T21:27:00.000-05:00

You may all go to Hell, and I will go to ~~Texas~~ Washington, DC.

Not quite what old Davy had in mind, I'm sure. I kinda recall he was headed away from Washington, but what the heck.

After some momentary panic when I could neither find my flight reservations nor decipher my bank account to determine if the ticket purchase had gone through, I have confirmed travel plans (minus the car rental. Still waiting on CheapoAir to get back to me, Their online system did not recognize any of my email addresses and their phone "agents" hung up on me.)

Also, I have picked a meeting place. Me. Who has never set foot in DC but thinks the internet has all the answers. With the help of Google maps (all hail Google), I have sent off emails and now post the message here. If you're going to be at the Rally, I'm going to be at the National Mall refreshment stand across from the National Air and Space Museum on Jefferson Dr between 7th and 4th streets at 9AM.

View Larger Map

I will most likely be bleary-eyed and in need of caffeinated refreshment. Our flight gets into Norfolk at 10:27 Friday night, then we have to drive about an hour to get to Williamsburg to the time share. We're taking the train from Springfield into DC. That drive will take two and half hours and we have to catch the train no later than 8AM on Saturday in order to get into DC by 9AM. Which means we have to get up at around 4:30AM and be on the road by 5AM. So. Much coffee will be required.

Much.

No decision yet on apparel or signage. Updates will follow. But I will be the slightly rotund, edging into middle age, bleary-eyed Texan accompanied by a long hair and bearded type -also edging into middle age but less rotund (the bastard).

See you there!

Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns

2010-10-15T12:58:00.000-05:00

If you're not a little teary-eyed by the end of this, I'm not sure I want to know you.

Thank you, Councilman. H/T to TheMaddowBlog via Twitter.

Bishop Gene Robinson - It Gets Better

2010-10-14T14:38:00.000-05:00

Thank you, +Gene. There are faiths and religious people out there that accept LGBTs. We need to speak out, loudly, to drown out the hate of the Christianists.

H/T to Pam's House Blend.

Federal judge orders suspension of DADT

2010-10-12T16:27:00.001-05:00

Wow. Finally. And to think we have the Log Cabin Republicans to thank for it. Here's hoping that the Justice Department chooses not to appeal. This bullshit line of "we must defend the law of the land" while saying that "we feel the law is wrong" is truly stupid. Time to act with the courage of your convictions, Obama.

This Week in Crazy IV

2010-10-09T09:33:00.002-05:00

This week there's really only one winner. I knew it when I first saw the story on Monday. Subsequent stories only confirmed it. You've all heard about it. More in a moment.

There were some notable honorable mentions for this week's title. Jim DeMint (R-SC) and his remarks regarding out homosexuals and unmarried/non-chaste women and their fitness for teaching ranks right up there. In a 2004 campaign debate he said the same thing. He apologized that time, but now claims that he had many people tell him they agreed. Despite the shit storm this comment has instigated, DeMint shows no signs of apologizing this time around.

Another honorable mention goes to Joe the Plumber, who has managed to turn his 15 minutes of fame into a cottage industry. Old Joe has come out against what he and (surprise) the Tea Party thinks is radical legislation to eliminate, wait for it, puppy mills. According to the Humane Society of the United States, Missouri has 30% of the nation's puppy mills. For some unknown reason, they think the idea of puppy mills is bad. But the tea partiers think otherwise. Of course, they claim it's because they feel this legislation will harm legitimate breeders and

"The society seeks only to raise the cost of breeding dogs, making it ever-more difficult for middle-class American families to be dog-owners."

Yeah, right.

Last honorable mention goes to none other than Dick Armey. He wants to eliminate all federal government funding for higher education. Go read the article at Think Progress in the link above. Jilani says it better than I could.

And now we get to this week's winner. When I first saw this story in my reader on Monday morning, I knew it would take top honors this week. In Obion, TN firefighters watched a man's house burn down because he had not paid his $75 ~~extortion~~ subscription fee. There's been quite a bit written about this event this week. Conservatives say it's Gene Cranick's fault for not paying the fee. Indeed, they argue that firefighting should not be a public service available to all.

To add insult to injury, the Obion County Budget Committee voted the next day to expand the service to "give all communities in the county the option of paying a subscription". This despite the fact that a 2008 study done by the county fire department shows that it would take only a 13 cent increase in property taxes to fund a county wide service.

And lastly, the Cranicks lost not only their home but their 4 pets - 3 dogs and a cat - in the fire. I find it hard to grasp the idea of firefighters choosing to stand idly by and watch a house burn to the ground. All for want of $75.

Glen Beck says this is what we should expect to happen. He is among the defenders of the county and believes that this is ultimately an issue of personal responsibility. Of course, before he said he thinks "this is the kind of stuff that’s going to have to happen, we are going to have to have these kinds of things" he was openly mocking Cranick.

This is indeed where things are headed if we allow the current crop of Conservatives to make headway. After all, we're not responsible for our fellow man. He has to step up and take responsibility. Maybe this lesson will not be lost on others who have forgotten or declined to pay their extortion fee. The world's a harsh place after all.

Bollocks.

Vote Republican....

2010-10-06T12:11:00.001-05:00

or don't vote and get what you deserve.

UPDATE: Found the video from the original source. Amazingly enough, they're a film studio based in Phoenix.

This Week in Crazy III

2010-10-03T17:32:00.001-05:00

This week, it seems almost wrong to be talking about the crazy when we keep seeing headlines about gay youth committing suicide. Call your Senator about the Safe Schools Improvement Act. Talk to the people who say that bullying is just a part of growing up and let them know the statistics. We must act. We must stand up and be heard telling those who bully and those who allow the bullying to happen in their schools that this behavior is not just unacceptable, it is criminal.
---
There's been the usual political craziness this week - from Carl Paladino, Republican candidate for Governor of New York, recorded telling a reporter that "he will take him out" for daring to ask questions about Paladino's 10-year-old daughter to a Tea Party coloring book that teaches children the dangers of high tax rates to the revelation that Christine O'Donnell's pro-abstinence nonprofit SALT (Savior's Alliance for Lifting the Truth) is on a IRS list of deadbeat orgs. Fun times.

Our third place finalist this week is the ongoing saga of one Andrew Shrivell, one time assistant Attorney General for the great state of Michigan. Apparently, Shrivell has an ongoing feud with one Chris Armstrong, college student and gay activist. Shrivell has a blog dedicated to documenting all the "evil" things that Armstrong has done and even made CNN with his anti-gay stalking. The AG of Michigan refuses to fire Shrivell, saying "civil service rules that protect government employees from being "fired willy-nilly" for exercising their rights of free speech" protect Shrivell despite the fact that he admits this behavior is immature. Shrivell has taken a leave of absence.

What next? Well, James O'Keefe is back in the news. Remember Jimmy? He's the idiot who dressed up in a bad Halloween costume and videotaped ACORN. Well, he's back at his hi-jinks again. THIS time he decided to "punk" a CNN reporter. I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say, this boy has well and truly lost touch with reality if he thinks that he can seduce a reporter, surreptitiously videotape said "seduction" and use it to spoof the network. Fortunately, one of his own warned the reporter off so didn't have to sit through the whole ridiculous escapade.

After these two, you may be thinking, who could possibly be worse? Well, sad to say, there is someone. Someone who is more than just crazy, they're evil.

If you're not aware, Dan Savage has started a channel on YouTube called the It Gets Better project. (Note: THIS is NOT the crazy. Go watch the videos. Share them with any LGBT youth you know.) This week's winner in crazy (also evil) comes in the form of the Lot Project. They used a video response to Dan Savage's project as their inaugural video on their new YouTube channel. I will not be posting this video. If you feel the need, go look it up yourself on YouTube. But be warned. It's vile. The name really says it all: "It Gets Worse". In it, an unnamed man decries the sinful lifestyle of homosexuality and uses the suicide of Billy Lucas as a "practical example" of what will happen to those who practice the "homosexual lifestyle" claiming that Billy will be suffering for eternity for the sin of homosexuality that not even his death can "atone for". He calls churches that are open and affirming apostate and not real churches. He claims you cannot live as a homosexual Christian because the terms are mutually exclusive. He further claims that there is no legitimate debate (thus he closed comments) concerning homosexuality and "God's truth".

This man, and people like him, they cloak themselves in Christianity. They are not Christians. They are hateful, fear-filled sub-humans who only want to destroy those they do not understand. They use the Bible as a bludgeon to support their extremist views.

They must not be allowed to succeed.

Rally to Restore Sanity

2010-09-29T12:06:00.002-05:00

WE'RE GOING.

That is all. If you're going and might be interested in meeting, shoot me an email. It's on the linky thing to the right.

I may be broke at the end of the month, or sooner, but it will be SO worth it.

RTT - This is My Life

2010-09-28T11:39:00.003-05:00

Hey, it's Tuesday. Stop by the Unmom for more randomness.

While driving to UT campus to pick up Youngest last night (she needed to go to the grocery store and has no car) I mistakenly ended up on the upper deck of I-35. Which at 6PM was a parking lot. I squeezed into traffic between a mail truck and one those big yellow EMS trucks. You know, the kind that's really huge and on a big ass chassis. Any way, EMT boy let me in. Mail man said screw you and wouldn't let anyone in. This lead to about half a dozen cars between me and the ambulance. So we're driving. Slowly. Almost made it up to 20 once. Then we stopped again. In fact, I texted that fact to Youngest to let her know I was running late. Then I look back and the ambulance has on his lights. It's like the parting of the red sea behind me as cars pull over onto the shoulder for him. I follow suit and look back again. And he's turned his lights off. Must have gotten bored in traffic.

Finally made it off the interstate and headed towards campus. As I turned on Rio Grande to cut over to 24th, I passed an Austin police car with his lights on. He must have just finished writing up a ticket because he turned off his lights after I passed and pulled into the street. When we got to a stop sign, I look over and in the back seat of the patrol car is a traffic cone. My first thought is, he's arrested a safety cone. What the hell? Texted that too.

So we finally make it to the grocery store. This is what Youngest bought:

shampoo and conditioner
excedrin
6 cans of generic tuna
2 family size boxes of Easy Mac
14 Hormel Compleats
2 large bags of HEB shredded cheese
2 bags of Babybel cheese
1 box of Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme pies
1 box of Little Debbie Star Crunch
1 box of Mrs Baird's apple pies
1 bag of Mrs Baird's chocolate covered mini donuts
1 pint of Blue Bell vanilla ice cream
1 quart of HEB German Chocolate Cake ice cream
1 large economy sized bag of frozen tortellini
hot dog buns

Is that not just the perfect example of a college student's grocery list you've ever seen? The only thing that was missing was the Dr. Pepper, which she said she already had.

Saturday, Hubby and I tried to take the dogs for a walk. It was an unmitigated disaster. Aibhne drug him out the door and I followed with Myrddin and Rowan on the splitter. The boys were pulling so hard I was having a hard time trying to reach the door to close it. While I'm fighting them, I hear my husband yell, at the top of his lungs, "GODDAMN IT AIBHNE GET BACK HERE!"

Yep, she'd slipped out of her HARNESS and was merrily charging down the street, after, it turned out, a chihuahua. (The little old lady walking the chihuahua was not amused). Rowan, not to be out done and perhaps maddened by the whining coming from Myrddin next to him, whipped his head around and pulled out of his collar and took off after them. I drug Myrddin back inside and yelled at Rowan, who came to his senses rather quickly and slunk back down the sidewalk. While I'm fighting with the boys, I distinctly hear laughter wafting from across the street, punctuated by my husband's yelling. He finally comes puffing up the sidewalk, fat black beast in his arms. Needless to say, no dogs got to go on the walk.

I noticed a few days later that Aibhne had a scrape on her chin. Apparently Hubby forgot to mention that when she decided she really, really wanted to make "friends" with the chihuahua, she missed. It dodged and she face-planted into the pavement. Serves her right.

Almost forgot. When we got home yesterday, there was an opened jar of Nutella on the living room floor. It had not been open when I left that morning, nor on the floor. A dog (Myrddin is my best guess.) got it off the kitchen table where I had stupidly left it out, worried off the SCREW ON lid and went to town. No telling how much he ate but he and Aibhne were looking for it when they came back from their potty break.

While yesterday was entertaining, in its own way, this morning was not. On the way to the airport to drop Hubby off on a business trip we hear that there's a shooter at UT. Called Youngest. She was on her way to her 9:30 class but not on campus yet. Told her to go home. Latest news out of campus is that the shooter is dead by his own hand without further loss of life but that the university is locked down while APD, UTPD and the SWAT team are looking for a second suspect. No classes for the day.

But you know, it's vitally important that any Tom, Dick and Harry be able to buy an assault rifle. They make for great squirrel hunting, dontcha know. /sarcasm

This Week in Crazy II

2010-09-25T13:06:00.002-05:00

So what do Sharron Angle, the Texas State Board of Education and the Values Voter Summit have in common? They're all candidates for this weeks Crazy of the Week award.

There's been a lot of potential candidates out there - from someone in Sen. Saxby Chambliss' office posting "all faggots must die" in comments on Joe.My.God, to Tom Emmer, Tea-Party candidate for Governor of Minnesota, running neck and neck in the polls with Democrat Mark Drayton or the Italian Minster of Family Policy publicly stating that gay adoption leads to human trafficking. It made the choices hard. So much crazy, so little time.

And really, one crazy is often interchangeable with another.

So what has Sharron Angle been up to that spikes her status? Well, it's really a two-fer. Apparently former Arkansas Governor and perennial Republican candidate for President Mike Huckabee has a show on Faux News. Whoda thunk? And he had Sharron Angle on to talk about that dastardly Harry Reid's smear campaign against her. She spends her time attacking Reid and never takes on Reid's statements except to say they're half truths. Care to know what Poltifact has to say about this race? It's not pretty. And you've got to love that Angle counters Reid's half-truths with her own wholly untrue ad. I'm sorry, really, but that grin just creeps me out.

Not satisfied with garnering national attention for their proposed changes to Texas social studies curriculum, the Texas SBOE has decided to enter the anti-Muslim fray that's currently making the headlines across America. They've put out a resolution condemning what they call a pro-Muslim and anti-Christian bias in World History textbooks. These are the same textbooks that, in many cases, this same board approved just a few years ago after forcing publishers to change positive passages regarding Islam (among other things). Check out the Texas Freedom Network's coverage. Here's the a PDF of the resolution. Though the SBOE has no authorization under Texas statute to edit or censor textbooks, they generally ignore that little fact and issue edicts like this or resort to outright pressure towards publishers to get their way. The good news is that two of the craziest have been voted off the board. The bad news is this is their last ditch effort to leave a "legacy".

But this week's winner, and trust me there were lots of deserving crazies out there this week, would have to be the Values Voter Summit. First of all, this is a collection of crazy at high levels. Sponsored by the Family Research Council and the Heritage Foundation, among others, the Value Voters Summit is described as a conference to

"join with other pro-family, conservative organizations from across the country and reach an audience of grassroots activists who believe in traditional marriage, the protection of our religious freedoms, defending the sanctity of life, protecting our borders and defending our homeland".(www.valuevotersummit.org)

Their breakout sessions this year are a veritable plethora of crazy:

American Apocalypse--When Christians Do Nothing, Secularists Do Everything--The Case for Christian Activism
Indivisible: Social and Economic Foundations of American Liberty
Social Justice: Am I My Brother's Keeper?
The Falsehood of the Inevitablity of Same-Sex "Marriage"
The Economic Impact of Illegal Immigration
How to Reach the Online Generation (Without Losing Your Soul)
Against the Odds: Real Students Making Real Change
A Special Polling Presentation: Who are Tea Party and Christian Voters and What Do They Believe?
Establishing a Culture Impact Team In Your Church
Why Christians Should Support Israel
Getting Out the Vote on Election Day
Who's Politicizing Science? The Obama Administration's War on Life

As crazy as all of this sounds, at least to me, the statements made by Tony Perkins and Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis regarding the repeal of DADT were the worst. Perkins and Maginnis claimed that allowing gays to serve openly in the military would "make the military weaker, understaffed and morally corrupt." They went on to say that those countries that allow gays to serve openly no longer participate in wars. Money quote:

"Well, those that do, they're the ones that participate in parades, they don't fight wars to keep the nation and the world free. So there's a big difference". - Tony Perkins

Just to set the record straight, here's a list of countries that allow gays to serve openly in their military.

Albania*
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Belgium*
Canada*
Colombia
Czech Republic*
Denmark*
Estonia*
Finland
France*
Germany*
Ireland
Israel
Italy*
Lithuania*
Luxembourg*
Malta
The Netherlands*
New Zealand
Norway*
Peru
Philippines
Poland*
Romania*
Russia
Slovenia*
South Africa
Spain*
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
United Kingdom*
Bermuda
Uruguay

Great Britain and Australia have or had significant numbers of soldiers in Iraq and are, of course, our allies. Israel is on that list and last I checked we were pretty fond of them. (Plus, they fight. A lot. Generally by shooting Palestinians who throw rocks.) Canada, Germany, Italy, Spain and France all of have forces in Afghanistan. and are part of NATO. You remember NATO? That pesky little treaty we signed back in 1949? Those countries with an asterisk are all signatories.

Somehow, I think that Tony Perkins and his cronies are so worked up about LGBT rights that they don't really care who they hurt in the process of defending their "way of life".

And really pisses me off that these folks feel like they've won with the Senate vote.

Pissed off at Democrats?

2010-09-23T17:17:00.000-05:00

No matter how betrayed you may feel by the complete lack of spine and intestinal fortitude that Democrats in Washington, including our very own President, have shown in the last few months, do you really want to vote in the alternative?

I'm pissed that DADT was allowed to fail, along with the DREAM act and the funding of the entire military. I'm pissed that the Dems have decided to postpone voting on taxing the rich until after the mid-term elections. I'm pissed that our "fierce advocate" has failed to actively support the dismantling of DADT and hasn't pushed Congress to stand up to the Repubs. Not on one. damn. thing.

There's a certain satisfaction in voting out those who fail to support our causes, who fail to act on what they believe is right because they're afraid of losing their elections. But what is the alternative?

Do we really want to have people like Christine O'Donnell in Congress? Would Sharron Angle be better for the country than Harry Reid?

Staying home isn't an option either. That's just the passive aggressive way to lose.

I say screw the pundits. Screw the polls. Choke back your anger and disappointment and remember that things could be worse. Things will be worse if Democrats fail to vote or vote for the Green party or Libertarian candidate out of anger.

Sometimes, it really is a choice between the lesser of two evils and we Democrats must remember that. No matter how ineffectual our candidates and Congress Critters may seem, it could be worse. We could end up with someone in Congress who makes Michele Bachmann look sane.

We've tried this strategy before - this vote them out if they can't follow through. Sounds good on principle. But the reality is that until we can get someone on the ballot who has a spine, we must take what we can get.

Or we deserve exactly what we get come November if the Congress flips.

The Last Full Measure of Devotion

2010-09-22T22:51:00.000-05:00

What the actual percentage of the US population is that identifies as homosexual may never be known, but the best estimates place it between 1 in 10 and 1 in 20. Count those flag-draped coffins. There are 20.

Chances are good that at least one of those fallen soldiers was gay.

Whether John McCain or the other 42 Senators who voted against the Defense Authorization bill this week believe it or not, LGBs are already serving in our military. They do so despite harassment and possible discharge. They do so in the halls of the Pentagon and on the harsh rocky mountaintops of Afghanistan. They do so knowing that someone like McCain, who claims to know the military and trades on his POW status for votes, thinks they shouldn't be allowed to serve.

Some of them make the ultimate sacrifice.

Look again at that picture. Does that one flag draped coffin that holds the war torn body of a gay or lesbian soldier deserve less respect than the other 19 fellows that surround it?

H/T to Brains and Eggs for the photo and the idea.

This Week in Crazy

2010-09-18T12:15:00.001-05:00

The crazy that is the Tea Party is popping up in unexpected places. Delaware. New York. Washington State. You have to go back to 1988 to see Delaware carry a Republican president and 1984 for New York and Washington State. These states are generally considered Democratic strongholds, but this year they've generated crazy at the state and national level.

There's been a lot of news out there this week about Christine O'Donnell (R-Nuts) from Delaware. Her list of crazy is a mile long and seriously impressive. Sounds like the perfect person to run with Sarah Palin in 2012. Here's a short list:

Masturbation is adultery
Believes telling the truth is paramount, so much so that she would not have lied about hiding Jews from the Nazis.
Called herself a college graduate for 16 years but hadn't gotten her diploma until she paid off outstanding debts to her college, which took them suing her for her to do
Defaulted on her mortgage, sold her house to her boyfriend and then paid "rent"
"Dabbled" in witchcraft but never joined a coven

Phew, that's a list. Daily Kos, among others, has more detail.

In New York, of all places, the newly minted Republican candidate for Governor, Carl Paladino, has stated that he believes "no mosque should be built wherever the dust cloud from the WTC fell". When pressed by CNN's Rick Sanchez that the dust cloud made it all the way to Hoboken, Paladino hedged, saying he thought "it went out about a quarter of a mile." He also says he'd use eminent domain to seize the property of the proposed community center site to stop it's building if elected, or maybe just change the zoning ordinances, which would have the same effect.

sigh

But the winner for crazy this week goes to Hans Zeiger (R-Nutjob), candidate for state representative in Legislative District 25 in (drum roll, please) Washington State. He managed to garner 36% of the vote in a six way primary. The incumbent, Dawn Morrell (D), got 40%. Guess who she gets to go up against in November? But just what is it that Zeiger has done or said that wins him the title of Crazy Teabagger of the Week? Get ready, it's a doozy. Big H/T to HorsesAss.Org and The News Tribune for the following:

Zeriger, all of 25, writes for WorldNetDaily and Intellectual Conservative. In fact, lists it as a job. He's tried to scrub some of the more extremist posts from these sites, but hurrah for Google cache.

Called the Girl Scouts USA national convention "a gathering of radical feminists, lesbians, and cookie peddlers… who are allied with the abortion industry and Planned Parenthood… The Girl Scouts is almost as much a part of the radical feminist movement as the National Organization for Women."
Called the National Education Association and GSLEN "terrorist organizations".
Believes that Unitarians, main-stream Baptists, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, and members of the “Military Pagan Network” believe in and pray to "the generic God" and his God is real.
Called his time in Washington public schools, time spent at the "local government indoctrination center"..."The corridors and classrooms of the modern public school are so polluted with the filth of moral relativism that the typical public high school graduate moves into the world devoid of character, conscience or courage".

Zeriger is an Eagle Scout and author of "Get Off My Honor: The Assault on the Boy Scouts of America" who believes that GSUSA has strayed from its roots, meaning that since they take a quasi-DADT approach to homosexuals and allow atheists into the organization, they're the devil.

Of all the crazy quoted above, he has only walked back on the local school statement and now claims he had a "wonderful experience" in Puyallup schools. The others he claims are from the fevered mind of an adolescent, since he was all of 18 or 19 when they were written.

And so my friends, we have our winner - Hans Zieger, Crazy of the Week. As we gear up to the November elections, this might just become a regular feature.

The Little Engine That Could(n't)

2010-09-14T21:04:00.000-05:00

Right now, it's 8:30 PM CST. Outside it's a balmy 84 degrees and who knows what the humidity is but it's up there. We just got back from a 30 minute walk. I'm hot. Hubby's hot. At my feet are three medium sized steam engines.

Aibhne, in particular, sounds like she's going to pass out. When we first got back, she headed for the water bowl, laid down and took a desultory drink between what can only be described as gasps for air. Poor baby. She's out of shape. Maybe there's something to the vet's insistence that she lose 8 pounds.

Last time we took her on a half hour walk (which was also her first half hour walk), she panted non-stop for almost an hour. Looks like she's going to do the same thing this time.

If she didn't spend the first ten minutes of the walk trying to do her best sled-dog-starting-up-a-hill imitation, maybe she wouldn't be so completely wiped out come the last 10 minutes. Must work on the concept of heel.

Rowan and Myrddin got to try out their leash splitter for the first time in..wait, how old is Myrddin?..oh, two years. Last time, Rowan charged out the door dragging the far more timid and quite a bit smaller Myrddin out the door. I don't believe Myrddin's feet ever actually hit the ground that time. He bounced along behind Rowan like a flag until his collar popped off. This time, they were much more evenly suited - both of them charged out the door pulling me (not quite like a flag) behind them. Once Myrddin calmed down and decided he didn't need to whine and yip from excitement, they did okay. Bounced off of each other a time or two like bumper cars, but overall, it was a success.

Of course, it meant that Rowan couldn't check his p-mail. Darn.

It was my first 30 minute walk in almost a week and I can tell the difference. The heat is really the problem. It makes me queasy and a bit woozy if I'm not careful.

When we were in the Great Omaha Blizzard of 2009 (otherwise known as our Christmas vacation), we thought that Aibhne might make a good sled dog. Seems that I am not the first person to think about hooking up their Lab to a sled. Enjoy.

(BTW, we're at the half hour mark and she's still panting. Her butt is up against a cabinet and is making a drawer pull rattle. Clink. Clink. Clinkclinkclinkclink. Pause. Clinkclinkclink. Ahh. Quiet. She's left for a drink and to pass out on the kitchen floor. Second coolest place in the house.)

Ah, the joy of owning dogs.

RTT - It's Tuesday so it must be Belgium

2010-09-14T12:48:00.000-05:00

Not really. I'm still stuck here in Austin. It's still hot. As in, though it is a ~~balmy frigid~~ barely tolerable 71 at my desk, it is a sweltering 90 degrees with 59% humidity outside. It's the middle of September, can it please start cooling off? Jeez.

Oh, if you haven't already, head over to The Unmom and join the random fun. Here's the obligatory button:

Now that that's over with...we had another expensive weekend. Good news is that Eldest and her crew of mad shoppers are not scheduled to return for some time. Thus my bank account and waistline can recover. Not that it was entirely her fault. We would have gone to Can'tstoptheSerenity without her but still. (In case you didn't catch the reference this little movie fest/charity event is all about Serenity, Firefly and all things Joss Whedon) This year, Ron Glass was in attendance. Which was cool. Also this year, they auctioned off Quantum Mechanix newest maquettes - River Tam and Hoban "Wash" Washburne. Guess who won the Wash maquette?

I DID!!!!

It only cost me $200. (Crazy you say? Nuts to you, I say) It's not even in production yet, so it may be a while before I get it, but the best part is that they're going to send it to Alan Tudyk to sign. So there. Yes, I have cemented my fandom, upped my geek cred, and emptied the bank account all in one fell swoop. But, I tell you. It was worth it.

Youngest got her own , Little Damn Hero. But hers ain't signed.

Oh, and I found Hubby's Christmas gift. He went as Malcolm Reynolds and needed a better coat. (Ok, look, I hear you out there giggling. I've never tried to deny that we aren't geeks. And in his defense, the other guy who went as Malcolm Reynolds had the Austin PD pull him out of the theater. Apparently, his replica/toy gun was a mite too real.) It's a suede and leather long coat that is an official replica. Won't be buying it this month, but it will be under the tree.

Any way, enough Firefly.

Have I told you that Aibhne, the black beast from hell, as taken to randomly sitting up on her big fat butt in the morning just to hear us go Awww? ( It's a survival mechanism. If she weren't cute, she'd be dead.) I'll have to get a picture of it. It is fairly adorable. I just find it amusing that she does it just to get our attention and further pettins.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the comment on my 500th post. Comments were great and supportive. You guys rock.

Go join the fun at the Unmom. I'm off to make Keely happy by commenting on five blogs.

9/11/01

2010-09-11T12:38:00.002-05:00

I've wandered around the blogosphere for a bit before I decided to write this, looking at other takes on the day. Some think it's time to let go and move past the event. Others feel it's important to remember. Me? Somewhere in the middle, as usual.

On September 11, 2001, I was beginning Day Two of a three day Workplace Emergency Responder course at Applied Materials. This was a course our local American Red Cross chapter had customized from the standard Emergency Responder class for Applied. That day's course was going to be focused on CPR. I was one of three instructors for the class.

As I drove into Austin, I was listening to the local NPR station. They were reporting that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. When I got upstairs to the classroom, I turned on the TV. We were able to get so-so reception (it was intended to play the DVDs for class and not really set up for live TV).

We all watched as the second plane hit. One of my co-workers was on staff in the Education division of the Chapter (I forget his actual title and it probably doesn't exist anymore any way). I turned to David and said, "You need to leave. The Chapter is going to need you. Gina and I can teach the course."

Which we did. We finished that day, with regular breaks to watch the news, with a new understanding and appreciation for what we were doing.

I remember watching the second plane hit and thinking, we are at war.

What's happened since has been a different story. While in favor of our foray into Afghanistan at the time, it became quickly obvious to me that we were no more capable of finding Bin Laden or "winning" anything in Afghanistan than the Soviets were. And Iraq? Well, that was just Junior attempting to finish what Senior started. The hell that we've unleashed in Iraq, the mismanagement of the aftermath of deposing Sadaam, the lies we were told to get there, the damage that was done to our reputation amongst nations as we chose to "go it alone"; all these things are the consequences of 9/11.

More over, they are the consequences of the drumbeat of war that started almost before the dust settled in Manhattan. We chose to ignore the lessons learned from United 93, that if we band together we can prevail, and instead chose a path of discourse. The aftermath of 9/11 has exposed the dark side of America.

There is so much hate being spewed into the airwaves these days that it almost seems you need a hazmat suit to watch the news.

I've watched documentaries on 9/11. As a history buff, I believe it is important to remember. As a Journalism major, I know the media has distorted our view of 9/11 with its endless repeat of certain images. We need to find a way to move past the emotion these images evoke and remember those who died. We need to learn from the things that went wrong and the things that went right. I get a unique perspective from my Eldest, who is studying to become an Emergency Administration Manager. She's studied 9/11 and Katrina in her course work. She can wax eloquent about the spontaneous waterborne evacuation of Manhattan or how Gander, Canada handled the sudden doubling of their population as incoming international flights were grounded on 9/11. There was great heroism on that day and great loss.

Those things deserve to be remembered.

What we need is to find a way to move past the anger and fear that 9/11 created, as well as the manipulation of that fear and anger. We've let this single event be the dominating yardstick of our nation's decision making as if we each suffered a personal loss on that day. Arguably, we lost our national innocence.

We also lost our national sanity. We see it the crazed glare of Glenn Beck's eyes as he rants about whatever talking point stirs him up at the moment. We see it in the meteoric rise of Sarah Palin. We see it in the faces of Westboro Baptist and Terry Jones and all the others that seek to use religion as a battering ram. We see it the inability of family members on opposite sides of the political fence to talk calmly or rationally about anything political. We see it in a media so bent on "fairness" that they've lost sight of truth.

What we really need to remember about 9/11 are those who died, those who risked their lives to save and aid others and those who opened their hearts to strangers. The death rolls of 9/11 look like a perfect microcosm of America - people from all walks of life, all ethnicities and religions, gay and straight, young and old. In every place where the terrorists struck, the best of humanity rose up in response. Some of those responders were Muslim, some were Gay, some were trained, some were not. They stepped up to do the right thing not because of where they were born or what religion they practiced but because it was the right thing to do.

We must honor their commitment to the best of what we can be and set aside our hate.

Let that be the ultimate consequence of September 11, 2001.

A new low in Oklahoma politics

2010-09-09T20:54:00.001-05:00

Well, it is Oklahoma, but like Texas, there are progressives who live there. One of those progressives is Brittany Novotny, who is running for State Representative.

Novotny happens to be transgender and a fellow congregant of the United Church of Christ. Her opponent's supporters have sent out a truly heinous email denouncing Novotny as a "confused it" who hates God. The entire email is on Novotny's website.

But here's the money quote:

Brittany used to be a “he”, had a sex change operation to make him
into a “her” but turned out to become a confused “it”. Some have
suggested that having a sex change operation is a person’s greatest
act of rebellion and hatred toward God for His making them what they
were.

Of course, you have to understand that Novotny's opponent, Sally Kern, was quoted in 2008 as saying homosexuals are a bigger threat to America than terrorists. Her recent "defense" of this statement is really no less vile:

“Here in America we’ve had what maybe three known real big terrorist attacks on our nation,” Kern said. “But every day our young people especially, all of us, but our young people especially are in a sense bombarded with the message that homosexuality is normal and natural.”

So it really comes as no surprise that Brittany Novotny, who has been open about her gender transition, draws the ire of someone like Charlie Meadows, founder of Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee and source of the email. His group is dedicated to supporting far-right Republicans and openly works to defeat those he deems "Republicans in Name Only", and of course those nasty heathen liberals.

For this kind of person, the very idea that someone like Novotny exists, let alone seeks public office, is an offense. They can't believe that she's Christian or that any respectable church would welcome her. Well, folks, there is at least one - the United Church of Christ.

Novtony tries to focus on the issues her district faces. Issues like jobs, public education and transportation infrastructure; issues where improvements could unquestionably effect everyone. Not the thundering noise of moral outrage at the expense of positive solutions.

That noise is all we seem to hear from Republicans these days. The flavor of the outrage varies by locale but it all really amounts to the same thing: If you're not like me, you're the enemy.

He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone. John 8:7

H/T to Joe.My.God, The Dallas Voice and Brittany4HD84.com

Dragon Scout by Amanda Visell

2010-09-08T18:31:00.000-05:00

We did lots of shopping this weekend. Part of that was the mandatory visit to Dragon's Lair on Burnet Rd in Austin. There I found this:

I had to have it. It appeals on so many levels - dragons and all things Fantasy or DnD related with the extra crispy bonus of Girl Scouts thrown in.

It's adorable.

Turns out there is a variation where the scout eaten is a boy and the girl figurine is happy. Hmmm. I may have a new item for the Christmas list. Children, take note!

RTT - ancestry, animals and analysts

2010-09-07T13:50:00.001-05:00

It's Tuesday! Join the fun at Keely's. Grab a button. You know the score.

Ancestry first. I have an on again/off again subscription with Ancestry.com. Is cool. Very cool. My parent's both came from large families (7 siblings on my Dad's side and 6 on my Mom's) Their families came from large families. Of course, you have to understand, my parents were born in the 1920s. My grandparents, all four of them, were born before the turn of the twentieth century. People had large families back then because well, children are fragile things. And make great farm hands. This go round on Ancestry has taught me a few things - 1) with the exception of my maternal grandmother's grandparents, I am a southern girl. The furthest north I can find anyone being born is Virginia. Mostly, they're from Texas, Arkansas or Alabama. 2) That exception? I found my maternal great-great grandfather's naturalization record. He became an American citizen in New Orleans on February 17, 1864 after immigrating from Baden, Germany in 1853.

His wife, Julia, hailed from Ireland. I have no last name for her so, that branch of the tree stops there. (I have what I know about her from US census records). Finding anything at all was a minor miracle considering the last name - Weickershimmer. The immigration record has it spelled Wickershimer. Hurrah for soundex searches.

The recent generations invaded this weekend. Eldest, her roommate and three of their friends. Since Youngest moved out this summer, the only bed we have left in the house that isn't mine (and I already share it with 3 dogs and husband so there is definitely no room at that inn) is Eldest childhood bunk bed. It's a brick. So, she slept on it, her roommate brought his inflatable mattress and two of the three girls slept on it, and he and the other one slept on the floor in with Eldest. They were cozy.

Despite being warned that we have three large and enthusiastic dogs, they were not dissuaded from coming. In fact, they all pretty much loved the dogs. Spoiled them, in fact. Those three got more hugs and back scratches and games of fetch this weekend than they generally get in a month. And Myrddin escaped. Again. Bastard.

Work is more work than usual. I am trying to develop our new Word and Excel templates for our reports while simultaneously developing templates and testing a new desktop publishing software. It's been loads of fun. We're launching a new logo late this week or early next, along with our updated website. The new logo is a bit of a departure and has required we change our color scheme. Plus, the design team used new non-standard fonts so, if we follow what they've come up with, everyone will need new fonts installed along with the new desktop publishing software. It's getting close. We're pretty much sold on the new font and now just have to hash out the colors. In fact, I should be working on that instead of writing this. Oops. I've found that working with these analysts to be frustrating. They are not the most visually creative people on the planet and left those of use who actually create and police the templates that we use to generate our reports out of the loop during the design phase. We got presented with the finished product and were told to make it work. Um, guys? Next time, talk to the people that make these things in house on what is feasible BEFORE you commit to designs from a outside firm that doesn't have any experience in what we use. Just saying.

OH!! And speaking of logos, I have Youngest's graphic artist friend working on making me my very own logo. It will be a black sheep, chewing on a bluebonnet stem, wearing cowboy boots and flashing the hook'em horns sign. Hopefully. This is what I have requested. What I get may be something else entirely.

Later. Must to work.

500

2010-08-29T15:12:00.001-05:00

This is my 500th post. I wasn’t sure I was going to make to this milestone. Lately, the crap that passes for American culture these days has so disheartened me that writing about almost anything lost its appeal.

It would be entirely too easy to give into this ennui and bury my head in the sand. After all, what can I do with this blog except rant about things that I can’t influence to people who mostly feel the same way? I don’t exactly have a huge audience. I don’t even have resident trolls to keep the dialogue moving.

It would be simpler to avoid the nastiness. After all, I’ve honed that skill to a fine art. I have relatives that “like” things like this on their Facebook page:
Crowds Mass in Washington DC for Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin Rally.

I mean, truthfully, how do you respond to someone you’re related to who thinks Glen Beck is on to something when you think he’s the reincarnation of PT Barnum? I can’t call this person stupid or any other of the endless list of epithets that come to mind.

So I do what I’ve gotten truly skilled at – I ignore it. After all, if forwarding an email to a family member regarding the health care debate from the White House last year can illicit a diatribe about government propaganda that devolves into a cap and trade screed and then ends with “If you want to talk more, I’m willing. Just don’t forward propaganda”, what other response is there? Rational discussion isn’t possible in the face of this much anger.

It’s not just people that I’m related to by blood or marriage either. It’s the person who works in my building who has bumper stickers on his car like this:

I have no idea who this person is. I’ve never seen him, but every time I see his car, I get pissed off. I feel a strong urge to key his car. Not very helpful, but still viscerally fulfilling, in a temporary manner at least.

In short, I cannot talk to people like this without getting just as angry as they are. Reading their emails, comments on my blog or posts on Facebook fills me with dread and fear and a physical sensation that feels like a knife to the gut. Their fear and anger just breeds more of the same.

I read about people like Beck ranting about “divine providence” or Franklin Graham talking about “the seed of Islam” and wonder how anyone can take these people seriously. The fact that so many do scares me absolutely shitless. I have no desire to reside in a post-modern Christian theocracy. I’m not the “right” kind of Christian. I’d be rounded up with all the other non-desirables - non-Christians, non-Heterosexuals and non-Whites - and sent who knows where in that brave new world.

It’s not just the Religious Right that frightens me, either. There seems to be a movement, one long standing and well cemented in our culture, that believes that everything Government run is bad and everything Private Sector run is good; that corporations deserve to make as much money as their coffers will hold without little things like morality and responsibility to hinder them.

I begrudge no business their right to make a profit but when they do so at the expense of the very people they’ve contracted with or the expense of our environment, they’re thieves of the worst sort. What we allow corporations, like BP and Exxon/Mobil or Humana and WellPoint, to get away with we would never tolerate in our elected leaders. Governments have crumbled in scandals far less than the likes of a Deepwater Horizon or Exxon Valdez.

We call politicians who screw their constituents for money corrupt. We call Michael McCallister, CEO of Humana, and Angela Braly, CEO of WellPoint, masters of commerce despite the fact that their companies have routinely cancelled the policies or refused treatment coverage to people in dire need. The two of them earned a combined compensation package – including salary, stock and options, and incentive plans – of $19,617,650 in 2009. Their companies earned $95.9 billion in revenues that year.

But hey, that’s okay. After all, these are for profit companies. They have to make a profit to stay in business. Never mind that they’re all providing a product that this country literally cannot function without. Never mind that while they raise the prices of their products and keep increasing their bottom line through shortcuts and culling of the herd, they pay our political leaders to look the other way.

This wrong on a level so fundamental that I find it incredulous that everyone cannot see it.

No doubt there are those out there who would call me a socialist for even daring to think that the government might be better suited to the job of running health care. I have no doubt there are others who would call me a member of the intellectual elite based on my expressed opinions here. When did having a brain and not being afraid to use it become something our country denigrated? If having a college degree, voting Democrat and speaking out against the demagoguery make me an intellectual or an elitist then I think I’m okay with both of those terms. I embrace them even.

I know that it flies in the face of popular convention when I tell you I attend church regularly and consider myself a Christian but still believe that gays and lesbians should be allowed to marry, that all LGBTs should be treated as full and equal members of society including being able to serve openly in the military, that health care is a right not a privilege, that we are a nation of immigrants and stronger because of that fact and yet vote for Democrats more often than not.

I tell you that those things are more Christian than what the Religious Right has brainwashed us all to believe.

We must stand up to the greed-is-good, intellectuals-are-bad, gays-are-out-to-corrupt-your-children and real Americans are bible-believing, gun-toting, Republican-voting Christians meme and shout to the world that there is another way.

If not, then we deserve whatever comes our way in November and all the Novembers yet to come.

Michael O'Hare and the future of America

2010-08-24T14:09:00.001-05:00

This is a letter written by Michael O'Hare to his students. I found it on Obsidian Wings. It says a lot about the state that we've gotten ourselves into.

Welcome to Berkeley, probably still the best public university in the world. Meet your classmates, the best group of partners you can find anywhere. The percentages for grades on exams, papers, etc. in my courses always add up to 110% because that’s what I’ve learned to expect from you, over twenty years in the best job in the world.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that you have been the victims of a terrible swindle, denied an inheritance you deserve by contract and by your merits. And you aren’t the only ones; victims of this ripoff include the students who were on your left and on your right in high school but didn’t get into Cal, a whole generation stiffed by mine. This letter is an apology, and more usefully, perhaps a signal to start demanding what’s been taken from you so you can pass it on with interest.

Swindle – what happened? Well, before you were born, Californians now dead or in nursing homes made a remarkable deal with the future. (Not from California? Keep reading, lots of this applies to you, with variations.) They agreed to invest money they could have spent on bigger houses, vacations, clothes, and cars into the world’s greatest educational system, and into building and operating water systems, roads, parks, and other public facilities, an infrastructure that was the envy of the world. They didn’t get everything right: too much highway and not enough public transportation. But they did a pretty good job.

Young people who enjoyed these ‘loans’ grew up smarter, healthier, and richer than they otherwise would have, and understood that they were supposed to “pay it forward” to future generations, for example by keeping the educational system staffed with lots of dedicated, well-trained teachers, in good buildings and in small classes, with college counselors and up-to-date books. California schools had physical education, art for everyone, music and theater, buildings that looked as though people cared about them, modern languages and ancient languages, advanced science courses with labs where the equipment worked, and more. They were the envy of the world, and they paid off better than Microsoft stock. Same with our parks, coastal zone protection, and social services.

This deal held until about thirty years ago, when for a variety of reasons, California voters realized that while they had done very well from the existing contract, they could do even better by walking away from their obligations and spending what they had inherited on themselves. “My kids are finished with school; why should I pay taxes for someone else’s? Posterity never did anything for me!” An army of fake ‘leaders’ sprang up to pull the moral and fiscal wool over their eyes, and again and again, your parents and their parents lashed out at government (as though there were something else that could replace it) with tax limits, term limits, safe districts, throw-away-the-key imprisonment no matter the cost, smoke-and-mirrors budgeting, and a rule never to use the words taxes and services in the same paragraph.

Now, your infrastructure is falling to pieces under your feet, and as citizens you are responsible for crudities like closing parks, and inhumanities like closing battered women’s shelters. It’s outrageous, inexcusable, that you can’t get into the courses you need, but much worse that Oakland police have stopped taking 911 calls for burglaries and runaway children. If you read what your elected officials say about the state today, you’ll see things like “California can’t afford” this or that basic government function, and that “we need to make hard choices” to shut down one or another public service, or starve it even more (like your university). Can’t afford? The budget deficit that’s paralyzing Sacramento is about $500 per person; add another $500 to get back to a public sector we don’t have to be ashamed of, and our average income is almost forty times that. Of course we can afford a government that actually works: the fact is that your parents have simply chosen not to have it.

I’m writing this to you because you are the victims of this enormous cheat (though your children will be even worse off if you don’t take charge of this ship and steer it). Your education was trashed as California fell to the bottom of US states in school spending, and the art classes, AP courses, physical education, working toilets, and teaching generally went by the board. Every year I come upon more and more of you who have obviously never had the chance to learn to write plain, clear, English. Every year, fewer and fewer of you read newspapers, speak a foreign language, understand the basics of how government and business actually work, or have the energy to push back intellectually against me or against each other. Or know enough about history, literature, and science to do it effectively! You spent your school years with teachers paid less and less, trained worse and worse, loaded up with more and more mindless administrative duties, and given less and less real support from administrators and staff.

Many of your parents took a hike as well, somehow getting the idea that the schools had taken over their duties to keep you learning, or so beat-up working two jobs each and commuting two hours a day to put food on the table that they couldn’t be there for you. A quarter of your classmates didn’t finish high school, discouraged and defeated; but they didn’t leave the planet, even if you don’t run into them in the gated community you will be tempted to hide out in. They have to eat just like you, and they aren’t equipped to do their share of the work, so you will have to support them.

You need to have a very tough talk with your parents, who are still voting; you can’t save your children by yourselves. Equally important, you need to start talking to each other. It’s not fair, and you have every reason (except a good one) to keep what you can for yourselves with another couple of decades of mean-spirited tax-cutting and public sector decline. You’re my heroes just for surviving what we put you through and making it into my classroom, but I’m asking for more: you can be better than my generation. Take back your state for your kids and start the contract again. There are lots of places you can start, for example, building a transportation system that won’t enslave you for two decades as their chauffeur, instead of raising fares and cutting routes in a deadly helix of mediocrity. Lots. Get to work. See you in class!

The comments on O'Hare's original post say even more. Those comments, like so much else in our nation these days, seems divided squarely into two camps. One comment sums up the frustration of so many on O'Hare's side:

It is amazing how the greatest generation gave birth to the absolute worst generation of all-time. What a bunch of no good, selfish whiners. The boomers ruined America.

Technically, I'm a boomer, barely, but I've always associated myself more with GenX. I was born in 1964, which places me at the transition point for these two demographic groups. I understand where the commenter is coming from, entirely. It often seems to me that the Me generation, the greed is good folks, are the ones that have set us on the path to ruination.

The other side is represented by a woman who calls herself "sick of hands on my pockets".

Is this the land of the free or not? I personally am sick and tired of people TELLING me I am responsible for anyone other than my husband and children. I am not!! If I want to be charitable, I will be charitable. But if I choose to not to be charitable, that is MY choice. I have been endowed by my Creator with unalienable rights. The US govt does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO FORCE ME TO BE CHARITABLE! God loves a cheerful giver, but it is my choice whether or not I WANT to give. GOD gave me FREE WILL!!! So, if you want to give, DO. And if you don’t, don’t. But don’t tell me I have to just because you want to. Think me stingy, I am not, I give plenty! But I refuse to be forced or guilted into giving!”

My point. Our govt is too big. Each person is responsible for THEIR OWN WELL BEING. I reap what I sow. And if I choose to sit on my @$$ and not work…then the natural consequence will be I go hungry. Period! If you want a ” good life” you have to work for it. That means going to college, trade school, or getting a job. No one deserves anything!

Get rid of 90% of govt. Keep only what is absolutely necessary. Stock options & Day trading are not necessities. The less the 535 people in DC meddle in our lives, the better! Investing on yoursrlf gives the most return on your investment

Sounds familiar. Personal responsibility was the trademark of my parent's generation. They understood the idea of working for a living. I'm not knocking that at all. At some point, however, taking that idea to its extreme and being unwilling to help the greater good is essentially selfish.

And really, we shouldn't be surprised that the Boomers are so anti-government. As youth, they rebelled against their parents, were avidly anti-establishment and seem to have carried that idea to its logical conclusion with the Tea Party. 75% of Tea Party participants are over the age of 45, which places them squarely in the Boomer generation.

Let's hope the Millennials do a better job.

The Corporate Takeover of American Democracy

2010-08-21T19:31:00.000-05:00

I read a transcript of President Obama's weekly address on the Daily Kos this morning and got reacquainted with the man I voted for in 2008.

He's misstepped a time or two or three since then but overall, he's been the right person at the right time. Can you imagine where we might be now if McCain and Palin had been elected. I shudder to think.

This week's address went to the heart of campaign finance and the disastrous Supreme Court ruling of Citizen United. The Republicans blocked legislation that would have undone some of the harm perpetrated upon our Democracy by the Citizens United ruling. In clear language, the President let them have it.

"But the Republican leaders in Congress said no. In fact, they used their power to block the issue from even coming up for a vote.

This can only mean that the leaders of the other party want to keep the public in the dark. They don’t want you to know which interests are paying for the ads. The only people who don’t want to disclose the truth are people with something to hide". (emphasis mine)

The Republicans don't want us to know who is paying for their advertising. Special interests can hide behind names like Citizens for a Better Future and we won't know who's footing the bill.
In addition to the lack of transparency the Citizens United ruling allows, it also allowed News Corp and Rupert Murdoch to give the Republican Governors Association a cool million. With unlimited donations possible and no restrictions on foreign investing, our elections are now open to the highest bidder.

Which is just what the Republicans in Congress are telling us they want by blocking this legislation.

A Prejudice held by the majority is still prejudice

2010-08-20T22:49:00.000-05:00

When I was a young'un growing up in the 80s and waiting for the bombs to fall and end this charade we call civilization, lots of people talked about a certain group of other people, calling them evil and godless and intent on our destruction. Back then it was the people of the Soviet Union that was the enemy du jour. Today, it's Muslims.

Back then, the Soviet Union was the godless Evil Empire and all its people somehow less than human because of the politics of their leaders. That was no more true then than calling all Muslims terrorists is now. I took a particular interest in Russian history in high school and college. I'm no historian, but what I learned led me to believe that the Russian people were and are not that different from ourselves.

Back then, it was harder to see this essential truth. The images and words we had to tell us about average Russians were limited. Today, we have the Internet in all its unseemly glory. It's one of the great strengths of the Internet age that it allows us to meet ordinary people from all over the world, to hear the news through the filter of another culture and to see through the vicarious lens of video the lives and struggles of people on the other side of the planet. It's not perfect by any means. We are still limited by language and cultural differences when we try to meet average Muslims residing in the Middle East. The sheer amount of information available is daunting. Yet, it is worth the effort.

When we choose to view those on the other side of an ideological divide as inherently wrong or evil we deny our common humanity. No matter where we are from, what language we speak, whom we love or what faith we follow, we all share certain traits with our fellow travelers on this planet Earth - we all love our children, we all worry about providing for ourselves and our families, we all grieve the loss of loved ones. We have more in common than we realize.

When we label anyone as less than human because their faith is different than ours, because they love differently, or because they look different than ourselves, we do ourselves and them great harm. A prejudice held by the majority is still prejudice and no less wrong for the numbers that hold it true.

We are a young and immature species. And like most children, we fear what we do not know and what is different.

We need to grow the hell up.

H/T to Zen, Texas for the inspiration.

Braggin' Rights

2010-08-17T14:01:00.000-05:00

Okay, I must share this or I might explode.

This is Youngest's final project for her Intro to Stage Make-Up. She ROCKS! w00t ! My kid is officially AWE-SOME!

The best part is that they went to Wendy's while Harvey here was in full make-up. Can you imagine serving him?

Congratulations, babe. Ya done good.

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