Archive for the ‘All’ Category
"…this goes without saying."
Excerpts from the unequivocating words of Howard Troxler, columnist for the St. Petersburg [FL] Times ("Name-calling only reveals ignorance, not truth"): Well, this goes without saying. But a lot of things that go without saying need to keep getting said over and over anyway. Being gay is not the same thing as being a pedophile. […]
Preserving Citizens' Rights
From an interview that Raw Story had with Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), this excerpt: “It seems like on every front they’re [Republicans] trying to frustrate, obfuscate and make it as difficult as possible for citizens to assert their rights,” he added. Conyers said he believes the American democracy is struggling under the weight of current […]
In: All, Common-Place Book, Splenetics
Blame the Phone
In Brick, New Jersey, the Board of Education seems embarrassed over an incident that occured on their watch. In brief, according to the Asbury Park Press, …a videotape showing a Brick Township High School teacher [Stuart Mantel] screaming at his students to show respect for the national anthem — and then pulling the chair from […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Market Morality
Paul Ruschmann wrote a very nice opinion piece ("Shifting standards plague TV and radio indecency rules") about the silliness of indecency rules. First, the basic theme: This [new indecency] bill once again proves an old adage: Bad laws beget worse ones. The bad law in question is the broadcast indecency rule. It dates back to […]
No Pajamas, Please!
Okay, so there's this interesting court case going on in California in which the question, arises: "At a Suit's Core: Are Bloggers Reporters, Too?" (by Johathan Glater, in the NYTimes). It's fascinating, and the question is interesting and all that, but here's the bit that bothers me: Attempting to draw a distinction based on the […]
Refreshing & Threatening
What made Teresa Heinz Kerry so refreshing to some voters, and threatening to others on the 2004 campaign trail, is summed up when THK talks about her speech to last year's Democratic convention: "Nobody told me what to do," she told a Saturday fund-raiser here. […] Heinz Kerry is openly skeptical about results from November's […]
Radical Homo Operatives
To my eyes via Digby quoting Garance Franke-Ruta, this snippet: Which brings us back to Jordan. He was brought down not by outraged citizen-bloggers but by a mix of GOP operatives and military conservatives. I have always wanted to an "operative" — on the side of the forces for good, of course. Maybe this my […]
PM Paul Martin: Step Forward Canada
I rise today in support of Bill C-38, the Civil Marriage Act. I rise in support of a Canada in which liberties are safeguarded, rights are protected and the people of this land are treated as equals under the law. […] The second argument ventured by opponents of the bill is that government ought to […]
Those Ill-Bred Ilk
A Press Release from US Congressional Representative John D. Dingell (MI) (thanks to Media Matters), had this to say: Congressman Dingell said, “Helen Thomas is an esteemed, unbiased journalist who deserves respect for her decades covering both Democratic and Republican Presidents. Ann Coulter and her ilk have done nothing but poison our political discourse with […]
Heterosexuals Support Gay Marriage
The fabulous Deb Price, in "Heterosexuals increasingly back gay marriage" (the Detroit News), talks about the welcome support that we get for marriage equality from some unexpected quarters. She leads with this story: When Baptist Pastor Stephen Jones talks about what makes for a happy marriage with Janice, his wife of 35 years, one special […]
So In Love
A PAIR of Scottish councillors yesterday revealed their plans to marry in Britain’s first gay wedding when such ceremonies become legal later this year. Neil Fletcher and John Stewart, who serve alongside each other as Liberal Democrat councillors in Aberdeen, have been together since 1992 and have been waiting to declare their love in a […]
What 'vision'?
That's the title that the Boston Globe used to introduce this Letter to the Editor by Len Jekanowski, which I quote here in its entirety. PERIODIC REFERENCES to George Bush's "vision," though amusing, are misleading and ill fitting. The word "vision" implies an underlying intellect capable of creative and conceptual thinking. Bush and his dangerous […]
I Meant "Aviatrix"
Tonight I wanted to look up some information online about the musical "Wings" (music by Jeffrey Lunden, book and lyrics by Arthur Perlman, from the play "Wings" by Arthur Kopit). I was far too lazy to walk into another room to find a bit of information, so I decided to Google with a few words […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept.
The Warm-Up Battle
Digby writes in his blog about feeling that the President's stumping for social-security "reform" is, well, hard to explain: I think one of the things that is hurting Bush is the fact that he's putting so much energy into something so abstract and far away. He's supposed to be the dude who deals with bad […]
A Climate of Hate
In a fascinating and provocative entry in his AMERICAblog, "A judge's family is brutally murdered, and the religious right spews crap like this", John Aravosis says: […] That then got me wondering what else the religious right has publicly said about judges, and whether a climate of hate against judges is being created in America. […]
"We're all in this alone."
"The administration likes to talk about the ownership society," Assistant Senate Minority Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois said at a news conference in Chicago's Union Station. "Well, the motto of the ownership society that we can see in this budget is the following: `Just remember, we're all in this alone.'" [Quoted in the Chicago Tribune: […]
Uncle Sam: Majority Shareholder
In an earlier post, I implied that my main reservations about social-security privatization came not so much from th more-talked-about issues like its incredible cost, its anti-middle-class attitude, it guaranteed income for brokers only, but instead from concern about what whould happen if the US Government entered the stock market. If Uncle Sam is the […]
The Object of Loyalty
Today I finished reading a crime novel, A Bitter Feast, by S. J. Rozan. Her main character, PI Lydia Chin (or Chin Ling Wan-ju), enters a room (on p. 276) and listens in on the conversation of an elder in her family association: His position, as I stood respectfully listening, seemed to be that no […]
Investigation by The Press?
I didn't think that I was becoming a big cheerlearder for blogging, but I found that I was rather put off by the following, which may say something to the contrary. Here we find Frank Rich (writing in the "Arts" section, of all places, in the NYTimes — why is that?), in "Gonzo Gone, Rather […]
In: All, Raised Eyebrows Dept., Splenetics
Stretch Out the Privatization "Debate"
"Chris in Paris" at AMERICAblog wrote It's time to take this Social Security issue over the top and make sure Bush is licking his wounds on this issue. It's yet another boondoggle for his friends on Wall Street at the expense of average Americans so do not let him get even a small victory on […]