Archive for the ‘Current Events’ Category
Benedict's Wrist
What an odd juxtaposition of news headlines today. First, we learn that Oscar Wilde's reputation is being rehabilitated in the pages of L'Osservatore Romano, considered Pope Benedict XVI's mouthpiece. According to the Telegraph [UK], it was a surprise move. But in an article published on Thursday, L'Osservatore declared that the author of The Importance of […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
My Public Option
Headlines these days seem to be nothing so much as a circus of my pet peeves, whole tag-teams of peeves running up and pushing my buttons as quickly as possible. Let's put aside the amazing kabuki of the senate confirmation hearings of Judge Sotomayor and reflect, once again, on the health-care "debate". You may recall […]
In: All, Current Events, Feeling Peevish
Intellectual Abuse & "Insidious Creationism"
Creationist advocates of intellectually dishonest ideas like "teach the controversy", or "evolution is only a theory" are not engaged in a scientific debate. Neither are they engaged in a debate about how science works. Indeed, they are not even participating in good-faith (no pun intended) discourse but are pursuing their own subversive agenda, no holds […]
In: All, Current Events, It's Only Rocket Science, Snake Oil--Cheap!
Corporate Chump-Change Perverts American Policy
Let's suppose for a minute that your annual income is a modest US$50,000 (modest to some, unimaginable wealth to others). Don't you hate to see a bunch of that wasted in taxes? Wouldn't you like a nice tax cut, just for you maybe? Well, let me introduce you to Mr. Congressional Lobbyist. Would you be […]
In: All, Current Events, Snake Oil--Cheap!
Freedom to Choose a Doctor in the US
I find that I'm still thinking today about health-care matters and the train-wreck-in-progress in the US as "we" work towards health-care "reform". Possibly topping the list of the fear and doubt instilled in the minds of voters by the big health-insurance companies is that universal health-care (usually labeled "socialized medicine") could restrict one's freedom to […]
In: All, Current Events, Splenetics
Health Care: "Reform" = "Universal"
I've been reading and listening to talk about health care "reform" recently. As you will realize, for those of us in the US right now that's not a surprise, since it's the one thing all politicians are talking about while they try to figure out how to do nothing about it. The discussion right now […]
In: All, Current Events, Plus Ca Change..., Splenetics
When is Marriage not Marriage?
I'm reading these remarks made by the Catholic Bishop of Portland, Maine, Richard Malone, and it perplexed me. Several times I was perplexed. I am deeply disappointed in the Maine Legislature and the Governor for making same-sex marriage legal in our state. We believe that the vast majority of Maine's people believe that marriage is […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Laughing Matters
MN: Plurality Say Let Surpreme Court Decide
For awhile I have saved a link* about a poll on the topic "Same-Sex Marriage in Minnesota" conducted by, and reported by, the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Here was the question: As you may know, the Iowa Supreme Court recently legalized same-sex marriage in that state by declaring unconstitutional a state law defining marriage as between […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
"Advocacy" Means Doing Something
On some issues, though, I really don't see anything but black and white. Among them is the "question" of granting full equal rights to gay and lesbian Americans, which really isn't a question at all. It's a long-overdue imperative, one that the nation is finally beginning to acknowledge. Before his inauguration, President Obama called himself […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity, Feeling Peevish
The Quiet but Sane Majority
In the last couple of days, as a counterpoint to events unfolding in New Hampshire and Maine, there was a bit of drama in the District of Columbia. and, at the center of his own little dust-devil of craziness, former Mayor, now Councilman, crazypants* Marion Barry.† The council voted unanimously, all 13, in favor of […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Beard of the Week LXXVII: Come Out and Get Married!
This week's gorgeously multi-colored beard belongs to the newly out-as-gay David Ogden Stiers, beloved of many TV fans for his portrayal of Major Charles Winchester for six years on the television series "M*A*S*H". (Photo source.) Excerpting from The Advocate:* Television and voice actor David Ogden Stiers has come out of the closet at age 66. […]
In: All, Beard of the Week, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Maine Verges on Marriage Equality
Not wanting to be the last state in New England to provide marriage equality for same-sex couples, the Main House of Representatives has approved a bill recognizing the right: The Maine House of Representatives by a vote of 89-57 on Tuesday approved a bill that would allow same sex couples to marry in Maine. […] […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Tasing & Waterboarding
For at least a couple of years I've been reading, with increasing horror or disgust or something nasty like that, stories of police abusing their tasers. Too many people have been subjected to this twenty-first century style of police brutality, too many have died or been injured, too many have suffered outrageously while law-enforcement celebrates […]
In: All, Current Events, Plus Ca Change...
Breast Implants for Jesus
Personally, if I were a fundamentalist, god-fearing christian fearing the fundamentalist god, I'd believe that said god created all of creation for the benefit and happiness of good, god-fearing christians on the earth, provided they loved Jesus. Now, among those creations would most definitely be silicon — just look at computers! Now, if some fundamentalist, […]
In: All, Current Events, Snake Oil--Cheap!
Foxxes and Hoaxxes
In the news, as a footnote to the passage of the "Matthew Shepard" Hate-Crimes Act in the US House of Representatives, we've been treated to the sight and sound of the Republican Representative from North Carolina, Virginia Foxx, calling it a "hoax". It was a stupid and uninformed thing to say but, oddly, she refuses […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Sigurdardóttir Elected to be Iceland's PM
Three months ago I was very pleased with the news that Jóhanna Sigurdardóttir, a social democrat, had been tapped to become Prime Minister of Iceland following the collapse of the previous government over Iceland's severe financial crisis. Sigurdardóttir formed a coalition government with the Left Green Party (as best I can piece together). Scanty reports […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
New Hampshire Verges on Marriage Equality
The New Hampshire House this afternoon passed a bill to bring marriage equality to that state. According to the brief report I heard on NPR news, the Senate had earlier easily passed the legislation. The Governor of New Hampshire, John Lynch, has not indicated whether he will sign, veto, or ignore the bill. In a […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Endangered Species Act Less Endangered
More signs today of a return to policy supported by science rather than science perverted to the will of policy. Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar today announced that the two departments are revoking an eleventh-hour Bush administration rule that undermined Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections. Their decision requires […]
In: All, Current Events, It's Only Rocket Science, Speaking of Science
Happy Weddings in Iowa
Marriage equality arrived in fact for couples in Iowa on Monday, 27 April 2009. Just one snippet: As television cameras surrounded dozens of couples in line [for marriage licenses] in Des Moines [Iowa], Lori Blachford talked about how life with her partner of 25 years, Karen Utke, was about to change. Blachford first introduced Utke […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity
Leaning Towards Equality
From yet another article trying to "understand" how Iowa could go for marriage equality: This month, the Iowa Supreme Court found a state law banning same-sex marriage to be a violation of the state Constitution, in essence deeming the practice legal, as of this week. […] In Des Moines, the state capital, observers of the […]
In: All, Current Events, Faaabulosity