From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Today is Howard Dean's birthday. I can think of no better way to celebrate what he's done for our team than to cede this space to some of his words from March 15, 2003, when he addressed the California State Convention in Sacramento. I believe it belongs in the pantheon of great and influential political speeches. At a time when many leaders in our party were spending more time with their noses in the "Triangulation For Dummies" handbook and less time opposing President Bush's reckless agenda, Dean's plain-spoken words and line-in-the-sand fervor broke the spell of complacency. His opening line shook the room:
"WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS...what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq!
What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.
What I want to know is why so many folks in Congress are voting for the President's Education Bill---The "No School Board Left Standing Bill"---the largest unfunded mandate in the history of our educational system!
As Paul Wellstone said---as Sheila Kuehl said when she endorsed me---I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party! ...
I want a Democratic Party that will balance the budget. Bill Clinton balanced the budget and, starting in 1993, without a single Republican vote, kicked off the greatest 10 years of economic growth in this nation's history. No Republican president has balanced the budget in this country in 34 years. If you want to trust somebody with your taxpayer dollars, you'd better elect a Democrat because the Republicans can't manage money.
I want a government which will give us a foreign policy so when we walk down the streets of the capitals of our friends we don't have to worry about watching our backs wherever we go as Americans. ...
In our state, everybody under the age of 18 has health insurance. We have made Medicaid into a middle-class entitlement. If you make $52,000 a year or less in Vermont, everybody under 18 in your family is entitled to Medicaid. We charge if you are at the upper-end of that: We charge $50 a month, that insures everybody in your family under the age of 18. Now, if we can do that in a small rural state which is 26th in income in the entire country, surely the most wealthy and powerful society on the face of the earth can grant all of its citizens health care. I am a Governor, and I am a doctor, and I have done it. ...
We are not going to beat George Bush by voting with the President 85 percent of the time. The only way that we're going to beat George Bush is to say what we mean, to stand up for who we are, [and] to lift up a Democratic agenda against the Republican agenda. Because if you do that, the Democratic agenda wins every time.
You can read the whole thing here. And don't forget to sign the DKos Guest Book.
Happy Birthday, Governor...and many blessings on your camels.
DJHJD
Friday, November 17, 2006
Late Night Snark...with real marshmallow bits!
New Rule: There's just something about a crew cut that says, "You can trust me." This is Montana's new senator, John Tester. I don't know much about him. And I don't need to. His hair says it all. "I'm friendly, I'm dependable, I'm literally level-headed." If hair could smile, it would look like this. And most importantly, it's hair that says, "You will never ever, ever, ever find me snorting meth with a gay hooker."
---Bill Maher
-
"Donald Rumsfeld has resigned and the new Secretary of Defense is a guy named Robert Gates. He's a close friend of the Bush family...yeah, that always works out pretty well. Rumsfeld took it pretty well. He said he's eager now to move on to try and legalize torture in the private sector."
---David Letterman
-
"It has not been a good week for the Republicans. Actually, this election was like a divorce: they got rejected, insulted and lost the House."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Tuesday night, in an ironic turnaround, Iraq brought regime change to the U.S."
---Amy Poehler
-
"Today is Veteran's Day, so that won't affect anyone in the White House."
---Seth Meyers
-
"As a result of this week's election, the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is now the most powerful woman in the country. After hearing this, Oprah Winfrey said, 'Yeah, right'."
---Conan O'Brien
-
---Bill Maher
-
"Donald Rumsfeld has resigned and the new Secretary of Defense is a guy named Robert Gates. He's a close friend of the Bush family...yeah, that always works out pretty well. Rumsfeld took it pretty well. He said he's eager now to move on to try and legalize torture in the private sector."
---David Letterman
-
"It has not been a good week for the Republicans. Actually, this election was like a divorce: they got rejected, insulted and lost the House."
---Jay Leno
-
"On Tuesday night, in an ironic turnaround, Iraq brought regime change to the U.S."
---Amy Poehler
-
"Today is Veteran's Day, so that won't affect anyone in the White House."
---Seth Meyers
-
"As a result of this week's election, the new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, is now the most powerful woman in the country. After hearing this, Oprah Winfrey said, 'Yeah, right'."
---Conan O'Brien
-
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tuesday blogarific
Another fragmented day.
I have been working on finding a new car (I said six years ago that I would drive the wheels off of Ruby, and I have done so) and working on getting my house purchase contract in place. Got the latest foreclosure postings in the mail yesterday, so the clock is ticking on “buy or pack.”
Going home early today to make a blizzard of copies that I have to deliver tomorrow, and to help clear more out of the den. And maybe have a nap.
So, yesterday I was at the doctor’s office. I was down eight pounds in three weeks. Yesterday morning, my BG was 147 (yay!!) this morning, after eating (mostly) appropriately all day, and having nothing but some lean red meat after 3:00 in the afternoon, my BG was 246. There’s just no rhyme nor reason to it.
I have to re-cast client’s financial data into something that makes sense, as it’s all jumbled and when I asked them to re-work it, they replied “here’s the original data again.”
Gotta love that.
I have been working on finding a new car (I said six years ago that I would drive the wheels off of Ruby, and I have done so) and working on getting my house purchase contract in place. Got the latest foreclosure postings in the mail yesterday, so the clock is ticking on “buy or pack.”
Going home early today to make a blizzard of copies that I have to deliver tomorrow, and to help clear more out of the den. And maybe have a nap.
So, yesterday I was at the doctor’s office. I was down eight pounds in three weeks. Yesterday morning, my BG was 147 (yay!!) this morning, after eating (mostly) appropriately all day, and having nothing but some lean red meat after 3:00 in the afternoon, my BG was 246. There’s just no rhyme nor reason to it.
I have to re-cast client’s financial data into something that makes sense, as it’s all jumbled and when I asked them to re-work it, they replied “here’s the original data again.”
Gotta love that.
Monday, November 13, 2006
Living life is better than living a lie
From today's Houston Chronicle.
Today's topic: flaunting homosexuality. Exhibit A: Doogie.
Meaning Neil Patrick Harris who, in another life, was the title character in Doogie Howser, M.D., the tale of a boy genius who becomes a doctor. Recently, Harris was outed on a gossip Web site. His response in a statement to people.com said in part:
"I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest."
That was it. The world continued spinning and the seas did not boil.
Still, one suspects the news was greeted less than warmly in those bastions of social conservatism where, as one gentleman indicates in the new movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, they hope to make it legal to string homosexuals up by the soft parts. Indeed, one suspects the most — pardon my language — liberal response in those parts would be something along the lines of, "Fine, he's gay. Why couldn't he keep that to himself? Why do they have to flaunt it? I don't go around announcing that I'm straight!"
Put aside that Harris was forced into his announcement by an individual who called him out online. Put aside, too, the fact that one "flaunts" one's heterosexuality whenever one publicly canoodles with a sweetie of the opposite gender.
Concentrate, instead, on this notion many social conservatives have that homosexuality is best dealt with by being ignored, denied, kept from public view. Why, they ask, in letters to editors and Web sites done up in red, white and blue, must homo-sexuals "flaunt" their "deviant behavior"? "Flaunt," meaning to acknowledge in any way their sexual orientation.
Which brings us to Ted Haggard. Until earlier this month, he was senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an influential preacher who had George Bush's ear. Neither the church nor the NAE has been known for its friendliness toward gay people. So there was quite an uproar when Mike Jones, a gay prostitute, dropped the bombshell allegation that he'd had a three-year sexual relationship with the preacher. Haggard initially denied even knowing Jones but then recanted, admitting that, on at least one occasion, he sought a massage and bought meth from the gay hooker.
On Nov. 2, Haggard stepped down from the NAE presi-dency. Two days later, his church fired him. He has confessed to "sexual immor-ality" and will spend the next three to five years in "restor-ation," a process that report-edly involves confrontation, counsel and rebuke from "godly men."
This all raises two questions. One: between this guy, the late gay-bashing former Spokane mayor, James West, Pat Robertson biographer Mel White and Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, leaders in the "curing homosexuality" move-ment until they fell in love with one another, can't we now safely assume any conservative who rants about the homosex-ual agenda is a lying hypocrite gayer than a Castro Street bar?
And, two: Wouldn't you much rather be Neil Patrick Harris than Ted Haggard just now? In other words, wouldn't you rather be a content gay man living life to the fullest, than a closeted gay hypocrite living lies to the fullest? Especially since lies are so frequently found out.
That's the fallacy social conservatives miss. In a culture that allows gay people room to be gay people, there is no need of lies. In a culture that does not — i.e., theirs — lies are rampant. And that's unfortunate, not simply for the person in question, but for all the people in his or her life.
And here, I'm thinking of Gayle Alcorn. She and Haggard have five children. They've been married 28 years. That's a long time to sleep next to a lie.
Today's topic: flaunting homosexuality. Exhibit A: Doogie.
Meaning Neil Patrick Harris who, in another life, was the title character in Doogie Howser, M.D., the tale of a boy genius who becomes a doctor. Recently, Harris was outed on a gossip Web site. His response in a statement to people.com said in part:
"I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest."
That was it. The world continued spinning and the seas did not boil.
Still, one suspects the news was greeted less than warmly in those bastions of social conservatism where, as one gentleman indicates in the new movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, they hope to make it legal to string homosexuals up by the soft parts. Indeed, one suspects the most — pardon my language — liberal response in those parts would be something along the lines of, "Fine, he's gay. Why couldn't he keep that to himself? Why do they have to flaunt it? I don't go around announcing that I'm straight!"
Put aside that Harris was forced into his announcement by an individual who called him out online. Put aside, too, the fact that one "flaunts" one's heterosexuality whenever one publicly canoodles with a sweetie of the opposite gender.
Concentrate, instead, on this notion many social conservatives have that homosexuality is best dealt with by being ignored, denied, kept from public view. Why, they ask, in letters to editors and Web sites done up in red, white and blue, must homo-sexuals "flaunt" their "deviant behavior"? "Flaunt," meaning to acknowledge in any way their sexual orientation.
Which brings us to Ted Haggard. Until earlier this month, he was senior pastor of New Life Church in Colorado Springs and president of the National Association of Evangelicals, an influential preacher who had George Bush's ear. Neither the church nor the NAE has been known for its friendliness toward gay people. So there was quite an uproar when Mike Jones, a gay prostitute, dropped the bombshell allegation that he'd had a three-year sexual relationship with the preacher. Haggard initially denied even knowing Jones but then recanted, admitting that, on at least one occasion, he sought a massage and bought meth from the gay hooker.
On Nov. 2, Haggard stepped down from the NAE presi-dency. Two days later, his church fired him. He has confessed to "sexual immor-ality" and will spend the next three to five years in "restor-ation," a process that report-edly involves confrontation, counsel and rebuke from "godly men."
This all raises two questions. One: between this guy, the late gay-bashing former Spokane mayor, James West, Pat Robertson biographer Mel White and Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper, leaders in the "curing homosexuality" move-ment until they fell in love with one another, can't we now safely assume any conservative who rants about the homosex-ual agenda is a lying hypocrite gayer than a Castro Street bar?
And, two: Wouldn't you much rather be Neil Patrick Harris than Ted Haggard just now? In other words, wouldn't you rather be a content gay man living life to the fullest, than a closeted gay hypocrite living lies to the fullest? Especially since lies are so frequently found out.
That's the fallacy social conservatives miss. In a culture that allows gay people room to be gay people, there is no need of lies. In a culture that does not — i.e., theirs — lies are rampant. And that's unfortunate, not simply for the person in question, but for all the people in his or her life.
And here, I'm thinking of Gayle Alcorn. She and Haggard have five children. They've been married 28 years. That's a long time to sleep next to a lie.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)