E-mails to SMS

This BLOG is DEAD

2009-06-14T12:33:00.005-06:00

Rest in Peace - emailstosms.blogspot.com.
It was fun while it lasted, but it's over now.
Not unlike my future....
Don't bother to check back - delete that bookmark.
Where is the dead blog cemetery???
If you know, let me know.
Sayonaro, Adios, Hagoone', Good night...

Dueling Word Clouds (Obama v. Cheney)

2009-05-22T09:21:00.005-06:00

Yesterday the President spoke and shortly afterwards the Ex-Vice President Cheney droned on and on and on... Their speeches supposedly addressed the same topic (National Security vis-a-vis Guantanamo). No surprises here, Obama supported his initial plan to close Guantanamo with clarity and reason, while the Big Dick (Cheney) threatened all the terrors that await the American people should the detention center at Guantanamo be closed. Here's where my world and the world of Washington DC collide, in the form of Word Clouds which clearly illustrate the difference between the perspectives of the President and the leader of the flailing opposition in the form of an unpopular former shadow president.

Check them out and if these pictures aren't worth the thousand words they display, then I am not a radical militant librarian:

Word Cloud of Obama's Speech (May 21, 2009)

Word Cloud of Cheney's Speech (May 21, 2009)

Another Trip Down Memory Lane with Steph

2009-05-17T07:16:00.006-06:00

Stephanie - Today and Yesterday

Here's Stephanie on a recent episode of Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources:

And then there's a look into Stephie's scary past....
OMG, my two worlds have finally collided - Stephanie IS a Cherokee Princess. Here's proof:

Watch Steph and friends do a wicked send-up of Bewitched. See it hear:
Stephanie Miller as Samantha in Bewitched - the pilot.

Stephanie Miller in an Earlier Incarnation

2009-05-09T07:17:00.007-06:00

Stephanie as Edith Ann

Stephie Junior & Steph Senior (Steph's Mom)

If you are completely bored on this Saturday morning, why not do what I just did - waste 9 minutes and 40 seconds of your precious life watching this fascinating profile of Stephanie Miller circa 1998. It shows Stephanie when she did the drive-time show for KABC in Los Angeles. Yes Jim and Chris were part of the team back then, but Chris was apparently not an on-air executive producer, rather Steph had Faith Beth Lamont as her sidekick. If you really have nothing better to do - check out this video profile. Enjoy.

Judge Says Woman Must Be Paid Damages Based on 1868 Sioux Treaty

2009-04-30T07:41:00.003-06:00

Judge Says Woman Must Be Paid Damages Based on 1868 Sioux Treaty

Matthew Gruchow
mgruchow@argusleader.com

A Native American woman from Rapid City has won a historic ruling in federal court based on a century-old treaty between the U.S. government and the Oglala Sioux Tribe after she was sexually assaulted by a military recruiter.

The U.S. government will have to pay Lavetta Elk, formerly of Rapid City, nearly $600,000 in damages after she was sexually assaulted by Army recruiter Staff Sgt. Joseph Kopf in his car January 2003, according to court documents. Judge Francis Allegra based the ruling on a “bad men” provision in the April 29, 1868 treaty between the government and the Oglala Sioux Tribe.

That provision of the Fort Laramie Treaty “provides that if ‘bad men’ among the whites commit ‘any wrong’ upon the person or property of any Sioux, the United States will reimburse the injured person for the loss sustained,” according to court documents filed Wednesday.

The judgement against the U.S. government based on the treaty is unprecedented, said Adam Horowitz, Elk’s Miami-based lawyer. It also is a marked change in interpretation of Indian treaties which have historically been construed negatively, he said.

“Never before has this treaty been used to bring such a claim,” Horowitz said. “It creates precedent for Native Americans who belong to tribes with treaties like this in effect.”

Elk, who was 19-years-old at the time of the assault, now is married and lives with her family in California. She could not be reached for comment.

Read more in Thursday's Argus Leader.

Moving Oklahoma Back to the 11th Century

2009-04-26T09:04:00.011-06:00

"An Oklahoma man was arrested by FBI agents earlier this month for posting a series of messages on his Twitter account threatening to use a tax day Tea Party protest to commit politically-motivated mass murder."
AP "Tea Party Twitter Arrest: Daniel Hayden Threatened Mass Murder, Cop Killing", Huffington Post, April 26, 2009.

It is no secret that Oklahoma is way behind the rest of the country in its acceptance of the new direction that the nation is moving. It is, after all, the only state that bucked the national trend to move toward a more progressive agenda - for example, every county in the Sooner State voted for McCain/Palin and the republicans gained seats in the state legislature. So with all of this evidence that I am residing in the most bigoted, backwater state in the United States, it should come as no surprise that the Oklahoma State GOP Party Platform reads like a map that will take the people of Oklahoma back to the 11th century, to a theocratic form of government in which sexual orientation is not even acknowledged let alone discussed, history is rewritten so that it invents a Judeo-Christian basis for the foundation of our nation, where taxes are anathema (they support abolishing the IRS), where every promise made to Native Americans is violated and finally cancelled altogether, where English becomes the official language of this country, and where all power and rights exude from the "traditional family," i.e. one woman, one man, and their progeny.

It elevates biblical teachings to levels that surpass known and accepted science (in other words, it mandates the teaching of "intelligent design" along side instruction of evolution). They reject any standardization of teaching, yet they require that all 12th graders be able to demonstrate 12th grade skills - whatever those may be? They place so many regulations on abortion and family planning so as to make them virtually un-implementable or better yet (in the minds of the insane right-wing whackos who drafted this crazy platform) illegal. Bill Maher penned a brilliant op-ed piece that was printed on Friday in the Los Angeles Times. Here it is: The GOP: Divorced from Reality. Read it and have a good lauch, then send me ideas about how I can relocate out of this redneck state of mind that has nothing to do with the reality that I am trying to live.

Here are links to the Oklahoma GOP Party Platform:
Part One & Part Two

On Tea Parties and Tea-Bagging

2009-04-16T10:26:00.015-06:00

"Whipped up by conservative commentators and bloggers, tens of thousands of protesters staged 'tea parties' around the country Wednesday to tap into the collective angst stirred up by a bad economy, government spending and bailouts," Associated Press

The first question that one may like to ask is "Where were all these rabid proresters when the big spending began?" We heard nary a word from Faux News or Glenn Beck or even Newt Gingrich when W. Bush began spending tax dollars like a drunken sailor on shore leave to fund his unnecessay war(s) and to provide his rich cronies (his base "the haves and the have-mores") with tax breaks and a trillion dollar war budget - that we now know was so carelessly spent that there are billions (yes, with a "B") for which the federales cannot account. What is being missed in all this passionate anger that has largely been fomented by the right-wing media (the aforementioned Faux News and right-wing talk radio) is that Obama has lowered taxes for 95% of Americans (the very same people who are out on public property excercising their right to petition their government).

I am not crazy about paying taxes, but I understand that I live in a country that provides my fellow citizens and me with certain benefits - if my house should catch on fire I needn't search the phone book for a private firefighter. If I am the victim of a violent crime, I call the police and they come and take my report. I drive on roads that have been built with public funds. I enjoy parks that are available because of tax dollars. Although I don't have any children, I am glad to support my local school board in the education of the kids who live in my area, because I know the value of a decent public school education, being a product of that system, myself.

I listen incredulously to people being interviewed at these "grass-roots" (or more likely "astro-turf") rallies, and I hear them squawk about how they are sick and tired of paying taxes. Well, what do they propose? That we privatize all services - that worked out so well in Iraq. (Blackwater has had to change their name to "Xe" to continue doing business). Have these knuckleheads ever imagined in their dark, low-life nightmares that it might pay off to invest in this country? Our infrastructure, our highways, bridges, and mass transportation? That it might pay great returns to create jobs that free us from fossil fuels and transfer our energy to wind and solar and other renewalable sources?

So I say to all these "tea-baggers" (the double-entendre completely lost on these right-wing ignorant white - and they are overwhelmingly white - people) why don't you just go and run your own country? See who picks up your garbage and digs your sewer lines and paves your roads. And God help you if you lose your job or your child needs medical attention - you'd be up a creek wouldn't you? Nowhere to turn... Try that kind of society for awhile and get back to me and let me know how that works out for you. Go ahead and try.

Take a look at where all this may be heading: DHS Report on Right Wing Extremism. Scary sh*t!

M Faye on FaceCrack

2009-04-15T19:44:00.000-06:00

M Faye Hadley's Profile

Create Your Badge

Response to National Organization for Marriage (Extra Crispy Bucket of Lies)

2009-04-10T11:16:00.005-06:00

The following video is from Gaytheist Agenda and it is posted as a direct response to the ridiculous, dishonest and misleading video that was recently released by the National Organization for Marriage (only for some people). If you must watch the onerous NOM video first - I completely understand, as I too am fascinated by the dark underside of humanity :) - here it is: NOM Video

Anyway, here is one response to the madness and lies promoted by the aforementioned video:

On Fairness...

2009-04-06T05:47:00.001-06:00

This was posted yesterday over on FourFreedoms.com and because I haven't written much on this blog lately I thought I'd post it again. Read it here or there, whatever...

On Fairness

Author: m-hadley Date: 04/05/2009 07:26:29 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every morning I lie in bed and listen to NPR and hear reports on how many people in this country have lost their jobs, and I force myself to get out of bed with a single thought, “At least I still have a job.” But when I was hovering around rock bottom just a couple weeks ago, I was convinced that I was about to lose my job, and I think that I was actually doing things to bring about my own unemployment. I have a tendency to over-relate to the woes of the world. During Hurricane Katrina and its horrifying aftermath, I sat in front of my TV and cried a million tears, distraught with guilt for having a warm, dry house with enough food in it to sustain me for a least a week, a closet-full of clothes that were clean and dry.

Why is this world so filled with inequities? Why are some of us lucky enough to still have a job, a house, a car, a meal, even pets to keep us happy? While others have or are in the process of losing their homes, their jobs, and are having to stand in line at soup kitchens or food banks simply to get a meal? Why them and not me? I imagine that those people who are being evicted from their homes or standing in line for free food are asking the same question in reverse – why or how are others managing during these troubled times while I am not? Why does my neighbor still leave home every morning and go to what I can only assume is a job? Why did I get laid-off and the guy in the cubicle next to me did not?

One on the first truths we learn as children is that life is not fair. After accepting that basic truth – the population basically breaks into two very different groups who take very divergent paths in life. One group accepts the unfairness of life and goes on to take advantage of the inequality in the world and makes the moves that help them do the best that they can, earn as much money as they can, and basically set themselves up in the best situation that they can find for themselves. The other group sees the inequities in the world and dedicate themselves to working to make the world a fairer place. As always, these groups are not mutually exclusive and at various times in a person’s life she/he may change from one group to another. However, there are certain professions that lend themselves to making the world a more equitable place. Some of those careers include teachers, social workers, doctors, and in some cases even lawyers. Yet including the last profession in that list illustrates how it is impossible to assess a person’s contribution to the greater good by considering his/her job alone. Good people do all kinds of work – from computer programmers to comedians – there are all kinds of jobs that can add to hope and justice in this world. It is largely the person who does the job and the attitude that he/she brings to her/his work that makes the difference between creating a world that is just and equitable and those whose primary concern is to just advance themselves and their own interests.

Hedge fund managers verses Red Cross workers – the contrast between these two groups of people may seem obvious to most of us. The former screams self-interest and greed, the latter is the embodiment of selfless, caring concern for others. Yet I am almost certain that there are one or two hedge fund managers who use their monetary gains to help others (I am only guessing, I don’t know this for sure), and there are probably a few Red Cross workers who volunteer for dubious reasons (although I can’t for the life of me imagine what those reasons might be).

Another case in point in the position of the President of the United States - in the case of George W. Bush his motivation (as evidenced by his life lived up to the point when he stole the presidency) was greed and promotion of causes that benefited only the company he keeps, in other words, the wealthiest Americans. Whereas Barack Obama’s motivation (I believe, anyway) is to help the most people in the world, not the wealthiest people in this country. I have taken to referring to President Obama as a president savant (from the French savant "knowing", English since the 18th century, may refer to an expert or wise person). I have come to believe that Barack Obama and his beautiful family are uniquely suited to be the first family at this time in our history. After eight long years of collective suffering, we (as Americans) got something correct – we chose the best person for the job. I, for one, would have liked to see fewer Clinton retreads in Obama’s administration, but I do understand the value of institutional knowledge and memory, and I trust that Obama won’t be afraid to drop dead weight when it floats like scum to the surface during his time in office.

I also think that Obama’s trip to Europe tells us volumes about the difference between those whose actions are motivated by what is best for the most people (Obama) and the former leader (sic) (Bush) who clearly didn’t give a rat about what would be best for the world. People know when a leader is genuine and honest and has their best interest at heart. They hear concern in Obama’s words and see it in his gestures and they can tell from the way his wife looks at him that he is a real leader, one who desperately wants to improve the lives of everyone and restore hope and justice in the world.

Before I am accused of being nothing more than an Obama groupie, I must say that I am waiting along with all the other citizens of this country and the world with my fingers crossed, hoping against hope that the Stimulus Program works. If it doesn’t I am braced for the hot air that will blow in from the right and try to replace our hopes and dreams with fear and bigotry. Yet I will refuse to abandon my hopes and dreams, I will never take the path of greed and selfishness. I always hope to walk on the path that serves myself best by serving others, always keeping in mind that we are all in this together.

Native Ball Player: Shoni Schimmel

2009-04-04T19:01:00.003-06:00

In this season of madness, I encourage you all to watch the following video that showcases a rising star in women's basketball:

Go Shoni!!!

Letterman Does an Ad for the GOP

2009-04-01T11:51:00.004-06:00

David Letterman wants to help the ailing GOP and so does this blogger (check the calendar - dear readers ;) ) and last night he did so by producing a new television ad for them called "The Party of Yes." It details their positive stance on issues and tells voters that they will be ready to lead in 2028.
WATCH:

Stephanie Does Larry King - Live!

2009-03-29T10:01:00.008-06:00

Watch Stephanie Miller on Larry King Live (March 20, 2009), Part One.
Part Two.

Stephanie Does Howard

2009-03-15T14:05:00.005-06:00

Stephanie appeared on Reliable Sources with Howard Kurtz on Sunday. March 15, 2009.

Here's where you can watch Steph spar with right-wing tool Tucker Carlson (who amazingly enough claimed to not be a partisan - though he served as the right-wing talking point on Crossfire where Jon Stewart handed Tucker his ass in a basket): Part One & Part Two.

Rachel Does The View

2009-03-05T21:33:00.003-06:00

Rachel Maddow Joins the Women of The View

Rachel Maddow chats with the grrrls on The View. Rachel talks about how she met her partner of ten years, Susan Mikula (she was doing some yard work for her and when Susan came to the door, stars and comets went off and they have been together ever since - awwww). She discusses her thoughts on President Obama (the right person at the right time and a "big thinker"), and her growing up (she was a tomboy with long blond hair who looked like one of the Hanson boys). She also touches on how she came out (in a very obnoxious way at age 17), and how she got her own TV show (she doesn't know - oh, come on?). It's a charming interview (as charming as Rachel herself). Enjoy.

Toto, Who Will be the Next Governor of Kansas?

2009-03-02T20:37:00.005-06:00

That would be Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson - the person who will succeed Governor Kathleen Sebelius as the next governor of Kansas. He is a Democrat, but you wouldn't know that by reading his biography on the Kansas government web site. In fact, his name was never mentioned in any report that I read today announcing Sebelius's nomination for the head of the Department of Health and Human Services. I had to do some hunting to discover the rules of succession in Kansas when a sitting governor vacates her seat, mid-term.

"The office of the Lieutenant Governor has been substantially restructured in the past two decades, but the most important function still is to succeed to the governorship should that office become vacant."

Obama's Budget - the Work of a President Savant

2009-02-27T07:23:00.008-06:00

"It has a strong flavor of the Obama philosophy, which is tilting the playing field away from upper income and toward the rest of America,"
Alice M. Rivlin, Brookings Institution Economist

Take a look at President Obama's new budget for 2010. It reflects many of the President's campaign promises and issues that he has always maintained were important to him. In it are funds for education (particularly higher education) and energy, and, lo an behold, science is BACK.

"The blueprint, meanwhile, would overhaul programs across the federal bureaucracy to strengthen assistance for millions of people who have borne the consequences of what Obama called "an era of profound irresponsibility," helping them pay for college, train for better jobs and save for retirement while taking less of their earnings in taxes.

The ambitious agenda for the fiscal year that begins in October would not come cheap. This year's budget deficit, swollen by spending to combat a severe recession, would hit a record $1.75 trillion, or 12.3 percent of the overall economy, under the president's plan, the highest since 1945. While Obama inherited the bulk of that gap, his budget would make room for a fresh round of spending that could hit $750 billion to prop up troubled financial institutions.

Next year's deficit would approach $1.2 trillion. But Obama proposes to cut that figure roughly in half by the end of his first term, in large part by levying nearly $1 trillion in new taxes over the next decade on the nation's highest earners, defined as families with gross income of more than $250,000 a year."
NYTimes, February 27, 2009

Here are a few highlights taken directly from the budget 2010:
Dept of Education - Funding Highlights:
• Creates incentives and supports for States to build comprehensive, coordinated, high-quality early childhood “Zero to Five” systems, building on the early childhood investments in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
• Strengthens and reforms public schools to meet the needs of all students, by helping States to develop high quality, rigorous standards and assessments, vigorously supporting and rewarding effective teaching, and investing in and widely disseminating effective approaches to improving student achievement to help all students make progress toward high standards.
• Expands opportunities for students to go to college and graduate by expanding student aid, shifting resources from banks and middlemen toward students, creating new incentives for colleges to focus on student completion, and expanding access to low-cost Federal student loans.
Dept of Energy - Funding Highlights:
• Begins to build a new economy that is powered by clean and secure energy through funding provided in the 2010 Budget and the $39 billion provided for energy programs in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
• Provides significant increases in funding for basic research and world-leading scientific user facilities to support transformational discoveries and accelerate solutions to our Nation’s most pressing problems – including the development of clean energy.
• Supports economic investment and positions the United States as the world leader in climate change technology.
• Accelerates the transition to a low-carbon economy through increased support of the development and deployment of clean energy technologies such as solar, biomass, geothermal, wind, and low-carbon emission coal power.
• Builds on the $11 billion provided in the Recovery Act for smart grid technologies, transmission system expansion and upgrades, and other investments to modernize and enhance the electric transmission infrastructure to improve energy efficiency and reliability.
• Supports and encourages the early commercial deployment of innovative, clean energy technologies through loan guarantees.
• Reduces security risks through the detection, elimination, and securing of nuclear material and radiological sources worldwide while maintaining the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
• Continues the Nation’s efforts to reduce environmental risks and safely manage nuclear materials.
Investment in the Sciences:
As part of the President’s plan to double Federal investment in the basic sciences, the 2010 Budget, along with the $1.6 billion provided in the recovery Act for the Department of Energy’s basic science programs, provides substantially increased support for the Office of Science. The Budget increases funding for improving our understanding of climate science and continues the United States’ commitment to international science and energy experiments. The Budget also expands graduate fellowship programs that will train students in critical energy-related fields. Encourages the Early Commercial use of New, innovative Energy Technologies that will Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.

And now for an explanation of the headline for this post namely the phrase "president savant," (Savant - from the French savant "knowing", English since the 18th century - may refer to an expert or wise person) it seems to me that never before in the history of this country have we had a person who was more uniquely qualified and more uniquely in tune with what this country is hungry for. This fact stands in stark contrast to the past eight years as we were led (sic) by a true idiot (nothing wise about dubya), in a direction that a grim majority of the U.S. population finally saw as wrong (only 17% of the country approved of Bush's handling of the economy during the final year of his presidency). Now we have a true leader, a human being, a man of color who believes with his heart and his head that the gap between the ultra-rich and the very poor is something of which this nation should be ashamed and which this country needs to address post haste. He has proposed a budget that does just that, a budget that begins to even out the playing field, a budget that begins to address some of the glaring inequalities that have marked the policy of Washington D.C. insiders since the era of Ronald Reagan.

"Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness. We should never forget that our workers are more innovative and industrious than any on earth. Our universities are still the envy of the world. We are still home to the most brilliant minds, the most creative entrepreneurs, and the most advanced technology and innovation that history has ever known. And we are still the Nation that has overcome great fears and improbable odds. It will take time, but we can bring change to America. We can rebuild that lost trust and confidence. We can restore opportunity and prosperity. And we can bring about a new sense of responsibility among Americans from every walk of life and from every corner of the country."

Barack Obama, The White House, February 26, 2009

Office Pool Season (NOT in OK!)

2009-02-21T14:31:00.001-06:00

Pssst, Grampy McSame: You Lost!

2009-02-08T10:28:00.008-06:00

It is Sunday morning and I have braced myself in front of the TeeVee and am set to watch Grampy McSame as he tries, insanely in my humble opinion, to tear down Obama's Jobs Bill (AKA, Stimulus Package). He begins by claiming again to represent the people of Arizona (if you are being represented by John McCain, you must be either his wife or a member of her Country Club). He begins by criticizing the TARP - the scheme that he suspended his campaign to return to Washington D.C. to vote for. And the very same scheme that Bush/Cheney told Americans MUST be passed immediately or we would face very dire consequences. But now "[t]he current G.O.P. acts as if it -- and we -- have all the time in the world....If anything, the Republican Congressional leadership seems to be emulating John McCain's September stunt of ''suspending'' his campaign to ''fix'' the Wall Street meltdown. For all his bluster, McCain in the end had no fixes to offer and sat like a pet rock at the White House meeting on the crisis before capitulating to the bailout. His imitators likewise posture in public about their determination to take action, then do nothing while more and more Americans cry for help." (Frank Rich, NYTimes, February 1, 2009). Grampy knows that America is hurting and that we need jobs. McSame apparently objects to spending money when Democrats suggest that we spend money, NOT when Republicans suggest (it is their only suggestion) "tax cuts." Bob Schieffer mentions the timing issue - we need to do something, even if it's wrong. To this McSame falls back on the "this is not bi-partisan - it is just picking off a couple republicans." Schieffer asks the time-honored question "what is it you guys want?" McSame keeps harping on the fact that republicans have not been included in the drafting of the legislation, he never answered the question about what it would take to get him and other rethugs to vote for the damn bill.

Here's a breakdown of the damage that the losers have wrought thus far: (CNN)
Italicized comments added by this blogger.
Partially cut:
• $3.5 billion for energy-efficient federal buildings (original bill $7 billion)
• $75 million from Smithsonian (original bill $150 million)
• $200 million from Environmental Protection Agency Superfund (original bill $800 million)
• $100 million from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (original bill $427 million)
• $100 million from law enforcement wireless (original bill $200 million)
• $300 million from federal fleet of hybrid vehicles (original bill $600 million)
• $100 million from FBI construction (original bill $400 million)
Fully eliminated:
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $122 million for Coast Guard polar icebreaker/cutters
• $100 million for Farm Service Agency modernization
• $50 million for Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service
• $65 million for watershed rehabilitation (Who needs clean water???)
• $100 million for distance learning
• $98 million for school nutrition(Our kids are fat, okay, this is a time-bomb waiting to blow!)
• $50 million for aquaculture
• $2 billion for broadband (We don't really want to join the 21st century, do we?)
• $100 million for National Institute of Standards and Technology
• $50 million for detention trustee
• $25 million for Marshalls Construction
• $300 million for federal prisons (The United States incarcerates more people per cap than any other country in the world, so why we would want to spend money on prisons?)
• $300 million for BYRNE Formula grant program (I had to google it. Here's a link.)
• $140 million for BYRNE Competitive grant program
• $10 million state and local law enforcement (Did you want safer neighborhoods? Nah, I didn't think so.)
• $50 million for NASA
• $50 million for aeronautics
• $50 million for exploration
• $50 million for Cross Agency Support (Ever heard anybody say that 9/11 was the failure of communication between agencies?)
• $200 million for National Science Foundation
• $100 million for science (I thought science was back in the new administration, what gives?)
• $1 billion for Energy Loan Guarantees (Energy, remember that? It's a security issue now.)
• $4.5 billion for General Services Administration
• $89 million General Services Administration operations
• $50 million from Department of Homeland Security (Here's proof: the GOP doesn't want to keep America safe!)
• $200 million Transportation Security Administration
• $122 million for Coast Guard Cutters, modifies use
• $25 million for Fish and Wildlife
• $55 million for historic preservation
• $20 million for working capital fund
• $165 million for Forest Service capital improvement
• $90 million for State and Private Wildlife Fire Management
• $1 billion for Head Start/Early Start (What is this? Giving low-income, minority kids a fighting chance? Not for the GOP!)
• $5.8 billion for Health Prevention Activity (Health Prevention? May want to reconsider this title, eh?)
• $2 billion for Health Information Technology Grants
• $600 million for Title I (No Child Left Behind) (The mandate of over-testing and under-funding - what? Fund it, what are they thinking?)
• $16 billion for school construction (Crumbling schools, they were good enough for Grampy, they should be good enough for your kids, too.)
• $3.5 billion for higher education construction (Construction equals JOBS.)
• $1.25 billion for project based rental
• $2.25 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization
• $1.2 billion for retrofitting Project 8 housing (Wanna stop homelessness, anybody?)
• $40 billion for state fiscal stabilization (includes $7.5 billion of state incentive grants)(Here's a modest proposal: Any state whose senators vote against the Jobs Bill, gets zero money for their state, watch 'em line up to support this bill.)

Don't Divorce Us (Love Will Prevail)

2009-02-06T07:51:00.001-06:00

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

What Obama Needs To Do... (Or No More Mr. Niceguy)

2009-02-05T09:18:00.003-06:00

Okay, okay, I understand that my role in the Obama Administration amounts to nothing more than a random, midnight blogger who is engaged in sending suggestions to Obama and his Cabinet Members, Congress people and other assorted colleagues. Just a few ideas of topics that I think that Obama should be paying attention to on the news front: 1) JOBS; 2) Afghanistan (I think that your hunch is correct - this will be the next place to blow); 3) Health Care; 4) Did I mention that people need JOBS? [As Thom Hartman says, "Why aren't we calling the Stimulus Bill, the Jobs Creation Bill or more simply, 'THE JOBS BILL'?"] I say, strip the bill down to the essential INFRASTRUCTURE JOBS that will put people to work ASAP: building bridges, upgrading schools, fixing roads, DOING THINGS that will not only put unemployed people to work, but will also result in good, tangible things that will benefit us all. Is it any wonder that the Republicans are reluctant to get behind this package? All the right-wing side of the aisle can seem to do is say an emphatic, "No!" Obama and his Democratic friends can always go back and float a "Tax-cut bill" sometime in the future - I don't think that those of us who voted for Obama expect him to fulfill all of his campaign promises in one sweeping piece of legislation.

If people don't have jobs (i.e. a paycheck coming in on a regular basis), then they can't pay their mortgage or their bills, or buy food and gasoline, let alone Plasma TVs or even rent DVDs. So all the talk from the right-wing blowholes about addressing the home foreclosure situation is putting the cart before the horse - in other words, people need to WORK, so that they can pay their mortgages, or save enough to put a reasonable down payment on a house, and have income to make those payments each month once they qualify for a home loan.

Here a few ideas for making the "Jobs Bill" more effective and ready to go (from an e-mail that I received from CREDO):
--Get rid of a $2 billion provision for "clean coal" plants. Instead, invest this money in green infrastructure and alternative energy development.
--Invest in infrastructure, not tax cuts. Don't reward businesses that got us into this mess with tax cuts that won't create new jobs in the future.
--Reinstate the Medicaid Family Planning State Option. Funding state health care programs for women will protect jobs of health care workers and make sure women living in or on the edge of poverty get the care they need.
--Include meaningful bankruptcy reform. Bankruptcy judges should regain the ability to restructure mortgages (that is, lower the amount owed and the interest rate, reflecting the lower value of the house) so that borrowers can stay in their homes. Don't give Verizon $1.6 billion in tax cuts without generating a single new job. Money originally earmarked to encourage companies to bring high speed Internet to under served low-income and rural communities has turned into a billion dollar giveaway to big telecoms.

Here's the full text of the "Stimulus Bill" as passed by the House of Representatives (without a single Republican vote): HR 1 (111st Cong., 1st Sess. 2009).

!!! Viva Evo !!!

2009-01-28T12:15:00.008-06:00

"Brothers and sisters, the colonial state ends here. Now Bolivia is being re-founded. Here we begin to reach true equality for all Bolivians."
Evo Morales, January 27, 2009, on the passage of a referendum on a new Constitution for Bolivia.

After two unexpected days off due to the slice (combination of sleet and ice, AKA freezing rain) that fell all day yesterday and is still on the ground today in Tulsa (and closed the University where I work), I decided it would be okay if I posted a second entry to my blog this week. It gave me a chance to listen to Stephanie Miller without interruption, and also gave me an opportunity to peruse the newly retooled web site of the Stephanie Miller Show, and set up my StephSpace page.

This unexpected break also provided me with a chance to blog about something that was reported on Monday that I would like to point out and on which I would like to congratulate the people of Bolivia: the successful installment of their new Constitution. The new Constitution of Bolivia seeks to de-colonize a country that has been occupied by people of European ancestry and whose Constitution served those European descendants (a minority of the population) for over four hundred years.

Key elements of proposed new Bolivian constitution
By the Associated Press – Sun Jan 25, 10:47 am ET

Key elements of the new constitution proposed by Bolivian President Evo Morales:

RE-ELECTION — Presidents can serve two consecutive five-year terms. Current constitution permits two terms, but not consecutive. Morales could thus remain in office through 2014.

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS — Recognizes self-determination of 36 distinct Indian "nations." Sets aside seats in Congress for minority indigenous groups but not for the Aymara and Quechua, who together represent the majority in Bolivia's western highlands.

LAND — Voters decide in the referendum whether future land ownership should be capped at 12,000 or 24,000 acres (5,000 or 10,000 hectares). Current holdings are grandfathered in. The state can seize land that doesn't perform a "social function" or was fraudulently obtained.

JUSTICE — Judges on Bolivia's highest court are elected rather than appointed by the president as current law provides. The state recognizes indigenous groups' practice of "community justice" based on traditional customs.

LOCAL AUTONOMY — Eastern lowland provinces are allowed to create state assemblies that control local issues, but not land reform or natural gas revenues. Indigenous groups are granted self-rule on traditional lands inside existing states. All autonomies have "equal rank."

NATURAL RESOURCES — The state controls all mineral and oil and gas reserves. Indigenous groups get control of all renewable resources on their land. Water is a fundamental human right that may not be controlled by private companies.

RELIGION — Both the Christian God and Pachamama, the Andean earth deity, are honored. Church and state are separate. Freedom of religion is guaranteed, and no mention is made of The Roman Catholic Church, a departure from the current constitution.

PRESS FREEDOM — Is guaranteed, though news media must "respect the principles of truth and responsibility."

HOMOSEXUALITY — Prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation but refers to marriage as "between a man and a woman."

Here it the full-text of the Constitucion Nueva del Estado Bolivia.

President Obama to GOP: "I won."

2009-01-25T08:44:00.001-06:00

With the simple declarative sentence, "I won," President Barack Obama left no doubt who is now in charge of the show in Washington D.C. Elections have consequences was a remark made by John McCain during a debate in October of 2008. In a recent search on Westlaw the earliest record of this remark was in 1987 by Rep. Dick Gephart who said at a campaign stop at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa "In America, elections have consequences . If you voted for Ronald Reagan, you voted against your student loans. When you vote, you are not just voting for a candidate or a smile or a television commercial. You are voting for policies that affect your life. I'm not important. What is important is that you get involved. Get out and fight for somebody. Get involved in this election."

"Elections have consequences" is phrase that has been batted back and forth - used by Phil Gramm in 1995 in response to a question about then-President Clinton's nominee for the Supreme Court. It was most famously uttered in recent memory by Senator Barbara Boxer who schooled Jim Inhofe on the ways of the Senate at a hearing with former Vice President Al Gore. No matter who says these unremarkable words - they are no doubt true enough. A win is a win, to the winner go the spoils - my only problem with President Obama's comment is the insertion of the pronoun "I" rather then sticking with his heretofore used "we."

One of the hallmarks of Obama's unprecedentedly successful campaign was his sense of inclusion, his continuous use of the pronoun "we" in place of the omnipresent use of the pronoun "I" by the Republicans. How much more powerful would it have been to hear once again the refrain that marked Obama's campaign as the highly successful campaign it was: "We won" rather than using the pronouns "I' or the equally self-centered "me?"

Didn't "we" win? Wasn't it a collective effort, this monumental race that made history, that broke all previous molds? President Obama, please don't abandon "us" in your role as the first president of color that this country has ever elected. Remember that, in the memorable line brought to us by the late great Molly Ivins, "ya gotta dance with them that brung ya." And you didn't get to where you are on your own - "we" had a lot to do with where you are.

Obama's inaugural speech - CNN.com

2009-01-20T11:45:00.008-06:00

Obama's inaugural speech - CNN.com

The inauguration came at a difficult time in my life. The trajectory of my life had taken a downward turn, the nadir of which I hoped had been reached a few days before the BIG DAY. The woman I had been dating, though I saw the end coming, brought that end about via an out of the blue e-mail I received in which she essentially and effectively ended our short-lived relationship (one that turns out might not have been a relationship at all). So that was over and with it went my plans to attend an Inaugural Ball at the Greenwood Cultural Center and to have somebody to lie on the futon with while watching the entire coverage of the whole amazing day.

So I spent the day alone with the boyz (Dylan was especially needy and obnoxious today – I know, I know Lynnie, “Just today?”) About sometime mid-morning I discovered that my new digital camera would capture the TV screen and depending on how steadily I held the camera or how quickly the subject was moving, the shots were respectable. So I started shooting like a shutter bug, knowing that I could later delete the images that came out a big blur. I need to find some music to accompany the slide show that I put together of shots that I took myself and need not give any credit for. Here is my favorite line from the political punditry, actually is it from one of Frangela’s (which ever one is married) husband’s comment that he only hopes America is less crappy – leading to the klassic (with a “K”) slogan – “American – Now with less Crap.” Another favorite line came from Reverend Lowery and it was one of the few mentions all day of the plight of Natives across this country: "When the Red Man can get ahead man."

Michelle Obama looked regal today in her golden dress - she is so statuesque and lovely, and her daughters are both adorable and sweet. So young and innocent, knowing that they will come of age in the White House and hoping beyond hope that they can skirt the happenings of the times – the drugs, the drama, depression, or other illnesses – if they can both just stay healthy and grounded they will drive the country into the future as two headlights on the front of the Cadillac in which their Daddy rides around town.

That is another less talked about advantage of being an American: a person can begin his/her own dynasty, build through generations an empire of people who are very good, and smart and well-connected, who can get things done. Joseph Kennedy didn’t come from royalty, neither did George H. Walker [or Prescott] Bush, neither did the Rockefellers for that matter. So what I hope we are seeing here is the beginning of a dynasty, one that will out pace the Clintons’ fame and fortune and will ultimately replace the Kennedys and the Clintons in the Democratic pantheon. And someday even the Obamas will be replaced by the Gomez familia or the Crow Dog tiospaye or the Wong family. And so time will roll on and few of us will have more than a quick ride on that slide toward the meeting with the creator who no doubt will hold most all of us close and whisper in our ears "it will be okay." and voila - it is indeed okay or at least not more than we can handle. Now when we say, "Bring it on..." we are not talking about taunting a foreign sovereign nation; we are talking about the collective nature of our future, we as a nation daring the fates to throw what they have at us and we will stand ready to take on all comers, but if you show us a way forward we will indeed explore it with you... we are willing to talk to the other side now - what a concept.

Then Joe Biden goes and quotes Seamus Heaney.

How Liberal Media Can Go From Whining To Winning : NPR

2009-01-20T02:54:00.001-06:00

How Liberal Media Can Go From Whining To Winning : NPR - Steph does NPR!!!!

Making the Perfect the Enemy of the Good

2009-01-18T09:12:00.007-06:00

Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. (The best is the enemy of the good.)
Voltaire (1772)

I, along with millions of other Americans, am captivated by the historic moment that we have before us. The inauguration of the first president of color will take place in just two days. The expectations are incredibly high and these expectations have the hint of a set up, not just from the usual suspects - the right wing zealots who are waiting in the wings to knock this annointed man off his pedestal, but from more unexpected corners - namely those old Hillary supporters who have decided that since their candidate is not taking the oath of office, they are digging in their flats (sensible shoes ;), and choosing not to celebrate this astounding moment in our nation's history. It is such a shame that those who call themselves yellow dog Democrats will not be there to enjoy the fruits of the labor of millions of heretofore like-minded people. I wonder if those Democrats who have little positive to say about Obama, are not guilty of applying the phrase that Voltaire coined over 200 years ago. Are they making the perfect the enemy of the good? And by that I am NOT suggesting that Hillary Clinton was or is a perfect candidate. In fact, she was far from perfect. She mismanaged her money, her campaign staff and her entire campaign. You may wonder why I am fixated on Hillary Clinton, because she has obviously moved on. Then why, oh why, haven't her fans/groupies moved on, too? I don't know how many of you are out there, but I know that some of you who live within a Metro ride of the Mall in DC, are choosing not to bother to go down to see the historic occasion of the swearing in of the 44th president of the U.S.

Change does not happen overnight, nor does it usually happen in one's lifetime, but rather change is an incremental thing, that happens over time. If we are very fortunate, we can sometimes see change materialize out of the ground work that has been laid by an earlier generation. I feel very lucky to witness this historic election of the first person of color to the highest office in the land. This change was brought about on the backs of those fighters, marchers and true patriots who did appeal to the better angels of our nature, those who knew that this country that had enslaved African-Americans and slaughtered Natives and had held women and children as property was better than those atrocious acts. Those fighters knew that one day this country would not continue to deny the right to vote to women and to all people of color. That this country could and would have to change to be the country that it was founded to be - a nation where all people are created equal and are endowed by their creator with the right to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."

We are still not there, yet. As Proposition 8 demonstrated to not just California, but to the entire country, gay and lesbian citizens do not have full rights to their happiness, nor has the federal government lived up to its obligations to the Native people of this country who continue to reside in the poorest counties and reservations in this land that was once theirs. We all have a lot of work to do, we must not rest on our laurels, we must continue to work for change, to achieve true equality and justice for all citizens of not just this country, but of this world. Let us go forward and work to make this world the best place it can be for the creatures who inhabit this planet.

Viva Obama! Viva Democracy! Viva la vida!

I Pity You....PUMAs and Rethugs Alike

2009-01-17T09:29:00.004-06:00

I sit here on a sunny Saturday morning in Tulsa, OK, knowing that out in the blogosphere there are those who will not join me in celebrating the first president of color to be duly elected in the entire history of our country. Those who will not be celebrating fall into three basic camps: 1) unrepentant Republicans who will likely go to their grave with their McCain/Palin stickers proudly adhered on the back of their gas-guzzling SUVs; 2) ignorant racists and religious zealots who will never accept that an African-American should lead a "Christian" nation; and 3) and this is the group that troubles me the most, those women (and they are mostly, though not entirely, women) who have not let go of the fact that Hillary Clinton was beaten fair and square, and though we will never know for sure, but I maintain that there is a much greater chance that we would be swearing in a President McCain had Hillary gotten the nomination. As I said, we will never know because fortunately that scenario was never tested, but we do know that Barack Obama could and did in fact carry the day on November 4, 2008 and will be sworn in as our 44th President of the United States. That fact seems to be very difficult for those Hillary supporters to accept. Harder still for them to celebrate, I wish that they would have to endure some consequence for their lack of support, their lack of faith in an articulate, intellectual African-American, but that is both a beauty and a disappointment of Democracy. We sink or swim together. We all bore the brunt of the horrible Bush/Cheney years and we all will benefit from the Obama/Biden administration regardless of our vote, our work on behalf of a candidate, or our lack of enthusiasm for the ultimate victor.

Just as a large portion of all of our taxes went to support a war in Iraq that many of us never supported, so too will a portion of all of our taxes go to support the positive programs that President Obama will put into place. It seems fundamentally unfair that I must support with my tax dollars the horrible military-industrial complex that ravaged Iraq and the Gaza strip, and likewise it seems unjust that those who did not support Barack Obama's candidacy will benefit from his programs, but as I said, such is the nature of Democracy.

2009: The Year of Science

2009-01-10T11:33:00.006-06:00

Science is BACK - YES!

2009 marks 150 years since the publication of Darwin's On The Origin of Species, and the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first use of a telescope to study the skies. M. Lee Allison, the state geologist of Arizona and director of the Arizona Geological Survey, is an organizer of a "Year of Science 2009," a celebration of scientific methods and discoveries.
From NPR's Talk of the Nation, January 2, 2009

As we bid a very fond adieu to the Bush/Cheney Head-Under-a-Bucket Club, and as we welcome in the Obama/Biden Science Club, we receive the added benefit of a renewed emphasis on real science, not the faux science of "abstinence only" sex education or "intelligent design" taught in lieu of evolution. We also welcome the roll-back of such ridiculous rules and regulations as 45 CFR Part 88 Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law; Final Rule [AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, HHS. ACTION: Final rule]. In summary, this rule allows every employee, from the receptionist who makes appointments to the physician overseeing an entire clinic to the pharmacist who fills prescriptions, to refuse to provide health care to a patient (9 times out of 10, a woman) to which they may have moral or religious objections. This includes many methods of birth control, including IUDs or the RU486 (the morning after pill) or any form of birth control if the patient cannot prove that she is married, never mind abortion which is the ultimate target of this onerous rule. Thankfully the Obama team has been keeping an eye on many of these last minute rules enacted by the Bush/Cheney administration and has plans to reverse them as soon as possible.

From global warming to reproductive rights to actual science being taught in schools, we can all look forward to a resurgence of real science returning to our lives. And I propose that it is not a moment too soon as states across the nation seek to inject "intelligent design" and "religious freedom" into school curriculum. For example, the "Religious Viewpoints Anti-Discrimination Act" a dangerous bill that was reintroduced by the now Republican-controlled legislature in Oklahoma is a case in point. All sound-minded Oklahomans are hoping that the replay of this horrible bill will meet the same fate as its first incarnation, that being a veto by Governor Henry. Lest you shrug off this as an anomaly unique to the reddest of the red states, please keep in mind that similar legislation has already passed in Texas. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kentucky are all considering similar legislation. Furthering the assault on the separation of church and state is the ongoing "intelligent design controversy" a controversy only because some lame-brained zealots have confused science with religion. "Intelligent design" is nothing more than repackaged "creationism" and the insistence by the religious right that it be taught alongside evolution (a scientific tenet) makes a mockery of science education.

The above-mentioned examples are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the assault on science by the Bush/Cheney crime family. The blatant disregard for science can be found in the administration of the CDC (Center for Disease Control), OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). See An Assault on Public Protections: Regulatory Policy News in 2008 over at OMB Watch. I have barely touched on the foot-dragging for which the Bush administration has been responsible in the area of Global Warming. See US climate scientists pressured on climate change, 31 January 2007 by New Scientist Environment and Reuters

"We've developed this politicization of science. Public affairs offices should be staffed by professionals, not political appointees, or they become offices of propaganda. I shouldn't be required to parrot some company line. I should give the best information I have."
Dr. James Hansen, Head of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Part of The Earth Institute at Columbia University as quoted in House Panel Investigates Bush's Climate Science Manipulations

See: Politics and the Erosion of Federal Scientific Capacity: Restoring Scientific Integrity to Public Health Science This Article published in November 2007, Vol 97, No. 11 of the American Journal of Public Health 1939-1944 © 2007 American Public Health Association
COMMENTARY by Kathleen M. Rest, PhD, MPA and Michael H. Halpern, BA who are with the Union of Concerned Scientists, Cambridge, Mass.

See the review of the book The Republican War on Science By Chris Mooney.

For more evidence that the manipulation of scientific information in a variety of agencies has hampered our progress as a nation, see: Bush’s Agencies Of Mass Politicization.

Check out the National Center for Science Education: NCSE, a not-for-profit, membership organization providing information and resources for schools, parents and concerned citizens working to keep evolution in public school science education.

Post Script: If the president feels that it is incumbent on his administration to relieve those who object to normal portions of their job because of religious or moral concerns, then I have a serious question for him: I object to war and the senseless killing of innocent civilians on both moral and religious grounds, so following the logic of the Bush/Cheney administration, why should I have to pay for those actions that run so counter so to every fiber of my moral being? I don't expect an answer to this question, but I believe it is a legitimate question and one that I wish the current administration had considered when they came up with this ridiculous and dangerous rule.

Just for Fun

2009-01-05T05:03:00.006-06:00

A Few New Year's Resolutions Suggested for the Stephanie Miller Show Crew:

-- Jim "Voice Diety" Ward decides sobriety is overrated, Jim resolves to resume drinking with both hands.

-- Rebekah Baker resolves to add an Admiral Stockdale impression to her repertoire.

-- Steph resolves to pursue a serious relationship with Jesus (her yard man NOT THE SON of GOD).

-- The entire crew of the SMS resolves to take every Friday off - giving a whole new meaning to "Fridays with Frangela."

-- Stephanie resolves to stop going to the Abby for Happy Hour (Steph hates that she is often mistaken for Liz Taylor).

-- The number one resolution of the Stephanie Miller Show - more fart jokes, less political analysis!

Happy New Year Steph & Company - keep the laughs coming. We're gonna need 'em :-)

Happee New Year Everybodee!

2009-01-02T17:00:00.005-06:00

Well, you should all have recovered from your hang-overs by now and just about had your fill of college football (not yet? really, you need to get out more, imho :). My number one resolution this year is to blog less and live more. I am cutting way back on my cable TV subscription (No more MSNBC - buh-bye Rachel, and no more "Intervention"). So this is a fair warning to those of you who read this blog, there will be fewer postings in 2009, fewer rants and less raving about the political scene. This has little to do with the fact that this blogger expects to have much less to rant and rave on about under the Obama administration, although I fully expect that to be the case. Rather it is based on a determination that I am spending too much time in front of my computer. I have virtually quit reading books, except for the excruciatingly long waits in my doctors' offices.

Between FaceCrack and MySpace and my other e-mail account (I decided at some point during late 2007 that I needed a separate account for non-work related e-mails - a very wise decision), I spend hours everyday logged on. So if you are checking this blog daily, first I want to say, "thank you very much." I truly appreciate your loyalty to my blog, and your interest in the opinions, verbiage, photos, collages and quotes that I post on my blog, but please don't expect more than a single post each week. That's all I can manage. I don't know what day of the week it will be when I'll be posting a new entry, so for the time being you'll just have to keep checking in and seeing if there is anything new. I know, I know, I am sure to lose a few loyal readers by making this move, but in my new year's list of priorities my blog has dropped down (way down) on the list of how I want to spend my time. In fact, I have come to believe that most bloggers are little more than self-absorbed, narcissists who check their stat counter a few too many times a day to see who has read their most recent post. There are exceptions to this rule, namely blogs that serve a purpose - like The Huffington Post which serves as a news aggregator, or FourFreedoms which represents an entire community and serves as an online meeting place for those who choose to visit and join in on that site. I am talking more about the solo bloggers out there who imagine the entire online world to be hanging on their every word. I have been there, but no longer want to live there, so I am moving, on...

It is time to put a little distance between myself and all those navel gazers out there who will no doubt continue to post and post ad nauseam... Carry on, and please don't take offense at my opinion of so many bloggers out there. Writers write, and bloggers blog. Me, I'm gonna try a different way of living for awhile...

The Year According to Stephanie

2008-12-28T10:40:00.010-06:00

Well, as we prepare to say good-bye to 2008, I, along with the brilliant Velveeta Jones who blogs at FourFreedomsBlog.com, feel compelled to sum up the year that we all just lived through, in spite of the fact that we all just experienced the last year and unless we are struck by a nasty case of early onset Alzheimer's we all have the ability to recall the year that just passed.

But unless you are an obsessive fan of the Stephanie Miller Show as is your loyal radical militant librarian/blogger then there may have been a few moments in the last year of the Stephanie Miller Show that you may have missed. Fear not, your radical militant librarian has missed nary a minute of the SMS over the course of 2008. As you may recall, Ms. Miller was not at all happy with the previous year (2007) and took her friend and herself to Telluride, Colorado to shake off the awfulness that was 2007. It was in Telluride where Ms. Miller was rumored to have wed Dan Abrams, but that rumor, in spite of Ms. Miller's every desire, proved to be unfounded. Nevertheless, the year progressed with many TeeVee appearances by Ms. Miller, namely on "The Larr" (Larry King Live) with the occasional appearance on Howard Kurtz's Reliable Sources. However, Steph has yet to secure an invitation to her dream man's show Countdown with Keith Olbermann. All the while Steph had to sit on the sidelines, watching as her radio compadre, Rachel Maddow, was awarded her own show in the coveted time slot following Countdown on MSNBC.

Ms. Miller and CC Goldwater ended their run for the White House - we are not sure exactly when the campaign ended (and we assume neither do they). But there is still time to order your Goldwater/Miller gear from the Steph Store - hurry there is no telling how long it will be available. In spite of Ms. Miller's obvious TV appeal, she has yet to be mentioned - outside her own show - as a replacement for Alan Colmes on the now defunct "Hannity and Colmes." Nevertheless, Stephanie continues to pursue her perverse and curious obsession with Sean "Insanity" Hannity, taking text messages from him at all hours of the day and night, thereby underscoring her pathetic social life. Stephanie has been reduced to holding house parties in order to get people into her life - she hosted numerous debate parties, an election night party and even had "friends" over to endure her homemade sauerkraut for Thanksgiving. She is reportedly trying to keep up with her 85 year old Republican mother over the Christmas holiday. She was overheard yelling "fore" at the local WeHo Country Club, and then saw delivered to her tee four boxes of chardonnay by one of the princesses who works the bar at the WeHo CC.

Speaking of WeHo, one of the highlights of Steph's year had to be the fact that she was named the Grand Marshall of the LA Gay Pride Parade in which she was mistaken for a Cher-look-alike drag queen and summarily dragged off the float where she was mugged by the crowd who dissed her make-up and positively laughed at her attempt at fashion (I mean, really, fishnets?).

Anyway, throughout the year Momma remained a loyal supporter of President-Elect Barack Obama and for that we thank you, Stephanie. You were a "Momma for Obama" from the get-go and your loyal support will no doubt NOT go unnoticed by the incoming administration. We will miss you when you move to Washington DC to become the new Wine Czar, but we thank you for all the laughs and wish you well in your new position. Who are we kidding? There are very few positions you haven't tried - am I right? Take care and have a fabulous 2009!!!

Is This Freedom?

2008-12-21T10:39:00.007-06:00

"There is still more work to be done. The war is not over," Bush said, with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki next to him. "But with the conclusion of this agreement . . . it [the war] is decidedly on its way to being won."

By now we've all seen and heard ad nauseam the video clip of the Iraqi reporter throwing both of his shoes at Bush during Bush's "magical victory tour" of Iraq and Afghanistan. The week before his clandestine trip to Iraq, before the shoes were flung, Bush said:
"When Saddam's regime fell, we refused to take the easy option and install a friendly strongman in his place. Even though it required enormous sacrifice, we stood by the Iraqi people as they elected their own leaders and built a young democracy."

Bush has repeatedly touted the new-found freedom of the Iraqi people and even referred to this "freedom" in his post-shoe-throwing interview. He described it as a bizarre attention grabbing act - an act that would not have been possible in Saddam's Iraq. Perhaps, that is so, but once again Bush obtusely missed the point. The point is that the Iraqi people do not perceive themselves as freer, less oppressed, and any closer to a democracy than they did in 2003 before the United States invaded and subsequently occupied (read destroyed) their country.

One of the most glaring examples of this lack of freedom is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in a country that was once happily secular. The action of the group of thugs reminds us that there is less and less freedom for women who once had nearly equal rights in Iraq.
Gunmen broke into the house of a women's rights activist in the volatile northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Thursday and beheaded her, police said. The victim was identified as Nahla Hussain, the leader of the women's league of the Kurdish Communist Party. She was alone in the house at the time of her death. It is not known what the circumstances were that led to the attack. Violence against women has been an ongoing problem in Iraq.

The killing comes ahead of next month's provincial elections, a post-Saddam era watershed event that's generating an uptick in civil unrest and political infighting....

...As for the Interior Ministry, a September 2007 report assessing the status of Iraq's security forces slammed it and the National Police, which it operates. The report by the Independent Commission on Security Forces in Iraq, called Interior "a ministry in name only" and said it was "widely regarded as being dysfunctional and sectarian, and suffers from ineffective leadership." It said the National Police force has been "operationally ineffective" and "sectarianism in its units undermines its ability to provide security; the force is not viable in its current form. The National Police should be disbanded and reorganized." The Defense Ministry oversees the military. The 2007 report had promising words for the Iraqi army, special forces, navy and air force, describing them as "increasingly effective" and "capable of assuming greater responsibility for the internal security of Iraq."
From Women's Rights Activist Beheaded in Iraq, CNN, December 18, 2008

Nahla Hussain was profiled in a CNN Report (May 15, 2008): "On Deadly Ground: Woman of Iraq."
Rest in Peace Nahla - we will never forget you or your work on behalf of your sisters in Iraq!

Why Rick Warren May Keep Me Home on January 20, 2009

2008-12-18T17:50:00.009-06:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I sit here reading, admittedly mesmerized by Obama's words that he spoke today in defense of his choice (and by the very nature of his defensive comments acknowledged that it was indeed his decision) to invite Rev. Rick Warren to give a prayer at his inauguration, and I begin shaking my head in agreement, murmuring to myself that he's right, we need to start behaving like grown-ups. After all, in just a few days I will be heading to Indiana where I will spend at least five days with my family - half of whom are Republicans.
Here is Barack Obama defending his invitation:
“I think that it is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans....[but] that dialogue, I think, is part of what my campaign’s been all about; that we’re not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is to be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable.”
But then I jumped back into my initial thought. While reading through the comments, I came across these words: "If he's going to invite the religious bigots, where are the racists? Aren't we supposed to include everyone?"

My initial thoughts on the invitation of Rick Warren to the 44th President's Inauguration were not at all excited or even willing to accept Warren's presence at the event. The inauguration, up to the point of this announcement, had been billed as a celebration of change for all Americans. It was in that hopeful spirit that a friend and I decided to drive to Washington D.C. to witness the historic occasion of the swearing in of the first president of color. I contacted a friend who lives near DuPont Circle and works as an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund and made early arrangements to borrow her sofa and floor space for several days. After checking into air fares, we decided to drive to D.C. - taking two days and enjoying the road trip. But lately I have begun to reconsider the trip. I have missed almost five days of work spread out over the last two weeks, trying to shake a case of bronchitis. The cost of the holidays, the issues that my friend and I are working through, and now the inclusion of a hate-filled pastor to give the invocation at Obama's inauguration, turns my stomach, and just may keep me home in January. I don't want to walk blocks and blocks in cold, windy, winter weather amid millions of other people with a friend who admittedly doesn't like crowds (I am not that crazy about being trapped amidst throngs of people, myself), only to listen to the words of a man who would deny my friend and me basic human rights.

Why wouldn't Barack Obama realize what an insult it would be to a group that, for the most part, eagerly supported him and his campaign? The GLBT community voted in overwhelming numbers for the Obama/Biden ticket. So to select a person who so hatefully denounced a basic right for an entire group of people (California's Prop 8) is a punch in the gut for those of us who worked so hard for Obama's election. So I haven't decided whether I will or won't drive to the nation's capital to witness history in the making, or whether I will stay at home and watch history being made with or without me....

Does anybody out there want two tickets to the American Indian Inaugural Ball? I guess I've made up my mind...

So That More May Have a Happy Holiday...

2008-12-16T02:04:00.005-06:00

'Tis the season and all that jazz... 'Tis better to give than receive... With the latter sentiment in mind I offer up a small collection of organizations that I have supported over the years, and I have faith that they do the most with whatever donations that they receive to improve life for the planet and all creatures who reside here. Here's my list of suggested organizations that could very much use any extra money you may have at the end of this year:

INDN's List is the organization that is nearest and dearest to my heart. Kalyn Free is a real-life hero to me and thousands of others who want to see Natives have a stronger political voice in this country. Why not support a progressive cause that is truly making a real difference in this nation? Visit the link and see the results that INDN's List has gained in just four years of existence.

Futures for Children is an organization that sponsors Native children in the American Southwest (primarily Navajo and Pueblo), but even if you don't have enough money to mentor a child (about $450.00/year), you can still help in many other ways. One excellent way that you can support the important work of the FFC is by shopping at the FFC online store. They have beautiful handcrafted items such as fetishes, pottery, jewelry, and kachinas. Most of the items are donated by the artists so most of the profit goes directly to helping support the programs that FFC sponsors on reservations and in pueblos across New Mexico and Arizona.

The Native American Rights Fund is a non-profit 501c(3) organization that provides legal representation and technical assistance to Indian tribes, organizations and individuals nationwide - a constituency that often lacks access to the justice system. NARF focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations.

Because I am a dog lover, I encourage donations to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). Even if you can't afford to make an outright donation to your local SPCA, at least please remember when you are ready to add a pet to your family, that the SPCA is filled with great potential pets that desperately need a good home.

I was reared in the Quaker faith and although I am loathe to list a religious charity, I can with good conscience recommend the American Friends Service Committee and their sister organization the Friends Committee on National Legislation. I know that both of these organizations will use your donation to promote peace, justice and equality in this country (FCNL) and around the world (AFSC).

That about sums up my message for the holidays. If you are fortunate enough to have a job, a home and people around you who care about you, then count your blessings, and please consider making a donation to one of the above listed organizations or another organization of your choice. There are so many groups who are doing such important work and in these dire times, donations are down, so please give whatever you can. Give until it hurts, just a little bit. I guarantee that it will hurt so good :-)

Sizing up Obama's Team (thus far...)

2008-12-10T20:04:00.018-06:00

Here is the run-down of the Obama Team thus far (Updated: Sunday, December 21st, 2008):

Chief of Staff - Rahm Emanuel.
Attorney General - Eric Holder.
White House National Economic Council - Lawrence Summers (Congressional confirmation not needed)
Secretary of Treasury - Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
National Security Advisor - Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones.
Secratary of State - Hillary Rodham Clinton (Senate seat filled by NY Gov. David Paterson - Dem. - is Caroline Kennedy a real possibility?).
Secretary of Defense - Bob Gates (since November 2006).
Secretary of Commerce - Bill Richardson (Seat filled by Dem. Lt. Gov. Diane Denish).
Head of Homeland Security (God I hate the name of that department) - Janet Napolitano (Seat filled by AZ Sec. of State Janice K. "Jan" Brewer - Rep. - a right wing nut job. As the Arizona State Constitution does not make provision for the position of Lieutenant Governor, Brewer is first in line to succeed Gov. Janet Napolitano - Dem.).
Office of Management & Budget Director - Peter Orszag, director of Congressional Budget Office.
United Nations Ambassador - Susan Rice, former assistant secretary of state.
Secretary of Veterans' Affairs - General Eric Shinseki.
Secretary of Energy - Steven Chu.
Secretary of Health and Human Services - Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader.
White House Council on Environmental Quality - Nancy Sutley, the deputy mayor for energy and environment in Los Angeles and the mayor's representative on the Board of Directors for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, is the first prominent gay to earn a senior role in Obama's new administration.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Shaun Donovam, housing commissioner for New York City.
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator - Lisa Jackson.
White House Coordinator of Energy and Climate Policy - Carol Browner, former EPA Administrator in the Clinton administration.
White House Press Secretary - Robert Gibbs.
Secretary of Education - Arne Duncan, chief executive of the Chicago Public Schools.
Secretary of Agriculture - Tom Vilsack, former Democratic Governor of Iowa.
Secretary of the Interior - Ken Salazar, Senator (D - CO), Salazar's replacement to be named by Colorado Democratic Governor, Bill Ritter.
Secretary of Labor - Rep. Hilda Solis (D - CA).
Secretary of Transportation - Rep. Ray LaHood (R - IL).
U.S. Trade Representative - Ron Kirk, former mayor of Dallas, TX.

Prop 8 - The Musical

2008-12-05T05:34:00.002-06:00

You've heard all about it on the Stephanie Miller Show. You've probably watched it over at Joe. My. God., But in case you have not yet viewed this hilarious video, I bring you "Prop 8 - The Musical":

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... from Jack Black

Bush's True Legacy Vis-a-Vis Iraq

2008-11-30T08:29:00.001-06:00

BUSH'S TRUE LEGACY VIS-A-VIS IRAQ
Bush on His Legacy: I 'Liberated' Iraq!

Bush on His Legacy: I 'Liberated' Iraqis
President Says He Wants to Be Remembered for Liberating Iraqis and HIV/AIDS Work in Africa
(See JENNIFER PARKER)

Nov. 28, 2008

If by "liberating" George W. Bush means any of the following horrors inflicted on the Iraqi people or consequences experienced by the American people;

1. If by "liberating" Bush meant killing hundreds of thousand Iraqi citizens in a country that had virtually no Al Qaeda cells within its boundaries is "liberating," then yeah, we did that.

2. If by "liberating" Bush meant running hundreds of thousand Iraqi citizens out of their neighborhoods and homes and creating an excess of 2 million refugees then yeah, we did that.

3. If the term "liberating" denotes in any sense turning a secular society (not anti-religion, just tolerant of many different beliefs without one particular strain of one religious belief being forced onto the people by their government) into a hellish mix of dueling beliefs that have car bombs and suicide bombers as one of their fundamental practices (i.e. letting a theocracy take root that demands strict adherence to a very rigid and narrow view of humans in the world and does not allow for any deviation from a prescribed pattern of belief and behavior - the hallmark of most religions if taken to the extreme view...), then yeah Bush is responsible for that.
4. If by "liberating" Bush/Cheney are suggesting a scenario that includes bilking American taxpayers out of billions and billions of dollars to pay for a war that was not provoked and in the final analysis was unnecessary, then yeah we "liberated" millions of Americans from their money to pay for a disaster that would not be happening if it weren't for the asinine decision to invade Iraq in the first place, then yeah, hang the blame for that on Bush/Cheney.

5. If by the word "liberating" Bush is referring to handing out slews of no-bid contracts to war profiteers Halliburton, Kellogg Brown and Root, and Blackwater who have not only cheated Americans but have also murdered Iraqis in cold blood, then yeah our tax dollars supported that.

6. If by "liberating" Bush means running all the doctors, nurses and other professionals out of the country and turning previously functioning infrastructure into non-working, no-longer-available services like water, sewer and electric, then yeah, that is a legacy that the U.S. presence has left in Iraq.

7. If by "liberating" Bush means liberating over 4000 families from the presence of a loved one due to losing life, limb or mind in Iraq, then yeah, we did that.

8. If by "liberating" Bush is referring to the financial crisis that we are experiencing here in the United States that could have been alleviated by moneys that were sent to "fight the war" in Iraq, then yeah Bush did that.

9. If by "liberating" Iraq, Bush is referring to operating a gulag in Guantanamo, torturing prisoners under our control, and operating hidden prisons throughout the dangerous world via the practice of secret rendition (all contrary to the Geneva Convention), then yeah, the Bush administration is responsible for violating a wide variety of international laws.

10. If by "liberating" Iraq, Bush/Cheney intend to suggest that building a case for war that was based on lies and deception and manipulation of information, and if the public had known the truth, then they never would have supported the invasion of Iraq, then yeah we fell for that.

Those are all questionable if not outright illogical definitions of the term "liberating" or "liberation." Interesting that Bush has chosen to hang his legacy on perhaps the most destructive decision of his presidency, a legacy that highlights the many short comings of his greedy, impetuous, stubborn, fear-mongering, incompetent, anti-intellectual administration. It only makes sense that this is the one action that Bush would point to as a way to define his administration - it is a shameful choice for a shameful administration.

What I Am Truly Thankful For....

2008-11-27T08:40:00.004-06:00

HAPPEE THANKSGIVING EVERYBODEE!!!

Here is the list of what I am truly giving thanks for at this moment in my life:
1. The blog that saved my life FourFreedoms.com - Thank you Raine, BobR, Livin, Mondo, Star, Velveeta, Tri, Mala and all others 4Fers - I am so glad that you came along when you did, you truly saved my life :-).
2. My job, my house, my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) - they are all in Tulsa, Oklahoma (the only state that went totally and completely red in this latest election - :-( ) Never-the-less, OK is where I live and I have chosen to stay and fight (for the time being).
3. The Collins Fitness Center at TU (and their recently added three, count 'em, three rowing machines). I have been working out like a fiend, and I do feel much better for it. I, however, have not stopped drinking so the weight is coming off slowly, but it is coming off - and I don't drink as much as I used to :-).
4. The Stephanie Miller Show still starts each and every morning in my world and continues to rock my world - thank you mucho Steph, Jim, Chris, & Rebekah!!!
5. Mi familia - I am lucky that both of my parents are alive, healthy and are enjoying their retirement years, mi hermanas y mi hermano, mi sobrinas y my sobrino (not sure why I felt compelled to report my family in Espanol - perhaps a nod to Sanchez from Montebello, CA).
6. The reality that I have come out of a very dark, dismal place and have hope along with a new president (Barack Obama), and I am so thrilled that I can stay in my house, my job, and keep my boys.
7. My sister and her family driving all the way from North Liberty, Indiana to spend Thanksgiving with her older and single sister - Thanks mucho Neankie and crew :-).
8. I am thankful that Tulsa, OK - the town in which I live - now has a Bark Park - a place where I can take my boyz (Tulsey & Dylan) to try to wear them out so that they won't wake me up at 4:30 or 5:00 in the morning. Way to go Tulsa - you've got the right idea !!!
9. I am more than grateful for the friends who inhabit my life, my workplace and my world. I won't embarrass any of them by mentioning them by name here, but I am sure that they know who they are and I hope that they all know how important they are to me and what a huge difference they all make in my world.

10. I am thankful to be alive in this the winter of 2008, after our country elected the first president of color in the history of this nation. Viva Obama, Obamanos, si se puede, Yes we can and yes we did :-)
11. And finally, I am thrilled to say a big good riddance to George W. Bush and the shadow president, Dick Cheney, who have visited more harm on this country and the rest of the world that we heretofore ever thought possible. Congratulations you two - it will likely take us decades to try to clean up the huge mess that you have left us - thanks, thanks for nothing, you insipid jerks.

That's about it, that's almost all I can think of that I am thankful for this year, I would be remiss if I didn't thank my therapist (HHK), my shrink (KWH) , and the facilitator (IW) of the support group that I attend twice a month. I am grateful that I've lived, or survived, this life. I will go on.... Thank you so mucho. Thanks again. Have a very relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving, everyone!
Cheers,
mfaye

For an alternative take on Thanksgiving, please see Robert Jensen's No Thanks to Thanksgiving. Remember that the history that you learned in school, bears little resemblance to what actually happened, especially when the history involves Indigenous people.

Oh the Damage W. Can Do in Just 57 Days...

2008-11-23T10:23:00.016-06:00

"If you thought the first 100 days of the Bush administration were bad, just wait and see what the last 100 could bring,” Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chairman of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming

Oh, can January 20, 2009 come soon enough? Those of us who have tried valiantly to chronicle the disasters that have been perpetrated on the American citizenry by the Bush/Cheney fiasco since that infamous day in December of 2000 when the Supreme Court handed the presidency to George W. Bush, are holding our collective breath and hoping against hope that W. doesn't succeed in implementing any more disastrous policies before the door hits his ass (not to be confused with his face :) ) on his way back to Crawford, Texas. But if wishes were stocks we'd all be retiring tomorrow. Alas, Bush has plans to give seriously dangerous breaks to his base (the haves and the have-mores) in the form of altering laws that impact not just our already strained environment, but also families, workers, and energy resources. All are among targets of Bush's scheme of deregulating the bejesus out of any law that protects our National Parks, Workers' Safety, and the highly successful and popular Family and Medical Leave Act.

"With barely 60 days to go until Bush hands over to Barack Obama, his White House is working methodically to weaken or reverse an array of regulations that protect America's wilderness from logging or mining operations, and compel factory farms to clean up dangerous waste."
President for 60 more days, Bush tearing apart protection for America's wilderness

Imagine visiting the Grand Canyon in Arizona or Arches National Park in Utah and instead of seeing the natural grandeur of these awesome places, your eyes would meet the visage of open mining pits or your nose might notice the stench of coal-fired power plants spewing more particulate matter into the skies above our planet, thanks to the gutting of environmental regulations by Bush/Cheney in their last act of giving the old middle finger to the tree-huggers and others who appreciate clean air and water and an unspoiled view of nature and all of its inhabitants.

Fortunately, Congress is well-aware of Bush's diabolical plans and may employ a rarely utilized act, The Congressional Review Act of 1996. The act has been exercised just once in the past 12 years, but it could become a sweeping tool for Democrats to nullify the late regulatory changes made by the Bush presidency. Environmental activists are compiling lists of regulations they believe Congress should target, including ones covering water pollution at huge farms, pollution control equipment at older power plants, and hazardous waste restrictions.

See “Past is Prologue: For Energy and the Environment, the Bush Administration’s Last 100 Days Could Rival the First 100”

Check out this great animated cartoon by Ann Telnaes (WashPo, Nov. 24, 2008).

Le Beaujolais Nouveau est Arrive!!!

2008-11-20T05:14:00.002-06:00

Beaujolais Nouveau began as a local phenomenon in the local bars, cafes, and bistros of Beaujolais and Lyons. Each fall the new Beaujolais would arrive with much fanfare. In pitchers filled from the growers barrels, wine was drunk by an eager population. It was wine made fast to drink while the better Beaujolais was taking a more leisurely course. Eventually, the government stepped into regulate the sale of all this quickly transported, free-flowing wine.

In 1938 regulations and restrictions were put in place to restrict the where, when, and how of all this carrying on. After the war years, in 1951, these regulations were revoked by the region's governing body, the Union Interprofessional des Vins de Beaujolais (UIVB), and the Beaujolais Nouveau was officially recognized. The official release date was set for November 15th. Beaujolais Nouveau was officially born. By this time, what was just a local tradition had gained so much popularity that the news of it reached Paris. The race was born. It wasn't long thereafter that the word spilled out of France and around the world. In 1985, the date was again changed, this time to the third Thursday of November tying it to a weekend and making the celebration complete. But wherever the new Beaujolais went, importers had to agree not to sell it before midnight on the third Thursday of November.

On a more technical note, the wine is strictly speaking, more properly termed Beaujolais Primeur. By French and European rules, a wine released during the period between its harvest and a date in the following spring, is termed primeur. A wine released during the period between its own and the following years harvest, is termed nouveau. Well, enough of that!

It is a triumph of marketing and promotion, mostly due to the efforts of Georges Dubeuf. The largest negociant in the region, he is a tireless promoter of Beaujolais and Beaujolais Nouveau. More than a fifth of his annual production, about 4 million bottles, is Beaujolais Nouveau. All in all, in the last 45 years, sales have risen from around a million bottles to more than 70 million bottles.

Apart from the fanfare, what makes Beaujolais Nouveau so popular? And especially in the U.S. where consumption of red wine is less than 30%? Simply put, Beaujolais Nouveau is as about as close to white wine as a red wine can get. Due to the way it is made -the must is pressed early after only three days- the phenolic compounds, in particular the astringent tannins, normally found in red wines, isn't there, leaving an easy to drink, fruity wine. This, coupled with the fact that it tastes best when chilled, makes for a festive wine to be gulped rather than sipped, enjoyed in high spirits rather than critiqued. As a side note, it makes a great transitional wine for anyone wanting to move from white to red wines.

Finally, the race from grape to glass may be silly, but half the fun is knowing that on the same night, in homes, cafes, restaurants, pubs, bars and bistros around the world, the same celebration is taking place. It hasn't the pedigree to be a classic wine, but it is always good. Any other opinion you may regard as boorish and uninformed.

For more about Beaujolais Nouveau go to Georges Duboeuf's website.

Sat NO to H8!!!

2008-11-15T08:47:00.004-06:00

Today I am heading to downtown Tulsa, OK, specifically the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, where I will make a sign (not exactly sure yet what it will say, but it will definitely convey the sentiment that LOVE is NOT WRONG and should never be constrained by laws, regulations, or the tyranny of the majority who may not approve of who you love). Then I will march with my head held high down the sidewalks of Tulsa, OK (the reddest of the red states - ugh!) and express my ideas about love and marriage to all who care to pay attention. To further inspire me and those of you who have not yet decided how you will spend your Saturday, here is a video that captures the words of Harvey Milk (LGBT Activist and Politician 1930 - 1978).
Watch it and if you don't have other plans for today, think about joining me and many, many others who support equal rights for all citizens of this country:

The Dennis R. Neill Equality Center is located at the corner of East 4th Street (621 E. 4th St.) and South Kenosha Avenue. We will be meeting there to make signs and banners in just about an hour, then we will be marching down to City Hall where we will make our voices heard! Please come join us!!! Thank you and have a great day!

Some Thoughts from Insidethe Reddest of the Red States

2008-11-09T09:36:00.011-06:00

By now I am sure that all you listeners of the Stephanie Miller Show and other political geeks who have surveyed the aftermath of this most historical election have not failed to note that not one county in the state of Oklahoma voted for President-Elect Barack Obama. I was not completely surprised, after all my address has been here in Tulsa, Oklahoma for more than seven years, but I was disappointed. I was sad to hear that Stephanie Miller will never come to Oklahoma and hear Chris Lavort agreed that there is simply no reason for Oklahoma to exist. But alas, Oklahoma does exist, and has come to stand for the home of the most-backward, most-conservative, most-regressive, less-evolved people in this country. Oklahoma sends two of the most conservative, narrow-minded, even bigoted Senators to Washington, D.C. (Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe). Oklahoma is also home to one of the most homophobic, hate-filled state representatives anywhere in America, Sally Kern. But unlike the impression the all-red map may give, Oklahoma is also home to many who run against the stream of hate and fear and homophobia and bigotry. Oklahoma has a Democratic Governor (Brad Henry) and also boasts the headquarters of INDN's List - an Indian organization founded by an amazing Democratic, ultra-progessive woman named Kalyn Free who is a member of the Choctaw Nation and was born and reared in the state of Oklahoma. INDN's List recruits, trains, and supports PROGRESSIVE Native candidates for local, state and national office. Tulsa, Oklahoma also recently openned the sixth largest LGBT Center, the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center, in the country, and has an active, vibrant Gay Community in Tulsa and OKC. Oklahoma City was recently represented by the first gay, Native (Choctaw) man (Al McAffrey) to ever serve in the Oklahoma State House.

I have been admonished by friends who live in Madison, Wisconsin and Albuquerque, NM, and even Los Angeles, California - all true blue parts of the country, that I should leave Oklahoma and escape the oppresive atomosphere that surely hangs over each day I spend in this backwater state. But as Margaret Cho wrote after Bush was elected for the second time by the very same mentality that has kept Oklahoma so very red, "I have chosen to stay and fight."

I have a great job in which I work with fellow progressives who all cast thier votes (I am sure) for Barack Obama. I live in a part of the country that has a rich Native heritage (there are 38 Federally-Recognized Tribal Nations in Oklahoma). I live in a city that has two superb art museums (the Philbrook and the Gilcrease Museums) and a very cool movie theater (Circle Cinema) that brings plenty of independent and foreign films to town. Within a five mile radius of my house I can have any kind of food (Indian, Greek, Mexican, Italian, Vietnamese, Thai) I desire and most of it is close to authentic if not the real McCoy.

On one hand, I am ashamed that my fellow Oklahomans went into the voting booth last Tuesday and by an overwhelming majority (65.4% to 34.6%) cast their votes for McPalin, but I also know that if the 34.6% of us up and left the state, then Oklahoma would be forever lost to the dark forces that promote hate, fear and intolerance. And the land of Oklahoma, that began its life in this country as the Indian Territory, and boasts the last patch of natural tall grass prairie in the country, is better than the redneck image the rest of the nation has of it. Plus never forget that Oklahoma is also home to the Radical Militant Librarian of the Stephanie Miller Show and that's gotta count for something - Rock on Steph, Chris, Jim and Rebekah - please don't forget that you have a fan and a friend in Oklahoma (and I'm not talking about the ghost of Will Rogers or the very much alive Mary Kay Place). So please don't write us off completely...Oklahoma may one day be okay.

Our Eight-Year National Nightmare is Over...

2008-11-06T21:00:00.009-06:00

As the dust settles on a remarkable week here in the United States of America, we all pause to say good riddance to an eight-year reign of terror that was visited on the people of this country and, more to the point, the people of this world. The image that will stay with me for the rest of my life from that amazing election night is this one: as CNN announced that Obama had garnered enough electoral votes to secure the presidency the Transportation Workers Union Hall where I was watching the returns exploded in an earthshattering roar. I turned around and saw behind me an African-American woman with tears running down her cheeks and I took a few steps toward her and gave her an immense, hard, long hug that she returned in kind. We had never met before, but in that moment we expressed the heartfelt emotion that filled the Union Hall and watch parties across the country. We had done it, we as a nation had elected the first person of color to the highest office in the land and we were all estatic about what we had just achieved.

I owe an apology to a fellow blogger (Roxie of Roxie's world) who challenged me several months ago about a claim that I made that Indiana was more conservative than the state where I reside - Oklahoma. With Indiana turning blue on the night of November 4th (or the morning of November 5th) and with Oklahoma going so overwhelmingly for John McCain at approximately 7:01pm (the polls closed at 7:00pm) I must admit that I was wrong. Oklahoma turned out to be the only state in the country in which not one single county voted for Obama - I am so ashamed. So in spite of all of my relatives and their "In God We Trust," license plates, Indiana turned out to be much bluer than Oklahoma is red. As I've said in the past, I gotta get outta here... I have an open invitation to head to Madison, Wisconsin, or back to to true blue New Mexico, but I love my job and have managed to surround myself with fellow progressives/liberals who make this blogger forget that she lives smack dab in the middle of the reddest of red(neck) America. What's a grrrl to do? I think I'll stay put for awhile longer, and see what I can do about bringing this backwater around to civilized thought.

Although I must question the wisdom of Roxie's mother, Moose, directing readers to the "ratemyprofessor" site which contains some none-too-favorable reviews of Roxie's mom, er, typist. Oh, what were you thinking?

Yes We Can & Yes We Did !!!

2008-11-05T02:30:00.000-06:00

I sat teary eyed and speechless at the Transportation Workers Union Hall in Tulsa, OK as the then Senator Barack Obama (now President-elect Barack Obama) addressed the crowd of over 125,000 in Grant Park in Chicago, IL as the next president of the United States of America! I feel so proud to be an American tonight - so proud to be a small part of the history that was made tonight, and so proud to be a small part of the progress that this country demonstrated it is committed to make tonight. I love the reality that we, as a nation, have rejected the status quo, that we, as a nation, have rejected the regressive, bigoted past, that we have embraced tomorrow, a future that includes all of us, and will take each and every one of us to make that tomorrow a better place in which we all may live. We will all need to live together, in a better world, in a world that we all inhabit and in a world in which we all have a say, that we all have a stake in. WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, and I love that that is our new collective reality. There is an exciting sense that filled the air tonight - from the liberal, progressive East coast, a wind that blew through even the most conservative, staid mid-western part of this country all the way to the West coast where Obama won handily.

I look at my nieces and my nephew and I am so glad that I don't see any prejudice in their eyes - no bias against someone whose skin is another shade than theirs, or no bias against their Uncle Eric and Uncle Brian or any two people who love each other. In other words, the bigotry of the past - both racial and sexual - is almost over and will begin to less frequently rear its ugly head in our public life. I have faith in our future again. I have faith that tomorrow will be better than today. I believe that tomorrow anything is possible, that anyone can achieve whatever he/she sets her/his mind to do. I don't mean to sound too righteous, but I am so glad that I lived to see this day in this country, my country.

Congratulations President Obama and congratulations to your wonderful family - we love you, we elected you as our leader and we are here to support you. Please carry on and lead us - we are ready to walk with you!

Today IS THE DAY!!!

2008-11-04T07:46:00.007-06:00

“I never doubted that equal rights was the right direction. Most reforms, most problems are complicated. But to me there is nothing complicated about ordinary equality.”

Alice Paul, (American Lawyer, Author, Founder, and Social Reformer, 1885-1977)

Today is the culmination of almost two years of seemingly non-stop campaigning. Today is the day that America chooses their next president. I remain cautiously optimistic that Barack Obama, by virtue of his intelligence, his steadiness, his demeanor, his leadership, and his so-well-run campaign, will be our next president. It makes me so very proud of our country, proud that the essential decency of the American people came shining through the fear-mongering, the hate, the bigotry and all the other reasons why some people are giving for not joining this movement forward. Today the progressives will beat back the regressives, the future will overcome the status quo, the past will be dealt with as it must be, but our eight year Bush/Cheney nightmare will finally be put to rest. Thank goodness, thank creator, thank the hard-working people of this country that never gave up.

Last night I went to the Circle Cinema to see for free (courtesy of the League of Women Voters) the film Iron Jawed Angels. The film chronicles the story of Quaker, Alice Paul, and other women who fought for the 19th Amendment (passed just over 88 years ago) that granted the right to vote to all women in this country. It was an inspirational and remarkable tale of the power of a handful of women who refused to accept the status quo and fought like hell until their goal was achieved. It gave me hope and helped me off this ledge that I have been perched on for most of this week. Today, I will sit by the phone and wait for calls from the Democratic Headquarters with names, addresses and precinct information to give other Democrats rides to the polls.
Viva Obama/Biden! Yes, We Can! Si, Se Puede!

A Worrywart Charts Her Future Course

2008-11-02T08:33:00.008-06:00

Back in late August of this year Eugene Robinson penned an op-ed piece for the Washington Post entitled The Worrywart Party. In this column, Mr. Robinson admonished the Democratic Party to "snap out of it," and essentially quit worrying and second-guessing all the possible ways that we, as Democrats, may still manage to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory. As either of my sisters would be quick to tell you, I have always been the cockeyed pessimist of the family. So as I sit here in my cozy little home in Tulsa, Oklahoma watching Tom Brokaw grilling John Kerry and giving Fred Thompson many free passes on Meet the Press, I can't shake that sinking feeling that in a few days I will be debating whether to sit in my running car in my garage and say good-bye to a world that is just too broken and ignorant to continue to live in, or put that same car in gear and head north to Vancouver, British Columbia, CANADA, where I and my boyz will make a fresh start, having sold the house and disposed of most of my possessions.

Here are the things that give me hope:
--The fact that Obama is up in the polls and that those polls likely have not taken into account the legions of mostly young voters who have abandoned their land lines and communicate almost exclusively by cell phones and who do not carry with them the prejudices of their parents and grandparents. So I am expecting that the turn-out among young voters will offset or even surpass the dreaded Bradley Effect. This hope is personified in the views of my nieces and my nephew who are all too young to vote but who are solidly behind Obama and are aghast that their grandparents are supporting McPalin.
--The fact that 8 of 10 people admit that this country is going down the crapper and we must change direction lest we end up permanently languishing in a crap stew of our own making.
--Barack Obama, the person, gives me hope. As I survey the long campaign, I have witnessed a steady course, an eloquent orator, sound judgment and a reluctance to give back in slime the disgusting charges that have been levelled against him by an opposing camp that has sunk to new lows in their campaign, despite McCain's earlier promise to run a clean and high-minded campaign.
--The web site (it is so much more than a blog) FiveThirtyEight.com and pieces like the following: Brett Marty's Ten Predictions - From the Gut give me hope (and yes, I do check it early and often each and every day).

Here are the things that have me worried:
--The polls that have Obama up by double-digits in the national poll and up by anywhere from over 100 points and down by a mere 5 or 6 points in the Electoral College.
--The Republican denizens (of which many members of my immediate and extended family are a part) who continue to believe that Obama may not have been born in Hawa'ii and that his record at Harvard University may have been fabricated - I find this to be an odd criticism given that the same people who are questioning Obama's academic credentials put so little value on an ivy league education.
--Probably the thing that keeps me up most nights is the nightmare of 2000 recurring in 2008. I remember so clearly election night of 2000 when I went to bed smiling as the major networks had called Florida for Al Gore, only to wake up the next morning to a horrible scenario that would keep me upset and physically ill for the next month when finally the Supreme Court overrode the will of American voters and selected George W. Bush as the 43rd president of the United States. This same horrible scenario was repeated in 2004 - only the location and subtlety of the subterfuge had changed. And what a price we have paid as a nation and have imposed on the rest of the planet who had no say in the leader of the free world.

Creator, if you are there and if you care at all about this world you have made, please let the voices of hope and change reign on this world. As Studs Terkel titled his last work "Hope Dies Last," a phrase that was coined for him by Jesse Del La Cruz, a farm worker. When times are bleak, they say in Spanish - Esparanza muera al ultimo, “Hopes Dies Last.” Let's all hope that this time hope stays alive.

This post is dedicated to a very special friend who shared this thought with me last night - F.E.A.R. equals "False Events Appearing Real." Here's to a fearless election day, and with many thanks, here's to you, ADB :)

Today I Cast My Vote for Obama, Rice, Oliver & Bullock...

2008-10-31T20:06:00.012-06:00

This morning I woke up, made my coffee, checked my e-mail, listened to an hour or so of Stephanie Miller, then I made my way downtown to vote on the first day of Oklahoma's early voting option. It took me about 10 - 15 minutes to find a place to park in a scene that seemed overwhelming and a skosh discombobulated. Once I'd parked my car, and found my way to the end of the line I found that the voting process in Tulsa was more organized and going much more smoothly than I had originally thought. It was a beautiful day here in Tulsa, so there was no problem standing outside in shorts and a t-shirt for about an hour as the line wound itself around the parking lot and into the Election Headquarters. Once inside the Election Center I filled out my green form, then queued up to get my ballot (fortunately a woman standing next to me in line told me that I had missed an important step in the process and hadn't had my green sheet marked with my proper precinct, ballots, and registered party). I rejoined the line behind the woman who had been so kind to direct me to the counter on the other side of the line where my green sheet was properly completed. Once I reached the table where ballots, pens and "I voted" stickers were distributed, I had learned about the 77 year old lady's lunch plans (a tea room recently opened on Harvard), and the fellow in line behind me who was voting in his first presidential election. I took my ballot and solemnly went to a cardboard station where I read the ballot measures again and voted rather randomly for the judges, but I took great care with my vote for Obama/Biden and Andrew Rice (over James Inhofe) and Georgianna Oliver (over John Sullivan) and George Bullock (over Dan Sullivan) - it seems as if the Sullivans produced more than one right-wing political tool here in Oklahoma.

Anyway, afterward I headed home, picked up my doggies and headed for the Bark Park (as I already mentioned it was a loverly day here in Northeastern Oklahoma). Then I took the boyz home and drove to campus where I worked out - the only thing that has kept me sane over the last two weeks :). After working out (20 minutes on the elliptical machine, 30 minutes on the rowing machine, plus 50 ab shots),I stopped by Jim's Coney Island and treated myself to an oregano chicken dinner - most of the half chicken I brought home with me. I voted today, so that on the official voting day I will be available to drive Democrats to the polls. Here are a few subtle questions I have devised to guarantee that the folks that I am shuffling to the polls are actual Democrats: Questions such as "Did you catch Sean Hannity last night?" (Of course, if the answer is "Yeah, it was great" then I drop them off at the nearest Denny's or Waffle House, and tell them to call a cab), or I might speculate that "Global warming is such a scam." and if they agree to this proposition they also will be dropped off at the nearest cafe or corner. Or perhaps I will just tell them that their voting day is tomorrow (thanks BobR!). That's my plan for how to survive and feel like I made at least a small contribution to the Obama victory that I hope is just around the corner. Go Obama/Biden 2008!!!

Sherman Alexie on The Colbert Report

2008-10-29T19:54:00.002-06:00

For more information about Sherman Alexie, see the Official Sherman Alexie Web Site.

Are You Suffering from EAD(Election Anxiety Disorder)?

2008-10-29T19:13:00.001-06:00

If you, like me, have been unable to sleep, or eat, and can only find fleeting relaxation in a very large beverage or three, and you can trace the cause of this particular anxiety to the upcoming election, then you, my friend, may be suffering from Election Anxiety Disorder.
Articles like this one sure don't help calm my already frayed nerves:
Accuracy Of Polls a Question In Itself
Skeptics Challenge Assumptions Made

Here are a few of the symptoms of EAD (Election Anxiety Disorder):
1. Do you wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat with a disembodied head of John McCain chasing you to Canada?
2. Do you feel sick to your stomach every time somebody mentions Sarah Palin, Alaska, or the phrases "you betcha" or "guys and gals?"
3. Do you refresh the web sites 538.com or HuffPo more than twice every hour?
4. Have you begged your physician for a few xanax or valium just to get you through until next Wednesday?
5. Are you so blasted by the time that Rachel Maddow comes on that you have to stay up and watch her show again (which fortunately isn't a problem, as you haven't slept for at least a week)?
6. Is your credit card bill filled with charges to Obama for America, the DNC, and your local senatorial candidate?
7. Are you so disgusted that you can barely wave to your neighbors who have a McCain/Palin sign in their yard?
8. Do you listen to Stephanie Miller, Thom Hartmann, and Randi Rhodes all day at work until you are about to scream?
9. Are you watching Barack Obama's half hour show on the TV right now?
10. Are you a freakin' nervous wreck and have your friends and co-workers suggested that you ignore politics for the next week, but you know that it would be easier to give up heroin if you were a junkie?

If you answered yes to more than five of the above questions then you are likely suffering from EAD. All I can say is hang in there, stay busy by making phone calls, or voting early so that you can spend all day on November 4th driving other Democrats to the polls. Wear your Obama t-shirts, buttons, and bracelets whenever you can get away with it. Don't give up and know that we'll always have Canada if the Republicans steal 2008 (again), but I am hoping against hope that I don't have to move to Canada, that this year, this time, America will wake up and vote for a real future, a real change, real hope. Vote Obama/Biden 2008!!!

To Those 7% of PUMAs Who Still Have Not Jumped on the Obama Wagon

2008-10-26T10:01:00.003-06:00

WARNING - MAJOR RANT AHEAD (you have been warned!)

Nobody effing cares anymore - you are so irrelevant that it is just too easy to ignore you (provided that you live in a state that is going to be so blue it is almost navy - a state like New York, Massachusetts, Maryland or California). So if you live in any of those states nobody freakin' cares what you do on November 4th - you can stay home and masturbate or pick your nose or try to explain why you are so goddamn lame on your flimsy little website or blog or whatever vehicle you may chose to try to explain (or not) why you have decided to hold onto your grudge (whether it be a lingering sense that your candidate, Mrs. Clinton, was done wrong or you are just a closet racist after all - I am not suggesting that those are the only two plausible reasons why you have not yet joined the Obama campaign, but without any explanation from you, we are left guessing). Just don't try to convince any of us who have been working for the change that will benefit you and your family (partner, husband, wife, child[ren], or parent[s]), or that you had anything to do with anything positive that may happen in this country in the next four or, if we are lucky and wise enough as a nation, eight years. Just go away - we obviously don't need you on election day, and we don't need you now or anytime in the future. You have rendered yourself forever irrelevant - so just go away. Buh-bye, now and forever.... OBAMA/BIDEN 2008!!!

For a more nuanced view of the role of race in the 2008 presidential election, please see Frank Rich's piece, In Defense of White Americans, NYTimes, October 25, 2008.

Let's Hear It for Tribal Librarians

2008-10-23T17:45:00.006-06:00

This week I attended the National Institute of Tribal Librarians conference held in Catoosa, Oklahoma at the Cherokee Casino. The conference attracted participants from as far away as Alaska and Hawa'ii. It was amazing to meet and talk with tribal librarians who work on reservations and in tribal villages with very small budgets and very few staff. Yet everyone I met had such a demonstrable enthusiasm and love for their work that it was infectious and inspirational to share ideas and stories with each of them.

From the presentation given by the librarian at Jemez Pueblo, NM (Tammy Sandia) to a private discussion with Lena Fall (Whiteriver Apache, AZ), I learned so much about the day-to-day struggles and successes that occur everyday in small, rural tribal libraries across the country.

The conference programs ranged from information on using Wikis as a communication tool within libraries to a very valuable session on how to apply for basic grants from the Institute of Museums and Library Services. I made a presentation on resources and materials that would make up a core Indian law collection. I began by explaining the difference between Federal Indian Law (the law imposed on Indian people by the Federal and, to a much lesser extent, State government) and Tribal Customary Law (the internal ways that Tribal people have resolved conflicts since time immemorial). I also shared my vision - a concept introduced to the conferees on the first day of the conference by noted Choctaw storyteller and keynote speaker, Tim Tingle.

Here is the vision that I read at the beginning of my presentation:

My vision is to see the courts of this country filled with Native attorneys and Native judges who are fighting for, litigating and deciding cases that advance Indian rights, land claims, and other issues that impact and improve the lives of Indian people across the country (and throughout the world). My vision includes the revitalization and growth of tribal courts that will serve to keep alive and promote traditional values and customary law that will go on to be incorporated into federal and state law and influence the decisions that federal and state courts make. My vision also is that tribal court decisions and tribal codes and constitutions and regulations will take their rightful place alongside other cases and laws as precedential authority of the third sovereign, and that someday a Native Justice will sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

Through discussions prompted by my presentation and conversations that I had in the hallways outside the meeting rooms, I offered to send boxes of surplus law books to nascent tribal libraries whose budgets are so very small or non-existent.

Finally, I took away from this conference a renewed commitment to supporting tribal libraries as places where children (and in some cases, adults) may first encounter books and learn a love of reading that will stay with them and see them through their lives - no matter what their aspirations may be. To be a life-long reader is a great gift that is often imparted by a local librarian, and by giving that gift, a world opens up before a child's eyes and what a wonderful thing that is!

Colin Powell Endorses Obama - Wooo Hooo!

2008-10-19T07:54:00.007-06:00

The first thing I heard on NPR this morning was the great news that Colin Powell had endorsed Barack Obama for President :) You all can read all about his endorsement by clicking on the link above, but Powell's endorsement of Obama got me thinking about the other significant endorsements that Obama has garnered both before and after he earned the Democratic nomination on June 3, 2008, That is the date when Barack Obama secured enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination for president. Here's my list of the most important Obama endorsements (in no particular order):

1. Oprah Winfrey (Come on, that $2300/head partay she held for Obama was HUGE).

2. Stephanie Miller (a true Momma for Obama right from the get-go).

3. Senator Teddy Kennedy (when the patriarch of Camelot got behind Obama, people took notice).

4. Caroline Kennedy (another member of Camelot compares Obama to her father).
5. FourFreedoms Blog (a great example of the power of the blogosphere).

6. Many, many Newspapers and Magazines (among them the NYTimes, Chicago Tribune, Esquire, The New Yorker, etc....).

7. The rest of the world (Check out this ABC Poll: World Wants Obama as President).

Here's another web site that breaks down world opinion country-by-country: If the World Could Vote.

8. All but 7% of Hillary-supporters, AKA PUMAs (We knew that most of you grrrls would come around).

9. Bill Clinton (come on, Big Dawg, you can say his name!).

10. Obama's fellow candidates (Bill Richardson, John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden - duh!).

11. I know, I know, I said I would stop at ten, but I just gotta mention all of those older, white, working class folks (not to be confused with PUMAs) who put down their guns and their bibles long enough to pin an Obama button on their lapels. Here's a case in point, check out Republicans for Obama.

Way to go people - there are numerous important endorsements that I didn't have room to list, but I must give them a shout out here - Kalyn Free (Founder and Leader of INDN's List and DNC Superdelegate), Senator Claire McCaskill (an early and ardent support of Senator Obama), Al Gore (the man who will always be the 43rd president in my mind), I could go on and on, but I want to get this posted while the Powell endorsement is still hot in this 24 hour news cycle that we all live in. Go Obama/Biden 2008!

The GOP's War on Natives(both at home and abroad)

2008-10-18T09:39:00.007-06:00

Palin's Abysmal Record on Alaska Native Issues

Although Sarah Palin's husband Todd claims Native heritage on his grandmother's side of the family (Yup'ik Eskimo), this connection to Alaskan Natives has not resulted in Palin's support for Alaska Natives. In fact, Governor Palin has thwarted progress and advancement for Alaska Natives at virtually every turn. Here are just a few of the ways that Palin has failed to protect rights that matter to Alaskan Natives:

1. Palin has consistently voted and lobbied against subsistence hunting and fishing rights for Alaska Natives (it seems if you can't shoot it from a helicopter, then Palin isn't interested in hunting it). In terms of fishing rights, which are essential not only for cultural survival, but also for the very existence of Native peoples who reside in Alaska, Palin has fought to diminish the scope of the waters that Alaskan Natives can fish, in direct conflict to a Federal Court order that held: "Congress in 1980 had expressly granted the U.S. Interior and Agriculture Departments the authority to regulate and protect Native and rural subsistence fishing activities in Alaska."(Decision entered May 15, 2007, Docket No. 110).

2. Palin Has NOT Supported Tribal Sovereignty
"So extreme is Palin on tribal sovereignty issues that she has sought to block tribes from exercising any authority whatsoever even over the welfare of Native children, adhering to a 2004 legal opinion issued by the former Murkowski Administration that no such jurisdiction exists (except when a state court transfers a matter to a tribal court). Both the state courts and the federal courts have struck down Palin's policy of refusing to recognize the sovereign authority of Alaska Tribes to address issues involving Alaska Native children. Native Village of Tanana v. State of Alaska, 3AN-04-12194 CI (judgment entered Aug. 26, 2008) (Ak. Super. Ct.); Native Kaltag Tribal Council v. DHHS, No. 3:06-cv-00211- TMB (D. Ak.), pending on appeal No 08-35343 (9th Cir.)). "
This attack on Tribal Sovereignty runs counter to established federal law (Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 U.S.C. 1901 et seq., 2000, and numerous federal court decisions, among them, the pre-eminent Supreme Court case on the issue of the welfare of Indian Children Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians v. Holyfield, 490 U.S. 30, 1989.)

3. Palin Has Attacked Native Languages:
Governor Palin has repeatedly refused to accord proper respect to Alaska Native languages and voters by refusing to provide language assistance to Yup'ik speaking Alaska Native voters.

Ángel Franco/The New York Times
Anna Nick, a local elder, is the lead plaintiff in a federal lawsuit demanding that election ballots and referendum questions also be available in Yup’ik. I want to know what I am voting on, she said through a translator. (See the NYTimes, "A Visit to Akiachak").

Why the Colombian Free Trade Agreement Hurts Indigenous Peoples

This is from a Statement issued by the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia:
We act with precise urgency. We risk our lives and offer our lives for life. We struggle with all our capacity against the sophisticated propaganda that is nothing more than well-crafted lies, against laws and measures that impose the interests of others against life itself and justice. We call on therefore, on the wisdom, the serenity and the respect that comes with dialogue. We love and defend dialogue. But we do so mobilized with firmness. We are people of our word and of dialogue. We live it through our assemblies, and within our Life Plans. Everything that we have created is based on a process of dialogue between contradictions and differences. We therefore need and call on an interlocutor who is legitimate, with whom we can dialogue. And we are totally committed to engage in this process.

What is it that we are proposing?
* That the necessary conditions for a process of dialogue are immediately established, in order to discuss the five main points of the agenda that we propose.
* That the dialogue is carried out under the watch and with the backing of legitimate and unquestionably credible persons, and with authority that is recognized in any part of the world.
* That in this dialogue, every sector of society is represented, according to democratic mechanisms of participation, giving priority to the majority of the population that has been excluded, marginalized and exploited.
* That honesty, truth and respect become non-negotiable conditions for the development of this dialogue, and those that violate these principles are excluded from participating in the process.

United State Government Seeks to Undermine the Government of Bolivia

It is no secret that the Bush/Cheney administration is not supportive of the government of Evo Morales, the first Indigenous, democratically-elected president of a Latin American country since the Spanish invasion of that territory over 450 years ago, but it turns out that their dislike of the Aymara Native has manifested itself in several covert actions that seek to undermine Morales' administration. Among the actions taken by the Bush/Cheney administration is one that seeks to suspend longtime U.S. trade benefits for Bolivia because of that country's failure to cooperate in drug-fighting efforts in the past year, the top U.S. trade official said on Friday, but Morales stated yesterday that his country would rather forego the U.S. aid than live under the threat of U.S. oppression (Bolivia Won’t Bow to the US, says Morales).

The above-mentioned stories represent just three ways that Indigenous peoples across the Western hemisphere are struggling to maintain their rights, their liberties, and their very way of life. It is no coincidence that these rights are threatened by the Bush/Cheney/McCain/Palin political party, and all the more reason why we need to elect Obama/Biden in just three short weeks. During the final presidential debate, when asked about the Colombia Free Trade Agreement, John McCain enthusiastically endorsed the Agreement, Barack Obama expressed reservations about jumping into another free trade agreement that may end up supporting a regime that oppresses its own people and may be responsible for death squads attacking union leaders. These are some of the facts that may not receive much coverage, but need to be considered by voters who are about to go to the polls very soon and cast what may well be the most important vote of their lives. Viva Obama/Biden 2008!

Happy Indigenous Rights Day!

2008-10-13T05:42:00.006-06:00

"What I have seen in recent political rallies for McCain and especially those for Governor Sarah Palin, frightens me – for Senator Obama’s life and for our country in very dangerous times. I hear the voices of fear – unfounded fear of a black man to serve as our national leader; and I see the faces of hate that such irrational fear generates. They are the voices and faces of fear and hate that we saw in photos and reports in the 1960s of white men and women screaming hate-filled, racist epithets at courageous black children being escorted by soldiers into their first day of a public school, and at the brave young black woman entering the University of Alabama, theretofore not open to blacks. Saying nothing of his qualifications, which to me have been manifestly obvious, the election of Senator Obama will signal to the entire world community a welcome change. America will be seen in a new light, a light in which our enemies and antagonists will find it difficult to make their mischief against us. And here in America we can take a new pride in our system and in our people. More importantly, we can look into the faces of our children, regardless of any color or gender, and tell them in honesty that any of them, if they aspire to it, can become President of the United States. That alone, to me, is worth the risk that those – both serious opposition and cynical bigots alike, see in his liberal proposals and his lack of experience.
Barack Obama is a man for our time, and we must not let that pass."
Charles Trimble, 73, Oglala Lakota, born and raised on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.

Here's a link to news from Indian Country: Indianz.com

Song for Sarah

2008-10-11T14:19:00.002-06:00

This great little ditty was posted on Facecrack by Raine of FourFreedoms fame. I now give you all a song dedicated to Mrs. Todd Palin:

The Measure of a Religion

2008-10-11T10:34:00.012-06:00

As far as religion goes, I was reared in the Society of Friends (Quakers) and I have throughout my life attended various Quaker Meetings, in Albuquerque, Monteverde, Costa Rica, Portland, and now I have recently begun attending again the Green Country Friends Meeting here in Tulsa. I consider myself Quaker in the way a person whose parents arrived in this country from Italy must consider her/himself Italian. It is my heritage, however, I do not consider myself Christian. That may be a contradiction that my mother and others who practice the Christian religion cannot reconcile, but it makes perfect sense to me. Long ago I decided that one of the best ways to evaluate a religion is to observe those who practice the religion and watch and see how their belief system manifests itself in their lives. Frankly, I have not been very impressed by the behavior of most who call themselves Christian. They strike me as a tremendously judgmental and intolerant lot and quite prone to war and violence although they ofter refer to their savior as the "Prince of Peace."

This week I had two occasions to reflect on religion. On Wednesday evening I went to see Religulous, Bill Maher's cynical and comedic take on the three great religions - Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Maher's premise, in a nutshell, is that is very difficult (in his case, impossible) for someone to suspend his/her rational thought and believe in such concepts as the virgin birth of Christ, the notion that Adam and Eve were cavorting with dinosaurs, or that scientists the world over are wrong about the age of the earth and a little concept called "evolution." Maher points out the that "faith" by its very definition suggests that there are things, ideas, and beings out there that are not verifiable, but must be accepted as fact if one is to consider her/himself a true believer. That is a suspension of reality as we experience it that both Bill Maher and I are not willing to make.

Ringu Tulku Rinpoche

In contrast to the thoughts I had after watching Religulous, I had a very different experience on Thursday evening. That night I attended a lecture given by the Ven. Ringu Tulku Rinpoche - a Tibetan Buddhist monk and teacher whose talk was entitled "Daring Steps Toward Fearlessness." I was struck immediately by the very realistic belief system that the monk began describing. He talked about how we can change our outlook and ourselves to be more in the present and to show more compassion to others. There was nothing in the monk's lecture that suggested I should suspend my rational thought and accept on blind faith a story that seemed incomprehensible to me. Rather it was just the opposite - the Rinpoche discussed how important is was for a practitioner of Buddhism to become more aware of her/his surroundings, of the reality of which we are a part, and to not deny reality for some notion of an unfathomable faith in a higher power.

In 1987 I traveled to Tibet, and one of my most enduring memories of that trip is the true kindness and generosity of the Tibetan people. The Tibetan people, in spite of their horrible treatment at the hands of their Chinese occupiers, were gracious and friendly to me, an obvious outsider. They welcomed me to join their pilgrimages and shared the chang and tsampa that they had with me, and they were so very appreciative of the photos of their revered leader, the Dalai Lama, that I had brought along to distribute as I traveled through their impressive land.

If a religion can indeed be measured by those who practice it, I must surely take my hat off to the people of Tibet and their particular form of Buddhism. They are so peaceful in the face of such overwhelming strife and violence that the Chinese have perpetrated on them. The Dalai Lama, their spiritual and political leader, to this day counsels non-violent responses to all wrong-doing, a remarkable response when one realizes the extent of injury and violence that has been done to the Tibetan people. Indeed, if John McPalin ends up stealing the election this November I have a notion that I should go to Dharamasala, India (the home-in-excile of the Dalai Lama) and take up Tibetan Buddhism. Om-mani-padme-huum...

Campaign Cartoon (10/08/08)

2008-10-07T20:50:00.003-06:00

Tom Toles
Gamblin' Grampy McAbout-to-blow doubles down.
Enjoy!

Downticket Candidates

2008-10-05T19:40:00.006-06:00

So everybody is talking about the Vice Presidential Debate (or at least the fabulous Saturday Night Live parody that can be viewed here if you still haven't seen it):

along with the top of the tickets and what kind of strategy each will bring to the debate on Tuesday night. But those candidates aren't the only candidates running. There are a number of candidates who are running for a seat in Congress. Here in Oklahoma we have a young politician, Andrew Rice, who is running an uphill battle against one of the most out-of-touch members of the U.S. Senate (Jim Inhofe). Most recent polls show Andrew Rice within striking distance of Jim Inhofe, and as a resident of Oklahoma I am hoping beyond hope that Rice can send Inhofe back to the Sooner State and bring a real change not only to Oklahoma but also to the Nation's capital.

Another significant challenge to a GOP incumbent Senate seat is Al Franken who, as of today, is leading Norm Coleman in Minnesota. Another important race is out in New Mexico where Tom Udall is running against Heather Wilson for the seat currently held by Republican stalwart Pete Domenici. In Alaska, Mark Begich is trying to unseat the currently indicted Ted Stevens (whose trial is ongoing in Washington D.C.). Other possible pick-ups for Democrats this November include Kay Hagan in North Carolina (who is poised to upset Elizabeth "Enough with the Viagra, Bob" Dole). Jeff Merkley is running a very tight race against incumbent Gordon "I'm just a RINO - Republican-in-name-only" Smith. In Virginia, Mark Warner is up 20% points plus on Jim Gilmore. Last but certainly not least, Jeanne Shaheen is in a very tight race against John Sununu up in New Hampshire. Many of these races will depend on the turn-out and the enthusiasm that voters show for the top-of-the-ticket candidates (Obama or McCain).

Just another reason why it is so important to not only cast your vote for the Democratic ticket (if you claim to be a Democrat!), but also follow through and mark the rest of your ballot for the Democratic Senate and House candidates. Obama and Biden are going to need a working majority to begin the monumental work that it will take to clean up the colossal mess left by the Bush/Cheney administration.

Here's Obama's latest ad to counter the incessant attack ads from the McBush camp:

For a hilarious satirical piece on Mrs. Palin, please read the Four Freedoms Exclusive penned by the fabulous Velveeta Jones.

In Case You Missed the Debate Last Night....

2008-10-03T05:48:00.001-06:00

Well, it wasn't the train wreck that we had all hoped for, but Governor Palin's debate answers were vapid, shallow and completely void of any substance. Senator Joe Biden (D - DE) did a respectable job and did show some real knowledge and some detail in his answers. Of course, he didn't announce at the onset that he reserved the right to ignore any questions and not answer a question in the way that the moderator or the audience might expect. Meantime here's a nice summary of Palin's thought-process during the debate (courtesy of Daily Kos).

Senator Bernie Sanders Offers a Bit of Sanity

2008-10-01T17:30:00.003-06:00

"Having mismanaged the economy for eight years while continually insisting that the 'fundamentals of our economy are strong,' the Bush administration now wants the middle class of this country to bail out Wall Street. Meanwhile the wealthiest people, those who have benefited most from Bush's policies and are in the best position to pay, are being asked for no sacrifice at all. This is absurd."

Senator Bernie Sanders, October 1, 2008

Okay, okay, I admit that I have probably crossed the line from having a passing interest in politics to being a full-blown political junkie. Here's the proof - it is 4:45pm (CST) and I am watching C-SPAN2. At the moment Senator Bernie Sanders (I - VT) is offering an amendment that actually makes sense - it would place much of the burden of this colossal bailout on those who are responsible for creating this mess. Here is the most salient detail of the Sanders Amendment: "In the case of a taxpayer other than a corporation, there is hereby imposed (in addition to any other tax imposed by this subtitle) a tax equal to 10 percent of so much of modified adjusted gross income as exceeds $500,000.00 ($1,000,000.00 in the case of a joint return or a surviving spouse."

I hope that this amendment is taken seriously and attached to the bill that the Senate is debating today, but I don't hold out much hope for that. I have heard many senators talk about how this piece of legislation may return a good part of the $700 billion tab to the taxpayers who are being asked to front this astronomical amount of money, it may even generate a profit for taxpayers. That makes me laugh if we weren't talking about such a huge sum of money. It brings to mind remarks that we heard during the run-up to the Iraq war that the oil from Iraq would pay for this incursion into a country that had not attacked us. Now almost a trillion dollars later, the Iraq war has not paid for itself. In fact, the Iraqi government has over 10 billion dollars in a New York bank, no lawmaker has susggested that that money be used to pay for the costs of rebuiliding a country that is in shabbles.

So I despair that taxpayers will ever see any reward or repayment for their largesse. American taxpayers will be played the fool again, and again, and we will take it, because our voices are so easily discounted. I am angry at Senator Obama, Senator Dodd, Senator Schumer, and many other Democrats who are so eager to pass this admittedly-flawed legislation. I applaud Senator Bernie Sanders who at least attempted to put the responsibility of this fiasco at the feet of those who caused it. I will hold my breath and wait and see if his amendment passes and makes this bailout a little more palatable to those who will ultimately feel the sting of this bill. I fear that I will pass out when the vote is taken.

Read a Banned Book This WeekMake a Librarian's Day :)

2008-09-30T06:44:00.014-06:00

Some of the Banned Books of 2006:

This week is the week that the American Library Association marks Banned Book Week. It is a week to focus on many of the books that at one time in the history of this country have been censored or outright banned and even burned in the public square. We have all heard the story about how then Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin approached the public librarian in that town and asked her about the process of removing certain books from the shelves. Mrs. Palin subsequently fired the librarian Mary Ellen Emmons, who was later reinstated after a public outcry over Palin's actions. See Palin pressured Wasilla librarian TOWN MAYOR: She wanted to know if books would be pulled.

Also see ABC Investigates Sarah Palin's Book Censorship:

Book banning is nothing new, but the stalwart defense against censorship has often been taken up by librarians who by their very profession, understand the value of an informed citizenry in a robust democracy. This morning on NPR they presented information about the short-term successful banning of The Grapes of Wrath - a book that the proponent of its banning had apparently never read. See 'Grapes Of Wrath' And The Politics of Book Burning

Here is a list of books that have been subject to bans or community controversy (from the ALA web site):
The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2006” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:
“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, for homosexuality, anti-family, and unsuited to age group;
“Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar for homosexuality, sexual content, drugs, unsuited to age group, and offensive language;
“Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor for sexual content and offensive language;
“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler for sexual content, anti-family, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison for sexual content, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz for occult/Satanism, unsuited to age group, violence, and insensitivity;
“Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher for homosexuality and offensive language;
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky for homosexuality, sexually explicit, offensive language, and unsuited to age group;
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison for offensive language, sexual content, and unsuited to age group; and
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier for sexual content, offensive language, and violence.
Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.

Here is a link to the background of the situation in Kerns Country in Califormia that instigated the banning of "The Grapes of Wrath."

Here's a great review of a book that chronicles the sage of the banning of "The Grapes of Wrath:"
Forbidden Fruit: The Banning of The Grapes of Wrath in the Kern County Free Library

Thank god for the steadfastness of librarians across the country who hold the line against censorship and book banning.

Bi-Partisanship Be Damned - Do the Right Thing !!!

2008-09-29T18:24:00.007-06:00

So here's the way the deal (didn't) go down: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson comes to Congress with a two and a half page Bill that he exclaims that Congress must pass, "without clutter" as soon as is humanly possible. Congress is taken off-guard and in their stunned state agree that there is a CRISIS and begin to work with what Sec. Paulson handed to them (mistake number one - they should rather have taken a few deep breaths, sat down and looked at the financial situation). This is especially true since the Bill contained language as cited below:["Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Talk about a recipe for a disaster. (emphasis mine).]

At that point the Democrats should have called upon their best minds and gone to their drawing boards and crafted a plan of their own - a plan that would include a bailout for people who are about to lose their homes because of lousy loans that they signed, but may have been presented to them in suspect terms at the onset. All the while, we can't forget to point to the source of this fiasco. That is the Republican Party, specifically the Bush/Cheney administration who are responsible for this disaster. So that was the Democratic congress's second big mistake, but the good news is it is not too late to correct it. Rather, the ball is in the Democrats court and I suggest that they go for an overhead slam,. It will be an easier sell now that they have tried to walk the bi-partisan path and for their efforts they got a one huge Bronx cheer.

The Dems need to see this as a fabulous opportunity, not something about which to throw up their hands. The GOP owns the mess - the Dems need to own the solution. They need to create a Bill that is palatable to most Americans - give a break to those who are about to face foreclosure, they need to give bankruptcy judges the power to rework people's balance sheets so that their debtors get something (which is almost always better than nothing), and give people a way out. All of this needs to be done before Congress ever even turns its attention to the fat cats on Wall Street. In fact, giving the people of this country those tools and that kind of flexibility just might solve the problem or at least buy us enough time to work on the credit/financial big money trouble that we all see is out there.

If ever there was a time for the Democratic Party to stand up and stand tall and take the reigns and show the country who the true leaders of this country are, now is the time. They need to put a cap on CEO pay, not take up the mantle of the government, thereby putting the true conservatives in a bind - I don't believe that they want to see the government involved in the market place any more than the Democrats want to interject themselves on behalf of the government (which may I remind you is still the Bush/Cheney administration.) So the Dems need to place the problem squarely where it belongs and that is in Bush, Cheney, and Paulson's lap.

So what we need in this bill is to regulate the industry whose gross excesses got us into this mess. Regulate, regulate, regulate. Got that Dems? Democrats - YOU ALL have a majority - use it. So it may not pass the Senate, at least you'll be working from your perspective, NOT THEIRS. You can point to the Republicans as the roadblocks, the obstacles, the PARTISANS :D Get to work Democrats and if you need us you know where to find us... out on Main Street.

It's Always Been "McCain First,"Country Be Damned

2008-09-28T11:46:00.011-06:00

"It’s that utter power vacuum that gave McCain the opening to pull his potentially catastrophic display of economic “leadership” last week. He may be the first presidential candidate in our history to risk wrecking the country even before being voted into the Oval Office."

Frank Rich, McCain’s Suspension Bridge to Nowhere, NYTimes, September 28, 2008

As Frank Rich has so cogently written in this morning's NYTimes, John McCain will do or say absolutely ANYTHING to become president of these United States. Allow me to count the ways in which this "maverick" candidate has sold his soul for a ticket to the White House and explain why all his twisting in the wind, flip-flopping to a greater degree than any other candidate in modern history, and resorting to sheer gimmickry has or at least should have lost any support for his candidacy that he may once have legitimately had.

It has always been "McCain First," as a story by a fellow POW in Hanoi pointed out, McCain was not the only soldier to be offered an early release. It was a common offer and one that all men imprisoned by the North Vietnamese rejected. Although that does not mean that all POWs were released. See McCain and the POW Cover-Up (originally appeared in The Nation). It seems that one of the hallmarks of McCain's hero status and a huge rationale for his qualifications for president are built on a sham.

This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg when it comes to the scams, deceit and outright lies McShame has told on his path to the White House. Back in the 2000 presidential campaign McCain called Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson "agents of intolerance." On April 2, 2006 John McCain said on Meet the Press very clearly that he no longer believed that Jerry Falwell was an agent on intolerance. Had Falwell changed? Or did McCain decide that he needed the support of the right-wing religious fundamentalist nutjobs to win the presidency? If this were an isolated incident, I might be willing to give McCain the benefit of the doubt, but it was rather the first in a long line of political about-faces that were transparently done to get McCain elected.

As the time to cast our votes draws nearer, the flip-flops have a stronger smell of desperation, and the gimmicks seem to be getting even more incredible and obvious. From the selection of the highly unqualified Sarah Palin for his vice-presidential choice to his latest theatrical move to "suspend his campaign," it has become clear to me that the only element John McCain has ever put first is himself.

As for the role of the Main Stream Media (the group that McCain used to refer to as "his base"), they seem to be slowly coming around to the realization that the "Straight Talk Express" has been delivering anything but straight talk for some time now. And as nobody likes to be played as a fool (even the press corps), they have finally started pointing out some inconsistencies in McSame's policies. McCain, who has not voted since April 8, has now missed five-and-a-half months of roll calls in the Senate, during which 115 votes have been held. According to a database created by washingtonpost.com, McCain has missed more than 64 percent of his votes in the 110th Congress, more than any other senator. (Washington Post, 09/27/08). Is it any wonder that McCain is having trouble running a presidential campaign and keeping up on the crisis du jour at the Capital? That's all the proof I need to vote for Obama in November. Obama can walk and chew gum at the same time - a challenge that eludes Grampy McSame.

Here's a link to the full text of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 Read it and weep :(

Read David Sirota's Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Wall Street's $700 Billion Bailout

For a much more palatable solution, read: Trickle-Up: What a Progressive Bailout Would Look Like

Pathetic Grampappy and the 700 Billion Dollar Boondoggle

2008-09-27T08:47:00.006-06:00

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
Forbes, September 23, 2008

Soomebody better tell John McCain that sometimes the president needs to walk and chew gum at the same time, in other words, he/she sometimes needs to multitask. However, I am so glad that Grampy McSame decided to rally and join Barack Obama in Oxford, Mississippi for the first presidential debate. A debate in which ole Grampy managed to get through without incessant "blurting out of random crap."

But back to DC for more Bail Out Fun Plans - a plan that was about to come together until John McCain swooped into town and got behind the radical right's idea that what this fire needed was more gasoline, i.e. less regulation is the key to solving a situation that was brought about by virtually dissolving any oversight and regulation. This makes sense only if you believe semi-fascist, former-president Ronnie Reagan's infamous line that the nine most frightening words in the English language are "I am from the government and I am here to help you." At this point I think that it is a good thing that the politicians inside the beltway are bringing other ideas to the table, rather than swallowing Bush's urgent plea to pass his ridiculous Bill hook, line and sinker. Because sink is what Bush's Insane Bill of No Accountability, Oversight or Judicial Review would do to our already gigantic financial debacle. Never mind the fact that this Bill (as suggested by Bush) puts all the power for resolving this colossal failure in the hands of one man whose last job before he became Secretary of Treasury happened to be the CEO of Goldman Sachs. A job that paid Paulson over 38 million dollars in 2005. With that glaring conflict of interest staring them in the face, I applaud Congress for going back to the drawing board to rewrite this horrible piece of legislation. I just hope that saner heads of Representative Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd prevail and that while they send billions of dollars to Wall Street they don't forget to give the taxpayers a stake in the game that they are essentially buying, along with making sure that excessive CEO pay is checked, and that the Bill includes assistance for those people who are about to lose their homes in foreclosure. It also should include some measure of oversight and regulation to insure that this boondoggle doesn't beset us again in the foreseeable future.

Here are some links for further reading on the Financial Crisis of 2008 (how we got here and how we can get out, and a few other issues that we must consider during this feast of foreclosure and crisis of credit that is going on across America):

See Brian Wingfield and Josh Zumbrun's article in Forbes (see quote at top of post) The Paulson Plan - Bad News For The Bailout

10 Ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) Without Soaking Taxpayers in Debt

McCain's Economic Plan: Blurt Out Random Crap

As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too

Privatizing Profits, Socializing Loses

2008-09-23T21:20:00.011-06:00

"When you privatize profit and socialize risk, it's a prescription for lack of discipline,"
Rep. Jim Leach (R - Iowa), Chairman of the House Banking Committee in the 1990s.

"This administration is asking for a $700 billion blank check to be put in the hands of Henry Paulson, a guy who totally missed this, and has been wrong about almost everything. It's almost amazing they can do this with a straight face. There is clearly skepticism and anger at the idea that we'd give this money to these guys, no questions asked."
Dean Baker, Co-director, Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington

What the Hell?
I had been attempting to educate myself on the sub-prime mortgage mess ever since Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were bailed out, but today I gave up. I don't need to know any more than it is WRONG for taxpayers to bear the burden of the colossal financial mess that has its roots in the GOP deregulation madness that has finally come home to roost. No oversight equals no accountability. There are reasons why we are a country of laws - laws that apply to corporations as well as the average Joe. When the free marketeers finally succeeded in getting the government off of their back, they ran their ships into an iceberg, and now they want the government (read: average Joe Taxpayer) to bail them out. I say no way, not on Bush/Cheney/Paulson's terms. Not with this language in the legislation: "Decisions by the Secretary [of the Treasury] pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." Talk about a recipe for a disaster.

There has been a piece floating around the internets entitled This is Your Nation on White Privilege, in which the author Tim Wise contrasts differing perspectives on various situations as viewed through a lens of race. This bail out smacks of the ultimate white/corporate/male/wealthy privilege that would never fly if the entity that needed the bail out were African-American working class families who just couldn't come up with the mortgage payment or pay a credit card bill. We know that this is true because there is little discussion of actually helping out the folks who can't pay their mortgages, rather all of the seven hundred billion dollars would go to the corporate fat cats who offered and signed off on those risky loans in the first place. This is a classic case of corporate welfare, and I, for one, hope that Congress calls McBush's bluff on this bail out scheme and "Just says no."

Last week I wrote the following in anticipation of the next shoe to drop, little did I anticipate that the shoe would be not just another shoe, but an Imelda Marcos-sized closet of shoes. A case on point: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac get major bail-out, then AIG. Who's next? The answer to that question is the entire financial industry, every sub-prime mortgage lender, every hedge fund manager, every speculator, every derivative actor, every short-seller, every fly-by-night CEO and risky banker, every person who is working on Wall Street.

“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are so large and so interwoven in our financial system that a failure of either of them would cause great turmoil in our financial markets here at home and around the globe. This turmoil would directly and negatively impact household wealth: from family budgets, to home values, to savings for college and retirement. A failure would affect the ability of Americans to get home loans, auto loans and other consumer credit and business finance. And a failure would be harmful to economic growth and job creation.”
Henry Paulson, Secretary of the Treasury (NYTimes, September 7, 2008)

Some background information for those who are not economists or Security and Exchange Commission insiders:
Set up by the government - but run privately - Fannie and Freddie (Both "government sponsored entities"or GSEs) have been in the business of backing mortgages since 1968. Like any re-insurer that backs up loans, they make it easier for banks to issue riskier mortgages at lower rates. That means more mortgages for more families. Today Frannie and Freddie either own or back up 41% of home mortgages.

The companies ply their business in a number of ways. First, they buy mortgages from banks, savings and loans, and other mortgage lenders, freeing those lenders' cash to make more loans. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pay for those mortgage purchases by selling bonds in the public markets. They also guarantee mortgage-backed securities, investments sold on the open market that are backed by pools of thousands of home mortgages. The system is known as the secondary mortgage market.

Both before and after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became private companies, the system helped make credit widely available. The companies, which were created by Congress but are owned by investors, suffered more than $9 billion in mortgage-related losses last year, and analysts expect those losses to grow this year. Because they were chartered by Congress, both companies have the implied, if not legally binding, backing of the government. That allows them to sell bonds at lower interest rates in the open market because investors perceive them as safer.

Finally, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac securities -- their bonds and mortgage-backed securities -- are one of the basic tools of financial-institution spreadsheets in the United States and abroad. U.S. banks buy billions of dollars worth of them a year. Further, because of the perceived safety, federally insured financial institutions can hold high concentrations of the government-sponsored-enterprise securities, well above that allowed of other securities. Those many tentacles into the financial system are the main reason why some -- most prominently Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- have expressed concern about "systemic risk." That is, under their current structures, if Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac falter, the shock to the system could be too great, and the financial risk to the government too heavy, to bear.

Fannie and Freddie do not lend directly to home buyers. Rather, they buy mortgages from banks and other lenders, and thereby provide fresh capital for home loans. The companies keep some of the mortgages they buy, hoping to profit from them, and sell the rest to investors with a guarantee to pay off the loan if the borrower defaults. Because of the widespread perception that the government would intervene if either company failed, they can borrow money at lower interest rates than their competitors. As a result, they have earned enormous profits that have enriched shareholders and managers alike: from 1990 to 2000, each company’s stock grew more than 500 percent and top executives were paid tens of millions of dollars.

Those profits were threatened earlier this decade, however, when new competitors emerged and after audits revealed that both companies had manipulated their earnings. The companies were forced to replace top executives, pay hundreds of millions in penalties and consent to strict growth limits. To keep profits aloft and meet affordable-housing goals set by Congress, the companies began buying huge numbers of subprime and Alt-A mortgages, the highly profitable loans often taken out by low-income and riskier borrowers. By the end of last year, the companies had guaranteed or invested in $717 billion of subprime and Alt-A loans, up from almost none in 2000.

“I want these companies to help with affordable housing, to help low-income families get loans and to help clean up this subprime mess. Otherwise, why should they exist?”
Representative Barney Frank, (D - Massachusetts), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

A report released earlier this month by a regulator, noted that although Freddie and Fannie had a combined $19.9 billion of “unrealized losses” on mortgage-related investments, neither company had reduced its earnings to reflect those declines. That is because they judged the losses to be temporary — in essence wagering that the mortgage market would recover before those assets were sold. Such a wager is permitted by the rules but difficult for outsiders to analyze. Both companies have also recently changed their policies on delinquent loans, which they previously recorded as impaired when borrowers were 120 days late. Now, some overdue loans can go two years before the companies record a loss.

“We’ve taken tremendous risks by loosening these companies’ purse strings. They could cause an economywide meltdown if they got into real trouble and leave the public on the hook for billions.” Senator Mel Martinez, (R - Florida), Former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Ah, Senator, more prophetic words have rarely been spoken....

If you want to follow this debacle or send a message to Congress, click here.

Sign Senator Bernie Sanders' Petition to Secretary Henry Paulson.

Read Naomi Klein's excellent piece: Now Is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine. Ms. Klein was on the Stephanie Miller Show this morning (Wed. Sept. 24, 2008). I recommend listening to the interview (it should be available at StephanieMiller.com later today).

And the McBush Mistakes Just Keep On Coming....

2008-09-19T17:32:00.002-06:00

It is jaw-dropping the number of gaffes (outright blunders or as I like to refer to them, idiotic mistakes) that have been uttered by the mouth of John McCain over the course of the last week. If these are not signs of the judgment that McSame would exercise should he be fortunate enough to steal another election for the GOP (Giddy Over Palin), then on what are we to base our decision in November?

Here's a brief run-down of the colossal poor judgments/incorrect statements/general idiocy that McCain has demonstrated since his first huge example of poor judgment - the selection of Mrs. Todd Palin to be his vice presidential candidate:

1) "Our economy, I think still—the fundamentals of our economy are strong."
John McCain, speaking on the morning of September 15

2) "Mismanagement and greed became the operating standard while regulators were asleep at the switch. The primary regulator of Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) kept in place trading rules that let speculators and hedge funds turn our markets into a casino. They allowed naked short selling -- which simply means that you can sell stock without ever owning it. They eliminated last year the uptick rule that has protected investors for 70 years. Speculators pounded the shares of even good companies into the ground. The chairman of the SEC serves at the appointment of the President and has betrayed the public's trust. If I were President today, I would fire him."

Wow. "Betrayed the public's trust." Was Mr. Cox dishonest? No. He merely changed some minor rules, and didn't change others, on short-selling. String him up! Mr. McCain clearly wants to distance himself from the Bush Administration. But this assault on Mr. Cox is both false and deeply unfair. It's also un-Presidential.

From McCain's Scapegoat, WSJ, September 19, 2008

Not only is McCain's rash rush to a populist position insincere and hardly credible, given his long history of surrounding himself with "Foreclosure Phil" Gramm and championing every opportunity to deregulate any industry that he sees a government hand lending oversight to risky business, but he also doesn't seem to understand that it is not the president's perogative to fire the duly appointed Head of the Security and Exchange Commission without cause (which includes only acts of malfeasance or negligent oversight - neither charge applies to Mr. Christopher Cox).

3) McCain on Spain Tries Lamely to Explain (copyright by mfayehadley, 09/18/08) - a bizarro scenario in which McIdiot appeared to not only know the name of the President of Spain (Zapatero), or that Spain is an ally of the United States, is a fellow member of NATO, but he also apparently is geographically-challenged, not understanding that Spain is a country in Europe not Latin America. !Que loco!

4) McSame commenting on Septembet 17, 2008, his recent visit to and oil rig out in the Gulf of Mexico: "An oil rig off of the Louisiana coast. It survived hurricanes. It is safe, it is sound, and to somehow — And by the way, on that oil rig — and I’m sure you’ve probably heard this story — you look down, and there’s fish everywhere! There’s fish everywhere! Yeah, the fish love to be around those rigs. So not only can it be helpful for energy, it can be helpful for some pretty good meals as well."

Well, I guess that McInsane hasn't heard about the three oil rigs missing in the wake of Hurrican Ike, and I guess he's bought hook, line and sinker the following myths:
"Hurricanes won’t damage oil rigs. The U.S. Minerals Management Service estimates that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed 113 offshore oil platforms and caused 124 offshore spills for a total of 743,700 gallons. In fact, damage to offshore producers accounted for 77 percent of the oil industry’s storm costs. In the wake of Hurricane Ike, there are at least three offshore oil rigs missing and 'presumed to be total losses.'"

If anyone in this country still plans to cast his/her vote for the McBush/McPalin ticket I must assume that you are one of the fortunate 400 wealthiest Americans whose net income has grown by over 600% in the past seven years. If you are not one of this tiny and, dare I say it, elite group, then I gotta ask you WTF are you thinking or have you abandoned that faculty at your neighborhood Wal-Mart? Please think about this choice that you will make in just over six short weeks and cast your vote for real change. Obama/Biden '08!

Mind Over Matter...(on turning 50)

2008-09-14T17:19:00.005-06:00

Yesterday, I had my 50th birthday and like many people facing this milestone, I had mixed feelings about celebrating the occasion. There are several cliches that I will run through just because they seem apropos - golden oldies like, "If I thought I was gonna live this long, I would have taken better care of myself," or "Turning 50 isn't great, but it beats the alternative." On a more serious note, I never really thought I'd reach this age. I have battled severe clinical depression most of my adult life, and have attempted suicide on more than one occasion. But here I am, thanks in no small part to a wonderful therapist and a fabulous psychiatrist that helped me through my most recent battle with the demon depression. Thanks also to my wonderful family who has always been there for me, no matter how badly I tried to hide from them and the world at large. And thanks also to the amazing friends that I have had the great good fortune to know, some for many, many years.

I am still in touch with my best friend from high school, although I just spent the last hour or so trying to find the obituary of my first best friend, Michele Dermond, who was not as fortunate as I, she died of a drug addiction and/or homelessness (depending on who is telling the story of her demise) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, sometime in the early 1980s. I remember my parents telling me about her death -they were friends with Michele's parents - Jackie and Ed Dermond. Ed worked with my Dad at Detroit Diesel Allison. I remember playing in the backyard of the Dermond's house off of Girls School Road. We started the fairy club. I remember walking to a Reed's Drug Store and buying a small bag of miniature Reese's peanut butter cups and sitting on a retaining wall over an almost dry creek and eating the candy while it melted on our fingers. I also remember that my Mom said to me when I told her about how we spent our afternoon, that "that is a memory you will have all of your life." And because she said that, it is so. I do remember that afternoon, the heat of a Hoosier summer, the walking and stopping to sit on the concrete wall, licking the chocolate off our fingers, hanging out with Michele, talking and laughing. We both planned to be writers, she actually wrote a diary - I just dreamed of fame and fortune. I have often tried to think about what happened in her life - we lost touch when we went off to different universities (I headed to Indiana University in Bloomington, Michele went to Ball State in Muncie, IN). I was poised to head up to visit her after we had both finished our undergraduate degrees, but a snow storm got in the way. That was the last time I talked with her - I could tell by the sound of her voice that something significant in her life had changed, but I didn't guess what it was. Not that I hadn't done my share of illegal substances by that time in my life, but I wasn't living on the streets, surviving hand to mouth, trying to score my next fix.

In any case, I just said "Hasta luego," to my parents who drove out (620 miles - I come by my love of road trips honestly) to help me celebrate my birthday. While they were here, I asked them again about what they knew about Michele's death, and they repeated the story that I remembered and have already recounted here. I picked up another piece of information that may help me as I search the vital records of Indiana, that is Michele's mother's maiden name, so I will go back online with this new piece of the puzzle and see if I can find a record of her death.

I have devoted a lot of this post to a friend now long gone, but there are certainly many friends who have been an important part of my life and I hope will always continue to be a part of my life. Not just my best friend from high school, but my two dear friends in Albuquerque, along with a group of friends that I am fortunate to work with at the University of Tulsa, and I cannot neglect to mention a new group of friends that I have met thanks to the Stephanie Miller Show and the blog, FourFreedoms. They are a great bunch of folks whose politics and good-humor have gotten me through some of the toughest times I have experienced over the past year.

Kalyn, mfaye, & Vicki at my 50th b-day party

I, like all honest people, have no idea how much more time I have to live in this world, but I am forever grateful for the people who have touched my life, those I mentioned here and those who will be forever in my past. It has been a wild ride and a good life so far, and I will continue on as long as I can - trying desperately to make a positive difference on this planet.

And She's Mean, Too :(

2008-09-04T19:08:00.000-06:00

Who would have guessed that Sarah Palin is such a beee-otch? She sure proved it last night with a speech full of lies, hyperbole, attacks and sheer hate-filled talk. Where to start? In case you missed it - here it is in all of it's hate-fueled glory. It was set-up by a string of other lie-filled speeches by Mittens Romney, Mike Huckleberry, and Rudi "Noun-verb-9/11" Ghouliani. By the time Palin took the stage the audience had worked themselves into a frenzy of attack mode, ready to hear all of the lies and hate without any expectation of substance or a real discussion of issues that face Americans today.

I couldn't figure out what Mittens Romney was going on about - his theme seemed to be it's all the fault of the "liberals" completely ignorant of the fact that liberals haven't been in charge for the past eight years. What the hell was Mitt Romney talking about? It hasn't been liberals who have raised the national debt, spending money like drunken sailors. George W. Bush & Dick Cheney are certainly no liberals. It wasn't liberals who bowed down to special interests at the expense of the people. Liberals are not the party that gave tax breaks to the richest 1% of the population, while screwing the other 99%. Liberals are not to blame for the debacle that is Iraq, nor was it liberals who have ignored all the environmental laws and allowed our world to get dirtier and dirtier. Liberals were not the ones behind giving medical care over to health insurance and pharmaceutical companies so that even if a family has insurance - they still may be overwhelmed by medical bills, get behind in payments, and lose their house or their job (and thereby losing what little health insurance they had). Liberals didn't enshrine oil and gas companies and the huge, growing world of privatization to enrich themselves and their country club cronies with millions and millions (in some cases even billions) of dollars (Allow me to name just of few of the corporations and their boards and CEOs that were greatly enriched during the reign of Bush/Cheney: Kellogg, Brown & Root, Halliburton, ExxonMobile, BP, Chevron, Shell, Smith Barney, Citigroup, Enron, and the bail out of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac). Liberals generally did not support the passage of FISA or the strong expansion of surveillance powers by the executive branch of government.None of these are problems created by liberals, they are all the legacy of the GOP, the party that has been in charge for the past eight years, the party that it is time to retire in November.

Mike Huckleberry gave his homespun sob story about his trailer park upbringing, followed by Rudi "Noun-verb-9/11" Ghouliani who had nothing substantive to say about any issue that matters to anybody.

Here is some fact checking from Palin's speech (along with a few other whoppers spoken by the greasers who warmed up the crowd) last night:

PALIN: "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform _ not even in the state senate."

THE FACTS: Compared to McCain and his two decades in the Senate, Obama does have a more meager record. But he has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year. To demean that accomplishment would be to also demean the work of Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, a respected foreign policy voice in the Senate. In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation.

PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded.Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where Alaska is the largest state in America, McCain could as easily have called it the 47th largest state _ by population.

MCCAIN: "She's the commander of the Alaska National Guard. ... She has been in charge, and she has had national security as one of her primary responsibilities," he said on ABC.

THE FACTS: While governors are in charge of their state guard units, that authority ends whenever those units are called to actual military service. When guard units are deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, for example, they assume those duties under "federal status," which means they report to the Defense Department, not their governors. Alaska's national guard units have a total of about 4,200 personnel, among the smallest of state guard organizations.

FORMER ARKANSAS GOV. MIKE HUCKABEE: Palin "got more votes running for mayor of Wasilla, Alaska than Joe Biden got running for president of the United States."

THE FACTS: A whopper. Palin got 616 votes in the 1996 mayor's election, and got 909 in her 1999 re-election race, for a total of 1,525. Biden dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses, but he still got 76,165 votes in 23 states and the District of Columbia where he was on the ballot during the 2008 presidential primaries.

From Huffington Post's Jim Kuhnhenn along with AP's Writer Jim Drinkard.

Here are a few more corrections from Gov. Sarah Palin's remarks to the Republican National Convention about her record in which she stretched the truth:

GAS PIPELINE

PALIN: "I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history. And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence. That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.

THE FACTS: Palin implies that construction has begun on a major natural gas pipeline from the top of Alaska into Canada. That is not correct. In fact, no building has begun and actual construction is years away, if it ever happens. This summer the Alaska Legislature, at Palin's request, passed a bill under which the state will issue a "license" to a Canadian energy company, TransCanada Corp., and pay it up to $500 million as an incentive to someday build this enormous project, which Alaska politicians have long sought with little success. The license is not a construction contract, and federal energy regulators have not yet approved the project. Palin also puts the price tag for the project at $40 billion, an exaggeration. This is roughly $10 billion more than most cost estimates industry players and consultants have made to date.

EARMARKS

PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation, although she has cut, by more than half, the amount the state sought from Washington this year. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to Gravina Island, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

From the Daily News reporter Wesley Loy and the Associated Press.

Read more about Mrs. Palin in the Alaska Daily News - I Have Known Sarah Since 1992...

Sarah Palin: the Least Qualified VP Nominee Ever

2008-08-31T07:27:00.011-06:00

Okay, so here is a preview of the kind of judgment that a President McCain might exercise when he is contemplating the next Supreme Court Justice. The pundits like to say that a candidate's choice for Vice Presidential candidate is the first significant and telling judgment call of the nominee's candidacy. Well then, we have quite a window into the workings of the mind of McCain. What does this selection demonstrate to us as an insight into the mind of McSame? Is he thinking that by selecting a woman he might be able to coerce a few disgruntled Hill-bots (PUMAs) to his side by adding a woman to the ticket? If this is a part of McRage's consideration, then it assumes that the PUMAs would willing disregard the fact that that Mrs. Palin is strongly anti-choice, anti-science, and pro-drilling in ANWR. I think that McInsane's thinking was more along the lines that Sarah Palin is an evangelical Christian who is anti-choice, anti-science, and pro-drilling and in this way the selection of Mrs. Palin is a blatant plea to court the far religious right of the republican party.

Here are a few biographical facts about Palin:

--She was born in Idaho in 1964, and moved with her family a few months after her birth to Wasilla, Alaska.
--She was a beauty contestant (runner-up in the Miss Alaska 1984, although in all fairness, she was named Miss Congeniality).
--She is an evangelical Christian, strongly anti-choice (even in the case of rape or incest), is anti-science (supports the teaching of creationism in science classes), and is pro-drilling (even in ANWR).
--She is the mother of five children, ages 4 mos. (Trig) to 19 years old (Track) who is set to deploy to Iraq on Sept. 11, 2008.
--She is against same-sex marriage, and supports a constitutional amendment to declare marriage as the exclusive purview of one man and one woman.
--Her husband has Eskimo heritage and is a commercial fisherman (and not so well publicized by the McSame camp is the fact that he works for BP Oil).
--Palin is currently under investigation by her own legislature for abusing her gubernatorial power by firing a state employee who refused to fire her ex-brother-in-law.
--Palin's public service experience includes one term as mayor of Wasilla (population less than 9,000), and a mere 20 months as Governor of Alaska (population just under 700,000).
--Palin is a life-long member of the NRA and a strong supporter of everybody's right to arm themselves.
--Palin is a staunch support of abstinence education, however it was revealed on Monday, Sept. 1, 2008 that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant.
--When Palin was Mayor of Wasilla, she threatened to fire a librarian for not removing books from the shelf that Palin claimed had objectionable language - grrrrr :[
--In 2000, Palin voted for Pat Buchanan in the presidential election.
--Palin believes that human activity has no bearing on Global Warming and that Polar Bears should not be listed as an endangered species.
--Palin has no discernible foreign policy or international experience.

All of this must be considered in light of the fact that John McInsane is 72 years old and has a history of health problems (both disclosed and undisclosed) - one of the health issues of which we are aware includes recurring melanoma (skin cancer). The odds that McRage may not make it through one term in office are currently running about 20% - 40%, growing to 50% when the skin cancer factor is taken into account. This number doesn't consider the high likelihood that McSame might become disabled by Alzheimer's or some other age-related dementia.

All in all, I sure don't feel very sanguine about having a 44 year old hockey mom making decisions that could impact the global scene for generations to come, do you? Obama/Biden '08!

If this post failed to convince you that Palin is an awful choice, please see a thoughtful piece by a true patriot and Alaskan Native, Katrina Dolchuk Jacuk, Why I Do Not Support Sarah Palin.

A view from Mrs. Palin's hometown paper, Choice stuns state politicians.

And for those who are titillated by the purely salacious, check out this from the Daily Kos.

Memorable Lines from the DNC 2008

2008-08-30T09:10:00.012-06:00

"America, now is not the time for small plans."

Barack Obama, August 28, 2008, Democratic National Convention

With the Democratic National Convention fading in the rearview mirror, here is my recap, of sorts: I offer up a collection of some of the most memorable lines (to me anyway) that were spoken in what struck me as a wealth of amazing, entertaining and well-delivered speeches. These are listed roughly in the order that they were delivered:

Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg (Monday, August 25, 2008):

"I have never had someone inspire me the way people tell me my father inspired them, but I do now, Barack Obama. And I know someone else who's been inspired all over again by Senator Obama. In our family, he's known as Uncle Teddy. More than any senator of his generation, or perhaps any generation, Teddy has made life better for people in this country and around the world."

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (Monday, August 25, 2008):

"And so with Barack Obama -- for you and for me, for our country and for our cause – the work begins anew, the hope rises again, and the dream lives on."

Michelle Obama (Monday, August 25, 2008):

"I come here as a Mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world - they're the first thing I think about when I wake up in the morning, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed at night. Their future - and all our children's future - is my stake in this election."

"My Dad was our rock. Although he was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in his early thirties, he was our provider, our champion, our hero. As he got sicker, it got harder for him to walk, it took him longer to get dressed in the morning. But if he was in pain, he never let on. He never stopped smiling and laughing - even while struggling to button his shirt, even while using two canes to get himself across the room to give my Mom a kiss. He just woke up a little earlier, and worked a little harder."

"Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them."

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (Tuesday, August 26, 2008):

"Even leaders in the oil industry know that Senator McCain has it wrong. We simply can't drill our way to energy independence, even if you drilled in all of John McCain's backyards, including the ones he can't even remember."

"Barack Obama understands the most important barrel of oil is the one you don't use. Barack Obama's energy strategy taps all sources and all possibilities. It will give you a tax credit if you buy a fuel-efficient car or truck, increase fuel-efficiency standards and put a million plug-in hybrids on the road."

Senator Hillary Clinton (Tuesday, August 26, 2008):

"Whether you voted for me, or voted for Barack, the time is now to unite as a single party with a single purpose. We are on the same team, and none of us can sit on the sidelines. This is a fight for the future. And it's a fight we must win."

"You haven't worked so hard over the last 18 months, or endured the last eight years, to suffer through more failed leadership. No way. No how. No McCain."

"We have a lot of work ahead. Jobs lost, houses gone, falling wages, rising prices. The Supreme Court in a right-wing headlock and our government in partisan gridlock. The biggest deficit in our nation's history. Money borrowed from the Chinese to buy oil from the Saudis."

"I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me? Or were you in it for that young Marine and others like him? Were you in it for that mom struggling with cancer while raising her kids? Were you in it for that boy and his mom surviving on the minimum wage? Were you in it for all the people in this country who feel invisible?"

Tammy Duckworth (Wednesday, August 27, 2008):

"The administration of George Bush—supported by John McCain every step of the way—has let our warriors down. Our troops are courageous, strong and fierce. This administration has re-deployed them until they are overstretched, stressed and strained."

"I believe that America will elect the leader who has always fought to keep our nation’s promise to our veterans. I believe America will elect the leader who can best keep this nation strong. Barack Obama is right for our military. Barack Obama is right for our veterans. Barack Obama is right for our country. And that’s why Barack Obama will be our next commander-in-chief."

Senator John Kerry (Wednesday, August 27, 2008):

"Our mission is to restore America’s influence and position in the world. We must use all the weapons in our arsenal, above all, our values. President Obama and Vice President Biden will shut down Guantanamo, respect the Constitution, and make clear once and for all, the United States of America does not torture, not now, not ever."

"To those who still believe in the myth of a maverick instead of the reality of a politician, I say, let’s compare Senator McCain to candidate McCain. Candidate McCain now supports the wartime tax cuts that Senator McCain once denounced as immoral. Candidate McCain criticizes Senator McCain’s own climate change bill. Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding? Talk about being for it before you’re against it."

"So remember, when we choose a commander-in-chief this November, we are electing judgment and character, not years in the Senate or years on this earth. Time and again, Barack Obama has seen farther, thought harder, and listened better. And time and again, Barack Obama has been proven right."

"Years ago when we protested a war, people would weigh in against us saying, “My country right or wrong.” Our answer? Absolutely, my country right or wrong. When right, keep it right. When wrong, make it right. Sometimes loving your country demands you must tell the truth to power."

President Bill Clinton (Wednesday, August 27, 2008):

"Most important, Barack Obama knows that America cannot be strong abroad unless we are strong at home. People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

"They actually want us to reward them for the last eight years by giving them four more. Let’s send them a message that will echo from the Rockies all across America: Thanks, but no thanks. In this case, the third time is not the charm."

"Barack Obama will lead us away from division and fear of the last eight years back to unity and hope. If, like me, you still believe America must always be a place called Hope, then join Hillary, Chelsea and me in making Senator Barack Obama the next President of the United States."

Senator Joe Biden (Wednesday, August 27, 2008):

"Let me make this pledge to you right here and now. For every American who is trying to do the right thing, for all those people in government who are honoring their pledge to uphold the law and respect our Constitution, no longer will the eight most dreaded words in the English language be: 'The vice president’s office is on the phone.'”

"You can learn an awful lot about a man campaigning with him, debating him and seeing how he reacts under pressure. You learn about the strength of his mind, but even more importantly, you learn about the quality of his heart. I watched how he touched people, how he inspired them, and I realized he has tapped into the oldest American belief of all: We don’t have to accept a situation we cannot bear. We have the power to change it. That’s Barack Obama, and that’s what he will do for this country. He’ll change it."

Susan Eisenhower (Thursday, August 28, 2008):

"I believe that Barack Obama has the energy and the temperament to lead this country. He knows that we can either advance on the distant hills of hope or retreat to the garrisons of fear. As our standard bearer, he can mobilize a demoralized America and inspire all of us to show up for duty. Discipline will be required, as will compromise, flexibility and quiet strength."

Vice President Al Gore (Thursday, August 28, 2008):

"With John McCain's support, President Bush and Vice President Cheney have led our nation into one calamity after another because of their indifference to fact; their readiness to sacrifice the long term to the short term, subordinate the general good to the benefit of the few and short-circuit the rule of law."

"So why is this election so close? Well, I know something about close elections, so let me offer you my opinion. I believe this election is close today mainly because the forces of the status quo are desperately afraid of the change Barack Obama represents. There is no better example than the climate crisis. As I have said for many years throughout this land, we're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the future of human civilization. Every bit of that has to change."

"And it just so happens that the climate crisis is intertwined with the other two great challenges facing our nation: reviving our economy and strengthening our national security. The solutions to all three require us to end our dependence on carbon-based fuels."

"Then let us leave here tonight and take the message of hope from Denver to every corner of our land, and do everything we can to serve our nation, our world-and most importantly, our children and their future-by electing Barack Obama President of the United States."

Senator Barack Obama (Thursday, August 28, 2008):

"These challenges are not all of government's making. But the failure to respond is a direct result of a broken politics in Washington and the failed policies of George W. Bush. America, we are better than these last eight years. We are a better country than this."

"The truth is, on issue after issue that would make a difference in your lives - on health care and education and the economy - Senator McCain has been anything but independent. He said that our economy has made 'great progress' under this President. He said that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. And when one of his chief advisors - the man who wrote his economic plan - was talking about the anxiety Americans are feeling, he said that we were just suffering from a "mental recession," and that we've become, and I quote, 'a nation of whiners.'"

"You see, we Democrats have a very different measure of what constitutes progress in this country. We measure progress by how many people can find a job that pays the mortgage; whether you can put a little extra money away at the end of each month so you can someday watch your child receive her college diploma. We measure progress in the 23 million new jobs that were created when Bill Clinton was President - when the average American family saw its income go up $7,500 instead of down $2,000 like it has under George Bush."

"Ours is a promise that says government cannot solve all our problems, but what it should do is that which we cannot do for ourselves - protect us from harm and provide every child a decent education; keep our water clean and our toys safe; invest in new schools and new roads and new science and technology. Our government should work for us, not against us. It should help us, not hurt us. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work."

"Now, many of these plans will cost money, which is why I've laid out how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."

"And just as we keep our promise to the next generation here at home, so must we keep America's promise abroad. If John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate I'm ready to have."

"We are the party of Roosevelt. We are the party of Kennedy. So don't tell me that Democrats won't defend this country. Don't tell me that Democrats won't keep us safe. The Bush-McCain foreign policy has squandered the legacy that generations of Americans -- Democrats and Republicans - have built, and we are here to restore that legacy."

"The times are too serious, the stakes are too high for this same partisan playbook. So let us agree that patriotism has no party. I love this country, and so do you, and so does John McCain. The men and women who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and Independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a Red America or a Blue America - they have served the United States of America. So I've got news for you, John McCain. We all put our country first."

"I get it. I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office. I don't fit the typical pedigree, and I haven't spent my career in the halls of Washington. But I stand before you tonight because all across America something is stirring. What the nay-sayers don't understand is that this election has never been about me. It's been about you."

"America, we cannot turn back. Not with so much work to be done. Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for. Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save. Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend. America, we cannot turn back. We cannot walk alone. At this moment, in this election, we must pledge once more to march into the future."

If you missed any of these and many other fantastic speeches, google them, watch them on YouTube, click on the speakers' names and read the full text for yourself. But more than that, believe these words, because these words are perhaps all that stands between us and a catastrophic future, a future too dismal to imagine, a future that, if it includes a McCain presidency, will destroy us all as surely as day turns to night. So get out there and work your butts off for Barack Obama (& Joe Biden) - the future of the planet demands nothing less. Obama/Biden '08!

Don't Be a Sucka For the GOP

2008-08-25T19:53:00.004-06:00

Since long before Thomas Frank wrote What's the Matter with Kansas? I have always wondered about the legions of middle-class and working-class people who vote time and time again against their own best interest, by casting their votes for the Republican party and their candidates. I can't help but feel that the Hill-bots (i.e. PUMAs) are following in the footsteps of all those other misguided souls who cast a vote against their own best interest. Why are these men and women threatening to vote for John McSame or to stay at home and not vote at all rather than casting a vote that might actually achieve the change that they were so hungry for when Hillary Clinton offered it. I just don't get it.

The GOP may not understand it either, but that won't stop McInsane and his campaign from exploiting these folks to their own ends. To wit, see McSame's recently released campaign ad that features the words of Hillary Clinton used against Barack Obama. Please don't be a dupe for the RNC!

But alas, the PUMAs of this country are post-rational (po-rash to mfaye) a phrase coined by Rachel Maddow (see recent post Mad About Maddow, this blog). Which of course is a popular intellectual's way of sayin' that there is no reasonin' wit 'em. They are living in another world. Even Chris Matthews challenged the smart one (Ms. Maddow) that her comment wouldn't win over many Hillary supporters, Maddow retorted "I'm not trying to win over any Hillary fans, I am just trying to put up a good argument." May I say that Maddow makes loads of sense to me, while the Hill-bots (I am tiring of the PUMA meme already) just don't make any sense to me at all - yet it seems that every time I try to point this out I am shouted back down by the ultimate victim's cry "But he didn't win fair and square," accompanied by stomping feet and pounding fists. A little child crying out "No, I won't eat my peas, no, I won't, I won't!" Whatever, just please don't console yourself with the thought that Obama (if he should come up short in this race), lost this race on his own. If John McInsane manages to steal this election, you better be prepared to look in the mirror on November 5th and recognize the reason why this world will come crumbling down - it is you and your ilk, and I, for one, will never ever forgive you for it. I am not kidding.

Early Impressions of Obama's VP Pick

2008-08-23T11:08:00.008-06:00

Barack Obama "is a clear-eyed pragmatist who will get the job done."
Senator Joe Biden, August 23, 2008

So, Obama's campaign selected Senator Joe Biden (D - Delaware), granted not the most creative pick, but here, today, I am prepared to defend the choice as a pragmatic one. And after eight years of right wing republican rule, I'll take pragmatism over neo-cons anytime. Here, as I see it, are the strengths that Biden brings to the ticket:

1) He brings thirty years of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - huge foreign policy experience.

2) He's from Pennsylvania (Scranton, PA) Catholic, working-class, and may be able to connect with the Hil-bots who voted for Clinton in the primaries.

3) He is a pitbull and can do much of Obama's attacking that will no doubt need to be done if this team is going to win the White House.

4) If McCain chooses to go back in time and look at some of Biden's past misdeeds, McSame opens himself up to a rehashing of the Keating Five scandal and I really don't think McInsane wants to go there.

Drawbacks of selecting Senator Joe Biden (D - Delaware):

1) He brings thirty years of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee - will open Obama up to criticism that he has abandoned his call for "Change in DC."

2) Selecting Biden, with all his years of experience, will be seen by the GOP and some PUMAs as an admission on Obama's part that he is weak on foreign policy.

3) Biden is known for his numerous verbal gaffes - they will no doubt play ad nauseam the clip of Biden saying that "Obama is a clean and articulate candidate."

4) Biden has strong ties to corporate America (after all, Delaware is where most companies that have roots in this country are incorporated).

I'm sure I've missed a few advantages and disadvantages, but the most important point that needs to be made, again and again and again, is that we must end the reign of terror that has been wielding power over this country and the world since it stole the White House in 2000. To that end we have but one choice - to cast our votes for Obama in November. Sitting out this election is tantamount to tossing up ones hands and admitting defeat, before the finish line is even in sight (a move that I will be making if the GOP steals another election in the fall).

I, for one, am glad that the Obama camp stood up and made a solid, thoughtful choice that will garner more votes for the Democratic Party (rather than picking Joe Lieberman, or Geraldine Ferraro, or some other choice that does nothing but ensure a GOP victory come November - although I still maintain that Al Gore won that race :). I admire the Obama campaign for considering not just the Democratic party base, but also all those other voters that we need to win over in November. As I said, Biden is not an exciting choice, but choosing Biden is pragmatic in the very best sense of the word, and I'll take pragmatism over the disaster that we've had for the past eight years, any day... Obama/Biden '08!!!

Mad About Maddow

2008-08-20T18:06:00.002-06:00

I just couldn't let this occasion pass without giving a shout out to our grrrrl, Dr. Rachel Maddow, Rhodes Scholar and all around great gal who just landed her own show on MSNBC. The show is set to kick off on September 8th and will follow the insightful Mr. Keith Olbermann at 8:00pm (CST). This move on the part of MSNBC is another sign that progressives are stealing more and more air time from the staid and stuffy usual political pundits that inhabit the airwaves and the myriad cable news channels. I love me some Rachel Maddow, unfortunately for me, she's taken. She and her partner, Susan Mikula, share homes in Manhattan and West Cummington, Massachusetts.

Born on April 1st, 1973, this grrrl is no April Fool. She graduated from Stanford University in 1994 with a degree in public policy then headed to England, where, as a Rhodes Scholar, she earned a doctorate in political science.

Way to go Rachel - knock 'em all dead!

Read more about this rising star: Mad About Rachel Maddow, by Rebecca Traister in The Nation.

MoDo Gets the Story, But Misses the Point

2008-08-10T10:12:00.009-06:00

This morning I was perusing the NYTimes - an activity that I do most every Sunday and I turned as I do most every Sunday to the op-ed column written by Maureen Dowd (MoDo to those of us who feel a sort of familiar relationship with this usually witty writer). She, of course, focused her column this morning on the revelation that John Edwards had an affair in 2006, an affair that he has already confessed to his wife (whom he did not leave). I make a point of these details of Edwards' affair not to excuse his actions, but rather to contrast Edwards' infidelity with another man who is much closer to becoming president (John McCain).

The McCain affair was equally tawdry; it not only took place while his then wife was suffering from sever complications from a debilitating accident, but it also resulted in a divorce - a divorce that allowed McCain to marry the multi-millionaire beer heiress, Cindy Lou Hensley - the woman who would finance McCain's entree (and continued career) in[to] the political arena. So whose infidelity is worse? I think that McCain's infidelity is much worse than Edwards' affair, namely because of the situation in which McCain left his "first family." McCain left his first wife high and dry - so much so that the former Mrs. McCain had to turn to billionaire Ross Perot to survive. So this all prompted me to leave a comment for Ms. MoDo. The comment reads as follows:

MoDo,
Shame on you for not following up this insipid coverage of the Edwards affair with an equally scolding report on the transgressions of the current Republican presumptive nominee, John McCain, who not only cheated on his wife, but didn't wait until she had fully recovered from a debilitating accident. McCain not only cheated on his wife, he left her in a compromised state. Why is everybody ignoring this more significant infidelity?
— mfhadley, Tulsa, OK

Here's a link to a more detailed list of McCain's sordid past: Phoenix Reporter Details McCain's Sordid Political Past

Here's a link to another blog post that came before this one that basically makes the same point: Bubble wrapped by the great Velveeta Jones at FourFreedomsBlog.com.

Why I Will Not Vote for John McCain, by Phillip Butler.

Judge Rules in Cobell Litigation :(

2008-08-08T19:08:00.005-06:00

After twelve long years of seemingly endless litigation, DC District Court Judge James Robertson finally gave a monetary amount to the betrayal of the Individual Indian Money account holders who have lost by most honest assessments billions and billions of dollars in mismanaged trust funds. The number that the Judge settled on was $455,600,000.00 - not even close to one billion dollars and a fraction of what the plaintiffs were seeking ($47 billion dollars). Once again the federales have screwed the Native people of this land, many of whom have died during the last twelve years of drawn-out litigation while the government kept delaying hearings, requesting postponements and otherwise attempting to wear the plaintiffs down and drain their meager resources so that they would settle for an amount far lower than what the government knew that they owed. Elouise Cobell (the lead plaintiff in this class action lawsuit), not unexpectedly, disagrees with the ruling:
"I am disappointed, to say the least," said Elouise Cobell, a member of the Blackfeet Nation of Montana. "We believe we presented a strong, compelling case that individual Indian trust beneficiaries are entitled to much more than the government's admitted mismanagement of our trust monies over the past 120 years."

Once again the federal government has failed to live up to its legal obligations as trustee for the Native beneficiaries in whose best interest it promised to act, and it has been exonerated by the courts of the same lying, cheating system for its failures.

If you would like to read the ruling that settled on the paltry amount that the government owes the Native people of this land, please click here.

If you'd like to see the complete history of this case, please visit Indian Trust: Cobell v. Kemthorne.

If you would like to read an interview by Amy Goodman of Elouise Cobell - see: Federal Judge Rules US Government Owes Group of Native Americans $455 Million for Unpaid Royalties on Drilling for Oil and Gas.

Could Nuance Undo the Dems?

2008-08-06T19:36:00.003-06:00

There are several large differences between the Democratic candidate and the Republican candidate for president, but the difference that has me worried at the moment can be summed up in one word - "nuance." Senator Barack Obama speaks in thoughtful, nuanced statements, Senator John McCain speaks (when he manages to speak at all :) ) in sound bites, slogans, phrases that once dissected are revealed as meaningless. The former takes careful listening and some thought while the latter is easily digested and more importantly easily repeated. This observation may help to explain why McCain is gaining in the polls during a year when even GOP pundits admit that the race is the Democrats for the taking. The current resident of the White House has lower poll numbers than any president has had before, the nation is sick and tired of sending our money and young men and women to Iraq and want that war to end. Here at home, Americans are weary of rising gas prices, and the concomitant rises in grocery and utility bills, never mind increasing foreclosures, bank failures, and job losses. In a word, the economy sucks. But this is not the greatest threat to the Obama presidential candidacy - it is rather the Harriets of the country who are still sitting at home licking their wounds, still playing the role of the wounded woman, the victim, if you will, of a sexist press corps, of unfair coverage, all the while ignoring the very real reasons why their candidate (Hillary Rodham Clinton) in not the presumptive nominee.

Why in all this mess would anybody do anything to continue this madness? I have a few choice words for the Clintonistas who have morphed into PUMAs (Party Unity My Ass), if you think sitting this one out will keep your hands clean, you haven't thought very far ahead. In a country in which the GOP is actively looking to disenfranchise any voter who may cast a vote for a Democratic candidate, choosing to stay home on election day will not only play right into the hands of the GOP, but will also help continue the madness and disastrous policies that have so severely damaged our country and our place in the world over the last eight years. I don't care whether you fancy yourself as Switzerland (and if you were in fact Swiss I can almost guarantee that you would be an Obama supporter) and claim to share their neutral stance; I must remind you that you live here in America and there is NOTHING NEUTRAL ABOUT THIS COMING ELECTION! Each and every vote will count only if each and every vote is cast and recorded accurately. That is a noble goal and one that we won't be able to achieve if we have good Democrats sitting on the sideline holding their noses or worse sitting at home on their superior couches, telling themselves the lie that there is anything meritorious about not voting on November 4th. So get off your non-unified party asses and head to the polls on November 4th and do the right thing for your party and your country. The future of the world and the history that we will make on that day demand nothing less!

Sometimes a Picture (or a Cartoon) is Worth a Thousand Words

2008-08-03T09:12:00.003-06:00

Da Boyz are Back in Town!

2008-07-27T10:12:00.006-06:00

Dylan & Tulsey in Jamestown, Indiana
(Summer Camp with Grandma & Grandpa)

Yesterday I drove from Tulsa, OK to Rolla, MO and met my parents who handed off my doggies to me. Da boyz had been staying with my Mom & Dad since I dropped them off over the 4th of July weekend. Tulsey and Dylan are both leaner and seem to be better behaved than they were when I left them at my folks' farm in Jamestown, Indiana. They stayed outside most all of the time while they were there (except when they were allowed in the garage when a thunderstorm blew through - thunder scares the bejesus out of the boyz like nothing else, with the possible exception of fireworks). Anyway, I just wanted to let those who are regular readers of this blog know that da boyz are back in town, and my house is once again filled with the joy and companionship that only dogs can bring. Yeah :)

A Congressional Remedy for Oliphant?

2008-07-25T06:03:00.011-06:00

Thirty years ago the Supreme Court ruled in Oliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribe, 435 U.S. 191, 98 S.Ct. 1011, 55 L.Ed.2d 209 (1978) essentially that Native Nations had no jurisdiction over non-Indians who committed crimes on tribal land. Justice Rehnquist wrote the majority opinion which held that Indian tribal courts do not have inherent criminal jurisdiction to try and to punish non-Indians, and hence may not assume such jurisdiction unless specifically authorized to do so by Congress.

This decision arguably left a jurisdictional gap that in many cases has not been adequately filled. Yesterday, the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs held hearings on a bill designed to give Native American courts and law enforcement broader authority to combat violent and sex-related crimes. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and 12 co-sponsors introduced the Tribal Law and Order Act on Wednesday. Joining Dorgan as co-sponsors to this legislation are Senators Murkowski, Biden, Domenici, Baucus, Bingaman, Lieberman, Kyl, Johnson, Smith, Cantwell, Thune, Tester.

If passed, the bill would give American Indian courts authority to impose stricter sentences, expand the courts' jurisdiction to cover more non-Indian suspects, and provide for additional law enforcement training and federal cooperation in addressing the crimes.

In a prepared statement for the hearing, National American Indian Court Judges Association Vice President Roman Duran (Tesuque/Hopi) commented:

"Tribal courts agonize over the very same issues state and federal courts confront in the criminal context, such as, assault and battery, predatory crimes, hate crimes, child sexual abuse, alcohol and substance abuse, gang violence, violence against women, and now methamphetamine along with the social ills that are left in its wake. These courts, however, while striving to address these complex issues with far fewer financial resources than their federal and state counterparts must also 'strive to respond competently and creatively to federal and state pressures coming from the outside, and to cultural values and imperatives from within.' ... Judicial training that addresses the present imperatives posed by the public safety crisis in Indian Country, while also being culturally sensitive, is essential for tribal courts to be effective in deterring crime in their communities."

Jurisdictional Variation in American Indian Criminal Justice: An Argument for Stronger Understanding and Better Methods

Amnesty International Report: MAZE OF INJUSTICE - The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA

Obama in the World

2008-07-23T14:30:00.000-06:00

Ah, summertime, time to hit the road or the airport, time to do some serious traveling. Stephanie Miller headed for England and Ireland (courtesy of the U.S. State Department - no joke!), and I just returned from a trip to Oregon (Portland and the Oregon coast). Senator Barack Obama is taking the summer travel time to visit hot spots around the world and in doing so he is exposing the depth of the hatred that has been engendered by the current Bush/Cheney administration. For right wingers, it is anathema to suggest that any American politician follow or even demonstrate the slightest admiration for anything European (such as their universal health care or the way that they manage to take care of their children and their elders), gasp! According to the Fox viewers and dittoheads, we should never look to imitate anything that is done by those socialist (damn-near communist) countries across the pond. Could it be that those who hold those Neanderthal notions are just a skosh jealous?

"Germans have fallen in love with the man many in Europe have come to see as the anti-Bush -- the man who many hope will steer America back toward the path of peace, love and happiness. Almost three-quarters of Germans would vote for Obama were they given the opportunity to do so; in France, that number approaches 90 percent. Berlin authorities are expecting tens of thousands -- maybe even hundreds of thousands -- for his appearance later this week."
Der Spiegel, July 21, 2008

It is more than a skosh ironic that while Senator Obama was busy touring Afghanistan, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine and Israel (and is on his way to Germany to speak in Berlin tomorrow), that the duly-appointed prime minister of the Republic of Iraq stated to a German magazine (Der Spiegel), in no uncertain terms, that it is time for the United States and any and all auxiliary forces to leave his sovereign nation. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki not only endorsed the very same time-table (now renamed by BushCo as a "time horizon" - laughable, if it weren't so pathetic) that Obama has been proposing for months. This development leaves John McCain in the diplomatic dust, as the Bush/Cheney administration was quick to dance around the statement made by the Iraqi Prime Minister.

In my humble opinion, this all should have been done years ago, but I agreed with Mr. Obama that this particular war should never have been fought. But now that we are there, it is way past time for us to leave. So let's get out, already... All of the media coverage of Obama's travels has Mr. McCain crying foul, but his protests that the media is enamored of Obama doesn't hold much water as CBS edited a recent interview to make McCain look much more polished and intelligent than his words might suggest. See coverage of the doctored Katie Couric/John McCain interview here. That's all from me today, folks, talk amongst yourselves, until I am over this nasty respiratory infection that has a hold of me at the moment. Carry on, kids...

A Message to Loyal Readers of this Blog...

2008-07-18T10:47:00.005-06:00

Hello Loyal Readers,

Just a quick note to let you all know that I am on the road - currently accessing the internets from the Tillamook Public Library (a loverly facilty, I might add - fund Public Libraries!!!). I wanted to also let you know that I am having trouble with my laptop. "Bad pool header" is the message I am getting whenever I try to log on, and I don't think that that is a good thing. I'll be back in Tulsa on Sunday evening and have my laptop into Geek Rescue on Monday, so I hope to be back online by Monday evening - please stay tuned... And I'll leave you all with a beautiful shot of the Oregon Coast to dance around in your heads while I am away.

In Praise of Librarians

2008-07-14T23:46:00.001-06:00

I am in Portland, Oregon attending the American Association of Law Libraries Annual Meeting and being in the company of fellow librarians (not all of whom are radical and militant, but many of whom are) I would like to point out and praise one brave member of my chosen profession who stood tall this last week and had the audacity to express a fairly innocuous sentiment (McCain = Bush) and was escorted off the premises for her simple expression of free speech. The librarian's name is Carol Kreck and she has blogged about her experience on the Huffington Post. Not only is this a curious sentiment to object to (McCain = Bush) as it would seem that any good Republican would not only welcome a comparison between a sitting president and his own party's candidate for the same office, but also it is curious that any self-respecting Republican would find fault with a sign that merely compares two prominent party stalwarts. It was even more strange that this sign caught the attention of the local police department who saw fit to escort Ms. Kreck away from an event that candidate McCain was about to appear. The event at which McCain was about to appear was being held in a public building - Denver Center for the Performing Arts. The irony apparently lost on the police who, under orders from the McCain campaign, removed and ticketed Ms. Kreck for attempting to enter the McCain campaign event.

Life Without Dogs

2008-07-09T20:28:00.005-06:00

The house is so empty when I open the door at the end of a working day, there are no creatures scratching at the door or whining (just a little bit ) from Dillie-doo-doo or Tulsey-loo-loo. I MISS MY BOYZ :( Who wouldn't miss these sweet faces?

Tulsey & Dylan

Meanwhile, Over in Afghanistan...

2008-07-07T18:45:00.002-06:00

Today in Afghanistan not only is there yet another report about a suicide bomber that killed over 40 people, but also there are reports of more civilians killed by the U.S. military in this war-torn country. That turns out to be just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to problems that are faced in this neglected war in Afghanistan (remember the first war after September 11, 2001, the one that the rest of the world all understood, why we would want to go after the very men who planned and atacked the US on that fateful day). Despite what Fred Barnes says, most experts agree that the war in Afghanistan is every bit as important, if not more so, than the war in Iraq.
It is not just the resurgent Taliban that demonstrates the price we have paid for taking our eye off the ball in Afghanistan, but the poppy crop has exploded as the Taliban uses the revenue raised from growing poppies to keep their group alive and thriving. Along with a resurgent Taliban is the danger of Al-Qaeda working with other militant groups along the Pakistani/Afghan border to reconstitute terrorist cells that send suicide bombers to Kabul and shake up the already unsteady government of President Hamid Karzai, the government that is being propped up by the Bush/Cheney administration.

"While Pakistani militants with links to the Taliban have bolstered their strength in the border areas, the Taliban in Afghanistan have clashed with international troops in the worst summer fighting since the Taliban fell seven years ago. The Taliban have resurfaced strongly in the southern and eastern parts of the country." (NYTimes, July 7, 2008)

So thanks loads, Bush & Cheney (& Condi and Gates), for letting Osama Bin Laden get away, and diverting troops and resources from the real war against those who actually attacked us on 9/11, and leaving a huge mess in your wake. But hey, that's what you're good at, it's the only thing you've ever done during your tenure in office - make a huge mess. And in this mess, like so many of your other messes (Katrina, Iraq, the mortgage crisis, the energy debacle, etc...) people have been hurt and thousands of people have died. Thanks, thanks for nothing, George & Dick.

Major Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan Since 2001 (NYTimes, July 7, 2008)

A Note to Loyal Readers of this Blog

2008-07-07T17:07:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to apologize and explain why I haven't added a new post in almost a week. On Thursday, I drove from Tulsa to Jamestown, Indiana to celebrate my Mom's birthday (and the 4th of July) and to leave my doggies (Tulsey & Dylan) at "summer camp." The house is now entirely too quiet and feels empty, but I will drive back to Jamestown (about 620 miles) at the end of July and pick up da boyz. They will no doubt be leaner when I see them next; in fact, my brother-in-law noticed that Dillie has gotten rather chubby, so we whispered that this was "fat camp" for Dylan ;) Anyway, here's a little something for you all to watch and listen to. I hope that this eye candy (Willie or Sheryl - whichever way you swing) makes up for the lack of posts.

Sheryl Crow & Willie Nelson - On the Road Again (Dedicated to RB :D )

Tacking Right - Governing Left

2008-06-29T06:55:00.005-06:00

Tacking Right – Governing Left

I have been mulling over the political moves, statements and actions that Senator Barack Obama has made over the last week or so and I think I’ve made some kind of peace with myself and with him about the various stances that he has taken. He is no doubt tacking to the center (some may even accuse him of going to the right, but I think that that is little bit of hyperbole). Here are the statements that have caused me concern over the last week: First, Obama’s response to the Supreme Court's only decent ruling at the end of this term – the one that ruled that the death penalty was not appropriate for child rapists. I agreed with this opinion, primarily because I am not in favor of the death penalty in any circumstances and even if I were, I think that children are notoriously unreliable witnesses, and are so malleable and easily influenced that little stock can be put in their testimony. So I was truly disappointed that Barack Obama came out with a statement critical of the Court’s decision. Obama said that he thought that the Court had gotten it wrong and that the decision as to whether a crime qualified as a capital crime should be left up to the states. The old "states' rights" gambit is often heard on the right when those on the other side of the political aisle feel that the Federales have interfered too directly in a right that they value (abortion and education come to mind here, although I also must point out that the “states' rights” argument doesn’t seem to apply when a state votes for assisted suicide or medical use of marijuana).

That was the first sign that Obama was looking for issues onto which he could take a more conservative stand and hopefully slide under the radar of his progressive base. But we are watching vigilantly and we notice just about every move our candidate makes, and although few of us faulted him for foregoing public campaign financing, some of his other stands of late have us shaking our heads. For instance, he not only challenged the Supreme Court decision on the Death Penalty, but he also (and I believe that this is a much more troubling stand) reneged on his promise to filibuster the FISA bill that offers retroactive immunity to telecom companies that have by all accounts broken the law.

But as Jason Rosenbaum wrote at HuffPo in an article entitled The Obama Problem:
“But the only way to hold a Presidential candidate in the general election accountable once the general election season comes around is to work for their defeat or otherwise endanger their victory. For most of us, given the alternative of four more years of deadlocked government and a stubborn, hyper-aggressive President McCain, that is not an acceptable option. I see occasional commenters writing about not lifting a finger to help Obama now that he's screwed us on FISA or other issues, but I don't think very many of us in the progressive movement are there. Am I bummed, am I pissed that Obama and most of our Democratic leaders caved in on FISA? Absolutely, and there's nothing wrong with saying so. But am I going to "hold Obama accountable" for this action? Well, no, frankly. I don't think there's a way to do that without doing something far worse. It's the nature of the American political system: winner take all, no instant runoffs, no fusion voting (except in a few states). In the months before a Presidential general election, I can't think of another alternative re the Presidential race other than doing everything I can do to help Obama win.”

So be it an unwelcome lesson in pragmatism or a cold slap in the face, we must stand by our candidate for the alternative is so horrible that we cannot or will not imagine it. I will not live in a country that continues the horrendous policies of the current Bush/Cheney administration. I could not abide the election of John McCain, so I will fight my heart out for Barack Obama and hope against hope that he is a practical person, too. And that once he gets into office he will lead again with his good heart and his fine mind and get this country back on track. It seems to me our not our only but also our best hope. Viva Obama. Si se puede! Yes, we can and we must. Peace out, everybody. (Another version of this post appears at FourFreedomsBlog)

The Guardian in U.K. Gets Obama right (Daily Kos, June 28, 2008)

Obama Supporters Take His Middle Name as Their Own (NYTimes, June 29, 2008)

Another Day...Another Report that Confirms Our Worst Fears

2008-06-24T19:03:00.007-06:00

"When it comes to the hiring of nonpartisan career attorneys, our system of justice should not be corrupted by partisan politics. It appears the politicization at Justice was so pervasive that even interns had to pass a partisan litmus test. ''
Representative John Conyers (D - MI)

So, surprise, surprise, the Department of Justice has been playing politics when hiring (and promoting) attorneys and interns. It took yet another report to confirm our worst fears about this deceitful Bush/Cheney administration. Surprise, surprise, Alberto Gonzalez (and John Ashcroft before him) politicized his department from the top down through the ranks of attorneys across the country. Those who were charged with hiring new attorneys were told to look out for "liberal" words such as "social justice" and "liberal associations" like the mention of an environmental organization on an applicant's resume. The problems is that this kind of action - so proven - is illegal.

Here is the law as it is spelled out it the Code of Federal Regulations:
"It is the policy of the Department of Justice to seek to eliminate discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, marital status, political affiliation, age, or physical or mental handicap in employment within the Department and to assure equal employment opportunity for all employees and applicants for employment."
28 CFR, Section 42.1(a)

So will this administration be held accountable for another dereliction of duty, another blatant refusal to obey the law, another situation in which they smugly lied and expect to get away with their fraud? The answer, from what we've seen so far, is unfortunately, "no, no, they won't." Imagine working in an environment that was so politically charged that if you couldn't reminisce about your law school days at Regent University College of Law where you were president of the Federalist Law Society, or if you even mentioned that summer you worked for Greenpeace, you could lose your supposedly nonpartisan job.

"[Y]ou should know that there's a lot of people who believe that these deselections are either irrational or so irrational that they are motivated by politics, and that's a problem, you know. Whatever the truth of it is, when this many people in a Department are this unhappy about something, it's going to be an issue."
Peter Keisler, the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, as quoted in An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring in the Department of Justice Honors Program and Summer Law Intern Program

Yes Virginia, America Does Torture

2008-06-21T16:44:00.005-06:00

"This report demonstrates that the permissive environment created by implicit and explicit authorizations by senior US officials to 'take the gloves off' encouraged forms of torture even beyond the draconian methods approved at various times between 2002 and 2004. In an environment of moral disengagement that countenances authorized techniques designed to humiliate and dehumanize detainees, it is not surprising that other forms of human cruelty such as physical and sexual assault were practiced. The fact that these unauthorized torture practices happened over extended periods of time at multiple US detention facilities suggests that a permissive command environment existed across theatres and at several levels in the chain-of-command. This climate allowed both authorized and unauthorized techniques to be practiced, apparently without consequence."
From the Executive Summary, Broken Laws, Broken Lives

This week the Physicians for Human Rights released a study entitled "Broken Laws, Broken Lives." The report details the findings of the Physicians for Human Rights' study that focused on several former inmates/insurgents who were incarcerated at Abu Graib, Iraq or Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The medical examinations revealed numerous pieces of evidence that corroborated the stories of the suspected-terrorists/torture-victims.

The wounds, excluding the obvious Post-Tramautic-Stress-Disorder with the accompanying depression, anxiety, inability to sleep, and problems controlling anger, include a permanent hole in a man's cheek (from being stabbed with a screwdriver), numerous shoulder injuries from being made to stay in stress positions, to any number of injuries sustained after mutliple beatings, kickings, and sexual violations. I encourage all Americans to read at the very least the executive summary of this important report and ask yourself if you are proud that money you supplied to your government in the form of taxes was put to this use. If you are half as appalled as I am then you need to contact you senators and representative and even your lame-duck president and insist that they follow the Geneva Conventions and stop torturing people in the name of keeping us safe from terrorism.

Pharmacological Integrity, Anyone?

2008-06-18T17:30:00.010-06:00

SAFE SEX NO MORE...

Imagine you are a young woman, whose boyfriend had too much to drink the night before and came over to your house and insisted on violating you. You are in high school, you cannot support a baby, and after being on hold for over an hour the next morning, you get a doctor to prescribe you a dose of RU486. The doctor thoughtfully called the 'script into the closest pharmacy to the young woman's home. But it turned out to not be a real pharmacy but rather a place where religious beliefs reign supreme, where there is another calling other than the oath that the pharmacists agreed to, where it is more than okay - it is necessary - to refuse to fill this particular prescription. Imagine this scenario and then close your eyes and imagine that it is your daughter or your niece or your sister or your friend, or that, god forbid, it is you. Imagine that you live way out of town, a good half hour's drive from the closest store, the closest drugstore. Imagine this scene...

Something has been stuck in my craw for a few years or so, but on Monday I saw an article in the Washington Post that addressed this issue and has prompted me to pen this post. The issue is one of pharmacists who refuse to fill a legitimate prescription because it somehow violates their religious beliefs. To most of these "professional pharmacists" it matters not whether the prescription is for a woman who was raped by her uncle the night before and finally was able to get in touch with her doctor and got him to call in a 'script for RU486 so that she wouldn't have to live out this crime (of which she was an innocent victim) for the rest of her life (and the potential child's life). Or it matters not to these "pharmacists" whether the woman is married or single, whether she wants to buy birth control pills or condoms, whether she is sleeping with an unfaithful husband, or whether she must deal with her husband's demands with a houseful of children already under foot.

Yet these same people ("pharmacists"), who must obtain a state license to dispense medication, have no problem filling prescriptions for Viagra or Cialis. How in the world can a pharmacist reconcile this horrible hypocrisy? What in the world do they think will happen after a man takes Viagra or Cialis (although with Cialis I understand that it may not happen for up to 36 hours)? A man will look to have sex with a woman. So why prevent a woman from protecting herself from whatever disease this man may carry or from the possibility of becoming pregnant? What if he isn't completely honest with his partner? What if he is on the down-low? What if his sexual repertoire includes furtive interludes with other men in public restrooms? Or worse yet, what if the advances are unwelcome and unwanted, yet he insists on "doing it" anyway.

This article from the Washington Post, details not only the rationale behind these "pharmacists," but also presents a tale of a new chain of drugstores that are being built across the country that will allow, encourage, ney, require, that pharmacists NOT fill prescriptions that the owner of the chain of drugstores finds morally objectionable. It is an outrage, and that is why I am using this small soap box that I have to alert women and concerned men to write to their state representatives and senators and also copy the federal equivalent on your letter or e-mail or text message. Tell them that religion has no place when it runs counter to accepted medical practice and opinion, tell them that pharmacists are free to practice whatever beliefs they may hold on their own time, but that they cannot bring those beliefs to work, they cannot use those beliefs to refuse to do a significant portion of their jobs and still expect to be hired to do their jobs. If they cannot do the work, don't plan to take this profession on as a career - period.

Tulsa Pride 2008

2008-06-17T06:41:00.000-06:00

Tulsa Pride 2008 at Centennial Park, Saturday, June 14, 2008

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-15T09:38:00.008-06:00

Happy Father's Day, Dad!

Today is a day set aside to send cards and ties and stamps and t-shirts to our Dads. It is a day to celebrate the most important man in many of our lives, to, at the very least, give him a phone call. That is if you are lucky enough to be like me and have a wonderful man as a father and to have a father who is still alive. (Condolences to the family of Tim Russert). Unlike so many of my friends my age who have lost their fathers at ages way too young, I am lucky to still have my Dad with me here on this planet, only a phone call away. There is nothing more reassuring than hearing the voice of my Dad on the other end of the phone.

My father is a great human being - in so many ways, he is an excellent father, grandfather, husband, brother, uncle and he was a dutiful son. He is known for his frugality - "Bargain Bob" is a nickname that holds much credence for my Dad, as he has always been a coupon user, a bargain bin hunter, a sales watcher and through his life he has no doubt saved thousands of dollars which he has invested wisely and now is enjoying the fruits of his frugality, by carefully spending the money he so assiduously saved.

My Dad got up every morning of his working life and scrapped the ice off the windshield of his used high mileage cars in the winter and rode to work in the heat of the summer in cars that rarely had air conditioners. He is a true conservative, and I mean that in the best sense of the word - he conserves water, gas, food, electricity. He takes great joy in reviving plants that have been put out in the sun at the end of the planting season as lost causes, he buys them for a song then brings them home and watches them grow, bloom, and blossom. He loves to garden and he grows amazing tomatoes, green beans, and corn on the cob - add a couple spoonfuls of cottage cheese and you have a great summer supper - a meal that always makes me think of my Dad when I fix it far away from Indiana.

My Dad has lived most all of his life in Indiana, except when he was in the service (Army) when he spent time at Fort Dix in New Jersey and Fort Huahuca, Arizona and a brief stint at Shell Oil Co. in Houston, Texas after he graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Chemical Engineering, but he always came back to the state where he was born - he is a Hoosier (although my brother would argue that Dad is a Boilermaker, but I beg to differ).

My Father was reared as a member of the Society of Friends (Quakers) and he chose to rear his children in that faith. That faith imbued me with a strong sense of social justice and that to work for peace is perhaps the highest calling we can do on this earth. My Dad is a great guy and I love him with all of my heart and I thank my lucky stars that I landed in his family and that I am his "Margaret Faye." Happy Father's Day, Dad! Sorry your gift, such as it is, will not arrive until tomorrow.

Steph Serves as Grand Marshallof LA's Gay Pride Parade

2008-06-14T07:14:00.004-06:00

Stephanie Miller served as Grand Marshall to the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade, riding on the float with Steph was our own Rebekah Baker. Stephanie's outfit could be described as follows:

1. A tranny at a 4th of July picnic.

2. Liz Taylor while she was still drinking.

3. A rip-off of Mean Jean Schmidt's exploding patriotic outfit.

4. Sparkle meets Geraldo and Billo's sex dungeon.

5. Steph's Gay Ray in action.

If you would like to watch the entire parade (Stephanie's float shows about 2 hours and 6 minutes into the video), check it out.

The Good Old Days???

2008-06-12T19:35:00.004-06:00

Happy Loving Day!!!

It was exactly 41 years ago today that the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that Virginia's anti-miscegenation law was unconstitutional. The case that prompted this ruling was Loving v. Virginia - a case in which an African-American and Native American (Rappahannock) woman, Mildred Delores Jeter, married a Caucasian man, Richard Perry Loving, in the District of Columbia. They got married in DC in order to avoid the Racial Integrity Act, a Virginia state law banning marriages between any white person and any non-white person.

Fortunately only sixteen states had anti-miscegenation laws in 1967. They were: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. So had Barack Obama's parents met in another state and tried to marry in one of these sixteen states, they would have been stopped in their tracks. These are the good old days - yeah right.

Let's celebrate the progress that we've made, and understand how far we have to go, to see each and every person as an equal part of humanity. And let's work to keep the government out of the business of who we love and how we love them. Let's work for true marriage equality.

Yes, She Can & Yes, She Did!!!

2008-06-07T11:54:00.014-06:00

"We must work with optimism and confidence" - perhaps a more sophisticated version of "Yes, we can."

Jim Bourg/Reuters

I truly hope that this post will be accepted by the Hillary Clinton supporters in the manner in which it is offered, with sincerity and gratitude. Thank you Senator Hillary Clinton. Your speech was graciousness personified, especially the parts in which you embraced and endorsed Senator Barack Obama.

Even before she struck her first line, she began to do her characteristic "clap, clap, point, clap, clap," but she caught herself and stopped after one point and went back to a rousing applause before launching into her speech with a witty, yet-not-too-cute opening remark: "This isn't the party I planned, but I sure like the company." Every note was hit right for the occasion, every word rang true, every phrase was joy to the ears of Democrats across the country who yearn so desperately for the unity that Mrs. Clinton expressed and encouraged today.

Thank you Senator Clinton for your inspirational words that sought to encourage each and every one of your supporters to get behind Barack Obama and make sure that this momentous opportunity at this historic moment in time is not wasted by a lack of unity, a failure to come together as a single party, a failure to rise as one voice coming out of the crowd, chanting "Yes, we can." ("We must work with optimism and confidence.")

The blogosphere is abuzz with congratulatory remarks on Clinton's historic speech, with a few bloggers even suggesting that one of the points negotiated on Thursday evening in Dianne Feinstein's living room was the loaning of a speech-writer or two to help Clinton craft what was easily the best speech she has given during this campaign, perhaps ever given. Congratulations Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton - and thank you for your service, service that you have already given and the service that you have yet to give. Thank you, Hillary, thank you.

Here's the transcript of Hillary Clinton's Speech (Washington, D.C., June 7, 2008).

How Will Hillary Bow Out?

2008-06-07T08:20:00.010-06:00

Will Hillary Clinton embrace Barack Obama?

The Longest Good-bye.

Okay, we (Obama and his supporters - of which I count myself) have been magnanimous, although I'm sure our magnanimity has been perceived as condescension to the Clinton Camp. We've waited patiently for Hillary Clinton to take her time, to gather her thoughts, to collect her troops, to envisage her next move, but come on already. It's time to say good-bye, good-bye to the campaign trail, good-bye to the debates, the town halls, the meet and greets. It is time to say good-bye to the dream of becoming president of the United States. It is a lofty goal and to say good-bye to a dream so large is something I cannot imagine, although it is time to admit that this woman's dream is nearly as impossible as my dream of becoming an Indian when I grow up. That is not to say that a woman cannot seek and ultimately gain the position of Commander-in-Chief, but for this woman - it was not to be. There are myriad reasons why it just didn't work out - poor planning, ill-advice, stupid comments - many of these mistakes were not made by the candidate herself, but by her surrogates, her husband, her campaign manager, and other supporters (think Geraldine Ferraro). Nevertheless, it is past time to say good-bye, past time to endorse the only hope the Democratic Party has for reclaiming the White House in 2009, past time to concede that the race is over and somebody else won.

I am holding my breath, hoping beyond hope that Hillary Clinton will find it in her heart, her mind, her soul, to do today what she did not do on Tuesday night. That is find a way to graciously exit this contest with some of her dignity in tact. It is now completely up to her, up to the words she chooses, the signals she sends to her supporters, the path she takes. Because, just because Hillary Clinton is no longer in the race, does not mean that she is inconsequential in the role that she will play in getting us where we need to be. Her role in making sure that Barack Obama is our next president cannot be minimized or marginalized. Her supporters have been described as rabid, vehement, even slightly crazed (think Harriet of YouTube fame), but it is certain that they are looking to their leader, Hillary Clinton, and will take their cue from her as to how to proceed, how to work for a Democratic victory in November, whether to back Obama as the Democratic nominee.

Will Hillary Clinton speak the words to the older white women (a demographic that includes me) who have been her stalwart supporters that echo the words that she spoke to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee when she endorsed Barack Obama with the words "I know Senator Obama will be a good friend to Israel"? Will she say that "Barack Obama will be a good friend to America, a good friend to women, a good friend to soldiers and working class people" as indeed he will be? Will she say "I endorse Barack Obama for president and you should, too"? Will her endorsement ring true or will it come tinged with the sour grapes from which so many of her supporters are feeling the stinging juice? Can she bridge the gap between experience and change? Will she back off enough to allow Obama the room he needs to make his very best choice of a vice presidential candidate? We will know the answers to these questions and more that I haven't thought to pose here, in just a little over an hour. Vamos a ver.... vamos a ver, indeed.