Sulking, Spewing Soltani

You can hear it here and read it here. In New Hampshire, the commission to consider implications of same-sex marriage and civil unions was and shall remain an insult to the state's citizens and a farce showing the worst of American conservatives.

Note: The hearing link above opens an MP3 and the reading one brings up pages linking to PDF files.

The kindest view one could take is that this is an extreme cautionary tale of the abuse of a state legislature dominated by one party. We in Massachusetts should take it as a warning. We generally tolerate our worst bigots in the General Court as though they were odd animals in a zoo. Let's not appoint them to head public commissions.

The dumb and puerile rants of the commission's chair, Tony Soltani, are in the clip. With arrogance as large as his intellect is teeny and his egotism as overt as his compassion is non-existent, Tiny Tony screams his irrational feelings at a reporter in a public meeting. If you ever needed an example of the disdain which ultra conservative Republicans have for the public in its right to be informed and be heard, keep a copy of this clip handy. When a Karl Rove or other professional liar talks about only being reasonable, play the clip to remind yourself.

As related reminders:

• When someone says, "I have a quick question," be aware that the question is unlikely to be quick and it certainly will require an elaborate and long answer. The burden is on you.
• When someone says, "It's not the money. It's the principle," it is certain that is the money.
• When someone says, "I'm only being reasonable," it is certain that what follows is illogical, untrue and unreasonable, and that anyone who dares disagree will find heaps of scorn.