Lackaday for the intellectual poverty of self-righteous. They can be so blinded by their single-minded hate that they let supposed cleverness substitute for reason and experience.
Consider if you will, Shari Worthington. This blogger, Republican, anti-gay, anti-same-sex marriage sort has been reduced to referring to herself in the third person. She also seems to be figuratively wetting her Depend™ disposables, thinking she's really pulled a fast one on those equality types.
She waited until October 29th to file a criminal complaint related to the Larry Cirignano trial, which starts this Tuesday. A really good recap of the complaint with a link to it is at Pie and Coffee. Also check the serious flaming at MassResistance on this trial.
You may recall that Cirignano goes on trial in Worcester, charged with shoving pro-equality demonstrator Sarah Loy to the ground. That would be assault and trying to deny her freedom of speech.
Worthington in her Worcester County Freedom Trail posting suffers from a bad case of Wingnut Cleverness Syndrome. She figures that her (not the DA's) filing a complaint that Loy disrupted a public assembly, will force Loy to refuse to testify against her attacker. As Shari wrote (exclamation point hers), "But this causes a big problem for Loy. If she testifies against Larry on Oct. 16, she risks incriminating herself in a trial against her!"
Pardon me while I laugh into my fedora. The likelihood of a sincere pro-equality woman such as Loy in being cowed into submission by the likelihood of 1) going to trial at all, 2) not having the charge tossed at the onset of trial, 3) being convicted, and 4) paying the maximum $50 fine is absurd.
I laugh again into my hat.
Follow-up: John over at Live, Love and Learn has a superior take on this filing and its motivations. As a bonus, he was an eyewitness, who can put the lie to the claim that she was at the podium area blocking anything.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, same-sex marriage, Worcester, Cirignano, Loy, Worthington
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Read 'im and Wise Up
If you don't rifle the entire Sunday Boston Globe, you miss Careers, and if you miss Careers, you miss The Corporate Curmudgeon. Woe to those who do so.
I'm invested in Dale Dauten (that's he at the right). I had a source for many years, my mother. She was always a big reader, of magazines and newspapers as well as books. The Corporate Curmudgeon appeared in both the Albuquerque Journal and the Santa Fe New Mexican. She got both and always clipped Dauten's column from one to send me in her batch processing junk boxes, as she said, filled with such treasures, as well as chili ristras and her fabulous Scottish shortbread.
When she suddenly dropped dead (at home, as she had always wanted ["I don't want anyone wiping my bottom."], one of the collateral loses was no more Dauten columns. He is syndicated, but much bigger in the West. No one around here carried him.
Disclaimer: I am a huge fan of Dauten and was most certainly instrumental in getting his column in the Globe. Repeated letters, emails and a couple of calls did the trick. Well, I confess that getting multiple clippings of his very wise and often risible columns to a few key editors was certainly the real catalyst. After the fact, he sent me thanks, including one of his books.
With some exceptions in the Financial Times, business columns in the Globe and elsewhere are tedious, not too useful and certainly neither well written nor amusing. Dauten is quite the exception.
Check out today's on keeping your stereotyping from stunting your mind. Then there was last week's on the drivel of facades and trappings. That one had me laughing as it took me back a couple of decades to an interview I did with Mortimer Levitt, the founder of The Custom Shirt Shops. He was a prissy and highly opinionated sort, convinced that that an ill-fitting shirt doomed your public life. Like a shoemaker, barber, dentist or any such folk convinced that their trade defines society, Levitt showed slides of the famous, including John Kennedy in bad shirts. Kennedy wore a shirt much too small in the apparent delusion that he hadn't porked up. Fat oozed over his collar. Yet, as I recall, that somehow didn't hinder him professionally or in societal acceptance.
Do bother to find this column every Sunday.
The Globe puts The Corporate Curmudgeon in the now tiny tabloid supplement with the want ads. They then bury Careers in car or realty back pages. Apparently the idea is that folk out of work will tear apart the paper to find the ads. Unfortunately for the rest of us, they also bury what is usually the best column of the whole paper for the whole week. I wonder whether the business editors also dig a whole in their back yards and put favorite foods there.
I've run across numerous folk who weren't aware this column was there. Invariably, they thank me, always with a chuckle as they recall a column, when we meet next.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Boston+Globe, Corporate Curmudgeon, Dale Dauten
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Arnie Tromps on Equality Again
Despite the vastly changed voter views from 2000, and despite petitions and hundreds of personal pleas, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger did veto same-sex marriage...again.
The little feller MassEquality's Marc Solomon calls a wimp for his anti-gay/anti-equality stance has a real problem with democracy. He showed his gutlessness again on this issue yesterday. He once more said the courts should decide this.
The irony and duplicity should not be ignored here. In states like Massachusetts where courts mandate SSM or civil unions, wingers and bigots say it should have been the legislature. When the legislature decides (you know, that representative democracy thing that all but the smallest town meetings use) in places like California, the anti folk say it has to be the courts.
In his veto statement, L'il Arnie "said that all Californians are entitled to full protection under the law 'and should not be discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation.'" His accompanying action is "hypocrisy at its worst," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. "We find it shocking for the governor to say he opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and then veto a bill that would have ended discrimination based on sexual orientation."
Tags: massmarrier, California, Schwarzenegger, same sex marriage, veto
The little feller MassEquality's Marc Solomon calls a wimp for his anti-gay/anti-equality stance has a real problem with democracy. He showed his gutlessness again on this issue yesterday. He once more said the courts should decide this.
The irony and duplicity should not be ignored here. In states like Massachusetts where courts mandate SSM or civil unions, wingers and bigots say it should have been the legislature. When the legislature decides (you know, that representative democracy thing that all but the smallest town meetings use) in places like California, the anti folk say it has to be the courts.
In his veto statement, L'il Arnie "said that all Californians are entitled to full protection under the law 'and should not be discriminated against based upon their sexual orientation.'" His accompanying action is "hypocrisy at its worst," said Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. "We find it shocking for the governor to say he opposes discrimination based on sexual orientation and then veto a bill that would have ended discrimination based on sexual orientation."
Tags: massmarrier, California, Schwarzenegger, same sex marriage, veto
Friday, October 12, 2007
Craig in the Box Keeps Popping Up
It's not that Senator Larry Craig is back. It's that he won't go away, not matter what his Republican peers and ex-buddies do. Now the sure-fire, whiz-bang Senate Ethics Committee hearing that GOPpers demanded fizzled. The rich men's chamber of Congress lives by its rules, and according to the AP report, this process will roll and roll and roll.In case you're a delicate sort who has avoided this redolent mess, Craig was caught in June in a sex sting at a Minneapolis airport toilet. To sidestep misdemeanor charges such as soliciting sex in public and prolonged peeping at a man in a stall, he cut a deal in a plea bargain for disorderly conduct -- paying the fine by mail nearly two months later. Since that, he has been the burr under the saddle of his party. His governor in Idaho wants him gone and has lined up his replacement, who would get 15 months of incumbency. His GOP party leaders and peers want him out of sight, not being yet another reminder to America that the GOP is the party of self-indulgent amorality and immorality. The party that impeached President Clinton for lying about a few blow jobs has made the Dems look pure.
Craig promised to resign, but didn't. He clarified that promise later by saying if he couldn't withdraw his guilty plea, he really, truly would resign. A Minnesota judge ruled that he couldn't, but Craig reneged on that too. Honor, they name is not Republican.
So, you ask, the Republicans demanded an ethics investigation to scare Craig into resigning, why don't they just call it off?
Well, according to the AP report, the rules don't permit chocking the juggernaut when it's rolling. As the story puts it, "Now Republicans are powerless to stop a process almost certain to do more political damage to the party in general than to a retiring senator."
The GOP's partial salvation is that while they threatened Craig with public hearings to embarrass him out of office (he literally has zero shame), they don't have to open the initial information gathering phase to the press and public. They are also helped a little by the reality that Dems can't demand public hearings and make a big deal out of it, without seeming like they are on a Bill-Clinton revenge jag and acting, well, like Republicans. Many Americans were disgusted by the impeachment hearings and process; Democrats want to stay on the good side of voters and get the most 2008 votes.
A disorderly conduct verdict like this does not require removal of a senator. However, it seems likely that the three Republicans and three Democrats on the Ethics Committee can fall back on "conduct or activity which does not directly relate to official duties, when such conduct unfavorably reflects on the institution as a whole."
There's certainly prima facie support for that here. However, the unique wrinkle in this case is that such cases can take years to complete, maybe longer than Craig's remaining 15 months in office. Meanwhile, Republicans would like Craig to vanish from the earth and from collective memories of voters, while Democrats try not to cackle at the idea that he will be news right into the 2008 elections.
The closest hint of the process we have so far came from Ethics Committee Chair Barbara Boxer. The statement from her office included, "If, at the end of the preliminary inquiry, the Ethics Committee decides to move into the adjudicatory phase, any hearings held would be public unless the committee votes to close them. But that is a decision that is made after we have completed our preliminary inquiry."
No one so far has been asked to testify or even think about testifying. Craig doesn't seem to care what further damage he does to Idaho or his party. He seems to have told everyone who asks him to quit to get lost. We might even end up with a Democratic U.S. Senator from Idaho for the first time since Frank Church. He has certainly robbed a replacement of the power of office as well as Idaho of any committee seats and influence.
This is an incredibly clumsy dance. I can't stop watching.
Tags: massmarrier, honesty, Larry Craig, Idaho, Congress
Ogo Swirling Down the Drain
In the last week of the 5th CD special election campaign, I can't look away from Jim Ogonowski self-destructing. This Republican has been surprisingly close to Dem Niki Tsongas. He appears to have given that away.
He finally leapt into the whirlpool with his latest campaign ad. It shamelessly pimps his dead hero brother and his sister-in-law. See the video of this below.
That is extreme in tasteless political pandering, but then he doesn't have many cards to play. Reflected glory from his brother and sympathy for the widow have strong emotional pull. They don't seem to say anything meaningful about his qualifications for office, but votes are votes, eh? Well, maybe not for him.
The flailing rather than swimming continued with his subsequent indignation that anyone dare criticize his emotional manipulation. For hearty giggles, head over to Hub Politics and Red Mass Group, where they seem to have a flaming case of MassResistance disease. They can't use enough superlatives and hyperbole. Everything related to Niki's campaign "has aspired to reach new lows in politics -- even for Democrats" or "is absolute BS" or any of a long list of ad hominem insults (as in Chester Atkins, who used to hold the seat being contested is the "check-bouncing-unethical-former Congressman").
The comments continue the theme, but let's not hold Ogo responsible for remarks beyond his own. They are plenty damaging.
His statements suggest that these desperate, last-days theater will resonate with voters and let him close the narrow poll gap with Niki. Instead, our gentleman hay grower will almost certainly have lots more time to watch his crops dry. Even in one of the commonwealth's most conservative districts, using the noble dead as your political puppet will not play well.
Disclaimer: During the Dem primary months, I expressed my mixed thoughts about Niki. In particular, I strongly disagree with her fantasy that market forces will make big pharma and medical corporations offer good health care affordably. She's my candidate after the primary and Ogonowski keeps confirming that.
Mid-day Follow-up: Wowsers, Niki seems to have stayed above the nastiness on this too. She issued a statement saying she disagreed with Atkins' criticism of Ogo. In contrast to the Ogo sorts who alternately whine or spit, she commented,
"I strongly disagree with what Chet Atkins said and did and his comments are not reflective of my views. I’m the one running for Congress and he does not speak for me. This morning I spoke to Jim Ogonowski and I reached out to Peg Ogonowski. Their family has suffered a terrible loss and that should be respected.This goes against the tone of politics I’ve established on my campaign."Pretty savvy...with considerable sangfroid with all the sniping from the right side.
Follow-up Follow-up: Oh, my, Jimmy failed this one too. He's back to being Jim Oh-Go-On. His graceless response to Niki's public apology and reaching out to him and his sister-in-law was to denigrate her actions and make a series of demands. That includes dropping Atkins from her supporter list and returning any contributions he made.
You can see the announcement here at Red Mass Group. It does not appear on his site yet.
He went on to continue to insult her in response — "She and her special interest group friends have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on TV, Mail and Radio this past week twisting words and deceiving voters."
Nice guy, eh? Just the sort of fellow you want speaking for you in Congress.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Congress, 5th CD, Tsongas, Ogonowski
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Crossing the T in GLBT
Sit up and take your transgender lesson! Susan Stryker came down the aisle like the proverbial schoolmarm, replete with the ruler and note to bring back signed.
As a follow-up to our ENDA podcast, you should definitely click on Why the T in GLBT is here to stay in today's Salon. Her scathing rebuttal to and expansion on fellow Salon-oid John Aravosis' original question is simultaneously educating and amusing. She delivers her own sort of reconstructive surgery.
Spoilers would be inappropriate. Suffice it to say, reading her piece is quite a ride, starting from the image of a beggar at the banquet down to the reasons why gay men need to stop trying to exclude transgender folk...right now.
Tags: massmarrier, Stryker, Aravosis, ENDA, GLBT, transgender, Salon
As a follow-up to our ENDA podcast, you should definitely click on Why the T in GLBT is here to stay in today's Salon. Her scathing rebuttal to and expansion on fellow Salon-oid John Aravosis' original question is simultaneously educating and amusing. She delivers her own sort of reconstructive surgery.
Spoilers would be inappropriate. Suffice it to say, reading her piece is quite a ride, starting from the image of a beggar at the banquet down to the reasons why gay men need to stop trying to exclude transgender folk...right now.
Tags: massmarrier, Stryker, Aravosis, ENDA, GLBT, transgender, Salon
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
SSM OK by Dear Abby
Just Married, Just Married…
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
—John Prine
You have no complaint
You are what your are and you ain’t what you ain’t
So listen up Buster, and listen up good
Stop wishing for bad luck and knocking on wood
—John Prine
I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em.
—Dear Abby
I know it's the daughter of the original Dear Abby, but my grandmother lived by the advice column. I have to wonder how it would be for her to hear Jeanne Phillips approve of same-sex marriage.
In an interview with Yahoo News, she added, "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake." Later, she noted, "If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break."
PFLAG just honored her as its first recipient of its Straight for Equality award. Their director, Jody Huckaby, noted "She is such a mainstream voice. If Dear Abby is talking about it, it gives other people permission to talk about it."
Phillips co-wrote the column for 20 years and has been the sole writer for the past five after her month's Alzheimer's forced the transition. Her mother, Pauline, referred a letter writer to PFLAG 23 years ago.
The column has millions of readers and a societal impact. While not at all lewd, Abby deals with many relationship and sexuality issues. As examples:
- She strongly believes that sexual orientation is innate and not a choice or lifestyle.
- She has urged parents to deal with their own prejudice when they fear their kid may be gay.
- She points to the countries that have legalized SSM, adding "...one day, perhaps, our country will, too."
The interview includes:
Right now, Abby, as Phillips prefers to be called, is working on a reply to a woman who wanted to know whether she should include childhood photographs of her transgender brother-in-law in a family album. The woman is worried what she will tell her children when they see pictures of their uncle as a little girl.
Phillips' guidance to Worried Reader will be simple, she said: Include the photos, of course. Silence is the enemy. Answer any questions the kids have honestly — Uncle John was born with a body of the wrong sex, so even when he was called Jane he was really John inside.
Tags: massmarrier, Dear Abby, same-sex marriage, Jeanne Phillips, Yahoo News
Come Out, Come Out
Even though the Human Rights Campaign stumbled recently, they are still up to good things. Tomorrow, for a great example, is National Coming Out Day.
The call is for GLBT or straight-supporters to say it, and to talk about it. The HRC has a handy dandy brochure with talking points.
This is important stuff. We can look to Massachusetts rejecting the amendment to stop same-sex marriages and Maine's similarly rejecting yet another override to their gay-rights legislation. In both states, voters and lawmakers said it was the conversations with and awareness of GLBT self-outed folk, and supporters, that made the difference.
Tomorrow is a good day to make a difference.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Maine, closet, GLBT, coming out, HRC
Huge Reckoning for Native Americans
Can we think of any reason the nations and tribes we call Native Americans or Indians shouldn't trust the U.S. Government? Think. Think. Think.
Well, within four years, at least a portion of them may not have to just trust the Department of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs. As a result of a 1996 lawsuit, Cobell v. Kempthorne, the world's largest accounting project is underway. In short, everyone will be able to see whether the Feds have been cheating on 320,000 individual accounts.
This Historical Accounting Project fort Individual Indian Money Accounts may show over $100 billion is due to the tribes and individuals who own over 56 million acres. Businesses typically lease these lands for grazing, water and mineral rights. The Feds have acted as trustees, negotiating, leasing, collecting, and paying. What they haven't done since 1887 is account for the deals.
Great White Fathers
The background seems typical of our treatment of Native Americans. It started in 1887 with the General Allotment Act (Dawes Severalty Act). This gave the U.S. President the power to survey and divvy up all Indian-owned lands. Individuals were to get between 40 and 160 acres, mostly of land deemed inferior.One effect of this was that over 90 millions acres were declared surplus and sold to non-Indians at low rates. In other words, this was another theft. Then the remaining lands were in trust and the tribal and individual owners were relieved of the responsibility of having to manage any leases. Trust U.S.
The current status is that there are some records of over 320,000 accounts from 1938 through 2000, but no accounting in the way any government or business would consider it. In fact, according to an excellent piece on this in CFO Magazine, in 1989, accounting giant Arthur Andersen threw up its hands on a first stab at an audit "due to missing records and the lack of an audit trail in the bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) systems. It could reconcile only tribal accounts — and even then, only those opened after 1972.)"
Much of the background information here is from that article and I strongly recommend reading it all. This story can only get larger and more important.
Shameless Offer
You can imagine the reaction if a bank, brokerage or any business could not show what it had done with assets it manages for decades. In this case, the Feds were quick to insult the tribes and individuals with a low-ball offer.The outside guesstimate of the plaintiffs is that at least $100 billion is owed. The actual amounts will emerge as the auditors tally up records of several hundred thousand boxes. Meanwhile, our honorable Executive Branch offered $7 billion over a decade to wipe out all tribal and individual claims, and prohibit any future related suits. As you can surmise, according to CFO, "The offer was seen by all tribes as an insult," notes Michael Marchand, chairman of the business council of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville (Washington) Reservation. "It was a clear signal that the Administration has no interest in settling anything."
There are also some nasty looking circumstances, such as 162 boxes of government forms of disbursements from 1900 to 1958 that the U.S. Treasury says it accidentally destroyed in 1999.
Because of the many millions of records, this audit will not be a full fiduciary accounting. Rather, it is likely to mean statistically sampling. With the many missing or incomplete records, this process lends itself to loaded judgments.
In addition, from here, it looks like the plaintiffs will be screwed in another way. At this date with the records methodologies over the past 120 years, they can't test that the DOI trustees negotiated in good faith and got a decent rate for the land use, much less that they provided a full payment to the owners. The records in more recent decades can help with the latter, but the former is that many clouds blown by.
This project will cost several hundred million dollars. That's not much considering the billions at stake.
At the very least, since this suit began, the Feds have been on notice that their handling of these millions of acres is on the record and in the public eye. Many of the records are gone or never existed. However, there should be enough information to provide a modicum of restitution.
Considering our treatment of Native Americans, none of us should be surprised that even the promises for an accounting were blown off for so long that it took legal action to veneer any responsibility or accountability.
Tags: massmarrier, Native Americans, Bureau of Indian Affairs, Historical Accounting Project, CFO Magazine, Department of the Interior
8 Lips Flapping on ENDA
Never shy, nor cautious. we kicked the ENDA can up and down the hall yesterday during our weekly Left Ahead! podcast. The big bonus was that the guest was civil-rights activist Laurel, who comments regularly at all three of our blogs as well as that other local one, what's its header -- ah, yes, Blue Mass Group.
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is an important bill certain to pass the U.S. House by a substantial margin. It aims to add long overdue job protections for GLBT workers and managers. Rather, depending on what form it's in at any moment, that might just be GLB workers and managers.
Consider:
In addition, the Senate rules that require a supermajority of 60 to prevent filibusters have hobbled nearly all progressive platforms in Congress. The horse-trading and rush to dilute good legislation are truly the old way of doing business and many in Congress claim that can't and won't change. Yet, we don't have to foresee very far to note:
What a monumental task that will be!
The confluence of a new generation of voters and the awareness of the older ones that so much of our fantasies are just that may reduce the pragmatism of failure that lawmakers say is necessary. We have had such periods before, such as the Progressive Era around WWI. Numerous laws and amendments that made life better for all Americans held sway over the timid and self-interested Reps and Senators. It looks like we're due for another such time.
The ENDA battle is an example. On the compromise side, you can listen to Barney Frank stake out his argument here and a cogent defense of that side was the lead editorial of last week's Bay Windows editorial. Those are powerful sets of reasons. Yet as Laurel noted yesterday, without an ENDA in the Senate and with the POTUS' veto looming, why not pass the right bill, the one including transgender rights, so that when a more honorable Congress assembles, they start with the proper expectations?
Many sources in the MSM as well as blogs have opinions and details on the irksome T on the end of GBLT. The best perspective I round was Monica Roberts at TransGriot. In her Transgender Community Hates HRC post, she provides the background of how many homosexuals, particularly men are uncomfortable with transgender folk and how some actively distance themselves, as Barney Frank has.
The trans community is small and has more problems coming out and being accepted — on the job or anywhere. Of course, that's solid justification for providing an ENDA that includes them.
Roberts makes a solid argument against splitting ENDA into a "'possible" GLB version, promising to add the T version in some unspecified future. She wrote:
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Congress, ENDA, GLBT, transgender, Barney Frank, Monica Roberts, Bay Windows
The Employment Non-Discrimination Act is an important bill certain to pass the U.S. House by a substantial margin. It aims to add long overdue job protections for GLBT workers and managers. Rather, depending on what form it's in at any moment, that might just be GLB workers and managers.
Consider:
- Everyone's most and least favorite current POTUS surely would veto any gay-friendly bill.
- There is no corresponding ENDA in the U.S. Senate.
- Lead sponsor U.S. Rep. Barney Frank is clearly conflicted about the bill and eager to decouple the transgender (that troublesome T) from the bill.
In addition, the Senate rules that require a supermajority of 60 to prevent filibusters have hobbled nearly all progressive platforms in Congress. The horse-trading and rush to dilute good legislation are truly the old way of doing business and many in Congress claim that can't and won't change. Yet, we don't have to foresee very far to note:
- In a decade the majority of voters will be the youngest baby boomers and the children of baby boomers. They did not grow up with the old prejudices — race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, immigrants — as the norm for their parents and grandparents. Poll after poll and results where they vote show that they favor equality and live-and-let-live politics. They're a lot harder to manipulate with emotional lies.
- A weary, declining nation looks at the devastation of right-wing fantasies of the past seven years. We all know of people who have died in unnecessary wars. We are more fearful for our safety than even in the Cold War. A budget surplus became a multi-trillion-dollar deficit, and our dollar and larger economy are crushing our future hopes.
What a monumental task that will be!
The confluence of a new generation of voters and the awareness of the older ones that so much of our fantasies are just that may reduce the pragmatism of failure that lawmakers say is necessary. We have had such periods before, such as the Progressive Era around WWI. Numerous laws and amendments that made life better for all Americans held sway over the timid and self-interested Reps and Senators. It looks like we're due for another such time.
The ENDA battle is an example. On the compromise side, you can listen to Barney Frank stake out his argument here and a cogent defense of that side was the lead editorial of last week's Bay Windows editorial. Those are powerful sets of reasons. Yet as Laurel noted yesterday, without an ENDA in the Senate and with the POTUS' veto looming, why not pass the right bill, the one including transgender rights, so that when a more honorable Congress assembles, they start with the proper expectations?
Many sources in the MSM as well as blogs have opinions and details on the irksome T on the end of GBLT. The best perspective I round was Monica Roberts at TransGriot. In her Transgender Community Hates HRC post, she provides the background of how many homosexuals, particularly men are uncomfortable with transgender folk and how some actively distance themselves, as Barney Frank has.
The trans community is small and has more problems coming out and being accepted — on the job or anywhere. Of course, that's solid justification for providing an ENDA that includes them.
Roberts makes a solid argument against splitting ENDA into a "'possible" GLB version, promising to add the T version in some unspecified future. She wrote:
So far the only states in which the gay and lesbian community has ‘come back’ for transgender people are Rhode Island (2001), California (2003), New Jersey (2006) and Vermont (2007). In New York they are still having a difficult time passing GENDA after transgender people were cut out of SONDA (N.Y.’s Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act) by gay rights advocating the same ‘we’ll come back for you’ incremental rights spin.So, you can understand when Barney or the Human Rights Campaign says, "Trust us. We'll protect you...later," that transgender people are skeptical.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Congress, ENDA, GLBT, transgender, Barney Frank, Monica Roberts, Bay Windows
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Plug Nasties Hitting Pro-Equality Rep
After a quick apology for being overbooked and not posting much here, I suggest that with bloggers like Frederick Clarkson, you are in good hands. Over at Talk To Action, he has a great post on how national money is trying to unseat one of our lawmaker heroes who helped defeat the anti-marriage equality amendment in June.
You may remember that Rep. Angelo Puppolo (12th Hampden, including Springfield) was one of those who wrestled with his conscience, and fairness and equality won. Suddenly, a new anti-gay group, the National Organization for Marriage put up a nasty billboard in Springfield on the Interstate lumping Puppolo with Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold.
Read Frederick's analysis and the background on who's involved in this. We can expect more as national groups target the only state with full marriage equality. When you are filled with bigotry, losing doesn't mean you rethink your position.
What you can do now to help Puppolo and other compassionate and civil-rights minded lawmakers working for us is in the post.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, amendment, same sex marriage, Puppolo, legislature, MassEquality
You may remember that Rep. Angelo Puppolo (12th Hampden, including Springfield) was one of those who wrestled with his conscience, and fairness and equality won. Suddenly, a new anti-gay group, the National Organization for Marriage put up a nasty billboard in Springfield on the Interstate lumping Puppolo with Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold.
Read Frederick's analysis and the background on who's involved in this. We can expect more as national groups target the only state with full marriage equality. When you are filled with bigotry, losing doesn't mean you rethink your position.
What you can do now to help Puppolo and other compassionate and civil-rights minded lawmakers working for us is in the post.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, amendment, same sex marriage, Puppolo, legislature, MassEquality
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Judge Tells Craig No Dice
Just-barely-still Senator Larry Craig (Republican, of course – Idaho) should have remembered that many in the middle of this country don't particularly like liars and word tricksters. Hennepin County (Minneapolis) District Judge Charles Porter apparently had little sympathy for loose-lipped Larry. He rejected his appeal to withdraw his guilty plea in an airport men's room sex sting.Of course, Craig didn't immediately quit the Senate, any more than he kept his pledge to resign if he couldn't withdraw the plea by the end of last month. The actual plea bargain was not for having or even soliciting public sex. Among the other original chargers was invading privacy by repeatedly staring at a man in a toilet stall through the dividers and door. Instead he paid $575 for disorderly conduct.
On the surface, that's a misdemeanor and does not require resignation from Congress. However, Santa Craig keeps giving to the Democrats with his words and actions. He constantly reminds the public of the preponderance of sexual shenanigans and illegal or immoral actions by members of his party. They make the Democrats look like abstinent aesthetes.
Judge Porter noted that Craig considered the plea bargain for six weeks before sending in the check and agreeing to it. He stated, "The defendant argues he pled in haste to prevent the allegation in this case from being publicized, thus doing damage to his political reputation. This pressure was entirely perceived by the defendant and was not a result of any action by the police, the prosecutor, or the court."
Porter concluded that there was no new evidence or any reason at all to permit the withdrawal of the plea. For the Democrats, that's kind of a pity. It seemed that Craig would be stupid enough to fight the original sheet of sex charges, keeping all the sleaze on view. I guess it's December 26th and there's won't be any more presents from this Santa.
Republicans in party HQ and Congress seem eager for Craig to move his dishonorable butt back to Boise. His governor, Butch Otter, has a short list of similarly reactionary replacement candidates. This surely was Larry's last lick. Even someone in the super-privileged role of U.S. Senator must be able to read the writing on this (bathroom) wall.
Wet the Pants Funny Follow-up: The WaPo reports this afternoon that Craig will continue to play Dem operative and fling his poo. As the Capital Briefing blog puts it, he changed his mind yet again after Judge Porter's ruling and will stay in the Senate, even though stripped of his Committee leader roles and with GOP Congressional leaders calling for a full, very public ethics hearing.
Larry says:
What does he know that makes him hate the GOP so much?I am extremely disappointed with the ruling issued today. I am innocent of the charges against me. I continue to work with my legal team to explore my additional legal options.
I will continue to serve Idaho in the United States Senate, and there are several reasons for that. As I continued to work for Idaho over the past three weeks here in the Senate, I have seen that it is possible for me to work here effectively.
Over the course of my three terms in the Senate and five terms in the House, I have accumulated seniority and important committee assignments that are valuable to Idaho, not the least of which are my seats on the Appropriations Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. A replacement would be highly unlikely to obtain these posts.
In addition, I will continue my effort to clear my name in the Senate Ethics Committee - something that is not possible if I am not serving in the Senate.
When my term has expired, I will retire and not seek reelection. I hope this provides the certainty Idaho needs and deserves.
Tags: massmarrier, honesty, Larry Craig, Idaho, Congress
Burke Bites Again
In a Nemesis Award series, the fourth Chihuahua of Retribution goes again to a Christian fundamentalist who has decided that he'll judge and act as his God's agent of punishment. This is fairly similar to the previous awardee. I am a bit surprised that Roman Catholics are outpacing Protestants here.
It's been three years, but St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke manufactured another chance to snap and flap his cassock. Three years ago, he did his publicity hound thing with John Kerry, then running for POTUS. He proclaimed that if Kerry tried to take communion while in the neighborhood, he was flat out of luck. It seems although Burke wasn't the Pope, wasn't even Kerry's prelate, he would find a way to pretend to punish our Senator for voting for abortion rights and favoring stem-cell research.
Well, St. Louis isn't the center of much of anything, except bland lager. It's taken awhile for Burke to reprise the role he seems to relish. He certainly has failed his humility test, but I rather doubt any of his chums will call him on that.
This time, the bad guy is Republican POTUS-would-be Rudy Giuliani. Burke told the wires, ""If any politician approached me and he'd been admonished not to present himself, I'd not give (communion). To me, you have to be certain a person realizes he is persisting in a serious public sin."
It is fascinating that Burke would insinuate himself in matters that belong between Kerry, his God, his priest and his conscience.
A long-term UU minister (age 90) is coming to dinner tomorrow. I'll have to kick this around with him. Previously, he and I concurred that it must be a fine feeling to have all these options non-creedal clerics don't. Denying church rites, excommunicating, and threatening with eternal damnation and perpetual anguish are great theater and potentially useful tools.
Burke epitomizes the religious sorts who want to intrude into politics, but screech like a cat underfoot if government encroaches on any aspect of their business. I think of the U.S. and British insistence that publicly funded adoption agencies have to obey everyone's rules and consider homosexual prospective parents. Their response has been to fold shop, leaving the kids in orphanages or foster homes before such placements, while claiming their religious rights were trampled. Likewise, when they set up and run non-religious money-making programs and have to pay taxes on those, somehow this is a government interference.
Our Chihuahua today is yet another self-righteous sort who would intrude in politics and hold that as his duty. Harrumph.
As usual, Mayor 9/11 is cool about this, saying, "Archbishops have a right to their opinion." The highly insulated and apparently quite egotistical Burke though would surely consider his pronouncement well above a mere opinion.
Rudy also noted that he studied religion for four years, wanting to be a priest. He added:
Tags: massmarrier, Giuliani, Archbishop Burke, Catholic Charities, abortion, adoption, John Kerry
It's been three years, but St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke manufactured another chance to snap and flap his cassock. Three years ago, he did his publicity hound thing with John Kerry, then running for POTUS. He proclaimed that if Kerry tried to take communion while in the neighborhood, he was flat out of luck. It seems although Burke wasn't the Pope, wasn't even Kerry's prelate, he would find a way to pretend to punish our Senator for voting for abortion rights and favoring stem-cell research.
Well, St. Louis isn't the center of much of anything, except bland lager. It's taken awhile for Burke to reprise the role he seems to relish. He certainly has failed his humility test, but I rather doubt any of his chums will call him on that.
This time, the bad guy is Republican POTUS-would-be Rudy Giuliani. Burke told the wires, ""If any politician approached me and he'd been admonished not to present himself, I'd not give (communion). To me, you have to be certain a person realizes he is persisting in a serious public sin."
It is fascinating that Burke would insinuate himself in matters that belong between Kerry, his God, his priest and his conscience.
A long-term UU minister (age 90) is coming to dinner tomorrow. I'll have to kick this around with him. Previously, he and I concurred that it must be a fine feeling to have all these options non-creedal clerics don't. Denying church rites, excommunicating, and threatening with eternal damnation and perpetual anguish are great theater and potentially useful tools.
Burke epitomizes the religious sorts who want to intrude into politics, but screech like a cat underfoot if government encroaches on any aspect of their business. I think of the U.S. and British insistence that publicly funded adoption agencies have to obey everyone's rules and consider homosexual prospective parents. Their response has been to fold shop, leaving the kids in orphanages or foster homes before such placements, while claiming their religious rights were trampled. Likewise, when they set up and run non-religious money-making programs and have to pay taxes on those, somehow this is a government interference.
Our Chihuahua today is yet another self-righteous sort who would intrude in politics and hold that as his duty. Harrumph.
As usual, Mayor 9/11 is cool about this, saying, "Archbishops have a right to their opinion." The highly insulated and apparently quite egotistical Burke though would surely consider his pronouncement well above a mere opinion.
Rudy also noted that he studied religion for four years, wanting to be a priest. He added:
So it's a very, very important part of my life. But I think in a democracy and in a government like ours, my religion is my way of looking at God, and other people have other ways of doing it, and some people don't believe in God. I think that's unfortunate. I think their life would be a lot fuller if they did, but they have that right.Also, on the Christian Broadcasting Network, he pulled out the classic, "I'm guided very, very often about, 'Don't judge others, lest you be judged.'"
Tags: massmarrier, Giuliani, Archbishop Burke, Catholic Charities, abortion, adoption, John Kerry
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Legislative Reality Check
Nice is free, but sometimes you gotta come down. Thus it is with the Massachusetts House.
They can't get to progressive reform. They can't even get to long-delayed infrastructure. Our kids face mediocre schools and our bridges shudder when we drive on them.
This is the time to tell your own lawmakers in both houses to cut the crap and do what must be done. (Perhaps they need some Powdermilk Biscuits.) They, particularly in the House, where funding bills, originate have:
- Admitted we have been sitting on problems, ignoring them, for almost two decades.
- Quashed every funding proposal Gov. Deval Patrick has advanced.
- Restored nearly all private earmarks (pork) that he vetoed from the budget.
- Refuse to advance their own ideas.
Now, Patrick has finally proposed casino gambling as a revenue source. Here and on LeftAhead!, I have given my objections to that. Yet, the legislature has cornered the state and is holding us ransom. Patrick at least has the savvy to portray gambling as just one industry he would foster for jobs as well as tax revenue. However, not only is that an unsure source, there's no turning back if we permit casinos, the revenue may be taking money from one pocket to put into another, we would surely have to commit a lot of money and time to roads and other concessions first, and it would be a long time before we'd see real cash flow from this.
Far, far better would we for us to tell House Speaker Sal DiMasi, Senate President Therese Murray, and Gov. Patrick that we demand feasible revenue sources that will start quickly. I'll be posting on some of the alternatives.
Consider for example, the benign Municipal Partnership Act, which would have given cities and towns a lot of flexibility to raise revenue and provide tax relief to seniors. It was killed unborn by the House.
Likewise, meals taxes determined by local towns were rejected out of hand by the legislative leaders. It works in cities and towns across the country and would be very fruitful in tourist areas like the Berkshires, Cape Cod, Cape Ann, and Boston.
The fanged, flying elephant though is business taxes. DiMasi seems paralyzed over even the concept of making businesses pay similar taxes to those they get in other states. They won't leave here for a small burden that is the cost of doing business everywhere else. They might not give Sal the biggest paying job after he leaves office, but there are a few million people here to consider.
Then there's the myth of Taxachusetts. That has a nice literary ring to it, but is very inaccurate. In effective tax rates (including things like property taxes), we are in the lower half of the nation. We really can't whine about needing to fix the highways and pay for good schools if we don't pay fair taxes. Didn't everyone's parents teach you get what you pay for? A blind, irrational fear of taxes can crush the commonwealth.
I welcome comments on the sensible and possible revenue sources. DiMasi, Murray and Patrick may not welcome them, but they need to hear them. Leave comments or go directly to them:
Governor Deval Patrick
Massachusetts State House
Room 360
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617.725.4005
online comments: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=gov3utilities&sid=Agov3&U=Agov3_contact_us
Speaker of the House Salvatore F. DiMasi
State House
Room 356
State House
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: 617-722-2500
email: Rep.SalvatoreDiMasi@hou.state.ma.us
Senate President Therese Murray
State House
Room 330 Building Three, Room 319
Boston, MA 02133
Phone: (617) 722-1500
email: Therese.Murray@state.ma.us
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, Sal DiMasi, Therese Murray, taxes
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Stealing from MSM
Omphaloskepsis Warning: Blogger on blogging.
As a paragon for the ambitious blogger, The Huffington Post has stolen from the rich and given to the rich. An analysis in today's Financial Times has almost everything right. Its thrust is that THP has taken what it needed from mainstream media while keeping the counterculture features of the best blogs. It has something for everyone and has bested MSM at their own game.
The numbers hint. Consider staffing up to 43 full-timers, with nine ad reps. (I always loved the newspaper and magazine term for their job, space sales — ooo, selling space.) They work in a newspaper-style bullpen with rows of PCs.
That's fat and thin at the same time. The bigger staff now supports real news on the front. The combo blog/news monster ranks five in Technorati popularity. Yet, they are doing it with a tiny fraction of a newspaper's staff.
The best quote of the analysis was THP Technology Director Jonah Perretti's. He calls this "the mullet strategy," "a reference to the infamous hairstyle that features a trim front and a scraggly back: 'It’s business up front, party in the back.'"
How they can pull it off (other than being funded by extremely plugged in, very entrepreneurial and sloppy rich patrons) is telling. As the piece puts it:
MSM is often inert, slow to change, and not innovative. As a group, they are like any company or person with inherited wealth. They are terrified of screwing up their sure thing.
Arianna Huffington clearly is not. Her mullet is showing and looking good.
Tags: massmarrier, blogs, Huffington Post, Financial Times, newspapers, MSM, Jonah Perretti
As a paragon for the ambitious blogger, The Huffington Post has stolen from the rich and given to the rich. An analysis in today's Financial Times has almost everything right. Its thrust is that THP has taken what it needed from mainstream media while keeping the counterculture features of the best blogs. It has something for everyone and has bested MSM at their own game.
The numbers hint. Consider staffing up to 43 full-timers, with nine ad reps. (I always loved the newspaper and magazine term for their job, space sales — ooo, selling space.) They work in a newspaper-style bullpen with rows of PCs.
That's fat and thin at the same time. The bigger staff now supports real news on the front. The combo blog/news monster ranks five in Technorati popularity. Yet, they are doing it with a tiny fraction of a newspaper's staff.
The best quote of the analysis was THP Technology Director Jonah Perretti's. He calls this "the mullet strategy," "a reference to the infamous hairstyle that features a trim front and a scraggly back: 'It’s business up front, party in the back.'"
How they can pull it off (other than being funded by extremely plugged in, very entrepreneurial and sloppy rich patrons) is telling. As the piece puts it:
While they may not have the resources or brand recognition of established newspapers, Ms Huffington and her co-founder, Kenneth Lerer, believe they have advantages. One is that they do not have to maintain an army of reporters to gather news. Another is that they are not weighed down by a legacy business. That means that they have lower costs and can afford to take risks without unnerving long-time readers.Having come out of newspapers and magazines, I can add that MSM greed is seldom matched with the risk-taking attitude necessary to pull off transitions. They are notorious for being cash rich and penurious. They almost all underpay staff. Their physical costs, even of those who own presses, are much smaller than nearly any other manufacturing operations. They also have great, quick cash flow, the envy of companies who have to warehouse and ship goods, which may end up being returned. MSM will get paid for their ads, without regard to fashion and other uncontrollable variables.
"That’s why these big media companies were never successful at launching cable channels in the 1980s," says Mr Lerer, a former Time Warner executive. "They had to buy them, and the same thing is happening now with the internet."
MSM is often inert, slow to change, and not innovative. As a group, they are like any company or person with inherited wealth. They are terrified of screwing up their sure thing.
Arianna Huffington clearly is not. Her mullet is showing and looking good.
Tags: massmarrier, blogs, Huffington Post, Financial Times, newspapers, MSM, Jonah Perretti
Monday, October 01, 2007
Alas, No Human Pincushions
I'm trying to keep political posting down, and avoid the absurd, like Larry Craig.
For something completely different, over at Harrumph! you'll find:
Tags: massmarrier, Harrumph!
For something completely different, over at Harrumph! you'll find:
- Racing pigs, bleating sheep, and side show recollections.
- A ghost building in Somerville.
- A rant on flight attendants.
- More on local beekeepers.
Tags: massmarrier, Harrumph!
Friday, September 28, 2007
Can't Happen in Massachusetts!
"Vote for me. I'm inexperienced and that means I'm clean!"
That's the gist of the two leaders in the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan in the Fifth Congressional District. On a tale of the tape, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Ogonowski are disturbingly similar, expect on a couple of policy positions. Either could take this race in one of the commonwealth's most conservative areas.
This race illustrates the risk of political clichés. Consider that other one, that people and businesses are overtaxed here in contrast to other states and nations. Taxachusetts has a literary ring, but is not accurate. Likewise and to this race, the tired theme that this is a state of liberals based on party registration and our national elections shows a real lack of observation and understanding.
On paper in the most literal sense, this is a Democratic state and the majority of Democrats report they are liberal or progressive. For example, after the 2006 election, we had only 13% (about one in eight) of the General Court seats help by Republicans. That fairly well reflects voter registration of 14% for the GOP.
The few big Massachusetts cities are in fact pretty solidly left wing in voting. Yet even in Boston, it's easy to pick neighborhoods where the majority of the registered voters are Democrats, yet the votes are socially and fiscally conservative. This is more the case in the Fifth.
That SW to NE diagonal from next to Worcester to Haverhill includes quite a few wealthy suburbs and towns, Lowell and other industrial and blue-collar areas, and enough rural communities to edge toward red. We see that now as recent polls have had Ogowonski within 10% of Tsongas.
While this quickie summer race was supposed to be a promenade for Ms. Niki, she's having to shed her pumps to wade in the mud. She could lose this one.
We think of this same seat in 1990 when the incumbent, Democrat Chester G. Atkins, scraped by over Republican challenger John MacGovern. The other votes could have gone either way, with totals being 110,232/101,017/9,891. This less-than-4% margin prompted the Democrats to put Marty Meehan up two years later. He started with a 52.2% to 37.5% victory over Republican Paul Cronin and got stronger from there, and ran unopposed three times.
Yet, ironically because of their backgrounds, both leading candidates are trying variations on such themes. On the face of it, neither has the experience for jump-on-the-treadmill performance. Both have high name recognition in our little world because of deceased relatives as the number one asset.
Niki wears her last name or that of her late husband, the well respected U.S. Rep. then Sen. Paul Tsongas. Yet, she kept a double-arm distance from his work when he was in office. Instead of legislative savvy, she was been on hospital boards and a middle-of-the-pack community-college dean.
Jim is very similar. He dresses in the name and heroic patina of his brother John, a pilot of AA 11, hijacked and flown into a World Trade Tower on 9/11/1. He has a background as a farmer and 28 years in the USAF and Guard, retiring as chicken colonel. His actually has somewhat more of a managerial and political résumé, given the nature of the military.
On the Democratic side, primary voters went with Tsongas over several highly qualified state legislators. They seemed to favor the emotional links and name recognition.
In the first debate of the candidates, last night, fairness muddled things a bit as the two were joined by surely also-ran to be candidates Kevin Thompson (Constitution Party), Patrick Murphy (independent) and Kurt Hayes (independent). Yet at every chance, Niki and Jim went over variations on nearly identical attacks.
Each claimed that it was the other one who was the insider. Niki pointed to Jim being a pro-Iraq War Bush lapdog (my term). Jim said that Niki was supported by D.C. insiders and that was proof she was same old-same old.
I question Jim's wisdom on this. Stressing how much beloved elected officials favor your opponent may not be the best strategy. Moreover, Niki is playing to a strong base of voters tired of burying local soldiers in a largely unpopular war.
That other big issue, the war, is even clearer. Jim is a stay-the-course guy, until Iraq is "safe and secure." Niki wants a specific timetable to get troops out within six months, shifting the situation to other Iraqis and other nations.
What's fascinating is that this confluence of factors for the pair probably won't lead to the first Republican to hold this seat since 1975, but it could.
Fortunately for Niki, Jim is no mellifluous orator. She's not the silver tongue herself, but she more than holds her own against his few rigid themes. Unlike the primary, the issues are stark. During the summer, no one issue stripped the veneer off Tsongas. Health care and her affiliation with big medical interests was there, but voters were not stirred. State Rep. Jamie Eldridge was clearly the most liberal and progressive of the Democrats, but again, this relatively conservative district was apparently the wrong audience for that theater.
This one could very well be like Meehan's first win. Niki might get the seat by 15% or 10% or 5%. Once in, the spot should be hers as long as she can stomach it.
Follow-up: Over at RichardHowe.com, Tony notes that the Fifth has moved in a major poll from solidly Democratic to leans that way.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Congress, Eldridge, 5th CD, Tsongas, Ogonowski
That's the gist of the two leaders in the special election to replace U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan in the Fifth Congressional District. On a tale of the tape, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Ogonowski are disturbingly similar, expect on a couple of policy positions. Either could take this race in one of the commonwealth's most conservative areas.
This race illustrates the risk of political clichés. Consider that other one, that people and businesses are overtaxed here in contrast to other states and nations. Taxachusetts has a literary ring, but is not accurate. Likewise and to this race, the tired theme that this is a state of liberals based on party registration and our national elections shows a real lack of observation and understanding.
On paper in the most literal sense, this is a Democratic state and the majority of Democrats report they are liberal or progressive. For example, after the 2006 election, we had only 13% (about one in eight) of the General Court seats help by Republicans. That fairly well reflects voter registration of 14% for the GOP.
Liberals?
Yet, don't get me started with DINOs (Democrats in name only) and unenrolled voters. They can range like nomadic goats all over the political desert and are the reason we are so slow to enact progressive legislation here.The few big Massachusetts cities are in fact pretty solidly left wing in voting. Yet even in Boston, it's easy to pick neighborhoods where the majority of the registered voters are Democrats, yet the votes are socially and fiscally conservative. This is more the case in the Fifth.
That SW to NE diagonal from next to Worcester to Haverhill includes quite a few wealthy suburbs and towns, Lowell and other industrial and blue-collar areas, and enough rural communities to edge toward red. We see that now as recent polls have had Ogowonski within 10% of Tsongas.
While this quickie summer race was supposed to be a promenade for Ms. Niki, she's having to shed her pumps to wade in the mud. She could lose this one.
We think of this same seat in 1990 when the incumbent, Democrat Chester G. Atkins, scraped by over Republican challenger John MacGovern. The other votes could have gone either way, with totals being 110,232/101,017/9,891. This less-than-4% margin prompted the Democrats to put Marty Meehan up two years later. He started with a 52.2% to 37.5% victory over Republican Paul Cronin and got stronger from there, and ran unopposed three times.
Insider Smears
The current fight is not one where we need the Mr. Smith character to bring integrity to the office. Meehan was fine and in many areas better than fine. This is not a case where people should be saying the resigned candidate was an example of too many white lawyer guys — fresh blood, a new perspective, and an outsider, please.Yet, ironically because of their backgrounds, both leading candidates are trying variations on such themes. On the face of it, neither has the experience for jump-on-the-treadmill performance. Both have high name recognition in our little world because of deceased relatives as the number one asset.
Niki wears her last name or that of her late husband, the well respected U.S. Rep. then Sen. Paul Tsongas. Yet, she kept a double-arm distance from his work when he was in office. Instead of legislative savvy, she was been on hospital boards and a middle-of-the-pack community-college dean.
Jim is very similar. He dresses in the name and heroic patina of his brother John, a pilot of AA 11, hijacked and flown into a World Trade Tower on 9/11/1. He has a background as a farmer and 28 years in the USAF and Guard, retiring as chicken colonel. His actually has somewhat more of a managerial and political résumé, given the nature of the military.
On the Democratic side, primary voters went with Tsongas over several highly qualified state legislators. They seemed to favor the emotional links and name recognition.
In the first debate of the candidates, last night, fairness muddled things a bit as the two were joined by surely also-ran to be candidates Kevin Thompson (Constitution Party), Patrick Murphy (independent) and Kurt Hayes (independent). Yet at every chance, Niki and Jim went over variations on nearly identical attacks.
Each claimed that it was the other one who was the insider. Niki pointed to Jim being a pro-Iraq War Bush lapdog (my term). Jim said that Niki was supported by D.C. insiders and that was proof she was same old-same old.
I question Jim's wisdom on this. Stressing how much beloved elected officials favor your opponent may not be the best strategy. Moreover, Niki is playing to a strong base of voters tired of burying local soldiers in a largely unpopular war.
Issue Differences
Jim has a better wedge with immigration. The district does not have a big immigrant voter populations except in a few places like Lowell. This relatively conservative district also seems to have lost the sense that its ancestors were immigrants, mostly before there was any regulation on entry. Jim is strongly agin' 'em and uses loaded terms like Congress trying to "sneak benefits" to immigrants. Niki wants a way for undocumented aliens to earn citizenship.That other big issue, the war, is even clearer. Jim is a stay-the-course guy, until Iraq is "safe and secure." Niki wants a specific timetable to get troops out within six months, shifting the situation to other Iraqis and other nations.
What's fascinating is that this confluence of factors for the pair probably won't lead to the first Republican to hold this seat since 1975, but it could.
Fortunately for Niki, Jim is no mellifluous orator. She's not the silver tongue herself, but she more than holds her own against his few rigid themes. Unlike the primary, the issues are stark. During the summer, no one issue stripped the veneer off Tsongas. Health care and her affiliation with big medical interests was there, but voters were not stirred. State Rep. Jamie Eldridge was clearly the most liberal and progressive of the Democrats, but again, this relatively conservative district was apparently the wrong audience for that theater.
This one could very well be like Meehan's first win. Niki might get the seat by 15% or 10% or 5%. Once in, the spot should be hers as long as she can stomach it.
Follow-up: Over at RichardHowe.com, Tony notes that the Fifth has moved in a major poll from solidly Democratic to leans that way.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, Congress, Eldridge, 5th CD, Tsongas, Ogonowski
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Five Steps Forward, One Back
A cold, bitter reality splash came at this week's local annual meeting. Bay Windows was there when a GLAD attorney provided examples of how the anti-gay/anti-same-sex-marriage folk in Lexington had achieved one of their objectives, while losing the battle.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders' Nima Eshghi noted a profound chilling effect in some schools, where administrators and boards are frightened. She cited examples, including Watertown. There, lesbian moms asked that school return the early reader And Tango Makes Three.
This case was not the same as in Lexington, where diversity-friendly books were part of the curriculum. Rather, the schools had pulled the cutesy book on its own after some anti-gay parents complained, apparently to avoid lawsuits by wingers. When the moms said they wanted their daughter to have the choice, they were denied.
This can't surprise anyone. Neither volunteer school board members nor paid administrators and staff are known for courage. In the main, they are bureaucrats, in this case about the business of educating kids with all that entails. We may have had false confidence catalyzed by Lexington Superintendent Paul Ash. He showed very unusual courage and insight in standing firm against the Mad Dad forces, including the outside legal dogs.
As the BW article puts it:
On its part, GLAD is filing an amicus brief in the appeal that the Mad Dad crew is making of its loss in U.S. District Court. Eshghi said the intent is that schools "can have some language coming from our briefs that we hope will make it into this case so they can offensively say, you know what, it’s not just that we’re permitted to teach this material; it’s that we are mandated to teach this material. This is our mission, and this mission is actually rooted in larger constitutional principles about what the role of public schools is."
Hey, if a piece of paper can provide backbone, let it be so.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, same sex marriage, Lexington, public schools, parental notification, Watertown, GLAD, Bay Windows
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders' Nima Eshghi noted a profound chilling effect in some schools, where administrators and boards are frightened. She cited examples, including Watertown. There, lesbian moms asked that school return the early reader And Tango Makes Three.
This case was not the same as in Lexington, where diversity-friendly books were part of the curriculum. Rather, the schools had pulled the cutesy book on its own after some anti-gay parents complained, apparently to avoid lawsuits by wingers. When the moms said they wanted their daughter to have the choice, they were denied.
This can't surprise anyone. Neither volunteer school board members nor paid administrators and staff are known for courage. In the main, they are bureaucrats, in this case about the business of educating kids with all that entails. We may have had false confidence catalyzed by Lexington Superintendent Paul Ash. He showed very unusual courage and insight in standing firm against the Mad Dad forces, including the outside legal dogs.
As the BW article puts it:
"What these parents groups, who are really fueled by a larger right wing establishment, are trying to do is take very, very narrow opt-out and parent notification rules that exist at the middle school and high school level purely for sex education, and only to be used in certain narrow circumstances, and they are trying to take that, bring it down into the kindergarten, first and second grade level where kids are not talking about sex. They are talking about who’s in a family. … They’re not objecting to studying families. They’re objecting only to certain families. They want their children opted out of learning about certain families," said Eshghi.She also cited a kind of weariness factor that religious fundamentalist can rely on. In this case, if the teachers and administrators are scared, they may start filtering books and other educational material for GLBT references and pull them prophylactically. Not everyone can be ethical and heroic, at least day to day.
On its part, GLAD is filing an amicus brief in the appeal that the Mad Dad crew is making of its loss in U.S. District Court. Eshghi said the intent is that schools "can have some language coming from our briefs that we hope will make it into this case so they can offensively say, you know what, it’s not just that we’re permitted to teach this material; it’s that we are mandated to teach this material. This is our mission, and this mission is actually rooted in larger constitutional principles about what the role of public schools is."
Hey, if a piece of paper can provide backbone, let it be so.
Tags: massmarrier, Massachusetts, same sex marriage, Lexington, public schools, parental notification, Watertown, GLAD, Bay Windows
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Larrry Craig Will Sit and Wait
This time though, he has no more say-so.
The U.S. Senator, Republican-Idaho, will have to wait at least a week to hear whether he will be allowed to humiliate and disgrace himself further through the legal system. The Hennepin County (Minneapolis) District Court Judge Charles Porter heard orals today from Craig's lawyers but won't rule immediately.
If you pardon the expression, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a blow by blow of the hearing. Craig's attorney claimed that no crime had occurred, so the plea should go. Among his skeptical comments, Porter said, "Seeking to have a guilty plea overturned is nearly impossible and it should be." Its looking bad for the bozo from Boise.
In case you were in a coma, you should know that in June the august Senator was caught in a men's room sex sting in the Minneapolis airport. They could have charged him with peeking in the stalls, soliciting public sex and such. However, he agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct. He thought about it for nearly two months before signing the plea and sending in his $575 fine. He subsequently has denied: 1) being gay (and by implication bi), 2) signaling in common ways for sex in the public stalls, and 3) doing anything at all wrong.
He's the leper in the hot tub back at the Senate, but he can't seem to stop pretending on this. He might have been able to beat the sting charges. As it is now, if the judge rules that he can withdraw his guilty plea, all bets are off. It's no longer disorderly conduct. He'd face the original public-sex solicitation and invasion of privacy charges.
There's a ton of background in this blog throughout September. I'm sick of it and suspect everyone except Larry is.
The amusing aspect and why it's still news is that while he was denying everything, he also said that if he could withdraw his plea by the end of the month, he would not resign from office. The former isn't about to happen. Whether he makes it easy on the Idaho governor to name his replacement by quitting right now remains to be heard.
Next Day Follow-up: Idaho Gov. Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter assumes that Craig will resign as his self-scheduled promise would indicate on Monday, according to the Statesman. The governor has a short list of the replacement candidates and is just waiting to roll. However, over at Ridenbaugh Press, speculation is that Craig will flop around like an injured bird on the highway. "Every additional day Craig stays in office, and continues voting and otherwise working, is a slight improvement on the odds that Craig decides he won’t resign after all."
Tags: massmarrier, honesty, closeted, gay rights, Larry Craig, Idaho, Congress
The U.S. Senator, Republican-Idaho, will have to wait at least a week to hear whether he will be allowed to humiliate and disgrace himself further through the legal system. The Hennepin County (Minneapolis) District Court Judge Charles Porter heard orals today from Craig's lawyers but won't rule immediately.
If you pardon the expression, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune has a blow by blow of the hearing. Craig's attorney claimed that no crime had occurred, so the plea should go. Among his skeptical comments, Porter said, "Seeking to have a guilty plea overturned is nearly impossible and it should be." Its looking bad for the bozo from Boise.
In case you were in a coma, you should know that in June the august Senator was caught in a men's room sex sting in the Minneapolis airport. They could have charged him with peeking in the stalls, soliciting public sex and such. However, he agreed to plead guilty to the misdemeanor of disorderly conduct. He thought about it for nearly two months before signing the plea and sending in his $575 fine. He subsequently has denied: 1) being gay (and by implication bi), 2) signaling in common ways for sex in the public stalls, and 3) doing anything at all wrong.
He's the leper in the hot tub back at the Senate, but he can't seem to stop pretending on this. He might have been able to beat the sting charges. As it is now, if the judge rules that he can withdraw his guilty plea, all bets are off. It's no longer disorderly conduct. He'd face the original public-sex solicitation and invasion of privacy charges.
There's a ton of background in this blog throughout September. I'm sick of it and suspect everyone except Larry is.
The amusing aspect and why it's still news is that while he was denying everything, he also said that if he could withdraw his plea by the end of the month, he would not resign from office. The former isn't about to happen. Whether he makes it easy on the Idaho governor to name his replacement by quitting right now remains to be heard.
Next Day Follow-up: Idaho Gov. Clement Leroy "Butch" Otter assumes that Craig will resign as his self-scheduled promise would indicate on Monday, according to the Statesman. The governor has a short list of the replacement candidates and is just waiting to roll. However, over at Ridenbaugh Press, speculation is that Craig will flop around like an injured bird on the highway. "Every additional day Craig stays in office, and continues voting and otherwise working, is a slight improvement on the odds that Craig decides he won’t resign after all."
Tags: massmarrier, honesty, closeted, gay rights, Larry Craig, Idaho, Congress
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Air Nannies
My annoyance over in-traffic strollers has long morphed into amusement.
My supposition, which some shrink friends say seems plausible, is that someone who saunters across an intersection or between two is acting out his or her powerlessness. They like to make the drivers and passengers wait for them because they feel like they aren't in charge of their work and daily lives. Here is a chance to be in control over others.
They savor every instant.
So it appears to be with too many flight attendants. The flood of news stories in recent years shows many acting out, perhaps for similar reasons as those amblers. Particularly since 9/11, what we and they themselves used to call flying waitresses have a new lawman persona. They kind of, sort of, a little bit are helping protect the airborne public from terrorists and other bad guys.
While that is a good aim, it also gives the outliers in the group the excuse to play sham sheriff. Recently, it's become absurd, as in the several cases of Southwest attendants enforcing unwritten dress codes on women with short skirts or what they arbitrarily decide is too obvious cleavage.
Other less frivolous cases involve passengers pulled off planes and interrogated for seeming to attendants — sometimes egged on by other passengers — to be somehow threatening. Search in Dogpile, Yahoo or Google for terms like flight attendant and arrest to find such cases of (horrors) Arabs speaking Arabic, for example.
I suppose we can't expect attendants to show better judgment than the general flying public, or can we? One would think that if the airlines and government want to use attendants as a fourth or fifth line of defense, they would train them. Also, they'd need guidelines to keep them from overreaction or arbitrary judgments.
With all of nervous about safety, particularly in the air, we don't need to change the term flight attendants gone wild to man false arrest and harassment of passengers. "She meant well" or "He was just trying to keep the passengers safe" doesn't cut it in these extreme cases. Attendants who clearly violate passengers' rights need retraining or to face civil action or to explain themselves to the district attorney or at the least a dope slap.
This nation has plenty of petty bureaucrats and self-appointed controllers of others' lives. In places like the Registry of Motor Vehicles, they may just lengthen your wait while they play big shot. When they can trigger flight delays (and missed connections) for hundreds of passengers, and make poor saps they pick on go through elaborate, time-consuming, humiliating and stressful detention and questioning, they go too far.
When a flight attendant loses it and causes a serious and unnecessary problem, we can't hide them behind the only-following-orders shield. When they put on their shiny name tag, they shouldn't be allowed to check their brains at the cabin door. The worst of the outliers are happy to hold passengers accountable for imagined transgressions. They need to know if they leave common sense behind, they'll be accountable for their very real ones.
Cross-post note: This may actually fit better on Harrumph! I'll post it there too.
Tags: massmarrier, flight attendants, terrorism
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
