The Blame in Maine Stays Mainly On The…

November 8, 2009

Oh, I dunnow…

But – Monica Roberts has a thought about it:

The gay community lost another marriage fight in Maine, and in their pissivity over the loss they’re once again a la California, letting the negativity flow.

I was wondering who Dan Savage and the gay community were going to blame for this latest loss since African-Americans make up only 1% of Maine’s population.

Lo and behold, they found a Black person to blame for their loss anyway.

President Obama.

0 – 31.

Even the Tampa Bay Buccaneers snapped their losing streak after 26.


The Sports Consecrated Jinx (Or: Northwestern 17 – Iowa 10)

November 8, 2009

It wasn’t the cover everywhere (the copies of the Nov. 9th issue that I saw in DC had the World Series item as the cover story), but the SI cover is the SI cover.

SI - 20091109 - cover

And the jinx is the jinx.

And a loss is a loss.

Northwestern 17 – Iowa 10.

Damn.


…And Creatures Rejected by the Black Lagoon

November 7, 2009

When I exited the DC Metro at the Capitol South station on my way to the Senate ENDA hearing Thursday, this was what I encountered:

Zombies-01

Zombies-02

And though I typically have no cause to praise organizations that perpetuate dependence on mythology (after all, such dependence tends to produce ‘minds’ such as those depicted above), but there was visible, albeit silent, opposition to those  who were once human though now crainially teabagged:

Zombies-03


Intellectual Zombies

November 7, 2009

Yes, there are intellectual zombies…

and most of them are Steve King:

“All Americans have health care, every single one.”

Did he really say that?

Yup.

He did.


Psychic Vampires

November 7, 2009

Vanessa Edwards Foster knows ‘em when she sees gets bitten by ‘em.


Sen. Franken

November 5, 2009

Franken

 

I was actually in D.C. for something else (no, not the teabagging festival, but I will have a post about that later as it was all but impossible to move around in D.C. today without encountering them), but I did have the morning free – so I made it a point to attend the Senate hearing on ENDA…

meaning, of course, that I finally got the chance to see Senator Al Franken in action in person.

As with the teabaggers, a more extensive post about the ENDA hearing itself will be coming soon.  Live blogging it won’t be – but do stay tuned.

Meanwhile, if it isn’t the Al Franken decade, perhaps it should be.


I’d Have More Sympathy If…

November 4, 2009

Former head Advocate-oid Judy Weider in HuffPo:

In case you haven’t read the “official stories” or the gossip, Regent Media, the latest owner of The Advocateonce the national LGBT newsmagazine of record for America (41-years-old exactly!)–is reducing the publication to a 32-page mini-mag, taking it off the newsstands, and packaging it up with its “sister” publication, Out magazine. Subscribers will get a magazine they never wanted (Out) and, of course, the still-free website.

What the hell happened? What colossal cluster of f-ups managed to devastate a magazine that was so important even ten years ago that every serious news media in the world turned to it for back up sourcing when covering gay issues?

Might part of the problem be that nine-and-a-half years ago the Advocate ran an op-ed that all but called for the extermination of transsexuals?  That referring to the Advocate as an “LGBT newsmagazine” is all but a lie?

Most of all, it saddens me to think that when I worked for The Advocate the one thing I always had going for any story we did was the power and reputation of the magazine.

Yeah?  Well, here’s part of the “reputation” of that magazine – specifically, its June 20, 2000 issue:

[W]hy, as adults, do transsexuals mutilate their bodies in order to make them conform to the fashionable version of the opposite sex and gender? That only reinforces oppressive stereotypes every bit as much as liposuction or a bimbo’s boob job. If you’re a man in a woman’s body, then live androgynously if you’re such a revolutionary.

How many of those people whose lives Norah Vincent feels as though she has dictatorial power over did you employ at the Advocate during your tenure?  If its not more than zero, you’ll never find me shedding any tears for either the magazine or what you’re feeling.


We Have Seen The Third World – And It Is Us

November 4, 2009

From C&L, something that should be too disgusting for words, yet has to be articulated somehow:

Oh. My. God. In the “richest country in the world”. There are no words for how unacceptable this is:

Nearly half of all U.S. children and 90 percent of black youngsters will be on food stamps at some point during childhood, and fallout from the current recession could push those numbers even higher, researchers say.

Remember that the next time you see/hear the likes of Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, John Boehner and the rest of the Neo-Republican Mafia insist that the only thing that government needs to do is make the rich richer so the richness can tinkle trickle down.


Remind Me Again Why Jim Cramer Has ANY Job, Much Less Space on CNBC

November 4, 2009

From the Wall Street Cheat Sheet:

When will the SEC start regulating game shows masquerading as investment advisory? This weekend, CIT Group (CIT) filed Chapter 11. Merely four weeks ago, Mad Money host and TheStreet.com (Nasdaq: TSCM) founder Jim Cramer said he would buy CIT (”Citi and CIT are Primed for Upside“). This type of incredibly speculative advice is as radioactive to the general investing public as a post nuclear explosion site….

Looks like its time for The Cram to receive a return invite to The Daily Show.


Maine

November 3, 2009

Another post from The John echoing his post-2007 development of a disdain for incrementalism.

Ben Smith at Politico raises an interesting point:

President Obama resisted pressure from gay allies to comment on the Maine referendum, and Eric Holder has professed ignorance of it. If the same-sex marriage law is repealed, national gay groups and the White House will likely absorb another wave of grassroots anger for spending their time celebrating incremental victories while the big prize slips from their fingers.

Okay…

He basically just reposted the Politico piece.

And, okay…

I can’t really say I disagree with the analysis.

However, I’m still amazed at all of this newfound disdain for incrementalism – and I wonder how easily the newly-found will be conveniently misplaced once things get ugly regarding 2009’s ENDA.