Blackmail?

In the bad old days, gay people were considered security risks because they could be blackmailed. What if their dreadful secret were discovered?

In an enlightened world, a world with gay marriage, a world bereft of bigotry and ignorance, blackmail would not be an issue.

In the hallowed halls of the White House, in the very belly of the gay hating beast, in the radically conservative Republican talon news, toiled a likely gay escort with intimate inside access to the West Wing.

What was the relationship between the president's press secretary, Scott McClellan and Jeff the gay hooker? Did Jeff gain access to classified documents which disclosed the identity of Undercover CIA Operative Valerie Plame by using gay sex?

I wonder if Gannon works so hard for conservative causes because it suits his purposes to keep gay men scared and in the closet? It's so easy to control them that way.

The president's father said that exposing Valerie Plame was treason.

A long long time ago, in a world far far far away, special prosecutors would have been marshaled and personally affronted senators would opine self righteously on the senator floor to a breathless TV audience.

We don't have divided government anymore, so don't hold your breath.

Don't worry, it's perfectly normal in the wake of 9/11, that a man with a fake name and no journalism experience, would be given access to White House press briefings, ask the president softball questions on national TV, and be in possession of classified documents.

More Republican Hypocrisy

This will make a great movie.

Who gets to play Jeff?

Ask And Tell: We Don't Care, You're in The Army Now

I can remember having a conversation with a gay veteran of the Vietnam era, when President Clinton first floated the idea of forcing the military to accept gay soldiers in the same way that Truman forced them to accept black soldiers.

He said, When I protested and appeared before my draft board, I told them that I was ineligible because I was a practicing homosexual. I can't remember the board's exact response, it was something like, "get in the back of the truck faggot!"

Only when the military is a career vehicle, does it enforce it's policy of no gay people. In a time of war, when they need bodies and recruitment falls through the floor, does the military embrace equality.

Anybody Want A Nuclear Bomb?

That is what North Korea said today.

The North Korean regime is known at "Missiles Are Us" and they've sold missiles to Iran.

In 2002, President Bush threatened Iraq, Iran and North Korea. After seeing what we did in Iraq, apparently North Korea does not want to be next. This is the insurance policy that we have forced them to buy. It buys us a dangerous future.

This is a foreign policy disaster. A dramatic failure. We are now less safe with a nuclear North Korea. Of course they will embark on exporting their new industry. Any buyers? Osama bin Laden perhaps? How about Iran? I'm going out on a limb here and I'll say that Iran will pay big money for a nuke.

The remaining two countries in the "axis-of-evil" are now natural allies.

The president's bellicose language and military adventurism has earned us a nuclear foe.

Stupid.

Iraq Is A Mess

Call me crazy, but the 60% much ballyhooed and highly touted voter turnout number will turn out to be bunk. In today's all-live-all-the-time media, you can either get it accurate, or you can get it fast.

Morely Safer of 60 Minutes said it best and I paraphrase:

You see these embedded reporters speaking live, trying to comment and add valuable context. They can't. They can't comment, they don't know what the fuck happened! It just happened. The reporter should say, "your guess is as good as mine as to what it means."

Of course we don't know the Iraq election tallies yet, but the final result will be, shall we say, unexpected.

A senior government official in Baghdad, a US soldier and three members of a Kurdish political party have been killed in the latest attacks since the 30 January election.

The Shia voted because they were told to vote. The Sunnis didn't vote because they were told not to vote. Sounds like a free society waiting to happen to me!

According to Juan Cole:

The turnout in the largely Sunni Arab Salahuddin Province was so bad that the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance was the number one vote-getter there. That is like saying Kerry took Alabama! It could only happen if most Alabamans stayed home on election day.

You can get it accurate, or you can get it fast.

The Second Coming

The Christian Right has much to say about SpongeBob, Tinky Winky and Burt & Earl, but nothing about the scourge of one blond woman after another blond woman preying on our youth.

Clearly, blond women should not be allowed to teach.

Another sign of the Apocalypse!

Guns And Butter

Germany had a choice between guns and butter, and they choose guns. America had a choice between guns and butter and we chose guns.

There will be many bitter posts similar to this one in the future. I must admit, I am angry at a variety of constituencies. One of them is the African American community.

They voted for George Bush in far greater numbers than they voted for Al Gore due to the issue of gay marriage. Now, the programs that Bush is cutting, the pain of which will be disproportionally felt in the African American community are coming to fruition. Who needs heat and food? Who needs a college education?

The AARP is another one. They've come to their senses regarding Bush's plan to dismantle social security. However, everyone with a brain knew that Bush was lying regarding the cost of the new Medicare drug scheme.

Enjoy.

Get Out

Many Iraqis, in fact, many Muslims world wide, are asking the U.S. for a timetable for troop withdrawal.

It is not an unreasonable expectation. Our government is big on adhering to timetables.

The June 30th handover of sovereignty was actually a day or two early.

The January 30th election data was stubbornly held.

Yet, when it comes to withdrawing our troops, suddenly we're wishy-washy.

Could it have anything to do with our building permanent miltary bases?

SOTU Lies

When anger over our reasons for going to war rose, I would ask supporters of the president to re-read the 2002 SOTU. Everything in it was a lie. Or, to be polite, allow me to rephrase. I paraphrase our current secretary of state.

As the facts emerged, several key statements in the SOTU were revealed to be unfounded.

Of course when I listened to the speech at the time, I bought every word. Not this time.

The president said that he would cut the deficit in half in five years.

That's a lie.

The Plan: Continued

Isn't the U.S. flag pin on my lapel pretty?

Sunday Bloody Sunday

One of my friends commented on how boring the Super Bowl commercials were this year. Of course they were, and it made me go into one of my tirades (I make them brief) about politics.

It infuriates me when people say that politics do not matter. If the quality of the air you breathe does not matter, if the quality of the food you eat does not matter, then I suppose politics does not matter.

It also matters when you're viewing a half time show and hoping to see some creative commercials. The chilling effect of the Bush administration and his F.C.C. has been heard and felt. What a tame show it was this year.

The N.F.L is greatly offended when Randy Moss figuratively wipes his ass and moons the crowd during a game, but playing Sunday Bloody Sunday, right after a Brit has performed during the halftime show is just peaches.

So what? Americans are so ignorant they have no clue what the song is about anyway, so just play it.

Play a song about the British killing 13 Irish people in cold blood, it won't chill the jubilant mood of the American viewing audience.

Who could possibly take offense?

It was much like the vice president dressing as if he were going out to shovel his driveway, when he is representing America and commemorating the Holocaust.

Then again, I'm often out of step with America.

I was not offended when Paul sang about pot and transexuals and I was not offended by Janet Jackson's breast.

I also do not find Buster the Bunny, Tinky Winky, Sponge Bob, or TO flirting with a beautiful blond woman at all offensive.

I'm out of touch.

The Plan

On Monday the president will submit his budget to the Congress.

I've always been intrigued by the budget, because to me, it represents our collective values written down in order of importance.

In our own lives, we usually spend the most of our own budgets on what we value most.

On Monday, the president executes step 4.

Step 1)

Cut taxes for the wealthy

Step 2)

Spend the government's money like a drunken sailor in a way the Democrats only dreamed about.

Step 3)

Create Huge Budget Deficits

Step 4)

Use the deficit you created as an excuse to decimate the domestic spending programs that support the poor and middle class.

Step 5)

Remove the troublesome middle class that is a mistake of history, and get your servants back at reasonable rates.


Watch and learn.

The Hangover After the January 30 Party

Now the hangover begins. The elections told the world that George Bush was right. The Iraqis want freedom and they're grateful for our presence.

Yet, nothing has changed. We were just drunk on the Republican media spin.

As Kerry said during the debates, we are turning Iraq into our permanent military base. We are not leaving.

Nothing has changed on the ground. Americans continue to die after the elections as they did before the elections.

We have plunged our mighty fist into the greatest hornest nest in the world. We will continue to pay the price for the naivete of our president.

Queers On The Move

Remember when queer was a pejorative? Well gay people took the word and made it their own during the AIDS crisis, sort of like the "N" word. As an aside, I think that is so cool.

There is so much gay news going on lately. I'll deal with the least important, but most interesting news first. I know that Dick Gephardt has a gay daughter, but is it not true that the wing-nut Republicans have the most gay relatives?

We have Dick Cheney, Newt Gingrich, and many others, but my all time favorite has to be the ultimate wing-nut hysterical joke, Alan Keyes. If the fact that Alan Keyes has a gay child doesn't convince you that gay people are born not made, I don't know what will.

After calling gay people hedonists, our paragon of virtue Alan Keyes has thrown his ivory league, celibate daughter out of the house. He can't stand the sight of her apparently. Compassionate Conservatism starts at home. Keyes daughter Maya tells her story in her own blog. I discovered this bit of news by reading Oliver Willis whom I link too, (not that he needs me) I highly recommend his blog.

Good luck Maya, you'll be fine. Someday your father will awaken with the scales lifted from his eyes. If not, fuck him.

What is up with New York? Now we discover that a real state is on its way to legalize gay marriage.

I'm from Massachusetts so I can say that.

Gay marriage made our Mormon governors head pop off, which was fun to watch. We'll have to wait and see how Pataki and the New York legislature reacts if indeed the New York Court of Appeals strikes the ban on gay marriage. I do not see the future governor of New York, Eliot Spitzer, the current Attorney General, doing anything about it. If they care, they can look to Massachusetts to see what the consequences are. By the way, beyond the fact that we now have created a business for gay prenuptial and divorce lawyers, there are no consequences.

It has always interested me why so called social conservatives blame the Democrats when our society inevitably changes. Since 1968, the Republicans have ruled around here, and they continue to blame Democrats as the society moves away from them. I don't get it.

SOTU: Freedom For All, Unless You're Gay

I compliment the president on his remarks regarding Saudi Arabia and Egypt. We trumpet freedom and spill blood in its cause, while we break bread with despots providing that they dance to our tune.

Bob Dole and Rumsfelf have both enjoyed a good drink with the tyrant of Iraq.

Yet again the president plays lip service to the Federal Marriage Amendment which denies marriage rights to the countries gay citizens. The president is a bigot and his administration is bigoted.

The new Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, wasn't even officially in office yet, when she found the time to decry the adventures of a cartoon rabbit, Buster. She said,

"Many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode."

She wrote that to Pat Mitchell, the C.E.O. of PBS, in a clear effort produce a chilling effect on her and P.B.S. as a whole. It worked.

If Miss Spellings is concerned about parents being exposed to Lesbians, I suggest that she insist that the vice president's daughter, Mary, and her partner, Heather Poe, no longer appear in any public Republican Convention, public forum or meeting. After all, young children could be watching.

Bankrupt? Republicans Just Don't Care

Tort reform. Have you heard the Republicans whine about those evil lawyers who extort money from the health care system? That horrible John Edwards who made his fortune by bilking the insurance companies is the problem. The Republicans never mention John Edwards clients, because they don't represent his clients, they represent the insurance companies.

Every Democrat running for president in 2004 supported some kind of plan to extend health insurance to all Americans. It's called justice. It's called compassion. Real compassion, not some made up Madison Avenue slogan, but the real thing.

As the two America's that John Edwards discussed continue to bifurcate and the middle class disappears, the Republican party does nothing. Take it from someone who helped to keep the databases of the United States Bankruptcy Court up and running, the Bankruptcy Court is filled with former middle and upper middle class people.

The reason is simple. They got sick and the Republican party does not care. If they cared, they would do something about it.

If I lacked a conscience, I would've profited and bought stock in Senator Frist's company. The company, HCA, is the king of fraud.
They are not your friend.

History Repeats Itself

I've blogged for a long time now on why Iraq=Vietnam.

The election in Iraq as Senator Kerry said,

"went as expected."

I haven't blogged on my view of the elections because others have said it more often and better than I.

For example, this may help put the election in the proper perspective. I'm not even bothering to link to this because it's everywhere.


"U.S. Encouraged by Vietnam Vote :
Officials Cite 83% Turnout Despite Vietcong Terror

by Peter Grose, Special to the New York Times (9/4/1967: p. 2)

WASHINGTON, Sept. 3-- United States officials were surprised and heartened today at the size of turnout in South Vietnam's presidential election despite a Vietcong terrorist campaign to disrupt the voting.

According to reports from Saigon, 83 per cent of the 5.85 million registered voters cast their ballots yesterday. Many of them risked reprisals threatened by the Vietcong.

The size of the popular vote and the inability of the Vietcong to destroy the election machinery were the two salient facts in a preliminary assessment of the nation election based on the incomplete returns reaching here.

Mr. President, It's Cold Outside

In 2000, when George W. was elected, I made certain decisions that were consistent with my view of the world. I expected a bellicose foreign policy, tax cuts, huge deficits, a weak dollar and the American standard of living to fall. I was not disappointed.

So, one of the decisions that I made was the purchase of oil stocks. Afterall, this was the all oil administration with Bush and Cheney. The oil industry took Bush and Cheney to the party and they sure as hell wanted to dance.

In case you're wondering, my oil stocks have doubled since 2001. Throw in the dividends, and the pain of a Bush victory is mitigated. I call it, my consolation prize. I wonder though, what is the consolation prize for all those moral values voters? Why buy the cow when you can have the milk for free?

Speaking of the high price of oil, all of you low to middle income Americans in Ohio, how about those heating bills huh? It's cold out isn't? How many of you Bush voters are asking for government assistance with your heating bills? If only we kept statistics like that.

President Bush has released only two thirds of the money that Congress has allocated to assist the poor with their heating bills. I'm sure that he is very busy.

For this couple, it was too late.

Our Brothers The Syrians

In the absurdly ridiculous film, The Green Berets, there is a scene where John Wayne summons all the machismo bravado he can muster, and says with a completely straight face,

The Vietnamese want us here.

Of course that was the government mantra at the time. We were welcome guests.

Occupiers are never welcome guests. We are occupiers in Iraq. We are not liberators. We become liberators only when we leave.

For this reason, anyone who says that Lebanon is a democracy is smoking something. How can you be a free country when another countries army is hanging out in your capital city? This hasn't been lost on us, or on our former secretary of state, Colin Powell.

"We believe that the time has come for the Lebanese to be able to decide their own future without the presence of the Syrian army, which is operated from Damascus,"

The Syrian ambassador said on tv the other night and I paraphrase,

The Lebanese want us there, we would of course leave if were asked.

Sure they would.

What clever rhetoric since we have ceded the moral high ground in the world by being military occupiers ourselves. I'm sure the Syrians welcome us to the club.

President Bush said in an interview on Thursday that he would withdraw American forces from Iraq if the new government that is elected on Sunday asked him to do so, but that he expected Iraq's first democratically elected leaders would want the troops to remain as helpers, not as occupiers.


Sure we would.

American Values

Our Bill of Rights, which sanctifies habeas corpus, states that prisoners cannot be held indefinitely without being charged in a court of law.

To our eternal shame, there have been some bumps in the road. During the Civil War, and most notably during World War II when we interred Japanese Americans.

The Bush administration is another ignominious bump.

With little fanfare, the Bush administration has allowed four prisoners that were tortured under the guidelines set forth by Alberto Gonzales, and were held in Guantanamo Bay without charge for three years, to return home to Britain.

Three years in jail without charge. Welcome to the new America.

Strange Bedfellows

In an earlier post I put forth the idea that religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat in the world today.

The Mormon Church has formed an alliance with Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. The Sheikh believes in the killing of U.S. troops in Iraq, the death penalty for gay men, wife beating, and recently has been accused of supporting suicide bombers, but no matter.

The Mormon Church ignores all that because the good Sheikh believes in traditional family values.

Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo, who campaigns against condoms on behalf of the Catholic church, and Mahathir Mohamad, the dictatorial former prime minister of Malaysia who sacked and jailed his deputy for alleged homosexuality, are also members of the alliance.

Immorality on parade.

What Happened to the ERA?

The Equal Rights Amendment was killed by socially conservative Republicans a generation ago. Most notably, by Phyllis Schlafly, who by-the-way, has a gay son, isn't life rich?

Phyllis said that the evil Democrats would put women in combat situations. Afterall, she posited, if the sexes were equal it was bound to happen.

Well, it is starting to happen and their socially conservative president is doing it. Oddly, we have a soldier shortage.

Combat, and still less pay for equal work.

What prescience!

No To Fascists = No To Gonzales

In the real world, a no vote on the nomination of Alberto "Torture treaty doesn't bar `cruel, inhuman' tactics" Gonzales would be obvious. Unfortunately, our country is run by men and women whose moral compass is, shall we say, somewhat skewed.

A friend of mine the other night said to me:

If we were having dinner in Munich in 1934 and I said, Hitler will kill all the Jews, everyone would've said I was crazy and over the top.

He's right.

An unprovoked unjust war in Iraq, a U.S. citizen held indefinitely without trial and the implementation of an immoral torture policy, demeans our values and leads us down a path that leads to despotism.

If you believe that last sentence to be over-the-top, please imagine yourself at that dinner party in 1934.

Alberto, the mastermind of the Bush torture policy which made Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib possible, would have made a very good Nazi.

Armando at the Daily Kos has put out the word, every U.S. senator should vote no on the Gonzales nomination for Attorney General.

Christian Hijackers

President Bush, to his credit, has frequently said that Islam has been hijacked.

If Islam has been hijacked but a virulent strain of fundamentalism, so too has Christianity been hijacked by right wing intolerant bigots untouched by spirituality.

Scott Reed, who was Bob Dole's presidential campaign manager in 1996, said:

``...social conservatives were the key to the kingdom.''

Who are these conservative Christians leaders that worked so diligently to re-elect Bush and are credited with electing him?

They're the cousins of Osama bin Laden. Why do we even wonder why we're at war? The two sides want war. Listen to the so-called Christian rhetoric.

The Reverend Jerry "I'm a blathering idiot Falwell" said that Muhammad -- the founder of Islam -- is a terrorist.

Pat Robertson, leader of the Christian Coalition and host of the 700 Club, describes Muhammad as an absolute wild-eyed fanatic -- "a killer."

Who follows this guy?

The Reverend Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, says,

The God of Islam is not the same God of the Christian or the Judeo-Christian faith. It is a different God, and I believe a very evil and a very wicked religion.

Today, the lunatic Christians are questioning President Bush's Christian faith because he doesn't hateMuslims or gays enough.

It's the faith of these so-called Christian leaders that should be questioned. They have too much in common with Osama bin Laden.

Matt.7.3

Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Lying Shill

Barbara Boxer on Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer was on today. She had all her ducks in a row. She mentioned not all the lies that Condi Rice uttered in the service of her president, but many of the highlights. My favorite being Condi's huge lie that the phony aluminum tube intelligence that erroneously led us to war, could only be used for a nuclear weapon. For this bogus charge, we had to act because Iraq could have a nuclear weapon in a year. Of course that was and is a ridiculous claim, and now known to be completely false, in fact, even Rice denied saying it on the NewsHour with her "let's have dinner girlfriend", Gwen Ifill.

Rice supports coups against democratically elected leaders, she fumbles pre 9/11 intelligence, and she lies like a rug.

Poor Condi had to fall back on the old saw of decrying her critic for "attacking my integrity". Senator Boxer did just that, but Condi could not defend herself, only attack Boxer for attacking her. Isn't Condi supposed to be answering the questions?

Only Boxer and Kerry had the integrity to do the right thing and vote against a woman with only a passing acquaintance with the truth.

The only check against the bellicose neocons was Colin Powell. His successor is a spineless yes-woman who looks to run for senate in CA or the governorship in TX.

Condi carries serious water for her benefactor George W. Just as she did for his father. Her reward for being their uncritical android like talking points regurgitater is coming soon in the form of the secretary of state post, and later when she runs for office herself.

Let Condi collect her chips.

The Next John Kerry is Being Born

Haunted by the civilian casualties he witnessed, Corporal Huze has become one of a small but increasing number of Iraq veterans who have formed or joined groups to oppose the war or to criticize the way it is being fought.

We have a new Vietnam for this generation, so why not a new John Kerry?

Young Corporeal Huze mentioned the extremely high civilian casualties we have caused as a reason for his opposition to the war.

Indeed.

Intolerant America

Church-going Americans have grown increasingly intolerant in the past four years, according to a survey released on Saturday.

Well, you hardly need a survey to come to that conclusion. Just living here would tell you that. The greatest threat to civilization today is religious fundamentalism. The religion is immaterial. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu fundamentalism. They're all dangerous. Religion and compromise cannot co-exist. It's religion after all. That's why religion+politics=war.

Americans are less tolerant now than they were in 2000. Is this the correct direction for the country? No, it's courting disaster. We're living in a global economy. We have to live and work with all kinds of different people that do not worship our God, eat our food, wear our clothes, or worry about who will succeed Britney Spears; Tara Reid, Lindsey Lohan?

Gov. Blagojevich of Illinois said when he signed the state's gay rights bill into law,

"What we're doing today is as old as the Scripture: Love thy neighbor," Blagojevich said. "It's what Jesus said when he gave his Sermon on the Mount: `Do unto others what you have others do unto you.'"

We should reflect on this on the eve of the Iraqi civil war which we have wrought with our arrogant willful ignorance and a baseless military adventurism.