Monthly Archives: June 2006

Dump Duhbya

With ineptitude on full display, the party’s over for Republicans

With ineptitude on full display, the party’s over for Republicans – baltimoresun.com By Garrison Keillor

People who live in mud huts should not throw mud, especially if it comes from their own roofs. As Scripture says, don’t point to the speck in your neighbor’s eye when you have a piece of kindling in your own.

I see by the papers that the Republicans want to make an issue of Nancy Pelosi in the congressional races this fall: Would you want a San Francisco woman to be speaker of the House? …

Running against Ms. Pelosi, a woman who comes from a district where there are known gay persons, is a nice trick, but it does draw attention to the large shambling galoot who is speaker now, Tom DeLay’s enabler for years, a man who, judging by his public mutterances, is about as smart as most high school wrestling coaches.

For the past year, Dennis Hastert has been two heartbeats from the presidency. He is a man who seems content just to have a car and driver and three square meals a day. He has no apparent vision beyond the urge to hang onto power. He has succeeded in turning Congress into a branch of the executive branch. If Mr. Hastert becomes the poster boy for the Republican Party, this does not speak well for them as the Party of Ideas. …

Meanwhile, the Current Occupant goes on impersonating a president. Somewhere in the quiet leafy recesses of the Bush family, somebody is thinking, “Wrong son. Should’ve tried the smart one.”

This one’s eyes don’t quite focus. Five years in office and he doesn’t have a grip on it yet. You stand him up next to Tony Blair at a press conference and the comparison is not kind to Our Guy. Historians are starting to place him at or near the bottom of the list. And one of the basic assumptions of American culture is falling apart: the competence of Republicans. …

So here we are at an uneasy point in our history, mired in a costly war and getting nowhere, a supine Congress granting absolute power to a president who seems to get smaller and dimmer, and the best the GOP can offer is San Franciscophobia? This is beyond pitiful. This is violently stupid.

It is painful to look at your father and realize the old man should not be allowed to manage his own money anymore. This is the discovery the country has made about the party in power. They are inept. The checkbook needs to be taken away. They will rant, they will screech, they will wave their canes at you and call you all sorts of names, but you have to do what you have to do.

Dump Duhbya

Can Gay Marriage Help GOP?

We can take some comfort in how quickly the recent push against gay marriage died. You see in the process the declining power of the Religious Radical Right. I believe this ‘get out the base’ tactic will fail this fall after succeeding so well in 2004. Be sure to note the conservative argument FOR gay marriage below. mjh

Bush Re-Enters Gay Marriage Fight By Peter Baker, Washington Post Staff Writer

President Bush plans to wade back into the emotional debate over same-sex marriage for the first time in his second term beginning today with a pair of speeches pressing the Senate to approve a constitutional amendment next week defining marriage as the union of a man and woman.

Bush, whose opposition to marriage between gay partners helped power him to reelection in 2004, has remained largely silent on the issue since, much to the consternation of conservatives who complain he has not exerted leadership. Now, with midterm elections approaching, [Bush] is returning to a topic that galvanizes an important part of the Republican base. …

In one North Carolina congressional district, for instance, Republican challenger Vernon Robinson has aired a radio ad attacking Democratic Rep. Brad Miller with mariachi music playing in the background: “Brad Miller supports gay marriage and sponsored a bill to let American homosexuals bring their foreign homosexual lovers to this country on a marriage visa. If Miller had his way, America would be nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals.” [mjh: while they wage war on Christmas and burn the flag!] …

In 2004, 63 percent of Americans opposed same-sex marriage and 30 percent approved. In March, 51 percent opposed it and 39 percent supported it. [mjh: more of that Bush magic; in 3 years, 100% will support anything he opposes]

Can Gay Marriage Help GOP? By Debra Rosenberg, Newsweek

Bush himself had been mostly mum on gay marriage since his re-election. But now, with his poll numbers in a nose dive and even his most enthusiastic supporters grousing, Bush took up the cause in his radio address Saturday; an amendment is needed because “activist courts have left our nation with no other choice,” he explained. …

Though Bush himself has publicly embraced the amendment, he never seemed to care enough to press the matter. One of his old friends told NEWSWEEK that same-sex marriage barely registers on the president’s moral radar. “I think it was purely political. I don’t think he gives a s–t about it. He never talks about this stuff,” said the friend, who requested anonymity to discuss his private conversations with Bush. White House aides, who also declined to be identified, insist that the president does care about banning gay marriage.
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[mjh: David Brooks, conservative, wrote the following November 22, 2003.]

Op-Ed Columnist: The Power of Marriage By DAVID BROOKS, NYTimes

You would think that faced with this marriage crisis, we conservatives would do everything in our power to move as many people as possible from the path of contingency to the path of fidelity. But instead, many argue that gays must be banished from matrimony because gay marriage would weaken all marriage. A marriage is between a man and a woman, they say. …

The conservative course is not to banish gay people from making such commitments. It is to expect that they make such commitments. We shouldn’t just allow gay marriage. We should insist on gay marriage. …

It’s going to be up to conservatives to make the important, moral case for marriage, including gay marriage.

mjh’s blog — ‘Where in the Bible…?’

mjh’s blog — Expanding Freedom

my favs

Shake off your stupor

In the long run, Americans favor more freedom, not less. Denying rights

goes against America’s self-image. Even many conservatives are leery of amending the Constitution. Prohibition was the last time we

amended the Constitution to restrict rights and freedom; you know how well that turned out.

There is absolutely no doubt that one

day, gays and lesbians will be free to have all the rights and responsibilities of marriage. No doubt.

Before that day comes,

there will be a battle with people who have no hesitation in denying countless Americans a whole host of rights. Ironically, these people

call themselves conservatives, though they are all about radical change. This is just one bar in the cage they are building around

America. They are our jihadists, our taliban, fanatic followers of the one true word of god (as they see it). Not content to live and let

live, not able to do unto others as they would have done onto them, the Radical Right will destroy this village to save it. We cannot

allow that.

After they attempt a constitutional amendment to dictate who has the state’s blessing in declaring their love, the

Radical Right will move on to an amendment denying women control over their own bodies and their families. Then, an amendment to allow

Arnold Schwartzeneggar to become president (after Jeb Bush, perhaps).

We must stop this. But, if we fail, the pendulum will swing

and some of these changes will be undone (some things are already ruined forever). That’s assuming we haven’t all become slack-jawed

bible thumping reality TV watching apathetic illiterates in the meantime. Who benefits from ignorance? Who benefits from apathy or

despair? Who benefits from passivity? The Powers-that-be. Shake off your stupor and fight back! mjh

mjh’s blog —

Expanding Freedom

media

I Never Call It The Albuquerque Urinal, But Now I’m Pissed

3 Comments

As you may know, Bernalillo County’s Probate Judge, Merri Rudd (y mi esposa) was unopposed in the Democratic Primary yesterday and also is unopposed in the General Election in November. So, she won back in March on Filing Day but for the need for one vote yesterday. Still, some might want to know she received 25,737 votes, more than any other judge or county position in Bernalillo. More than Gary King or Jim Baca or any candidate other than the top state-wide offices (within Bernalillo County) — 10,000+ votes more than Heather Wilson. Bernalillo County, New Mexico, USA – Unofficial Election Results

You won’t know this from the Albuquerque Journal (or local TV news). Intrepid journalist Dan McKay, who Merri introduced me to in the neighborhood grocery store, studiously ignores the office of Probate Judge and Merri Rudd. McKay has written many, many articles on Bernalillo politics and elections. Only once have I seen him mention the office or the office holder, and that may have been the last time I chastised him for his negligence.

Does the office of Probate Judge matter less than dog-catcher (sorry, under the new HEART ordinance, that’s “Dog-Human Interface Facilitator”)? There are only 5 elected county positions mandated by the state constitution; Probate Judge is one of these. Constitutionally, the office is as “important” as sheriff.

“Aw, come on, she was unopposed.” That, in itself, may have been news. But note that Michael Brasher is in a similar position and got a paragraph explaining that (and 4,855 votes). Somehow, the Journal can’t spare a sentence for one of the top vote-getters in the county. What else are they overlooking/under-reporting? mjh

PS: my friends at the Journal might warn McKay to watch out for me at the grocery store — I may slip something embarrassing or expensive in his basket.

Update at 1:17pm: after my venting, Merri notes that none of the judges races seem to have merited coverage in McKay’s article. So, rather then being the only county official ignored, she’s one of many judges. So much fairer.

[See mjh’s blog — The Thrill of Victory]

The Atheist's Pulpit

Have A Damn Fine Day!

photo by MRuddIt must be the End-Times: the devil is stomping around Artesia this very moment.

New Mexicans will recall we used to have a state highway numbered ‘666’. Ah, but primitive superstition was too much for some. So, we spent public money changing the number to appease them. Church trumps State again, as ignorance does reason. mjh

[mjh: the following is a good in-depth article on the history of this lunacy.]

A Date With Destiny or Just Another Day? By K. Connie Kang, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

As for associating Satan with 666 and the antichrist, that’s the result of Christian authors writing about Satan so much, said J. Gordon Melton, a Methodist minister based in Santa Barbara and author of the “Encyclopedia of American Religions.”

“Satanism is itself largely a product of Christian paranoia,” Melton said.

BBC NEWS | UK | Magazine | The Nick of time By Stephen Tomkins

Vexen Crabtree, the Minister of the London Church of Satan, plans to go to one of the alternative clubs that are celebrating 06/06/06. “My official take on it is that 666 is really only a Christian number,” he explains. “But any excuse for a party is a good one.” …

The book “Is George Bush The Antichrist?” was published in 2004 in the US. The answer was yes, showing all kinds of ways of doing the maths to get the president to equal 666.

Dump Duhbya

Recent AOL Unscientific Poll — Poor Duhbya

How closely do Bush’s priorities match yours?
Not at all 58%
Very 24%
Somewhat 18%
Total Votes: 125,143

How would you rate his overall job performance?
Poor 60%
Good 18%
Excellent 12%
Fair 11%
Total Votes: 126,917

Where should gay marriage fall on Bush’s priority scale?
At or near the bottom 67%
At or near the top 19%
In the middle 15%
Total Votes: 124,858

How would you rate Bush’s handling of gay marriage?
Poor 61%
Excellent 21%
Good 11%
Fair 7%
Total Votes: 125,004

Where should illegal immigration fall on Bush’s priority scale?
At or near the top 53%
In the middle 37%
At or near the bottom 10%
Total Votes: 73,387

How would you rate Bush’s handling of illegal immigration?
Poor 53%
Fair 25%
Good 15%
Excellent 6%
Total Votes: 74,132

Where should the war in Iraq fall on Bush’s priority scale?
At or near the top 89%
In the middle 6%
At or near the bottom 4%
Total Votes: 70,972

How would you rate Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq?
Poor 67%
Good 14%
Fair 11%
Excellent 8%
Total Votes: 72,218

Where should the war on terror fall on Bush’s priority scale?
At or near the top 78%
In the middle 18%
At or near the bottom 3%
Total Votes: 68,988

How would you rate Bush’s handling of the war on terror?
Poor 54%
Fair 17%
Good 15%
Excellent 14%
Total Votes: 70,086

Where should the economy fall on Bush’s priority scale?
At or near the top 78%
In the middle 21%
At or near the bottom 2%
Total Votes: 67,065

How would you rate Bush’s handling of the economy?
Poor 61%
Fair 14%
Good 13%
Excellent 12%
Total Votes: 68,603

Dump Duhbya

The Imperial President

Bar group will review Bush’s legal challenges – The Boston Globe By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff

The board of governors of the American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office. …

Bush has challenged more laws than all previous presidents combined. …

William Sessions , a retired federal judge who was the director of the FBI under both Reagan and President George H.W. Bush , said he agreed to participate because he believed that the signing statements raise a “serious problem” for the American constitutional system.

“I think it’s very important for the people of the United States to have trust and reliance that the president is not going around the law,” Sessions said. “The importance of it speaks for itself.” …

The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, promised to hold a hearing on Bush’s use of signing statements.
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See mjh’s blog — Stealth Vetoes