Obscanity: You'll know it when you see it

The Supreme Court of Connecticut has become… yet another high court to rule that marriage discrimination against same-gender couples is unconstitutional. This makes Connecticut the third state to allow same-gender marriage. I would say it was the third court to make this ruling, but I think people underestimate the number of state supreme courts that have ruled against marriage discrimination. For the record, they are: Vermont, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York (for out-of-state marriages), California, Connecticut. Other states, like Alaska and Hawaii, have seen court decisions become void because the states were allowed to pass DOMA amendments, which are entirely unconstitutional but have yet to be successfully challenged.

The reason DOMA is unconstitutional is that it violates the original constitution itself – not even an amendment – by flying in the face of the Full Faith and Credit clause, which directs that states give full faith and credit to other states’ public acts, records, and judicial proceedings. Marriage, and later divorce, has been established as a public act/record and if you get married in any state, you are married in all states – and if you get divorced in any state, you are divorced in all states. For states to recognize some out of state marriages and not others violates the 14th Amendment. If states want to recognize out of state marriages, they cannot pick and choose which marriages they will recognize. Let them stop recognizing ALL out of state marriages, divorces, and adoptions – let’s see how well that works! Let’s see how well that protects families!

Interesting quote:

State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney, a Republican of Fairfield, issued a statement today saying: “While I believe these decisions are better left to elected representatives, it is ultimately the province of the State Supreme Court to interpret our constitution. The Court carried out that responsibility today and ruled that the institution of marriage in Connecticut must include same-sex couples. Whether people agree or disagree, we all need to respect the Court’s decision and abide by the ruling.” (Read more)

Now, why is it that they recognize this in Connecticut, but not in California?

Oh. My. Gosh. Everybody in America needs to take eleven minutes out of their crazy schedules and watch this commentary about Sarah Palin. Every last bit of it is pure truth, and scary as all hell. I’m only sorry it’s on MSNBC and not on network television, where more people could see it.

If you’re even THINKING about voting for a ticket with Sarah Palin on it, you need to see this video. He has her so spot on – he’s raised so many questions that have been floating out there about her – for example, if Obama has been “pallin’ around” with terrorists (i.e. former anti-Vietnam war radicals who have reformed themselves and now work toward improving Chicago’s school system), then what does Palin have to say about her affiliation with the Alaskan Independence Party, founded by a man who by his own admission hates America? Who literally said he hates America and refuses to be buried under her flag? And what of her relationship with the pastor who “laid hands” on her and cast away any forms of witchcraft which might be getting in her way of becoming governor? (and who, I might add, threw in some lines in there about letting Palin bring the nation to god…) You’ll have to watch this video to find out his sordid past – which the people in the Wasilla church thought was just fab, by george!

Bailout Provides More Mental Health Coverage – NYTimes.com:

WASHINGTON — More than one-third of all Americans will soon receive better insurance coverage for mental health treatments because of a new law that, for the first time, requires equal coverage of mental and physical illnesses. (Read more)

The gist of this interview with McCain: “Hey LGBT Americans! Vote against your interests: McCain Palin ’08! p.s. we still hate you, but we’ll never admit it – at least not before the election! State’s rights, state’s rights, state’s rights.”

My favorite:

McCain: As a Republican, I am a strong advocate for federalism. States should be able to decide as many issues as possible. That’s certainly the case on the definition of marriage. My home state of Arizona shouldn’t be compelled to recognize a marriage from California or Massachusetts. Those states can decide that issue by themselves.

Hey McTwoface: Are you also in favor of the CONSTITUTION? For example, the part where states have to give FULL FAITH AND CREDIT to the “public acts, records, and judicial rulings” of another state? THAT INCLUDES MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.

A graduate of Wasilla High School comments on lack of sex education:

Abstinence-only education is great in theory, but it is not practical. For every emergency drill I went through to protect myself from an intruder or bomb threat, I think of the condom wrapped in foil and how unprotected I could have been. (Read more)

Wow. John McCain’s campaign has been putting out some pretty desperate ads, but this one just takes the cake.

This ad pretty much crystallizes one of the key differences between Republican and Democratic thinking, at least in the present climate of divisive politics. Democrats – or at least, the kind of Democrats who support Obama – recognize that for any given issue, there is a black, and there is a white, but there are also countless shades of gray, and typically the truth falls somewhere in that ambiguous area. Not always, of course, but when it comes to certain issues, you cannot simply boil it down to a Right and a Wrong. After all, as they say in “Wicked,” “There are precious few at ease with moral ambiguities, and so we act as though they don’t exist!”

On the other hand, for many Republicans, especially the knee-jerk Republicans we seem to see as mainstream candidates these days, there is only a Right and a Wrong, and a Yes and a No, and if you even pause to THINK about the complexity of the issue, or about the space between Yes and No, then you are part of the No. They don’t understand that you can be right AND wrong. They don’t understand that two people can agree about a problem and disagree about a solution.

For a Democrat like Obama, it would seem natural, in a debate, to acknowledge when the opponent is right about certain things, and follow up with an explanation of why their interpretation of those things is still not the best, why some of the details are wrong, why something has been mischaracterized, or why they disagree with the solution to fixing those things, if they’re broken. For Obama to say, “John is right, but…” or “John is right, and we agree on that issue…” seems perfectly natural to us.

For the kind of Republicans who patched this ad together, this is a sign of weakness. The willingness to recognize the skill or knowledge of your opponent makes you a bad leader, in their eyes. Cooperation is weakness. Diplomacy is weakness. Mediation is weakness. Politeness is weakness. To them, you have to be a pit bull in lipstick. You can’t work things out; you have to WIN, at any cost. To them, there is a right, and there is a wrong, and for every Good Guy, there is a Bad Guy. There can’t be two Good Guys who are just different. One of them has to be Bad. And it’s true that sometimes this is the case – but sometimes you’re just talking about two people who want to do good but disagree on the meaning of “good,” or two people who want to fix the same problem but have very different solutions.

This is setting aside the reality that every single one of Obama’s acknowledgments of McCain’s accuracy on a point was followed by a “but,” which was meticulously edited out by the commercial’s creators. Never mind that it mischaracterizes Obama’s opinion of McCain’s beliefs and strategies (and tactics) and completely ignores that he had a strong rebuttal for each point. As far as I’m concerned, that is the obvious problem with the ad, and I don’t think people will fall for it. Not most people, anyway. For me, more problematic is the implication of the ad itself – that to them, the very fact that he was willing to concede a single inch, or say something positive about McCain, even just acknowledge that McCain is at all informed or intelligent or, you know, a human being, makes him a failure and serves as proof of his inability to lead. For them, if Obama acknowledges that McCain is right about one thing, it necessarily follows that 1) McCain is right about all things, and 2) Obama is wrong about all things.

I think that says a lot about what kind of administration McCain would run. It’s pretty much the same administration Bush ran – you’re either with us, or you’re against us. You’re either Christian, or you’re going to hell. You want every zygote to turn into a human, or else you’re a raving baby-murderer. You either support the nuclear family, or you’re a child molester who wants to undermine society and demolish the institution of marriage or marry your pet goat. If you aren’t a conservative, then you’re a radical left winger. You can either put complete and utter faith in the free market, or you can fess up to being a rabid socialist. You’re a blind supporter of US policy, or you’re a terrorist. You’re either a Republican, or you hate your country. If you try to reach over to the other side… you are weak. Oh, and you hate your country.

This most recent ad proves that John McCain will bring more of the same. After all, he’s John McCain, and he approves of this message.

As you probably already know, yesterday John McCain cancelled his appearance on David Letterman’s CBS late night talk show, claiming that he had to rush back to Washington because the economy was about to crater. Letterman was informed that McCain was rushing off to the airport and was about to board a plane immediately.

Well, about six and a half minutes into this video, you’ll see where McCain really had to go. Well, it turns out that while he was supposed to be on a plane, McCain was having his nose powdered on the set of Katie Couric’s CBS Evening News. Does he think nobody is going to catch him? Seriously? I mean, this is all on camera. In the public eye. What, Letterman just wasn’t going to notice the national broadcast? From the same building???

Of course, the benefit to McCain is that while some of us may see right through this blatant transparency, I guarantee you that the rightwing defense will be, “So what? Letterman isn’t important; the economy is!” To which the correct response is, of course, and now, which is more important, Katie Couric, or the economy? Because McCain put one of these first yesterday, and it wasn’t the economy.

The first couple minutes are not the main point, so if you are pressed for time, skip the intro and the praise for McCain’s war service, and start at 2:22. Or if you’re REALLY pressed for time, skip to 6:35, when things get really interesting. (But if you can, just watch the whole clip.)

McCain bails on Letterman

Make no mistake: John McCain is NOT suspending his campaign simply because the economy is about to go bust. If his only concern was about the economy, he would be out there, telling the country what he plans to do to fix it. He would be chomping at the bit to get the airtime provided by the presidential debate. He would say the debate is especially necessary now that one of these two men is going to inherit this economic crisis. Time is running out, and the American public NEEDS to hear from the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

But of course, none of that is happening. Why? The real reason he is suspending his campaign – and trying to postpone the debate – is because he sounds better with his mouth shut. He has nothing to say, and has no good way to say it. His campaign has been injured enough by stupid, bigoted, ignorant, completely ridiculous statements coming from him and from his staff. At this point, the very best (and most safe) thing for him to do is smile and look pretty until all the polls are closed. The more he talks, the more we hear him and understand who and what he truly is – and that’s not good for his numbers.

I can only hope that America is not gullible enough to fall for this ploy. After all, what does it mean that he’s suspending his campaign? Does it mean the endless barrage of deceitful commercials about Obama will stop? No. It just means he saves money because he can let his supporters do all the advertising for him – which probably means more lies, not less. Does it mean that his army of lackeys will stop trying to smear the Democratic candidates at every opportunity they get? Of course not.

All it really means is that now he will have an excuse to stay out of the public eye.

Of course, it may also be that he’s trying to push things as far as he can in order to prevent Palin from ever having to debate Biden. I could see him claiming that the presidential debate is more important than the VP debate, and trying to cancel the VP debate altogether.

All this goes without even getting into the very serious question about whether we’re facing another Reagan in the White House, and if elected, whether he will even survive the presidency.

And what of David Letterman’s suggestion that the right thing to do is for McCain to go back to Washington but let his campaign continue on with his running mate, the vice presidential candidate, at its helm?

Well, I think we see the problem there. She’s busy campaigning for the title of Miss America and arranging staged, scripted photo-op meetings that bear a remarkable resemblance to speed-dating.

This political ploy by McCain will be a true test of what America has learned during the past 8 years. Let’s hope we don’t fail by falling for it again.

If you think we’re not headed toward a police state with no constitutional rights… you NEED to watch this:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

I have been enthralled with this Metrolink collision, as it happened in Chatsworth, which is in my “native homeland,” the San Fernando Valley (and I’ve taken the train out of Chatsworth a few times). I’m surprised that more people aren’t talking about it, considering that it’s the worst US rail accident in years. (Click for fatality list, which hopefully will not grow.)

I have to agree with the rail workers’ union – I think it’s awfully premature to be placing blame on the engineer, who in the accident. Even before I read this article, I thought, “How convenient for MTA to be placing blame on a single individual. How convenient that it was his actions, and not a MTA technical error, which led to the collision… How convenient that this blame has been placed on one who cannot defend himself.” Of course, it’s entirely possible this 10-year veteran of the rail industry did “ignore” a red light warning that a train was coming up ahead. It COULD have happened that way. Perhaps this guy was text messaging while operating a commuter train, in violation of oh so many laws. But without examining the data/signal recorders and the other physical evidence that will be gathered and investigated in the coming weeks and months, it seems exceedingly premature and yes, convenient, for Metro to assign blame immediately, and then claim they’re doing it in the interest of “honesty.”

If you’re hoping for change in the years to come and this doesn’t scare the hell out of you, I don’t know what will… The woman is E-V-I-L.

Oh, how I was waiting for this!! (Also available at NBC.com.)

The Raw Story reports: Whistleblower breaks 15-year silence to allege McCain hid wife’s drug abuse. More here.

I can just imagine the response from the McCain spin machine: “Drug use/abuse is a private matter,” they’ll say. “She’s not running for office,” they’ll say. “This was so long ago,” they’ll say. And they’ll definitely be sure to remind us that “wives are off limits.”

The Michigan Messenger is reporting that the county GOP will use a list of foreclosed homes to block people from voting if they live at those addresses. The problem?

The Michigan Republicans’ planned use of foreclosure lists is apparently an attempt to challenge ineligible voters as not being “true residents.”

One expert questioned the legality of the tactic.

“You can’t challenge people without a factual basis for doing so,” said J. Gerald Hebert, a former voting rights litigator for the U.S. Justice Department who now runs the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington D.C.-based public-interest law firm. “I don’t think a foreclosure notice is sufficient basis for a challenge, because people often remain in their homes after foreclosure begins and sometimes are able to negotiate and refinance.”

So basically, if you’re unfortunate enough to be in danger of losing your house, the Republicans will rub salt on your wound by trying to prevent you from voting out the administration that let the economy turn to such shit that you lost your house in the first place. Pretty great racket, eh?

Perhaps McCain should have skimmed this handy-dandy little Palin manual before picking this ridiculous, tacky, Celia Hodes of a candidate.

Everybody regurgitating the Republican-fed sheep-talk needs to see this video. EVERYBODY.

Sarah Palin Gender Card | The Daily Show | Comedy Central.

You’ve gotta love those live mics… Oops. Thanks for the info, Peggy Noonan and Michael Murphy.

Of course she claims she was taken out of context and that she didn’t mean what it sounded like she meant… Yeah. I’m sooo convinced. Backpedal backpedal backpedal!

But who am I to say? Listen for yourself. Headphones help.

For all of you out there, including Barack Obama, who allege that Sarah Palin’s family life is private and off limits: Can I just remind you that it was SARAH PALIN who fed this piece of information to the public in the first place? Nobody spied on her; nobody got hold of secret medical records or hacked into her computer. Sarah Palin CHOSE to release this information to the American people, and now it is our inalienable right to talk about it, react to it, and decide how we feel about a woman who supports abstinence-only education when it’s clear from her own family situation that abstinence-only education DOES NOT WORK.

Can we call her a hypocrite? Absolutely. She doesn’t support same-sex marriage (or domestic partnership rights, even) because marriage is soooo sacred, but she’s willing to let a CHILD enter into this sacred union as punishment for having premarital sex. So is marriage a sacrament, or a punishment? Make up your mind!

She comes from a party that cracks down on access to birth control and yet doesn’t want abortions to be legal – but STILL doesn’t support education about how not to get pregnant in the first place. This is the woman we want thisclose to inheriting the presidency from ancient, ailing John McCain?

So is her daughter’s pregnancy private? It was, until she made it public. And is it relevant? HELL. YES.

I know that many people will claim that the Palins were forced to make this announcement in order to quell rumors going around that Palin’s youngest “son” Trig is actually her grandson. There are a few points to address here. I think the people who made these speculations in the first place were just having a hard time reconciling Palin’s uber-family-values stances with the fact that she endangered her child’s life multiple times the evening she gave birth by flying even after her water broke, the fact that she simply did not look pregnant and her staff was shocked to find out she was seven months along, the fact that no picture exists that demonstrates the woman was ever pregnant in 2008, and the fact that she returned to work three days after giving birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome. It just doesn’t add up to the Family Woman that Palin claims to be.

Much more likely (and logical, for that matter) is that she found out her daughter was in labor and THAT is why she rushed back to Alaska. Much more likely is that she thought her daughter’s pregnancy might undermine her image as uber-family-lady, while her own pregnancy might garner her some sympathy. Much more likely is that if she didn’t look pregnant, she WASN’T pregnant, especially given the photos circulating of her when she actually WAS pregnant – because let me tell you, when Sarah Palin is pregnant, she LOOKS it.

So now we’re left with this situation where the Palin family has announced their daughter’s pregnancy in order to cover their own asses as far as Trig’s parentage. This announcement proves nothing. Palin could have protected her daughter AND her image by simply providing a dated photograph of herself visibly pregnant at the time she was supposed to be pregnant (although I suppose once you’ve decided you’re going to lie to millions of people, you might as well go all the way and stuff something under your shirt). She could have provided hospital records showing that she was admitted and in labor – after all, John McCain had to provide the media with his own medical records, so why shouldn’t Palin? She could have done a lot of things that didn’t involve exposing her family and her children to further controversy and ridicule.

Instead, Palin “outed” her own daughter, thrusting her into the limelight of her OWN accord. But again, the news itself proves nothing except that the rumor-mongers weren’t so far off – the teenage daughter of this abstinence-only-education proponent IS having sex, and she IS being irresponsible about it. It actually makes the case stronger, not weaker, that Trig is her son.

But of course the real brilliance of Palin’s feeding Bristol to the lions instead of stepping up to the plate herself is that by the time the truth comes out, it will be too late. It’s entirely possible that Bristol Palin is more like three months pregnant, which means she could easily be Trig’s mother as well; we all know that teen mothers frequently make the same mistake twice (or three times, or four times…). But by the time we know for sure, either Obama will have won and nobody will care, or Palin will already be VP and it will just be another “White House Scandal”: Vice President Palin’s daughter is miraculously eleven months pregnant. Gee. Who saw that coming?

There IS a way to settle all of this without throwing your pregnant teenage daughter under the train. But I guess Palin’s choice pretty much shows us what kind of parent she is, and what kind of candidate she is, and what kind of VP she will be – a person willing to sell out those who depend on her in order to cover up her own dishonesty.

You would think the wingnuts would have learned their lesson about the power of prayer after Pat Robertson’s prayer death squad misfired and knocked off uber-conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist.

Well, apparently they’re at it again. Just days after Dobson / Focus on the Family lackey Stuart Shepard encouraged his Christian viewers to pray for rain of “biblical proportions” to drown out the Democratic National Convention two minutes into Obama’s acceptance speech, America is watching as millions evacuate amid the threat of Hurricane Gustav, which is looking as though it may rain out the Republican Convention. Scheduled attendees must now choose whether to look really, really bad partying, or go home to their safe little mansions and lay low for a while so there are no embarrassing photos of them living it up while people are drowning (with the exception, of course, of those unfortunate souls who have to evacuate instead of casting their vote for the Birthday Boy).

I wonder if even one of those devout zealots who prayed for everything short of “golf-ball sized hail” will think to themselves, “What have I done? What HAVE I done?” Nope. They’ll chalk it up to coincidence. Divine intervention is only present when it suits them.

From EQCA:

August 27, 2008

It is with great sadness that I share with you that today, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community lost an iconic leader and a beloved friend.

Del Martin, 87, passed away in San Francisco with Phyllis Lyon, her lifelong partner and spouse, by her side. Martin was one of the nation’s first and most visible lesbian rights activists who dedicated her life to combating homophobia, sexism, violence and racism. Martin’s many contributions to the LGBT movement will resonate for decades to come.

We are saddened to lose such a wonderful friend to our community and our love goes out to Phyllis and her family during this most difficult time. We would not be at this incredible moment in history, where all couples have equal rights under California law, if it had not been for Del’s lifetime of courage and leadership.

Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon were married in California on June 16, 2008 after 55 years together. EQCA honored Del and Phyllis with the Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon Marriage Equality Award in 2003, an award the organization gives every year in their honor.

Read more about Del Martin.

Gifts in lieu of flowers can be made to honor Del’s life and commitment and to defeat the California marriage ban through the National Center for Lesbian Rights NO on 8 committee at www.nclrights.org/NoOn8.

Our community will forever honor Del’s life and legacy.

Respectfully,

Geoff Kors
Executive Director
Equality California

Equality California is dedicated to achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Californians.

Our work depends on individual financial contributions. Donate now using our secure website or download a donation form to send via fax or mail.

Donations to EQCA support our political work and are therefore not tax-deductible as charitable contributions.

As Norm MacDonald would say on SNL’s Weekend Update, “From the Medical Journal DUH“: Pharmaceuticals found in drinking water supply.

Yet another reason why Big Pharma needs to be cut down to size. This has been public knowledge for ages; anybody in any kind of environmental work could have told you this a long time ago. So why is it only being publicized in the mainstream media NOW?

The alleged “Bigfoot” that was “discovered” last week was revealed recently to be nothing more than a RUBBER SUIT. Why do people bother with a hoax like this? Don’t they realize it’s going to be revealed?

Americans for Safe Access is reporting that the DEA now claims the agent wearing the Blackwater shirt is not actually a Blackwater employee, but rather, merely a DEA agent. Not only that, but they’re also requesting censorship of the photo involved for the “safety” of that employee, who allegedly sometimes does undercover work. They asked the LA Times to blur the face of the agent in the Blackwater shirt. Since the LA Times has a policy of not altering photos, ASA reports, they removed the photo altogether.

Let’s get a few things straight… First of all, if you do undercover work, exactly how wise is it to be involved in a very public raid of a legal medicinal cannabis co-op? Shouldn’t undercover people STAY undercover, and not make themselves even more conspicuous by wearing extremely controversial and noticeable clothing in a situation where media and cameras are certain to be present? Or you know, by being involved at all in such a raid?

Second… do private security companies frequently offer their logo-bearing t-shirts to the public? And do DEA agents frequently wear logo-bearing t-shirts to raids? Do raids call for casual street attire? Wouldn’t the only logical logo for a DEA agent to be wearing during a raid be… oh, I don’t know, the DEA logo???? When’s the last time you saw a DEA raid in which the agents were wearing Abercrombie or Disney t-shirts? So this Blackwater shirt was just a coincidence? Sure. I believe that. Uh huh.

As if the recent raid on a Culver City medicinal marijuana cooperative by DEA agents wasn’t enough, it’s now become apparent that this raid was conducted not only by DEA agents, but also by Blackwater employees. Yes, that would be the same Blackwater that has government contracts for private security in Iraq, and the same Blackwater whose trigger-happy thugs killed more than a dozen Iraqi civilians for no particular reason. What’s next – will Blackwater agents start shooting medicinal marijuana patients too?

As I browsed pages while reading about this story, I came across this article about Blackwater’s broader functions in the present and in the future. Then I came across this chilling paragraph:

What could prove to be one of Blackwater’s most profitable and enduring enterprises is one of the company’s most secretive initiatives–a move into the world of privatized intelligence services. In April 2006, Prince quietly began building Total Intelligence Solutions, which boasts that it “brings CIA-style” services to the open market for Fortune 500 companies. Among its offerings are “surveillance and countersurveillance, deployed intelligence collection, and rapid safeguarding of employees or other key assets.”

Now, if you read the LA Times article you’ll find that while the DEA agents and Blackwater people ransacked people’s bedrooms and stole all of the marijuana and live plants on the premises (and uprooted their vegetable garden too), they did NOT arrest anybody. They did, however, crack open the ATM and help themselves to its contents. More importantly, they also seized medical records, which basically would include the names of all of the co-op’s customers. Why does this matter? Well, those patients are not breaking any California laws, but until the CA legislature passes a new employment protection bill, employers can still fire patients who test positive for marijuana use, even if they have a valid prescription, are not medicated while at work, and there has been no negative impact on job performance (although apparently it’s perfectly fine to come to work hopped up on Vicodin or Xanax or suffering a hangover from a massive drinking binge the night before). There are also other non-criminal ramifications of being a known cannabis user.

So what I’m thinking is that we’re seeing Blackwater doing its “CIA-style” intelligence gathering, with the generous and convenient help of the DEA. If you’re a patient who goes to Organica Collective, you can bet both dollars AND donuts that Blackwater has your information now, and will be keeping it on file for those Fortune 500 companies and selling it on the open market.

I think Organica employee Brian V. Birbiglia, a disabled former Marine who was handcuffed for more than four hours during the “raid,” said it best: “We follow the law,” he yelled, his face red and his eyes teary. “We might as well have just got robbed by a bunch of thugs downtown.”

Brian, I think you were closer to the truth than you imagined.

Another great video, this one from TheRealMcCain.com – more specifically, from Robert Greenwald at Brave New Films, creators of the amazing film, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price