From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
Congress: End It
As David Waldman explained yesterday:
The House considers the FY11 Defense authorization bill [this week], too. That'd be the vehicle Congress would use to repeal the military's infamous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. ... To do it, proponents of repeal would have to offer an amendment on the floor. Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA) is seeking to do exactly that. But it's not a done deal yet, since the Rules Committee has yet to set the ground rules for debate of the bill, and reports are that the leadership may only want to move forward if they can be assured they have the votes to pass it.
And then, of course, there's the Senate. And conference.
Aubrey Sarvis of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Fund adds:
[This] week, game-changing votes in the Senate Armed Services Committee and the House could make or break the fate of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal efforts in 2010.
Call your representative today to say that waiting another year for repeal is not an option. Ask your Member of Congress to support Rep. Murphy's repeal vote. 202-225-3121.
Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) are expected to offer an amendment to the Senate version of the Defense Authorization bill [this] Thursday that would end DADT. For repeal to be included in the Senate version of the Defense Authorization bill, we need to reach 15 votes on the committee. [202-224-3121.] If we pull out all the stops and push even harder now, we can ensure that [this] week's votes are a historic win. We are closer to achieving repeal than ever before.
Seventeen years ago, DADT became law through the Defense Authorization bill. Today we stand poised to end this terrible injustice and waste.
And what of the noble opposition? Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, which was co-founded by Rentboy.com boy-renter George Rekers (or...was it?), sent out an email last week in which he literally---literally!---wraps himself in the flag:
I fervently believe the glorious Star-Spangled Banner should wave over our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and Coast Guard heros [sic]. President Obama wants to raise the rainbow flag of the homosexual rights movement over them. Which will it be?
Our team of staff and outside experts is working with a handful of allies. We are speaking with scores of members of congress, both Republican and Democrat. There may be action in the Senate next week. We must have the funds in place to educate leaders and the grassroots.
As I mentioned earlier, the fight to preserve DADT comes down to this: What flag will fly over the U.S. military? Now is the time to fight for the red, white, and blue---for God, for country, for those who serve, for our families, and for our future.
Wow---when you have no legitimate arguments, all you can do is reach for your Big Dictionary of Sure-fire American Icon Cliches. (But I'm not sure calling our men and women in uniform omnivorous aquarium dwellers is productive to this discussion. Is the FRC gonna try to ban rainbow trout next???)
Yes. Call your senators and representatives if you haven't done so---the other side certainly is, and they're quite effective at it. This could, indeed, be a historic week. Lord knows we've been patient enough.
Here's my message to any legislator still on the fence: should it really be this difficult to do the right thing? No, it shouldn't...especially in light of the fact that, from the beginning, the right-wingers have never had anything loaded in their rhetorical guns but blanks. And for God's sake they can't even spell "heroes."
Update: SLDN says this late development looks promising. (Dante Atkins agrees). Which brings to mind what I wrote a week and a half ago on this very issue in C&J:
December 1 is when, technically, the Pentagon "study" will be done. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they figure out a way to back that up under the guise of "having enough information to proceed with the repeal earlier than planned." If it's one thing we know about Washington, it's that they're rigid as a board...until it's in their best interest to be flexible as Gumby. If I'm right, buy me something nice!
Like, say, a diamond-encrusted video of Tony Perkins throwing a hissy fit when he hears about this. Meanwhile, Adam at Open Left is right: "Administration position or not, we still have to get the votes, so let's keep up those calls."
Update 2: Rachel Maddow's brief take on it via Scarce. Rep. Patrick Murphy will be her guest tonight.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Note: I was cleaning the litterbox yesterday. The cat walked in and said, "Hey, quit goin' through my shit."
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the midterm elections: 161
Days `til the 35th annual Victoria Bach Festival in Texas: 14 (Quoth Radar O'Reilly: "Ahhhh... Bach!")
Percent of 2010 campaign contributions from the oil and gas industries that have gone to Republicans: 71%
(Source: Think Progress)
Public support for gay marriage in 1996: 27%
Support for it now: 44%
(Source: Gallup)
Rank of "Firearms/Hunting," "Golf" and "Fishing" among hottest-selling categories of consumer sports equipment: #1, #2, #3
(Source: Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association via USA Today)
Age of Dollywood as of this year: 25
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Tuesday Words of Wisdom from the Right-wing Blogosphere:
I have no doubt that your assumption is correct. Agendas are present and determining in most contests including ,most blatantly,the Nobel peace prize.Israel did this on ,,at least ,two occassions.In the first they put forward someone who had had a sex change to represent Israel in the Eurovision song contest which he? she? actually won..The second was choosing an Arab girl as miss Israel.Both attempts, to mitigate the world's enmity, did nothing to impede the world's stampede toward the gross demonization of Israel that prevails today.
---Commenter Sleman at the Daniel Pipes blog
All together now: One...two...three... C ,la,,ss,,,y!!!
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Ambush
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JEERS to Oilpocalypse, Day 35. Status: another day, another Exxon Valdez-size glob of chocolate milk in the Gulf. And now it starts dawning on humanity---nobody knows what the fuck to do. Not BP, Not Obama. Not Steven Chu or Ken Salazar or even Stephen Freakin' Hawking. No, not even Saint David Petraeus or esteemed Nobel Prize in Physics winner and #1-ranked petroleum recovery engineer Sarah Palin. We're fucked until someone stumbles---perhaps literally---onto a solution that works, which hopefully will happen sometime before the bedrock becomes unstable and erupts in an oil-spewing Eyjafjallajokull volcano under the sea. Oops...did I say all that out loud? (My dog just ran under the bed.) Look, all is not lost. In fact, BP has hired a crack team to hash out the possibilities, and they've even provided a live feed to the strategy session. As Andrew Sullivan is so fond of saying: "Know hope!" As I'm also fond of saying: "What does that even fucking mean???
CHEERS to soft landings. Apparently one of the consumer items that's particularly sensitive to economic fluctuations is the humble mattress. When sales start springing back, it tends to signal the end of a sagging economy. And I'm happy to report that things are looking Sealy Posturepederrrrrific!
"We're still down a little from 2008, but let me tell you, it's fabulous," Hammer said. "You have no idea the difference we've seen this year." Previous recessions have shown that when economic downturns end, mattress sales turn up again.
"The rebound years tend to be very good for the mattress industry," said Ryan Trainer, president of the International Sleep Products Association. And because the slump was deeper in 2008 and last year than previous recessions, manufacturers and retailers are hoping the bounce-back effect also will be bigger than ever.
Good. Sounds like a few jobs might crop up as a result. But, as always, if you remove the tag... [runs finger across throat]. Hugs, Heloise.
JEERS to conversations in dark places. The following is a dramatization and did not actually take place:
Scene: Executive suite in Walmart
February, 2010
Executive #1: Hey, we got a problem.
Executive #2: What's that?
Executive #1: Tests came back. Cadmium in the Miley Cyrus kids jewelry.
Executive #2: So?
Executive #1: Cadmium. It's a toxic heavy metal. Turns bones and kidneys into biological mush. The Chinese are terrible about sending it over here, and now we know we got it in our Cyrus bling.
Executive #2: But if we pull it from our shelves, that would be...invonvenient. Wouldn’t it...Hank.
Executive #1: Um...yes. Yes, it would.
Executive #2: So we don't really have a problem, do we?
Executive #1: Er...no. No, I guess we don't.
Executive #2: Good answer. Lunch?
Or...did it??? Jerks.
CHEERS to the visionaries. On May 25, 1787, the Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia with George Washington presiding. They came to blows over their first order of business, but after much chair-throwing and cane-beating, they finally agreed: We hereby resolve that Cheesesteak shall not be considered Cheesesteak without Cheez Whiz. It was smooth sailing from there.
CHEERS to lofty ambitions. When I was 13, my biggest goal in life was to convince my parents to PLEEEEASE let me go see Star Wars for the twelfth time. When he was 13, Californian Jordan Romero's biggest goal in life was to conquer Mount Everest. I failed. He succeeded. It's not fair!!!!
CHEERS to Maine's Big Sports Moment. The Ali (Clay back then)/Liston heavyweight title fight---during which Sonny Liston was "knocked out" one minute into the first round---happened 45 years ago today in Lewiston. The match produced the second greatest sports photo of all time by Neil Leifer. Number one, of course, being the famous 2002 Sausage Festival Lobster Race. A moment dripping with butter. Er, history. [Urp!]
CHEERS to the sound of summer. Shhhhh. If you press your ear to your screen and listen, you'll hear something very rare and wonderful in the state of Maine:
[fwoop]
[fwoop]
[fwoop fwoop]
[Fwoop! Fwoop! Fwoop!]
[FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP FWOOP!!!!]
"Eeeeeeeyahahaaaaaaa!!!!"
The ceremonial mass throwing open of windows. Tawk amongst yerselves...[sniff]...we're a little verklempt. I'll give you a topic: who's harder to find these days, Waldo or Rand Paul? Discuss.
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Five years ago in C&J: May 25, 2005
JEERS to phony baloneys. Afghan president Hamid Karzai and George Bush staged a `press availability' Monday at the White House. The problem: the press didn't bother to show up because of limited questions and evasive answers. The solution: fill the room with White House interns The saddest part is that no one could tell the difference.
CHEERS to speaking out. Pat Tillman's family is pissed at the military for covering up the real circumstances surrounding their son's death. We have no snark on this one. Just respect for the way the family has addressed this outrage. Rumsfeld: Resign.
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And just one more...
CHEERS to the sacred Shroud of Tootin'. [Note: The link here goes to the product's order page, but not because I want you to buy anything. It's a knowingly snarky site and the ad is funny.] Did you hear about the guy who wrapped a thin layer of carbon into bedding fabric ("The same type of fabric used by the military to protect against chemical weapons")? He calls it The Better Marriage Blanket. It's one and only purpose: to keep your SBD odors away from your significant other's nose in the bedroom. I figure he must be a Republican. They try to take the fun out of everything.
Have a nice Tuesday. Go do this right now! Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"I don't even know what Cheers and Jeers is. I've heard it talked about, but you know, my wife calls me Mr. Clueless."
---Antonin Scalia
5/27/10
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