From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Little Gay Billy's BIG Gay Newsapalooza!
It's all good.
- Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin appointed Beth Robinson to the state Supreme Court. Robinson was co-counsel on the case that resulted in the first civil unions in the country, then went on to help the state trade up to marriage equality. Congrats!
- Kossack and Courage Campaign Poobah Adam Bink sends word that an attempt to repeal California's FAIR Education Act, which calls for "public schools to include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in social studies lessons," has failed. More here.
- Preview of coming attractions: next month the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote to approve legislation repealing the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). It'll probably hit a brick wall after that, but it'll still be a noteworthy achievement. There are currently 30 Senate co-sponsors of the repeal.
- Bill Maher talks to The Advocate on why no Republican has made an "It Gets Better" video:
You know, they just don't want to ruin their reputation as always being assholes. [Laughs] Sometimes honestly, I know I’m being a little facetious, but sometimes they do things and that's the only thing you can think of. It’s like, really? What is the motivation here? And you realize it's just: they appeal to mean assholes. Look at their Republican debates and cheering executions. They’re applauding when someone says that people without health insurance should die. They're just mean! And they like being mean.
The complete interview, including Maher's own IGB video, is here
Update via norm Got purple? Wear it today for Spirit Day to show you stand against bullying of LGBT kids.
- Hey, it's been a whole month since the military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy officially got tossed into the dumpster of history. As unit cohesion and morale continue to hold up just fine among all the branches, a lawsuit to secure full separation pay (versus the half they actually got) reinstated for servicemembers kicked out under the policy is proceeding.
- To a "thundering standing ovation," the Presbyterian Church (USA) ordained its first openly-gay minister. Said the Rev. Scott Anderson: “To the thousands of Presbyterians who have worked and prayed for almost 40 years for this day, I give thanks."
- Mentioned yesterday in C&J but worth repeating: one of the muckety-muckiest of the "ex-gay" muckety mucks has admitted that he's never seen anyone turn from gay to straight. And he says he's awful sorry for spending so much time being a shithead. We'll be thrilled to take him at his word…after he's spent some time backing it up with actions that prove it. Like, say, helping drive a few more nails in the coffin of the "ex-gay" movement.
- And a gold star to Gov. Chris Christie. First he calls the Sharia-law squawkers "crazies," and now he's laying into a New Jersey teacher who calls homosexuality "a sin that breeds like a cancer." (What does that even mean???) It's more proof that, while Christie is a middle-class-crushing dillweed, he does have his moments. Very few and very far-between, but moments nonetheless.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, October 20, 2011
Note: You know what today is? It's 1-0-2-0-1-1. That also happens to be our master nuclear launch code! Three cheers for homeland security!
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til the end of Atlantic hurricane season: 41
Days `til the Jensen Beach Pineapple Festival in Florida: 15
Percent of Americans who favor raising taxes on millionaires to help cut the deficit: 73%
(Source: Time poll)
Number of the 34 states that ban texting in which a violation is considered a "primary offense" for which the cops can pull you over for that specific infraction: 31
Number of texting convictions in California last year, triple the number from 2009: 7,924
(Source: USA Today)
Portion of voters who say they don't trust themselves to make choices that were in the nation's best interests: 9-in-10
Percent of likely voters who say Election Day panic will likely cause them to base their votes entirely on hearsay: 75%
(Source: The Onion)
World Series: Cardinals lead the Rangers 1 game to 0
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
[W]e've bounced back from this same mistake before---the mistake of thinking that we can make ourselves safer if we just make ourselves less free. We get so scared of something---scared of communism or crime or drugs or illegal aliens---that we think we can make ourselves safer by sacrificing freedom. Never works. It's still true: the only thing to fear is fear itself.
---From Who Let the Dogs In?
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Occupy Random Tree!
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CHEERS to things I never thought I'd see in my lifetime. Wow---not only have rebels captured his hometown, but apparently Muammar Ghaddafi himself has been nabbed. "Hello, The Hague? Jail cell for one, please. It's a VIP, so make sure you use the high-thread-count burlap sheets."
CHEERS to Occupying the narrative. If the "99%" movement achieves nothing else, they/we deserve a Great Big American Thank You for this: ripping the phony deficit panic off the front pages and replacing it with the real #1 issue: Jobs Jobs Jobs and Jobs. Says Think Progress:
[I]t looks as if the press is finally focusing on the jobs crisis and the behavior of Wall Street instead. A ThinkProgress review of the same three networks between Oct. 10 and Oct. 16 finds that the word “debt” only netted 398 mentions, while “occupy” grabbed 1,278, Wall Street netted 2,378, and jobs got 2,738.
[The] 99 Percent Movement has…successfully re-fram[ed] media coverage onto the jobs crisis and real economy rather than trumped-up fears about the national debt or deficit.
Changing a national narrative so quickly is no small feat, and I think this shows just how shallow and, ultimately, ineffective the GOP's deficit hysteria was. Clearly jobs are what Democrats should've been focusing on all along, instead of "playing nice" with Boehner and McConnell. But better late than never. Once again, we find Republicans trapped like rats on the #1 issue in America. But will our side snatch defeat from the jaws of victory again? Don't ask---let's not spoil the moment just yet.
CHEERS to flying the heavenly skies. Just a heads-up that tomorrow is Rapture Day, according to Rapture expert Harold Camping. You may recall his last predicted Judgment Day---May 21---was a bit off the mark. But this time, says Camping, "We can be sure that the whole world, with the exception of those who are presently saved (the elect), are under the judgment of God, and will be annihilated together with the whole physical world on October 21, 2011." I'd recommend packing your suitcase, but I know for a fact that the world isn’t going to end tomorrow. It's a workday.
CHEERS to citizens in action. If you're going to be in or around our nation's fetid swamp of corruption capital a week from Sunday, the organizers at Tar Sands Action would love to hold your hand:
Exactly one year before the election, we want to encircle the whole White House to ask President Obama to reject Keystone XL and live up to his promise to free us from the tyranny of oil. In doing so, we want to remind him of the power of the movement that he rode to the White House in 2008. This is bigger than any one person---President or no---and we will carry on, with or without him.
We've never tried something this ambitious before, and we don’t know if there are the thousands of people that it will take to encircle the White House. But if we can pull it off, it will be an unmistakable message.
Click here to sign up. Kick-line abilities not required. But highly encouraged.
JEERS to trouble on Mitt Romney's horizon. A new NBC News-Marist poll in South Carolina reveals that a majority of likely Republican primary voters agree (or think they agree) that "A Mormon is not a Christian." Now, I did some logical thinking (a hobby of mine---I dabble), and I think Romney has a bit of a problem on his hands there. Here's what I think is going on in the primary-voter brain:
A Mormon is not a Christian.
A Muslim is also not a Christian.
Therefore a Mormon is a Muslim.
And that means Mitt Romney is a Muslim.
And Muslims are socialists.
So Mitt Romney must be a secret socialist Muslim Manchurian candidate, like Barack Obama, hellbent on destroying America and infecting our society with, um, health care and stuff.
Conclusion: I'm a'gonna take another look at Rick Perry.
Now, like Herman Cain's entire slate of issues, "I don't have facts to back this up." But I believe it is absolutely true. (Please print that verbatim, Washington Post. You're good at that.)
CHEERS to the Birthday Bab. Today is Birth of the Bab day, honoring the founder of the Babi religion, forerunner to Baha'u'llah and the Baha'i faith. According to tradition, no work is to be done on this day. Well, okay...if you insist.
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Five years ago in C&J: October 20, 2006
JEERS to stupid human tricks. Um, about that "plot" by "evildoers" to bomb NFL stadiums... Turns out it was a couple goofballs trying to top each other's craaazy! antics on the internets, fueled by the Ready Fire Aim media and the Department of Hopeless Security (what a shocker). We now return you to your regularly scheduled tailgate party.
CHEERS to irrational exuberance. WHOOPIE!!! The Dow Industrials closed ABOVE 12,000 for the first time yesterday!!! Only 2,093 points to go until it catches up with inflation. But, at least for tonight, put away the cat food, Pa...we're splurgin' on mac and cheese! [10/20/11 Update: Five years and one near-depression later, the Dow is back under 12,000 and the safest place to put your money is under your mattress. And Wall Street would like us to please stop picking on them. So it goes.]
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And just one more…
JEERS to fulfilling expectations. I hate to end today's column as a Debbie Downer, but MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell deserves a shoutout for appearing to be correct about the infamous NYPD pepper-sprayer, Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna. Shortly after the incident, O'Donnell went ballistic on what happened, and made a prediction:
“The culture of the department will do everything it possibly can to protect Inspector Bologna and it remains very, very unlikely that the police department investigation will result in the disciplining of Inspector Bologna or any other officer,” O’Donnell said. “The spirit of these investigations is always a mix of investigation and instinctive institutional cover-up. Police departments don’t want to the truth about these incidents and they don’t want you to know the truth about these incidents, they do everything they can to hide these truths.”
Sure enough, an internal NYPD investigation was conducted, and the price for attacking non-violent, law-abiding American citizens with blinding and excruciatingly painful pepper spray is forfeiture of ten vacation days. Wow. That's like a slap on the wrist with another wrist. I'm glad he didn’t do anything more serious. He might've lost his parking space.
Have a nice Thursday. All hail the Fox News spellchecker. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
“You can’t have Bill in Portland Maine working on our property. I’m running for office, for pete’s sake!"
---Mitt Romney
10/18/11
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