June 16, 2011 · 10:02 am

Anthony Weiner Tells Friends He Will Resign

WienerGate is about to end…

I have very mixed feelings about this tacky little episode.

First of all, Congressman Weiner broke no laws.  Unlike Republicans David Vitter and John Ensign who continued to serve in the Senate with their colleagues support.

Weiner did initially lie to the press and his constituents.  But polls show the people he represents forgave him and wanted him to remain in office.

It’s his Democratic colleagues, who unlike the GOP, did not stand by him and pushed him to resign.  They basically forced him out.

Maybe it’s for the best.  This just keeps going on and on as a distraction.

Maybe now Congress can focus on something besides penises.

Still, Weiner was a strong, Progressive voice in Congress.  Maybe too strong.  That’s why his colleagues were so fast to turn on him.  He made waves.  He kicked ass and took names.  I’ll miss him.

When this whole thing began, I still say he should have said it was no one’s business but his and his wife’s and left it at that.  He should just have refused to discuss this as it is/was a personal matter.

But the tabloid press loves a good penis story…

On with the show….

From the NY Times:

Representative Anthony D. Weiner has told friends that he plans to resign his seat after coming under growing pressure from his Democratic colleagues to leave the House, said a person told of Mr. Weiner’s plans.

His decision follows of revelations of his lewd online exchanges with women, said a person told of Mr. Weiner’s plans.

The news comes as Democratic leaders prepared to hold a meeting on Thursday to discuss whether to strip the 46-year-old Congressman of his committee assignments, a blow which would severely damage his effectiveness.

Mr. Weiner, a Democrat, came to the conclusion that he could no longer serve after having long discussions with his wife,  Huma Abedin, when she returned home on Tuesday after traveling abroad with her boss, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

via Anthony D. Weiner Tells Friends He Will Resign – NYTimes.com.

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June 15, 2011 · 10:18 pm

Michele Bachmann’s Irrational Fears: Lesbians, Her Constituents, Former Nuns and, Perhaps, Her Sister…

I really hope people realize this woman is a nut case….

But I don’t take anything for granted anymore.

I seriously have to question her mental stability if she behaves like this with her constituents…

Can you imagine if, horror of horrors, she actually was President and had to deal with difficult or complex matters on the World Stage?

In comparison, she almost makes Sarah Palin look sane.

Almost….

Sarah Palin may be a tacky, money-mad, egomaniacal opportunist, but she’s merely ignorant and power crazy, not certifiably crazy…

What is the world coming to when I have to consider the faint possibility that either of these two might be the nominee of a major political party for the job of President of the United States?

Or,  god forbid, President…

I’m glad I started drinking again….

From Michelle Goldberg at TheDailyBeast.com:

In April 2005, Pamela Arnold wanted to talk to her state senator, Michele Bachmann, who was then running for Congress. A 46-year-old who worked at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Arnold lived with her partner, the famed Arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, on a farm in Scandia, Minnesota. Bachmann was then leading the fight against gay marriage in the state. She’d recently been in the news for hiding in the bushes to observe a gay-rights rally at the Capitol. So when members of the Scandia gay community decided to attend one of Bachmann’s constituent forums, Arnold, wanting to make herself visible to her representative, joined them.

A few dozen people showed up at the town hall for the April 9 event, and Bachmann greeted them warmly. But when, during the question and answer session, the topic turned to same-sex marriage, Bachmann ended the meeting 20 minutes early and rushed to the bathroom. Hoping to speak to her, Arnold and another middle-aged woman, a former nun, followed her. As Bachmann washed her hands and Arnold looked on, the ex-nun tried to talk to her about theology. Suddenly, after less than a minute, Bachmann let out a shriek. “Help!” she screamed. “Help! I’m being held against my will!”

Arnold, who is just over 5 feet tall, was stunned, and hurried to open the door. Bachmann bolted out and fled, crying, to an SUV outside. Then she called the police, saying, according to the police report, that she was “absolutely terrified and has never been that terrorized before as she had no idea what those two women were going to do to her.” The Washington County attorney, however, declined to press charges, writing in a memo, “It seems clear from the statements given by both women that they simply wanted to discuss certain issues further with Ms. Bachmann.”

Lots of politicians talk about a sinister homosexual agenda. Bachmann, who has made opposition to gay rights a cornerstone of her career, seems genuinely to believe in one. Her conviction trumps even her once close relationship with her lesbian stepsister. “What an amazing imagination,” marvels Arnold. “Her ideology is so powerful that she can construct a reality just on a moment’s notice.”

via Michele Bachmann’s Unrivaled Extremism: Gay Rights to Religion – The Daily Beast.

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June 15, 2011 · 8:36 pm

Congressman To Introduce Bill To Protect Male Circumcision Rights

Today’s Penis Post…

Can’t go a week without Congress worrying about them….

These guys just can’t seem to leave them alone…

Don’t get me wrong, I support the Religious reasons for circumcision and think San Francisco should have stayed out of this…

I just don’t think this is a subject for legislation on either side of the issue….

Surely, they have other things to do?

If not, I can make a few suggestions….

From HuffingtonPost.com:

A new bill aims to cut short a proposed ban on circumcision in San Francisco.

US. Representative Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) will introduce the Religious and Parental Rights Defense Act of 2011 to prevent S.F. and other municipalities from banning male circumcision, which is religious obligation for Jewish males and is a common Muslim and Christian practice.

Sherman, who is Jewish, currently has one co-sponsor on the bill, Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim elected to Congress, JTA reports.

“The Religious and Parental Rights Defense Act of 2011 ensures that Jewish and Muslim families will continue to be able to enjoy the free exercise of their religious beliefs,” Sherman said in a statement, adding that proponents of a ban have an obligation to provide compelling medical evidence against male circumcision. In fact, he said, the medical literature shows the opposite.

Announcement of the bill comes as the San Francisco “intactivist” effort heats up. Voters won’t be able to weigh in until November, but the anti-circumcision movement is already gaining support.

Matt Hess, president of San Diego-based group MGM Bill (MGM stands for “Male Genital Mutilation”), recently raised claims of anti-Semitism after the release of a second issue of his comic, “Foreskin Man,” which featured a sinister Orthodox Jewish villain by the name of Monster Mohel.

The San Francisco effort would ban circumcision for males under the age of 18, carrying a fine of $1,000 and up to one year in prison.

via Congressman To Introduce Bill To Protect Male Circumcision Rights.

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June 15, 2011 · 7:27 pm

Happy Birthday, Neil Patrick Harris!

This guy is a National Treasure

And he’s only 38 years old today….

I hope he has many, many more Happy Birthday’s ahead…

Here are some scenes from his wonderful job as Tony Host Sunday night….

 

 

 

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June 15, 2011 · 10:43 am

The G.O.P. Presidential Debate

Every time I look at the current field of Republican Presidential Candidates, all I can think about is the old Cher song “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves.”

No one is really paying much attention right now, but this really is a pathetic group of candidates.

But then, the GOP has become a pretty sorry excuse for a Political Party with its focus on bigotry, ignorance and lies….

From the New York Times Editorial Page:

 

Monday’s Republican presidential debate in New Hampshire — full of historical error, economic obfuscation, avoidance of hard truths and even outright bigotry — was a feast for connoisseurs of political dysfunction. Desperate to avoid being outflanked on the right, the seven candidates tried so hard to outdo each other in finding fault with President Obama that they seemed to forget that they are competing for the same party nomination. By evening’s end, they had melted into an indistinguishable mass of privatizing, tax-cutting opponents of Shariah law.

For the moment, the candidates are appealing to a Republican Party whose core is so contorted in fury at Mr. Obama that it barely resembles the one that nominated George W. Bush in 2000. Mr. Bush may have prosecuted the war on terror to excess, but he always reminded the country that it was not at war with Islam. This batch of Republicans has dispensed with such niceties. Herman Cain repeated his earlier statement that he would not be comfortable with a Muslim in his cabinet. Some, he explained, “are trying to kill us.”

None of the other candidates took him to task for this. Mitt Romney, a Mormon who has himself been the subject of religious slurs, at least mentioned the nation’s founding principle of religious tolerance and respect but missed an opportunity to include Muslims. Newt Gingrich tumbled over the historical cliff with the idea, announcing some kind of loyalty oath to serve in his administration, similar to that used in dealing with Nazis and Communists. At least no one brandished a list of known Muslims serving in Mr. Obama’s State Department.

via The G.O.P. Presidential Debate – NYTimes.com.

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June 14, 2011 · 11:03 pm

Key Dem Senator: Obama ‘snookered’ by GOP into Talking Deficit Over Jobs

I could not agree more….

This says everything I’ve been thinking….

It’s always a pleasant surprise to see some DC Democrats talking a little sense…

God knows, the GOP never will….

From RawStory.com:

Urging the administration to enact new measures to lower the unemployment rate, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) said President Barack Obama got “snookered” by Republicans into prioritizing deficits over jobs.

“I am concerned about the Obama administration’s approach on this,” Harkin, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, told The Hill in an interview published Friday. “It always has been about jobs. I think the administration kind of got snookered talking about the deficit and the debt after the last election.”

Amidst growing economic anxieties, Harkin joined Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) in calling for additional stimulus spending in the form of a major infrastructure package.

“The last election was about jobs and the economy, and now we’re in a position where we really do need some economic pump-priming by the federal government,” Harkin told the paper.

Job creation in May was the lowest since last September as the unemployment rate rose to 9.1 percent. The Obama administration has — under intense pressure from Republicans — shifted its focus from job creation to deficit reduction this year, against the vocal objections of progressive economics and polls that say the public is far more concerned about jobs than the debt.

via Key Dem Senator: Obama ‘snookered’ by GOP into talking deficit over jobs | The Raw Story.

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June 14, 2011 · 10:00 pm

Bible Cited As Reason for Kicking Gay Men Out of Public Pool

Unbelievable…

Obviously someone in Kentucky has not heard about the Constitution and the separation of Church and State.

This is why we need anti-discrimination laws.  This was a public pool paid for by our tax dollars….

And, even worse, these guys were apparently developmentally disabled…

From RawStory.com:

Activists in Kentucky are planning a peaceful response after two gay men with developmental and intellectual disabilities were kicked out of a public pool.

A maintenance technician reportedly cited the Bible while telling the two men they couldn’t swim at The Pavilion, a government-funded recreational facility in Hazard, Kentucky.

“We own this place and can tell you to leave if we want to,” the couple was told, according to the Kentucky Equality Foundation.

“The Pavilion staff immediately entered the pool area and asked my clients and their staff to leave the Pavilion,” Mending Hearts Executive Director Shirlyn Perkins recalled. “My staff asked The Pavilion staff why they were being asked to leave, and they were informed that ‘gay people’ weren’t allowed to swim there.”

“My staff told this man that what he was trying to do was discrimination. The man stated that what he was doing was in the Bible and he could do it. My staff continued to argue with this man, but was ultimately forced to leave. My clients, whom already feel ridiculed and different, left the city owned facility crying and embarrassed for trying to participate in ‘normal’ activities that everyday ‘normal’ people do,” she added.

“This is completely outrageous, The Pavilion is owned by the City of Hazard and paid for by our tax dollars,” Kentucky Equality Federation President Jordan Palmer said. “Rest assured Kentucky Equality Federation will not tolerate discrimination in any form and our Southern Kentucky volunteer management, as well as our Discrimination, Hate Crimes and School Bullying Committee have planned a peaceful response.”

Will Taylor, the Kentucky Equality Federation’s Assistant Regional Director for Southern Kentucky, explained that the city could stop planned protests at City Hall and The Pavilion by simply issuing an apology.

“In addition, should an apology and corrective action not be forthcoming, we call on Governor Beshear to rescind funding to The Pavilion and the City of Hazard in the spirit of his executive order prohibiting discrimination of LGBTI people in Kentucky government,” he said.

via Bible cited as reason for kicking gay men out of public pool | The Raw Story.

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June 14, 2011 · 4:02 pm

Tomatoland

Fascinating article about grocery store tomatoes from Barry Estabrook’s blog and new book “Tomatoland.”  I just ordered a copy of the book.

I very rarely buy out of season tomatoes.  Now, I don’t think I’ll ever do it again…

Besides, the grocery store tomatoes have no taste.  They are just a waste of time and money.

I always look forward to June when the first fresh tomatoes come in at the Farmer’s Market and I can buy them there.  They are so much better…

Supermarket produce sections bulging with a year-round supply of perfectly round, bright red-orange tomatoes have become all but a national birthright. But in Tomatoland, which is based on his James Beard Award–winning article, “The Price of Tomatoes,” investigative food journalist Barry Estabrook reveals the huge human and environmental cost of the $5 billion fresh tomato industry. Fields are sprayed with  more than 100 different herbicides and pesticides. Tomatoes are picked hard and green and artificially gassed until their skins acquire a marketable hue. Modern plant breeding has tripled yields, but produces fruits with a fraction of the calcium, Vitamin A, and Vitamin C, and fourteen tiimes as much sodium as the tomatoes our parents enjoyed. The relentless drive for low costs has fostered a thriving modern-day slave trade in the United States. How have we come to this point?

Estabrook traces the supermarket tomato from its birthplace in the deserts of Peru to the impoverished town of Immokalee, Florida, a.k.a. the tomato capital of the United States. He visits the laboratories of seedsmen trying to develop varieties that can withstand the rigors of agribusiness and still taste like a garden tomato, and then moves on to commercial growers who operate on tens of thousands of acres, and eventually to a hillside field in Pennsylvania, where he meets an obsessed farmer who produces delectable tomatoes for the nation’s top restaurants.

Throughout Tomatoland, Estabrook presents a Who’s Who cast of characters in the tomato industry: The avuncular octogenarian whose conglomerate grows one out of every eight tomatoes eaten in the United States; the ex-marine who heads the group that dictates the size, color, and shape of every tomato shipped out of Florida; the United States attorney who has doggedly prosecuted human traffickers for the past decade; the Guatemalan peasant who came north to earn money for his parents’ medical bills and found himself enslaved for two years.

Tomatoland reads like a suspenseful whodunit and an exposé of today’s agribusiness systems and the price we pay as a society when we take taste and thought out of our food purchases.

via Tomatoland.

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June 14, 2011 · 1:02 pm

House Republicans Cut Food Assistance For Low-Income Families While Protecting Azaleas

I mean, I love azaleas, but really…..

From HuffingtonPost.com:

If you’re an azalea at the National Arboretum, you’re in luck — a Republican on the House Appropriations Committee is looking out for you. If you’re a woman, infant or child, however, you’re on your own.

Slipped into the FY 2012 agriculture appropriations bill that the House is expected to take up today is an unusual provision on page 13 requiring the National Arboretum to maintain a very specific portion of its azalea collection.

“The Committee directs the National Arboretum to maintain its National Boxwood Collection and the Glenn Dale Hillside portion of the Azalea Collection,” reads the bill. “The Committee encourages the National Arboretum to work collaboratively with supporters of the National Arboretum to raise additional funds to ensure the long-term viability of these and other important collections.”

While azaleas are being carefully tended to, the bill would cut $832 million from a program that provides food assistance to low-income mothers and children. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the reduction could result in as many as 475,000 people being turned away from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) if food prices continue to rise.

“Everyday people across the country leave their homes in search of work, only to return at the end of the day with more worries and less hope,” said Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), the agriculture subcommittee’s ranking member. “At a time that people continue to struggle to make ends meet, Republicans want to cut funding to food programs that are helping put food on the tables of those most in need.”

“Governing is about choices. It is clear where the House majority’s priorities lie — and it is not with those of the American people,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a strong WIC advocate, in a statement. “These cuts are unconscionable and will not only hurt families trying to survive, but also hurt our economy.”

“We understand that we have an obligation to get our fiscal house in order,” added Farr. “And Democrats are ready to work with our friends across the isle to make that happen, but not by discriminately targeting those most in need.”

Azalea upkeep isn’t the only unusual measure in the bill:

via House Republicans Cut Food Assistance For Low-Income Families While Protecting Azaleas.

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June 12, 2011 · 6:05 pm

Daily Kos: The Politics of Personal Destruction: Anthony Weiner and Us

The best article I’ve seen yet about the Weiner Scandal…

I am thoroughly tired of all the noise about this….Let’s move on.

From DailyKos:

Anthony Weiner’s personal life is not our business. Those now feeling betrayed because “he lied to us” need ask themselves why they felt justified in wanting to know about his personal life in the first place. Certainly, Weiner handled the story as poorly as can be imagined, but there too what matters is not the facts of his personal behavior but that his personal behavior became a story. As the story continues to play out it becomes even more clear that Weiner’s best response to the initial reports would have been to tell reporters that his personal life is personal, and that other than his wife nobody has any right to ask or know anything about it. Even had the allegations been false, his best response would have been to tell reporters that his personal life is personal, and that other than his wife nobody has any right to ask or know anything about it. More than a decade after the national disgrace that was the impeachment of a president for lying about his personal behavior, the politics of personal destruction continues to thrive on both sides of the aisle, by supporters of both sides of the aisle. Indeed, even as Weiner’s stereotypical public confession was still echoing around the shrill mass media, some progressives already were excitedly promoting allegations about the personal behavior of a leading Republican, as if two wallows in the mire make one clean.

We cannot change the behavior of public officials. We cannot make any immediate impact on the behavior of the corporatist media. We cannot stop right-wing assholes from being assholes. We can change our own behavior. The mud must stop here. It seems easy to feel happy when right-wing demagogues are hoist on their own political petards, but it shouldn’t be. Every time it happens, innocent people get hurt. Relatives. Friends. Spouses. Children. Some claim that it’s the hypocrisy that matters, but it isn’t. Right-wing attempts to suppress and repress the personal behavior of all manner of innocents are not wrong because they are hypocritical, they are wrong because they are about suppression and repression, and often also about bigotry. The hypocrisy argument is a distraction. Right-wing bigots and scolds are no worse for being proved hypocrites. Right-wing bigots and scolds who are not hypocrites are no better than their hypocritical brethren. Revelations about the personal behavior of various right-wing hypocrites have had no impact on the repressive, suppressive and bigoted right-wing political agenda. Revelations about the personal behavior of various right-wing hypocrites have in no way advanced the causes of equality and justice and individual freedom. It’s better to face and take the bigotry and repression and suppression head on, for what it is, and not get side-tracked by the personal behavior of individual bigots or agents of repression and suppression. When no laws are being broken, the privacy of the personal behavior of consenting adults should be sacrosanct. Even for Republicans. Even for assholes. Even for bigots.

via Daily Kos: The politics of personal destruction: Anthony Weiner and us.

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