Princeton progressives give Frist a filibuster to remember

Check out the Princeton progressives who have a live webcam at their filibuster against Frist the Terrible and his so-called "nuclear option."

Cool Blue Reason gives his report on Daily Kos.

Thus far they have enlisted two Congressmen and the winner of the 2004 Nobel Prize in physics along with various professors, city council members and New Jersey assmebly members in their continuous and justifiable harangue decrying the overly ambitious senator from Tennessee.

-->stands and applauds<--

More on the Bush-Ratzinger connection

The Moscow Times "arts and ideas" section called "context" has an excellent article today in Chris Floyd's Global Eye column. The well-documented piece entitled "Buried Treasure" connects the dots between the youngest Bush and Joseph Ratzinger now doing business as Pope Benedict XVI of Vatican, Inc.

His sources include everything from The Texas Observer to Newsday to the Financial Times along with Harper's, network news sources, bicoastal print media, and Americablog.

The article traces "Neilsy," the youngest of the Bush syndicate, along the highways and byways of his world travels beginning with the savings and loan scandal that cost us a pretty penny (around $1 billion from us, the American taxpayers. Neilsy paid a paltry $50,000 in fines.) From there we are treated to the tales of his escapades with the likes of the bin Laden family, Jiang Mianheng of Chinese Zemin Dynasty...er...Presidency.

The juicy stuff is in details of the Bush-Ratzinger connection. I won't repeat them all here, just suffice it to say that it has little to do with religious ecumenism and everything to do with possible tax shelters.

There's more if you're interested in Neilsy's longtime business relationship with Syrian-born businessman Jamal Daniel.

This is my fave from the entire article:

You see, the Bushes are robber barons, not capitalists. They never risk any of their own money in the competition of the marketplace. Nor do they ever pay the price when their deals go belly-up.

Bill Frist: Intensely Ambitious and Desperate to Be President

Via Political Wire:

According to the Economist (sub only), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is invoking the God On My Side strategy because the "intensely ambitious man desperately wants to be president. . . [It] could be his undoing. It is not only forcing him through an embarrassing ideological makeover. It is also conjuring up a high-stakes political battle that may end up harming himself and the Republican Party, and the country too."

Frist's Nuclear Option: What Tennessee Newspapers Are Saying - "Pimping Out Jesus"

Note that these are all mainstream newspapers and none are too pleased with Homeboy Frist. If you can read only one in its entirety, read the Nashville Scene's editorial, Pimping Out Jesus. Unlike many Tennessee newspapers, this one actually informs its readers. A truly novel idea in a red state; here's hoping it catches on.

Snippets:

Pimping Out Jesus
The Nashville Scene

In our view, the blood-curdling facet of this whole political exercise is that religion has been hijacked to advance partisan interests. The most egregious culprit, of course, is the Senate's resident M.D. (master of dogma?), whose only guiding principles, it's becoming increasingly clear, are self-promotion and advancement at any cost.

His participation in the "Justice Sunday" freak show organized by right-wing nut jobs like Albert Mohler Jr.—a Shiite Baptist type who calls the Catholic Church "a false church" that "teaches a false gospel" and who says the "Pope himself holds a false and unbiblical office"—represents the worst kind of religious exploitation. What's more, Frist's servility has done nothing to help reach compromise or resolution on the judicial nominations issue and served only to let evangelicals know that Frist is willing to pimp out Jesus to get conservative activist judges approved.

Mohler, Frist & Co. believe that it's their Christian duty to stack courts with those who consult God before the law. "We have to exercise our Christian citizenship not just at the ballot box but all the way to the nomination and confirmation of judges," Mohler was quoted as saying. Lest you, dear reader, regard this editorial as somehow left of center, consider that even the leader of Frist's own denomination, the Presbyterian Church (USA), was among a group of religious luminaries last week urging Frist to reconsider his participation in the event, which was to religious culture what raw foodists are to gastronomic culture—that it to say, really, really out there.

Separate from the religious politicking going on, Frist and the other proponents of procedural nuclear warfare seem to be sudden converts to the idea that all nominees deserve an up-or-down vote by the Senate. The numbers are not in their favor. When Bill Clinton was president, the GOP-controlled Senate from 1994-2000 blocked about 60 of his judicial nominees. Very few of these ever got a full Senate vote, and most didn't even get a vote within the Judiciary Committee. Their confirmation hearings often couldn't even get scheduled. Meanwhile, the Dems are blocking only 10 of more than 200 Bush nominees for the federal bench.

And you don't have to be a partisan to conclude that Clinton's blocked nominees were much closer to the political center than those who have been blocked by the Dems. . .

It's this blatant and shameless mixing of church and state to accomplish political and procedural victory that would make James Madison roll over in his grave. To compromise one conviction (not that Frist has demonstrated any) for another is like killing your mistress to honor your wife. We imagine that God himself is up there on a fluffy cloud cringing at this whole episode, probably using the U.S. Constitution as a biblical bookmark parked somewhere around Psalm 25, which allows that "integrity and uprightness" protect us.

In which case, God help Bill Frist.


Sen. Frist's Explosive Option
Chattanooga Times Free Press

...If he [Frist] does move to change the Senate's filibuster rules -- a monumental change with unprecedented ramifications -- he will surely transform the Senate for the worse, and the nation will suffer the lasting damage... Sen. Frist should, of course, retreat from the notion of changing the Senate's time-honored filibuster rules.


Invoking faith against judges
Memphis Commerical Appeal

In the context of what rally organizers and Frist are trying to accomplish, however, the senator's appearance at "Justice Sunday -- Stopping The Filibuster Against People of Faith" added fuel to a divisive debate that leaves no room for a moderate voice.

That freedom did not go unnoticed at many other religious gatherings Sunday in Louisville and elsewhere. Polls, including one commissioned by Republicans, show most Americans don't like the nuclear option. Moderate voices in the church suggest that it's inappropriate to bring God into this debate, and Frist would be well advised to hear them out.


Dangerous mix of faith into filibuster debate
The Tennessean

Sen. Bill Frist, the majority leader from Tennessee, is not the first politician to turn to religion for help with an agenda.

Sen. Bill Frist, the majority leader from Tennessee, is not the first politician to turn to religion for help with an agenda."

The filibuster issue, on its own, could pose a vitriolic political battle, but it has not been about religion and shouldn't be painted that way now.

. . .when the politically conservative side of the debate couches the debate in religious terms, the message becomes clear: God is on our side. That should be insulting to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle. Personal faith should not be defined by political affiliation.

While people may hope to have a higher power on their side, it seems appropriate to wonder what that higher power thinks of the way this political issue is being used.

Violence against LGBT's up says coalition

The word is out.

On Tuesday, the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP), a coalition of over 20 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender victim advocacy and documentation programs, released their annual report on the incidence of violence against LGBT people in the United States. The news is definitely not good.

From the report:

In the continuation of a trend that started with the 2003 edition of this report, the number of offenders (which had remained stable or actually declined in previous years) rose by 7% from 2,467 in 2003 to 2,637 in 2004 - a rate almost twice as high as either victims or incidents.

The ongoing move away from fewer and fewer perpetrators involved in anti-LGBT incidents is perhaps one of the most distressing findings of this report. It signals a truly retrograde environment in which years of progress resulting in fewer people willing to violently act out anti-LGBT bias has been substantially reversed. With respect to hate related violence, we are in fact "back to the future."

This is depressing news, but this trend was not unexpected or suprising.

And before you let your regional biases show, let me tell you that these trends hold true in places like Chicago, Colorado, Columbus, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, and San Francisco.

There were a few places showing decreases: Cleveland, New York, and Pennsylvania. I'm glad to see that Pennsylvania's numbers are waning. They were known to be a hotbed of intolerance in the 90s, sprouting KKK rallies like ragweed and crabgrass. Tolerance.org has a cool story about how two Pennsylvania towns dealt with the growth of hate groups in their area.

We have to continue to struggle against hate crimes in every possible venue. With the hate speech spewing forth from the pulpits, publications, and Web pages of the religious supremacists who are determined to contort this country into a christian theocracy, it's no wonder that hate crimes against LGBT folks are on the rise.

I'm only beginning to understand a tiny bit of what black people have put up with all their lives. Oh, I understood it on a local scale. It's the entire nation seemingly foaming at the mouth that is so new.

Breathe deeply, my progressive friends. You will need all the energy you can muster for the next round of volleys against the gentle angry people they call "queer".

Bill Gates turns his back on LGBT equality after religious supremacists threaten boycott

Microsoft reneged today on promised support of an LGBT rights bill in Washington state. Imaginary dana posted a link to an article in Stranger that charts the move away from the gay rights bill under consideration by the Washington legislature. DED space noted the turncoat Microsoft betrayal of the LGBT community as well.

Word has it that Mr. Gates' company gave in to pressures by the wingnuts (who else?) headed up by pastor Ken Hutcherson of Antioch Bible Church in Redmond, Washington. It appears that Hutcherson's February meeting with some higher-ups at Microsoft during which time he threatened a boycott of all Microsoft products by the religious supremacists who are trying to reshape our country into the Fourth Reich.

Imaginary dana reminds us that this fellow is one and the same guy who organized the fiasco otherwise known as Mayday for Marriage last October.

She also provided a nice link to a Seattle Post Intelligencer article that sheds light on the tidy little $20,000/month fee Microsoft has paid to your friend and mine, none other than Mr. Christian Coalition himself - Ralph Reed. To be technically correct, they are paying Reed's company, Century Strategies.

The article goes on to credit Americablog with originally breaking the story. Their story provides links to the invoices that are apparently verifiable. In fact, it looks like old Billie Gates retained Ralphie and the CenStats 'way back before the 2004 election.

It all gets curiouser and curioser, Alice.

More on Frist the Terrible

The spectacle of religious supremacist zealotry that the Wingnuts dubbed "Justice Sunday" is nothing more than a display of their intolerance for anything left of Billy Graham.

Faith and Policy Blog notes that the People for the American Way (PFAW) has revived a 25-year-old television ad giving voice to opposition of the religious supremacists' view that all of Busch's judicial nominees should be rubberstamped into office without hesitation on the part of the Congress or anyone else for that matter.

Have we really gone that far backward? I was so hoping to move on into the 21st century.

Frist, with the charisma of a medium-sized chunk of coal, is pitifully transparent in reaching, snatching, and grabbing for the loyalty of the evanglelical, fundamentlist masses who would like nothing more than to see yet another "man of god" installed (not elected) to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He's trying mightily to convince him that the mantle of the lord is upon him.

It is for this that he must remain pure. He has turned down all offers of compromise. He remains true to his mission.

You think they'll buy it?

It is difficult to believe that he is supposed to represent me in the Senate.

Oh yes, I mustn't forget. I have another Senator - the valient Lamar Alexander himself. Hmmm...let me see. I do believe he served as the Secretary of Education under Busch I. I can rest assured that he will represent me quite as well as Frist the Terrible.

Nuclear assault imminent - women's lives endangered by religious supremacists' judicial candidates

TruthOut has an article by Marjorie Cohn, one of their contributing editors, who is a professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, executive vice president of the National Lawyers Guild, and the US representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists.

In "Right to Choice under Nuclear Attack," Cohn outlines the herstory of choice in Amerika and with sparkling clarity shows how the religious supremacists are attempting to ransack our government, destroy our Constitution, and lay in place the groundwork for the Fourth Reich headed by none other than Herr Busch.

The stakes are high. I can attest to that. My Mother gave her life for my right to choose the size of my family. She gave her life by taking me to New York City on November 21, 1971. We went to New York because it was much closer than California. Those were the only two states in the U.S. in which a legal abortion could be obtained at that time.

One day later, she was shot and killed in a dental office owned by her husband in a small town in East Tennessee. It's that same small town I referenced a few entries back in the interview with Esther Kaplan. It is a hotbed of Southern Baptist extremism, their denials of such notwithstanding.

She was killed as her dentist husband lost his temper as he had so many times over the course of their 13 year marriage. She was killed because he was angry.

"His women don't get abortions." Those words will ring in my ears until the day I die. They were among the last words my Mother heard as her lifeblood ebbed away on that Fall day two years before my right, our right to have contol over our bodies became law in the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973.

As Frist the Terrible of Tennessee readies his nuclear arsenal, he aims directly at women. Make no mistake about it, this battle is for our very lives.

Canada vs. America: Universal Health Care vs. Health Care for Profit

A reporter from a local newspaper once told me that they let old people die in Canada. I’d recently returned to Tennessee after living for 13 years in Canada. I was surprised to learn that I had been living in such a primitive country. Since that day, I’ve become accustomed to hearing strange and horrifying tales about a country, or a health care system, that I do not recognize.

Take a recent Op-ed in a local daily newspaper. Written by a chemistry professor, who has also spent time in Canada, the article makes a number of preposterous and unsubstantiated claims. They all add up to the charge that Canada is a rather backward country with a health care system vastly inferior to that of the U.S.

The professor does not offer evidence for his claims and for good reason. If the American system were superior to the Canadian system, health care outcomes would support the claim. Instead, those outcomes, which are the standard measure of the health a nation, all point to the superiority of the Canadian system.

According to the World Health Organization, the OECD, the United Health Foundation, and virtually every other health-related organization you can name, the U.S. is one of the worst nations in the industrialized world in health outcomes. Americans not only live shorter lives, we spend more of our lives in poor health.

The U.S. does worse (or ties for worst) in the critical measures of life expectancy, infant mortality, child mortality, maternal deaths and low birth weights.

Of course, these other developed nations have governments that provide universal health care. Thus, it should not be surprising that they do better in important areas such as keeping babies alive. In fact, the infant mortality rate in the U.S. is on the rise!

According to the latest C.I.A. World Factbook, there are 41 countries that have better infant mortality rates than the U.S. Even Cuba does a better job of keeping babies alive.

In 2003, there were 12.6 million women of childbearing age and 9.1 million children under age 19, who were uninsured in the U.S., and those were the good old days.

As if all of this wasn’t bad enough, we actually spend far more on heath care than countries that do better than us. We get less and pay more.

But the professor doesn't bother with details such as these. Instead he offers anecdotal evidence, some of which leads me to believe that his values are very different from mine. He speaks glowingly of a Texas hospital where his daughter was born, gushing that it “was like the Taj Mahal” compared to the Canadian hospital where his other child was born. But he is not the only one who has anecdotal evidence. I've also had birthing experiences in both Canadian and U.S. hospitals.

My baby and I spent our Canadian hospital stay in a blissful state in a cozy private room. While the hospital did not resemble the Taj Mahal, my doctor respected my wishes and made certain that the birth experience was as I desired. Afterwards, nurses, and even my doctor, paid routine visits to my home. My doctor made elaborate charts which demonstrated how the health and development of my baby compared to that of other Canadian babies. My bill was $3.00.

My birthing experience in the U.S. was another story altogether. The hospital had run out of blankets, the fetal heart machine was defective, and my doctor ignored all of my wishes. She ordered procedures which she had promised I could forgo, including ones which sped up the labor and intensified the pain. I understood that time was money, and my baby and I were definitely taking too much of her time. After the ordeal was over, no nurses or doctors visited my home. There were no elaborate charts comparing the development of my baby to other American babies. My bill was astronomical.

The professor claims: “Even if you do not have health insurance, when your life is at risk, you will get health care. In Canada, it's 'Take a number, please.'''

Once again, no evidence is offered to persuade one that the author is doing anything other than making it up as he goes. Certainly, he does not speak as someone who has ever been without health insurance.

In America, the struggle to find enough money to persuade a doctor to see you may not be called ‘a wait list,’ but it’s as good as one. And it’s a wait far more dangerous than the waits for elective procedures that sometimes occur in Canada.

For the uninsured, and there are 45 million of us in the U.S., the process of acquiring ‘charity care’ can be so time-consuming that even when the condition is urgent, the care may arrive too late.

Years ago, when my uninsured son required immediate eye surgery, it took so long to process our plea for care that the surgery was performed days later than the doctors hoped. If we had remained in Canada, we could have simply handed over our Canadian Health Care card.

The doctors said that every day we waited lessened the chances of saving his sight. If it had been up to the doctors, he would have had the surgery the first day they saw him. He’s been blind in that eye ever since.

That’s how it works in a system based on the immoral premise that health care is a privilege reserved for those who can pay.

Video of Republican Filibuster of Abe Fortas Surfaces

Bill Frist should learn to google before he speaks. The Senate Majority Leader justifies his threat of the 'nuclear option' with the claim that using the filibuster on judicial nominees is "unprecedented."

Crooks and Liars has the video of the Republican filibuster of Abe Fortas - President Johnson's Supreme Court nominee. The video couldn't surface on a more appropriate site.

US Rep. Ford to Address Emergency Rally to Protect Social Security Today

U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D) will address the Emergency Rally to Protect Social Security today in downtown Nashville. That's at 12:00 pm on the east side Capitol steps. For more info email Tennessee Citizen Action at tnca@tnca.org.

Protect Social Security rallies will be held in 35 states and in Washington, D.C. today. The U.S. Senate Finance Committee will hold its first hearing on Project Social Security Destruct in D.C. today.

Greener Feminist Pastures: 'Miss Sweden' Cancelled After "Feminist Harassment"

"Feminists forced me to cancel. I was surprised that in a country as far developed and as liberated as Sweden women's rights movements receive so much attention in the media regarding an issue like this." -- Panos Papadopoulos


Granted, they haven't put an end to rape, domestic violence, or war, but still . . . it does me good to know that Feminists have some clout somewhere.

Swedish "Bikini King" and CEO, Panos Papadopoulos has submitted to the will of the Feminists.

There will be no Miss Sweden beauty pageant, or "glitzy girlfest", this year. Consequently, there will be no Swedish contestant in the Miss Universe pageant.

Meanwhile, back in America, more than 200 national women's organizations representing over ten million women continue to work on the little project of getting the Augusta National Golf Club to stop discriminating and let women play with the men. This project is now entering its third year.

But back to those greener feminist pastures, I'm posting the entire story here as well as a grumbling comment about the power of Swedish Feminists that I find particularly satisfying.

Miss Sweden cancelled after "feminist harassment"

The organiser of the annual 'Miss Sweden' beauty pageant has been forced to cancel this year's contest following "harassment from feminist groups". The decision means that Sweden will not be sending a delegate to the global 'Miss Universe' event - for the first time since it was inaugurated in 1952.

Panos Emporio, the Scandinavian swimwear company which bought the rights to run Miss Sweden from TV3 last year, says it will try to find a formula that is acceptable "to most people in society" in time for next year's event."

Feminists forced me to cancel," said Panos Papadopoulos, the chief executive of Panos Emporio and self-proclaimed 'bikini king'. "I was surprised that in a country as far developed and as liberated as Sweden women's rights movements receive so much attention in the media regarding an issue like this."

Papadopoulos declined to name the specific feminist organisations which had pressured him into cancelling Miss Sweden but he told The Local that he had received negative calls and messages of a personal nature."

It's impossible to talk to these people," he said.

Nevertheless, Papadopoulos said that he has been encouraged by an equally strong response from those who support the event."

This has created a big reaction - and whether they like something or dislike something Scandinavians don't often react. But for the first time since I came to Sweden 25 years ago I've had a lots of people contacting me saying they are disappointed that we had to cancel Miss Sweden."

Panos Emporio sponsored Miss Sweden for 15 years before buying it outright for an undisclosed sum last year. Papadopoulos said that the goal was to give back the competition "its original high status".

Despite this setback, Papadopoulos told The Local that he is not giving up. He said that his company is working behind the scenes "to create something new and astonishing" but he acknowledged that he was surprised by the negative feeling towards the glitzy girlfest."

I could understand this kind of reaction in an Arabic country," he said. "But not in Sweden - particularly considering what you see on TV here every day.

Sweden's main feminist groups were unavailable for comment.


Comment:

Anonymous 22nd April 2005 12.28 Report Comment

So the wrinkly old feminists have won out again? What a damn shame! Don´t they realize these pageants are all about beauty, posture, poise, grace under pressure and speeches about world peace? Nobody wants to denigrate the image of women in general as being anything other than strong, independent and capable!

In my humble opinion, the opposition from these whining "prominent feminist groups" comes from the fear of the power of female beauty. In this example, Sweden´s feminazis share a frontier with northern Nigeria's religious zealots, (the same ones who succeeded in ruining the last "Miss World" pageant). They want to enfeeble female beauty by covering up those who possess it. Are beautiful women to wear sackcloth and ashes - or burquas - to keep feminists happy? Such a shame, since Sweden has so many talented, intelligent and beautiful women who stand a real chance of being the next "Miss Universe."

ACLU Sues to Stop TN Anti-Gay Amendment -- 3 Democratic State Reps Join Lawsuit

Good Chance Hate Amendment Will NOT Appear on 2006 Ballot

The prospects of preventing the TN Hate Amendment from appearing on the ballot in 2006, look very promising. Thanks are due to the general incompetence of state leaders. This must be the silver lining I've been searching for in our dysfunctional state government.

State Reps. Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis), Tommie Brown (D-Chattanooga), Larry Turner (D-Memphis) and the Tennessee Equality Project have joined with the ACLU-TN in the lawsuit aimed at stopping the recently passed Hate Amendment from appearing on the ballot in 2006. The proposed constitutional amendment would prohibit the recognition of same-sex marriage.

According to the ACLU-TN website, the constitution requires that the text of amendments be published in state newspapers 6 months before the election, instead it was published 4 months and 12 days before November 2, 2004.

Reps. Marrero, Brown and Turner explain their position:

"When we took office, we swore that we would uphold the Tennessee Constitution. The Tennessee Constitution is what keeps us honest. When we no longer follow the rules, democracy is sacrificed. We are joining in this lawsuit because it's our duty to make sure that when we consider proposals to amend the State Constitution, we follow the rules. That didn't happen here."

Activist legislator and sponsor of the Hate Amendment, Rep. Bill Dunn (R-Knoxville) responded with the claim: ''the procedure was followed and the Secretary of State says it has been. Unfortunately, this group has decided to go against the will of the Senate, where they lost, the will of the House, where they lost, the court of public opinion, where they've lost, and now they're going to shop for some liberal judge who will overturn this.''

Yet, as Hedy Weinberg of the ACLU makes clear, there are rules in place even for activist legislators:

'The drafters of our state constitution put in place very specific safeguards to protect the constitution from being amended at the whim of politicians. It's shameful that the politicians who are so eager to prevent gay people from securing the protections of marriage have so little respect for our state constitution that they are willing to ignore these procedural safeguards.''

The right-wing Family (patriarchal) Policy Network strongly opposes the Hate Amendment because it does not ban civil unions "and all other marriage counterfeits." Perhaps they'd like to join in the lawsuit.

Daughtrey on New Ethics Legislation and Semi-honesty

For all the self-congratulatory hubbub going on at Capitol Hill, you might believe the General Assembly has finally decided to polish up an image that ranks somewhat south of used car salesmen and Tom DeLay. -- Larry Daughtrey


Larry Daughtrey has an excellent column in today's Tennessean about the new improved ethics legislation. Daughtrey explains very well why I and many others have not been able to summon any enthusiasm over the General Assembly's latest jab at policing themselves.

You should read the whole column, but here are a couple of my favorite passages:

For all the self-congratulatory hubbub going on at Capitol Hill, you might believe the General Assembly has finally decided to polish up an image that ranks somewhat south of used car salesmen and Tom DeLay.

The Senate, maybe, is scheduled to put the finishing touches tomorrow on the centerpiece ''ethics'' bill of this year's session. The House finished it Thursday but not after a lot of moaning about how it will ensnare ''honest and semi-honest politicians,'' not the really bad guys.

In a legislature which seems to care little about the rights of gays, immigrants, college students and the uninsured, it was refreshing to hear concerns about the rights of someone, even the semi-honest politicians among us.

and:

In the first quarter of this year, the state Republican Party received $317,000 for its usual operational expenses, which include trying to elect a GOP majority in the legislature. Of that money, $240,000 came from drug company millionaire John Gregory, $45,000 came from Sen. Bill Frist's political action committee, and $15,000 came from Pilot Oil mogul Jim Haslam.

If there is anything illegal about that, call the cop on the motorcycle. The state doesn't have any enforcement mechanism.

The new ethics bill may be a step, but it is only that. We're still stuck with a system that is semi-honest.

South Carolina Legislators: Sexist Brutes With Clubs

Five years in prison for cockfighting; 30 days for beating your wife. Sounds like red state values to me.

South Carolina ranks as the absolute last state in the percentage of state legislators who are women. Now we know why. Is it any wonder that the women of South Carolina aren’t lining up to run for a seat in the legislature? The state simply does not pay enough to compensate for the ulcer-provoking thrill of working with these cave creatures.

We thought our red state legislators held the record for androcentric arrogance. The men in the South Carolina legislature may actually make this state’s legislative body look like something other than a hairy brute with a club. (I said may.)

As Trish Wilson and Pinko Feminist Hellcat tell it, lawmakers in South Carolina passed the bill that would make cockfighting a felony, but balked when it came time to pass the bill that would do the same for domestic violence.

It’s not hard to understand why the legislating neanderthals prioritize cockfighting over domestic violence. I mean, they obviously found something they care about in the cockfighting bill. My guess is they found something they care about in the , er, word.

When the domestic violence bill appeared, the regressive male club found something to laugh about.

According to a tape of the meeting obtained by The State newspaper, Altman asked why the bill’s title — “Protect Our Women in Every Relationship (POWER)” — just mentioned protecting women. Harrison suggested making the bill the “Protecting Our People in Every Relationship” Act, or “POPER.”

A voice on the tape can be heard pronouncing it “Pop her.” Another voice then says, “Pop her again,” followed by laughter.

When asked about the legislature’s primitive priorities, Rep. Altman proceeded to insult the reporter. The reporter was, of course, a woman.

Rep. Altman: "You're really not very bright and I realize you are not accustomed to this, but I'm accustomed to reporters having a better sense of depth of things and you're asking this question to me would indicate you can't understand the answer. To ask the question is to demonstrate an enormous amount of ignorance. I'm not trying to be rude or hostile, I'm telling you."

Reporter: "It's rude when you tell someone they are not very bright."

Rep. Altman: "You're not very bright and you'll just have to live with that."

The South Carolina legislative body is 91.2% male and 8.8% female. As my mother always told me, anytime you get that much testosterone in one location you will have problems.

At the moment, no other state legislature ranks below 10%. If this climate continues much longer, expect other states to join the backslide to the good-old-boy dream days when men were men and women were well-practiced in the survival arts of downward gazing and feet shuffling. Ah yes, the good old days when women excelled at the art of voicelessness. I remember them well.

Rep. Altman knows nothing of the art. Shooting off his all-knowing mouth seems to be what he does best. The Rep. blamed women for not leaving their partners at the very first abusive incident. Does anyone doubt that his is the same loud sanctimonious voice that blames women for leaving their partners and causing "broken" families?

During the Clinton years, the South Carolina's legislative body got carried away and climbed all the way up to 12.9% female. (The Tennessee legislative body has climbed, in recent years, to the all-time high of 17.4% female. Please forgive the pitiful use of the word ‘climbed’.)

Like pretty well everywhere else, progress in South Carolina has been going to hell of late.

That’s how women’s rights work, one step forward followed by decades of hostile women-hating backlash.

Bloody Maurice anyone?

Women's wages, Iraqi women, Bush and the environment

I see that Hillary and Rosa are working for a living wage for women What a radical notion! I feel grateful for that today.

From the article on the Feminist.org Web site:

The Paycheck Fairness Act aims to empower women to negotiate for equal pay, as well as strengthen enforcement of Equal Pay laws, according to Sen. Clinton’s office. The legislation would reinstate the Clinton Administration’s Equal Pay Matters Initiative and demand the continued collection of data on women workers, despite the Bush Administration’s efforts to cease this practice.

“According to the National Committee on Pay Equity, working women stand to lose $250,000 over the course of their career because of unequal pay practices,” according to a recent statement from Rep. DeLauro.

I am grateful that someone in our government noticed that women are working harder for less. And as fuel prices soar, all consumer goods are costing more. We are in an upward spiral that is disastrous for those of us with limited incomes.

Surfing around a bit, I found a thoughtful article on the Womens eNews site regarding the situation in Iraq's new government in which women elected to the new government represent the patriarchal regions of their origin and have no interest in women's rights - a situation that is frustrating to advocates in the area. Particularly troubling is the lack of protection from domestic violence and other basic needs.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, W made his appearance in East Tennessee today, but it was not in the mountainous region where my ancestors lived as had been planned. I am a direct descendent of Martha Huskey who along with her sons founded a little place called White Oak Flats. Today they call it Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It is the commercial gateway to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Fortunately the Mother Goddess let loose with a tremendous thunderstorm, preventing W from exploiting the park for his evil plan to further pollute Her air and water.

He showed up at the McGee-Tyson Airport to promote a disastrous environmental package that makes any self-respecting Green cringe and have nightmares. Of course, he has a long record of bad environmental policy. This is just more of the same.

Then he had to hurry back to Texas in order to rest up for his visitor on Monday. He's expecting the Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Won't the boys just have fun! They can talk over old times and plan for their futures.

The Ratzinger-Bush connection

A Citizens for Legitimate Government link connected me with a Newsday article that sheds light on an interesting if somewhat puzzling connection between Joseph Ratzinger, recently renamed Pope Benedict XVI and Neil Bush, W's younger brother.

The article describes the supposedly nonprofit ecumenical organization as:

The Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue was founded in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1999 to promote ecumenical understanding and publish original religious texts, said a foundation official.

While the article does not give any clear reason for Bush's involvement,
it does say that the organization is listed by Dun & Bradstreet business credit reports as a "management trust for purposes other than education, religion, charity or research."

Hmmm....

Feminists and Gays on the Wrong Path Sayeth the Pope

Derrick Jackson suggests that Ratzinger's medieval views have "the potential to irritate and inflame religious and cultural tensions around the world."

Like Bush needs some help.

Jackson lays out a few of the new Pope's extreme views:

In 2003, Ratzinger issued a proclamation condemning government recognition of same-sex unions saying that instead it was the government's responsibility to ''avoid exposing young people to erroneous ideas about sexuality and marriage." Calling civil unions the ''legalization of evil," Ratzinger said politicians who vote for them are ''gravely immoral."

Ratzinger went on to condemn adoption by gay parents, saying, ''Allowing children to be adopted by persons living in such unions would actually mean doing violence to the children." This is the same Vatican that had barely a thing to say about the American clergy child sex-abuse scandal. And when it did, Ratzinger downplayed it.

During the emerging news on the scandals in December 2002, Ratzinger said, ''I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories and perhaps it is even lower. Less than 1 percent of (American) priests are guilty of acts of this type . . . Therefore, one comes to the conclusion that it is intentional, manipulated, that there is a desire to discredit the church."

In 1997, Ratzinger and the Vatican reaffirmed its ban on women priests. In 1998, John Paul wrote a papal letter rejecting liberalism in the church, including the ordination of women. Last year Ratzinger led the Vatican's attack on ''radical feminism," blaming assertive women for calling into question the ''natural two-parent structure of mother and father and to make homosexuality and heterosexuality virtually equivalent."


More on the Radical Pope from the New York Times:

He has been a leading voice in the church for enforcing traditional doctrine on homosexuality, extramarital sex and artificial birth control, writing a letter to American bishops in 1988, for example, criticizing their acceptance of condoms to stop the spread of AIDS, saying the American view supported "the classical principle of tolerance of the lesser evil."

He has condemned efforts to legalize same-sex marriage as "destructive for the family and for society" and as a dangerous separation of sexuality and fertility. A church statement in July 2003 in which he was listed as principal author said: "There are absolutely no grounds for considering homosexual unions to be in any way similar or even remotely analogous to God's plan for marriage and family. Marriage is holy, while homosexual acts go against the natural moral law."

Echidne of the Snakes has more on the disturbing views of Ratzinger (in a post from last year).

New Pope Is Strict White Homophobic Daddy: Church To Remain In Middle Ages

Pope Homophobe

According to Sister Jeannine Gramick, "who was ordered by Ratzinger to stop ministering to gays and lesbians," the choice of Ratzinger as Pope is one way to keep the Church stuck in the Middle Ages.

Sister Gramick has the art of understatement fully mastered: "It does not bode well for people who are concerned for lesbian and gay people in the church."

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force does not mince words, noting that Ratzinger has a well-documented record of "unrelenting, venomous hatred for gay people. "

In fact, Ratzinger (why did God give him that name?) is such a bigot that he routinely uses the Bush word - EVIL - to describe all things gay. The good news is that there is an ocean between some of us and Pope Homophobe. Sorry for the rest of you. That's all the good news I have today.

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force does an oustanding job of illustrating exactly who and what is evil. They do it in one paragraph, an excerpt is below, or read it all here.


National Gay and Lesbian Task Force On the Election of Joseph Ratzinger as Pope


"As a long-time Catholic from a staunchly Catholic family, I know that the history of the church is full of shameful, centuries-long chapters involving vilification, persecution, and violence against others. Someday, the church will apologize to gay people as it has to others it has oppressed in the past. I very much doubt that this day will come during this Pope's reign. In fact, it seems inevitable that this Pope will cause even more pain and give his successors even more for which to seek atonement."

- Matt Foreman
Executive Director

UPDATE: For details on Ratzinger's Nazi background, see Sharon Cobb. Also, see Pope Fatigue over at Reject Religion. And you know Raving Atheist has something to say on the subject.

Lunatic Legislators Propose Hunting As A Constitutional Right

A proposed constitutional amendment would transform the recreational activities of hunting and fishing into constitutional rights. This lunatic legislation was passed by the lunatics on the Senate Judiciary Committee last week. Senator Doug Jackson (D-LOL) is the sponsor of this ludicrous proposal.

We're sure Sen. Jackson (D-LOL) will soon introduce a follow-up constitutional amendment that will forever enshrine beer drinking as a constitutional right. (I mean, they need to protect beer from wine drinkers, eh?)

There is another bill floating around that will permit gun toters to carry guns into restaurants and bars; maybe they want to put that into the constitution too.

No one has threatened to outlaw hunting, or beer drinking, but the looney legislators in this state are fond of pre-emptive constitutional amendments; I mean they don't have much else to do.

With more than half a million Tennesseans about to lose all or part of their access to healthcare, you'd think these idiots could find something more important to do than waste time debating the pros and cons of making the recreational activity of killing animals a constitutional right. In case anyone was wondering why this state ranks near the bottom in virtually every measure of a healthy society, well, here's your answer.

Jesus General Offers Anti-Gay Sen. Jeff Miller (R) Some Advice (heh heh)

Homosexual marriage claims another victim

Give Me Abstinence or Give Me Death: More On Opposition to HPV Vaccine

As a follow-up to femmefire's story, No Relief for Battered Afghan Women; Fundies to Oppose HPV Vaccine, there's a great discussion of the insane opposition to HPV vaccine by religious groups over at Alas, a blog.

And a heartfelt thanks to Ampersand at Alas a blog for calling us "an excellent blog." We are still a baby blog with so very much to learn, but we know enough to be honored by a compliment from Ampersand.

More on Anti-Gay Sen. Jeff Miller's Campaign to Wreck Heterosexual Marriage

Update: The venerable Jesus General has picked up this story: Homosexual Marriage Claims Another Victim. Thus, any and all hope the Sanctimonious Senator had of slinking through this scandal with minimal damage is now lost. I mean, now the French know.

"He is very hypocritical, fighting for the sanctity of marriage and not keeping his own." ---Suzanne Bridgette Miller (also, see Freedom Press.)


The City Paper reports that Sen. Miller's wife says her husband's affair is with a legislative researcher. According to the tip we spoke of earlier, said researcher works in Sen. Miller's office at Legislative Plaza. While this has yet to be confirmed, to date our tipster has been right on the mark.

Sen. Miller (R-Cleveland) denied everything in earlier accounts, but according to his wife, Brigitte Miller, he is beginning to come clean:

“They’ve been seeing each other for a while,” Mrs. Miller told a Capitol Hill reporter. “Now he admits things. But he said it’s only been since he moved out. But I know better. I’ve got things that tell me differently. . . I think he’s played around for a long time."

This story is getting some attention in the blogosphere; we're glad because the Senator deserves all the negative attention he can get. TN Guerilla Women have been following the Senator's obsession with all things gay for some time. His name is sprinkled throughout this blog, and some of his more infamous remarks are here. Note that the picture was taken before Miller grew his defensive beard. As the rumor goes, Miller grew his manly beard as a defensive response to the revelation that his brother is gay.

Documenting the hypocrisy:

The Peach suggests that it was gay people who wrecked the homophobic Senator's marriage.

Pam's House Blend terms the revelation "a satisfying story."

Suburban Guerilla calls Senator Miller's hypocrisy "predictable."

Alphabitch notes that Miller refused to sign on to the anti-adultery amendment proposed by Senator Cohen (D-Memphis).

Sen. Cohen is one of the few sane legislators in the Tennessee General Assembly. The progressive Senator has voted against the gay marriage ban and against every other homophobic or anti-choice measure proposed by the state's right-wing legislators.

Tennessee has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. Cohen's proposed anti-adultery amendment was meant to illustrate the absurdity of seeking to protect the already-damaged, different-sex marriage institution by banning same-sex marriage (which was already illegal here in TN, and some thanks for this are also due to Sen. Miller's long-time obsession with all things gay).

Negating the past to fulfill the future - why I work on Sunday

Most of the time I think of myself as a citizen of Earth. Occasionally I reflect on the fact that I live in the Western Hemisphere in North America in the United States. I frequently think of myself as residing in the Southeastern U.S. in the state of Tennessee. To be more accurate, I live in central East Tennessee.

Almost everyday I identify as Appalachian. Culturally, genetically, and, last of all, geographically, I am what is derisively referred to as a hillbilly. Try doing that with other ethnic groups.

Having been raised in a small town steeped in Southern Baptist tradition, I have been fighting their rhetoric of hate all of my life. I am grateful that as of late, there are others who have joined in this struggle against the Christian supremacists that rule with an iron fist in these parts.

I was required to learn bible verses (all new testament stuff) in order to progress from one grade to the next in elementary school. I believe they took that cue from some ancient fellow who basically said to "get 'em while they're young, and they'll be yours forever."

Fortunately that tactic didn't work on me.

Today I spent some time in my front garden. I don't have a "yard." It is my anglophilic gardening streak and my stubborn fire sign influences that make me emphasize right here, right now that a "yard" is a measure of garden soil. My front garden is much more than that.




The plants that grow in the front garden are my solace and hope. They keep me going when other things fail. They are a source of beauty and comfort.

They are also a way for me to thumb my nose at the culture that mandates homage to a patriarchal god on the day of the week named for the sun god of old.

There are far fewer weeds in my garden today than there were yesterday.



Take that, Jerry Falwell!

Leading contender for pope is ex-Nazi

A quick peek at Sharon Cobb's blog pointed the way to an article in the London Times about Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, leading German contender for the papacy, has a background as a real (not neo) Nazi. His membership in the Hitler Youth certainly deserves some sunshine.

Bush Still Coming to Tennessee To Mock Earth Day

South Knox Bubba has more on Bush's upcoming visit to Tennessee, including an exclusive draft of the shrub's prepared remarks. It seems that Bush is not only planning to mar Earth Day in Tennessee by promoting the Dirty Air Bill, but also has other environmental blights in store for Tennessee, such as the Coal Freedom Act [satire, maybe].

Memphis Blogger & Gay Activist: The Struggle for Civil Rights Continues

Memphis blogger and gay activist Jim Maynard has a piece entitled Civil Wrong published in the Memphis Flyer. He makes a point that needs to be made more often, Gays stood side-by-side with Blacks during the Civil Rights era:

Gays and lesbians played important roles in the struggle for civil rights. A black gay man, Bayard Rustin, organized the 1963 March on Washington. When Rustin was attacked by other black clergy and opponents of the civil rights movement, King stood by him.

Read all of it here.


Related post.

Survey Says: Bush NOT the Sexiest Man Alive (duh)

Well it's official, what we all knew. According to a poll of 11,000 women in 15 countires, Bush's sex appeal ranks somewhere down there with Rush Limbaugh's. Let's face it, chest-beating authoritarian males lost their sex appeal the first time one of them dragged a woman into a cave.

It just took a hell of a long time for women to get enough freedom to say so. Now if only enough of us can get free enough to stop the chest-beaters from reproducing themselves, we might have a chance of saving the planet.


From Reuters:

LOS ANGELES - He may be leader of the free world and Time magazine's "Person of the Year," but a new international survey of women makes certain that President Bush is far from being the sexiest man alive.

In a recent online poll conducted by Esquire magazine, 11,000 women in 15 countries were asked to rate Bush's sex appeal on a scale of one to 10, and America's commander-in-chief failed to register much more than a two.

Women in Australia, Germany and the Netherlands were the harshest judges of George W.'s sexual allure, giving him an average rating of 1.4 each, Esquire said in its survey released earlier this week.

By contrast, Indonesian women were the most generous, giving Bush an average score of 2.2; American women found their president slightly less appealing, rating him a 2.1

New bankruptcy law hits women, low-income hardest

Common Dreams e-newsletter brings a link to a Minneapolis Star-Tribune story about the new bankruptcy law. The story, filed by their Washington Bureau Correspondent Rob Hotakainen, outlines how the law has been toughened and how it will impact consumers appealing for financial reprieve from the courts.

The fact of the matter is, the new rules will disproportionately affect women. We have lower incomes across the board. We have more dependents and lose more financial ground in divorce than do men. We also live longer and, as a result, often have large medical bills at a time in life when income is generally low.

Maria Salas, an Nashville attorney who deals daily with bankruptcy cases, has this to say -

The new bankruptcy law will eliminate the safety net for lower and middle class Americans who are unable to pay their debts due to illness, loss of job, or divorce. The new law does little if anything to address abuse of the system or to deal with the predatory lending practices of creditors. It is another example
of special interest big business winning out over the average American who is living pay check to pay check.

I guess the problem I'm having today is with the Democrats who voted for this bill in light of the Harvard study that concluded that more than half of all bankruptcies are due to large medical bills. Add to that the military families whose reservist breadwinners take major hits to the breadbasket when called to active duty, and I say the 73 Democrats who betrayed us need to be named.

Here they are:

The 73 Democrats Who Sold Out Consumers

Robert Andrews (NJ-1st)Joe Baca (CA-43rd)Brian Baird (WA-3rd)Melissa Bean (IL-8th)Marion Berry (AR-1st)Sanford Bishop (GA-2nd))Dan Boren (OK-2nd)Leonard Boswell (IA-3rd)Rick Boucher (VA-9th)Allen Boyd (FL-2nd)Dennis Cardoza (CA-18th)Ed Case (HI-2nd)Ben Chandler (KY-6th)Emanuel Cleaver (MO-5th)Jim Cooper (TN-5th)Jim Costa (CA-20th)Bud Cramer (AL-5th)Joseph Crowley (NY7th)Henry Cuellar (TX-28th)Artur Davis (AL-7th)Jim Davis (FL-11th)Lincoln Davis (TN-4th)Chet Edwards (TX-17thBob Etheridge (NC-2ndHarold Ford (TN-9thCharlie Gonzalez (TX-20th)Bart Gordon (TN-6th)Al Green (TX-9th)Jane Harman (CA-36th)Stephanie Herseth (SD-At-Large)Brian Higgins (NY-27th)Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15th)Tim Holden (PA-17th)Darlene Hooley (OR-5th)Steny Hoyer (MD-5th)Steve Israel (NY-2nd)William Jefferson (LA-2nd)

Ron Kind (WI-3rd)Rick Larsen (WA-2nd)Jim Matheson (UT-2nd)Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4th)Mike McIntyre (NC-7th)Kendrick Meek (FL-17th)Gregory Meeks (NY-6th)Charlie Melancon (LA-3rd)Bob Menendez (NJ-13th)Mike Michaud (ME-2nd)Alan Mollohan (WV-1st)Dennis Moore (KS-3rd)Jim Moran (VA-8th)John Murtha (PA-12th)Solomon Ortiz (TX-27th)Ed Pastor (AZ-4th)Collin Peterson (MN-7th)Earl Pomeroy (ND-At-Large)David Price (NC-4th)Nick Rahall (WV-3rd)Silvestre Reyes (TX-16th)Mike Ross (AR-4th)Steven Rothman (NJ-9th)Dutch Ruppersberger (MD-2nd)John Salazar (CO-3rd)Allyson Schwartz (PA-13th)David Scott (GA-13th)Ike Skelton (MO-4th)John Spratt (SC-5th)Ted Strickland (OH-6th)John Tanner (TN-8th)Ellen Tauscher (CA-10th)Gene Taylor (MS-4th)Mike Thompson (CA-1st)David Wu (OR-1st)Albert Wynn (MD-4th)

Who cares how many Rethuglicans voted for it. I expect that kind of thing from them.

It's about time! Poll sez Americans accept gay athletes

It appears from the results of an NBC/USA Today poll that Americans prefer their athletes out of the closet.

Highlights from the poll include:

78% agree that it is OK for gay athletes to participate in sports, even if they are open about their sexuality.

79% agree that Americans are more accepting of gays in sports today than they were twenty years ago.

86% disagree that openly gay athletes should be excluded from playing team sports

We're getting there, folks. It's just taking way too long for us to get it together.

I remember my mad crushes on Martina Navrotilova in my youth. It was such a big deal and a real boost for many of us when she came out. After the betrayal by Billie Jean King when she posed for a magazine cover sporting her wedding ring, we were ready for some honesty in women's sports.

There are still others who would do a great service by shedding the cloak of shame and joining Martina.

There are actually quite a few of them here in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Naming the Injustices: Where are the Women Priests?

Here in my Red State, you just don't see letters to the editor like this one. Maybe that's why it struck me with such force.


Women's equality ignored

"I was appalled that women priests were not mentioned as a solution to the priest shortage. Pope John Paul II was indeed a symbol of faith, forgiveness and humility to many people around the world. However, as a Catholic woman and member of the Women's Ordination Conference, I cannot ignore his painful inconsistencies and the draconian measures he took to stifle dissent and enforce obedience.

In July 2004, a Vatican letter ironically called for women to participate in secular governments, yet, by barring women's ordination, he excluded them from the governing structures of his own church. He also stated the discussion was closed. For those of us who continue to publicly support it, we have either been stripped of our church authority to teach, fired from our jobs, kicked off church property or excommunicated.

In my hopes for the future, I want a pope who supports women's ordination and the need for structural change in the church. A renewed priestly ministry would fully embrace the gifts of women and work to eradicate sexism, racism, heterosexism and all oppression within the church.

To make the dignity of all God's people a reality in the church, we must name the current injustices and create systems of accountability for the vivid reality of abuse, exclusion and oppression within in the lives of millions of Catholics and former Catholics today. We want church structures that speak to the day-to-day struggles of Catholic people -- structures that are inclusive, participatory and spiritually affirming for all God's people."

Sister Bridget
Mary Meehan
Sarasota
April 09. 2005

Sanctimonious Anti-Gay Senator Caught with Pants Down

"He is very hypocritical, fighting for the sanctity of marriage and not keeping his own." ---Suzanne Bridgette Miller


State senator Jeff Miller (no relation to Zell Miller, as far as we know) is being sued for divorce by his wife of 15 years. Bridgette Suzanne Miller accuses the Senator of "being involved with a woman in Nashville," or "inappropriate marital conduct."

For almost a decade, the Republican has led the 'Sanctity of Marriage' movement in Tennessee. The Senator sponsored Tennessee's Defense of Marriage Act in 1996 and has been sponsoring anti-gay initiatives ever since.

When questioned recently about his anti-gay agenda, the Senator explained, "I'm not scared of folks who have an alternative lifestyle, I'm not being scared or phobic in one way or another. This is about sending a message to our families and upholding traditional marriage."

The Senator's 'Marriage Protection Act' passed the final legislative hurdle this session and will be on the ballot in 2006. If voters follow the lead of the Sanctimonious Senator, the state constitution will be amended to define marriage as "the historical institutional and legal contract solemnizing the relationship of one man and one woman."

Perhaps the Senator would like to amend that to read, "one man and one woman at a time."

When the gay marriage ban was up for discussion last year, Senator Cohen (D) suggested that a ban on adultery would do far more to preserve the sanctity of marriage than Miller's anti-gay bill. Understandably, Miller did not sign on to Cohen's proposed amendment to ban adultery.

Nor is Senator Miller sponsoring a pending bill which would punish wayward spouses by awarding more than half the marital assets to the 'innocent' spouse.

Wonder how the Senator plans to vote on that one.

Despite Miller's long record as staunch defender of state-sanctioned heterosexual serial monogamy, Tennessee has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation. Massachusetts, which permits gay marriage, has one of the lowest divorce rates in the nation.

Miller refused to comment on his wife's charges, other than to say, "this is a very very personal matter."

The Republican made similar comments last year when it was discovered that the anti-gay senator has a gay brother. Shortly after this revelation appeared in newspapers across the state, the Senator grew a beard.


For more info, see Out & About

Bush to Gaze on Clear Polluted Skies in Tennessee for Earth Day Celebration

No Silence Here reports that Bush is coming to Tennessee on Earth Day.

The Prez will visit the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and gaze upon the "unnatural haze from air pollution." No doubt this will be a photo-op with a political motive. Why else would the Prez visit Tennessee? According to the account posted at No Silence, Bush will likely use the Smoky Mountain photo-op as a yet another bid for Congress to pass his Clear Skies initiative, otherwise known as the Dirty Air Bill.

Extremist Rep. Bill Dunn (R) will join Bush at the Smokies.

How much will this visit cost the dirt-poor state of Tennessee? We're sure that worrisome thought has never entered Bush's mind (sic). Unpopular presidents are just so darn expensive. Oh well, time to erect yet another Free Speech Zone so Tennesseans can give the Prez the kind of welcome he has come to expect the world over.

No Relief for Battered Afghan Women; Fundies to Oppose HPV Vaccine

Reuters AlertNet just brought this story of the plight of women in Afghanistan today to my desktop via Truth Out.

AFGHANISTAN: Domestic violence intolerable, say battered women and girls

13 Apr 2005 15:16:14 GMTSource: IRINKABUL, 13 April (IRIN) - The story of Zaynab, (a name adopted to conceal her identity) an 18-year-old mother of five who has taken refuge in a new women's shelter in the capital Kabul, illustrates how routinely women continue to suffer rights violations in conservative, patriarchal Afghanistan.

Following closely on the heels of that report is another article posted on the pages of Truth Out. This one comes from New Scientist, a periodical from across the Big Pond, and is about a new vaccine being developed to prevent transmission of the human papilloma virus (hpv.) The folks at New Scientist fear that it may not be utilized in any sort of optimal way due to flack from the wingnuts. (I guess they have them, too. At least I feel a bit better knowing that all the nuts in the world aren't in the United States of America, although we do seem to have more than our share.)

Will cancer vaccine get to all women?
16 April
2005
NewScientist.com news service
Debora MacKenzie

DEATHS from cervical cancer could jump fourfold to a million a year by 2050, mainly in developing countries. This could be prevented by soon-to-be-approved vaccines against the virus that causes most cases of cervical cancer - but there are
signs that opposition to the vaccines might lead to many preventable deaths.

Click here to read the full article.

I can personally attest to the fact that being monogamously partnered in a heterosexual, legal marriage affords no protection against HPV. I discovered that quite early in life.

Too bad the fundies are so slow to catch on.

From Palestine

"If this occupation is not terrorism, then I don't know what is."

First person narrative illustrates daily resistance

I received this a couple of days ago, but waited for the author's permission to post it. She is young and brave. I am older and more cautious. To that end, I will only give her name as "K" until and unless she insists I do otherwise.

Here is her post:


April 10, 2005

For someone who loves to write, I am sitting at this computer without the words to express what is happening here in Occupied Palestine. No metaphors. No imagery. No heart tugging stories. Just the visceral, gut-wrenching knowledge that we cannot continue to live our lives as we do while this continues in our name and with our tax dollars.

I have tasted tear gas this week, but it is nothing compared to the very small taste of occupation that we have experienced this week. If this occupation is not terrorism then I don't know what is. This is something that I feel deep in my stomach.

Back home I have often felt the press of the boot on our collective back these past few years, but in comparison to the oppression here, it feels like a bedroom slipper. There is always something sudden, unexpected, inexplicable happening here. The guns, the boots, the unabashed use of force.

Always the waiting for something to happen.

H did a good job of recounting the events of the demonstration in Bi'lin last Friday. This is a small (pop. Approximately 2000), simple village that is being threatened by the serpentine wall. While I could write about the economic and aesthetic consequences of this land theft, I feel compelled to tell my friends about the immediate consequences for these kind people who dare to protest the theft of their land and livelihood.

Yes, the Israeli military did use tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets, and rubber-coated steel bullets against the villagers last Friday.

Yes, they did indeed approach a family with children and internationals at a distance of fifteen feet, assume an attack position and heave two percussion grenades at us, terrorizing the beautiful children who only seconds before were offering us tea.

Yes, they did overturn garbage cans in the village while continuing their assault on the protesters after chasing them back into the village.

And yes, they were not content to terrorize the village and then call it a day.

That evening in the middle of the night, soldiers came into the town and entered the home of an elderly couple in their pursuit of the young men who earlier in the day dared to threaten the world's fourth-largest military with stones. With no one to arrest, the soldiers trashed the couple's home.

A checkpoint was also set up in the road approaching this rural village where cars are being stopped by soldiers who are trying to apprehend young men whose pictures they had taken at the demonstration. At night we wait for more retribution.

And yet the villagers resist.

One of most important aspects of this resistance is the villagers' refusal to succumb to the Israeli government's desire to break their spirits. Life goes on and we have been grateful for the opportunity to spend time with the people of the village in their homes and in their backyard gardens.

Yesterday was an especially important day for T, E, and me. One of our friends in the village invited us to spend the afternoon at the Bi'lin Intermediate Mixed School where close to 400 children from the village, grades 1 - 12, attend school. As a teacher, I was moved by the intelligent, serious discussions we had with the students we met in a 10th grade current events class and a 9th grade English class. The students have a full and challenging curriculum that they follow and school goes on daily despite the military presence, the arrests, the terror of this occupation.

After school was dismissed large groups of girls gathered around us in the playground and shared their experiences and dreams. In nearly flawless English, they discussed their desires to become teachers and doctors. Earlier their principal spoke with us of the difficulties of providing a normal education for the village children during these "hard days" and of the post-traumatic stress that affects these young
people.

It was very hard to leave these bright, animated students and we
were delighted when the top student in the school invited us to her home for coffee.

In typical Palestinian fashion, her mother welcomed us and before long several family members and women from the village joined us for discussion. Their life is hard and their stories need to be told. They told us that there is little work for the men and that going on day-to-day is very hard.

One of the brothers who joined us is a college student who, like most young Palestinian men, has known the inside of Israeli jails. As a wife, a mother, a teacher, my heart breaks. In ways that I did not understand before, I see that simple things like going to school and preparing meals constitute resistance. It is good for us women to spend time with the girls and women in the village. They have made us feel so welcome. At night I ask myself how well I would do as a mom if each night I were waiting for the sound of boots. If each day I sent my son out the door I would have to do so with the knowledge that his return would not be guaranteed. If I would have to watch my daughters' dreams be dashed by a system governed by checkpoints and the gun.

Today we joined a demonstration in the village of Deir Sharaf just outside of Nablus where Israel has been dumping its garbage and where chemicals from a fairly-new plant outside the dump are affecting the trees and vegetation. We joined people from the village as well as several other internationals and Israeli activists in a quiet march to the dump and then returned to the village for a glass of soda. Although the dump is on Palestinian land in a magnificent
cavern that the municipality would like to develop as a tourist spot, a
nearby settlement is actually making money off the dump, charging for the right to dump.

Demonstrations here are important, but we must do much more at home. We have blood on our hands.