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Sunday, August 12, 2007

009 RAGING!

BITS AND PIECES FROM HERE AND THERE........
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'Example POLITICS AS USUAL


Led by Democrats since the start of this year, Congress now has a "confidence" rating of 14 percent, the lowest since Gallup started asking the question in 1973 and five points lower than Republicans scored last year.

The voters put the Democrats in to end the war, and it's escalating.

The Democrats voted the money for the surge and the money for the next $459.6 billion military budget.

Their latest achievement was to provide enough votes in support of Bush to legalize warrantless wiretapping for "foreign suspects whose communications pass through the United States."

Enough Democrats joined Republicans to make this a 227-183 victory for Bush. The Democrats control the House. Speaker Nancy Pelosi could have stopped the bill in its tracks if she'd wanted to. But she didn't. The Democrats' game is to go along with the White House agenda while stirring up dust storms to blind the base to their failure to bring the troops home or restore constitutional government.

The row over the US Attorneys and the conduct of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has always been something of a typhoon in a teaspoon. The Democrats love it, since they imagine it portrays them to the public as resolute guardians of the impartial administration of justice, a concept whose credibility most Americans sensibly deride.

The one Democrat acting on principle in the Gonzales affair has been Senator Russ Feingold. He at least tried to dig into the visit of chief White House counsel Gonzales, as he then was, to the bedside of Attorney General John Ashcroft, to get him to sign off on the illegal wiretaps. And how did the Democrat-controlled Congress deal with Feingold's efforts to nail Gonzales for his efforts to undermine the Constitution and for his prevarications under oath? It promptly legalized the eavesdropping.

Just as the Democrats work tirelessly to demonstrate to the voters that it makes zero difference which party controls Congress, the political establishment forces all candidates for the presidential nomination to sever any compromising ties to sanity and common sense.

Just as their poll numbers are going down, Bush's are going up, by five points in Gallup from early July. People are beginning to think the surge is working, courtesy of the New York Times. So are we better or worse off since the Democrats won back Congress?



'Example GAY RIGHTS AS USUAL


The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Presidential Forum on Thursday evening should have been called the "Presidential Forum on Marriage Equality". Sorting out the questions by topic, excluding minor follow-ups and sticking with the planned ones, and by my count there were 22 questions on marriage or couples benefits in relation to marriage, 2 on HIV prevention, 2 on Don't Ask, 2 on employment discrimination, and 15 other questions on topics that weren't directly related to one another.

I know, I know, marriage is important to a lot of people. But when there are an estimated 670,000 same-sex couples living together in the country and estimates of the number of LGBT people range from 8 to 20 million. That's about 3 to 8% of the queers in this country, and those couples aren't just worried about marriage-related issues. Could we broaden our horizons?

Have we already forgotten the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill, sitting quietly in a corner of the senate?


'Example RELIGIOUS BIGOTRY AS USUAL

Proving that bigotry is alive and well in the U.S. House of Representatives, who would we have but Idaho's own Bill Sali. He's well known as crazy and obnoxious.

He's periodically good for a laugh, but there's an ugly and dangerous side to his antics.

"We have not only a Hindu prayer being offered in the Senate, we have a Muslim member of the House of Representatives now, Keith Ellison from Minnesota. Those are changes -- and they are not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers," asserts Sali.

Sali says America was built on Christian principles that were derived from scripture. He also says the only way the United States has been allowed to exist in a world that is so hostile to Christian principles is through "the protective hand of God.""You know, the Lord can cause the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike," says the Idaho Republican.According to Congressman Sali, the only way the U.S. can continue to survive is under that protective hand of God.

He states when a Hindu prayer is offered, "that's a different god" and that it "creates problems for the longevity of this country."

Sali just better give it up..... doesn't he know that according to Benedict XVI, the only way to get to heaven is to become catholic?

The face of the new GOP, just like the old GOP.



'Example ANIMAL ABUSE

It's no secret that I own two very loved, spoiled and pampered PUGS.

Daisy, who has ruled this household for almost 13 years was purchased by me when she was 6 weeks old. As she ages, her medical expenses in the last four months have been staggering but that is not a problem; we manage and will continue to do so. She is once again healthy and puppy-like playful.

Muggs, was adopted by Daisy and I six years ago. Little more than a year old, he came from a home where the owner realized she could no longer take care of him or meet the financial obligations necessary to maintain a well nourished, healthy dog.

Turning on the early morning news prior to leaving for work this week, this is all I heard:

Sarasota, Florida - A Sarasota woman has been arrested after officials say she locked her two dogs in a bedroom with no food and water for two months.

Deanna Sperber Ramono told Sarasota Police she was working too much to take care of her two PUGS, so she locked them up in a bedroom.

Authorities say there was feces all over the floor of the room and that the dogs had apparently been dead for more than three weeks when they were found.

Officials say the dogs had tried to claw the door and window blinds in an attempt to escape.



Five days later, I just can't get this horror out of my mind!


As a medical social worker, I'm very well aware of the fact that starvation is a very slow, very painful death.


Why couldn't this bitch just call someone for help, surrender these animals to a shelter?

6 comments:

christine mtm said...

well, here is a positive for you. the evangelical lutheran church in america (elca- what i am) just voted to allow bishops to exercise their own discretion in regards to clergy living in same sex committed relationships. essentially this means that bishops are no longer held to rules that require them to report such issues to a disciplinary committee that would strip the pastor of their pastor-ness. while some bishops might still feel obligated to do this it allows for bishops who support such relationships to do so.

a small step, but one in the right direction!

dondon009 said...

Thanks for brightening up an otherwise rather depressing day!

One small step in the right direction says it all......

DON

CrackerLilo said...

You know how badly L'Ailee and I want full marriage rights, but I *totally* get what you're saying. Work and free expression and how our kids are treated in schools and our personal safety are also so, so, so important. And we lost so many Arabic translators because of DADT!!!

I also believe fully that people who can hurt innocent animals shouldn't be allowed around other people.

nRT said...

Oh I only wished she was locked in a bedroom with no food or water for two weeks never mind two months. Those poor dogs.
She should be sent to jail but as the law goes she will be fined and go on her way. The Law for Animals Rights has got to change. It's not OK to kick the family pet...

D-Man said...

I am an Idaho democrat, right down to my very DNA, and Bill Sali is a shameful embarassment. How could we come so far from our beloved Mr. Andrus? Remember Helen Chenowith?

Perhaps neither your party NOR my party is well represented in any legislature today. Maybe we need to throw the whole lot out.

Spider Girl said...

Doesn't Sali know that religious bigotry makes the baby Jesus cry?

Articles like this make me shake my head.