Madam President???

You know, I always thought Madeline Albright would have been a fantastic president (and secretly keep hoping that our Governator will continue his quest to amend the Constitution to allow foreign born citizens to run for president so that SHE gets that shot).

And, to be honest, I think that Hillary will probably be able to do a pretty darn good job in 2008 (assuming Giuliani & McCain successfully split the Republican vote and Nader takes a very long vacation).

Even Oprah, like Ross Perot, could've at least put the U.S. back in the black...

But Geena Davis? Really? I'm just not buying it. Saw the premiere of "Commander in Chief" this week and was, honestly, a little bored. Basically like the premise, like that she's an Independent, and like that she was asked to resign, but didn't, and only inherited this position (because the odds of a woman actually getting elected in this country are still 100 to 1) by default. Absolutely love Donald Sutherland in his role as Speaker of the House -- great villian, as always! But am just really not finding the accidental President Thelma to be a believable (and qualified) politician, you know? I mean, I know they needed someone tall. I get that part, but what Rod Lurie should have done was just forked over the dough to buy Stockard Channing out of her contract with NBC and put her in 6-inch heels. I'd follow Rizzo into war any day of the week and twice on Sunday!

Roberts Confirmed -- FOR LIFE!!!

The Senate voted 78-22 to confirm him as the 17th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. All 55 Republicans and 1/2 of the Dems voted for Roberts. Twenty-two Democrats opposed Roberts. And the thing is that this is a lifetime seat, you know? I mean, the man is 50 years old. When this whole justice system was first established, life expectancy was 45!!! No one ever intended for a justice to preside for 40-50 years! That's just absurd. That's 4 decades of riding out changing social, political and economic tides. Putting someone so young in this position is preposterous. And assuming that he has absolutely no ideological agenda is just naive. Imagine a 40-year-old Pope. It just would never fly.

Our only hope, I suppose, is that he proves to at least be a man of his word. He has sworn to uphold the Constitution and the precedent laid before him. He has sworn that his beliefs and his religion would play no part in his decision-making, and I guess all we can do now is trust him.

But...

People For the American Way, the National Organization for Women, the NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, the Human Rights Campaign, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, Americans with Disabilities Watch, the National Council of Women's Organizations, the National Council of Jewish Women, Rainbow PUSH, the Fund for the Feminist Majority, Legal Momentum, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Abortion Federation, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, the National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice and MoveOn.org all expressed strong opposition to the Roberts nomination.

Obama also said "no", which makes me like him that much more because that man is definitely going somewhere and I'd hate to be too disappointed.

The $36,000 question, of course, is...if he didn't bat an eye appointing Roberts to Chief Justice, then what the hell is Bush going to do with the next available slot?

America Stands For Torture

LYNNDIE ENGLAND
While it most definitely is a good thing that the Abu Grahib fiasco stirred up enough of a hornet's nest to get a whole flurry of investigations going, what isn't so comforting is listening to the Administration still try to blame the soldiers for their "unilateral" decisions to torture, mame, and humiliate prisoners.

Lynndie England was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday. She and at least 230 like her have been called "rogue" soldiers. Really? Rogue? Two hundred and thirty professionally trained and disciplined United States soldiers would willingly and without fear of castigation spit and throw dirt in the faces of prisoners, pile naked detainees atop one another, and beat and pummel them nearly to the verge of death if they weren't being ordered or at least allowed to? Really?

JOSE PADILLA (AKA ABDULLAH AL-MUJAHIR)
Why is Jose Padilla still being detained after THREE years without charge or trial? Without CHARGE or TRIAL!!! This U.S. citizen was first convicted on conspiracy to detonate a dirty bomb, then held as a material witness, and is now being detained as an "enemy combatant". The Administration claims that they are able to hold Padilla for "the duration of the hostilities" but only recently amended their accusations to focus on the fact that he had fought against American forces in Afghanistan, and not that he was in possession of a bomb.

This is in direct violation of the fundamental principle of international law which specifically states that arbitrary detention such as this is illegal -- even in times of national emergency.

I'm not judging his guilt or innocence here, folks -- I'm only stating that if he's being charged with a crime, then release him to the proper authorities and charge him. His continued captivity is immoral, unethical, and unlawful.

GUANTANAMO BAY
Why hasn't this freaking breeding ground of unspeakable atrocities and shame been shut down? It's a virtual legal black hole for the more than 500 captives (from 35 different countries) that have not yet had their detention lawfully reviewed. The Administration even tried last year to imply that since Cuba maintained "ultimate sovereignty" over Guantanamo that the detainees had no rights to the U.S. court system under the 5th Amendment (the prohibition of the deprivation of liberty without due process of law). This ridiculous notion was flatly rejected by the Supreme Court in 2004, but Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) were immediately set up by the Administration to determine the legitimacy of each detainee's "enemy combatant" status. Ninety-three percent of the time, the 3-person panel (of military officers, mind you) judged the prisoner's status legitimate (although the detainee had no access to the secret evidence used against him or any legal counsel). The 38 cases that were found not to be enemy combatants were decided AFTER a Judge ruled that the CSRTs were unlawful, a weak and ineffectual attempt by the CSRTs to demonstrate the obvious constitutionality and fairness of the tribunal's finding. Blah, blah, blah.

GENEVA CONVENTION
On the question of the Geneva Convention, the Administration has essentially stated that the detainees did not automatically deserve prisoner of war status because the President said so.

And there you have it.

Your legacy, Dubya, is murder and mayhem. Great job.

Intelligent Design???

Intelligent Design, or "ID", as it's known in those circles, is based on the premise that it is impossible to believe that the universe developed out of something as "random" as natural selection -- that it MUST HAVE had a more intelligent, purposeful construction. It claims to be objective and investigative, but yet somehow only supports "origins science" [read: creationism] and not only that, but unequivocally denounces evolutionary theory to the core.

But here's my biggest beef with ID: Isn't the very essence of faith that it is supposed to be incomprehensible, inexplicable, and, specifically because of that, ultimately impenetrable? Isn't one supposed to believe in something precisely just because and not because there's any proof that it exists (even in the swirling pattern of conch shells)? I mean, the strongest argument, as far as I'm concerned, for religious zealots has always been "We believe God exists, and that's all there is to it. Period. The end." I mean, how do you argue with that, seriously? But to now try to prove it, using science of all things, doesn't that in fact make it appear as though you don't believe wholeheartedly afterall? Because if you did, then that belief should be enough.

Shouldn't it?

Expelled From School for Having Gay Parents?

You've got to be kidding me? Why the hell aren't there hordes of gay Christians protesting outside this school? Why aren't her parents fighting the ruling? Why isn't this article posted on HRC.org or the ACLU.org? Where's the freaking UPROAR?

COMPLACENCY = SURRENDER

Read the Washington Post's article here

Thanks for the heads up, Sandy!

Mistake Rebuked by MasterCard

I know what I pay in interest rates alone to MasterCard.

I know they're in no danger of going under any time soon.

What I don't know is why, when an understandably distraught and overwhelmed Katrina refugee makes the grave mistake of allowing a reporter to photograph her new $2000 debit card (generously donated by MasterCard) did the multi-billion dollar company simply wipe their hands of the situation leaving a confused and befuddled Ms. Vinette with a $65,237 debt incurred by fraudsters within 8 hours of the card being posted on the internet without any of its numbers obscured, claiming simply that there was no identity theft here?

If I was traveling abroad and lost my traveler's cheques, so long as I reported it in a timely manner, I would not be responsible for any of the purchases made by forgers. Being careless shouldn't mean you don't deserve some level of protection from thieves and cons.

Come on, folks, someone needs to step up to the plate and make this right -- soon.

Click Here For The Full Story

Why FEMA Should Be Run By an Event Planner

1. Formal evacuation invitations with RSVPs printed on recyclable paper with a Wizard of Oz theme would have been sent out to every single person in the greater Galveston/Houston area with a $50 gas certificate and an expiration date of 72 hours prior to the big event (cost: $4.5b, but because the planner would ensure that a Valero gas card application was attached to the cashing of the certificate, it was written off as an ingenious marketing plan)
   
2. Those RSVPs not received by 48 hours prior to the event would have received a personal phone call requesting their immediate evacution and offering a free night's stay at any Motel 6 two hundred miles north or west of Houston (cost:$1.5b, but because the planner suggested proposing a "Stay One Night On Us and Your 2nd Night is Half Off" program, the motel chain boosted sales by 600%)
   
3. Those folks that could not be reached by phone would have been picked up in fleets of white stretch Escalades and physically driven to the airport, bus or train station within 24 hours of the event with complimentary baskets of Godiva chocolate and Calistoga water (cost: $7.5m, but because the planner would have ensured that Ford received unlimited 10-second ads on all Texas TV/radio stations for the next 6 weeks, the tab was eagerly picked up by the idea-barren Advertising Department)
4. Although the planner would have ensured a week in advance that all inbound lanes would have been immediately reversed to expedite the exodus and ensure promptness and punctuality 72 hours prior to the event, for those who happened to get stuck in traffic, electric golf carts with the sign "Rita's 'Ritas & More" would have driven up and down I-10, I-45, I-290, and I -59 dispensing free margaritas and tortilla chips to all evacuees, compliments of Houston-based Rita's Margarita Express - Bringing the Party to You! (cost:$1.5m, even though the planner ensures that Rita's Margarita Express reports this as a charitable tax write-off, the stuffy country clubs would only rent the golf carts by the hour and were unwilling to negotiate)
5. And finally, there would have been no one left to evacuate come Friday morning because that would've just been rude. (cost: PRICELESS)
   

Chavez on Katrina's Latino Victims

Click Here to Read the Chavez Article: Hispanics and Katrina

First and foremost, Townhall.com (where this article
was published) is a CONSERVATIVE online resource, FYI.

Secondly, Chavez is stereotyping, degrading, and
dehumanizing Hispanics every step of the way
throughout this piece, and does a damn good job of
hiding it, which is not only very dangerous, but
really shady and subversively underhanded:
"Yet I knew that many Hispanics lived in New Orleans,
occupying the same service jobs they do elsewhere,
often on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder."
And what, all whites hold office jobs, and all blacks
clean houses?  What day and age are we living in, for
crissakes?  How is this completely preposterous
falsehood an acceptable opinion from a supposedly
"objective" political analyst in the 21st century?
"Immigrants in general tend to have strong initiative
and good coping skills. Someone who can figure out how
to get into the U.S. (especially illegally) can
certainly figure out how to get out of New Orleans."
Oh my god!!!  Why does this sound like the butt of a
really bad joke?  Because that's exactly what it is.
All Chavez's conservative buddies are sitting around
nodding their heads going, "Yup, yup, those Lateenos,
they sure are wily!"  Great job representing us, Chavez.
It's like that Seinfeld episode when the dentist converted
to Judaism for the jokes.  It doesn't just automatically
make it okay, you know?
"The city's Hispanics didn't need the cavalry to come
to the rescue, even though many of them are very
poor."
Not just a completely unfounded generalization about
the majority of Hispanics in the region, but yet
another dig at the victims who didn't or couldn't make
it out.  Very bad taste.

And how in the same article does it almost sound like
she's advocating immigration (when it's about someone
-- anyone -- taking the jobs that no one wants), but
then immediately discounts their right to any federal
aid if they're illegal?  You can't have it both ways,
Linda.  Pick a freaking side!

She's absolutely the worst kind of bigot -- she's a
racist disguised by her own ethnicity.  But it doesn't
make her any less prejudiced.  I'm ashamed to call her
one of our own.

Are You Listening?

Please Click Here
for a first-hand account of what really happened in New Orleans.
(this is safe media, no obscenities)

We Don't Need Republican Lite!

We need REAL Democrats. ANGRY Democrats. A party that's willing to risk losing favor with the dark side (and their money) and stand up for the principles upon which it was based. I don't want a diplomat -- I want a RAGING LIBERAL with absolutely NO conservative bent, absolutely NO tendancies toward the middle, and absolutely NO hope for a meeting of the minds.

Is it so much to ask that someone finally be a LITTLE pissed off, for crissakes...

• that we're bankrupting our country?
• that we're killing off all of our soldiers one Hum-v at a time for what? Really? Oil?
• that we're paying over $3 a gallon for gas and the government still hasn't found a way to make hybrids more attractive, affordable and accessible to middle class America so that we can potentially try not to wipe out ALL our natural resources in the next fifty years?
• that we're trampling on our constitution left and right except when it allows us to bare arms -- but not if you're black?
• that the line separating church and state is slowly blurring into nothingness, and that at least half the people in this country that are agnostic or atheists or believe in a higher power besides the Christian God are essentially being disenfranchised because their votes are effectively completely discounted by their own government that claims to be of the people, by the people, and for the people?
  
• that creationism (or intelligent design, as it's being referred to now - but I'll get back to that malapropism another day), which in all actuality is nothing more than folklore, is about to creep into our children's schools, infecting and corrupting their rational, reasonable, scientific thinking, but encouraging the practice of safer sex to protect them from the unfortunate realities of unwanted pregnacies, disease and death is prohibited?
  
• that the oxymoron separate but equal is somehow still an acceptable term in 2005 (in 2005!!!) and an adequate alternative solution when no one is willing to stand on what's right?
  

How is it that my toddlers completely understand, but the current Democratic Party just doesn't seem to get, that if you give a mouse a cookie, he'll ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS want a glass of milk?

We have to stop giving in. Not everything can be compromised. Sometimes right is just right, and there is nothing that can be -- or should be -- sacrificed so as not to rock the boat. We have to stop selling out. Don't you remember what a tragedy it was the first time you heard Bob Segar sing his anti-capitalism anthem "Like A Rock" during a freaking Ford commercial? Take your jingle and shove it, I say!!!

I want someone to take a stand!
I want someone to protest!
I want someone to risk everything and start a revolution -- NOW!!!

Where are the pro-lifers when you need them?

So, I guess my big question this morning is -- and yes, I realize this is going to cause a huge uproar -- but is life only defined for a pro-lifer as a fetus? I mean, do the hundreds of thousands dying in the toxic waste and turmoil post-Katrina not count? Shouldn't they really be putting their money where their mouths are right now and showing the world that they really do mean it when they say they're here to defend lives? Shouldn't they disentangle themselves from the human barricades they've planted in front of perfectly legal abortion clinics and remove the tape from their mouths in protest against the right to choose and stop padding the pockets of high officials for just a couple of days and instead climb onto a bus, strap on some wading boots, and begin pulling those poor dying people (babies included) from the aftermath?

Democracy, My Ass!

IRAQ

• 55% of Americans want troops withdrawn from Iraq. Fifty-five percent, for crissakes!! How can that matter to no one in a democracy?!?!?
• Over 63% of Americans strongly disagree with the President's handling of the war. HELLO-O-O!!! Screw majority rules -- show me a revolution!!!
  
• See Ari Emmanuel's column in The Huffington Post (link on the sidebar) regarding a 12-step program for presidents addicted to shirking responsibility and accepting hard truths. "My name is George, and I'm a shirk-aholic!"*
  

KATRINA'S WAKE

• None of the troops in or near the Convention Center were EVER ordered to quell the violence or to try to take control of the situation. NONE of them.
  
• No one will ever know how many were murdered there -- and not just by the criminals carrying brass knuckles, but by the criminals carrying platinum American Express and NRA membership cards holed up in the White House with their silver spooned fingers up their bums.
  
• The Bush-approved death toll is 659. Give me a break. There were at least that many bodies clogging the drains at the levees.
  
• "Economic Cleansing" is what's it's being called now. Whatever it is, there's nothing clean about it.
  

ROBERTS ON HIGH

• The "epitome of the enigmatic candidate"? Yes, yes, let's put him in charge of the 8 other most politically influential people in the country. Great idea.
  
• How many more fence riders do we need on the hill? I mean, really! I've never been a big it's-either-black-or-white proponent, but come on! Take a freaking stand! You're being considered for CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES. Don't you think at some point people might need to know your position is a little more than just hedging your bets?
  

PASSION OF THE PENGUINS?

• The "March of the Penguins" -- have you heard of this documentary?
• It's being heralded by Christian conservatives (I know, terribly redundant) as THE movie of the year for its "views" on monogamy, faith, and child rearing.
• Funny though, not a one of them is talking about evolution, global warming, the fact that the MALE emperor penguin raise the offspring, OR the fact that there are more incidences of homosexuality noted in penguins than in any other species in the world -- except for man

GAY MARRIAGE

• Yeah, not so sure I want it anymore. I mean, seriously, at some point we all need to take a step back, get over wanting to be part of the "in" crowd -- give the Sneetches back their stars [not so obscure Dr. Suess reference, FYI], and use our collective wealth, creativity, and political clout to come up with something new, better, and irrefutable by the Religious
  Right. If we take it away from them -- like reclaiming the word queer, for instance -- then won't they lose their power over it? It's a parenting technique called redirecting. If it works on belligerent two-year-olds, it'll work on Republicans; they're not nearly as cunning.
  

*Many of the aforementioned statistics were taken directly from The Huffington Post.

Overture

I began blogging in July of this year in order to document my children's growth and adventures for family too far away to partake.

But when Bush spat on the grave of Cindy Sheehan's son (figuratively, of course, but just barely), I began to realize I needed my own outlet. And when Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired, I knew I needed a forum. And when Hurricane Katrina devastated (and continues to wreak havoc on) the Gulf states, and the government just sat back and waited for the dead to float, I knew I couldn't hold it in any longer. But then Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist died amidst it all, and I feared the worst. With two spots to fill on the Supreme Court and John Roberts leading the pack, gas prices soaring, the war in Iraq tallying upwards of $195 BILLION of our tax dollars and somewhere between 20,000-42,000 American lives (not to mention the immeasurable number of civilian casualties), and we've actually reached the point where "developing" nations are now providing aid to the wealthiest, strongest, foremost superpower on the planet because we can't seem to be able to get our act together enough to protect our own, I just didn't know where else to go...but everywhere.

So, here I am -- for better or worse. Or both, if I'm lucky.