Archive for the ‘Government’ Category

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Admission of Guilt or Just Insanity

Thursday, July 14th, 2011

The other day, Fixed Noise’s Eric Bolling on a panel of the show previously known as Rodeo Clown or Gone Bonkers or something, said something rather interesting. The panel was discussing the debt ceiling and how Obama is using scare tactics to pressure Congress to raise it. Bolling first said something laughable that Bush never used scare tactics to pressure Congress — perhaps not regarding the debt ceiling, idiot. One of the other panelists said Bush used scare tactics regarding WMDs in Iraq. Then Bolling continued by saying something rather extraordinary. He said, “America was certainly safe between 2000 and 2008, I don’t remember any attacks on American soil during that period of time.” Ummm…. (Note: Guilliani said something very similar in 2010).

So this leads me down one of two roads, either this was a statement of raving lunatic with absolutely no basis of reality and probably should be locked away in a padded room; or he admitted the truth.

If either Gone Bonkers or Sean Insanity said this, I’d chalk it up to delusional. Bonkers is nothing more than a “preacher” who has urinated on himself while proclaiming the end of the world. Insanity wouldn’t know his ass from his elbow if Mark Levin didn’t IM pictures. I’ve never thought Bolling to be dumb, just a right-wing talking point tool.

The second option is Bolling admitted the truth about 9/11 that it was a completely inside job by the US government (I’m not saying it was an inside job, I have no evidence supporting or refuting that claim, just unanswered questions). Maybe Bolling (and Guilliani) knows something about that day that perhaps the rest of us don’t? If it was an inside job, Bolling doesn’t consider that to be a terrorist attack (I don’t know what to call it, if that isn’t terrorism, but whatever).

I’ve heard on countless occasions where right-wing people and even mainstream media people say that Bush kept us safe while in office — yeah except for that one time, oh and the unsolved anthrax attacks, oh and those wars killing soldiers just to name a few. I find it funny how it was all “We Will Never Forget”. Obviously the real statement was “We Will Never Forget — As long as it is politically beneficial”. Curiouser and curiouser…

Posted in Government | No Comments »

“The Hammer” Convicted / Sentenced

Monday, January 10th, 2011

UPDATE 1/10/2011:

Tom Delay has been sentenced to 3 years in federal prison with 10 years probabation. He is currently in custody until he posts bail.

ORIGINAL POST on 11/24/2010:

Former Speaker of the House Majority Leader, Rep. Tom DeLay has been convicted of money laundering. He could face life in prison.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Hopefully, Karl Rove is next on the list.

Posted in Government | 2 Comments »

Congrats to the new CA Democratic Party Delegates

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Over the past weekend Democrats in every assembly district across the state of California went out to elect delegates to the California Democratic Party. I know in my AD, there were a lot of great candidates and I am proud to be among them.

Thank you to all the Democrats who came out to vote not only for myself, but all across the state!

I am proud to be serving alongside such great individuals, many of whom I call friends, in the 54th AD. The list of the newly elected delegates are as follows:

  • Lillie Brae
  • Gigi Acevedo
  • Tonia Reyes-Uranga*
  • Sharon Weissman
  • Carrie Scoville
  • Elisa McConnehea
  • Tim Patton
  • Cory Allen
  • David Greene
  • Eric Kenney
  • Adrian Tatum
  • Ron Nelson

* Elected to the Executive Board

Posted in Election, LGBT | 2 Comments »

DADT Repealed; Gays Become Mercenaries

Thursday, December 23rd, 2010

I heard a caller on The Stephanie Miller Show who claimed to be an evangelical who supports “the liberal agenda” (which is an automatic red flag, but whatever). He said that the DADT repeal was a political miscalculation for the gay community. Not for the normal reasons, however (showers, barracks, orgies, etc.). He argued that if gays and lesbians join the military it would be for sadistic reasons, to be able to kill more people. Gays and lesbians are not family oriented, he continued. Since there is no wife and kids to come home to, they’ll all rush to join the mercenary armies (Blackwater, XI, CACI, etc.).

I am not even sure where to begin with this bit of twisted logic. I guess the one thing he did inadvertantly do was give support to marriage equality (I am only guessing he does not support marriage equality). See if we had marriage equality, more of us might have husbands, wives, and children to come home to, therefore alleviating his concerns. Right? That aside, back to his main point. First, I am not sure how sexuality dictates sadism. There are a lot more sadistic straight people, just by simple math. It is my understanding that a vast majority of people, regardless of sexuality, join the military to serve our country in a heroic, honorable manner, not to kill people. No doubt, there are people who do so, but I am going to go out on a limb here and say those people are few and very far between.

According to this guy, gays and lesbians don’t have families. I guess that would be a huge surprise to my loving parents, wonderful sister, various aunts, uncles and cousins, and grandfather. Perhaps you have similar figures in your life that consider your so-called family, as well. Some of us have boyfriends/girlfriends, long-term partners, and shockingly enough, husbands, wives, and even children! Quelle horreur! Yes it is true that some gays and lesbians are estranged from their biological family. So what then, is he right? No, of course not. It’s just silly nonsense. Even if you are not close to your family either emotionally or in my case physically, we have developed our organic family. These are our friends, neighbors, co-workers, partners, and knitting buddies who are there for us just like our biological family would be.

It’s just more silliness from the haters. A mentality that will stop at nothing in order to prevent gays and lesbians from reaching full equality in this country.

Posted in DADT, LGBT, Military | 1 Comment »

Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Amos Needs to Resign

Monday, December 20th, 2010

This was my Letter to the Editor last week that ended up not being published.

US Marine Corp Commandant General James Amos needs to tender his resignation for repeatedly undermining the Commander in Chief on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) repeal. On Monday Dec 13, Gen. Amos said, “I don’t want to lose any Marines to distraction. I don’t want to have any Marines that I’m visiting at Bethesda (hospital) with no legs.” This is both disrespectful and dishonorable. Disrespectful to the integrity of all soldiers, straight and gay, but especially to our gay and lesbian soldiers who serve honorably in the military. In addition, it is dishonorable to the Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who both have expressed they want DADT to be repealed.

This is not the first time Gen. Amos has undercut President Obama on this issue. During the December 3 hearings in front of the Senate Armed Services Committee, he indicated that changing the rules during wartime would be ill advised. Amos’ statement is contradictory to what was revealed in the Pentagon study on how best to repeal DADT released on November 30, which states that a solid majority of existing service members have little or no problem serving alongside openly gay and lesbian soldiers and the repeal of DADT has a low risk of jeopardizing unit cohesion.

If Gen. Amos wants to speak out against the DADT repeal policy he can do so as a private citizen. However, while Amos serves in the Armed Services, he should fall in line behind the policy of the President and support DADT Repeal when speaking in public. 

Posted in DADT, LGBT, Military, President Obama | No Comments »

Democratic Sweep

Wednesday, November 24th, 2010

Just received notice via the LA Times that Republican Steve Cooley has conceded to Democrat Kamala Harris for California Attorney General. Congratulations Kamala! Great job to all the volunteers who made this happen.

Besides being a great person for the job, Harris has said she will not defend Prop 8 and fully supports marriage equality.

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Posted in Election | No Comments »

Deficits Don’t Matter

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Hey did you hear about the impending economic collapse of the US because of our soaring deficit? Yeah, me neither. Long-term deficits don’t matter much to a vast majority of this country and ultimately don’t matter to the economic stability of the country.

Here is another question. Did you hear about the near 10% unemployment rate on average nationwide? Here in CA it’s 12.4%! Are you in the ranks of the unemployed? If I offer you two alternatives, on one side I can spend money to create a job for you or on the other, you can help pay down the deficit. Which do you take? I would take the job too.

The economic health of the country and deficits go down naturally when more people are employed. This is why it’s always better to invest in jobs than worry about deficits. It works like this. We have a deficit because there is not enough money coming into the Treasury to cover the costs, mostly because money is being spent on unemployment insurance, food stamps, and other government assistance programs. However, if those people now receiving government assistance had work, they would now be paying taxes as well as buying things (which leads to the merchant buying more product and paying taxes, etc.). Now all of the sudden not only is there money coming into the Treasury but less money is going out. Voila! The deficit goes down (think of economy of scales, 3 million people putting in $1000/yr is a lot of money).

Yes, ok I understand that in the long-term deficits do matter and should be addressed. But, it’s not something that should be on our minds with 10% unemployment. If we were at or near full employment (approximately <5% unemployment), then we could talk about how deficits matter.

For now, we need to focus on job creation. And despite what you have heard or possibly think, the government can and should be creating jobs. We have an crumbling infrastructure. Lot’s of jobs to be had there, from manufacturing, construction, transportation, engineering, managerial, administrative,  to financial just to name several. There are wind turbines and other green technology that China wants, and we should be the ones to make those. Again, lots of jobs there. The government has the ability to fund and create those jobs and it should be doing so. But will they? Not likely given the “beltway wisdom” that the deficit is the most important thing.

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Posted in Economy, Government | No Comments »

‘DADT’ Repeal Heading Out the Door?

Monday, November 8th, 2010

The WSJ is reporting that Democrats are considering removing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ (DADT) Repeal language from the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).

Sens. Carl Levin of Michigan and John McCain of Arizona, the top Democrat and Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, are in talks on stripping the proposed repeal and other controversial provisions from a broader defense bill, leaving the repeal with no legislative vehicle to carry it. With a repeal attached, and amid Republican complaints over the terms of the debate, the defense bill had failed to win the 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle in the Senate in September.

A spokeswoman for Mr. McCain, who opposes the repeal, confirmed he is in talks with Mr. Levin on how to proceed on the defense bill but didn’t provide details.

Moving the defense bill is also complex, especially if it includes controversial measures, because it could take two weeks or longer on the Senate floor, and the coming session is expected to last only three or four weeks.

John McCain has repeatedly expressed that he does not support DADT Repeal; therefore I take his statement on this with a grain of salt. If the spokesperson was from Sen. Carl Levin’s office, I would be extremely worried. As it stands now, I am deeply concerned. If the repeal does not happen during the lame-duck session, which kicks off Monday Nov 15, then it will not happen legislatively for at least two years and probably far more than that. It has to happen over the next few weeks, period.

Or it doesn’t…

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Posted in DADT, Federal Club, Military, Senate | No Comments »

Democratic Appeasement; Not Repubilican Revolution

Friday, November 5th, 2010

As I said yesterday in my post, I felt the election was more a referendum on Obama and the Democratic timidity rather than a new Republican Revolution. It seems that I am not the only who thinks this is the case. Soon-to-be-former Congressman Alan Grayson who lost his re-election bid on Thursday was on MSNBC Thursday to discuss the aftermath.

“Our strategy for two years has been appeasement, and look where it got us,” Grayson told MSNBC. “I think Democrats want to see a fighting leadership, they want to see a fighting president — somebody who actually accomplishes good things for constituents.”

He identified a failure to act on immigration reform, civil rights (DADT, ENDA, DOMA, etc), women’s rights, and the “Employee Free Choice Act”. I would that vilifying the base for pushing for these very issues did not help, either.

My hope is that over the next couple of years Democrats will realize that the Republican party has no interest in working with the Democrats. They want the party and President Obama to fail; they have said so here, here, and here, just to highlight a few. Why on Earth would they want to work with the Democrats? The answer: They don’t! I have decided to not hold my breath…

Posted in Election, President Obama, Senate | 2 Comments »

Post-Election Recap

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Here in CA we had a blue counter-wave against the red tidal wave that swept the country. Eight of nine statewide offices were won by Democrats and the ninth is yet to be called but the Democratic candidate is leading. Only one House seat in the CA delegation may change party hands from Dem to Rep. The race remains uncalled in two districts; the Dem leads in one and is behind in the other. Given these results, it is difficult to extrapolate anything in CA, therefore let’s look outside of CA. What happened out there? I have some thoughts and after reading this article in the New Republic, I feel some vindication.

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Posted in Election | 1 Comment »

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