Conservative Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson said on Thursday the wave of scorching temperatures across the United States has converted him into a believer in global warming.Yowza.
"We really need to address the burning of fossil fuels," Robertson said on his "700 Club" broadcast. "It is getting hotter, and the icecaps are melting and there is a buildup of carbon dioxide in the air."
Quote of the Day
Go Unions!
There are two excellent things about Wisconsin labor unions throwing their weight behind the effort to defeat the state’s proposed same-sex marriage ban: 1) Their participation is a good reminder that it’s not only the LGBT community who is fighting these discriminatory tactics, nor would singly be at the mercy of them; and 2) Their expressed reason for participating brings the issue of all the benefits associated with marriage into the conversation.
The groups, representing employees ranging from teachers to prison workers, say they are worried the amendment will take away their ability to bargain for benefits such as health insurance for the domestic partners of gay and straight employees.Go get ’em.
…AFSCME, which represents 44,000 public service and health-care workers in Wisconsin, became the latest to join the cause on Monday with a strong denunciation of the ban from its political arm and a vow to get its message out.
The unions are underscoring the main argument made by the ban's critics: that it is not about gay marriage, which is already illegal in Wisconsin, but that it threatens a range of legal protections for all unmarried couples. Others say those fears are overblown.
Brian Weeks, director of AFSCME's political arm, called the amendment "an attack on labor unions' collective bargaining rights." He said the group's locals representing public employees for the city of Madison and Dane County stand to lose benefits if the amendment passes.
"Backers of this ban are trying to break deals and take away rights and protections that working people have earned through good-faith negotiations," Weeks said.
A mogul to admire?
I saw this advert floating at Kosville; you've probably seen it at other ad supported sites.
What a savvy and admirable guy this Huizenga is, eh? Sports team owner, multi-zillionaire, self-made mogul eager to pass along his secrets for the price of tuition to his humbly-named school o'business. One wonders if one of the lessons on the syllabus will be how to ruin a sports franchise for personal profit. Just ask Florida Marlins fans - those few you can find - what kind of businessman Huizenga is. They'll tell you what Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci tells us: Huizenga is single-handedly responsible for one of the ten most embarrassing moments in baseball history. Huizenga took a world championship team - the Marlins of '97, a team on the verge of years-long success and enduring public support - and gutted it in a appalling fire sale for personal profit. Huizenga falsely claimed massive financial losses and, as Verducci recounts, dismantled his champs "before the champagne had dried on the clubhouse carpet":
He cut the payroll from $53 million to $13 million, sinking the team to 108 losses in 1998 and placing the franchise on a slippery slope toward relocation. Oh, and by the way, Huizenga sold the team after that '98 season. Not by coincidence, the sale came just as the standard five-year player amortization allowance had expired for him, losing a significant tax benefit.
Thanks to Huizenga's greed, the Marlins gained the distinction of being the first (and so far only) World Series winner to lose more than 100 games the following season. Despite this betrayal of the club and its fans, the Marlins struggled back to success and a new championship title under new ownership in 2003, only to suffer the vagaries of possible relocation.
So much for the self-made mogul. Students at the Huizenga School of Business and Entrepreneurship at Nova Southeastern University should carefully examine the shining example they're being offered.
(Cross-posted.)
Epidemic of Hatred
Continued. Just try to imagine for a moment if one of the attendees of the War on Christians conference had been viciously attacked by people hurling anti-Christian epithets at them. Do you think we might have heard much about it? Ahem.
Now imagine that two of them had been attacked.It was much "Hotter than July" last weekend for Detroit's LGBT community, but not for the happy reasons intended by the Detroit Black Pride Society. Instead, at least one gay man and one transgender woman were victims alleged hate crimes.
Wow. What an unfortunate coincidence for the victim.
At around 11 p.m. on July 28, Julia Lynn Marsh, 19, says she was robbed and assaulted by three men within sight of her home at the Ruth Ellis Center's transitional living facility.
Marsh said that her attackers said, "You want to dress like a woman? We'll treat you like one," and that she was hit in the head with a crowbar as she escaped. Marsh said that her purse was stolen during the assault.
Despite the fact that Grace McClelland, the center's executive director, and Marsh herself say that two officers responded the scene, the Detroit Police Department was unable to locate a police report on the incident as of press time.At about 2:30 a.m., a Detroit gay man, who asked that his name not be used, was shot in the stomach during a robbery outside of the Woodward. The victim said that he was shot while pursuing a man who had stolen a pair of Cartier glasses he was wearing. The thief ran behind a second man, who shot the victim.
At least the police managed to keep a hold of the report on this one.
"The guy who shot me, he said something like, 'Get off me, fag,'" the victim told BTL from his room at Henry Ford Hospital.
According to McClelland, these were only two of “many (alleged) gay bashings that occurred throughout the city over black gay pride week.”
Imagine if two people had been respectively hit with a crowbar and shot at a political convention with their attackers yelling about their political affiliation, or if two anti-choice protestors had been attacked outside an abortion clinic at which they were protesting by people shouting, “Fuck pro-lifers!” Would that be national news? You bet it would, especially if it followed directly on the heels of two similar incidents in California and another in Maine. Repeated attacks are always national news—even when it’s people being attacked by fucking sharks!
But mum’s the word when it comes to attacks against the LGBT community.
(Via BladeWire.)
Ha, Ha!
I guess his schemes aren't working so well these days.
Court rules DeLay's name stays on ballot
NEW ORLEANS - A federal appeals court panel on Thursday refused to let Texas Republicans replace Tom DeLay's name on the November congressional ballot.Well, unfortunately for him, they saw through his little shell game:
A three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, who said in July that DeLay name had to stay on the ballot even though he quit from Congress and moved to Virginia.
Thursday's ruling said that GOP state chairwoman Tina Benkiser acted unconstitutionally when she tried to remove DeLay as the party nominee because he lived in Virginia. Democrats had noted that DeLay's wife, Christine, still lives in the DeLays' house in Sugar Land, just outside Houston.
The U.S. Constitution says that anyone who lives in the state on the day of the election is qualified to run for Congress, the 5th Circuit said.
"Proof of DeLay's present residency may suggest where he will be in the future; however, it does not put the matter beyond dispute or question," the opinion said.
I wonder how the Family Values crowd feels about DeLay leaving his wife behind in Sugar Land while he sweats and waits for his upcoming criminal trial?
Mmmmmm.... sugar land....
Sorry... got distracted there for a second.Call me petty, but I think every time a Tom DeLay dirty trick is thwarted, an angel gets their wings.
(Cross-post on board... how I've adored...that sign on my car window pane...)
Pam Got to This Before I Did...
...and I really don't have anything else to add, other than pointing out the ludicrous Chicago link. Apparently, the Gay Games caused all homosexuals to lose their minds.
Get a load of this loop.
Snow Falls in Africa
Wacky weather all over the place. Wonder what could be causing it?
Snow fell on South Africa's biggest city Johannesburg for the first time in 25 years as icy temperatures gripped vast swathes of the country, the weather office said.
…Johannesburg last had snow on September 11, 1981.
Everybody’s Gay!
First, Ann Coulter said Bill Clinton is gay. Then she said Al Gore is gay.
This week? Hillary Clinton.
Tune in next week to find out what Ann’s Gaydar has to say about Tipper.
Oh! Well, That's All Right Then. Off You Go.
It's the defense I love even more than the Steve Martin "I forgot" defense. (I forgot armed robbery was illegal.) It's that old standby, "It's okay, because my religion says so!"
My religious calling is pedophilia! (bolds mine)
CLEVELAND -- It was probably not a defense the court had heard before.Ah yes, what a noble cause. Preying on disabled children, doping them up, and raping them. Damn those courts for daring to charge you with a crime! Damn them!
A suburban Cleveland man accused of sexually assaulting nine disabled boys told a judge Wednesday that his apartment was a religious sanctuary where smoking marijuana and having sex with children are sacred rituals protected by civil rights laws.
The admitted pedophile offered a surprising defense Wednesday to 74 charges of rape, drugs and pandering obscenity to minors.
Appearing in an Ohio court for a pretrial hearing, Phillip Distasio, 34, of Rocky River, Ohio, said he was a pedophile.
He told the judge, "I'm a pedophile. I've been a pedophile for 20 years. The only reason I'm charged with rape is that no one believes a child can consent to sex. The role of my ministry is to get these cases out of the courtrooms."
Distasio was arrested on charges he molested two disabled boys he was tutoring at his home. He's also accused of raping seven other autistic children at a Cleveland school for special-needs students, The Plain Dealer reported. All but one of the boys was under 13, which carries a mandatory life-in-prison sentence if he is convicted, the paper reported.You get the idea. There's more in the article, but just to warn you, what he did with these kids is pretty damn sick. I just find it laughable that he's daring to use an excuse like "my religion says it's okay to do this."
Police said they found journals at Distasio's apartment in which he described his illegal activities, along with child pornography and videotapes of him engaged in sex with boys, The Plain Dealer reported
"Not all pedophilia is bad, and sex [with boys] can be healthy," Distasio told the court.
Just out of curiosity, I pulled a Pam, and peeked over in Freeperland to see what the creeps were saying. I had two predictions:
1. There will be plenty of "this is what happens when you tolerate gays" comments.
2. There will be plenty of "The ACLU is going to love this!" comments.
And I wasn't disappointed!
Here we go... just another sexual orientation... slippery slope.. we told you so... NAMBLA... tolerance... discrimination... blablabla
The ACLU is probably giddy with excitement at this new way of destroying our Constitution. They'll be there as soon as they get out of the drug treatment program they are currently participating in.
I'll bet he's a Democrat.
A very sick bastard and the ACLU is probably advising him.
Another homosexual simply DEMANDING his "rights". Wake up!
"Well, maybe, but I doubt the ACLU will want to rush to the defense of this guy's religion. He should have claimed privacy rights or something." - - You may be right but I've seen them support religion as long as its not the Christian religion.
Plus, bonus "It's all CLINTON's fault!" quote:
I just am amazed every day to wake up and read news stories like this one..I wonder where are these child molesters coming from..Then I think well ever since the Clinton's time in the White House the people in this country are getting away with thinks we would never dream could happen..This pervert like Clinton will go free and do the same thing over and over..You know I will say here if any of my children or grandchildren were ever molested by some bastard like this I would put a bullet through his head and yes I would be sent to jail and killed by the state since there is a law against killing even a dog like this..
You get the feeling this person is disappointed that he can't go around shooting dogs in the head.
Isn't it amazing how everything comes back to Gays, the ACLU, and Clinton for the Freepers?
(Cross-posted, check it and see...)
So…
I’m reading about this whole Lieberman-in-blackface graphic thing (image here; race baiting flyer, to which it was ostensibly a response, explained here), and, honestly, I don’t get it. I mean, I get why it caused a controversy, but I don’t understand what message the image was trying to convey in the first place. How does presenting Lieberman in blackface communicate that he’s trying to disingenuously shore up his credentials with black voters? The symbolism of blackface isn’t “playing black.” Its history is of supremacy, of demeaning blacks through mockery, not an attempt to endear oneself to black people, even if cynically, which is what Lieberman was clearly trying to do. (And, let’s face it, he’s not the first candidate to do that; not even the first Democrat, not by a long shot.) Using blackface imagery to make this point is certainly confusing to those who understand its history.
Steve:When I see an old (or not-so-old) photo of a white man in blackface, I read the white person behind the burnt cork as the one wielding power over the race he's embodying. Is that how we're supposed to read Lieberman? We're Democrats/blacks and he's the white man/Republican pretending to be one of us so he can mock us? In that case, then what's Clinton's role as the white man not in blackface with an arm around Joe's shoulder? Does he represent the true face of the GOP? Hunh?
Not to me, anyway. I’m trying to think of a parallel scenario, and there really isn’t one that has the incendiary history of blackface, but the closest I can come is when I write a post about Bush’s pandering toward women, when his policies are not exactly feminist, to say the least. If I use an image to make the point, I post a picture of some flag-bedecked bag at the Republican National Convention holding up a “W is for Women” sign—irony—I don’t Photoshop an image of Bush to appear in drag. Baiting and pandering, which is what Lieberman was doing, is a cynical ploy to align oneself with a particular demographic’s needs and issues. That’s the opposite of what blackface conveys, which is the deliberate marginalization of blacks.
Or are we supposed to read "black Joe" as really black -- a foolishly loyal slave/servant? If so, again, what is Clinton? His massa? Again, hunh? And would massa be so familiar with the colored help?
…It was an image that posed a real risk to Ned Lamont, and to all of us as Internet liberals, and did it even make sense?
Anyway, the whole reason I’m making the point about the misuse of the imagery is to get to this: It’s actually quite tough to use ironically and is thusly easily misused—so how about not using it at all.
Shady Business
So there’s this lame spoof of Al Gore on YouTube—and trust me, it’s genuinely lame; that assessment isn’t shaded by my fondness for its target—which casts him as “a sinister figure who brainwashes penguins and bores movie audiences by blaming the Mideast crisis and starlet Lindsay Lohan's shrinking waist size on global warming.” (Its maker was apparently as offended by March of the Penguins as An Inconvenient Truth.)
But that’s not the only curious thing about its maker, as the Wall Street Journal discovered.
The video's maker is listed as "Toutsmith," a 29-year-old who identifies himself as being from Beverly Hills in an Internet profile.Is there anything criminal about this? No. Unethical? Arguably. Pathetic? Certainly. Can’t win an argument on the facts? Just mock your opponents! The tactic is dismal enough when someone has the balls to do it outright (I’m looking at you, Ann Coulter), but when they’re not even willing to leave their fingerprints on it, that’s just all kinds of disgraceful.
In an email exchange with The Wall Street Journal, Toutsmith didn't answer when asked who he was or why he made the video, which has just over 59,000 views on YouTube. However, computer routing information contained in an email sent from Toutsmith's Yahoo account indicate it didn't come from an amateur working out of his basement.
Instead, the email originated from a computer registered to DCI Group, a Washington, D.C., public relations and lobbying firm whose clients include oil company Exxon Mobil Corp.
A DCI Group spokesman declines to say whether or not DCI made the anti-Gore penguin video, or to explain why Toutsmith appeared to be sending email from DCI's computers.
…Traffic to the penguin video, first posted on YouTube.com in May, got a boost from prominently placed sponsored links that appeared on the Google search engine when users typed in "Al Gore" or "Global Warming." The ads, which didn't indicate who had paid for them, were removed shortly after The Wall Street Journal contacted DCI Group on Tuesday.
Frankly, I don’t think there’s a better endorsement for the accuracy of An Inconvenient Truth than the desperation of Exxon to wage such a dishonorable clandestine campaign against it.
Reid Between the Lines
Is Harry Reid trying to subtly persuade Hillary not to run for pres? Sure looks that way.
[Reid] has sent private signals to Senator Hillary Clinton and other stalwarts of the party that he "would like to" step down from his post in early 2009. Reid has not stated definitively that he will -- but he apparently prefers "whipping" the Party from behind and the side rather than serving as commander-in-chief on the Senate floor.Reid “denies it in the strongest possible sense,” but Clemmons says his sources are “impeccable.” Interesting bit of inside gossip, in any case.
What Reid is offering Senator Hillary Clinton is his total, robust support to succeed him as Senate Majority Leader if she elects not to pursue the Democratic nomination for President.
Where the heat is the hottest
Got some spare time? Courtesy of Shaker Angelos, here's a list of links of old b-movie trailers on YouTube.
A personal favorite:
Also, check out Satan in High Heels and King Dinosaur and Theater of Blood and Sting of Death (which looks more like an extended stalk sequence than an actual trailer, but you do get to check out the jellyfish-monster, which is brilliant) and just about everything on there looks worth seeing. I'm at work now, but I'll be going through the list more thoroughly tonight. Till then, I'll have to make due with some incredibly strange creatures...
No Feeding the Homeless
Because it makes the neighbors mad:
Activists sued [Las Vegas] Wednesday to strike down a new city law that makes it illegal to feed homeless people in parks.Why on earth would people get angry about volunteers who spend their time providing meals to the homeless? Because, according to city attorney Brad Jerbic, the “mobile meals program” draws homeless people away from shelters. “The shelters provide food, beds, counseling services and doctors. What this is doing is, it's pulling them away from services and abandoning them in these parks.”
The law violates free speech, free assembly and other rights, says the federal suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada.
The group and its members regularly served meals to homeless people in a Las Vegas park, angering neighbors and sparking the debate that led to the ordinance, passed July 19.
Hmm. Careful Brad—someone might think you would prefer the homeless get tucked away out of the sight of your heartless constituents whose doorsteps are darkened by the ugly underbelly of the American Dream. Especially someone who has worked with the homeless in a big city before, and knows that mobile meals programs are life-saving for homeless people who, being homeless and all, generally don’t have the means to get themselves across town to shelters. Especially someone who has spoken to homeless people who have managed to scrape together enough money to get themselves there, but get turned away at the door, because they don’t always have an open bed.
If the people of Las Vegas are so bloody concerned about homeless people not being privy to shelters, perhaps they would do well to consider if the quality and quantity of the shelters is appropriate to service the homeless population—perhaps there’s a reason they prefer the park, as opposed to just being dumb animals who can’t make a rational choice if there’s a free meal in front of them. Perhaps they ought to speak to those hideous homeless people and find out why they aren’t going to the shelters. Is it a deliberate choice? Are the shelters ill-managed and insecure? Are women and children who go to the shelters at increased risk of sexual assault? Or is it lack of opportunity? Would the homeless population in the park be keen to go to the shelters if transportation was provided? Is it a combination of issues?
None of this matters in America 2.0: Gilded Age Redux. It’s better just to pass an ordinance forbidding volunteers from helping the needy, so the fortunate don’t have to be tainted by images of misfortune. Solve the problem as if the homeless were pigeons—just stop feeding them and they’ll go somewhere else.
Meh
Just got back from the doctor. Swollen throat. He said gargle with salt water. $111, please.
Also, I have high blood pressure. I need to quit smoking.
Primaries
MB over at DraftGore2008 has an interesting look at the Democratic primary system.
This is a map of the first seventeen states (including DC) which held their Democratic primaries or caucuses before March 1, 2004, the point which most acknowledge Kerry had the nomination sewn up. The states in blue gave their electoral votes to Kerry in November, 2004, those in red, to Bush. If I were to have used the 2000 election data, Iowa and New Mexico would be blue, New Hampshire red.There’s more at the link.
These states were allocated a total of 1021 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, out of a total 4313. Only 484 of those delegates came from "blue" states, out of a total 2200 "blue state" delegates. Another 750 delegates came from trending-Democratic "purple" states. Yet a majority of the delegates (537) who determined Kerry to be the Democratic nominee by March 1 in 2004 came from states which later went for Bush.
I imagine the reason that centrist Dems favor the current primary system is because they assume that it favors them, which is predicated on the assumption that Dems in red states will themselves be more centrist, or more inclined to cast a primary vote for a candidate they believe will better appeal to their conservative statesmen. I wonder if that’s true. It seems to me that many of the most unyielding progressives I know are from red states in which the state government is extremely conservative, making them less optimistic about any Dem appealing to their fellow state voters. Would someone in that position vote for a moderate in a primary? It’s hard to draw any conclusions from the last election, since I believe Kerry was primary viewed as “electable” because of his military credentials during a campaign season when the nation was at war and that war was the primary issue.
Anyway, just kind of thinking out loud. I’m certainly inclined to think that an unapologetic liberal is more likely to get nominated by blue states, and that such a candidate would have better chances, as swing voters appear more likely to complain about triangulation and the appearance of calculating disingenuousness than a liberal who sticks to her/his guns. Any thoughts on whether it makes more or less sense to nominate Democratic candidates overwhelmingly in red and purple states, as opposed to blue states?
Question of the Day
What's the most unusual food you've ever eaten?
Not counting eating a penny or a screw or some other weirdness when you were a kid, because you were dared or too young to know better.
I don't think I've ever had anything notably unusual or exotic, although I'll try anything once. Based on where I live, the most unusual thing I've eaten would probably either be alligator or haggis, although there are certainly places where those aren't odd at all.
