ok, so I am going to sound off here on the Prop8 Kafuffel. I will warn you now, what follows is likly to make you raise an eyebrow, possibly want to yell at the monitor, or even reach for your cellphone and call me to scream "what the hell are you thinking?!" (if you happen to be in possesion of my number to call). Resist those temptations and read and think about this a little.

So by now, unless you live at the bottom of a well or under a very alrge heavy rock ( with the letters R.I.P. carved on it surface) you are most likly aware that Prop8 passed (narrowly) in CA, and that similar measures trying to limit the accesability of equal marriage rights by gays and lesbians were also passed in Florida and Arizona. Insert much wailing and hair pulling and general piss-moan-ery here on the part of gay rights activist groups. Now they are scurrying back to the courts tring to have petitions signed to try to force judges into acting on their behalf. There are those who are spouting off about minority voters in the exit polling of these three states supporting the ban on gay marriage more than white voters, there are others who are blaming attack adds, and all manner of prognostication is being flung around as a reason why Prop8 and its sister measures in other states passed. One thing they are overlooking when trying to explain to themselves how they could be defefated.........they failed.

Everyone wants to blame someone (other than themselves) for Prop8's passage in the election. But what did they do really to get it passed? They reached out to their base and tried to rally more support for defeating the measure....sure seemes like a perfectly viable approach. Except that this entire election process was about reaching out to those OUTSIDE your base, addressing THEIR concerns and then drawing them into YOUR viewpoint so they vote like you. Obama garnered the largest number of new registered members for the Democratic party, and he brought the largest number of undecided/ moderate/ disaffected republican voters over to the democratic ticket not by only speaking to his Base.....he reached beyond the expected and into the groundbreaking.

Those seaking the defeat of Prop8 did not do that. They demonized the proponents of Prop8 as hateful, narrow minded, backward, stupid, hicks, unreasonable, uncultured and any number of other negative connotations you can think of. Not for a single moment did they accept or even entertain the premise that those in favor of Prop8 might have reasoned and well thought out views that they believed in, and are just as good citizens as those wanting to defeat Prop8. And so rather than trying to reach out and have a dialog with people so as to enlighten and more clearly inform them of the gay community and the benefits that allowing gays to have equal marriage rights would present the straight community. Not once have I seen any sort of study/statistics circulated that show what is the beneficial economic impact of allowing gay marriage for a state? How much revenue did CA generate for it's very battered and red ink bleeding economy did having legalized gay marriage generate for them? How does having stable married gay couples benefit the local economy in towns with large gay populations? At no point has there been an effort to address the types of issues that are most likly to sway someone of a conservative mindset such that you could reasonably expect them to change their initial opinion and embrace the idea of equal rights for gays.

Trying to equate being gay or lesbian with being African American in terms of talking about civil-rights offends me. The two are in actuality as unalike as horses and sharks. The road that African American's had to tread from the point of slavery, through freedom with discrimination and oppression to today is so UNLIKE what gays go through that comparing the two as similar cases is ludicrous. Setting aside that one could have had the double stigma of being African American AND gay simultaneously the two are fundamentally different.. For starters one can ( arguably with a varried expectation of success) conceal homosexuality to escape retribution or discrimination. Concealing one's heritage as an African American is not really an option lacking a very good wig maker and makeup artist. I wish that gays and lesbians would stop trying to equate what we go through as at all similar to what Blacks, Latinos, Asians & other ethnicities are subjected to in terms of civil rights abuses past and present. Yes the ultimate manifestation is the same as far as government is concerned.....lack of equal rights under the law.....but the root causes are different.

I want to see gay rights groups wise up and smell the coffee. We can't have it both ways. All too many gays want to be able to be open about their homosexuality, be "free to be who they are", express their inner faggotry for al lthe world....BUT NOT get judged for it, penalized for the overshare, discriminated against for putting highly personal info out there where it can't be taken back or erased. Oh its real easy to get the freak fringe elements of the Gay Communinty to fire up their rainbow banners and protest signs......but really people, do you honestly think, Mr Leather-Enthusiast-Bear-Daddy-Smoking-A-Cigar-wearing-leather-chaps-and-jockstrap-with-your-30-yrs-younger-slave/boytoy-on-a-leash-in-a-gas-mask-and-chainmail-thong carrying a protest sign in a rally or parade strikes a "he's just like me I should listen to his viewpoint" kind of chord in the minds of any conservative republican leaning person who might be watching? Yet the gay community seems to think it can trot its bedroom pecadillos out in front of the Amican audience, force them to focus on the outward visual manifestations of what we like to do when in the company of another man in the bedroom, and somehow NOT get judged for putting that info out there. Yes i know that there are just as many quiet gay lives being lived in obscurity....but really...think about it...its always the wrecks that are looked at with intensity, waited for with anticipation, and talked about after a NASCAR race is over. The public could care less about the cars that just kept going around and around without incident, its the wrecks that stick out in their memory.

ultimately, for once i have to agree with conservatives. They went about change openly, they put it on the ballot and then got out the support to pass their viewpoint with a majority of voters. I may not like what thye voted into action, but the act of doing what they did is precisely why the founding fathers created a system like ours...so that the voice of the people could be heard. Going to 3 judges and asking them to force the populace of the state of CA to set aside the will of a majority of voters is really a mistake in terms of real progress toward equality. Doing that will only anger and invigorate conservatives to redouble their efforts to stop equal marriage rights for gays because they will be having a "liberal court" legislating from the bench........something that the conservatives have always been against no matter what the subject of the legislating.

If true progress is to be made then gays need to get a measure for equal rights on a ballot and then need to really reach out to those they have never tried to address before and changes some minds, enlighten some opinions founded on ignorance, and bring NEW supporters to their ranks...not just rely on continued polarization of public opinion to hopefully drive more gays to the polls than straights.

........OMfrigginG......so two bible toting jesus-ites just came to the front door passing out "God has spoken" leaflets on the passage of prop8 and the need for more prayer and suppoort for other groups trying to pass similar legislation.........(See...they are going out and knocking on doors...reaching out to any and all)

back to my point...same old same old ain't gonna get it done anymore. And we have to accept that if we want to be treated as equal in the eyes of the law the same as straights, then we have to be willing to accept that the codes of acceptable public vs private behavior are going to be similar and that we have to stop acting like freaks publicly while simultaneously trying to convince the public "we're just like you and should be treated equal", And we should also not just try to motivate those within our demographic to get out and participate...if thats all we did then we would be assured of loss since we do not represent a majority of actual voting numbers, so obviously we have to reach out ot new groups of people and find out what it is about who and what we are that they are not understanding and then try to help shift their point of view, accepting that they are intelligent and freethinking individuals and should be treated and addressed thhus.

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/303255...roll_video

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/303255...roll_video

now watch this parody and tell me it's not McCain and Palin in a private meeting!

www.youtube.com/watch

www.nbc.com/Saturday_Nig...-open/704042/

the thing thats so frighteningly funny is that Tina Fey has used Sarah Palin's words almost verbatim when giving the answer abotu the 700 Billion Dollar Bail out....I think she may have added in a phrase about dollar menus....but other than that it is a shorter but nearly word for word usage of the idiocy that is Sarah Palin.

Watch her walk into the propeler blades in this interview. Someone needs to tell her that stringing buzz words together and occasionally throwing in a verb doesn't mean you are actually making an intelligent sentence.

www.youtube.com/watch

www.youtube.com/watch

So that picture is about how I feel about the stupid excesses of the economy over the last 10 years that have brought us to this place. Putting fake tits on that crone is about as smart as letting the market self regulate like it has been and then whining for money when the inevitable happens! Get real you idiots in DC!

So in the 90s we lifted many restraints on big businesses. Yes we did force some to comply with pesky Sarbanes-Oxly regulations thanks to monoliths like Microsoft and Enron.......but you know, once the dust from Enron settled we really thought "hey, good thing we nipped this in the bud, now lets go back to wearing those rose colored glasses!"

Unfortunately Enron was a warning shot off the port bow that we completely did not take for its true import. It has been said that I am being "bitchy" and ,sans qualification, secdon guessing the President, whom is presumably more qualified than I am to make decisions about the economy. Now I will grant you that in his college years George W. Bush did sit in on many more economics courses than I did in my college years. And I will further grant that he has sat behind the CEO's desk in larger corporations more than I have. However, every great tower of industry started out as a small idea owned by a guy who thought he could revolutionize how "X" was done, made, or sold and so started his own company, and further...our founding fathers forged a government on the very premise that each individual has a voice that is equal to that of the elected officials. So I have no qualms in saying...."Bitch, gimme the bullhorn, your time's up and there are tough questions you haven't answered satisfactorily!"

So my assertion that there had to be something worse around the bend feuling the desperation with which the bail out was being begged for was realized this evening with Washington Mutual being siezed by the Feds........320 BILLION dollars in assets now tied up under federal jurusdiction to prevent a collapse. Yes people, read that again carefully......320 BILLION Dollars, that would roughly equal HALF the bail out that was being asked for.

but guess what, that can't be all either. For starters the market is going to tank like there's no tomorrow when it opens in the morning. That crash will fuel further destabilization in companies that had been teetering on the edge of the abyss, desperately hoping they wouldn't get the nudge it would require to drive them over. Trust me.......this is not the last shoe to drop on this one........we're in for more.

now back to why I have a problem acquiessing silently to President Bush's plea for his 700 Billion Dollar bail out. What i find horrifying about it, beside the cavalier disregard for any fiscal responsability to those whose money he would actually be lending ( namely yours and mine...to the tune of 28,000 dollars per person in the united states...not registered voters......per PERSON) such that he can outline a plan for how the money will be repaid, on what scedule payments will be made, and what recompense we the lendors have should the loan payments be defaulted on...........lets set aside the fact that we are being asked as a country to pay for the poor choices of a pamperd few who profited immensly from these wreckless money grubbing business practices, and even if they don't get their "golden parachute" severance payments, they will still be in possesion of multiple luxury homes, condos, luxury cars, the ability to jet aroudn the world and generally live in a style they are completely undeserving of given that their ill gotten gains are costing the American Public access to the collective "American Dream" by making it exponentially more difficult for anyone to attain even a fraction of it in the future..........And lets for the moment ignore the fact that George W. Bush has systematicly abused teh trust of teh american Public by feeding it promises that "the economy is essentialy strong" while all along knowing full well that these situations were in some form looming ever closer and did nothing to ready us for what we were about to have to grapple with. ..........lets ignore the fact that he waited until just after the Republican national convention to announce that the Federal Government siezing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, affording McCain the opporotunity to try and float his nomination of Caribou Barbie without also having to answer for the failure of two major lending houses that collectively hold 1/2 the mortgages of the home owners of the united states, in what can only be seen as one of the most craven and calculatedly greasy political maneuvers the Republicans have perpetrated in decades.

No my fundamental reasons for opposing this bail out are simple.

Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson are not elected officials, they have no check or balalnce to keep them in line, and if we hand them over fiscal oversite of 700 BILLION DOLLARS.......there has been no kind of explaination given for how they will choose the companies that are worthy of aiding out of trouble, and which compaines are not sufficiently "worthy" of assistance and will thus have to fend for themselves or fail. There has been no discussion of what criteria will need to be met economically for the power that Bernanke and Paulson will collectively weild to conclude and opperations to return to what they were prior to the bail out. At what point will we be "ok" and these two can hand the reigns back to the Presidency? And better still, does Bush think that this situation is going to resolve itself BEFORE the Inauguration............Cause well, you might have missed this lovely littel press brief if you were only paying attention to the normal media outlets and not reading the White House web site

Notice: Continuation Of The National Emergency With Respect To Persons Who Commit, Threaten To Commit, Or Support Terrorism



White House News



On September 23, 2001, by Executive Order 13224, I declared a national emergency with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism, pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701-1706). I took this action to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists, including the terrorist attacks in New York, in Pennsylvania, and against the Pentagon committed on September 11, 2001, and the continuing and immediate threat of further attacks against United States nationals or the United States. Because the actions of these persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States, the national emergency declared on September 23, 2001, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond September 23, 2008. Therefore, in accordance with section 202(d) of the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1622(d)), I am continuing for 1 year the national emergency with respect to persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism.

This notice shall be published in the Federal Register and transmitted to the Congress.

GEORGE W. BUSH

THE WHITE HOUSE,

September 18, 2008.

for those of you in the cheap seats who are not up on your constitutional history.........this is one of the early steps a president would need to take in case he was anticipating the need to postpone an election in the name of "stability" and continuation of an institution he deems necessary to the re-enstatement of stability in American Government or Economy.

So Tommasso, I am a bit concerned here, an I am feeling alot lied to, and very outraged, and a good bit afraid that we are being led down the garden path here and are stupidly walking right into the slaughterhouse and never questioning what al lthose guys are doing with sledge hammers slung over their shoulders.

ok....so for weeks now George W. Bush (for the sake of ease from here on to be refered to as the Village Idiot.....V.I. for short) has been telling us in carefully stage press releases that " the economy is essentially strong". And for weeks now we have all sat around playing the betting game of trying to figure out which financial institution would collapse over the weekend or be taken over by teh Federal Government to prevent it's collapse. Somehow they think we weren't going to catch on that more and more fo the major lending houses were folding up and packing it in. Somehow V.I. and his staff were thinking we might not catch on to the fact that these upheavals were happening on Sat or Sunday so as not to affect the end of week totals for the Stock Markets, and to give them a whole week to rebound once the news broke and had a chance to impact trading on Monday morning.

You know the last time I can really cast my (admittely abstracted) memory back to a leader being so not in touch with the populace, what is impacting their daily lives, and their real concerns would have to be....let me think......hmmm......

MARIE ANTOINETTE!

How exactly is the economy essentially strong V.I. ( or MCCain for htat matter since he too agreed) when Baer Sterns fails?
How Precisely do you two cronies call the economy strong when Fannie Mae and Bernie Mac both get taken over by the Feds?
How do you explain your assertions of an essentialy strong economy when shilling for a 700 BILLION DOLLAR Bailout?!

so what do they think the answer to this contentions subject is? Lets have the V.I. address the populace from the White House! Yeah, thats the ticket, he'll calm and reassure them with his deft delivery and his witty turn of phrase, and most of all his ability to connect with the common man and really speak to their concerns in a way that is going to be completely comprehensible!

www.cnn.com/2008/POLITIC...l#cnnSTCVideo

What in teh hell did that man just say?! (Your guess is as good as mine!)
Did you understand what he was saying? (NO!)
More importantly, do you think HE UNDERSTOOD what he was saying? (NO!)

The man really needs to fire whom ever wrote that speech for him. It was a great speech if he was addressing a conference of economics professors ( well assuming he could deliver it in a way that sounded quasi informed...........but listening to that snigglet of stupidity I certainly did not hear any sort of rational justification for putting each person in teh USA on the hook for $28,000 ( yours and my share of the lovely bail out strategy)

At no point has any of the Republican Leadership who endorse the "bailout" adequately explained this such that I have any comfort that they won't be back, hat in hand, a week or two from now saying, "OK we need more". There is so little regulation in this flimsy 3 page proposal that congress has been wrangling over, Ben Bernanke and Henry Paulson evidently don't quite understand all that has to go into writing a piece of legislation, that ultimately if Congress votes tomorrow and says "Yes, here's your check for $700 Billion" they would effectively be giving Ben Bernanke more fiscal power than the office of the President of The United States. Granted to some degree I am not necessarily arguing with NOT letting the V.I. have discressionary power over this "bailout" since its the policies that he and his party allowed to prosper that got us into this bind....so I am not saying he is necessarily the bench mark standard of fiscal responsability....but I think it sets a bad precedent for future Presidencies to allow the Chairman of the Federal Reserve to have that much unfettered power over the American economy.