Tag Archives: Politics

Same-Sex Marriage Coming Out

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When the Train Leaves the Station, Are You Onboard?

It has been kind of a blur today, but here goes nothing. I’m a latte-drinking, Prius-driving, NPR-listening liberal. So, it would not be a major leap of imagination to surmise that I support President Obama. This would include today’s announcement, where he stated that “same-sex marriage should be legal”. This statement was a long time coming. The fact that it was made was no surprise, but its timing was. I did not expect it until after the election. It was foreshadowed last week, when Vice-President Biden came out in favor of same-sex marriage. Tossed-off at the time as another Biden gaff, it might have been a trial balloon instead. Anyway, today Obama doubled-down on the issue.

Whatever, the nuances of Obama’s position is, mine is that the legal definition should be broadened to include a marriage contract between any two consenting adults. The benefits and responsibilities of marriage should be available, without regard to sex. Not doing so is discriminatory. I also feel that any lesser forms of marriage, like domestic partnerships, are as fair as separate but equal was. Fundamentally, this is a civil rights issue.

Others might protest that homosexuality is an affront to God. It is written in the Bible. It is written. I should strike this paragraph, because I don’t want to invite an argument with the religious right, it is a waste of my time and theirs. I simply want to acknowledge their differing beliefs. They are entitled to their beliefs. Their beliefs are enshrined in the Constitution, as are mine. Pray for me, if you think it helps.

I believe that my dear departed mother was way out ahead of me on this. Back as far as the early ‘80, she studied, and socialized with gay men. When the AIDS epidemic erupted, she also mourned for and with her friends. I never discussed the issue of same-sex marriage with her, but she always believed in gay rights, so connect the dots.

The ‘Fortune 100’ corporation that I work for offers same-sex dependent benefits. It also prohibits discrimination based upon sexual preference. Both of these policies are to its credit. Between my mom and my employer, my coming out in support for equal rights for gay people, is almost as overdue as the president’s. Well, better late then never.

Slow Jammin’ the Day Away

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We had plans to bicycle in Illinois today, but weather interfered. So, we ended up planning some penitential cleaning instead. Before we started though, as part of the process of girding our loins to do battle, we web surfed the morning away. One gem that was found was President Barack Obama’s address at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This annual event, also dubbed the ‘Nerd Prom’, has a history of roasting Washington insiders. It is an event where politician rub shoulders with celebrities. Last night’s dinner was attended by the likes of Rick Santorum, Lindsay Lohan, Newt Gingrich and Kim Kardashian, to name a few. Maybe address is not the right word, how about stand-up routine? Whatever you call it, Obama kills, IMHO. Fox News of course, had a different spin, “Obama mocks scandals and Republicans”, but I don’t think that that was exactly a fair and balanced assessment.

  • Now, some have said I blame too many problems on my predecessor, but let’s not forget that’s a practice that was initiated by George W. Bush.
  • Four years ago, I was locked in a brutal primary battle with Hillary Clinton. Four years later, she won’t stop drunk-texting me from Cartagena.
  • I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate the Huffington Post on their Pulitzer Prize. […] There’s no one else out there linking to the kinds of hard-hitting journalism that HuffPo is linking to every single day.
  • What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? A pit bull is delicious. A little soy sauce.
  • [On Romney] We also both have degrees from Harvard; I have one, he has two. What a snob.
  • And just to set the record straight, I really do enjoy attending these dinners. In fact, I had a lot more material prepared, but I have to get the Secret Service home in time for their new curfew.

I’ve included some of my favorite jokes and one-liners and above, a link to the entire speech. I wonder, will this entitle me to next year’s Pulitzer? It is long, but worth watching. A lot of the jokes are visual and hardly a political troupe goes unsung. Come November though, who will have the last laugh?

It never did rain. Chalk today up as a rest day. I cleaned, while Anne flung. I get in trouble, if we reverse these roles. Inspecting last night’s hail damage, Anne found a baker’s dozen dimples on the Prius. Oh well, they add character. Our friend John, suffered worse. His car windows were broken and on his house, “Half of my solar panels got kerplunked.” Downtown, a beer tent collapsed, killing one and injuring 100. It was a dark and stormy night.

I’m not so good at other things, but I do maintain my Litespeed to within a gnat’s ass of perfection. However, I have not replaced any of its decals. They and the titanium frame are all that’s left of the original equipment. Not even the badge is original. It fell off and a new one was sent at an email’s request. I could get new decals for free too, but these worn ones have character. Some Litespeed owners strip their decals. Either they don’t appreciate the unsightliness of a worn decal, or they hope removing the brand makes their bikes less theft worthy.

May-apple Leaf Rag

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May-apple Leaf

The leaf in this post’s photo is of a May-apple. It is sometimes known as an Adams Apple, mandrake root, raccoon berry, wild lemon, Indian apple, duck’s foot or the umbrella plant. It is a perennial, native to wooded areas of eastern North America. Its stems grow with two or three lobed leaves with 5-9 deeply cut lobes on reproductive individuals, or one umbrella-like leaf on sterile individuals. The May-apple has been used for a variety of medicinal purposes, originally by indigenous people and later by settlers. The plant in the above picture was sterile.

Yesterday, I added a new page to this blog. It is entitled ‘Calendar Pixs’. This page has the photographs that were used in the 2010 and 2012 calendars that I made on Lulu. The permanent link is at the top of this page, but for those who have trouble finding it, and you know who you are, I’ll give you this easy to find link to the page, here.

I got out on my bicycle after work today and rode the Katy trail. I rode 17 miles, did not flat and my bike computer worked, all better than last week’s inaugural ride. I startled a black snake on the trail. I had just rounded a corner and it was sunning itself in the middle of the trail. Fortunately, it had more presence of mind than I did, because it beat a hasty retreat, before I could even react. This is a good thing, because me and black snakes, we have a history together.

In the daily trench warfare that passes for our presidential campaign, the Democrats were the ones that got off the snappy one-liner today, and it came from a most unlikely source, Joe Biden. Biden praised Obama’s record with, “Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive”. Then he added that reverse might be true if Romney had been the president.

The Romney campaign’s retort was in the form of a question, “Why is the United States under Obama abdicating its leadership for keeping stability in the world?” What the heck does that mean? Are they playing Jeopardy? Does he think that we can abdicate, because we are the king of the world? I thought that that was James Cameron.

Power of the Purse

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Purple Purse

That’s what this post is all about, money. You’ve got it and I want it. I’m talking at you Mister 1%. You with your big black Escalade, I be fiending on you. No matter how much you claim you produce, you’re just a net-oxygen consumer.

“The best things in life are free, but you can keep them for the birds and bees. Now give me money, that’s what I want, yeah!” – Money, Beatles

Medicare will go bankrupt when I am 70 years-old. Social Security will follow when I’m 79. I’ll be an old man and you’ll still be crying out for more tax cuts. I’m guessing that you will have stolen my 401K by then and looted my pension too, leaving me either destitute or dead, or both.

“Money, get away; get a good job with more pay and you’re okay. Money, it’s a gas. Grab that cash with both hands and make a stash.” – Money, Pink Floyd

Thirty years ago, you Mister 1% were content to earn forty times your lowest paid employee. Now you’re only content with almost 400 times that same poor employee. You are probably on a first name basis with her by now and wish her “Good evening, Gladys”, on your way out the door. She of course replies with respect, “Good night, Mister 1%”.

“Money, money; lie for it, spy for it, kill for it, die for it.” – Money, Michael Jackson

The power of the purse is traditionally a ruling power. Purple is a royal color. There is a referendum this year, an election. Mister 1% has nominated one of his own, Mitt. The incumbant has been less than effectual, the banks are bigger, the rich are richer and the poor are poorer and more numerous, but do we have any other choice, or chance?

Dog Poo

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Lewis and Clark and Seaman

I had an epiphany this week. File it under the motto of making lemonade out of lemons. I now travel twenty miles to Saint Charles for work. This is double my former commute. My epiphany came when I realized that I was right next to Missouri’s longest bicycle trail, the Katy. It runs across the state from Illinois to Kansas. It also runs right by my Saint Charles office. After work, I hauled the bike and myself to the Saint Charles trailhead.

I only rode 15 miles and it is a good thing that is all I did, because I barely made it back to the car before my front tire went flat. Upon closer examination, I found that a thorn had wormed its way in-between the treads. When I pulled it out, what little air was left in the tire escaped it. I have heard of the problem with thorn punctures on the Katy, but this was my only firsthand experience with them.

This post’s picture is of the Lewis and Clark statue on the Saint Charles riverfront. They stopped in frontier Saint Charles on their journey of exploration. I did not know the name of the dog, so I googled it. The following was the first entry, “Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery ate 263 dogs while traveling to the Pacific Coast and back, but Lewis’ Newfoundland dog Seaman was never harmed.” Seaman’s name reminded me of Seamus, Mitt Romney’s dog.

The treatment of Seamus on a 1983 family vacation has become a political controversy. Seamus became car sick while riding in a crate on the roof of the car. Romney had to stop when excrement began running down the windows. He stopped at a gas station and hosed off the car, crate and dog. Animal rights activists have complained about Romney’s actions. Newt Gingrich raised this as an issue earlier this year and this week David Axelrod, Obama’s advisor tweaked the Romney campaign by raising the issue again. Romney’s campaign retaliated that young Barack’s Kenyan father had him eat snake, grasshoppers and dog.

Diversions like these will help the political pundits get through the next months until the elections. Crate-gate or the Dog Wars are already getting long in the tooth, if not in dog years, then at least in the daily churning of the political cycle. To this end, I would like to introduce you to what I believe will be the next mock controversy, Diaper-gate.

According to Dan Amira’s New York article, young Mitt was a diaper changing fiend, but once married; he washed his hands of all stinky diapers. He said that they gave him the dry heaves. Ann Romney got all of those from their five sons. I can hear the pundits exclaiming, if he is afraid of a messy diaper, how can we expect him to cleanup stinky messes, both foreign and domestic? Come election night, NBC, CBS and ABC will be jockeying to call the election first. I’ll go on record now that I will call it anytime between now and then, if I ever hear Romney utter the word poopie.

Penguin Bites Newt

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Newt and Penguin

The first documented case of a penguin biting an amphibian occurred last Friday. This was not one of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but rather a penguin at the Saint Louis Zoo, who appears to not be a Newt Gingrich supporter. The Republican presidential candidate was sporting a small bandage on his finger after getting nipped by a penguin during his tour of the zoo on Friday. Gingrich was in Saint Louis to speak during the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting. During his visit to the zoo, he was treated to a behind-the-scenes visit with two Magellanic penguins. A spokesman for Mr. Gingrich said, Newt loves animals, but sometimes love hurts. This spokesman later conceded that maybe eating lunch at the Oyster Bar beforehand, was not a good idea. The penguin claims he mistook Gingrich’s fishy oratory for actual fish. #OccupySTLzoo plans to organize a defense fund for ‘this heroic little bird’. Attorneys for this flightless bird are planning a stand your ice floe defense.

Baseball, Space, Guns and Mitt

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In the ending of the movie, “The Natural”, Robert Redford’s baseball is propelled out of the ballpark, winning the game. Against a black background with molten sparks descending like falling stars, the ball arcs higher and higher into the night’s sky. It floats across the screen, as it floats across both time and space, and eventually drops into the glove of his son. Glenn Close watches her two men play catch. Redford looks content, at peace with himself. Fade to black.

Apollo 11 vs MLB Map (Click to Enlarge)

The graphic for this post comes from NASA. NASA has superimposed a map of the first moon walk, Aldrin and Armstrong’s strolls around the Sea of Tranquility onto a standard baseball diamond. They didn’t cover too much ground, it turns out. Both stayed close to the mound where the Eagle set down, except for Armstrong’s quick jaunt over to the rim of East Crater to photograph the outfield.

The NASA map is in honor of the World Champion Saint Louis Cardinals. Today is the Cardinal’s home opener. They’re playing the Cubs. Unfortunately, I do not have tickets to the game. Besides, it is day game and I have to work. On opening day, not even the sky is a limit, but it will be tough to top last year. Go Cards!

Traffic was horrible on Thursday night. An extra long commute combined with two accidents on the new I-64, one blocking the east-bound lanes and one the west-bound, all combined to create a ninety-minute drive. So, it is with some trepidation that I look towards Friday night’s commute. Home Cardinal games always exacerbate traffic. A daytime home opener is about as bad as it can be, except that this is not all of it, not even by half.

The NRA is holding its national convention in Saint Louis. I briefly toyed with the idea of going to it. It is sure to be a spectacle full of much worthy blog fodder. I could be the sinner in an unholy land. Alas though, commonsense won out. That and cheapness, the $30 membership fee seemed too steep for just a blog post or two.

Now there is news that Mitt Romney is coming to town, to speak at the convention. As the newly anointed Republican candidate-elect, he plans on trying to convince the gun-toting tourists downtown that he never meant it when he said that he would never be beholden to the NRA. “Leave it to Mitt Romney to shoot himself in the foot with a gun he doesn’t own.” Good luck with that Mitt. :oops:

As bad as Thursday’s commute was, Friday’s looks to be a trifecta of pain worse. The combination of a Cardinal’s home opener, a major convention and the visitation from a Presidential candidate ought to ensure traffic snarls galore. This is why I am posting early. I may not make it home.

Happy Friday the 13th!