20/20 hindsight, or people you meet while standing in line

I went out to brunch with my DH (dear husband) yesterday morning. I was still kind of foggy and my voice was croaking from talking so much--and doing my share of cheering--at the Convention yesterday. We were at our fave brunching hole, Mel's in Cochituate, standing on the inevitable line.

I was telling DH about the resolutions that were voted on Saturday, reading from my notes in my agenda, and the woman in front of us kept turning around and looking at us. Not with any particular expression. I lowered my voice a little in case that was the hint she was trying to deliver, but she kept turning around to look, or stare, at us as I segued from the Resolution to the Housing Crisis into the Impeach Cheney-amended-to-Impeach both Bush and Cheney.

So I smiled at her. She smiled back and looked away.

Then I told DH about the troop withdrawal resolution, and she commented, not quietly enough to act the "I'll pretend to be talking to myself" ruse, "I hope it doesn't pass."

I said, pleasantly, "What?" then added, "Polls show that the majority of Americans are in favor of ending the war."
Well that set her off in a tizzy: she doesn't believe in the polls; that they don't include the "silent majority" who support the war; that there are a lot of people who lost loved ones in 9/11 . . .

I interjected, still pleasantly, that there's no connection between 9/11 and Iraq.

She said, very emphatically and implying that she KNOWS everything, "Yes there is."

I paused, different possible replies flipping through my head like an old Viewmaster, and said, with a big smile, "Oh, you're one of the 25 percenters! It's a pleasure to meet you."

She smiled and said that it was a pleasure to meet me as well.

The line moved up and she crept inside. So I went back to talking to DH, who commented that that 25 percenter was nuts, which just proved a point I had made yesterday to the people I was carpooling with, that the 25 percent who still believe are actually one lightbulb shy of a full box.

So we finally get inside, and in order to not be in the uncomfortable position of standing at the door, which means constantly moving back and forth as people enter and exit, I had to move to a space in front of a banquette, where people on line were sitting. Including Ms. 25 percenter. I said to everyone that I wasn't cutting in line, I just wanted to get out of the way.

When Sam (name changed to protect the innocent) came down the line finding out how many people were in each party, Ms. 25 percenter got up and moved in front of us, giving us a smug look.

I said, "Don't worry, we weren't going to cut ahead of you."

She snapped back, "I will worry," and turned her back on us in a huff. A couple of minutes later she walked out of the line to go outside.

I wondered if she just couldn't bear being next to us. And the fact that she didn't trust that we wouldn't cut in front of her bothered me more than any other part of our exchange. In her world, were liberals not only unbelievers but lacking in common courtesy? And I had been so pleased with myself for keeping things polite.

She came back and placed herself in the big gap in the line we had left for her, with a smug smile on her face.

After we got back home I checked my e-mail. Someone had sent a suspiciously myth-y looking story about "Red Shirt Fridays." Being the irrevocable geek that I am, I thought it was going to be a funny story about the expendable ensigns. It was, instead, a heartwarming story about an airline passenger who sat across a first-class aisle from a Marine sergeant who was escorting the body of a fallen soldier home that segued into the story of "Red Shirt Fridays".

Very soon, you will see a great many people wearing Red every Friday . The reason? Americans who support our troops used to be called the "silent majority." We are no longer silent, and are voicing our love for God, country and home in record breaking numbers. We are not organized, boisterous or overbearing.
Many Americans, like you, me and all our friends, simply want to recognize that the vast majority of America supports our troops. Our idea of showing solidarity and support for our troops with dignity and respect starts this Friday -- and continues each and every Friday until the troops all come home, sending a deafening message that .... every red-blooded American who supports our men and women afar, will wear something red.

I expect Ms. 25 percenter was also on the receiving end of that e-mail, which whipped her up into a fine frothing frenzy about all those war-opposers who (obviously) hate the troops and cut in front of people in lines. While I couldn't talk back to Ms. 25 percenter, I did write back to everyone on the e-mail list:

I'm not quite sure what is meant by those who "support our troops are the silent majority." Hmmm . . . according to every poll, the majority of Americans are against the war. So does this message indicate that those who oppose the war are against the troops? It seems to me that those in power who support the war are clearly not supporting the troops: the troops don't have enough safety equipment, their families don't get enough support, there's not enough medical care for vets, the administration doesn't want to add .5% to the paltry 3% raise that has been suggested as a soldier's pay raise, and our troops are being treated like robots--rotated constantly and deployed indefinitely.

No matter how hard we try, no matter how many times we tell the truth, no matter how many times we put action behind our visions, we'll always be the ones who can't be trusted to honor the unspoken rule of queues. How did we get to be the pickpockets of American democracy? I suppose I shouldn't think too much about this, since our experiment proved that the 25 percent believers are not living in the reality-based community. I just don't like to see that kind of hate and craziness seen as being mainstream.

Sen. Russ Feingold, American Hero

Bravo to Sen. Russ Feingold for standing up and speaking truth to power! By introducing the Resolution relating to the censure of George W. Bush, Feingold has joined the ranks of Congressman John Conyers in trying to take permanent, legal action to hold Bush accountable for his despicable actions (obviously, neither censure nor impeachment would be as good as trials for war crimes and treason, but ya gotta start somewhere . . . ).

So I called our Massachusetts Senate Delegation. John Kerry's office says he wants to hold Bush accountable, but he hasn't decided whether or not to support the censure. My feeling is he won't decide until such time as a vote is taken.

As for the senior senator, Ted Kennedy's office said that he wants to make sure there is the correct judicial and legislative oversight taken. Huh? Again, someone who's not going to decide probably until a vote is taken. I say probably because Kennedy has nothing to lose by taking a stand, so it's not inconceivable he might support the resolution before a vote is taken. But I wouldn't hold my breath.

My gut feeling is that if there is a vote, Kennedy will vote yes and Kerry will either not vote or vote no.

Letter to the Boston Globe

I was glancing at right-wing anti-liberty Jeff Jacoby's column in the Boston Globe last Sunday, called Mass. Exodus, about the population shrinkage of the Bay State.

He listed the usual reasons--lack of jobs, high housing costs, the weather--then promptly dismissed them. The reason people are leaving in droves?

Maybe fewer and fewer people want to call Massachusetts home not because of its oppressive winters but because of its oppressive and demoralizing political culture. In the state that produced Michael S. Dukakis and Sen. Kerry, the concerns of ordinary citizens are so often met with disdain, while the political class lets nothing get in the way of its own appetites and priorities. A state legislature that stays in session year-round? A supreme court that turns same-sex marriage into a constitutional right? Public ''authorities" that answer to no one? In most of America, no way. In Massachusetts, no problem.

That annoyed me. I wrote a letter to the Globe, and who'd'a thunk it, they printed it today. Not exactly how I wrote it--they deleted some snarkiness--but message intact.

Court's ruling a vote for liberty

JEFF JACOBY dismisses real reasons people are leaving -- lack of well-paying jobs, obscenely high home prices -- and cites the state court's turning ''same-sex marriage into a constitutional right."

The truth, however, doesn't support his position. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court did not ''turn" same-sex marriage into a constitutional right. The question was whether it was constitutional for the Commonwealth to deny civil marriages to same-sex couples. The court found that limiting ''the protections, benefits, and obligations of civil marriage to opposite-sex couples violates the basic premises of individual liberty and equality under law protected by the Massachusetts Constitution." In other words, the court found that it is unconstitutional to deny same-sex couples equal rights.

The Globe omitted my describing Jacoby's column as being full of "dishonest neocon talking points," and I ended with the following sentence: "Given Mr. Jacoby's prejudices, it's a mystery to any rational person why he persists in staying in Massachusetts."

There were quite a few letters in the same vein, but also a few letters by clueless idiots, who think the Supreme Judicial Court "abused its power," and one by a true wingnut who couldn't see the irony in being Massachusetts born and raised, "Boston stock, dating back to 1637" whose ancestors have fought in all "American" wars and are listed on monuments in Bunker Hill and Lexington; she's moving "because of the crazy left-wing political agenda"--moving south, where "the political climate is truly democratic." Yeah, democratic like Strom Thurmond, Lindsey Graham, and Bill Frist; with governors like Mike Huckabee, and Jeb Bush. Good democratic values there.

As a very eloquent woman wrote in another letter: "If indeed people are driven away because of the state's commitment to fairness, let them go. There are plenty of other places where they can enjoy the unearned privileges of discrimination."

Democratic vision and leadership

While trying to sift for truth amidst the fool's gold that passes for news, I've become more and more worried that we will, in two words, um, screw up the mid-term elections. It seems we Democrats are more afraid of ourselves than we are of the Death Star that is the christo-fascist zombie brigade of the faux-Republican Administration. So for fun--if you can call exercises in futility fun--I wrote a sort of a wish list and sent it to the Democratic National Committee, to Howard Dean, to Harry Reid and several other Democratic leaders. It reads:

As a life-long Democrat, I am horrified to see the continuing slide towards Conservative mediocrity within this party. We are the party of FDR, of JFK. We are FOR the working person, the poor, the downtrodden. We are FOR protecting the minority from the tyranny of the majority. We are FOR civil rights for everyone.

I do not want a Democratic version of a Republican for president. I want someone who speaks clearly in favor of women's rights (someone who does NOT call the anti-choice movement "pro-life"), gay rights--including the right to marry, not the separate-but-not-equal "civil union", and the separation of church and state.

I want someone who will protect workers' rights, including the right to make a living wage under safe working conditions. Someone who will propose legislation to make companies put workers' pensions in accounts that cannot be touched for any reason other than pension payouts. Someone who will stop the outrageous growth in top management salaries at the expense of those at the bottom.

I want someone who will protect the environment against short-term capitalist greed.

I want someone who agrees that a good education is the key to a successful future--any future. That we need to spend more on education, particularly education that teaches children to THINK CRITICALLY and have an imagination, not just memorize facts.

I want the Fairness Doctrine reinstated, I want substantial campaign reform, I want the teaching of the meaning of the Constitution mandatory, I want the media to do their job, I want legislation to be about only one thing--not to be full of hidden riders and clauses.

I want to be able to believe in a candidate, to vote FOR someone rather than against someone else.

The mid-term elections, and the 2008 election, are ours to lose. And we will lose them if we don't have strong candidates that present a clear alternative to continued Republican lies, arrogance, and hypocrisy. Make no mistake, we will lose. If Hillary Clinton runs against John McCain, we will lose. Not because she is a woman (although that will certainly enter into it), but because she is just a moderate Republican dressed in Democrat clothes.

The regressive policies of this Administration call for nothing less than a return to progressive policies that could only be brought forth by a true Democratic candidate.

If anyone wants to add to this shopping list, please feel free.

What's your elf name?

Here's mine. Yes, too silly.

Your Elf Name Is...

Flakey Sticky Fingers

What's Your Elf Name?

Preview to Morning Sedition RIP

I just read Jonathan Larsen's posting on his blog Petty Larseny about the death of Air America's Morning Sedition. I still haven't been able to get my thoughts straight about this; I'm devastated and furious. But here's what I posted in response.

Thank you for telling us the sad, stupid truth. I cannot believe I will not be hearing Marc and Mark tomorrow morning. I, too, will be among the multitude downloading past episodes to play over again.

Danny Goldberg was a "suit" in the music business, riding on the talent of the artists, and is still a "suit," with no creativity, vision or, apparently, a sense of humor.

Morning Sedition was the future of progressive radio. The show talked about not only politics, but culture; its humor was not only intelligent but often silly and stupid. These guys had their fingers on the pulse of the liberal zeitgeist above and beyond politics.

I mourn its passing with not just sadness, but fury. How dare they keep the banal, insipid Jerry Springer?? How is he more worthy than Marc and Mark?

I urge all listeners to boycott AAR. Nothing against Rachel Maddow, but I want the ratings to plunge. That's the only way the suits in charge will realize their mistake.

Listen up, sheeple!!!

Marc Maron

Letter to the FCC

SUBJECT
Request: Please stop Bill O'Reilly from inciting hate, intolerance and violence

I would very much appreciate it if the FCC would put a halt to the spreading of hate speech by Fox Broadcasting Co. and Bill O’Reilly. The FCC already lets Fox get away with calling itself a “news” channel, even though its talking heads blatantly and repeatedly violate the First Amendment (by deliberately spreading lies about public officials and public figures with reckless disregard for the truth) and the FCC’s own regulations against personal attacks, noted below.* The lies this station spouts nearly 24/7 are well documented on such sites as MediaMatters, FactCheck.org, and Newshounds, which all use transcripts and audio and video files to back up their research.

But to do nothing to stop Bill O’Reilly’s heinous, belligerent and callously vicious call for violent action against those he considers are waging a “war against Christmas” is just as good as condoning it. The FCC’s regulation against “Clear and Present Danger” allows the FCC to curtail such speech if it intends “to incite or produce dangerous activity.”

A typical quotation from one of O’Reilly’s rants clearly indicates such an intention:

“I am not going to let oppressive, totalitarian, anti-Christian forces in this country diminish and denigrate the holiday and the celebration. I am not going to let it happen. I'm gonna use all the power that I have on radio and television to bring horror into the world of people who are trying to do that.”

(source: mediamatters.org/items/200512070010)

I am a firm believer in free speech and a card-carrying member of the ACLU, but as a non-Christian I feel threatened and frightened by O’Reilly’s escalatingly aggressive hatred toward anyone who does not share his warped view of Jesus’ philosophies, which were peaceful, loving, and tolerant. O’Reilly’s crusade would violate any non-Christian’s rights to equal protection under the law.


(*Personal Attacks. Personal attacks occur when, during the presentation of views on a controversial issue of public importance, someone attacks the honesty, character, integrity, or like personal qualities of an identified person or group. No more than a week after a personal attack, the station must transmit the following three things to the person or group attacked: (1) notification of the date, time, and identification of the broadcast; (2) a tape, script or accurate summary of the attack; and (3) an offer of a reasonable opportunity to respond on the air.)

Happy? Resentful?

OK, I know I should be happy that the American public is finally seeing the light, with Dubya's ratings lower than low, Dems winning back two gubernatorial seats, Ahnuld's four ballot measures resoundingly shot down. But part of me is really, really, really annoyed.

Really annoyed. As in:

WHERE the fuck have these people been LIVING for FIVE YEARS??!!??!!

The rampant cronyism, ignorant arrogance, stupid bloody-mindedness and rank fascistic tendencies of this administration were evident before Bushie was (s)elected. But he didn't win that election, so let's forward to 2004. By that time, the abyss of this regime's shortcomings was painfully obvious. And it was painful, painful, painful.

I'm still not convinced that Bushie won 2004, either, but the vote was certainly too close for comfort. But now people are finally on the bandwagon? I should embrace them and lead them happily into the light, but they've cost us. They've cost the United States. Their blinkered refusal to look reality in the eye has killed thousands of people, damaged--perhaps irreparably--the environment, and gutted the Constitution.

And now these people are unhappy. Well, D-UH!!!

Welcome to the bandwagon. You can start by cleaning up all the shit still remaining on your feet.

The "real" America

This about says it all, from the BeatBushGear Cafe Press store.

As the crypto-fascist NeoCon zombie brigade tries to circle their wagons, even Bush's trips to the Gulf to look concerned unravel to reveal the truth: nothing but callous blatant PR photo ops. The Salt Lake Tribune reported yesterday that the 1,400 firefighters gathered from around the country by FEMA, instead of using their firefighting, search-and-rescue, paramedic, or haz-mat skills, they were herded into a conference room in Atlanta, forced to sit through an eight-hour sensitivity training class, and told their were to be "community-relations officers for FEMA, shuffled throughout the Gulf Coast region to disseminate fliers and a phone number: 1-800-621-FEMA." This was on Monday, when their expertise might have been put to better use rescuing people and putting out fires.

To add insult to injury, a team of 50 of these firefighters were flown to Louisiana--so they could accompany Bush on his tour.
In addition, he apparently set up another photo op of the 17th Street levee being fixed, and yet another of an open air food distribution point. On top of that, rescue efforts had to be halted for hours while Bush was in the area, since the airways had to be kept clear.

Laura "It was an accident!" Bush did her part, as well. She commandeered the computer in Lafayette's Cajundome--the only room with phone and internet access for the evacuees--for eight hours, along with the food service rooms and the ladies showers, so she could manipulate a feel-good photo op "helping" seven evacuees.

The excellent Daily Kos blog expresses just the right eloquent outrage:

This is a clear signal of the depravity of this administration, were everything is political and nothing can be real. Nothing can be done simply because it's the right thing to do, or it's the best thing for America. There is a "real" America, and then there's Rove's America, where firemen serve the Republican Party and their leader, not people in distress. The Republican banner flies over the Stars and Stripes.

That the NeoCons are living in a different reality isn't such a surprise; it was admitted in an October 2004 New York Times Magazine article by Ron Suskind, where Suskind quotes a Bush aide:

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read,
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed,
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look upon my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

-- "Ozymandias," Percy Bysshe Shelley

Barbara Bush: Things Working Out 'Very Well' for Poor Evacuees from New Orleans

In case anyone hasn't already read this absolutely revolting comment, now's your chance. This report from Editor & Publisher:

Published: September 05, 2005 7:25 PM ET updated 8:00 PM
NEW YORK
Accompanying her husband, former President George
H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in
Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

The former First Lady's remarks were aired this
evening on American Public Media's "Marketplace"
program.

She was part of a group in Houston today at the
Astrodome that included her husband and former
President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son,
the current president, to head fundraising efforts for
the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of
evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost
everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to
Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Um, Mrs. Bush, Marie Antoinette called--she wants her disdain for the poor back.

Eloquent posts

A couple of eloquent blog postings:

Being Poor, on John Scalzi's Whatever blog:

Being poor is off-brand toys.
Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.
Being poor is Goodwill underwear.
Being poor is not enough space for everyone who lives with you.
Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.
Being poor is relying on people who don't give a damn about you.
Being poor is an overnight shift under florescent lights.
Being poor is people angry at you just for walking around in the mall.
Being poor is people thinking they know something about you by the way you talk.
Being poor is knowing you work as hard as anyone, anywhere.
Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually stupid.
Being poor is people surprised to discover you're not actually lazy.
Being poor is never buying anything someone else hasn't bought first.
Being poor is getting tired of people wanting you to be grateful.
Being poor is knowing you're being judged.
Being poor is a box of crayons and a $1 coloring book from a community center Santa.
Being poor is people who have never been poor wondering why you choose to be so.
Being poor is knowing how hard it is to stop being poor.
Being poor is seeing how few options you have.
Being poor is running in place.
Being poor is people wondering why you didn't leave.

And Nick Mamatas' Nihilistic Kid journal has an entry from New Orleans resident Jordan Flaherty, Notes From Inside New Orleans. Excerpt:

I traveled throughout the camp and spoke to Red Cross workers, Salvation Army workers, National Guard, and state police, and although they were friendly, no one could give me any details on when buses would arrive, how many, where they would go to, or any other information. I spoke to the several teams of journalists nearby, and asked if any of them had been able to get any information from any federal or state officials on any of these questions, and all of them, from Australian tv to local Fox affiliates complained of an unorganized, non-communicative, mess. One cameraman told me “as someone who’s been here in this camp for two days, the only information I can give you is this: get out by nightfall. You don’t want to be here at night.”

While the rich escaped New Orleans, those with nowhere to go and no way to get there were left behind. Adding salt to the wound, the local and national media have spent the last week demonizing those left behind. As someone that loves New Orleans and the people in it, this is the part of this tragedy that hurts me the most, and it hurts me deeply.

Images of New Orleans’ hurricane-ravaged population were transformed into black, out-of-control, criminals. As if taking a stereo from a store that will clearly be insured against loss is a greater crime than the governmental neglect and incompetence that did billions of dollars of damage and destroyed a city. This media focus is a tactic . . . the hyper-exploited people of New Orleans are being used as a scapegoat to cover up much larger crimes.

City, state and national politicians are the real criminals here. Since at least the mid-1800s, its been widely known the danger faced by flooding to New Orleans . . . Yet government officials have consistently refused to spend the money to protect this poor, overwhelmingly black, city. While FEMA and others warned of the urgent impending danger to New Orleans and put forward proposals for funding to reinforce and protect the city, the Bush administration, in every year since 2001, has cut or refused to fund New Orleans flood control, and ignored scientists warnings of increased hurricanes as a result of global warming. And, as the dangers rose with the floodlines, the lack of coordinated response dramatized vividly the callous disregard of our elected leaders.

Thanks to lauramerle for the links!

Michael Chertoff is a puppet

Why do reporters keep asking Chertoff why the response was so slow? I mean, I know why they ask him, but do they really think he's just going to say, "oh, they're poor black people and we're not in any hurry"? Maybe they just like to see how many different lies and excuses he can come up with.

Sometimes I honestly think they want to wait until as many die as possible.

As Scrooge said about the poor in A Christmas Carol, "If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

Halliburton hired for storm cleanup

get a load of this, buried in the business section:

HoustonChronicle.com

Sept. 1, 2005, 8:30PM

AROUND THE REGION

CONSTRUCTION

Halliburton hired for storm cleanup

The Navy has hired Houston-based Halliburton Co. to restore electric power, repair roofs and remove debris at three naval facilities in Mississippi damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Halliburton subsidiary KBR will also perform damage assessments at other naval installations in New Orleans as soon as it is safe to do so.

KBR was assigned the work under a "construction capabilities" contract awarded in 2004 after a competitive bidding process. The company is not involved in the Army Corps of Engineers' effort to repair New Orleans' levees.

so dick cheney and his cronies are not just war profiteers but disaster profiteers. it's not enough they're CHEATING the us taxpayers with their inflated prices--and spoiled food--in iraq, and endangering soldiers, they're now going to do that in the gulf coast.

i'm speechless. but not terribly surprised, unfortunately.

The above news courtesy of the excellent folks at Citizens for Legitimate Government.

HANDSOME

Handsome
1994 - 2005
Rest in peace, my little Mr. Man, my little buddy

The Bush lightbulb joke

How many members of the Bush Administration are needed to change a lightbulb?

1. One to deny that a lightbulb needs to be changed.
   
2. One to attack the patriotism of anyone who says the lightbulb needs to be changed.
   
3. One to blame Clinton for burning out the lightbulb.
   
4. One to tell the nations of the world that they are either for changing the lightbulb or for darkness.
   
5. One to give a billion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton for the new lightbulb.
   
6. One to set up a photograph of Bush dressed as a janitor, standing on a step ladder under the banner: "Lightbulb Change Accomplished!"
   
7. One administration insider to resign and write a book documenting in detail how Bush was literally in the dark.
   
8. One to viciously smear #7.
   
9. One surrogate to campaign on TV and at rallies on how George Bush has had a strong lightbulb-changing policy all along.
   
10. And finally, one to confuse Americans about the difference between screwing a lightbulb and screwing the country.

Thanks to Celia for this!

Bush's speech by the numbers

From the excellent site Think Progress

Bush Iraq Speech: By The Numbers

References to “September 11″: 5
References to “weapons of mass destruction”: 0
References to “freedom”: 21
References to “exit strategy”: 0
References to “Saddam Hussein”: 2
References to “Osama Bin Laden”: 2
References to “a mistake”: 1 (setting a timetable for withdrawal)
References to “mission”: 11
References to “mission accomplished”: 0

Bigotry rears ugly head in Lexington

The following is also an eye-rolling exercise in so-called journalism:

Here’s the story from the Associated Press, from the local NBC affiliate website:

Father Of 6-Year-Old Confronts School Over Book With Same-Sex Parents
 
LEXINGTON (AP) -- A dispute over a children's book that includes gay characters leads to the arrest of a father in Lexington.

David Parker refused to leave the Estabrook elementary school yesterday after a meeting with School Superintendent Bill Hurley. Parker confronted school officials after his six-year-old son brought home a book titled "Who's in a Family?" The book includes parents who are gay.

In a statement, Parker says he asked that he be notified in the future anytime his son is exposed to classroom discussion about same-sex households. Parker says the superintendent turned down the request.

When he refused to leave, Parker was arrested for trespassing on school property.

---

same story from the site 365gay.com:

Parent Arrested Protesting Gay Kids' Book
by Margo Williams 365Gay.com Boston Bureau

Posted: April 28, 2005  9:00 pm ET

(Boston, Massachusetts) Police arrested the father of a six year old boy after he refused to leave a Lexington, Mass. school where he was protesting against a children's' book with gay characters.

David Parker became enraged when he discovered his son had brought home the book "Who's in a Family.'

The book by Robert Skutch, and illustrated by Laura Nienhaus is aimed at children between three and seven. It catalogues a variety of multicultural contemporary family units, including those with single parents, lesbian and gay parents, mixed-race couples, grandparents and divorced parents.

But, it was the inclusion of same-sex parents that angered Parker. He confronted officials at the Joseph Estabrook School. 

Parker, who is a member of the Article 8 Alliance, which supports the ouster of four judges on the state's Supreme Judicial Court who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, demanded that the book be removed from the school library and that his son be pulled from discussions about homosexuality whether they are in planned lessons or arise spontaneously, 

Lexington Schools Superintendent Bill Hurley rejected both demands. 

When Parker refused to leave the meeting police were called and he was charged with trespassing.

In court today Parker pleaded not guilty and was released on $100 cash bail and ordered to stay off school grounds.

After his release, Parker said teaching children about homosexuality should be left to parents not teachers.

"Because of the same-sex (marriage) law, people are treating it as a mandate to teach the youngest children," he said. "It is not a mandate to teach the youngest of children, particularly if parents say, 'Hold on, I want to be the gatekeeper of the information.'"

---

Worcester Telegram headline, with the AP story (and can you GET a WORSE headline?!?!):

Man arrested after dispute over gay lifestyle teachings pleads innocent

The Associated Press

CONCORD, Mass— A Lexington father who wouldn't leave school property after officials refused his demand to remove his 6-year-old son from discussions about homosexuality pleaded innocent to a trespassing charge Thursday.

David Parker, 42, of Lexington was released on $100 cash bail after his arraignment in Concord District Court and ordered to stay off school grounds.

After his release, Parker said he wanted to teach his son about gay lifestyles, not leave it to a teacher.

"Because of the same-sex (marriage) law, people are treating it as a mandate to teach the youngest children," he said. "It is not a mandate to teach the youngest of children, particularly if parents say, 'Hold on, I want to be the gatekeeper of the information.'"

Lexington school officials released a short statement dealing with the facts of the arrest and did not immediately return a request for comment.

Parker first complained to officials at Joseph Estabrook School in January, after his son brought home a book called "Who's in a Family?", which included pictures of same-sex households. He was arrested after a meeting Wednesday in which school officials refused to notify him whenever homosexuality was discussed and remove his son from class.

Parker spent the night in a cell at the Lexington police station.

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And here’s the Christian extremist coverage, from the agape press:

Report: Christian Parent Arrested After Being Denied Say-So in Son's Education

By Jody Brown
April 28, 2005
(AgapePress) - A Massachusetts group battling judicial activism and the advancing homosexual agenda in their state is reporting that the father of a kindergarten student was arrested on Wednesday during a scheduled meeting with the principal of his son's school. Since January, the father of the six-year-old had been attempting to get his son opted-out from discussions portraying homosexuality as acceptable.

According to reports by the Article 8 Alliance, David Parker and his wife Tonia had been in e-mail contact with Joni Jay, principal of Estabrook Elementary School in Lexington regarding material brought home by their son from school. The "Diversity Book Bag" included a book titled Who's in a Family, which portrays same-sex parent families as morally equivalent to traditional families. The Parkers, over the course of several e-mails with Principal Jay, attempted to make it clear they wanted their son removed from the classroom any time discussions or displays dealt with homosexuality -- and they sought a commitment from the principal that their desires would be accommodated.

"You are not permitted to infringe upon our religious beliefs and parental rights or obviate our freedom of choice, to exclude our son from material that would expose him to beliefs contrary to the Word of God in our Christian faith," the Parkers wrote in a March 4 e-mail to Jay.

After attending an "anti-bias meeting" in early April, David Parker again requested a meeting with Jay, which occurred yesterday (Wednesday, April 27). Article 8 Alliance reports that during that meeting, Mr. Parker reiterated his demands: that the school inform him when the topic of homosexuality was to be discussed with his son, and that the school permit his son not be included in those discussions. Parker's requests were reportedly denied by the principal, the director of education, and the superintendent.

Parker refused to leave the school unless his requests were granted, says a press statement -- and then police were summoned, who informed the father he would be arrested if he did not leave the school. When he did not, school officials had Parker arrested for trespassing.

Article 8 Alliance says Parker spent the night in jail, and was scheduled for arraignment Thursday morning. Brian Camenker of the Alliance is a friend of Parkers. "This is an unbelievable outrage," Camenker states. "It's where last year's same-sex 'marriage' ruling has brought us."

Camenker's group is seeking to remove the four judges on the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Council whose vote imposed homosexual marriage on the Bay State. The Alliance contends those four jurists unconstitutionally changed state law.

The group also is seeking to strengthen the state's "Parental Notification and Consent Law" so that parents would no longer have to "opt-out" their children in cases like the Parkers', but instead would have to choose to "opt-in." The Article 8 Alliance says homosexual activists are opposed to the move because they "know that this will stop the homosexual agenda in the public schools by giving parents the power."


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and this guy has the unmitigated GALL to be on the anti-bias committee at the elementary school! i guess he just wants to make sure there’s no bias against intolerant ignorant stupid people.

Lexington Minuteman Online

Parents upset with silence day
By Bethan L. Jones
Thursday, April 28, 2005

The effects of the Day of Silence held at Lexington High School two weeks ago is anything but quiet.
     At the School Committee meeting Tuesday night, several parents and community members spoke out against what was called by one Lowell Street resident as the "homosexual agenda of Lexington High School."
     LHS was the location of adult protestng and students battling out agendas inside the school. The Day of Silence is a national effort to recognize those who feel disenfranchised because of the social bias against their sexual orientation.
     In the public comment section of Tuesday's meeting, several stood up to speak against the actions of school system.
     Parent David Parker of Bedford Street and a member of the anti-bias committee at Estabrook Elementary School said he was unhappy with the planned distribution of school books depicting homosexual parents.
     "[Schools] have unfettered ... access to children's psyches," he said, adding he resents being denied the role of gatekeeper of the information his son is exposed to.
     Parker said the accepting of homosexuality is inextricably linked to the sexual element of the lifestyle, something he felt the schools should not foster.
     Lorraine Fournier of Cedar Street said she finds "what's happening in the school system appalling," attributing the efforts to the "liberal agendas of the school system."
     She protested that words which demean students who are homosexual are banned from the schools but other words like "bigot" and "homophobe" are still used, making students who are exercising their rights feel threatened.
     "You have no right to do that to any student who walks through that door," she said.
     The School Committee and LHS Principal Michael Jones did not comment.

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BTW, dontcha just LOVE that stupid woman’s comment in the last article, where she protests that it’s OK to use words like “bigot” and “homophobe” but it’s not OK to use demeaning words about homosexuals. This, of course, is an interesting First Amendment argument; theoretically maybe she has a point. Technically, realistically, and in context of creating an atmosphere of fear and fomenting hatred and perhaps violence, let’s just say we don’t see too many groups uniting to promote diversity and tolerance practicing HATRED and BIGOTRY in the name of religion or freedom. Hate speech is more likely to come under the 1st amendment exception of yelling “fire” in a crowded movie theatre for no reason.

All righty, this leads to the following, contacts for the school administrators if you feel like writing notes of support:

For the first story about the arrested bigot:
contact:
Estabrook Elementary

117 Grove Street
Lexington, MA 02420
(781) 861-2520
Joni Jay, Principal
jjay@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us


superintendent of schools
whurley@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us
William Hurley, Superintendent (781) 861-2550

for the second story about silence day:
Lexington High School

251 Waltham Street
Lexington, MA 02421
(781) 861-2320, ext. 1000
Dr. Michael Jones, Principal
mjones@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us

as for the lexington minuteman online, the only thing i could find for letters was a general “contact us” form for the herald, the parent company:
http://www.heraldinteractive.com/contactus/index.bg

there are pulldown menus to indicate where you would like your comment to be directed.

I should be ranting about Time magazine's abhorrent neocon pandering . . .

. . . but it's too close to bedtime. Instead, another delightful news brief from The Onion.

New Tech-Support Caste Arises In India

NEW DELHI—Thanks to widespread outsourcing of telephone-service jobs, a sixth caste has blossomed in India: the Khidakayas, a mid-level jati made up of technical-support workers. "I am happy to be a Khidakaya," said technical-support agent Ranji Prasat, who speaks English with a flawless American accent and goes by the name "Ron" at work. "While we rank below members of the reigning order, those of us responsible for helping Americans track their online purchases and change their account PINs share many privileges not enjoyed by the merchant class below us." Prasat said he expects to marry another tech-support worker.

EPA To Drop 'E,' 'P' From Name

March 23, 2005

WASHINGTON, DC—Days after unveiling new power-plant pollution regulations that rely on an industry-favored market-trading approach to cutting mercury emissions, EPA Acting Administrator Stephen Johnson announced that the agency will remove the "E" and "P" from its name. "We're notreally 'environmental' anymore, and we certainly aren't 'protecting' anything," Johnson said. "'The Agency' is a name that reflects our current agenda and encapsulates our new function as a government-funded body devoted to handling documents, scheduling meetings, and fielding phone calls." Thechange comes on the heels of the Department of Health and Human Services' January decision to shorten its name to the Department of Services.


No, not real. Just true -- a delightfully sarcastic news brief from The Onion.

Another reporter on the Neocon payroll

Reporter Accused of Producing Fake News for Florida Government

The South Florida Herald Tribune has exposed yet another case of a television reporter receiving public funds to produce PR news clips touting the work of state agencies. The newspaper said that while doing freelance reporting for Florida NBC stations and CNN, Mike Vasilinda had earned more than $100,000 over the past four years from contracts with the office of Gov. Jeb Bush and top state agencies. In an interview with the newspaper, Vasilinda maintained that he had put procedures in place to assure that there was no pro-agency bias reflected in his news reports. However, journalism ethics professor Bob Steele of the Poynter Institute told the Herald Tribune: "When journalists have loyalties to a government office or government agencies, those competing loyalties can undermine journalistic independence

From IMDb*'s Movie & TV News.

(*Internet Movie Database)