Saturday, October 11, 2008

Aussies welcome Soldier Home.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/mental-health-2.html

This is so sweet. Almost made me cry too. Maybe I'm just too emotional this week. ;-) This is why I love Aussies (and have two of them)

Friday, October 10, 2008

Almost made ME cry: CN Plaintiffs React to Same-Sex Marriage Ruling

click link to view

Connecticut joins the wave of change.

Connecticut now joins California and Massachusetts as the third state to end the exclusion of same-sex couples from marriage with the Connecticut Supreme Court ruling to uphold the freedom to marry in Kerrigan and Mock v. the CT Department of Public Health.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Vote NO

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Wedding Presents

With my wedding coming up in 10 short days... please consider contributing to keeping it legal longer than a few weeks. 

Mavericks in Washington

Alec Baldwin Imitates Sarah Palin

Actor and activist Alec Baldwin appeared on "Real Time with Bill Maher" Friday night. At several points during his sitdown, in which he was joined by CNN's Christiane Amanpour and comedian Garry Shandling, Baldwin winked at the camera and put on an accent in imitation of Sarah Palin. On the show, which first aired live Friday night, much of the discussion was about the previous night's vice presidential debate.


(wouldn't you LOVE to be sitting at THAT roundtable??)


On Sarah Palin


But, did you see the debate last night? Big ratings. And the big headline today is that she exceeded expectations. Which is like saying Andy Dick only drank half a bottle of Woolite. She - she kept saying that she represents "Joe Six-pack." You know what, sweetheart? If you get elected, Joe is going to need a lot more than a six-pack. He's going to be "Joe Prescription-Drug-Pack." – Bill Maher

I thought she won the first half hour, for sure, hands down. I think obviously Biden came back quite strong, and the polls all say that he won overall. She did the very clever thing of looking at the camera and talking directly to the people. – Christiane Amanpour

I thought she won the first two hours of that thing. I thought it was sort of endless... you have to give her credit because they took out the talent competition of the debate right before she went on. She was going to ice skate. – Garry Shandling

On Joe Biden

This is how I think he prepared for her, Bill: I think he watched tapes of how Johnny Carson used to deal with Charo. Is that about right? I salute Joe Biden- because she was this close to saying, "Cootchie-cootchie" at some point. – Garry Shandling

On McCain

No, he's getting desperate. His strategy for the next debate on Tuesday, is after he shakes hands with Obama, he's going to pretend his wallet is missing. – Bill Maher

John McCain cannot be saying, "We're winning the war in Iraq" at the same time we're going bankrupt. That means we're losing, because everybody has forgotten the connection - the planes hit the building - was an economic attack, am I correct? And if we didn't spend X-trillion into this war, we might be able to handle the housing issue. So anybody who says we're winning the war in Iraq, and the Treasury Secretary is saying we're two days from being bankrupt, excuse me! There's a lie going on here. – Garry Shandling

On President Bush

No, that's a fair and actually important question. If there was less terrorism, real democracy in the Middle East, genuine continuing stability; if some of the economic problems were solved. But, I - I think the economic crisis is - that we've only got a whiff of it now. As you noted, the rescue-bailout package passed today, and the stock market went down. What would have happened if it had not passed? So, we're in - in really serious economic trouble. And, you get into some of the numbers on this, and it is very scary. – Bob Woodward

On the Bailout

What do you think about, that the Congress today, they put $140 billion of pork on top of this bill? That's like an ambulance driver comes to your house and picks you up - you have a heart attack - and says, "You know, on the way to the hospital, can we stop and grab a drink at my friend's house?" – Alec Baldwin

Are they still calling it "bailout," because first it was a bailout; then they were rescuing meĆ¢€”now I think they're raping me. I don't know, what's the order? How does that go? – Garry Shandling

Well, look, in Japan, they didn't move quickly enough in the early nineties, and that was considered a failure. There was paralysis. And it took the better part of ten years, if not more, to get Japan back on track. So, a lot of people who are looking from around the world are sort of praising the flexibility and the speed with which the U.S. government stepped in and did something. And both candidates have basically likened it to battlefield first aid. One called it a tourniquet, the other one called it - you know, "stop the bleeding." – Christiane Amanpour

A little song for a rainy day

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Brigitte Bardot: Sarah Palin Is "A Disgrace For Women"


French film legend-turned-activist Brigitte Bardot took a swipe at Sarah Palin on Tuesday, saying the US vice presidential candidate was a disgrace to women.

"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world," Bardot wrote in an open letter to Republican John McCain's running mate in the November vote.

"By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe," wrote Bardot.

The screen icon from the 1960s, who now heads an animal rights foundation, went on to assail Palin for supporting Arctic oil exploration that could jeopardize delicate animal habitats and for dismissing measures to protect polar bears.

"This shows your total lack of responsibility, your inability to protect or simply respect animal life," Bardot wrote.

In a final salvo against Palin, the 74-year-old ex-star picked up on Palin's depiction of herself as a pitbull wearing lipstick and said she "implored" her not to compare herself to dogs.

"I know them well and I can assure you that no pitbull, no dog, nor any other animal for that matter is as dangerous as you are," Bardot wrote.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Funny but careful.. lots of language

Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.


Get the latest news satire and funny videos at 236.com.

Special Comment from Keith

Palin and Populism

    by Peggy Noonan, WSJ

She killed. She had him at "Nice to meet you. Hey, can I call you Joe?" She was the star. He was the second male lead, the good-natured best friend of the leading man. She was not petrified but peppy.

[Declarations]AP

The whole debate was about Sarah Palin. She is not a person of thought but of action. Interviews are about thinking, about reflecting, marshaling data and integrating it into an answer. Debates are more active, more propelled—they are thrust and parry. They are for campaigners. She is a campaigner. Her syntax did not hold, but her magnetism did. At one point she literally winked at the nation.

As far as Mrs. Palin was concerned, Gwen Ifill was not there, and Joe Biden was not there. Sarah and the camera were there. This was classic "talk over the heads of the media straight to the people," and it is a long time since I've seen it done so well, though so transparently. There were moments when she seemed to be doing an infomercial pitch for charm in politics. But it was an effective infomercial.

Joe Biden seems to have walked in thinking that she was an idiot and that he only had to patiently wait for this fact to reveal itself. This was a miscalculation. He showed great forbearance. Too much forbearance. She said of his intentions on Iraq, "Your plan is a white flag of surrender." This deserved an indignant response, or at least a small bop on the head, from Mr. Biden, who has been for five years righter on Iraq than the Republican administration. He was instead mild.

The heart of her message was a complete populist pitch. "Joe Six-Pack" and "soccer moms" should unite to fight the tormentors who forced mortgages on us. She spoke of "Main Streeters like me." A question is at what point shiny, happy populism becomes cheerful manipulation.

Sarah Palin saved John McCain again Thursday night. She is the political equivalent of cardiac paddles: Clear! Zap! We've got a beat! She will re-electrify the base. More than that, an hour and a half of talking to America will take her to a new level of stardom. Watch her crowds this weekend. She's about to get jumpers, the old political name for people who are so excited to see you they start to jump.

Her triumph comes at an interesting time. The failure of the first bailout bill was an epic repudiation of the Washington leadership class by the American people. Two weeks ago the president of the United States, the speaker of the House, the secretary of the Treasury and the leadership of both parties in Congress came forward and announced that the economy was in crisis and a federal bill to solve it urgently needed. The powers were in agreement, the stars aligned, it was going to happen.

And then the phones began to ring, from one end of Capitol Hill to the other. And the message in those calls was, essentially: We don't trust you to fix the problem, we suspect you may have caused it. Go away.

It was an epic snub, aimed at both parties. And the bill tanked.

We have simply, as a nation, never had a moment like this, in which the American people voted such a stunning no-confidence in America's leaders in a time of real and present danger. The fate of the second bill is unclear as I write, but the fact that it has morphed from three pages to roughly 450, and is festooned with favors, will do nothing to allay public suspicions about the trustworthiness of Congress. This, as a background, could not have helped Mr. Biden.

We have never seen an economic meltdown like this? We've never seen a presidential meltdown like this. George W. Bush's weakness is not all lame-duckship. In the last year of his presidency Ronald Reagan met with Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow and helped change the world. In the penultimate year of his presidency, Bill Clinton sent U.S. troops, successfully, into Kosovo.

After the first bailout failed, Mr. Bush spoke like a man who was a mere commentator, not the leader in a crisis.

We witness here a great political lesson. When you are president, it matters—it really matters—that a majority of the people support and respect you. When you squander that affection, you lose more than mere popularity. You lose the ability to lead when your country is in crisis. This is a terrible loss, and a dangerous one, for the whole world is watching.

Young aides to Reagan used to grouse, late in his second term, that he had high popularity levels, that popularity was capital, and that he should spend it more freely on potential breakthroughs of this kind or that. But Reagan and the men around him were wiser. They spent when they had to and were otherwise prudent. (Is there a larger lesson here?) They were not daring when they didn't have to be. They knew presidential popularity is a jewel to be protected, and to be burnished when possible, because without it you can do nothing. Without the support and trust of the people you cannot move, cannot command. You are left, like Mr. Bush, talking to an empty room.

We saw this week, too, a turn in the McCain campaign's response to criticisms of Mrs. Palin. I find obnoxious the political game in which if you expressed doubts about the vice presidential nominee, or criticized her, you were treated as if you were knocking the real America—small towns, sound values. "It's time that normal Joe Six-Pack American is finally represented in the position of vice presidency," Mrs. Palin told talk-show host Hugh Hewitt. This left me trying to imagine Abe Lincoln saying he represents "backwoods types," or FDR announcing that the fading New York aristocracy deserves another moment in the sun. I'm not sure the McCain campaign is aware of it—it's possible they are—but this is subtly divisive. As for the dismissal of conservative critics of Mrs. Palin as "Georgetown cocktail party types" (that was Mr. McCain), well, my goodness. That is the authentic sound of the aggression, and phony populism, of the Bush White House. Good move. That ended well.

We must take happiness where we can. Tina Fey's Sarah Palin has become, in that old phrase, a national sensation, and Ms. Fey is becoming, with her show "30 Rock," and now the Palin impression, one of the great comic figures of her generation. Her work with Amy Poehler (as Katie Couric) in last weekend's spoof on "Saturday Night Live" was so astoundingly good—the hand gestures, the vocal tone and spirit—that it captured some of the actual heart of the Palin story. Ms. Poehler as Couric: "Mrs. Palin, are you aware that when cornered you become increasingly adorable?" Ms. Fey as Palin mugs, adorably.

To spoof someone well takes talent, but to utterly nail a political figure while not brutalizing him takes a real gift, and amounts almost to a public service. After all, to capture someone is a kind of tribute: it concedes he is real, vivid, worthy of note. We are not as a nation manufacturing trust all that well, or competence, or leadership. But some things we do well, and one is comedy. Ms. Fey plays characters who are sour, stressed and who, on "30 Rock," live in a world that is cynical, provisional and shallow. But to observe life so closely takes a kind of love.

The First Mrs. McCain

I always find it interesting to hear about the "first wife".. the one who goes through hell just to be dropped for a younger model.  It's a long but very good read.

The Separate Peace of John And Carol

In the Demise of His First Marriage, John McCain's Life Seems to Have Found a New Path

SLIDESHOW
  Previous        Next    
With Dad in Vietnam, Carol celebrates Thanksgiving with Doug, Andy and Sidney.
With Dad in Vietnam, Carol celebrates Thanksgiving with Doug, Andy and Sidney. (Family Photos)
Washington Post Staff Writer 
Monday, October 6, 2008; Page C01

In early 1980, John McCain was a man in transition -- and in a hurry.

Nine months earlier, at a cocktail reception in Hawaii, he met a glamorous young heiress named Cindy Lou Hensley and, by all accounts, fell instantly in love. McCain spent months flying from Washington to Arizona pursuing this new relationship. Soon, the 43-year-old naval attache and his 25-year-old sweetheart were engaged.

There was only one complication: McCain was still married.

(READ)


CA: Fresno priest comes out against Prop 8 during Mass

by: Pam Spaulding

Mon Oct 06, 2008 at 07:30:00 AM EDT


Father Geoffrey Farrow of the Saint Paul Newman Center on the campus of the University of California (Fresno) is a brave man because he delivered what was likely his final Mass on Sunday -- a homily on love, acceptance and fellowship -- and spoke out against Proposition 8. He is bucking the recommendation of his bishop, placing 23 years of service to the church on the line. (ABC30, there is video):
"In directing the faithful to vote yes on proposition 8, the California Bishops are not only entering the political arena, they are ignoring the advances and insights of neurology, psychology and the very statements by the church itself that homosexual is innate," says Fr. Geoff.

The priest acknowledges his controversial comments will have consequences. "I know that these words of truth will cost me dearly. But to withhold them would be far more costly and I would become an accomplice to a moral evil that strips gay and lesbian couples, not only of their civil rights but of their human dignity as well."

And he was not finished.
We sat down with Father Geoff before mass, and he answered the question many are probably wondering... Is he gay? "It's a secondary issue. But yes, I am. And when I was a boy I asked God please make me normal and the prayer never got answered and I realized why. Because God would've made somebody else he wouldn't have made me."
There was a mixed reaction by parishioners to the homily (about half stood to give a standing ovation. There were also familiar protestations of "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve." Bishop John Steinbock, the head of the Diocese of Fresno gave a limp answer, knowing that Farrow's public position will have grave consequences, saying "Proposition 8 is not a homosexuality issue rather about the institution of marriage which is the basis of our society."

Read the entire homily of Father Farrow -- (CLICK HERE)


--

In a follow up to this story. I spoke with my Mom yesterday (81 year old Catholic) who complained that the priest gave a speech on getting out and voting cuz the Bishop ordered him too. "I thought about getting up and walking out."  Funny how this lady gets a little brave late in life when it comes to politics.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Noonan Says Palin's Type Of Populism Is Bad For Country


Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, conservative columnist Peggy Noonan said that the "populist" tactics being deployed by Sarah Palin was "not helpful to the country" and painted her candidacy as built on class warfare.

"She is a natural," said Noonan, "But I will tell you, I feel increased concern about... what she thinks of as populism, as her populist approach. There are two ways, you know, her stuff about, 'I'm main street, you are the elite, I'm Joe six-pack.' She actually says 'I'm the Joe six-pack candidate.' This has me thinking, gosh, would Lincoln say 'I represent the backwoods type?' Would FDR say, 'the New York aristocracy deserves another moment in the sun, vote for me?' There's something weird about it. But there is also something, for me, concerning. Populism as a tactic is justified often in politics. 'I need this program, the people want it.' Populism as a strategy, 'we're the good guys, you're the bad guys,' is not good. And if that's the road they are going, that's not a good road to be on. It is not helpful to the country."

Noonan has been skittish about Palin's candidacy from the get-go, though not always publicly demonstrative about her concerns. She was caught, off camera, calling the vice presidential pick as cynical. But she has also, on occasion, praised Palin for energizing the Republican base and for her debate performance.

On Sunday, Noonan expanded on those compliments, arguing that Palin did an effective job on Thursday night but one that amounted to a political infomercial.

"I'll be frank, she convinced the American people -- though they had seen her crater in the interview after interview in the previous few weeks before that debate -- that she was capable of coming forward and simply debating," said the Wall Street Journal columnist. "I think she showed that she is a woman of great and natural competence about the show-business of politics, if you will: the ability to look over the camera, to think that the camera is your friend, all of that stuff. But there are questions about other areas."

Ifill: Palin "Blew Me Off"

On "Meet the Press" Sunday morning, vice presidential debate moderator Gwen Ifill said Palin "more than ignored" some of her questions -- she "blew me off." She added that Palin decided to "give a stump speech" instead of a debate, and that there's "little a moderator can do" to stop that. Watch VIDEO:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/05/ifill-palin-blew-me-off_n_132028.html

Who is Palin? We Still Don't Know.

Sheryl Crow, Huffington Post
Posted October 3, 2008 | 02:25 AM (EST)

First, let me say that John McCain's choosing Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate is not my idea of putting country first, but instead seems to me to have been a strategical tactic to save his flailing campaign at a time when Senator Obama's attention was at a peak.

Secondly, I'll say that, darn it, Sarah Palin is cute. However, my frustration with Governor Palinnever answering a question was exasperating. She certainly was down-home and sassy. Certain statements she made struck me as ironic -- statements such as John McCain representing change and reform, when he has been so deeply aligned with George W. Bush.

In her charmin' demeanor, she managed to turn around questions so many times that she was almost believable as knowing what she was talking about. Unfortunately, for Joe Biden, Governor Palin was able to baffle him several times and at points, put him in the defensive position. She certainly is a quick study, but she could not possibly hold her own in foreign policy with Biden. However, so many times she turned Biden's answers around on him, cleverly inserting her own coached message without regard for the original question. It is almost impossible to believe that she was not heavily coached for this debate when the interviews with Katie Couric were so telling. So, who is she? We still do not know, even after this debate, because of what looks somewhat like a cover-up, in that she has never been able to speak extemporaneously, with the exception of the Couric interview, which was revealing.

I, for one, am terrified that all the "soccer moms" and the "Joe six-packs" will fall for the likable candidate as being qualified to lead our country. I don't want someone who is likable, I want the smartest, most prepared team, and that does not include the spunky Sarah Palin. The major component she has working for her is that she knows exactly when to throw in the statement, "John McCain and I are Mavericks!," a self-appointed label. She has embarrassed me as a woman who knows how to deliver a strong message or idea without having to be sarcastic, snarky, cutesy, or condescending with a down-home affectation. She gets my vote for Miss Congeniality though. Darn right!!

Palin Misquotes Albright: "Place In Hell Reserved For Women Who Don't Support Other Women"


At a rally on Saturday in California, Sarah Palin offered up a rather jarring argument for supporting the Republican ticket. "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women," the Alaska Governor said, claiming she was quoting former Clinton Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

The statement came after Palin had recounted a "providential" moment she experienced on Saturday: "I'm reading on my Starbucks mocha cup, okay? The quote of the day... It was Madeleine Albright, former Secretary of State [crowd boos] and UN ambassador. ... Now she said it, I didn't. She said, 'There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't support other women.'"

Actually, Albright didn't say that. The accurate quote is, "There's a place in Hell reserved for women who don't help other women." (Sourcesmade the same point to CBS's Scott Conroy.)

Palin seemed to realize that the line could be viewed as grating. As the audience cheered, she remarked: "Okay, now, thank you so much for receiving that well. I didn't know how that was gonna go over. And now, California, let's see what a comment like I just made, how that is turned into whatever it'll be turned into tomorrow with the newspaper."

Albright responded to Palin's remarks in a statement to the Huffington Post on Sunday. "Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden."

Tina Fey on SNL as Palin