Judge orders FEMA to resume post-hurricane payments

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the Bush administration violated the Constitution by denying aid to thousands of Gulf Coast residents who were displaced by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Judge Leon ordered FEMA, whom he described as creating a "Kafkaesque" process, to resume payments immediately. The judge pointed out that the agency cut off rental aid without appropriate explanation, and obstructed applicants' due process rights to correct errors or appeal government mistakes.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

And we wonder why no one does anything about adult crime

This morning, I was in a medical waiting room and more or less forced to watch "The Montel Willams Show." He had little girl and her mother on. The little girl has sensory autonomic neuropathy, which prevents her from feeling pain, and she scratched her eye seriously when she was a baby. She has worse problems now: The children at school "test" her disorder by kicking, punching, scratching, and slapping her. For good measure, they pushed her down a flight of stairs. Her mother taught her to say "ouch" but of course, the other kids knew the "ouch" wasn't real.

The school has obviously done nothing at all to help this child. Her perpetrators continue to go to school with her. Just as obviously, the perpetrators' parents have done nothing. I have frequently written about the failure of schools, law enforcement officials and parents to stop abuse and assault at schools. I deal with this almost every week in my practice.

Children can be very mean to one another--we all know that. But endangering the life of a child is beyond mean; it is sadistic. These are the children our culture is producing.

As I watched the show, I wondered why the girl's parents hadn't taken more action. There was a woman in the waiting room with me, and she was visibly shocked by the material on the screen. She looked at me and shook her head. "It happens all the time," I told her. "No one does anything--not the schools, not the police (in our city, the police recently told a mother who was assaulted by an ex-boyfriend that they didn't intervene in cases of "puppy love"--the mother did not pursue a complaint against the officer), not even the parents."

"If it were my kid, I said, "someone would be in big trouble (actually, I said something stronger, but I'm cleaning it up a bit). "Well," the other woman said, "maybe after it happened several times." "No," I told her. "Once would be enough."

A study word for Ms. Cloutet : consequences

Danny Guillory is the principal of Covington High School in Covington, Louisiana. He has just returned from a two-month vacation, compliments of the School Board, because he was convicted of DWI. Guillory was caught driving 83 mph. on the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway (the speed limit is 65 mph.), and he refused to take a field sobriety test. He was given a $500 fine, two years of probation, and an order to do forty-eight hours of community service.

It could have been worse. This was Guillory's second DWI conviction. He received his first one when he was a teacher in the Mandeville, Louisiana schools. However, that occurred more than ten years ago, so his recent conviction was treated as a first offense.

Feelings about Guillory's return have been mixed. Some people think he should not have been allowed to return to his position as head of a high school. Others thought he should be "forgiven."

As far as I know, there has been no organized parent movement to prevent Guillory's return, but that doesn't surprise me. In Mandeville, for example, it is not uncommon for parents to throw keg parties for their kids because "we'd rather they drink at home." A Covington High parent, Lisa Cloutet, says that she is "elated" over Guillory's return.

"I know he's in that role as a mentor or leader," says Cloutet, "but my opinion is if kids are going to drink, they're going to drink no matter if Danny Guillory drinks or not. I just don't see it as a big problem."

As though the problem is that Danny Guillory "drinks." When Guillory went on his drunken joyride on the Causeway, he could have easily killed me, or--for that matter--Cloutet's children. He could have left us brain-injured. At the very least, he could have wrecked our cars and broken our bones.

Whether Guillory is alcoholic or an alcohol abuser is not relevant when it comes to his drunk driving. Perhaps his apology to the school will be backed up by recovery or a behavior change, and perhaps it won't. That isn't the issue. The issue is that 16- and 17-year-olds believe they cannot die, they have very poor impulse control, they do what their peers do, and many of them doubtless think it is way cool that their principal drank a half-case of beer or a half-quart of vodka or whatever he drank, drove the Causeway at an outrageous speed, and survived to return to their school. Two months off, $500, volunteer at a nursing home, and coast clear.

Guillory is obviously well-regarded, and one hopes he will do well in the future. But again, that is not the issue. The issue is that parents like Lisa Cloutet do not see what happened as a "big issue." Yes, her kids probably are going to drink; kids do. All the more reason that they learn, first-hand, that there are consequences for the inappropriate use of a drug.

I'm also quite certain that if there had been a revelation that the Covington High principal was gay, or that he was an athiest, or a member of the Green Party, he would be looking for a job in another state. But a drunken spree on a highway in Louisiana is no big deal.

Obviously, I think it would have been better if Guillory had not been allowed to return. But my strong feelings are not really about whether he stays or goes. They are about the failure of parents to understand that when children, their parents, and their role models can get away with cheating, abusing and endangering, the children learn a huge lesson, and it isn't a pretty one.

The indoor holiday garden

H. 'Amaretta'

Columnist says gay marriage is linked to out-of-wedlock births

You have to stretch your neck and spin your head around to even try to grasp Brendan Miniter's reasoning in his Wall Street Journal column of yesterday. Miniter writes that there is a connection between gay marriage and the rise in out-of-wedlock births in the U.S.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Five children (one an infant) killed in Ramadi

A clash between Iraqi insurgents and U.S. Marines has resulted in the deaths of five girls, the oldest of whom was ten and the youngest of whom was six months. Insurgents standing on the roof of a house fired at the Marines, who responded with tank fire.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Shopping while Iraq burns

Bob Herbert writes that "Americans are shopping while Iraq burns." Of course, Americans are shopping while Africa disintegrates, too. Herbert's point, though, is that while the war in Iraq may be an American possession, Americans appeared unconcerned about it as they rushed to the Thursday midnight openings of many shopping malls.

Iraq is not America's only ugly responsibility--there is also New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where trash is in the street, dead bodies are found each morning, the remains of buildings lay on the ground, and residents cook meals in toaster ovens in trailers where they can hardly turn around.

But hey--things at Wal-Mart are hopping. A few days ago, I was in a grocery store line where a woman kept looking at her watch. "I have to get to Wal-Mart before I go home," she said, with panic in her voice. "Don't you hate how crowded it gets there?" she asked me. I told her I had boycotted Wal-Mart for many years, and she looked at me as if I had said a spaceship had landed on my garage.

"You know," I said, "paying women way less than they pay men for doing the same job. Locking their employees in at night so that they can't escape a fire. Refusing to pay disability claims. Making their employees do mandatory unpaid overtime."

Her eyes got large, and she said "That's terrible."

"There are other places to shop," I said, and she smiled, looked at her watch, and said if she hurried, she could make it to Wal-Mart before she had to be home.

Because America--all she wants to do is dance. And shop.

When you see the lawyers coming

You feel a sudden compulsion to stop acting like an idiot.

For those who enjoy irony

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, speaking at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner last night, said that "'a different set of rules' should be considered to reduce the ability of terrorists to use the Internet and abuse free speech to get out their message."

My question is: What in hell was Gingrich doing there as a speaker?

Brownback may block Bush's nominee for U.S. District Court Judgeship

Judge Janet T. Neff, a member of the Michigan Court of Appeals, is George W. Bush's nominee for a spot on the U.S. District Court. Neff has a long-time neighbor who is a lesbian, and in 2002, she attended her friend's commitment ceremony in Massachusetts. According to Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas, Neff's attendance gave the appearance that she "betrayed her legal views on gay marriage."

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

The First Lady has a message for the children

Right here.

Charismatic senators do not necessarily make good presidents

For example, take John F. Kennedy, a man who supported some worthy causes (excluding feminism) but did not put an abundance of energy into turning them into policy. That may have been because, as a drug addict and victim of a severe sexual compulsion, he did not have the time or energy to do so. Also, his choice of company was highly questionable. In short, in a second term, he may have found his way or he may have altogether crashed. We will never know because of the tragedy of his death.

Now, along comes charismatic (or so I'm told; I have yet to see the charisma) Barack Obama, who is very intelligent and articulate, but who has little experience at a high level of government. Yet he is purportedly "talking" with consultants about a run for the presidency, and he ranks high (along with the dreadful John McCain and the equally dreadful Rudy Giuliani) in a poll that measures the popularity of American leaders.

Hello. This is not the homecoming court selection; it is the election of the alleged leader of the free world. If you feel "good" about McCain (especially if you are a Democrat), you probably should recall that he is a nasty, far-right-wing panderer of the first degree. If you feel "warm" about Giuliani, you should recall that of the two dozen or so civil liberties cases filed against him in New York, he lost all of them. And if you feel "nice" about Obama, please remember that he has next to no federal government experience. (If you are a member or friend of the LGBT community, you should know that he does not support gay marriage for "religious" reasons.)

This month's Harper's has a good overview of Obama--"Barack Obama Inc."

More poetry

I forgot all about this: I have two sestinas and a piece of free verse in the current issue of MOBIUS, and one of the sestinas is featured on the journal's website.

MOBIUS, which has a new editor and has just changed from a semi-annual to annual publication, is an especially lively poetry journal, which I enjoy reading. Rita Dove and Marge Piercy have poems in the current issue.

I discover I am a Satan worshipper

According to some residents of the nuthouse otherwise known as Colorado, this is a symbol of Satan. According to others, it is an anti-Iraq war symbol.

At any rate, the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs has warned wreath-hanger Lisa Jensen that she will be fined $25 for every day she keeps the wreath on her house. Jensen, who is probably not a Satan-worshipper, says she did not have Iraq on her mind when she hung the wreath, just peace in general.

The subdivision does not allow signs and flags that are "devisive." The association president, Bob Kearns, ordered his committee to tell Jensen she had to remove the wreath, but since committee members came to the startling conclusion that what Jensen was hanging was a holiday symbol, they refused. Kearns subsequently fined all of the committee members.

Jensen refused to take the wreath down.

The indoor holiday garden

H. 'Lemon Lime'

Amen, sister

Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi said today that nations with nuclear capability should spend money not on bombs, but on stopping the exploitation of women.

I'll drink to that, and I'll stretch the budget to add children and non-humans.

Intentionally or otherwise, Chevrolet has a message for gay shoppers

In the new Chevy truck commercial, Chevy describes its "philosophy" by showing an image of a Boy Scout. Knot-tying, fire-building, citizenship training, and bigotry.

How Michael Richards should have handled the heckler

Instead of calling him a nigger, he should have just called him gay. Why didn't I think of that?

I have new poetry online

In L'Intrigue.

Also, Hurricane Blues: How Katrina and Rita Ravaged a Nation is now on sale. I am pleased to have one of my poems, "Things To Do While You Wait for the Roofer," in this anthology.

Confused by religion

I just saw part of a documentary film on the passage of the Massachusetts gay marriage law. A woman in a full-length mink coat informed a crowd that God says a man can marry only a woman, and vice versa.

So apparently, God does not want a committed couple to have legal rights for themselves and their children, but God is fine and dandy with a couple of dozen minks being anally electrocuted so this woman can have a coat.

Plenty of troops to fight against the War on Christmas

Signing up to fight the "War on Christmas" may be more popular these days than signing up to fight that other war. Between Bill O'Reilly's ranting and John Gibson's writing, publicity about the non-existent war on Christmas hit a peak last holiday season.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Friday cat blogging--ready for the holidays

Why would a president (or a fake president) "pardon" a turkey?

The turkey has done nothing wrong. It is an innocent victim. But it has to be pardoned for the crime of...what?...being a turkey? Some of America's "cute" traditions make me kind of sick.

Thank you

Eleanor Smeal.

I can't stop laughing...

Tears ran down my face when I saw this video. Thanks to Caroline Dobuzinskis at MoJo Blog.

Happy National Day of Mourning!

Oh, wait...that's supposed to be Thanksgiving, but not everyone is thankful.

There are some teachers who are actually teaching the historically correct version of Thanksgiving, to the horror of true Amuricans. Maybe some day, they will also teach what happens to the turkeys. Or even better, factory farming will be a thing of the past.

Next time there's a hurricane

I must remember not to go to Greenleaf, Idaho. Ordinance 208, passed last week by the Greenleaf City Council, requests that citizens keep guns in their homes, just in case people fleeing a natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina should wind up there. "We could get refugees," said councilman Steven Jett, who dreamed up this piece of civic responsibility.

God forbid. Some of us might seek hotel rooms to rent, food and liquor to buy, and a place to pick up some bath foam and Ibuprofin.

Apparently, Jett's ordinance got through pretty easily, and "drew only mild criticism from the pastor of the town's Quaker meeting house." The law originally required citizens to keep guns in their houses, but the language was toned down to make allowances for people with religious or other moral objections to gun ownership.

The mayor of Greenleaf, which is just outside Boise, owns over two dozen rifles.

Quote of the week

"My son is an honest man."

George H.W. Bush

BU College Republicans create scholarship for white students...sort of

The Boston University College Republicans have decided to put their money where their mouth is in order to combat the "worst form of bigotry confronting America today." To that end, the organization has created a scholarship for white students only, the Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship. In order, I suppose, to not look too "politically incorrect," recipients are required to be at least 25% white, recalling the days of 19th Century New Orleans.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Farewell, Robert Altman

Robert Altman died last night at the age of eighty-one. The wonderful Altman broke ground with the multi-plotted "Nashville," paving the way for other directors to introduce multiple related plot lines in their films. Best known for "Nashville," "MASH and "McCabe and Mrs. Miller," Altman's career spanned several decades. My own favorite Altman film is "The Player," which pays tribute to who knows how many famous films (you have to be very, very quick to catch them all), and has some very funny, clever stuff in it.

Add sexual abuse to the list of Houston police violations of protesters

Amanda at Pandagon has an update on the police-perpetrated abuse of the protesting janitors in Houston. Now there is evidence that some of the female protesters were also sexually abused. I know everyone is surprised.

The best "Whatever happened to...?" to come along in a while

Tennis fans may wonder whatever happened to Andrea Jaeger, the temperamental American tennis star with the big forehand and the mighty topspin who was once number two in the world, and who was a finalist at both Wimbledon and the French Open.

Jaeger's tennis career, unfortunately, was cut short by a severe shoulder injury, and people lost track of her. In 1989, two years after her forced retirement (she actually stopped playing in 1985), Jaeger co-founded Little Star Foundation, which provides help to children who are ill, neglected, poor, and abused. And as of September, the former tennis great became Sister Andrea, an Anglican Dominican nun. Sister Andrea's main activity now is helping children with cancer.

FBI conspired to frame innocent men in murder convictions 40 years ago

Thousands of recently released FBI documents from the U.S. Justice Department show that the FBI, in an attempt to cultivate mobsters Vincent "Jimmy the Bear" Flemmi and Joseph "The Animal" Barboza, allowed them to frame four innocent men for murder forty years ago.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Dennis Kucinich

As always, kicks ass.

Union Pacific Railroad has a message for women---Breed, honey, breed

Elizabeth Gettelman, writing in MoJo Blog, talks about the possible ramifications of the suit brought against Union Pacific Railroad for not covering contraceptives in its health plans. The suit, filed by two female employees and Planned Parenthood, alleges that Union Pacific, in failing to provide the coverage, is in violation of the Federal Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employers with fifteen or more employees from discrimination based on gender or pregnancy.

But get this: Union Pacific's defense is that the company is not obligated to provide contraceptive coverage because fertility is normal and therefore, birth control is not a medical necessity. In other words, it is the job of the women who work for Union Pacific to breed, breed, breed. I would be interested to know how they treat their female employees once they learn they are pregnant and will be taking maternity leaves.

A U.S. District Court has already ruled in favor of the women, and the case is now being heard by the 8th District Court of Appeals. If the appeals court also rules in favor of the plaintiffs, all companies could be mandated to cover contraceptives.

"Getting offended doesn't help our cause, it just makes you weak"

I saw that phrase on a so-called liberal message board today. The poster was angry that others had questioned her use of a word they thought demeaned women, and she said they were being overly "politically correct." I am not going to address the word or the argument, just the statement that being offended makes you "weak."

That is a perfect example of what I was writing about here-- the reluctance people have to complain and confront when they are abused, or least perceive that they are abused. It is perfectly fine, thank you very much, for liberals and pseudo-liberals to argue among themselves, no matter who happens to be peeking. It is okay for parents to argue in front of their children. And it is the opposite of weak to confront someone who has offended you.

Where did we get these crazy ideas?

What part of "definitely" don't they understand?

For some time now, Belgian's tennis great, Kim Clijsters--who is famous for the Clijsters splits--has made it very clear that she will retire at the end of 2007. But every time there is a tournament, the commentators talk about how Clijsters is "considering" retirement, "talking about" retirement, or "giving some thought" to retirement. That is simply untrue. Clijsters has made it clear from the get-go that this was a firm decision and she would not change her mind.

Now she has received an invititation to be on the next Belgian Olympic team, and this time, she has stepped outside her mellow and cordial persona to discuss it. She actually sounded a bit irritated when she said, for the hundredth time, that she is retiring at the end of next season.

It is wishful thinking. None of us wants Kim to retire. She is a great athlete, an exceptional tennis player, and we just plain like her.

If Clijsters doesn't win a Grand Slam next year, she will retire as a one-Slam winner, a distinction which does not in any way reflect how great a player she is. Just as Gabriela Sabatini ran into the wall known as Steffi Graf over and over, and wound up a one-Slam winner, Clijsters has run into the wall of her countrywoman, Justine Henin-Hardenne, over and over. In 2001, Jennifer Capriati defeated her in the finals of the French Open, but in the 2003 French Open, the 2003 U.S. Open and the 2004 Australian Open, she lost the finals to Henin-Hardenne. Finally, in 2005, she defeated Mary Pierce to win the U.S. Open. Clijsters has also won the WTA Tour Year-End Championships twice, in 2002 and 2003, and won doubles in both the 2003 French Open and Wimbledon (Sabatini, for the record, also has one Grand Slam women's doubles trophy--Wimbledon, 1988--and she won the Olympic silver medal in 1988).

Clijsters, who has sustained very serious injuries in her tennis career, says she does not wish to have a permanently disabled body, so she is getting out while the damage is mild to moderate. "I hurt all the time," she said recently, of her struggle on the tour. She will be remembered, I think, for her stunning athleticism. I wish she would play for several more years, but I understand. Her performance at the recent Year-End Championships was thrilling and top-form, and here's hoping she wins another Slam before she leaves the tour.

Oregon has banned canned hunting

Coward Cheney will not be able to hunt there.

Why is it?

That the people who scream the loudest about law and order are the same ones who litter the streets, let their dogs run wild through the neighborhood, drive 10 miles over the speed limit, and ask me to commit insurance fraud for them?

There is a thoughtful comment under my MoJo post about the Houston mounted police having run over protesters with their horses. The commenter discusses the collapse of America's social fabric and cites such common moral lapses as insurance fraud, athletes who cheat to win, and students who cheat. He goes on to say that most of us "look the other way" when faced with ethical or legal lapses.

I think that is true. I have written before that parents do not loudly insist that schools and law enforcement protect their children from bullies (including teachers) because their children "asked me not to do it," or because "well, I know I should, but I'm just dropping the matter." And I have written that girls and young women tend to not pursue justice when they are sexually assaulted (this lapse can end in your perpetrator becoming goveror of your state), though, given the attitude of some law enforcement agencies, who can blame them? Boys and men who are physically and verbally abused by sports personnel do not pursue justice because it is "feminine" to do so. Many people have described both child and animal abuse to me, and when I have asked, "Did you call the authorities?" they said "I should have, but I didn't," or "I didn't know I could," or just "No."

Cheating is now the norm among students; surveys done of cheating in both homework and on tests produce shocking results, and the consequences do not seem to be serious enough to change behaviors. The sexual harrassment and assault of women and girls is rampant in this country, as is the harrassment and abuse of gay citizens and people of color. Copyright theft is a common pratice. The dumping of toxic waste in residential areas continues to take place. As I write this, residents of the Gulf Coast are dealing with the continual looting of their residences, and with insurance companies who refuse to honor their contracts.

The recent scandals in Congress regarding Tom DeLay, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley, and others supposedly indicate that voters want a change. But the "moral lapses" that preceded these--blatantly stealing elections, creating multiple lies in order to invade a country, re-writing official scientific reports, fabricating outrageous stories about political opponents--these were never really "scandals" at all. Voters did not come forward and demand restitution. As I see it, the reaction to the Abramoff and Foley scandals is just a brief looking up in the middle of a very long national nap.

Be an angel

Untold numbers of neglected dogs are left outside in the winter with no shelter. They are chained while it sleets and snows, or they are just wandering in yards, looking for some warmth. Many get frostbite, and some die.

You can give the gift of shelter to a dog this winter by donating to PETA's "Angel for Animals" program.

This is a story worth hearing

How mammals came to be called mammals is linked to a campaign to oppress women. Listen here.

Commemorating N.O.W.'s 40th birthday

NPR's "All Things Considered" did a story today on the 40th anniversary of the founding the National Organization for Women. I didn't get to hear all of it, but the part I did hear was about how Third Wave feminists are suffering from exactly the same social evils as we did all those decades ago, yet they are not interested in joining an organization that actively fights to change the status quo.

Also interesting was listening to a women's studies professor at George Washington University address her class of women: "Now, guys..."

I see a really bad motor vehicle accident

Yesterday evening, I was driving to the local feed and seed store when I saw a horrible thing. I was on the main highway when a truck at the intersection just ahead of me ran a stop sign and plowed right into the car in front of me, instantly knocking it into the ditch on the other side of the street. Fortunately, there were no close oncoming cars in the other lane. I parked my car on the shoulder of the road and went to check on the car in the ditch. A young woman, who kept saying "Thank goodness my babies weren't in the car" sat in the driver's seat, her airbag having already deployed and deflated. On the other side of the road, the driver of the truck lay face down on the shoulder, his feet sticking out into the highway. He apparently was thrown from the truck when the accident occurred.

The woman appeared to have a minor (so far) injury from the airbag, and an ambulance took the man away. When the police came, they didn't even ask for my statement; I had to offer it. One of them--a very young country-boy type, called the victim "sweetheart," which she told me upset her, but what could she do, given the state she was in, except make a face? I gave her my cell phone and stuck around with her until her husband came to get her. The car, which wasn't hers, was smashed up pretty badly, and there were police, fire trucks, ambulances, rescue trucks, and a tow truck milling about everywhere.

This is, believe it or not, a Katrina story. My community is not exactly one I recommend, given the plan to build a nine-food statue of Ronald Reagan and the overwhelming vote for Bobby Jindal for governor. But, with all its flaws, it has always been a pretty safe place to drive, and the drivers here have always been courteous. People didn't cut in in traffic, and they were quick to let another person in.

That was before Katrina. It turns out that many of our post-Katrina residents do not have a clue about how to drive safely or with courtesy. A lot of people have told me that they are afraid to drive around town now. The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway has become unsafe, speeding is common, and we have had some horrible accidents. The I-12 going from here to Baton Rouge is described as a driving nightmare, with people going at racetrack speeds and no state police to stop them.

I was next in line. Another moment here or there, and the red truck would have plowed into me. Having been run off the Interstate by a Waste Management truck a few years ago (the story is too long to tell, but it is a doozy), I am rather sensitive about this sort of thing. Katrina really has changed everyhing about our life here.

Houston mounted police run over protesters

Last night, nearly one thousand striking janitors met at the corner of Travis and Capitol in Houston in preparation for a protest march to Houston Police Department Headquarters on Travis Street. The four-week-old strike resulted in fourteen arrests on Wednesday, when striking janitors and union organizers chained themselve to the Chevron building in Houston. The janitors are striking in the hope of getting health benefits and a raise in wage to $8.50 an hour. The average current wage is $5.30 an hour. They also report numerous civil rights abuses and failure of management to bargain in good faith. The five main companies involved are Hines, Transwestern, Crescent, Brookfield Properties, and Chevron.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

The fat is in the fire, free expression is in the grave

"The Fat Is In the Fire," an artistic statement about obesity in America, was taken down by Customs House Museum director Ned Crouch less than a day after it was installed. Artist William Gentry exhibited three deep-fried American flags and over forty smaller flags in the Clarksville, Tennessee museum. The three large flags were imprinted with phrases such as "Poor people are obese because they eat poorly."

"It's about what the community values," Crouch said. "I'm representing 99 percent of our membership--educators, doctors, lawyers, military families." Blah, blah, blah. It's about an interesting art installation that was removed by someone caught up in the current fascist mindset.

Crouch said the timing of the piece could cause "incendiary reactions." I thought that was part of what art was all about.As of right now, 62% of online voters at CNN say that deep-fried flags cannot be art.

Ruth Brown is gone

Ruth Brown has died, at age 78, of complications following a heart attack and a stroke. When I was a child, Brown and the great LaVern Baker were two of my favorite singers. "(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean" still plays in my head sometimes. Brown's career was a long one. She did film and Broadway work, winning a Tony for her role in Black and Blue (she was replaced by Baker when she left the cast), and played clubs until she became too ill to work.

Known as "Miss Rhythm," Brown was a major spokeswoman for the many musicians of her generation who were manipulated out of their rightful earnings by record companies and managers that did not pay them their royalties. Brown recorded songs for the film, Honeydripper, and was on her way to Alabama to act in the film when she became ill. She was a musical treasure.

Bush appoints anti-birth control activist to oversee reproductive clinic funding

Eric Keroack, M.D., who opposes all forms of birth control, was appointed by George W. Bush yesterday to be chief of family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services. His appointment is a kind of follow-up to the appointment of Dr. David Hager as a member of the FDA Advisory Committee. Hager (whose ex-wife says he sodomized her repeatedly without her consent), opposed Plan B and advised women suffering from PMS to pray and read the Bible.

(Continue reading at MoJo Blog)

Riddle me this

What kind of crazy-ass, self-loathing woman would pay to have sex with Mike Tyson?

So what's in the water in Minnesota?

That was some election. Pam Spaulding tells us that Mark Olson, who was just elected to his eighth term in the Minnesota legislature, spent two nights in jail for assaulting his wife. Olson pushed her to the ground three times. When he got out of the Big House, he clutched a Bible and asked forgiveness for what he had done. Pam also points out that Olson is listed in the Young Republicans' Hall of Fame. But of course. (They get started early now, kicking protesters and beating them up.)

But wait--there's more from the Land o' Lakes. Over in the state senate, Satveer Chaudhary was re-elected, and his opponent, Rae Hart Anderson, wrote a concession email to him, urging Chaudhary, a Hindu, to convert to Christianity. Here's an excerpt, but note that the email is very long:

The race of your life is more important than this one--and it is my sincere wish that you'll get to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. He died for the sins of the world, yours and mine--and especially for those who accept His forgiveness. His kingdom will come and His will be done--on earth as it is in heaven. There's more....I love belonging to the family of God. Jesus is the way, the truth and offers His life to you and each human being. Pay attention...this is very important, Satveer. Have you noticed Jesus for yourself...at some moment in time, yet???

And they say the heat makes people crazy.

When the lyrics are so great, you almost cry

Woke up, it was a chelsea morning, and the first thing that I knew
There was milk and toast and honey and a bowl of oranges, too
And the sun poured in like butterscotch and stuck to all my senses
Oh, wont you stay
Well put on the day
And well talk in present tenses

Today, I heard Susan Cowsill sing "Chelsea Morning" on the radio, and it is one kick-ass cover. Were more perfectly sublime lyrics ever written? Maybe, if you consider the beginning of "Midnight Sun," which one of my friends calls "the perfect song":

Your lips were like a red and ruby chalice
Warmer than the summer night
The clouds were like an alabaster palace
Rising to a snowy height
Each star its own Aurora Borealis
Suddenly you held me tight
I could see the midnight sun

Joni Mitchell and Johnny Mercer--both amazing lyricists. But they have a lot of company. I could use up pages listing great lyricists, some of whom also wrote (or write) music.

Welcome to 1976

Even Bob Herbert is telling us how "normal" Nancy Pelosi is--she's a grandmother of six! Whether he is being ironic is hard to tell, but I think he isn't. It feels like the 70s. "Really, she likes men." "Really, she's not a lesbian." "Really, she plans to marry and have children." "Really, she loves being a wife and mother."

The object, of course, is to "prove" that a woman with six grandchildren can't possibly be that liberal, because "nice" women with "family values" can't be leftists. The other object is to drum into us that the 1950s nuclear family is "normal" in America, when, in fact, it is not.

Pelosi herself sometimes buys into the "I am not the evil she-monster" myth. Consider her rush to call Hugo Chavez an "everyday thug" because he referred to Bush as the devil. Whatever one may think of Chavez, he nailed that one, and Pelosi knows it. At least, I hope she does. Did she have an obligation, as House Minority Leader, to chastize Chavez? I don't think so. But even if I am wrong, she could have just called him "tacky" rather than launch an obvious defense of Bush.

I have my doubts about Pelosi, but there are also a lot of things I like about her, and she has proven to be tougher than I thought any Democrat in her position would be. And yes, I am delighted to have a woman in charge. But there is no need to do cartwheels to prove that she is "normal." What passes for normal in this country is nothing to aspire to.

Friday cat blogging--Casual Friday edition

Dear Democratic Party

Thank you for Hoyer and Reid. All the Senate leadership needed was a K Street king and someone who is both sexist and homophobic.

On the other hand, wouldn't that really describe most members of Congress who might be considered for the top spots? Or for that matter, most members of Congress...period.

Lying for Jesus

A New Jersey high school history teacher, Daniel Paszkiewicz, who is also a Baptist minister (I know--he doesn't sound very Baptist) was accused by a 16-year-old student of preaching in the classroom. The student, Matthew LaClair, said that Paszkiewicz told the class:

He (God) did everything in his power to make sure that you could go to heaven, so much so that he took your sin on his own body, suffered your pains for you and he's saying, "Please accept me, believe me."

If you reject that, you belong in hell. The outcome is your prerogative. But the way I see it, God himself sent his only son to die for David Paszkiewicz on that cross...And if you reject that, then it really is to hell with you.

Paszkiewicz also said that evolution and the Big Bang theory were "unscientific."

LaClair wanted to complain about his teacher, but thought no one would believe him. But he went ahead, and Paszkiewicz denied that he had ever mixed religion with teaching. According to LaClair, the adults in the room appeared to believe him. Unfortunately for Paszkiewicz, though, LaClair had made cds of his teacher's rantings, which he then produced from his backpack.

The school superintendent said that "corrective action" would be taken.