The Republic of T.

It probably seems like I’m mining the Washington Express for content today, but it just happens a couple of items in the Express caught my eye today. The first I already posted, the second was actually a comment in the Express’ Blog Log, from a Defamer reader, on Paris Hilton’s interview with Larry King yesterday.

She is not stupid, just a completely uninformed human being. She is what happens when you are not pushed to be challenged.

Maybe I’ve been reading way to much about George W. Bush lately but it strikes me that Paris has that quality in common with the prez, and it might make her uniquely qualified to occupy the oval office some day.

Technorati Tags: books, bush, celebrities, economics, elections, media, politics

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I have a confession to make. I hadn’t made up my mind to come clean until I read this mornings Washington Post Express and saw an article about a transgression much like my own. Exactly like it, in fact. I’ve been cheating on my husband. Regularly, even. Sometimes as often as twice a week. Just like Kurt Rieschick.

Kurt Rieschick can’t stop cheating on his boyfriend. He knows it’s wrong, but sometimes David Klimas works odd hours. And Rieschick gets lonely. And those naughty red envelopes are so enticing.

So, occasionally, Rieschick sneaks into the media room, with its flat screen TV and surround sound, and proceeds to break a relationship commandment of the 21st century. Thou Shalt Not Netflix Without Me.

Actually, you can add Tivo to that, especially since I can schedule my flicks online and watch them when the hubby goes to bed.

Look, it’s not entirely my fault. We just like different things in movies. I love dark, independent flicks, and documentaries absolutely enthrall me. He prefers romantic comedies above all else. I get a thrill out of scary movies. He gets nightmares. I like watching them late at night. He goes to bed way early (like, before midnight). I loved Memento and he hated it. He loved The Ritz and I thought it was just weird.

So, when we Netflix together the movie must be carefully chosen, and the time scheduled. But that’s not actually what drew my eye to that article. Can you guess what it was?

Technorati Tags: books, current events, family, gay, gay marriage, media, parenting

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Yeah, I should probably do a post-debate wrap up, but to be honest I’m still waking up and catching up on my blog/news reading this morning. And that effort is now being hampered by this timewaster from the new Simpsons movie site, which lets me create a “Springfieldian” version of myself.

Not a bad likeness, even if I do say so myself.

Technorati Tags: humor, movies, web

is it me, or would eliminating the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine have made a difference in the Whit House too? Know what I mean?

Now the New Orleans/Katrina question is a huge one. Of course there should be a guaranteed right to return, and of course the no-bid contracts to Republican/Bush cronies should stop, but no one

asking those of the candidates who are also members of Congress what they are doing about it. Or why they’re not doing anything about it as African American Political Pundit notes.

Who is watching the store? not Congress, not the Congressional Black Caucus, not Fox News, not the American people. Now do you really understand why the troops are no coming home?

It’s all about the money folks, its all about the money.

Meanwhile, Republicans are giddy over their “pick-up” opportunity in New Orleans.

On Darfur, definitely agree with everything said re: Africa. And if we get a Democrat in office can we finally do away with the “abstinence-only” debacle we’ve been exporting to Africa, which in its own way a kind of slow genocide? And once we “stop the rapes” can we also restore funding to the women’s clinics that offer care to women who end up with fistulas as a result of multiple rapes? The funding that the Bush administration cut?

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, courts, crime, current events, elections, politics, race

Now we’re on to HIV/AIDS, and I’m waiting to see if any of the candidates will mention the failure of “abstinence-only” and it’s devastating impact in Africa.

Oh. My. God. I guess I have to eat some of my previous words.

Obama actually said the word “homophobia” in his answer on HIV/AIDS, and the riffed for a minute on the metaphor that “we are infected” with a number of other things that make us susceptible to the epidemic. But he didn’t make the natural leap that we’re infected with homophobia. Black ministers are spreading it from the pulpit and that’s one of the reasons why it’s taken 25 years for the Black Baptist Convention to even mention HIV/AIDS.

But I guess I should be somewhat pleased that homophobia even came up at a forum on issues for the African American women.

Oh, and Hillary, it was gay communities that addressed the epidemic first, when nobody else in government cared. That was the Reagan era, and things did get better in the ’90s. Thank you.

Biden, you didn’t get tested for AIDS you got tested for HIV antibodies. Geez.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, current events, elections, gay, gay rights, health, hiv, homophobia, politics, race

[Ed. Note: Updated once I realized that I had the wrong link for Richardson's education issue page.] Richardson just gave an answer on education that has one major problem. He wants to “fix No Child Left Behind.” If by “fix” he means “take it out behind the barn and shoot it” or “turn it into something completely different and unrecognizable” then he might be on to something.

Of all the candidates, Kucinich is probably the only one I could whole heartedly support. If only he actually had a chance of winning.

Gravel actually made some sense when he pointed out how many scholarships could have been funded by the amount spend on the war in Iraq.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, current events, education, elections, politics, race

Deval Patrick, a black governor who supports marriage equality, just stepped onto the stage. It’s the only issue not likely to be debated tonight, since it appears nowhere in the Covenant with Black America, and I suppose that’s a small blessing all things considered. It probably would not be pretty. And Democratic candidates are not leading on the issue anyway, and at a time when even Republicans are trending more progressive in gay issues.

On the other hand, the first question out of the box is one about whether racism is still a problem. So, here, at a forum where the civil rights movement will be invoked over and over again, and the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision has already been invoked, we can talk about one prejudice that almost no one would say is no longer a problem, but we cannot talk about another prejudice that is almost certainly a problem for black gays and lesbians.

Dodd just brought up discrimination. Well.

Edwards brought up healthcare, and there are black gay & lesbian couples who cannot get health benefits because they can’t get married. Economic disparities are worse, too.

As Gravel just asked, “When will we learn? When will we learn?” (Albeit concerning a different issue.)

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, current events, media, politics, race, television

Well, that didn’t take long. No sooner did I sit down, open up my iBook and get online than I learned that there’s been an apparent about-face at PBS. I though Luntz was let go, but apparently the Republican consultant and only the Republican consultant will be giving post-debate analysis after the Democratic candidates forum.

On the June 28 edition of New York Public Radio station WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show, PBS host Tavis Smiley, who was scheduled to moderate a Democratic presidential forum later that day, confirmed that Republican pollster Frank Luntz will be PBS’ and the Tavis Smiley program’s sole provider of focus group analysis for the forum coverage. Asked by host Brian Lehrer, “Just Luntz or do you have a Democratic pollster there too?” Smiley responded: “[J]ust Luntz.”

Just for the sake of being “fair and balanced” I’m going to suggest that when the Republican candidates forum rolls around PBS hire Susan Estrich and only Susan Estrich, or Donna Brazile and only Donna Brazile, or James Carville and only James Carville — you get the idea by now — to do the post debate analysis. And Carville should get special consideration. After all, he’s married to a Republican consultant.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, economics, politics, race, television

OK. So the debate hasn’t started yet. But I’m here in the media room with the rest of the bloggers, and we’re all sitting with with our laptop open, and this nice young lady from C-SPAN stops by our table.

“Hi, I’m (fill in an appropriate name for a young, blonde, twenty-something woman),” she says. “I with C-SPAN. And we’re looking for some fresh faces.”

Naturally, I put on my best “fresh face” smile, and she looks at the nameplate next to me and asks the typical Washington question.

“So, who are you with? Do you write for Progressive Black Journalists?”

“Oh, no,” I answered. “I write for my blog and a few others.”

“Oh,” she said as the began slowly edging away from our table. “You write for your blog…ummm.”

About that time a woman at another table rescued her from having to say “I’m looking for some real people, not bloggers.”

“Who are you looking for?” the woman at the grown-ups table asked.

And just like that, the C-SPAN woman was gone, in search of “fresh faces,” just not too fresh.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, current events, media, politics, television

Ah. Another day, another Coulter clash. Initially, I wasn’t going to comment on Coulter’s remark about wishin John Edwards would be assassinated by terrorists or the recent exchange between Coulter and Elizabeth Edwards (kudos to Elizabeth for making the call, though there was never any hope that Coulter would stop the personal attacks). But then I saw David Kuo post that he’s waiting for conservative Christians to denounce Coulter.

I am waiting for conservative Christian activists to denounce Ann Coulter. I’m waiting and waiting and waiting and I’m waiting. This does not seem like a tough one, after all, Coulter has now publicly said of presidential candidation John Edwards she wished, “he had been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.”

… Too many conservative Christian activists are behaving as if God is subordinate to their political desires…or worse that he is simply a pawn to be used in their desires.

Ann Coulter is a perfect little example of this problem. Countless conservative Christians embrace her and groups like the so-called Family Research Council feature her at banquets. And when she says things like wishing death upon a presidential candidate the Christians say nothing at all.

Kuo is in for a long wait, and what he wishes for will probably never happen. Organizations like the Family Research Council can’t denounce her precisely because so many conservatives embrace her. And so many conservatives embrace her because so many of them agree with even her most extreme statements. And that so may of them agree with her most extreme statements — getting a chuckle out of her wishing for Edwards assassination, laughing uproariously when she calls him a “faggot,” and nodding in agreement when she accuses 9/11 widows of enjoying their husbands’ death — is exactly why she won’t be condemned by them or any right wing organizations. She’s the voice of their base.

Technorati Tags: bush, celebrities, coulter, culture, current events, john edwards, media, politics

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Wow. That didn’t take long. I just found out via Pam that the Republican consultant PBS hired to do post-debate analysis after tonight’s presidential forum has been dropped. PBS initially defended the choice of Lutz (and Lutz alone, apparently) as the post-debate analyst.

“It’s just helpful to have someone who does this for a living explain to viewers what it means,” Kendall said. “I don’t understand why if someone has been a consultant for Republicans they’re incapable of conducting a focus group. If anyone has a concern about the objectivity of Friday night’s program, I invite them to tune in and see for themselves.”

The objectivity of the program wouldn’t be a concern if the choice of commentators had been more balanced in the first place. So there are still questions that need to be answered by PBS, as Media Matters pointed out.

While Media Matters for America is pleased with PBS’ announcement this morning that discredited Republican pollster Frank Luntz will not appear on its Thursday-night programming, PBS has yet to address the fundamental problem with its choice of Luntz to participate in analysis of the PBS forum.

Luntz’s Republican ties, his history of being criticized by his peers for misrepresenting polling data, and his past personal and professional affiliation with GOP presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani make him an inappropriate choice to provide the sole voice of expert analysis on Mr. Smiley’s program in the wake of a Democratic presidential primary forum. The fact that PBS has not acknowledged Luntz’s partisan affiliation — either in its original press release or in today’s statement — makes PBS’ use of him in this way all the more troubling.

Given PBS’ bent for telling “both sides of the story” on issues like the Iraq war and church/state separation, why they didn’t also choose a Democratic commentator to balance Luntz is somewhat mystifying. Only slightly more mystifying is their apparent surprise that anyone would have an objection in the first place.

Oh well, we’ll see how things go tonight.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, current events, elections, media, politics, race, television

There’s a lot of encouraging news out about young people right now. And I’m not talking about the high school seniors who took Bush to task on torture. (I think that’s great, BTW). It’s the New York Times article about a a recent poll that underscores some trends I’ve blogged about before that are very encouraging for LGBT Americans and our families.

Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll. The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion.

… Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.

The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of an exit poll on Election Day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to the exit poll.

Technorati Tags: current events, family, gay marriage, gay rights, marriage, parenting, politics, adoption

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I’m getting geared up for tomorrow’s Presidential Candidates Forum at Howard U. There’s now a live Media Bloggers Association page that will publish updates from all of the bloggers covering the forum.

Speaking of which, there’s a bit of a brouhaha over the choice by PBS of a Republican — David Luntz, who’s worked on the last three Guliani campaigns— to deliver the post-debate analysis of the Democratic candidates forum. And apparently, there’s no Democratic analyst on the bill.

Prometheus has a letter from Media Matter’s chief David Brock concerning the conflict of interest.

Professor Kim is getting mail about it as well, the gist being that Fox News is apparently getting a “backdoor entry” to the Democratic candidates forum, and Prometheus concurs. (Professor Kim has also prepared a handy spreadsheet of the candidates’ positions related to issues on Covenant with Black America.)

I have two questions thus far:

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, bush, current events, elections, politics, race

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I’m overdue in posting a round-up, because so much has been going on in my offline life lately. Case in point, I’m on the road with the family today, and away from the blog and the blogosphere. So here’s some great stuff to check out in the meantime.

I haven’t had a chance to cover Obama’s remarks that the right has “hijacked” faith, but David Sirota makes a point that Obama has an opportunity to walk his talk by not appearing at a right wing think tank event.

…As I had discovered during my years in politics, one of the most aggressive extremist groups that operates at the state level is called the American Legislative Exchange Council – or ALEC for short. It’s a seemingly innocuous name, but as Progressive States detailed in one of its first reports – and as other terrific progressive organizations have detailed at length – ALEC is not an innocuous organization – it is arguably the most important legislative appendage of Big Money and right-wing interests in American politics. That’s why U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) must reject ALEC’s invitation for him to speak at its upcoming national conference.

… Obama is a former state legislator, meaning that he understands the power and destructive agenda of ALEC. If he has not accepted ALEC’s invitation, and ALEC is nonetheless using his notoriety to build an audience for its conference, Obama has a huge opportunity – a PR gift given to him by the Right. He could demand his photo be removed from ALEC’s website and marketing materials, and issue a strong statement talking about how nefarious right-wing extremist groups like ALEC really are, both tactically and public policy-wise. He would create a significant moment for public education about the real forces that drive – and distort – our politics.

Technorati Tags: blogs, civil rights, current events, gay marriage, gay rights, homophobia, politics, race, religion

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I know that the comparison between the U.S. and Lebanon isn’t quite an even one, but something about the headline I saw at HuffPo caught my. I mean, a country where politicians too busy to persecute gays? Coming from a country where politicians (some, at least) are never to busy for that favorite pass-time, and where it’s practically become a cottage industry, can you blame me for doing a double take?

In Lebanon, homosexuality is becoming less of a taboo. It is discussed with much greater candor on TV and radio talk shows.

The Arabic word widely used in reference to gays means “pervert.” Now many leading newspapers have begun using a more neutral term.

New gay bars have sprouted, joining mainstays such as Acid, creating a flourishing nightlife that is attracting locals and foreign tourists alike.

“It’s not that the political class is more open today,” said George Azzi, a prominent gay rights activist. “But authorities, by portraying themselves as the new guardians of democracy and civil rights, find themselves rather bound not to attack gays.”

Funny, but setting themselves up as “guardians of democracy and civil rights” doesn’t seem to have the same effect upon authorities in this country. And even the ones who are supposed to be our friends are afraid to go too far.

Technorati Tags: bush, current events, gay, gay bashing, gay marriage, government, marriage, politics, religion

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And a whole lot of other bloggers too, under one roof at Howard University. Thanks to the kind recommendations of a few fellow bloggers, it looks like I’ve been credentialed by the Media Bloggers Association, along with 20 or more other bloggers, to cover the Democratic Presidential Debate at Howard University.

Democratic presidential candidates plan to be at Howard University on June 28 to be questioned for the first time by an all-minority panel of journalists, and some student leaders view the event as historic.

Three journalists will pose questions to the eight presidential hopefuls, as Tavis Smiley and the Public Broadcasting Service facilitate what is called the “All-American Presidential Democratic Forum.”

With the author, activist and talk show host will be journalists Michel Martin of National Public Radio, nationally syndicated columnists Ruben Navarrette Jr. of the San Diego Union-Tribune and DeWayne Wickham of USA Today.

Looks like I’m finally getting in to Howard.

Seriously, though, it’s pretty cool and I’m very flattered to be recommended and get credentials to cover the event. (Since when have I had credentials?) And I’m looking forward to finding out who else is going to be there. I know Liza and Pam will be there, but the full list won’t be up until later.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, blogs, current events, elections, politics, race

I’ve been openly underwhelmed with the current crop of Democratic presidential candidates and their positions on gay issues for a while now. So, it was particularly encouraging to read that Elizabeth Edwards was scheduled to speak at a San Francisco Pride event for the Alice B. Toklas Democratic Club. It was pleasantly surprising to read that she spoke in support of marriage equality at that meeting.

Elizabeth Edwards, starring at the kickoff event of San Francisco’s signature Gay Pride Parade, came out in support of legalized gay marriage today — taking a position which she acknowledged is at odds with her husband, presidential candidate John Edwards.

“I don’t know why somebody else’s marriage has anything to do with me,” she said. “I’m completely comfortable with gay marriage.”

…The breakfast appearance by the candidate’s wife — witnessed by a score of politicians, including Mayor Gavin Newsom, District Attorney Kamala Harris, and City Attorney Dennis Herrera — was hailed as a milestone in the 30 year history of the Gay Pride event, which had never been visited by a major presidential candidate or spouse.

But Edwards went one step further in a speaking to reporters after the event, and became the first major Democratic candidate or spouse to openly support gay marriage.

But that position differs markedly from her husband, the former North Carolina Senator. Edwards said her husband, though having a ‘”deeply held belief against any form of discrimination,” supports gay civil unions, but does not support gay marriage.

“John has been pretty clear about it, that he is very conflicted,” she said. “That’s up against his being raised in the 1950′s in a rural southern town. I think honestly he’s on a road with a lot of people in this country are on….They’re struggling with this. Most of the gay and lesbian people I know… have seen their friends and family walking down that same road.

However cynical I may be about it, the speech itself is a huge step forward.

Technorati Tags: 2008 election, current events, gay marriage, gay rights, john edwards, marriage, politics, bill clinton

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There are some stories that just make me shake my head in wonder. The nurse who let a man die in her garage over two day, stuck in her windshield. The story of the man killed by a Texas mob, when the driver of a car in which he was a passenger hit and made he mistake of getting out to check on on him.

Police on Wednesday were pleading for witnesses to help them track down members of an angry mob that beat a man to death after the car he was riding in apparently struck and injured a child.

Investigators were struggling to piece together what happened when David Rivas Morales died Tuesday defending the driver from members of a crowd.

There could have been anywhere from two to 20 attackers, Austin Police Commander Harold Piatt said. (Watch what Morales’ sister said about the blow to his face Video)

The car in which Morales, 40, was a passenger had entered an apartment complex’s parking lot when it struck a 2-year-old boy, Piatt said. The boy was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver got out of the car to check on the child and was confronted by several people, Piatt said. When they attacked the driver, Morales got out of the car to protect the driver and was attacked as well. Police said no guns or knives were used.

The driver got away and is cooperating with investigators. Police identified the child as Michael Hosea Jr.

Technorati Tags: crime, culture, current events

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This article about Christian teachings driving some to convert to Buddhism (in Australia) had familiar ring to it when I came across it a couple of days ago.

Experts who study religious trends in Australia say many converts to Buddhism found the teachings of some Christian churches too rigid and intolerant of questions about the faith, reported the VOA.

In a three-year national study on the religious behaviour of Generation Y published last year, the co-author of the study, Dr Andrew Singleton from Monash University said that Generation Y in Australia is gradually departing from religion where some are turning to alternative spiritualities.

Some. Not all, as the article points out that the number adopting “alternative spirituality” is less than the number of of people “turn[ing] away from church attendance and participation,” particularly among young people. But it still brought to mind an earlier article about the rise in American Buddhism, as well as my own reasons for morphing from Baptist to Buddhist.

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I probably waste way too much time and bandwidth over the rantings of various right wing pundist regarding gay parenest. After two posts about Michael Savage’s comments, I should probably leave it alone. Those guys aren’t going to change their minds, after all, and neither are their listeners. (And they’re probably not reading this blog anyway) But just when I start to think I should let it go, I hear something that lays bare the beyond-Owellian logic that seems to underlie a lot of conservative thought.

Plus, after four years of parenting, it pisses me off to hear that the act of raising our son is not just “abuse” (according to the Michael Savages) of the world but also “pure selfishness.”

From the June 19 broadcast of Premiere Radio Networks’ The Rush Limbaugh Show:

BELLING: And what happens when the relationship ends is you have a fight literally between two mothers. Can a baby have two mothers? It’s a new concept for us. And I’m not sure it’s an especially healthy one. First of all, it demeans the entire notion of fatherhood, implying that a father is an absolute irrelevancy, a concept that has destroyed many black families, the idea that we simply don’t need to have any male role model in the life whatsoever. But more to the point, knowing the potential of what can happen when the relationship ends, and watching this particular case, I mean, there is a child here. There is a child who is going to have to decide which mother is her mother, or are they both their mothers? And the desire to have these kids is almost entirely premised on, “I want to have a baby. We want to have a baby.” Not, “Are we in the best situation to be able to raise a child?” And I think it comes down to just pure selfishness. And that’s what it’s all about.

And there’s more.

Technorati Tags: celebrities, current events, family, gay marriage, gay rights, media, parenting, politics

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