The Republic of T.

• Michael Jackson and his family all running out of money | Herald Sun
  THE once mighty Jackson family is just scaping by, with broke family members even resorting to stacking supermarket shelves to earn a crust.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Debbie Rowe: Michael Is Not Kids' Biological Dad, I Don't Want Them
  MICHAEL Jackson's two eldest kids face a tug-of-love battle after their mum Debbie Rowe confessed he was not their father. And she told how she does not WANT custody of the children and NEVER expects to see them again.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Report: Public Memorial for Jackson Set at Neverland – Michael Jackson : People.com
  According to press reports, the singer's family will organize a public viewing of his body at Jackson's Neverland ranch near Santa Barbara.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Questions swirl around Jackson’s tie to kids – Access Hollywood
  Less than a week after Michael Jackson’s sudden death, multiple reports are beginning to surface that question whether Michael Jackson is the biological father of any of his children.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Court Battle For Michael Jackson's Children Looms
  Given the secrecy surrounding Michael Jackson's children throughout his life, it's no surprise that there are lingering questions about who will care for them. What is almost certain is this: Their fate will be decided in a courtroom.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Too soon for Jackson funeral, father says | U.S. | Reuters
  The Los Angeles coroner's office on Monday dismissed as inaccurate a British newspaper report that said Michael Jackson was emaciated and almost bald when he died.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• MICHAEL JACKSON'S AUTOPSY RESULTS REVEALED NEEDLE MARKS AND PILLS – New York Post
  An autopsy on Michael Jackson revealed that the King of Pop's emaciated body was riddled with needle marks and scars, and his head was virtually bald, it was reported today.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Lee Stranahan: Michael Jackson's Rented Womb Deborah Rowe Had Big Tax Lien, Weirdly Unfinished Website
  Rowe's romantic quotation reportedly given to The News of the World about the children she conceived for Jackson, "Just like I stick the sperm up my horse, this is what they did to me. I was his thoroughbred."
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• In Jackson’s Death, Black Ambivalence Fades – NYTimes.com
  Mr. Jackson was to music what Michael Jordan was to sports and Barack Obama to politics — a towering figure with crossover appeal, even if in life some of Mr. Jackson’s black fans wondered if he was as proud of his race as his race was of him.
  (tags: michaeljackson)
• Michael Jackson, me, and a glove story | csmonitor.com
  Nearly 30 years ago, I was a fortunate eyewitness to a pivotal Michael Jackson epiphany: the true glove story.
  (tags: michaeljackson)

• Telegraph Blogs » Culture » Rock your baby to a different tune
  (tags: music lullabies)
• Pop songs push lullabies out of the nursery – Telegraph
  (tags: music lullabies)

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for June 25th through June 29th:

• Waking Up Is Hard to Do –
• Bucking the Banks –
• Michael Rowe: Why It's Time For LGBT Democrats To Get Over Their Battered Wife Syndrome –
• The Truth Alone Will Not Set You Free –
• Obama’s Stance on Same-Sex Marriage Puts Him on the Wrong Side of History –
• Op-Ed Columnist: Betraying the Planet –
• End False Bipartisanship –
• Why Mark Sanford’s Political Career NEEDS To Be Over –
• Op-Ed Columnist: 40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Americans –
• Was the Economic Meltdown a Crisis of Masculinity Run Amuck? It’s Time for Women to Step In –
• President Obama Should Let Gay Men and Lesbians Serve in the Military –
• The dream of gay equality: what the 40th anniversary of Stonewall means –
• Why Do Atheists Have to Talk About Atheism? –
• VICTORY! Supreme Court Finds Strip-Search of 13-Year Old Girl Unconstitutional –
• Why We Need a Public Health Care Plan –
• Sanford and Sin: When Will the GOP Give up on Their Claim of Moral Purity? –
• The Sickening Influence of Campaign Contributions –

We all have a few of them. Those "where-were-you-when" moments that simultaneously help define generations and span generational differences. Our parents and grandparents may recall where they were when FDR died or when they heard that Kennedy — John or Bobby — was assassinated. Or when they got news of Martin Luther King’s assassination. Or Elvis’ death.

I remember hearing about John Lennon’s murder, though I don’t remember exactly where I was or what I was doing. I remember where I was when the space shuttle Challenger exploded. (At home, watching it on television, saying to myself "That wasn’t supposed to happen," when it broke apart.) I remember where I was when the Berlin Wall started to come down. (Again, watching it on television.) I remember where I was when I heard that Princess Diana had died. (At a party of gay men — my fraternity brothers — when someone came downstairs after watching a news report, and announced it to everyone.)

And, I’ll remember where I was when I heard that Michael Jackson had died.

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The debate over health care reform has taken a particularly worrisome turn. Suddenly we’re in a place where passing something kind of like reform may be more important than getting to reform itself. In the name of "compromise" and in interest of getting something passed, we could get a health reform bill that helps fewer people than originally intended, and preserve more of the status quo than almost anyone wants.

For minorities low income families and individuals, that means more of the kind of disparities — in access to care, quality of care, and health outcomes — that are all too common in our present health care system. The 2008 National Health Care Qualities & Disparities report spells out some of these disparities, including: higher rates of disease, access to care, and lack of routine care and prevention.

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Yikes. At least the story about hiking the Appalachian Trail (on Naked Hiking Day) was kinda interesting. But what the fuck was Mark Sanford doing in Argentina?

Sanford’s whereabouts had been unknown since Thursday, and the mystery surrounding his absence fueled speculation about where he had been and who’s in charge in his absence. His emergence Wednesday ended the mystery.

Sanford, in a brief interview with The State in the nation’s busiest airport, said he decided at the last minute to go to the South American country to recharge after a difficult legislative session in which he battled with lawmakers over how to spend federal stimulus money.

Sanford said he had considered hiking on the Appalachian Trail, an activity he said he has enjoyed since he was a high school student.

"But I said ‘no’ I wanted to do something exotic," Sanford said "… It’s a great city."

We know now.

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Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for June 23rd through June 25th:

• Perils of the Public Plan –
• Matt Weinstein: What Bernie Madoff Couldn't Steal From Me –
• Robust Health Care Reform is the Moment of Truth for Obama and the Democrats –
• Public Option or Bust –
• Why the Critics of a Public Option for Health Care Are Wrong –
• Andrea Chalupa: Gays, Marriage, and Money –
• Editorial: Paycheck Fairness –
• Editorial: Rape in Prison –
• Healthy Americans Against Reforming Medicine: Secret Meeting Details Uncovered! –
• Randi Reitan: I Ask President Obama for Full Equality for my Gay Son –
• Parcel Delivery with a Public Option –

In everything I do  but especially when I’m doing something for the sole reason that I find it rewarding , enjoyable, and want to do it — but something that no one particulary needs me to do — I’m am always running out of time.

In fact, that pretty much sums up many days: Out of time.

Granted, my ADD means I have (have always had and will always have) issues with time management.

But is that it. Or am I trying to do things I ran out of time to do long ago?

• Image Search – ImageToss
  (tags: photo image search)
• Proteus Image Search – Search Remote Graphic Databases on the Web
  (tags: search images)
• Image Search Engines || Fagan Finder
  (tags: search images photos)
• Google Similar Images
  (tags: google images search photos)
• Find Creative Commons Images in Google Image Search
  Google Image Search added the option to restrict the results to images that are licensed using Creative Commons, a list of flexible licenses that allow content creators to share their works with the world.
  (tags: google creativecommons search images)

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for June 22nd through June 23rd:

• Serving the Medical-Industrial Complex –
• Another demographic downward spiral –
• All-American Squatters –
• Voting Rights Protections Still Necessary –
• Americans Demand a Public Option in Health Care — When Will Politicians Listen? –
• Virginity Movement on the Defensive, Scrambling to Rebrand –
• Op-Ed Columnist: Who Are We? –
• Why a Lawsuit Against Torture Lawyer John Yoo Might Actually Lead to Accountability –
• Torture 101 –
• Op-Ed Columnist: Health Care Showdown –

[Source.]

I take the DC Metro almost every day — once in the morning and once in the evening. But not yesterday.

Investigators are trying to determine why a Washington commuter train rear-ended another train stopped on the tracks Monday, sending one train on top of the other, killing seven people and injuring at least 70.

On Tuesday, District of Columbia officials lowered the number of fatalities in Monday’s fatal accident from nine to seven. D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty said during a Tuesday morning press conference that officials are “going to let the investigation run its course” and added that hopefully the number will not exceed seven by the end of the day.

Fenty has called the crash the deadliest accident in the history of the Washington transit system, which connects the city with its suburbs in Maryland and Virginia.

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And along my route, these are the signs.

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for June 20th through June 22nd:

• The War Against the ‘War on Drugs’ –
• "Suck on Our Yachts": Goldman Sachs Issues Non-Apology for Destroying the World Economy –
• Op-Ed Columnist: Health Care Showdown –
• Francesca Biller-Safran: A Dad's Male Influence Important for Us All –
• Guantanamo: Minority GOP Wielding Major Power –
• The Daddy Dilemma –
• Editorial: A Public Health Plan –
• Support for Public Health Insurance –
• Theocracy and Its Discontents –
• Mike Alvear: Women Are Ruining Sex for Gay Guys –
• Dumbass Quote of the Day –

• Curious about: How do you deny your kid water, get some for yourself, and then not give her any? ( http://bit.ly/8DOnF ) #

• Curious about: How do you deny your kid water, get some for yourself, and then not give her any? ( http://bit.ly/8DOnF ) #

Here are some of the people writing about some of the stuff I wish I had time to write about, for June 19th from 07:51 to 17:27:

• You’re Not Going to be a Professional Blogger, Regardless of What the Wall Street Journal Tells You –
• Violence-Abetting Anti-Choice Fanatics: Now in Congress –
• Let This Date Inspire Another –
• Secret CIA File Tests Obama’s Pledge –
• As Criticism of Obama Mounts within Gay Community, Gay Rights Pioneer Cleve Jones Calls for March for Equality on Washington –
• CIA Recruits Wall Streeters –
• Sanctity –

When Dr. George Tiller was murdered, it immediately occurred to me to write the series I’ve been publishing all this week. That’s because my first thoughts were of the women who faced heartbreaking choices after getting devastating news late into what were often very much wanted pregnancies. What choices would they have now that there was one less doctor who offered the procedure they need? What options does the other side offer?

The point I tried to make in the series was that opponents of legal abortion have not offered these women any alternative, except one. The other point I wanted to make was one that I remembered from a previous post that actually inspired the series posted this week.

Talk is cheap, and easy. So is telling people where they should be than meeting them where they are. So is taking away the choices of some families, rather than looking at the realities of all families and changing in order to help all families, whatever their circumstances. It’s easier, and simpler, to see that help as “rewarding” them for “immoral” choices, rather than choosing to help all families in order to help – and heal – our whole society. It’s easier not to see helping “them” as helping us, because it doesn’t require us to change.

That’s the intentional choice we’re making. Still.

Anyway, after writing the series, I wanted repost the piece that inspired it. So here it is.

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In the previous post, I wrote that neither posthumous abortion rights icon Gerri Santoro or the anonymous nine-year-old raped and impregnated by her father are representative of the women who sought Dr. Tiller’s services, or who seek late-term abortion in general. It’ safe to presume that neither of them wanted to be pregnant, each for her own reasons. Opponents of legalized abortion in all case would have both of them give birth.

There’s no way I know of to come up with exact numbers, but many of the women who sought Dr. Tiller’s services, and who seek late-term abortion in general, seem to be women who very much want to be pregnant, but found out well into their pregnancies that there were severe complications, as Dr. Tiller himself pointed out in a 1991 interview.

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