Scott's Take

New Take on 12 Days

2009-12-05T12:11:00.003Z

Via PHB. I used to be in a group like this (though we weren't this good). Man oh man we had a lot of fun

Is the Hadron Collider Shrinking the Economy?

2009-12-04T22:50:00.001Z

Leave Tiger Alone

2009-12-04T14:17:00.002Z

We don't really know what transpired at Tiger's house before his infamous ride. And it's none of our business. Assuming he broke no laws other than reckless driving, for which he's been fined, we don't have the "right to know" anything. Tiger is not married to us. He's not a politician running on a "family values" platform. His golf game doesn't depend on whether he stays faithful to the missus or boinks every cocktail waitress from Ponte Vedre to Palm Springs. Frankly, I give him credit for this statement:

"Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions."

Sure, we might find some fun or schadenfreude in learning all the details (as regrettably we probably will). But that's cheap.

Tiger will work his personal problems out with his wife. Or not. But until he steps back on links we should leave him the hell alone.

"We Have Nothing to Fear From Love and Commitment

2009-12-03T20:42:00.001Z

A New York Senator knocks it out of the park for marriage equality. The other side wasn't listening. (Hat tip: Graham Gillette)

The Liberal Reagan?

2009-12-03T00:00:00.003Z

Some bloggers, notably the one at the other end of Euclid Street, has argued that Obama is the liberal version of Reagan. Great communicator, transformative, all of that.

I don't know about that. But it does look like he is Reagan in at least one way. The Gipper gave great lip service to the religious right but didn't actually do a lot to further their social agenda.

Obama has made great statements on gay civil rights. But hasn't actually done much -- if anything -- to enact them.

Harry Thomas, Marriage Equality Champ

2009-12-02T18:42:00.004Z

I agree with DCists praise of DC City Council Member Harry Thomas Jr.'s vote in support of marriage equality. As the DC blog points out, Thomas was one of few council members who could face political fallout for voting for the measure. But Thomas said:

"I represent a ward that is torn down the middle on this issue," he said. "But as a legislator, I cannot allow my personal...or religious life to allow for the disenfranchisement of any individual in the District."

Thomas could have taken the safe path, voted no, knowing the measure was going to pass, making those who favor marriage equality in his ward less motivated, since the final vote went their way anyway. As it is, opponents to marriage equality are angry and motivated and have vowed to go after council members who supported the measure.

Lets hope some Senators in the New York legislator find some of Harry Thomas' courage.

Good Grief! Obama Hates Charlie Brown

2009-12-01T22:29:00.006Z

Obama's speech tonight has bumped the annual Charlie Brown Christmas Special, which prompted this blog post. And this comment (one of the more re-printable ones):

"He wouldn't preempt a Muslim TV show."

Meanwhile, the Fierce Advocate:

2009-11-30T22:27:00.001Z

Via the Independent Gay Forum:

"Chief Judge Alex Kozinski of the Ninth Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals, a libertarian-leaning Regan-appointee, orders health benefits for a lesbian spouse of a federal employee, and the Obama White House, through its highest ranking openly gay appointee (John Berry, head of the Office of Personnel Management), attempts to thwart the judge's order?"

...And Friday Night Doo-Wop

2009-11-21T00:01:00.003Z

Courtesy of Sweetie, one of the East Coast's more famous early R&B groups: The Harptones. And they still perform.

Friday Afternoon Follies

2009-11-20T21:39:00.001Z

Bosom Buddies.

Congress Suddenly Interested in Respecting DC's Voters?

2009-11-19T22:49:00.007Z

HT: Joe My God.

DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and Council Chair Vincent Gray were called on the carpet by Congress for not allowing the majority of District residents to vote on the civil rights of a minority. Let's listen in:

At a hearing on proposed changes to the city's Home Rule Act, two Republicans on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee grilled Fenty and Gray about why the District will not allow a public vote.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), the ranking member of the subcommittee that has oversight over District laws, noted that voters in 31 states have rejected same-sex marriage. "I'm disappointed the people are not getting an opportunity to vote on this issue," Chaffetz said.

Yes, you see, Congress -- Republicans in particular -- really care about respecting the wishes of DC's voters. That's why they've blocked attempts to actually giving DC voting representation in Congress. And why they feel they can waltz in and undo actual initiatives approved by District voters.

Case-in-point: Medical Marijuana. In 1998, 69 percent of DC's voters approved a ballot initiative authorizing medical marijuana. 69 percent.

And then, since Congress respects the will of the peeple so much, former Rep. Bob Barr, a Republican from Georgia, stepped in, said no, and through an amendment killed the implementation of medical marijuana which had won approval from DC's ~~Congressional subjects~~ voters.

To the meddlesome members of Congress: if others can vote on my equal rights, I want the same opportunity. Fair is fair.

And it's great that you want to respect the will of the people of the District of Columbia. Do that all the time, not just when it fits your narrow social homophobic agenda.

A Wish for the New "Blade"

2009-11-19T00:15:00.002Z

As the former staff of the Washington Blade plans their new publication, with pleas to the DC local community for support, I hope they will revisit their practice of keeping the local community at arms length.

For 10 years I was conductor of the DC's Different Drummers Symphonic Band. During that time we couldn't pro-actively talk to the reporters or editors at the Blade covering us. A PR professional -- a person who makes his living dealing with the media -- who we had engaged to help us with publicity says he had never encountered such unprofessionalism and unresponsiveness as he did at the Blade. Meanwhile, the Blade, when they did cover us, would take our press releases and edit them, making what they published about us totally factually inaccurate. No surprise -- they kept us at arm's length. This was not a DC's Different Drummers complaint only. I heard similar frustrations at meetings of the LGBT Arts Consortium meetings I attended at the time. The complaint was a familiar refrain: the Blade did not know or interact with the local DC LGBT community.

Now that they need community support -- and I am not opposed to giving it -- I hope they will change that practice.

The Washington Blade Shuts Down

2009-11-17T00:20:00.002Z

The Washington Blade, serving our community for 40 years, has closed its doors for good.

While not totally surprising, the suddeness was a bit of a shock.

The question now -- what becomes of the Blade's archive? I would hate to think that this archive, which covers our history since Stonewall in 1969 to the upcoming vote in the DC City Council for marriage equality on Dec 1 (the Blade's last front page headline), will be lost.

HRC and SLDN

2009-11-15T23:59:00.008Z

UPDATE: The demise of the WashBlade today (Monday, Nov. 16) means the Blade link doesn't work.

Good news -- Barney Frank says DADT may be repealed in 2010, according to an article in the Washington Blade.

But if you wonder why much of our agenda has languished in Congress over the past decade, two quotes shed light on our time spent wondering in the wilderness.

On the question of the timing of DADT repeal, first we have HRC:

"Asked about Frank’s prediction for the repeal strategy, Allison Herwitt, legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign, said her organization 'always takes its cues from its congressional allies.'"

Check. We wait for "cues" from the folks who are supposed to represent us about when they will act to end injustice against us. Got it.

Now, let's throw it over to Kevin Nix, spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network:

"Nix also said SLDN is urging President Obama to include repeal as part of his defense budget request, which is expected to be delivered to Congress early next year."

Wait. What? SLDN is "urging" action by the government on our behalf? Actually "urging?" Not waiting for "cues" before asking on bended knee to stop injustice against us? You mean they're not letting others tell us "When we say so, and not before that?"

How impatient of them! Hopefully, someday they will cease being political novices and fall in line with the establishment. Then they will stop rocking the boat and making our "Congressional allies" queasy from having to actually follow through on the promises they made to us when they took our money and our votes.

Meanwhile, let's sit here on our hands and hope the "cues" will come soon.

A Glorious Dawn Awaits

2009-11-14T13:03:00.001Z

Here's a shot of optimism, courtesy of a Carl Sagan/Stephen Hawking remix.

The Least of These

2009-11-13T21:49:00.007Z

Jesus:

Truly I say to you, as you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me." (Gospel of St. Matthew: 35.40)

The DC Archdiocese, saying they will end their Charity Organization's work in the District if marriage equality is passed:

Church officials say Catholic Charities would have to suspend its social services work for the city, rather than provide employee benefits to same-sex married couples or allow them to adopt. (Gospel of St. Katherine of Graham, a.k.a., the WaPo).

So, the Church would end it's social programs (helping thousands of kids and the elderly), on the off chance they might have to provide health insurance to a gay employee's spouse? Really?

Has Archbishop Wuerl actually, um, read the Bible?

I'm not one who supports forcing private organizations (like the Boy Scouts, say) to accomodate gay people. And I would oppose efforts to force churches that oppose marriage equality to hold gay weddings in their chapels. But when it comes to employment law, if the church has employees, it has to follow employment law. It's the cost of doing business -- the cost of rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's. And the church gets something back for being a part of society. Your tax dollars can pay to bus Catholic school students on public school busses. And it pays for their secular textbooks, standardized tests and scoring, and diagnostic and therapeutic services.

Not to mention they get benefits from taxes without having to pay taxes.

I'd say the church gets a pretty good deal from Caesar.

But let's look at this another way.

Spousal employee benefits are primarily health care. So if mariage equality passes in DC, is it counter to Jesus' teachings to provide access to health care to an employee's spouse even if that person is gay? Catholic Charities already provides health care services directly to 3,000 people, according to the WaPo article. Presumably, some numer of those 3,000 people are gay. So Catholic Charities is undoutedly already providing direct services to gay folk in the city. But it can't bring itself to do that for the civil spouse of one of it's own employees? They don't have to bless or recognize the union -- just provide access to health care for another human being. Or, to put it in Jesus' words: "When...I was sick, you visited me."

Or, in the case of adoption, giving a previously unwanted baby a loving home? "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me..."

But, silly me, there I go again quoting Jesus. I forgot this was about organized religion and has nothing to do with Him.

A Detour Through Section 60

2009-11-13T00:06:00.002Z

Marriage Defined

2009-11-12T23:34:00.003Z

One of the biggest myths that the anti-marriage equality folks cling to is that marriage "between one man and one woman" is the way it's been throughout human history. They know not history nor even the bibles they thump. How many bible characters - favored by God - had a marriage that was one man and many women? Not to mention the concubines? But don't take it from me, listen to Dan Savage talk about how straight people evolved marriage making it the institution of privileges and responsibilities between two consenting adults that it is today.

Oh, and Dan being Dan, there's a few F bombs in here so NSFW. But well worth listening to.

WWJD?

2009-11-12T11:48:00.002Z

The Church again demonstrates Christ-like behavior.

Remember: Jesus taught that we should feed the hungry and help the poor. But only as long as we can keep discriminating against gay people.

GOProud of its Schadenfreude

2009-11-09T14:08:00.003Z

GOProud -- the new gay Republican group -- is crowing that it was right that health care reform would discriminate against gay couples because of DOMA.

Since they don't actually do anything to build libertarian support in the GOP for a DOMA repeal or any other equal rights policy, one gets the feeling they're quite happy, if not giddy about this fact.

But then, it's also curious that while they rail against health care reform because of it's DOMA-based discrimination, they do not include actually repealing DOMA as one of their federal "legislative priorities."

GOProud is just silly and represents the worst of politics -- partisanship for partisanship's sake, only with a rainbow flavor. Which doesn't excuse it.

"Hard Times for Homophobes"

2009-11-09T13:49:00.003Z

David Link makes the argument that we should be cheered that we're winning every issue except marriage:

Marriage is not just an outlier, it is the only outlier. The fringe of the right will complain about any legal protections for lesbians and gay men, but they can’t put together a majority on any issue except for full marital equality. An enormous majority of Americans even support repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, though political cowardice on that issue still lingers in Congress -- the same cowardice that got us the policy in the first place.

This chart shows that more than a majority in virtually every state, including the ones with the most anti-gay sentiment, supports employment and housing protection, hate crimes laws and health benefits for homosexuals. The trailing issue in all states is always marriage, with majority-plus support in only six states.

In comments to Link's post on Indy Gay Forum, several argue that marriage equality shouldn't be that important. But, they are wrong. Marriage equality is the ballgame. It is legal recognition that homosexuality itself is fully equal with heterosexuality. The Christian right gets this, it's why they will stop at nothing to prevent it from happening.

Health Care Reform

2009-11-08T13:52:00.003Z

As long as we're passing health care and thus doing more damage than the terrorists, I'd like to suggest one change:

Stop terrorizing the English language. I'm talking about the term, "pre-existing condition." The prefix "pre" is totally unnecessary, like Republicans at a policy debate. Adding "pre"doesn't make something exist any harder just as ending a sentence with multiple question marks doesn't make it any more a question.

What if we applied the same type of grammar to other words. Would we have "post-history?" "Past-previous?"

I think we need to end the Insurance industry's abuse of the English language with such phrases as "pre-existing condition."

And I think we need to be pro-active about it.

Dan Balz and the GOP

2009-11-08T12:58:00.006Z

WaPo writer Dan Balz has a front page piece today that begins:

"One year after hitting bottom in the aftermath of President Obama's elections, Republicans have taken their first concrete steps toward recovery."

Balz's story then goes on to highlight how seriously F'd up the Republicans are, making mockery of his lede. Someone should punch his editor.

Okay, yes, the GOP won in VA and NJ, but those victories were pegged more by candidates than the party. The GOP was lucky that it ran against two lackluster Dems and the Republican candidates ran better campaigns than their opponents. It's difficult to see how you can draw Party-wide "concrete steps" from such victories. Especially when Nov. 3 also saw the loss of a House District that has been in GOP hands almost since the GOP was invented. And, as Balz himself points out:

"But New Jersey and Virginia voted against the party holding the White House in the past six gubernatorial elections and are therefore unreliable harbingers of the 2010 campaign."

Duh. Well, that inconvenient truth doesn't prevent the Washington Post and the rest of the MSM from treating those victories as "concrete steps" towards a GOP rebirth.

I think the portent most important for 2010 is the NY House race. The Republican loss there defied history, while their wins in NJ and VA were with history's tide. The GOP, by giving in to the most scurrilous of the tea baggers and birthers will push away moderating voices. And continue to lose.

Republicans are taking concrete steps alright. Concrete tied to their heels as they step cluelessly on water.

Remembering Tchaikovsky

2009-11-07T21:45:00.002Z

In honor of the 116th anniversary of Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's death, which was yesterday, here is the third movement of his last symphony. Enjoy.

BTW, I don't buy the conspiracy theory that Tchaikovsky was forced to commit suicide after being blackmailed by a rump jury of former classmates over his homosexuality. Alexander Poznansky makes a convincing case debunking that myth in "Tchaikovsky's Last Days."

And, what happened to Ozawa's trademark turtlenecks? I guess now that he's old enough to have one, he doesn't need to wear one.

Good Commercial

2009-11-07T21:37:00.001Z

Every time I make my bed, I think of that Aricept commercial.

Here's a parody: