Current Events

Bush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’

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Capitol Hill Blue:

GOP leaders told Bush that his hardcore push to renew the more onerous provisions of the act could further alienate conservatives still mad at the President from his botched attempt to nominate White House Counsel Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court.
“I don’t give a goddamn,” Bush retorted. “I’m the President and the Commander-in-Chief. Do it my way.”
“Mr. President,” one aide in the meeting said. “There is a valid case that the provisions in this law undermine the Constitution.”
“Stop throwing the Constitution in my face,” Bush screamed back. “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!”
I’ve talked to three people present for the meeting that day and they all confirm that the President of the United States called the Constitution “a goddamned piece of paper.”

Continue ReadingBush on the Constitution: ‘It’s just a goddamned piece of paper’

Prop 622 information and updates

Your help is needed to get the HRO passed and to stop discrimination.
Task #1 – – Contact your City-County Councillor and tell him/her that discrimination is wrong and that they should support the HRO amendment. Write, call, phone or all three –just do it. Find out who your Councillor is by calling 327-4242 or by going to: http://imaps.indygov.org/GovntProfile/
Task #2 – – Attend the Council committee hearing on the HRO amendment on Tuesday, December 13th from 5:00pm to 6:30pm at the City-County Building, 2nd floor. We must pack the house!
Task #3 – – Attend the City-County Council meeting for the HRO amendment on Monday, December 19th at 7:00pm (arrive at 6:30pm) at the City-County Building, 2nd floor Public Assembly Room. We must pack the house! The final vote will be taken this night!
You can park in the lot just east of the City County Building off Market Street downtown for any of these events. Enter the city-county building through the north revolving doors. There is a security pass through, and you’ll be heading upstairs and to your right. There should be a crowd, and it’s fairly obvious where to go.

Continue ReadingProp 622 information and updates

City-Council President Steve Talley backs Prop 622

Thanks to the tireless work of Indiana Equality Region 8 (especially Bil Browning, Jerame Davis, Jeff Newman, Seth Kreigh, Gary Welsh and many others including the folks from Greater Indianapolis Fairness Alliance) in getting information and education about anti-gay descrimination to the city-county council, the president of the council, Steve Talley (D) has decided to vote in favor of Proposition 622 to include sexual orientation and gender identity in the city’s Human Rights Ordinance. This is a great sign for the ordinance, and is a real victory for justice and fairness in Indianapolis.
There’s still a ways to go; a second committee hearing is on Tuesday, and the vote in the full council is coming up soon. For both events, we need everyone possible to attend the meetings at the city-county building downtown (I’ll post directions and parking info before each event). And I need you to attend Tuesday for moral support!
You can thank Steve Talley for working hard to get information and education by talking to GLBT people about their experiences by e-mailing him: stalley@indygov.org. While you’re at it, stop by Bilerico and thank them as well.

Continue ReadingCity-Council President Steve Talley backs Prop 622

You’ll need to tell me more before you get my money

I got a fundraising letter from a local gay organization today (quoted below the jump line) in my inbox today… the kind that drives me absolutely bananas. I’ve written it on my site and on the gayindy.org mailing list dozens of times, and I’ll say it again: this is not enough information for me to give you money.
Specifically the sentence that caused my knee-jerk reaction of anger was this: “By taking swift action and working in conjunction with civil rights, child protection, and family rights organizations, Indiana Equality forced Senator Miller to withdraw her bill from consideration.”
How delightfully ambiguous, and yet credit-seeking at the same time.
Define “swift action” please.
Now, I witnessed several organizations take swift action on the Pat Miller issue: Rock Indiana sent out emails and told people how to call, several women’s rights organizations did the same, Nuvo Newsweekly wrote articles, numerous bloggers posted information (including me; maybe I should ask for money). I don’t recall hearing a peep from IE about it. I also don’t notice any of the people I did see take action hitting me up for cash at Christmas time.
Maybe they did something behind the scenes? Did they call people? Lobby on the issue (using the same paid lobbyist that, coincidentally also works for other “civil rights, child protection, and family rights organizations”)?
Whatever they actually did, they need to tell me about it, because I know better than to take e-mails like this at face value.
I volunteered for a little organization a few years back called Justice, Inc., that asked me to write fundraising newsletters just like this, when they didn’t actually have the lobbyist they claimed to have, or the influence with political leaders or the media, and they never actually took action on anything. They asked me to write delightfully ambiguous prose like this for them, and I finally quit because I felt awful about doing it, because I knew it was lies. So I know how to read between the lines.
All I’m asking is to be plain and specific about what the “swift action” was and who took it.

Continue ReadingYou’ll need to tell me more before you get my money

Either/Or

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  • Post category:Memes

Courtesy of Mikal Belicove:

  1. Books or Magazines? Books.
  2. Disneyland or Disney World? Don’t know the difference.
  3. Laptop Computer or Desktop Computer? laptop. I like to work all over the house.
  4. Chronicles of Narnia or King Kong? Oh, come on. Really.
  5. Skateboards or Rollerblades? Skateboards.
  6. Robert De Niro or Al Pacino? Neither.
  7. House Plants or Gardening? Gardening.
  8. Pen or Pencil? Pen.
  9. Road Trip or Cruise Ship? Road trip. Nothing sounds more boring than a cruise.
  10. I Love Lucy or I Dream of Jeannie? Lucy is classic.
Continue ReadingEither/Or

Either/Or

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I’m catching up on a backlog of Either/Or memes from Mikal… Courtesy of Mikal Belicove:

  1. Trampoline or Ping-Pong Table? . Trampoline; more fun due to possibility of injury.
  2. Maple or Oak? Maple. Prettier leaves.
  3. Thanksgiving or Christmas? Christmas!
  4. Strip Mall or Shopping Mall? Shopping.
  5. Mornings or Evenings? Mornings.
  6. Sunday’s Newspaper Cartoons or Saturday’s Television Cartoons? Saturday TV.
  7. Prints or Paintings? Paintings. If I could afford any.
  8. New Carpeting or Refinished Wood Floors? Wood floors!!!!!
  9. Cushy Corporate Job or Running Your Own Struggling Business? Cushy corporate job.
  10. Skiing or Sledding? Sledding. I have no sense of balance.
Continue ReadingEither/Or

Either Or

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Courtesy of Mikal Belicove:

  1. Cats or Dogs? I can’t answer: I have both and don’t want to get in trouble at home.
  2. Beer or Wine? Beer.
  3. Sunday paper: In bed or On the couch? On the couch. Too messy for bed.
  4. Baked Potatoes or Mashed Potatoes? Baked; I like the skin
  5. Target or Wal-Mart. Normally Target, but since the prescription thing, neither. Fuckers.
  6. Rain or Snow? Rain. Snow is too messy.
  7. Board Games or Computer Games? Oh, man. I dunno.
  8. Friday nights or Saturday mornings? Saturday mornings.
  9. Land Line or Cell Phone? Cell. I like to go places and talk.
  10. Elevators or Escalators? Escalators are more fun, and don’t lead to as many personal space issues.
Continue ReadingEither Or

College Professor beaten by Christian Fundamentalists for opposing “Intelligent Design”

Who would Jesus beat? According to the Wichita Eagle:

University of Kansas religious studies professor Paul Mirecki said that the two men who beat him made references to the class that was to be offered for the first time this spring.
Originally called “Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies,” the course was canceled last week at Mirecki’s request.
The class was added after the Kansas State Board of Education decided to include more criticism of evolution in science standards for elementary and secondary students.

Continue ReadingCollege Professor beaten by Christian Fundamentalists for opposing “Intelligent Design”

Good and Bad Reasons for Believing

Richard Dawkins letter to his daughter Juliet on good and bad reasons for believing things.

The way scientists use evidence to learn about the world is much cleverer and more complicated than I can say in a short letter. But now I want to move on from evidence, which is a good reason for believing something , and warn you against three bad reasons for believing anything. They are called “tradition,” “authority,” and “revelation.”
First, tradition. A few months ago, I went on television to have a discussion with about fifty children. These children were invited because they had been brought up in lots of different religions. Some had been brought up as Christians, others as Jews, Muslims, Hindus, or Sikhs. The man with the microphone went from child to child, asking them what they believed. What they said shows up exactly what I mean by “tradition.” Their beliefs turned out to have no connection with evidence. They just trotted out the beliefs of their parents and grandparents which, in turn, were not based upon evidence either. They said things like: “We Hindus believe so and so”; “We Muslims believe such and such”; “We Christians believe something else.”
Of course, since they all believed different things, they couldn’t all be right. The man with the microphone seemed to think this quite right and proper, and he didn’t even try to get them to argue out their differences with each other. But that isn’t the point I want to make for the moment. I simply want to ask where their beliefs come from. They came from tradition. Tradition means beliefs handed down from grandparent to parent to child, and so on. Or from books handed down through the centuries. Traditional beliefs often start from almost nothing; perhaps somebody just makes them up originally, like the stories about Thor and Zeus. But after they’ve been handed down over some centuries, the mere fact that they are so old makes them seem special. People believe things simply because people have believed the same thing over the centuries. That’s tradition.
The trouble with tradition is that, no matter how long ago a story was made up, it is still exactly as true or untrue as the original story was. If you make up a story that isn’t true, handing it down over a number of centuries doesn’t make it any truer!
…

Continue ReadingGood and Bad Reasons for Believing