Bye Bye Birdie

Just so you know, birding is not really a hobby of mine. That being said, it doesn’t mean aspects are not interesting and indeed, I am interested in a couple of birds.

It began about two years ago, when I had a longer commute. I listened to an audio book (Prodigal Summer) and the author (or maybe the publisher), used this sound as a chapter separator. I thought it was an exceptionally interesting sound.

In June of the following year, I bought a house in Connecticut. After a hard first day’s work, I was resting on the back deck with a Sammy A and a smoke. I heard that very same bird sound. Curiosity piqued, I did a search. Guess I didn’t realize how difficult it would be to Google on a sound. I found a few pages with multitudes of listings of bird calls in sound files. You would think that alphabetized listings would be a convenience. Not when the bird you’re looking for turns out to be a wood thrush.

Note to Google: Sure wish I could search on a sound. Do you have any idea how long it took me to find out what kind of bird was singing in my back yard?

Wood thrushes arrive in this area in the spring and depart in late July/early August. I sadly found that out one day after I realized I hadn’t heard one in a couple of days.

I will never forget the day they came back this year. I was getting out of my car and heard that beautiful melody. I literally did a little dance. I made a point of appreciating them this time, sitting in the yard like I was tuning into a show. I was even lucky enough to see one.

They’ve been gone a few weeks now, and I miss them. I wish they’d let you know when it was the last song.

So, this is somewhat sappier than my usual political rants. I probably would have been embarrassed to admit I was pining for a wood thrush, until I read this article by Barbara Crafton.

For those in the Gulf Coast...

An Open Letter from Michael Moore

Need anything "moore" be said?

well... perhaps a sing-a-long would make us all feel better.

Interesting Op-Ed piece in the NY Times today (free subscription required) where Paul Krugman points out the the lies from Rove's propaganda machine and finally asks:

"Most of all, it's about what has happened to America.
How did our political system get to this point?"

Gee, you think it might have been the complicit silence of the media from Election Day 2000 until just a few weeks ago when Bush's ratings dropped to a safe number?

Absolutely Brilliant!

Check out this article by Mark Shields at CNN.com.

True Believers Don't Vote for Zealots

From this article in the Washington Post (free registration required):

"The long war on Christianity in America continues today on the floor of the House of Representatives," Republican Rep. John N. Hostettler of Indiana said during a June 20 debate on an amendment asking the Air Force Academy to come up with a plan to limit "coercive and abusive" proselytizing. He said the war "continues unabated with aid and comfort to those who would eradicate any vestige of our Christian heritage being supplied by the usual suspects, the Democrats."

We are not at war with Christianity. Indeed, many of those you regard as the enemy are Christians themselves.

We are defending ourselves from religious zealots, who would use God, who would twist and distort the word of God, to suit their own aims of dominance and control. We are defending ourselves from religious zealots, who would twist the facts and misrepresent reality to suit their own aims of dominance and control.

We are not at war with Christianity. We are defending ourselves from religious zealots. If you possess a modicum of righteousness (not to be confused with self-righteousness), you need not fear.

Despite all appearances, it's still a free country.

and on a less frightening note...

Coming soon to a cable provider near you? I hope so.

http://www.logoonline.com

I'd gladly trade in a large handful of sports channels that I've been paying for in my ever-escalating cable bill all these years for a channel that might have content of interest.

One of those scary things

A supreme court ruling today really troubles me... I don't know what else to say!

http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/06/23/scotus.property.ap/index.html

Two completely unrelated items

The first item is the petition at Representative John Conyers, Jr.'s site about the Downing Street memo. So much for faulty intelligence about WMDs. Bush wanted the war and was going to have it, no matter what. Why don't we do to him what we did to the last President that lied?

The next item is rather humorous. It's an ad for data backup to disk, and it's very funny!

Stop it already!

I am so tired of this nonsense and insanity.

Filibuster "nuclear option" still an option.

Alabama banning books by, for, or about gays.

President Bush said that he'll keep campaigning for an overhaul of Social Security despite opposition. Doesn't he get that we don't want his plan.

Congress passes budget underfunding Medicaid while cutting taxes for the rich.

Bush planned Iraq 'regime change' before becoming President.

Lobbyist paid for Congressional (Tom DeLay) travel.

When are Republican voters going to admit that they really fucked up this time?

Too Funny!

Here are a few funny items found last week:

This ironic juxtaposition thanks to the Dallas Morning News layout editor (link).

And...

The hilarious yet insightful Jon Stewart (link).

CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll

According to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll(http://www.usatoday.com/news/polls/tables/live/2005-04-03-poll.htm, scroll down to #37), American Catholics feel the next pope should:

• Allow Catholics to use birth control - 78%
• Allow priests to marry - 63%
• Make church doctrine on stem cell research less strict - 59%
• Allow women to become priests - 55%
• Allow Catholics to divorce and re-marry without getting an annulment - 49%

It seems to me that 49-78% of American Roman Catholics have Episcopalian tendencies!

No formalwear in HS yearbook?

Kelli Davis may be able to see her classmate's photos in her Fleming Island High School yearbook, but she won't see her own. How pathetic! She's a pretty girl. The school's principal is afraid of setting a precendent -- what's wrong with a precendent of respecting human rights and practicing inclusion?

One local newspaper blurb on the story includes a quote from someone present at the school board meeting - "When uniformity is compromised, then authority no longer holds." If there wasn't enough in the news these days to frighten me, how scary it is to read that some actually have thoughts like this. Echos of Nazi Germany.

Another news story that caught my eye this week had to do with a recent report out of the government's General Accounting Office regarding the cost of the DOD's misguided "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.

So sad... it makes me so very sad. When, oh when, will the world come to its senses?

Dad I'm a Lesbian; A big one.

One of the saddest things about being gay is that your biological family cannot empathize with you and often doesn't sympathize with you.

So, better than Candace Gingrich (former House Speaker Newt Gingrich's Republican Lesbian half-sister)...

Better than Mary Cheney (Vice President Dick Cheney's Republican Lesbian daughter)...

It's Maya Marcel-Keyes (Republican Senator/President hopeful Alan Keyes' Liberal Queer daughter!

One of the most beautiful expressions of God's sense of humor (and evidence that He is a teacher at heart) is that perfectly conservative and intolerant heterosexuals can bring gay children into this world.

Gays in the Military

I haven't heard much about gays in the military in the last few years. I would expect there to be a flurry of activism given that we are at war and understaffed.

Although discharges (based on the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy) have dropped in the last few years, the Army has still dismissed highly-in-demand skilled people simply because they were gay. Read this. And this.

I recently read about an appeal to Congress by active duty gay military personnel that if the US is considering reinstating the draft, to end the gay ban.

Frankly, I think that's a bit backwards. I don't believe that this country has the right to consider a draft as long as they're turning away willing able-bodied volunteers. That being said, end the ban before instituting the draft. End the ban instead of instituting the draft. End the ban because it's the right thing to do. End the ban because your two flimsy arguments (gays pose a security risk and disruption to the hetero troops) have been proven groundless by the experiential facts. American troops served with British troops without incident.

That being said, if you won't end the ban before instituting a draft, then don't you dare end the ban after. That sends a mixed message: we don't trust you if you come along voluntarily but we will trust you if we have to drag you kicking and screaming.

Dodging Dodd

Before Sojourners sent their e-mailed urging me to oppose the confirmation of Alberto Gonzales...

Before MoveOn e-mailed asking me to call my Senator (at 202-224-2823). Read their Statement of Opposition to the Confirmation of Alberto Gonzales to the Office of Attorney General of the United States...

I sent a letter to Senator Christopher Dodd, a Senator from Connecticut, a blue state. My Senator. I sent a letter to my representative, imploring that he not vote for this man who condones torture, whose loyalty (although admirable) to the Bush administration (not unlike Colin Powell and Dr. Rice) exceeds his loyalty to the citizens of this country. And he said,

Thank you for contacting me regarding White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales's nomination to succeed John Ashcroft as Attorney General. I appreciate the benefit of your views.

I have long held the view that a President of either party is to be accorded a measure of deference in nominating members of the executive branch, who serve temporary rather than lifetime tenures. Consequently, the question I must ask is not whether I would select him, but whether he is competent to perform the duties of the office to which he is nominated. In the past, I have consistently spoken out against policies of the Attorney General and other Bush Administration officials with which I have disagreed, and I will continue to do so in the future when appropriate.

The Senate Judiciary Committee, of which I am not a member, approved Mr. Gonzales' nomination on January 26, 2005 by a vote of 10 to 8. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind when his nomination comes before the full Senate for consideration.

Thank you again for contacting me. If you would like to stay in touch with me on this and other issues of importance, please visit my web site at
http://dodd.senate.gov
and subscribe to my online newsletter, the Dodd Digest. Please do not hesitate to contact me again if I can help you in any way.

Sincerely,
CHRISTOPHER J. DODD
United States Senator

I'm sorry Mr. Dodd, that's not good enough. This is not a time for timidity. Forget speaking out in the future; vote against the guy NOW. It seems you are trying to protect your seat by gratifying those who didn't vote for you. Try serving those who did.

This man is a moral outrage. This is not a good candidate for Attorney General. There are better people in this country for the job and we deserve better.

Vote for those who voted for you.

What's wrong with a Postcard from Vermont?

Bush's newly appointed Secretary of Education is scared of bunnies, or PBS, or maybe lesbians. As one of her first official acts in office, she has denounced PBS for spending public funding on producing an episode of a loved children's TV show, Postcards from Buster, because one of Buster's upcoming postcard is from Vermont, where, along with enjoying Sugar on Snow, he visited with a family or two where the kids were lucky enough to have two mommies! WGBH, the Boston PBS affiliate, will make the episode available to other PBS affiliates who wish to air it, but Buster's blog of the visit is only preserved in Google's cached copy (thanks, Google!)

Grrrrrr.... Buster travels the world to expose children to all different kinds of families. The Vermont families visited by Buster for this episode are less than happy about PBS's decision to pull the episode. Me too :(

Turning scary e-corners

Sometimes, I just google around. Not frequently - most often, my searches have a purpose, a specific quest for information (hot to best prepare jerusalem artichokes, for example.)

By virtue of working in a government-leased facility, I will have the day off from work tomorrow in recognition of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. So, although I know some, I went to learn more.

Imagine my surprise / shock / horror / disgust upon visiting www.martinlutherking.org
As if that was not enough, I clicked a link on the sidebar, labeled Jews and Civil Rights
My heart / head / soul ache. I feel the need to disinfect my eyes. First Amendment Rights be what they may, I do NOT have to like all of what I encounter. (BTW - today is Religious Freedom Day)

I think for tonight, I'd best stick to my jerusalem artichokes and the Golden Globes They're honoring Robin Williams - my kind of guy!

Social Security Ad

Progress for America [sic] has launched an ad named “Courage” advocating Bush’s Social Security “reform” plans. This outrageous piece of spin opens with footage of FDR signing in Social Security.

According to a post to the Daily Kos, James Roosevelt Jr. (FDR’s grandson) wrote a letter condemning the ad.

Yesterday, someone on the Kos asked where the Democratic Ad was. I offered mine, reprinted here:
Bush: They gotta be somewhere
[a clip of him referring to the WMD to the National Press Corp]
Bush: Next!
[a clip of him taking questions at a press conference]
Bush: Social Security will go flat bust
[a clip of him from recent speeches]
Rocky (the Flying Squirrel): Not that old trick again
[to Bullwinkle, the Moose as he attempts to pull a rabbit from a hat]
AND/OR
Groucho Marx: Who are you gonna believe, me or your own eyes?
Bush: You can fool some of the people...
[a clip of his mangled speech]

2004, Unordered

Well, since everybody’s doing it (making year-in-review lists, that is), being an adult child of a Virgo, I have a few lists of my own. Here are two of my lists for 2004. List 1: the top five people that got more than they deserved, be it power, money, credibility, whatever...these folks deserve less, not more. List 2: the top five people who got less than they deserved, in fact were marginalized by the mainstream press and (if I can say this with a straight face) were [mis]underestimated.

Pompous Asses:
These folks are too full of themselves.

• George W. Bush
• Antonin Scalia
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Mel Gibson
• Donald Rumsfeld

Unsung Heroes:
These people need us to show them a little more love.

• Michael Moore
• Martha Stewart
• Howard Dean
• Barbra Streisand
• Al Franken
  

I leave it as an exercise to the reader to figure out why I called them the way I did. (I don’t suppose it takes a rocket scientist to discern at least one obvious pattern.)

On other lists, the word Blog was the number 1 word according to MerriamWebster

.

Happy New Year to all.