TURTLE THOUGHTS

What Is Joe Lieberman's Deal?

Any rational person can see there's something going on with Senator Joe Lieberman. Seems kinda needy. Wants a bit of attention now and then. His latest attention-grabbing stunt is to scuttle any kind of meaningful health care reform. Since Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid and the rest of the leadership seem to have no problem with Lieberman leading them about by a nose ring, he continues to sabotage reform.

Happily, MoveOn has already raised a million dollars to put Joe Lieberman out of our misery. Let's hope they're successful.

In the meantime, I have to wonder just what is Lieberman's deal? Is he really just getting his revenge on liberals who replaced him with Ned Lamont in the last Connecticut Senate race? Is he still hatin' on those mean ole progressives who almost kicked his sorry vacillating behind out of the US Senate?

And while we're talking about what makes Joe tick, I'd like somebody to answer Susie Madrak's question: Is he really a devout Jew or a pious egotist?

And why aren't we hearing more about a possible conflict of interest since the Senator's wife, Hadassah Lieberman, works for the pharmaceutical industry?

And I must admit it's crossed my mind. Is he just crazy with grief from missing an old boyfriend who moved out of town? (Hey, it's possible!)

Nope, I think the only thing that can explain Lieberman is Narcissistic Personality Disorder. Yup. Gotta be the ole NPD

Hey there are Joe Lieberman jokes now. Did you hear this one?

What do you get when you cross Joe Lieberman with a frog?

A fascinating, frog-voiced lump of wrinkles whose blood runs cold with reptilian contempt for those in need. And a frog. (by David Rees, courtesy of Riotjoke)

 It's all about Joe.

More Scientology Horrors

People are coming to their senses and realizing that the Church of Scientology isn't a religious organization but a money-making scheme. Several former members in Australia are charging that the cult abused them and even ordered forced abortions. Australian Senator Nick Xenophon shared letters from the victims with his colleagues in Parliament.

“These victims of Scientology claim it is an abusive, manipulative, violent and criminal organisation, and that criminality is condoned at the highest levels.”

Among the letters he tabled was one from a former follower from Western Australia, who was born into Scientology. The man wrote in a letter that as a member of the organisation in both Australia and the US he had participated in the “forced confinement and torture” of others. His letter also states: “Several abortions were ordered as well”.

This comes as France considers whether to ban Scientology outright. Despite my revulsion for it, I don't think Scientology should be banned. It just shouldn't have tax-exempt status. And it damned shouldn't be giving out incorrect and deadly medical advice.

See link for more info on Elli Perkins.
 

Marriage Equality Voted Down in Maine

I wish this weren't a surprise. My only consolation is knowing beyond any doubt that those opposed to my right to marry my partner of 17 years are on the wrong side of history. Shame on them. Shame on anyone who denies that marriage is a civil institution that should be available to all Americans.  Religious-based opinions...or opinions based on irrational hatred, ignorance, or fear...should not trump equal treatment under the law for all Americans. This is not a religious argument, it's an equality argument, an AMERICAN argument.    

  And how long can we morally justify putting other people's civil rights to a vote?

Putting Civil Rights to a Vote

Tomorrow the citizens of the state of Maine will go to the polls to exercise their god-given right to vote on their fellow citizens' civil rights. They'll decide whether gays and lesbians can have the same rights as heterosexuals to marry the person they love.

The vote is expected to go the way such votes have gone in the past. It was a great day, for instance, when Americans voted to legalize marriage between blacks and whites. I'm thinking that strong majorities of people, especially in the Deep South, must have been really glad to grant that right.

And when everybody got a chance to vote on school desegration? That was cool too. Big majorities of people, especially in my home state of Mississippi, were very supportive of that. They had to be, or it wouldn't have passed, right? ...Right?

Naw, it didn't happen that way at all. It was courts who stepped in to protect the rights of the minority from the tyranny of the majority in those cases. Why weren't all those things put to a popular vote? Isn't that the American Way? No, it's not. And it shouldn't be.

Haggis Quits Scientology Cult

Academy Award winning screenwriter and director Paul Haggis is making a very public break with the Church of Scientology because of the cult's bigotry and homophobia. Haggis is the first person in more than half a century to win back-to-back Oscars for screenwriting (for "Million Dollar Baby" and "Crash", the latter of which he also directed.)

Haggis said he was forced to speak out against the Church of Scientology because of its refusal to publicly condemn its San Diego branch for homophobic statements it made during last year's Prop 8 campaign to take away the rights of some Californians to marry. In a detailed letter dated August 19, 2009 to Co$ spokesman Tommy Davis, Haggis wrote:

"I called and wrote and implored you, as the official spokesman of the church, to condemn their actions. You promised action. Ten months passed. No action."

He added: "The church's refusal to denounce the actions of these bigots, hypocrites and homophobes is cowardly. I can think of no other word. Silence is consent, Tommy. I refuse to consent ... I hereby resign my membership in the Church of Scientology."

A spokesman for Haggis says the letter was meant to be private. Despite that, it got out and has been circulating on the web for weeks.

The last few days have been a difficult time for Tommy Davis. Last Friday he stormed off the set of "Nightline" when questions about the kooky cult started to get under his skin.

The Scientology spokesman was irked when interviewer Martin Bashir asked: "Do you believe that a galactic emperor called Xenu brought his people to earth 75 million years ago and buried them in volcanoes?"

Davis immediately bristled to hear Bashir make reference to part of a Scientology scripture derived from the writings of church founder L. Ron Hubbard. The church has reportedly attempted to keep the Xenu story secret from a non-Scientologist public, fearful it will serve to discredit the religion.

"OK, Martin, I am not going to discuss the disgusting perversions of Scientology beliefs that can be found commonly on the Internet and be put in the position of talking about things that are so fundamentally offensive to Scientologists a that's all," he said.

Bashir persisted, and Davis stormed out.

Wake up, dumb celebutards. Don't do like Haggis and wait 35 years before you realize what a sham this Scientology cult is.

Feds Will No Longer Interfere When States Allow Medicinal Pot

 
The Obama administration is letting states that have legalized medicinal marijuana continue the practice without fear of federal interference.

"The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws," according to new policy guidelines to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors, the AP reports.

"Prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws. The policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes."

"Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington. ... A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent today to federal prosecutors in the 14 states and to top officials at the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration. ... The government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity, the officials said."

I disagree with Obama on some key issues, but I'm with him on this. The feds have plenty to do already without wasting resources arresting seriously ill people who smoke pot to simply combat pain or allow them to eat without becoming sick. Having a rational president is a nice change.

  

We Ignore Radical Christian Fundamentalist Hatred At Our Peril

I've posted about Frank Schaeffer in the past, but this new interview of the former Christian Evangelical leader by Raw Story is still worth a look. Schaeffer says he feels like the canary in the coal mine when it comes to warning America at-large about the dangers posed by radicalized Christian fundamentalists who have taken their persecution complex and irrational fear of The Other to a new level since Barack Obama was elected president.

The bestselling status of the Left Behind novels proves that, not unlike Islamist terrorists who behead their enemies, many evangelical/ fundamentalist readers relish the prospect of God doing lots of messy killing for them as they watch in comfort from on high.

They want revenge on all people not like them -- forever. Knowingly or unknowingly, Jenkins and LaHaye cashed in on years of evangelical/fundamentalists’ imagined victimhood. I say imagined, because the born-agains had one of their very own, George W. Bush, in the White House for eight long, ruinous years and also dominated American politics for the better part of thirty years before that.

Nevertheless, their sense of being a victimized minority is still very real -- and very marketable. Whether they were winning politically or not, they nurtured a mythology of persecution by the "other." Evangelical/fundamentalists believed that even though they were winning, somehow they had actually lost.

Click over to read the entire interview. It's worth your time.

Happy Columbus Day. Or Not.

Today is Columbus Day, a federal holiday commemorating Christopher Columbus' discovery of native Americans, and, of course, America.  Yet some people content that the native Americans had already discovered America (and themselves along with it). The Europeans didn't like to think of it that way. Some of us still don't.

     

How Could That Possibly Be Dangerous?

    

There is a chain of bars called "Coyote Ugly" across the country based on a 2000 movie of the same name. It's customary at these places for female patrons to climb atop the bar and dance. (Believe me, it's not nearly as hot as you might hope.)  Last year, a Kentucky college student named Brittany Barnes went to the Coyote Ugly in downtown Nashville with some friends. At the end of the night, she clambered atop the bar to boogie and get her picture taken.

Lo and behold, this tipsy girl tipped over backward and fell to the floor, smacking her head. Now it's lawsuit time. Barnes' attorney, Rob Shelton, is acquiver with indignation. He talked to the Nashville Tennessean.

Shelton claims the bar should do more to protect those who venture up to the bar top, especially when they've been drinking. He said Barnes "had had a few drinks" but was not drunk.

"When you've just been invited to get up on a bar by the owners of the bar, I think you can presume it would be safe to get up on the bar," he said

The law is the law, of course, but the laws of physics are the laws of physics. Just because an establishment lets you climb onto its damp bar when you've been drinking doesn't mean the bar owner has made a deal with God to suspend the law of gravity till you get down safely. So now Barnes is hoping to get half a million dollars for being stupid.

But the best part?

Shelton said Barnes had lost her sense of smell as a result of her head injury.

Well, she should have been paying attention to her sense of touch when she was pulling herself up on that slippery bar. Or her sense of sight. Hell, she'd obviously lost her sense of taste already or she'd never even walked into that bar. So I'm thinking she just didn't have much sense from the outset.

                 

It all looks perfectly safe to me.

 

 

 

Gay Marriage Continues, World Keeps Turning

I realize that legalized gay marriage has probably resulted in untold numbers of hetersexual marriages to disintegrate (I mean, how could it not?) but they don't have the word yet in Iowa.

One of the most common arguments against marriage equality is that the legalization of gay marriage threatens the institution of traditional marriage. But a recent poll conducted by the Des Moines Register finds that 92% of Iowans believe that "gay marriage has brought no real change to their lives." The study comes just months after the Iowa Supreme Court's unanimous decision to overturn a 10-year-old ban on same-sex marriage.

Wow, I guess heterosexual marriage must be stronger than some people thought, huh?

It's Friday, Go Crazy!

Well, not too crazy.

Patrick Swayze (1952-2009)

That's sad news. Living two years after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer is very rare, so you know he was a fighter. I always enjoyed Patrick Swayze's work (well, except for his singing). "To Wong Foo" and "Dirty Dancing" were both great, and I think his role in the "North and South" TV miniseries way-back-when was, too. Still, my first thought on hearing this was, now he's a "Ghost."

                                 

Sites That Make Me Laugh

My friend the priest sent me this photo today from the website uglydress.com. He thought it might be one of my Mississippi relatives. The answer is no...My cousins just wear pistols strapped under their wedding gowns. Machine guns are gauche.

                  

Another site I enjoy is People of Walmart, which includes rude pictures of Walmart shoppers.

          

September 4th

September 4 is a very significant date for me.  I quit tobacco exactly six years ago today. I smoked more than a pack a day. But I decided to quit cold turkey just a few minutes after learning that my dad had died suddenly from a heart attack while working in another state. I couldn't understand why that could happen unless it had something to do with his 2-pack+ a day consumption of cigarettes. Keeping that up for well over 40 years takes its toll on your heart.

I''d smoked for about ten years when I stopped.  Occasionally I'll have a dream in which I'm smoking a cigarette, and I wake up in tears thinking that I've somehow let down my dad. I don't know whether it's healthy to tie a decision to give up cigarettes to the death of someone you love, but so far it's been effective.  I find its strengthens my resolve by thinking of Not Smoking as a way to honor my dad. I think he'd appreciate that. Like most smokers (70%, according to the CDC's Office on Smoking and Health) my father wanted to give up his smokes, but he never figured out a way to do it. I can't and don't blame him for that. Cigarettes are more addictive than cocaine (more so when you have coffee...or maybe that was just me). So you just keep quitting and keep quitting and eventually it sticks. I'd quit more than once before my dad died, but on that day, my quitting 'took.'  Use whatever you can to help you quit smoking, and if that entails tying your decision to a personal tragedy, well, there are worse ways to react.

Odd side note...my dad died on September 4th of his 59th year. His dad died on the same date, also in his 59th year.  The year I turn 59, I'll probably just stay home on this date. 

This image has little to do with this post except for the depiction of smoking, I guess. I only post it because I think it's proof that George Burns occasionally liked to hang out in drag. 

Have I Mentioned I'm Really Glad She's Not Vice-President?

I have to hand it to Levi Johnston. He has turned his 15 minutes of fame into something a lot longer. At least it feels that way. His latest?  An interview in Vanity Fair in which he says his baby's grandmother, Sarah Palin, tried everything she could to hide the fact that her daughter Bristol was pregnant.

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.

Johnston also said that after losing the election with John McCain, Palin just walked around the house pouting about how being governor was hard, and she just wanted to quit and make "triple the money" writing a book or having her own show.  It's a real shame this nutjob didn't become V-P, ain't it?

                           

Back to School

Time again to note the transition to a brand new month. August (aka, National Catfish Month AND National Water Quality Month, though I hope we're not talking about the same batch of water) and September (aka, National Yoga Month) can be celebrated simultaneously.

In the interest of saving time, simply pair August's Studious Behavior Awareness Month together with September's National Bourbon Heritage Month. The result? Undergraduates, of course. 

 

The World According to Americans

Let's start the week with a geography lesson.

Senator Edward Kennedy Laid to Rest

You know you've made an impact when you have three former presidents, the current president, and Jack Nicholson all show up to your funeral. RIP Teddy Kennedy.

 

When Is a Racist Remark NOT a Racist Remark?

Why, when a Republican says it, of course.

The reason the GOP isn't in power has a lot to do with the fact they say stupid shit like this.

"Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope." 

   

--U.S. Rep Lynn Jenkins (R-KS)

Michael Jackson Death Ruled Homicide

Murder! (Or manslaughter? negligent homicide? second degree?)  Will Dr. Murray be put on trial? Whatever happens, it'll be all over the teevee taking up lots of 24-hour cable "news" time.

I'm not a lawyer, but I've long been fascinated by the Jackson clan, and the only thing I can tell you for sure is, Joe Jackson is trying to figure out how he can wring a few more dollars from this.

                                                           Michael Jackson/Dr. Conrad Murray

Fears That Senator Ted Kennedy Is Nearing the End

Senator Ted Kennedy, the 77-year old senior Senator from MA, who has been fighting brain cancer since last year, hasn't been seen in public for months. 

Add that to his absence from a White House ceremony this week honoring him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and his being unable to attend the funeral for his sister, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, on Friday, and you have some grounds for concern. The Hill reports Senate insiders as saying they fear Kennedy may not be around to vote on healthcare reform, a cause that he's championed for decades. Here's hoping he's able to see that legislation through.

                

The "Slippery Slope" to Raging Violence

Frank Schaeffer, the son of ultra-conservative theologian Dr. Francis Schaeffer, is also the author of Crazy for God: How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. In a disturbing post on Alternet, Schaeffer draws a straight line between his late father's vehement opposition to abortion and the crazies who are now disrupting townhall meetings because of the lies they've been fed about health care reform.

To the uninitiated, this linkage sounds unhinged. To me it sounds an alarm bell. I know that it taps into 30 years of slippery-slope rhetoric resulting in four abortion doctors being shot and countless acts of violence against clinics. We too began by yelling at people in our marches. In the end, our words opened a door to violent actions.

I'm not sure if the insurance-industry leaders using lobbyists to stir the pot know what they've just hooked into. Do they know that the comparisons of Obama to Hitler, and the call to break up a wholly imaginary "conspiracy" against the elderly may lead the fringe of the fringe to the next step? Is this fear of mine farfetched? I don't think so.

Schaeffer continues...

The fact that otherwise-sane people now believe that United States government is in a conspiracy with the Obama administration to kill our elderly makes sense only when seen in the context of the hysterical, Armageddonlike expectations of the religious right/pro-life movement.

When you understand the link between the hatemongers, the lobbying groups carrying water for the insurance industry and the ideology that came out of the pro-life movement, then you can you understand what is happening today in town hall meetings that are being disrupted by screaming people.

I'm very afraid he's right about all this. We know that people who murder abortion doctors believe they are acting on behalf of God. It's not a large step for them to go after pro-health reform politicians for the same reason.

 

       Frank Schaeffer with his father (date unknown); Frank's book; Frank today

Bill Clinton: He's Still Got It

 This is a few days after the fact, but I've been thinking about two very different but compelling pictures that came out of former president Bill Clinton's diplomatic trip to North Korea. Clinton met privately with N. Korean dictator/nutjob Kim Jung Il and persuaded him to release two American journalists being held captive there. After the meeting, this photo of Clinton and Kim Jung Il along with some of their lackeys was released to the public. It's pretty instructive.

      

As far as diplomatic photos go, this is pretty much the bottom of the barrel. No handshake, no smiles, no back pats. Just a picture that documents, "Yes, we did meet," but not much else. Clinton knows that Kim Jung Il was waiting around for the United States to kiss his Communist Butt and give him a little acknowledgement. Clinton knew if he did that, the journalists would be freed. Seemed to work.

The other picture is less instructive and more an oddity. Former President Bill Clinton and former VP Al Gore meeting with the returned journos and their families. But Gore wasn't there in an official capacity as the former vice-president. No, he was there as the founder of the cable network Current, which employs the captured journalists. It was just a coincidence that the diplomat who freed the women was the former president and the businessman who employs the women is his former vice-president. Kinda neat.

Jon Benet Ramsey Would Be 19 Years Old Today

Hard to believe so much time has passed since this little girl was murdered in her own home early Christmas morning as her parents slept upstairs.  I hope the case is eventually solved.

                        

Jon Benet Ramsey (August 6, 1990-December 25, 1996)

Corporate Lobbyists Go To Any Length in the Assault Against Health Care Reform

As you follow the health care reform debate (and any other significant debate in Washington), it would be helpful to keep this in mind from consultant Bob Lewis, president of IT Catalysts, Inc., a consultancy specializing in IT organizational effectiveness and strategic integration.

In mass media, the entertainment or information isn’t product — it’s bait. The audience is the product, of which advertisers are both customer and consumer.

Lewis wrote those words in a column posted in 2002, and it's even more salient today. Don't be suckered by talk of horrible "government bureaucrats" making decisions about your health care. The people currently making those decisions are insurance company employees who have every incentive in the world to deny a claimant's coverage.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are government run programs, and I'm not hearing anybody enraged about health care reform talking about doing away with them. If government run health care is bad, there'd have been a long-running grassroots movement against it.  So don't be fooled: This fake, corporate/ industry astroturfing we're seeing now is just smoke and mirrors.

            

(Image from FarLeftSide.com--h/t to Crooks & Liars as well as D.Aamodt)

Well, It All Makes a Little More Sense: Sarah and Todd Palin to Divorce

UPDATE The Christian Science Monitor reports that Sarah Palin's spokesperson, Meg Stapleton has posted on Palin's Facebook page that the Palins are not divorcing. Maybe that's true, but I'm not convinced. 

___________________________

What a crazy month it's been for former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Just before the July 4th holiday, she dropped the bombshell that she was resigning but couldn't offer a coherent response when asked why she was doing it. Turns out what she didn't say was that she and Todd are about to divorce.

Knowing that the National Enquirer had written about both Palins having extramarital affairs and seeing no way to save the marriage, I guess she figured it'd be a little easier if she weren't governor when it all hit the fan. (Like that's gonna slow down the darned librul media!! as she might say.) 

I told you the other shoe was a-gonna drop!

(Speaking of shoes, I'll bet this is the straw that broke the camel's back.)

                             

Happy August Eve

As National Fireworks Safety Month (July) turns into National Eye Exam Month (August), it is fitting to engage in the traditional Melding of the Months and blur these great monthly observances into one.

Don't be this girl.

 

Be these girls.

 

Actually, the one on the left looks like me in 1977 except my glasses were bigger.

Proof the 'Birthers' in Congress Are Just Playing Games

If you honestly believe there's any doubt about whether Barack Obama was born in the United States, why on earth would you vote for a resolution recognizing Hawaii as Obama's birth place?

The answer is even though you leap at the chance to get the rightwing base in a froth by insinuating there's a conspiracy of deception involving the president's birth certificate, you don't have the guts to say it on the record. It's spineless moves like these that work up both sides, right and left. Lather up the base, get a bump in donations, over-promise, then under-perform, and blame the other party and/or the media for your shortcomings. Works every time, and we all keep falling for it.

Progressives are seeing it as much as Conservatives are--politicians will say anything that works to get them in office, but in the end, they all end up playing a friendly game of DC Insider.

We must change the way we look at politicians in the U.S.  The old left/right dichotomy doesn't work any more.  Take the Political Compass test to get a sense of where you are. My spot on the Political Compass shows:

Economic Left/Right: -6.88
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.05

If you want to know what that means exactly, you can start by reading the Political Compass FAQ. I'm not sure what my point on the Compass indicates, but it puts me close to Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama, so I can live with that.  Take the test and feel free to leave your results in comments.

Cronkite Got It Right--If Only Today's News Anchors Had His Courage

The passing over the weekend of Walter Cronkite is made especially sad by knowing that he was one of a kind. Unlike today's he-said/she-said anchors, Cronkite brought real analysis to the news. Part of his job, he believed, was to get to the truth and report the truth in the proper context.  Salon's Glenn Greenwald is calling out Cronkite's modern day counterparts, urging them to emulate Cronkite, not just praise him.

Cronkite called it like it was during the Vietnam War. He also called it like it was in the days before Bush's disastrous invasion of Iraq. If we'd paid as much attention to Water Cronkite in 2002 as we did in 1968, just think how much better off the United States would be today.

                                                     

"What do I regret? Well, I regret that in our attempt to establish some standards, we didn't make them stick.  We couldn't find a way to pass them on to another generation."--Walter Cronkite

Rooting Out the Sociopaths in Your Life

Some experts say that about one out of every 50 people you know is a sociopath (aka, psychopath). But how can you possibly know whether someone you know and/or love falls into that category? Your responses to these questions provides an answer:

1. Do you often feel used by the person?

2. Have you often felt that he (or she) doesn't care about you?

3. Does he lie and deceive you?

4. Does he tend to make contradictory statements?

5. Does he tend to take from you and not give back much?

6. Does he often appeal to pity? Does he seem to try to make you feel sorry for him?

7. Does he try to make you feel guilty?

8. Do you sometimes feel he is taking advantage of your good nature?

9. Does he seem easily bored and need constant stimulation?

10. Does he use a lot of flattery? Does he interact with you in a way that makes you feel flattered even if he says nothing overtly complimentary?

11. Does he make you feel worried? Does he do it obviously or more cleverly and sneakily?

12. Does he give you the impression you owe him?

13. Does he chronically fail to take responsibility for harming others? Does he blame everyone and everything but himself?

I brainstormed and couldn't think of anybody I know who falls into the sociopath/psychopath category. That probably means it's me.

                                   

Palin Rumors Abound: What's the Real Story?

We all knew that Sarah Palin had a screw loose, and that was confirmed by her incoherent news conference in which she announced she'd be stepping down as Alaska's governor because...well, I still don't know. I think it has something to do with her being an idiot, but I can't know for sure.

There are DFH types speculating that she's under federal investigation and about to be indicted. She's threatening to sue an Alaska blogger/radio host who mentioned this rumor on MSNBC over the weekend.

One commenter wondered whether she's pregnant again, and that's the reason she's stepping down, but that doesn't make any sense because she already had a child while serving as governor, so what would stop her from doing it again? Some people think she's just so thin-skinned that she's had enough with being the butt of jokes and wants out of the limelight. That's laughable to me because Palin thrives on attention and doesn't strike me as the type of person who'd give up power no matter how many bad things are written or said about her.

                           

My money's on the indictment theory or some comparable scandal about to bubble over. If that's the case, we'll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I hope Sarah Palin keeps going in front of the cameras and spouting her disjointed crazy talk. She's a hoot.

Artist Abuser Victim Genius Monster Humanitarian Freak: Michael Jackson, You Wear Me Out

Michael Jackson's death has made me face the paradoxical set of feelings he evokes in me. I have enjoyed his videos, liked most of his music, and been very moved by some of his songs. But the increasing Level of Freak throughout his career took its toll, and, lately, he's just been easier to dismiss or ignore. Now that he's dead, it's like I have to decide once and for all how I feel about him. (It was this post on Feministe that got me thinking about it.)

MJ's death forces me to look at the conflicting emotions he inspired, and the past couple of days I've been surprised at how much I really liked those songs. "Human Nature" "Man in the Mirror" "Black and White" "You Are Not Alone".  I believe world is a better place because of those songs and many others like them.

But the other stuff...the sordid, disturbing, devastatingly personal Other Stuff. It obscures the art. And I have to ask myself, Why does my enjoying and appreciating the art make me feel like I'm trying to excuse all the horror? 

I can't reconcile it. So sometimes I really like and appreciate Michael Jackson. And sometimes I'm repulsed by the thought of the guy. I guess I'll just have to live with both those realities, appreciate the aspects of his work that I think are genius, and hope through it all that MJ has found some much-needed peace.

                                            

BREAKING NEWS!!! Michael Jackson Still Dead

Geez-Louise. More than 72 hours after the fact, at least stop calling it 'breaking news.' And I'm talking to you, CNN and MSNBC.

It Was Either This or Cornrows

Just got my hair cut Saturday. I really should start checking the back before I pay that guy.

                                            

Call the EPA! Does Something in the White House Drinking Water Make President Lie?

Wow, it sure was nice getting a Democrat in the White House, right?  Maybe nice for lots of people, but not so much for gays. On the same month that Barack Obama releases a proclamation commemorating LGBT Pride Month, his Department of Justice compares the desire of loving couples of the same sex to get married as akin to incest and pederasty. 

While the haters react predictably against the proclamation, they are railing against a meaningless gesture. It's what Obama hasn't done for gays that should make the haters happy.  On an issue that's actually relevant to the lives of LGBT Americans, the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (which Obama opposed when he was a candidate) is now a law that his DOJ is defending. And not just defending, but doing so with the most offensive language imaginable.

So when did Barack Obama decide to let a diehard Mormon Bush appointee speak for him on an aspect of marriage equality?  Candidate Obama (you know, the one who promised to do away with Don't Ask Don't Tell and who has gone on record as being "unequivocally" for gay marriage before realizing, conveniently after the election, that maybe he's not)...anyway, Candidate Obama had my respect and support. President Obama is putting his reputation at stake. Maybe he really *is* trying to 'Sistah Souljah' the gays.

                     

Chastity Bono Transitioning from Female to Male

When I was a little kid I enjoyed watching Sonny & Cher. Their little girl, Chastity, was a cute, blondie-sweetie who appeared on stage frequently with her parents.

Chastity grew up and came out as a lesbian--rather, she was forced out by the tabloids in 1990.  And now comes word that she is transgender. Chastity is transitioning to Chas. His friends and family have known about Chas' decision to have gender reassignment for a long time, but he only started the treatments after his 40th birthday this past March.

Chas will be in line for a lot of flak, and he'll get more than his fair share of shock, ridicule, and disgust. But I have to admire his guts, and I hope he's happy. His being happy and feeling okay with himself shouldn't cause anybody else to feel threatened or ill-at-ease. I hope he gets the support and encouragement he needs to make the transition as easy and painless as possible.

                                       

At Least It Helps Contain That Diaper Smell

When I was a kid, my mother had an insanely disproportionate-to-reality fear that I would somehow manage to smother myself to death with a plastic drycleaner bag. I could freak her out by holding one up to my face, so I did it a lot. (Where I grew up in the middle of nowhere, you had to entertain yourself.)

Perhaps my mother's fear is grounded in having seen this DuPont magazine ad from bygone years (via Gawker).

                    

That's still not as bad as the Flintstones hawking cigarettes.

                    

George Takei Wins "World's Most Famous Gaysian" Contest--Bobby Trendy Placed On Suicide Watch

As we prepare to transition from Asian American Heritage Month (aka May) to Gay and Lesbian Pride Month (June), it is customary to have a couple of transition days, say May 31-June 1, during which America recognizes Gaysian contributions to society, but mostly to television. For the 6th year in a row, Star Trek/Heroes star George Takei is the World's Most Famous Gaysian. Runner-ups included B.D. Wong, Bobby Trendy and some guy named Jimmy Chen who I'd never even heard of until I googled "gay Asian celebrities" and trust me, I'm still in the dark.) 

 Bobby Trendy before he got the bad news

            

George Takei and husband Brad Altman                            B.D. Wong

(There actually is a thriving gay Asian-American community. They're diverse and they do some pretty important work. Plus I think Lavender Godzilla is a cool name for a newspaper.)

I Really Don't Think Jesus Wants Anybody Tortured

Some things you just know are true. You don't even need to see any proof for it, but you know it's true anyhow. Then some evidence comes along to turn your thoughts upside down.

That's happened to me this week on two separate issues. The first--and I know many people will think I'm an idiot for admitting this--is how Christians view torture. I know there are some gung-ho, nationalistic, religio-political types who think torture is necessary, but most rational people do not. So I was saddened to learn that nearly two-thirds of white evangelical Christians are more likely to support torture than people who don't go to church.

A survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that white evangelical Christians are more likely to support torture than people who rarely or never attend religious services.

The survey said that 62 percent of white evangelical Protestants say that the use of torture against suspected terrorists can be often or sometimes justified in order to gain important information.

Religious studies professor Charles Kammer of The College of Wooster in Ohio says the news does not surprise him.

Kammer says that despite Jesus' own commitment to nonviolence, Christianity as a whole has never embraced nonviolence. He says some evangelicals also confuse patriotism with piety. "What's good for America has often been seen as God's will," says Kammer."They think the torture of evil people is not bad, but may be morally required as a way of protecting the good people."

Kammer said he is a Christian and does not support torture in any circumstances. He considers waterboarding torture. "If we're ever going to provide any moral leadership in the world," he says, "we have to live in the world in a particular way. We can't criticize our enemies for doing what we're doing."

The second thing that I thought I knew but found I didn't has to do with charitable giving. Who gives the most?  You might assume it's the people who have the most money, as I did. Wrong. Figures from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics prove that the less money you make, the greater the percentage of your income you're likely to donate to those even less fortunate.

"The lowest-income fifth (of the population) always give at more than their capacity," said Virginia Hodgkinson, former vice president for research at Independent Sector, a Washington-based association of major nonprofit agencies. "The next two-fifths give at capacity, and those above that are capable of giving two or three times more than they give."

One of the best predictors of charitable generosity is being a person of faith, according to the article linked above from McClatchy. I think we need to find these people and encourage them to start some serious conversation with their torture-enthusiast brethren and sistren. (I thought sistren wasn't a word--something else I thought I knew but didn't! But it turns out Chaucer said it, so I can too. Besides, I like the way it sounds.) 

Catholic Archbishop: Report Documenting Systemic Child Abuse Will "Overshadow" Abusers' Good Work

Which is worse: The Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Scientology, or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?  Every time I get them prioritized, a bit of news comes along to up-end my mental apple cart.  It's easiest to hate the Scientologists because, face it, they're total loons. (Also, I love good science fiction, and that certainly leaves out the stories that L. Ron Hubbard pulled out of his con-man backside.) 

The Mormons are kooky, too, what with thinking Jesus and Satan are brothers, that Christ hung out in pre-United States of America, and I'm not even going to get into their weird underwearing habits.

But today, the worst religion award goes to the Catholic Church, which we now know aided and abetted hundreds of child abusers and rapists in Ireland over a period lasting for more than 60 years. 

A nine-year, 2600-page report compiled by Ireland's Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse concluded that systemic physical, psychological, and sexual abuse were common in state-sponsored but church-run "reform" schools throughout the country from the 1930s through the 1990s.  The children were captive victims, sent to the schools for truancy, misbehavior, or for having the misfortune to be born in a dysfunctional family, which was defined to include children of single mothers.

You can read all about the report and everything that led to its release via the links above, but the detail that sparked this post was something said by Catholic Archbishop Vincent Nichols, who was just recently installed to preside over England and Wales.

It’s very distressing and very disturbing. And my heart goes out today, first of all to those people who will find that their stories are now told in public…. Secondly, I think of those in religious orders and some of the clergy in Dublin who have to face these facts from their past, which instinctively and quite naturally they’d rather not look at. That takes courage. And also we shouldn’t forget that this account today will also overshadow all of the good that they also did.

Did you get that?  The abusive religious orders and clergy are courageous! (Yes, and how courageously they fought against this report being released.) And not only that, the archbishop fears that all this pesky nonsense about child rape and systemic abuse occurring for decades might take away from all the good that they did. (Yeah, how 'bout that. And I hear that when he wasn't killing and eating people, Jeffrey Dahmer collected donations for the March of Friggin' Dimes. Why have we allowed proof of his homicidal cannibalism to make us forget that?)

So, take cheer, you self-righteous Mormons and freaky-deaky Scientologists. As long as the RCC is around, you'll always have an institution to look down on.

    

                

C-Plus Celebrities Come Out Simultaneously, Receive D-Minus Attention

Here's something you probably never thought about, but two (relatively) familiar celebrity types are suddenly being forthcoming about their gayosity. Both David Ogden Stiers of M*A*S*H fame and Kelly McGillis of Top Gun fame (who'd have thought she'd be the one from that movie to come out?) are blowing open the closet doors to face an apathetic public. And you heard it here first. How wonderful you can be honest now that you have become relatively obscure! Kudos!

  Kelly McGillis then and now

   David Ogden Stiers now and then

"Mission Accomplished"

It's been six years--May 1, 2003--since an empty flightsuit swooped onto an aircraft carrier to declare "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq.  Whatever happened to that guy? 

Blogging is like quitting smoking...

...you have to keep at it until it takes.  Welcome to Turtle Thoughts. I'm the turtle in residence, I reckon. My name is HPStevens, and I decided to call my place Turtle Thoughts because I like the Emerson quote ("All the thoughts of a turtle are turtle.") 

I tried blogging another time, but it just didn't work for me. I thought going in that I needed a place to rant and vent because the world tends to stress me out. I used an outrageous name and let myself be all rude and shit. Anyway, after posting a couple dozen times, I realized that I wasn't ranting and raving. Yeah, I was venting, but it came out a lot more rational (and a lot less emotional) than I thought it would. Just four days into my blog, and I was having a major blogdentity crisis.

So I regrouped, scrapped my old blog, and resurrectified myself as a turtle. As a turtle, Emerson pointed out, I am concerned only with turtle things. And since I'm consumed by my thoughts, I'm just delusional enough to believe you could be, too. Please don't pop my fantasy bubble.

(Not my actual pic)