The Gay Thing: Retribution for Gay Bashing in Philadelphia

The Concerned Women for America--a badly named, anti-gay hate group--recently filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court. They're arguing that case for marriage equality shouldn't be treated with heightened scrutiny, because gay people have too much "power." And, I know, with all the talk in Right Wing World about "gaystapos" and "gay mafias" and whatnot, you could take their overplayed rhetoric for more than it is.

In point of fact, in many places in America, a gay person can be fired for no other reason than their sexuality. They can face housing discrimination. Though our we have marriage equality in 19+ states, they aren't recognized in most of the rest of the states, and are only tenuous in some states where they are legal. Conservative Christians--especially from the safety of the internet--have no qualms and no limitations on the nastiness and invective they're willing to unleash. Increasingly, they're also trying to carve out exceptions to the public accommodations laws that do exist, so that they can legally shun gay customers from their businesses. And, we're still regularly subject to abuse, both verbal and physical.

Some of the thugs in question. Image from source, 6ABC

The attack that happened to a young gay couple in Philadelphia recently was only the latest in a string of gay bashings around the country. But this one grabbed people's attention for a couple of reasons. One, it was a crowd of relatively young adults, both men and women who initiated the attack. But more interesting that that, is that this crowd turns out to have been a reunion class from a Pennsylvania Catholic high school, and they gave themselves away via social media. They're busted.

[Excerpt]

CATHOLIC HS COACH FIRED IN CONNECTION TO GAY COUPLE ATTACK IN PHILADELPHIA

Police say they are questioning several people in connection to an attack on two gay men in the Center City Philadelphia area. Though, no suspects have been identified, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia confirmed that one of the people suspected in the attack worked as an assistant basketball coach at Archbishop Wood High School. The Archdiocese went on to tell Action News that person was terminated on Wednesday evening and will not be permitted to be a coach at any other Archdiocesan school. . .

Read more at: 6ABC

The Gay Thing: Add Pennsylvania to the Marriage Equality Pile

Wow. Amazing, really amazing. And no stay? The map is filling in like the electoral map started to do in 2008. Remember that? It was a vast sea of red, and it started to fill in blue from the edges, and down from the top and up from the bottom. It's happening so fast, it's hard to keep track of. Is this 19 now? 19 states, plus DC? And with this precedent, it's hard to see it slowing down. There are 29 states where marriage equality is wending through the courts. Seeing those numbers flip, and keep going is going to be so much fun.

And the fact that Right Wing World is all wobbly on its axis over it is icing on the cake.

Image from source, MSN

[Excerpt]

Pennsylvania gay marriage ban overturned by judge

Pennsylvania's ban on gay marriage was overturned Tuesday by a federal judge in a decision that makes same-sex marriage legal throughout the Northeast. Pennsylvania was the last remaining state to outlaw gay marriage in the Northeast, a region that tends to be socially liberal and Democratic. An appeal to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is likely. If the decision stands, Pennsylvania would become the 19th state to legalize gay marriage. . .

Read more at: MSN

Mass Stabbing at Pennsylvania School

When I first heard about this, it was presented like yet another school shooting, then I heard stabbing. What? Stabbing? Yes. And predictably, much of the response from Right Wing World was, "See, it's not just guns! Should we take knives away from people now?" First, yes, at least at schools we should take away the knives. But secondly, it should be noted that though there were some critical injuries, nobody--at least of this writing--has died. Which is the only good news beyond the fact that the kid responsible is alive also, and in custody.

I'm waiting to hear that the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a knife is a good guy with a knife.

[Excerpt]

Student named, charged as adult in Pennsylvania stabbing rampage: police

[Continued after the break because of an auto-playing video I can't turn off.]

Four Shot Dead at Town Hall Meeting in Pennsylvania

Image from source, Raw Story

There's been a little bit of buzz about the potential for rowdy and disruptive town hall meetings this month, but I don't think anybody expected this.

[Excerpt]

Four dead, two injured as gunman opens fire on town hall meeting in Pennsylvania

A shooting during a town hall meeting in northeastern Pennsylvania has left four people dead and two others are in critical condition, according to local media reports.

“All I saw was the holes go through the hall,” said Pocono Record reporter Chris Reber, who was at the meeting in the Ross Township municipal building. “I saw smoke and plaster flying out, blowing out through the walls. . .”

Read more at: Raw Story

Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Sims Awesome for Several Reasons

An appropriate shot of Brian Sims
from his Facebook page.

For some time, a politician in Pennsylvania named Brian Sims has been on the liberal radar, mine included. Part of the reason is kind of shallow: he's a former football player who is big, beefy and very attractive. But after you discover that part, you find out he's also very smart, well spoken, and a strong liberal with integrity. That's pretty awesome. Then, if you didn't already know, he turns out to be openly gay, and was electable in a state where that hadn't happened before.

So, Sims wins a seat in the Pennsylvania legislature, and everyone who was paying attention probably still has him in their Twitter feed and is still following him on Facebook, and you start to see that he's a pretty awesome dude like, all the time. He really seems like the real deal, saying and doing all the right things, and looking great doing it. And now, he's really gone and done it: he's warmed the hearts of both the pro-choice constituency and those of us opposed to the intrusion of church into state.

I'm going to keep following him.

[Excerpt]

Brian Sims, Pennsylvania Democrat, On Abortion: We Did Not 'Swear To Uphold The Bible'

. . ."This legislation is about advancing an ideology of oppression and suppression, even if such a plan means ignoring the oath of office that each of us swore," Sims told his colleagues during a floor debate in the House of Representatives. "As a reminder, Mr. Speaker, I do believe this has been forgotten entirely by many of my colleagues today: Each of us put our hand on the Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. We did not place our hands on the Constitution and swear to uphold the Bible. . ."

Read more at: Huffington Post

Another Shooting, This Time Pennsylvania

Wayne LaPierre at his bizarro news conference.
Image from NBCNews.

It doesn't ever stop, does it? There are a lot of fruit loops loose in the country, and they all seem to know where to lay their hands on guns. This one happened simultaneously with the presser given by NRA king fruit loop, Wayne LaPierre. Great timing. Ugh.

[Excerpt]

Four dead, three police hurt in Pennsylvania shooting

Four people died on a Pennsylvania highway on Friday when a gunman shot dead three people and later was killed in a shootout with police, authorities said.

Three state troopers were injured in the incident in Frankstown Township, about 100 miles east of Pittsburgh. . .

Read more at: Chicago Tribune

Pennsylvania Voter ID Law Halted (For Now)

Image from source, Addicting Info

Republicans have enacted laws all over the country that make it harder to vote. Though it is done under the guise of "protecting" the vote by weeding out voter fraud (and I will admit, their storyline sounds good), it is increasingly clear that this is not the main reason they're doing it. First and foremost, actual in-person voter fraud is a vanishingly small problem. It almost never happens. And secondly, more and more conservatives have copped to the fact that it is in fact an effort at voter suppression.

This is not surprising, when you realize that all of the new laws had the side-effect of making it more difficult than it has ever been for groups of Democratic voters to cast their ballots. We've all seen the news stories of 92-year-old ladies who voted for FDR, and this year would be ineligible without significant effort. In Pennsylvania, there were an estimated 750,000 voters who would not be able to vote in November with each of them taking the initiative to meet the new standard. All in the name of preventing a handful of theoretical fraudulent voters. Of course this has nothing to do with Pennsylvania being a swing state. . . Ahem.

Fortunately, these laws are being squashed by sane courts and legislatures in most of the places they've been enacted (if they weren't shot down before). And finally, Pennsylvania has seen the light. It's not a done deal, but it's a really good chance that it's gone, at least for this election cycle. Here's hoping what has really been going on here gets a little more widespread before they try again.

[Excerpt]

BREAKING: Pennsylvania Supreme Court Remands Voter Photo ID Law

. . .The Supreme Court has ordered that the state’s controversial new voter ID law be returned to a lower court for a speedy hearing on how the state is implementing it to ensure all voters have access to appropriate state-issued photo identification. . .

Read more at: Addicting Info 

My Remembrance of September 11, 2001 [Revisited]

Photo of United Airlines Las Vegas-based Flight Attendants'
memorial service at Sunset Park, September 2001
(Originally published in the Las Vegas Review-Journal)*

The following is my annual repost of my personal remembrance of September 11, 2001, with slight revisions and additions. . .

Today is the day when we look at the calendar, and nearly flinch. September 11, 2001 is distant to us in many ways, but now--amazingly--for the 11th time, we've all looked at that calendar page and have been taken back to where we were that morning.

I'm republishing my personal account of what happened to me that day, written in the early days of my blog. My story is no more special than yours, I know. But on a day when the date is sure to be used by many for political purposes, I wanted to have one post up that just remembers the day.

ORIGINALLY POSTED SEPTEMBER 11, 2007

Posts I've made today, and earlier in this blog's short history, have discussed or are related to 9/11. I'd rather not let the day go by without giving you the reader--and me the blogger--a little more, minus the political rhetoric.

I've become a deeply cynical person, you might say, at least as it regards politics. This is particularly true lately. But on Tuesday, September 11th, 2001 I wasn't thinking about any of that. Everyone who witnessed that day has their own story. Mine is no more relevant than yours, and is surely less traumatic than many.

I awoke that morning at my usual time, somewhere between 6:30 and 6:45 am. I had finished my morning ritual, and was just buttoning up my clothes when the phone rang. It was our friend, Larry, an American Airlines flight attendant, and he was crying. "Two planes have just hit the World Trade Center," he managed between sobs. This was startling news, but not yet sufficiently alarming for me to change my routine.

I passed the phone to The Other Half, and turned on the bedroom TV. There it was, and the slight alarm turned to a sinking feeling. This was big. We quickly learned that it was both United's and American Airlines' planes that hit the buildings, causing high alarm in the room, and on the other end of the phone. The Other Half, and our next-door neighbor/friend, were [and still are] both United flight attendants. And the neighbor was on a trip at an unknown location. My heart sank, and I nearly sobbed myself--with relief--that my partner was right there in the room with me, accounted for.

Not fully realizing the impact of what had happened, I began my journey to work. I switched on the radio, and was very shortly informed that the Pentagon was on fire. They did not yet know the cause. When I pulled into the parking lot at work, the radio announcer said that a plane was believed to have crashed in Pennsylvania. There was an erroneous report about an explosion somewhere else (maybe the White House?).  I said out loud, "the sky is falling." I fully expected at that point that a wave of attacks would continue throughout the morning. Thankfully, that did not come to pass.

Shortly after my arrival at work, The Other Half called, and told me one of the towers had fallen. Not long after, we heard the same about the other. We imagined the worst, that the buildings had fallen over, smashing all below. Thankfully, again, as bad as it was, it could have been worse.

We didn't get much work done that day. Someone went home and got a TV, and we spent much of our time in front of that fuzzy little picture. Later that day, we found that most of our friends, and their colleagues were accounted for. Our neighbor was stranded in New Orleans for over a week. We had quite the celebration upon his return.

The following days were surreal. I'd never seen Las Vegas without planes in the sky, and believe me, you notice. We watched hours upon hours of TV News, of course, like everyone else. And the casinos around town knee-jerk fired lots of people. We feared for our town.

Several days later, The Other Half went to a memorial service at Sunset Park, due east of McCarran Airport, with the Las Vegas United Airlines base crew. During the service, the first plane in days landed, flying right over the park. There was a swelling of spontaneous applause, as you'd imagine.

We were very lucky. We knew people who had friends-of-friends-of-friends who died that day, but fortunately (for our little world), were spared personal losses. One friend was quite well acquainted with one of the [United 93] pilots, and we had his wife to our house, but that was the extent of our direct contact. United, of course, had a very rocky ride of it, as did American. Many of the flight attendants left town, or left aviation. Las Vegas, predictably bounced back.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2008:

Las Vegas isn't feeling very bouncy this September 11th. Tourism is down, layoffs are widespread, hours (mine included) have been cut at many jobs. United Airlines and American Airlines are seemingly always under threat of going out of business. The neighbor moved to Florida not long after September 11th. The Other Half and I were married this year, and are doing well despite job worries. Whatever happens on November fourth, I think it will bookend 9/11/2001, and hopefully all of this will seem like a bygone era.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2009:

Things in Las Vegas haven't perked up much in the last year. We have, of course, moved from the Bush Era on into the Obama Era. It remains to be seen how that will play out. I'm not a lock-step liberal by any stretch, but I'm willing to give the President time and space.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 10, 2010:

Still waiting for the economy to pick up in Las Vegas, personally and city-wide. We lead the pack for foreclosures, unemployment and several other "worst of" lists. We did place first in a "best roads" in the US story, so that's something. All of these woes are put at the feet of: a) Barack Obama, if you are a partisan conservative, b) George W. Bush, if you're a partisan liberal, c) Harry Reid, if you're Sharron Angle, or d) the snowball effect of many factors, with blame to be shared by both political parties. I'm going with the last one. But I do have to wonder what the state of the economy and the United States in general might have been like if that clear blue skied Tuesday in September 2001 had been just an ordinary day.

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2011: 

Wow, 10 years. There are parts of that day that seem eerily recent. And then you remember everything that has happened since. Our two (main) wars--started in the immediate aftermath of 9/11--are still going on in one form or other. The economy noted in the updates above, hasn't improved much. Las Vegas is hanging in there, but a bit beaten and battered. And as I noted in 2010, this economic pickle might have been a bit different were it not for that one day. Maybe we still would have had a housing bubble, maybe the bankers and corporate fat cats would've still been crooks. But the whole deficit/debt sideshow might've been in  much, much better shape. Ugh. I wish things were a bit rosier for the 10-year anniversary of that rotten day. Maybe the 20? Or dare I wish it, the 11th or 12th?

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 11, 2012:

In my yearly updates, I see I've gotten away from "not being political." Sorry about that, but what can you do? Everything is political these days. In 2012, our household actually is better off than we were four years ago, with everything except housing values looking up. Everyone is looking toward November's election, but very little has been made this year about 9/11, other than that this year is the first (oops) second time it's happened on a Tuesday since that fateful day. Though American Airlines is in bankruptcy this year, but United seems to be doing well with its Continental merger. In good news, the Iraq War is over. Still don't know what that had to do with 9/11. And sadly, Captain Dahl's widow died this year, oddly enough at the house of a friend of ours. So, at eleven years and counting, it's kind of a mixed bag. Here's to the day when we have to think about it to remember how many years it's been.

* Full disclosure: photo contains an image of my husband, our friends and his co-workers.

Romney Dazzled by Convenience Store Touch Screen

Image from Raw Story

The issue of Mitt Romney ordering a sub from Wawa, and his subsequent, tedious description of the place probably shouldn't be newsworthy. But it is only the latest in a long, long series of attempts to "humanize" the RomneyBot 3000. And like all the others, it failed spectacularly.

A typical Wawa outlet. Source: Wawa.com.

I don't know if it's his status as a life-long multimillionaire, and thus he can't relate to the average Joe. You wouldn't think that an alpha male, one who was a missionary--convincing enough to convert people to a ridiculous* religion--would be socially awkward. Then again, maybe in the boardroom, or the country club, he gets on famously with Skip and Buffy Worthington III. Trouble is, to the rest of us, he's as relatable as Thurston Howell III.

[Excerpt]

Romney says gas station’s touch-screen ordering is ‘amazing’

It doesn’t take a lot to impress Mitt Romney. At a campaign stop in Pennsylvania on Sunday, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told a crowd that he had been astonished by a touch screen computer used to order food at the Wawa gas station chain. . .

Read more at: Raw Story

*When I call Mormonism ridiculous, it isn't out of anti-Mormon bigotry. I'm an atheist, and I find religion in general to be preposterous. But Mormons are selling a very tall tale, and it surprises me that anyone buys it. Just sayin'.


UPDATE: As pointed out by Dan, a blogger (and friendly rival) at LasVegasBadger, The Media Research Council (a Brent Bozell/Newsbusters organization) and FOX "News" say that Andrea Mitchell Reports "doctored" the video in question to make Romney look goofier. Were such a thing possible (kidding, Dan, kidding). I'm not sure I see it that way--I'm not sure editing is "doctoring" in every case--but here's the link if you want to check it out: MRC/FOX "News" Debunk of Andrea Mitchell.

Captain Obvious: Penn State Scandal Has Nothing to do with "The Gays"

When there is a pedophile scandal involving boys, gay people wince, for multiple reasons. Chief among them is the horror imposed on the little boys, against their will. Secondarily--and quite a bit down the concern meter, but still wrenching--is the false equivalence drawn by many (usually, conservatives) between pedophilia and homosexuality.
 
If you have any interest, you can find copious confirmation that some strong conservatives draw a parallel between teh gay and kid diddlers. Just go to FreeRepublic.com, and go to the ridiculously named "Homosexual Agenda" section. You'll find that the hardcore tea bagger crowd draws no distinction.  But there is one.

If you found out that there was a coach who molested a bunch of little girls, you wouldn't immediately jump to the conclusion that there was a heterosexual problem. But when it is a coach and boys? Many minds go there. Even when there is no scandal to use as a touchstone, many conservative minds go there. "Gays can't reproduce, so they recruit," they'll say. Uhhhmmmm, no. Not necessary. Plenty of gays to go around. Most gays were molested, they'll say. But, then they'll also claim that lesbians were molested by men. So, which is it?

Most troubling with the uber-conservative equivalence between pedophilia and homosexuality, is the blindness to force vs. consent. If you dare read the commentary at conservative sites, you'd have to believe that gay people do not see that distinction. When in fact, it is more likely for sexual harassment and abuse claims to be leveled at heterosexuals.


Pedophilia, whether performed by ostensibly straights or gays is a vicious, nasty crime, performed against kids against their will. Pedophilia is not a sexual orientation. It is a sexual pathology. Performing sexual acts against minors (who are unable to legally give consent) or others against their will is always wrong. There is no evidence that pedophilia is any more prevalent amongst heterosexuals or homosexuals. In fact, I think it is--and should be--insulting toward gays or straights to claim that either is more likely to molest a child. I believe that molesters belong in their own category, and I believe they've got what's coming to them.

I'm insulted by the fact that the FreeRepublic site puts all of the Penn State stories under the banner of "Homosexual Agenda." But I'm not surprised. FR is a knee-jerk site, with very little thought, and a whole lot of emotion. From the whole Penn State story, I am of course most upset by the lives that have been damaged. But I'm also really pissed off that a bunch of knuckle-draggers are going to blame this on people like me.

Pennsylvania GOP's Plan to Shut Out Obama in 2012

Image from Mother Jones

Here's an ethical question for you. Suppose you're running for office (of anything, really, student council, HOA president, whatever). And suppose that before you even run, you find a sneaky way to assure your win--or at least weight it heavily to your side--no matter how the people vote. It's perfectly legal, but would put a win in your column by thwarting the will of the voters. How would that sit with you?

Well, that is what the Pennsylvania GOP seems to be doing. By changing the rules of how their electoral votes are apportioned (after having gerrymandered new districts), they could effect the way the vote goes down, regardless of the actual voting totals for the state. As Rachel Maddow said in Wednesday's episode of her show, the GOP is putting their thumb on the scale.
[Excerpt]

The GOP's Genius Plan to Beat Obama in 2012

Republican state legislators in Pennsylvania are pushing a scheme that, if GOPers in other states follow their lead, could cause President Barack Obama to lose the 2012 election—not because of the vote count, but because of new rules. That's not all: There's no legal way for Democrats to stop them. . .

Read more at: Mother Jones

Thanks to Phyllis for the link.

Pennsylvania: Spectacularly Stunning GOP Overreach

If you thought that the Michigan Republicans passing laws that could allow them to disband elected town governments was crazy, that was just the appetizer. Pennsylvania is appointing a. . .I don't know. . .Czar? Viceroy?. . .position. A guy from the coal industry who will have the power to overrule laws by various agencies. Just say, nope, gonna ignore that one, here, have your fracking permit! Really, it's an unelected position of lawlessness. This is "conservative?"

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sen. Arlen Specter Switches to Democratic Party

This is interesting, to say the least. The Democrats have been anxious to seat Al Franken (D-Minn.), to make him the 59th Democratic Senator, in order to have nearly a filibuster-proof majority. This is necessary, because the Republicans are forcing a super-majority a lot of the time. Unexpectedly, Arlen Specter (R D-PA) has switched parties, locking it up, once Franken is seated.

Of course, Specter has long been a contrarian, and his new role will not ensure a 100% party-line vote. But it's still newsworthy. To say the least.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

McCain Campaign Pushed "Mutilation" Hoax

You know that sad, John McCain worker who hoaxed Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania police (and the rest of us) with a story that a Barack Obama-supporting mugger carved a "B" into her face? Well, it appears that the McCain-Palin campaign pushed this story into the media before getting all of the facts. What is most striking to me, is that McCain is making a Pennsylvania push, trying desperately to flip the state back to red. Is it a coincidence that one of his workers perpetrated this hoax in western Pennsylvania?

McCain Supporter Attacked and Cut Over Bumper Sticker?

Photo from source, TMZ

10/24/08 UPDATE: This story, as I suspected, has turned out to be a hoax. All of the frothy FReepers got horn-swaggled again. For more, go here: HOAX

An alarming story appeared this afternoon at The Drudge Report, alleging that a McCain supporting woman from Texas was robbed, beaten and disfigured while using an ATM machine, because of her John McCain bumper sticker. Drudge's headline went like this: "SHOCK: MCCAIN VOLUNTEER ATTACKED AND MUTILATED IN PITTSBURGH..."

It is shocking isn't it? Not as horrendous as it sounds, though. She was attacked, was robbed, and even had her face scratched. "Mutilated" seems a little over the top though. The wingnuts over at Free Republic, desperate for an outrageous attack from the opposition for a change, jumped on this story, even before the facts are out. They're furious, and are--from the sound of things--arming themselves to the teeth, all set for a race war or something.



Look, I don't know if this story is 100% legit or not. It has a lot of holes, but the story is still new. A few things that bother me are, that the attacker didn't "mutilate" the woman until he saw her McCain bumper sticker on her car. How did he know which car was hers? And the attack was not motivated, at least initially, by her political affiliation, as the guy apparently robbed her before he saw her sticker. Also, Barack Obama's well known symbol is an "O," so a "B" seems like an odd choice.



Still, assume all the things stated in the story are true. Would a robber/mugger be at all indicative of the average Obama supporter? The very idea is ludicrous to me. One thing is certain, the Freepers intend to make maximum hay of this issue. And we all know, even if the story turns out to be more hoax than fact, they'll hang on to it anyway.



[Excerpt]



Woman Attacked, Letter Scratched Into Her Face



A 20-year-old woman who was robbed at an ATM in Bloomfield was also maimed by her attacker, apparently because of her political views, Pittsburgh police said.



Read more at: WTAE-TV



[Excerpt]



"Politically Motivated" Mutilation - Real or Hoax?



Pittsburgh law enforcement sources tell TMZ they have serious questions about the authenticity of the alleged victim who says she had her face cut by a politically-motivated attacker. . .



Read more at: TMZ

From Idea to the News: How a Conservative Meme Travels

Image from JayeSchlesinger

The route of political memes from the right seems to go like this lately:

- Arch political blogs like Free Republic ferret out what they think is a big story. Examples include the Bill Ayers or the ACORN stories.

- Right-wing talk radio is either simultaneous or immediately follows the bloggers, talking for three-hour stretches, daily, hammering the story.

- FOX "News" follows, or once again hits simultaneously, as there is cross-over with some of their hosts and guests.

- The story doesn't spread very far into the mainstream at first, beyond letters to the editor columns, and other political blogs. But if the story has legs, it begins to seep into the mainstream, which becomes unavoidable after. . .

- Eventually, the story makes it into actual conservative politicians' quotes, sometimes all the way to the top. In today's world, that means John McCain's campaign.

So a segment of the population that used to be decidedly fringe, now have become sort of mainstream, though it usually takes a lot of effort from all of the above.

While I've seen this happen, I've missed a critical step. Today, I happened by (OK, trolled) the wing-nutty Free Republic site, in this case on the topic of a supposed "surge" of support for McCain in Pennsylvania. See, this is the new story they want to push, that a state that has voted for 20 years for Democrats is poised to switch to McCain.

But they can't let that just naturally happen. FReepers aren't like that. They fancy themselves as puppet masters, and to a degree, they are. It is a usual game for them to "FReep" a poll, to make their views seem more popular than they are. They've learned the old "perception is reality" tactic from Karl Rove. And here is a direct quote from their site, to try and affect public opinion in Pennsylvania and beyond. Check it out:

"Freepers! Google the topic 'Pennsylvania Newspapers' and go throught [sic] he list and start posting in forums. Put tons of links to stories posted here."

So next time you think that public opinion is swinging to an unlikely place, don't be so sure.

Source: FreeRepublic

Bushisms Morph into John McCainisms

In my previous post, I lamented the imminent passing of the Bushism. Sure, it will be nice having a President that doesn't embarrass us on a daily basis, but I wonder. If John McCain somehow manages to pull this off (or if the GOP's voter roll purging is successful), will we have a whole new batch of foibles and faux pas to endure?

If this event in Pennsylvania is any indication, the answer is yes.

McCain Accidentally Agrees with Murtha About Voters in PA

Steven Weber: The Audacity of Dopes

Photo from AOL

I like to run links to Steven Weber's posts at The Huffington Post every so often, and this is--I believe--the second one in about a week. As I've said before, Weber writes like he took my opinions out of my head, and then wrote them out in a much wittier, even more cynical way than I ever could. It must be nice to be multi-talented and good lookin' to boot.

Here, he tackles the aftermath of the Pennsylvania primaries, in his usual pull-no-punches style.

[Excerpt]

The Audacity of Dopes

Yay! More of the same! No real change at all! Cynicism and division rule! Huzzah! Vivat! Ya-frikkin'-hoo! [snip]

Should she win the ultimate goal, what do we say about her performance this last year? How would Clinton 2 compare to the eight corrosive years of lethal idiocy of the Bush administration?

Read more at: Huffington Post

Hillary Clinton Wins Pennsylvania

Photo from source, MSNBC

I had a funny feeling she'd pull this one out, my own wishes to the contrary. Ten points is a strong win, no doubt about it. Everyone said she'd need double digits to stay in, and she managed that. Not much else to say, except I'm weary of this contest, and hope we get a resolution before the convention.

[Excerpt]

Clinton wins in Pennsylvania

Senator acknowledges money difficulties but vows to stay in the race

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday won Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, a victory that analysts said she had to have if she were to remain a credible candidate for the Democratic nomination. . .

Read more at: MSNBC

Hillary Clinton Vs. Barack Obama: The Final Battle?

Image from Bragster.com

Oh, would that it were so. Hillary Clinton is the favored player in today's Pennsylvania primary. But the margin has been predicted between 5 and 20%, depending upon the poll or pundit. Personally, I'm hoping for a Barack Obama win, however unlikely that may be.

I say this not to irritate Hillary Clinton fans. I personally think a lawn chair with a "Democrat" sign on it would be a preferable vote to John McCain. Voting for a Republican--always a difficult thing for me to do--is quite simply a ridiculous proposition to me this time. And Hillary Clinton is far from the last person I'd vote for. In fact, when I had to "realign" after caucusing for John Edwards back in January, it was almost a coin toss between Clinton and Obama.

But enough is enough. Unless her win is huge and decisive today, I beg and plead (I can't pray, I'm agnostic) for Mrs. C to pack it in, and throw the weight of her campaign behind Barack Obama. There are polls, pundits and actual voters pointing to a close race in November. We can't afford a close race. There's no way on earth this race should be close. John McCain should be this year's Walter Mondale, George McGovern or Bob Dole. The map should turn BLUE on election night.

Every day that ticks by, McCain is somehow solidifying his position as a contender--even though there was near unanimous animus toward him by prominent Republicans before he got the nomination. There is an old adage that Democrats fall in love, and Republicans fall in line. If you're in love with Hillary Clinton, and she does poorly or only passably well today, I'm asking you to break up amicably. Agree to be friends. And join forces with those in love with Obama. Please?

[Excerpt]

Obama Predicts Clinton Win on Tuesday

Hillary Rodham Clinton invoked Pearl Harbor, the Berlin Wall and Osama bin Laden as she reached for a victory in Pennsylvania's Democratic presidential primary to recharge her comeback effort. . .

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