Politics as Usual

Fitting quotes

2006-06-14T15:27:00.000-04:00

Just ran across two quotes that address themselves nicely to my last blog entry. Wanted to pass them along.

"Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from a religious conviction." - Blaise Pascal

"Unless man is committed to the belief that all mankind are his brothers, then he labors in vain and hypocritically in the vineyards of equality". - Adam Clayton Powell Jr.

Virginia Citizen

Thoughts on Virginia's Gay Marriage Ban 2006-05-19T11:20:00.000-04:00 Originally posted on 16 January '06 Writer’s note: I am a gay, voting Virginia citizen. I reared four children. Each one is a credit to their community, their state and their country. I have five grandchildren. If I had left out the word ‘gay’ in the above statement the ‘moral majority’ would love me. I’d be their poster child! But because I put that horrible scary word in, my family does not exist. Does this not strike you as, at the very least, foolish? AND, at the other extreme, criminal! Rosa Parks once said, “I think it would be a good thing if all people were treated equally and justly and not be discriminated against because of race or religion or anything that makes them different from others”. Well, she would know. Of all the people who run through my mind right now, she rises to the top as one who would surely understand. I’m certain she would see the blatant similarity between her people's past in Virginia legislation and my people’s present in Virginia legislation. I find it painful that the Virginia legislature finds it agreeable, in an attempt to cater to a larger voting bloc, to come out on the side of prejudice and bigotry in the arena of human rights. They have once more divided their citizens by class, reserving some rights for only the class that fits their definition of ’appropriate’. I realize that this evaluation is harsh. But that is exactly what their vote on marriage rights boils down to. They can surround this with all the rhetoric they like; it does not matter. It is as simple as this: The state expects the same things from gays as it does from all others. Their taxes are no less; no less patriotism is expected of them and no less adherence to the law. They should, therefore, be granted every right and privilege that every other citizen has the right to expect. Bottom line, no matter how one feels about gays, this is a question of citizen's rights and about non-discrimination. It seems shameful to me that Virginia, 'the Mother of Presidents' should once again be in the forefront of discrimination. I want to wind up with a warning to all the Virginia readers out there. You need to know another thing in addition to the indecency of all this! Written into this amendment are infringements to the rights of you 90% ‘politically correct’ Virginians as well as to us 10%. Please, watch your backs. You will be voting away your rights, too, not just mine. A heartfelt thank you 2005-12-17T01:30:00.000-05:00 Thank you, Senator Russ Feingold! And a 'thank you' also, to the Senators who stood beside you. These are sad times indeed when it's necessary to give special appreciation to elected officials for trying to protect American citizens. A sadder time still when those citizens need protection from the terrorist activities of their own government. And sadder still that so few stood up for the job. Virginia Citizen Thank You, Canada 2005-06-28T21:54:00.000-04:00 for upholding the case for human rights, for telling all Canadians that they are valuable and deserve respect and most of all, for doing what the United States will not do - the granting of equal constitutional rights to all your citizens in return for the financial and physical suport they have given their country! Virginia Citizen It may be social, but it ain't secure 2005-04-28T23:41:00.000-04:00 And it's only 'social' in that there'll be a whole lot of people in the same leaking craft. For quite a while I've been trying to find some common ground for both the extreme 'right wingers' and we poor fools who believe that the way one can tell that ole 'dubya' lies is 'cause we see his mouth open. I think I’ve found it. I just read, off Reuters, an article by Steve Holland. Check it out. 2nd page, 3rd paragraph. I quote: “Under the plan, future growth benefit increases for wealthier people would be limited by tying growth in benefits to prices rather than wages. Benefits to low-income people would remain tied to wages and stay the same.” But, and correct me if I’m wrong, doesn’t that still leave Georgie’s big corp. buddies in control? Who controls prices? Who controls wages? http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=GD0O2SBK2MZLACRBAE0CFFA?type=topNews&storyID=8339492 Virginia Citizen Where is Southern Honor, John Warner? 2005-04-27T22:12:00.000-04:00 Well, it is Spring. Spring is the time when southerners plow horse manure into their gardens. It was Spring last year when the detainee abuses came to light, with more and more from all over popping up on a regular basis. No need to go into it here - you all can remember just fine. Do you remember when, among others, John Warner (rep. senator, Virginia) and Lindsey Graham (rep. senator, South Carolina) promised that even onto the highest level, those at fault would be held accountable? Do you remember? I remember! It would seem that it was just more horse manure being plowed under. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/04/25/AR2005042501352.html Virginia Citizen Prostitutes for god 2005-04-22T21:32:00.000-04:00 Been reading up on the doings of Bill Frist and Tom DeLay. When the christian right tells you they don't approve of prostitutes - don't you believe 'em. Virginia Citizen Re: Blog comment below 2005-04-20T22:52:00.000-04:00 The well writtten blog below is commentary by a guest blogger, not me. I love it and it surely represents my thinking even if it is better articulated then my writings. Look for more clearly thought out comments like these in the future. evangelical christians 2005-04-20T22:24:00.000-04:00 So evangelical christians don't check their religion at the door. Well, they need to learn to do that. The Constitution guarantees them freedom of religion, to believe what they want to believe, and freedom of worship. It does NOT give them the right to inflict that religion on everyone else to which they come into contact. Nor does it give them the right to harass people of other religions and call them names like Christ killer. These things make me want to become an "evangelical" Wiccan, give talks during Religious Released Time on the Goddess and God, fertility rites and dancing sky clad with other women (gasp!!), and call evangelical christians Earth killers. Come out, come out, wherever you are!!! 2005-04-20T21:27:00.000-04:00 Re: Air Force cadets at the Acadamy in Colorado - recent complaints of harassment by Christians. I am sending a plea to all gays everywhere to PLEASE come out of their closets. This will leave room in these closets for those poor Christians to go in and pray as instructed by no lesser person than Christ himself. Christians, please familiarize yourselves with this injunction by reading Matthew 6: "But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly." Am I the only one who sees 'our' government's hand in this? 2005-04-04T16:58:00.000-04:00 Call me a conspiracy nut, call me paranoid, whatever. But read this article below on health care coverage. Evidently the government doesn't care about us insurance poor, poor folks. (And I am one of these) Or they'd help do something. Well, I take that back, they are doing something. They are being personally funded by the entities concerned with keeping costs high. I say if they are not part of the solution, they're part of the problem. My viewpoint: we are well on our way, governmentally engineered - on purpose, to becoming a sharecropper nation. http://www.latimes.com/features/health/la-he-insure4apr04,0,5132674.story?coll=la-home-health Re: "DeLay Wants Panel to Review Role of Courts" 2005-04-02T17:28:00.000-05:00 Will someome please explain to mister DeLay the philosophy behind 'Checks and Balances. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19793-2005Apr1.html?nav=rss_politics ...More double standards lately? 2005-03-19T20:08:00.000-05:00 Now I wasn't there, so I can't swear as to wording, but I can see authorities overreacting. A quote from MSN news article http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7225624/ “Federal prosecutor Heidi M. Pasichow said Dunphy's suggestion that his son could blow up a train was "not an appropriate way to communicate" his concern about security. "People who make these comments like Mr. Dunphy really need to think twice," she said.” It cost Mr. Dunphy somewhere around $15,328. Well. is this a bit of a double standard? I seem to remember this public quote from Tommy Thompson when he stepped down. "I, for the life of me, cannot understand why the terrorists have not, you know, attacked our food supply, because it is so easy to do” http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7200413/ His inappropriate communication didn’t cost him anything. A word on computer records and security 2005-03-01T22:45:00.000-05:00 The word is NOT. What is so difficult to understand about that? I’ll try and make it simple for you. If the computer that holds your records is connected to the internet in any way, shape or form - IT IS NOT SECURE. And it can’t be made so by any technology the world possesses at this point. Some systems may come closer than others to security. But this is not to imply that they are even close to safe. If your IT person tells you not to worry, your records are not in any danger of being hacked, either your records are not worth stealing or he or she is lying to your face. Those are the only two choices you have. The desire of people for easy and the greed of the financial institutions has fueled this fantasy. And it is a fantasy. Banks put all your information online and it gets hacked. Credit companies put all your information online and it gets hacked. Information brokers and collectors put all your information online and it gets hacked. Businesses of all kinds put all your information online and it gets hacked. What is the problem, people? When the day dawned on the computer age did the sun set on your brains? I can’t begin to tell you what you can do to start protecting yourselves. This whole ‘make it public’ thing has gotten so out of hand and has insinuated itself so deeply into all aspects of our daily lives that it seems unlikely we can break free. It’s too late to expect honor on the part of the government or financial entities. I simply would like to see no delusions on your part. I am moved to say this because of the following two articles. http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14054179&BRD=1283&PAG=461&dept_id=158544&rfi=6 http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148775,00.html Truth from a different prospective... you should read it! 2005-02-28T22:37:00.000-05:00 “... Today, a new generation [of Slovakians and other Eastern Europeans] that never experienced oppression is coming of age. It is important to pass on to them the lessons of that period. They must learn that freedom is precious, and cannot be taken for granted; that evil is real, and must be confronted; that lasting prosperity requires freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom of association; and that to secure liberty at home, it must be defended abroad." The above quote is from the third paragraph from the end of Bush’s speech in Bratislava, Slovakia last week. The speech in its entirety can be found in the White House archives: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050224-1.html Read it if you like. It’s there and it got plenty of coverage. But it is more important for you to read several things that the main stream news doesn’t tell you. This article, Potemkin World… or the President in the Zone, is a ‘biggie’ and you should be aware of the points it makes. Find it here: http://www.tomdispatch.com/ Listen to what it says! It’s important. If the right article doesn’t immediately come up, it has probably dropped to the archives. It’s there and worth looking for. Listen to what it says! It’s important. But I want to call your attention to the words in the quote itself. notably that: "freedom is precious, and cannot be taken for granted evil is real, and must be confronted lasting prosperity requires freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom of association ... " These are the very philosophies and rights that are being compromised and eroded in the United States this very day, this very week. At the same time in history, make note, history will remember this, that the person who speaks so eloquently (he has good speech writers) for our country elsewhere in the world, he is working quickly and quietly to remove the rights and freedoms of the very people for whom he has the nerve to speak. I have to wonder; does he think that the people are too stupid to notice or too sedated in front of their televisions to think for themselves or does he just think we are too frightened for our personal well being to make noise? Wake up, Americans and watch your life and liberty slipping quietly away. I have to ask if, someday, will we be asking other countries for help as did the colonists in 1776. I love technology 2005-02-28T18:45:00.000-05:00 Just saw an ad for Nextel. Saw one of those handhelds with credit card swipe capabilities. Ya gotta love it, a cell phone - insecure from the getgo, swiping credit cards. That's as bad or worse then social security numbers online. At least we know they're there. You might order something and not even realize that you were being swiped by cell. But it's a mixed blessing. It's nice to know that Nextel has taken the drug dealers plight to heart, however, Now their customers can order by card. I nominate Nextel for the 'customer service of the year' award. Oh My, a U.S. Senate committee will hold hearings on identity theft ... WHY? 2005-02-25T00:08:00.000-05:00 Why is a Senate committee doing the 'hearing' thing on information brokers and identity theft? Seems a bit fruitless to me. What good except to waste our money. I figure that with Clerks of Court in all the states getting all our records online as fast as they can, information brokers will all be out of business pretty soon anyway. Internet Radio interview on social security numbers online - ref. last post 2005-02-22T23:23:00.000-05:00 Just a quick update. BJ Ostergren, the 'make the Virginia governing body accountable' notable will be doing a Fox Internet Radio spot at 8:05 AM Virginia time. www.klif.com Good luck, BJ. Politics in Virginia, initial thoughts on the legislature 2005-02-19T22:04:00.000-05:00 For almost a year I have had it in the back of my mind to start a political comment type blog. Mostly just to relieve my mind and get things off my chest so I don’t become one of those bitter, bitter people that go around snarling at everyone. I finally can stand my own silence no longer. I am moved to speak because of an article in the Virginian Pilot this morning about people’s social security numbers coming online at an alarming rate. http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=82427&ran=59066&tref=po This seemed somehow a good place to start: extremely important, yet not one of those few things that I get totally rabid and jump up and down and kick ass about. Read an article several days ago about Virginia legislators sponsoring and running through useless house bills. They are on record as saying that they know they won’t pass. That they do this to placate their constituents. How patronizing! How truly amazing. Makes me wonder just how many ways they’ve found to waste my money that I don’t know about. This comes from the same Virginia that was just laughed at by the rest of the world for trying to legislate pants reveling underwear, yet can’t seem to care about keeping their constituents’ Social Security numbers off the internet. If I were a constituent, I’d be a lot of pissed off and wonder why I hired them. WAIT - I am a constituent and WHOA - I am pissed!! I want to go on record to the rest of the world and say I didn’t vote for any of them and they have shown me nothing that tells me I made a wrong choice. They have shown me nothing that tells me that I’m sorry and will surely vote for them next time around. And while I’m thinkin’ about it, I will digress a bit and still tie things up a bit at the federal level. The ‘just plain person on the street’ scariest phrase in the English language today is the phrase ‘Homeland Security’! You don’t think so? When one group of people can pick someone off the street for any fabricated reason, incarcerate them with no day in court and torture them, there is a big lack of constitutional protection here. Has everyone gone so crazy that this isn’t frightening? But more of that perhaps at another time (erosion of freedoms is one of those rabid, ass kicking things). Anyway, THEY claim their agenda is our protection. Give me a break, PLEASE. If their goal is to protect American citizens from the big bad terrorist, why are they allowing it be to be so easy for anyone who wants to assume a stolen identity. All the records necessary for such a theft are available right online with a few clicks. Thanks VA Gov. I know all the right people out there appreciate your protection!