"There’s only one person who hugs the mothers and the widows, the wives and the kids upon the death of their loved one. Others hug but having committed the troops, I’ve got an additional responsibility to hug and that’s me and I know what it’s like." — Washington, D.C., Dec. 11, 2002.
One word: ick.
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Go wish James a happy birthday. I won’t be posting much today — off to get my hair cut and then lunch at Esca.
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Lisa at Ruminate This writes about TomPaine.com’s offer of $10,000 for information about who inserted the provision into the Homeland Security Bill protecting Eli Lilly from lawsuits:
In November, as Congress finalized the legislation authorizing a new Department of Homeland Security, two paragraphs suddenly appeared in the bill giving drug maker Eli Lilly & Company something it desired: a shield from lawsuits by parents who claim the company’s vaccines caused their children’s autism.
The provision diverts those suits from state courts to a federal ‘vaccine court’ where damages are capped at $250,000 – small compensation for a child’s lifetime of medical care. And because any damages awarded by the vaccine court are paid by U.S. taxpayers, manufacturers are relieved of liability.
We have a very broken democracy when provisions like this become law and no person has to take credit or blame for it. Bills don’t write themselves.
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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell in Star Trek Land — scroll down a bit to find the story.
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New report out from People For the American Way:
Bush, Lott, and Ashcroft: Shared Agendas Threaten Civil Rights Gains
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After 31 years, the NY State Senate allowed a vote on SONDA and it passed.
I’m sad to see this betrayal of the transgender community, who need protection as much as anyone. After watching the Empire State Pride Agenda (ESPA) coddle Republicans like Pataki and Giuliani, I can say that I am even more disappointed in them than ever. I once really respected Matt Foreman, the executive director. I have marched with him, while he was head of the Anti-Violence Project, in some scary neighborhoods of this city. This statement is very depressing:
Foreman estimated that 75 percent of transgender people in the state live in New York City — where a city law already protects them against discrimination.
“It’s totally unfair for all these downstate people to be saying, ‘All you upstate gays can wait”‘ for an anti-gay discrimination bill, said Foreman.
He said establishment of protection against discrimination for homosexuals was a historic step for gays and lesbians rights advocates, who plan to propose a sweeping change of the state’s human rights laws next year.
“You really can’t be advancing things like domestic partnership rights when, if you go to your employer and say, ‘I have a domestic partner,’ they can fire you because you’re gay,” Foreman said.
Now that it has passed, I know ESPA isn’t going to use any of its budget or political capital to have them added. They will work on things like domestic partner benefits and other things that mostly benefit middle class (and up) gays, while the queens — the kind of people who started the Stonewall uprising — can flee to NYC if they’re unlucky enough to live anywhere else.
I always hoped the queer community could be better than this, but we’re as likely to jettison the weakest — and least “mainstream” — people as anyone.
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I don’t know anything about them, but I like the album cover:
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Look at the graphic CNN is using for the story of Bush “moving ahead” on missile defense:
They choose not to link to their own story about the latest test failure — $100 million down the drain. The Washington Post story is better anyway.
I don’t think he explained how this system will protect us from hijackers with box cutters or bombs on boats in the NY harbor, but I’m sure we’ll all feel safer.
… or as pandagon says, this is like putting a big sign up that says “Nuke us before 2004!”
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Cool fellowship from Hofstra:
Fellowships for the Advocacy for the Equality of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered People
Each year, the Law School will award fellowships to up to three(3) incoming J.D. students with a history of advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.
PROGRAM OVERVIEW
1. A tuition fellowship of up to $20,000 for each year of law school.
2. A $5,000 stipend to support a summer externship related to LGBT advocacy.
3. A comprehensive course of study devoted to equality, including courses in Sexuality and the Law, Sex Discrimination, Jurisprudence, and an independent study and tutorial designed to address issues of particular concern to the LGBT community.
4. Experience in legal advocacy for the LGBT community through the Law School’s externship program which places students with nonprofit organizations, including those devoted to legal advocacy on behalf of the LGBT community.
5. Participation in a mentoring program with LeGal, the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association of Greater New York, representing one of the most diverse legal practice communities in the United States inclusive of LGBT individuals.
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The Bush administration is arguing that the rich pay too much taxes, and the poor and middle class don’t pay enough.
I love how the GOP accuses the Democrats of encouraging “class war” whenever they’re questioned about giving tax cuts to the rich. Honey, we’ve had class war for 20 years, and the rich are winning.
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