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Photo by Jay Hagan,
7/12/08 Burbank, CA
A Thought for Today
Meditation is refertilization.
TO BEGIN WITH
Thirty days till the election and much of my mail seems to concern
things political. Here’s a sampling.
.ASK
ROD
BUSINESS AS USUAL
Rod, Don't know about you but I find it very disheartening to see that
NOBODY in either party supports gay marriage. Ann
Dear Ann, It’s hardly disheartening or surprising, just business as
usual. Both parties have long catered to and courted religious
fundamentalists and politicians over the years have learned that a lack
of guts where the issue of marriage for committed couples whatever their
sexual orientation is not just the best policy for their career
advancement, but the only policy.
You know the drill, Candidate X says, “I support equal rights for
everyone but marriage should only be between a man and a woman.”
Candidate Y goes on, “If God had wanted Adam and Steve . . . blah, blah
blah,” same old crap as every Election Day looms. This year the bigots
are so panicked but energized that more than one state has a
constitutional amendment on the ballet that would limit or strip the
rights of certain tax paying individuals. My sample ballot just arrived
and here’s how California’s Proposition 8 is described:
8 ELIMINATES RIGHT OF SAME-SEX COUPLES TO MARRY. Changes California
Constitution to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.
Provides that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or
recognized in California. Fiscal impact: Over next few years, potential
revenue loss, mainly sales taxes, totaling in the several tens of
millions of dollars to state and local governments. In the long run,
likely little fiscal impact on state and local governments.
A loss of “several tens of millions of dollars” and Governor
Schwarzenegger has his hand out to the government for a loan.
The good news, despite millions funded by the proponents of Prop 8 many
more millions have been raised and donated by the likes of Brad Pitt,
Steven Spielberg, Amy Irving, David Geffen and thousands of folks like
you and me who seek to thwart the passage of this mean spirited and
anti-humane amendment.
Oh, and please read on, there are far more courageous people than us out
there . . . and all they ask is our help on November 4th. As Ever, Rod
LEESA & JANE TIE THE KNOT
Dear Friends, We are so proud to announce that we Tied the Knot here in
Californian a week ago Sunday, September 21st. We do not want gifts, but
want to share our happy news with our friends and family.
And, if you are inclined, please make a donation to one of the following
charities fighting against Proposition 8 (attempting to take away this
equal/civil right of all committed couples). This will be on the
California Ballot this November 4th:
www.equalitycalifornia.org
www.hrc.org
www.jewsformarriageequality.org
If you are a California voter, please vote NO on proposition 8! If you
are not a California voter, make sure your friends and family in
California vote NO on prop 8. Thanks and lots of love, Leesa and Jane.
Dear Leesa & Jane, Congratulations. I really can't think of two nicer
people who deserve to be happy together more than the two of you. I know
you will be and the way you have decided to share the announcement of
your commitment with your friends should be an inspiration to everyone.
It certainly is to me.
Fighting prejudice wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head is more
important than ever. After long deliberation The California Supreme
Court in its wisdom decided that two people who love and are committed
to each other should be entitled to the state of and the benefits that
come with marriage. That should have ended the debate and the
controversy but of course it didn't.
In this difficult, demanding and often unfriendly world how anyone can
be threatened by love in any form is beyond me but they obviously exist
and they propagate otherwise there would be no need to battle
Proposition 8 on the California ballot this year.
I am always wary of anything that would amend a proven and workable
constitution and an amendment that would legislate people’s feelings
toward one another is particularly onerous.
I pride myself on having enlightened fans and friends and I feel sure
that posting your letter on my website will do it's small part in
helping to defeat the bigoted and mean spirited efforts of those behind
California's Proposition 8. Again, Jane and Leesa my heartfelt
congratulations on your union and may you live and love together
forever. Love, Rod.
THE LOOSER? THE LANGUAGE
"It made my ovaries hurt," said Sharon Anderson.
That was her assessment of the much-anticipated debate between Gov.
Sarah Palin and Sen. Joe. Biden.
"If she's elected, I will pray for the health of
John McCain every day."
For my part, as a man, I am all for Sarah Palin finding her way to the
White House -- as long as she's part of the tour of visitors, and there,
in no way, in an official capacity. Here it is, Thursday night, an hour
or two following the much-anticipated debate with Sen. Joe Biden and I'm
still a bit stunned. Did I hear and see the same event as the
"mainstream media" witnessed? That was one of Gov. Palin's gleeful digs
she got in as part of her script. Palin thanked the moderator for the
chance to talk to the American people, “without filter of mainstream
media, telling the people what they just heard.“
The mainstream media -- and that included the savvy Mark Shields and
David Brooks on PBS -- told us what we just heard. They quickly praised
her colloquialisms, and just about everything else about her. I'm
surprised they didn't produce a corsage for her prom dress.
I thought of Ed Asner on "The Mary Tyler Moore Shore" as the
curmudgeonly news director Lou Grant: "I hate cute." I gotta tell ya.
The words "folksy" and "colloquial" sputtered out of the mouths of the
usually judicious commentators. They rolled over for Palin like
schoolboys. I couldn't believe it. The English language took a helluva
beating Thursday night at the hands of Palin. Never mind that she
perpetuates the term "NOOK-yoo-ler." She could be in charge of them. By
the way, who are the "Talibani"?
Amid her "Palin stands tall" crap in the NY Post, there were few to
question what her messages are all about. How about this one? "We're not
killing civilians, we're killing terrorists, and we're spreading
democracy."
It was all a matter of how Gov. Palin would perform under the scrutiny
after her debacle with Katie Couric and getting a drubbing from TV
satirists. You'd think that in the middle of this financial crisis that
people would take this encounter a little more seriously than "Dancing
with the Stars" but apparently not. Biden got little respect in the
post-debate reviews. I thought he came off as sincere.
But he was widely characterized as an elitist, out of touch. His
self-restraint was admirable as Palin jumped from one topic to another,
ignoring the questions, looking for a window where she could emulate
Ronald Reagan. She finally got that inevitable line in: "There you go
again."
They are really letting her get away with something that cheap? I guess
so. Apparently many Americans admire this slap-down style but it makes
little sense. Gwen Ifill deserves praise for her good questions, and
keeping her poise. Earlier in the day, Ifill was ambushed by the
right-wing "mainstream" Drudge Report by repeating a false report from
the NY Post about Ifill not disclosing her book-in-progress about Barack
Obama to the producers of the debate. They knew about it months ago. Ah,
but that's show business. I had no idea that Americans hated smart
people so much.
I thought Palin's performance was so ridiculous, so low-brow, so sloppy,
so embarrassing, I figured the GOP operatives were discussing how to
drop her from the ticket after the first ten minutes.
Boy, was I wrong.
I am sorry about that. I am sorry for the country, too. I wanted to call
911. Sarah Palin is a clear and present danger. But I am the one who is
out of touch -- and that's of small importance. I am sorry for all the
smart women in the country, such as Sarah Anderson. I gotta tell ya.
Even my ovaries hurt. Bellingham
Dear BB,
Well she didn’t get off totally free. Both Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd
nailed her in today’s New York Times. Dowd termed her corny
colloquialisms “pompom palaver” and Rich stated, “If she won the debate
the Democrats were not the losers.”
And, as if taking a leaf from your letter, Rich titled his column
“Pitbull Palin Mauls McCain.” The always-quotable Rich concluded his
insightful and telling opinion piece with these two frightening
paragraphs:
“So how can a desperate G.O.P. save itself? As McCain continues to fade
into incoherence and irrelevance, the last hope is that he’ll come up
with some new game-changing stunt to match his initial pick of Palin or
his ill-fated campaign “suspension.” Until Thursday night, more than a
few Republicans were fantasizing that his final Hail Mary pass would be
to ditch Palin so she can “spend more time” with her ever-growing
family. But the debate reminded Republicans once again that it’s Palin,
not McCain, who is their last hope for victory.
You have to wonder how long it will be before they plead with him to
think of his health, get out of the way and pull the ultimate stunt of
flipping the ticket. Palin, we can be certain, wouldn’t even blink.”
Incidentally in all the millions of words printed about Our Lady of The
Igloo almost forgotten is her college major, Journalism. Cheers, Rod
THE “M” WORD
Rod: How come with all the talk about John
McCain’s medical problems no one seems willing to go near the “M” for
MENTAL word? I don’t mean things like his not being able to find his way
off stage after a speech or slurring his words, but what about the half
finished sentences and the repetition of comments he’s just made, often
in the same paragraph? Then there are the corrections by aides like Joe
Lieberman when he commits an obvious gaff that he himself doesn’t seem
to notice. Alan Ostermann
Dear Alan, You are right, it seems like for a while McCain’s mental
condition was considered off limits. No more, no less a Republican than
George Will has begun to question McCain’s mental faculties and in the
article cited above Frank Rich states that unanswered questions of
McCain’s health are still “percolating under the radar.”
“Back in May, you will recall, the McCain campaign allowed a select
group of 20 reporters to spend a mere three hours examining (but not
photocopying) 1,173 pages of the candidate’s health records on the
Friday of Memorial Day weekend. Conspicuously uninvited was Lawrence
Altman, a doctor who covers medicine for The New York Times. Altman
instead canvassed melanoma experts to evaluate the sketchy data that did
emerge. They found the information too “unclear” to determine McCain’s
cancer prognosis.
There was, however, at least one doctor-journalist among those 20
reporters in May, the CNN correspondent Sanjay Gupta. At the time, Gupta
told Katie Couric on CBS that the medical records were “pretty
comprehensive” and wrote on his CNN blog that he was “pretty convinced
there was no ‘smoking gun’ about the senator’s health.” (Physical
health, that is; Gupta wrote there was hardly any information on
McCain’s mental health.)
McCain is looking increasingly shaky, whether he’s repeating his “Miss
Congeniality” joke twice in the same debate or speaking from notecards
even when reciting a line for (literally) the 17th time (“The
fundamentals of our economy are strong”) or repeatedly confusing proper
nouns that begin with S (Sunni, Shia, Sudan, Somalia, Spain). McCain’s
“dismaying temperament,” as George Will labeled it, only thickens the
concerns. His kamikaze mission into Washington during the bailout crisis
seemed crazed. His seething, hostile debate countenance — a replay of Al
Gore’s sarcastic sighing in 2000 — didn’t make the deferential Obama
look weak (as many Democrats feared) but elevated him into looking like
the sole presidential grown-up.”
From my own standpoint, his judgement in selecting Alaska Annie as his
running mate hinted that there might be a few loose steps upstairs.
RM 10/5/2008 First Publication
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