It's a great day for Massachusetts!!
Our state Legislature rose above dogma and narrow-mindedness and decisively defeated a movement to place a ballot question before the people in 2008 that would amend the Massachusetts Constitution to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
This effectively KILLS an attempt by social conservatives to write discrimination into our state law.....for another four years anyway.
Most pundits agree that the it will be increasingly difficult to muster the votes to necessary to get the question onto the 2012 ballot.
Never have I been more proud to be a a citizen of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts!
Here we don't believe in separate but equal crap! Some states may have adopted 'civil unions' earlier but it took real cojones for the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court to stand up and realize, brilliantly I might add, that there was NOTHING in the Massachusetts Constitution prohibiting the issuance of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Since then guess what?!
The sky hasn't fallen!
No angry vengeful gawd has smote us!
There isn't fornicating in the streets!
The birds still sing in the all municipalities of the Commonwealth!
Dogs still bark at cats!
The only difference is a small minority of our brethren now have the same rights and privileges that most of the majority takes for granted.
That is one of the jobs of the Judiciary: To prevent the oppression of a minority from the tyranny of a majority.
Does anyone else see the hypocrisy of this question: Yes!!! Let's enjoin the people to VOTE to decide whether or not the state can deny a basic human right to a segment of our population!
WHAT?!?!
I truly believe today is a great day that will long be remembered as the beginning of the end religious dogma making policy in a secular nation!
WELL DONE MASSACHUSETTS!!!!!
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Where do we go from here....
I'll admit it... I bought the whole thing. Call me a sucker... Call me what you want...
Back in early 2003, I believed Mr. Powell when he sat at the UN and described the evidence that big bad Saddam had chemical and biological weapons at his disposal.
I was also willing to give the current administration the benefit of the doubt when "W" at his state of the Union address uttered those now famous sixteen words that essentially accused Saddam of trying to acquire uranium ore from the country of Niger. The the thinly veiled threat being that that naughty boy Saddam was trying to build himself a 'nukular' weapon. What the context of those words was or what Bush knew and when he knew it is now a matter for historians to debate because we will never find out the truth so long as the people involved still draw oxygen into their lungs.
The bottom line is this:
The myriad of reasons and justifications given for the invasion of another sovereign nation have fallen away one by one.
As of this writing more than 3,500 of are armed service members have DIED for reasons that no politician, no spin-master, no intellectual, no Sunday morning political analyst can justify!
That's even mentioning the even higher number of PERMANENTLY disfigured and damaged that will live with their wounds for the rest of their lives.
We have an ostensibly all volunteer armed services and I have no doubt that many of these brave men and women truly believed they were serving their countries for noble and honorable goals.
But I have to ask: What are were/our goals?!
1. To remove a brutal and vicious dictator bent on acquiring WMD!
Eh!? Where are they? Saddam is gone. There is NO evidence that he was anywhere close to acquiring a nuclear weapon. Anyone with a moderate knowledge of Physics knows how to develop a bomb. Acquiring uranium ore is easy! The hard part is separating out the Uranium 235 necessary to make the very simple 'gun type' fission-bomb. This is exceedingly difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Saddam never came close!
2. To "bring democracy to the middle east".
This is the most disingenuous argument I have heard! Democracy must be brought to power in a country by the citizens of that country. Does anyone honestly believe the puppet government in Iraq would survive a day if it didn't exist behind the walls of the US-protected 'green zone'? I'm willing to bet my next paycheck that were you to conduct an honest polling of the Iraqi people they would overwhelmingly state that they want the 'occupiers' to leave. Is that not democratic?!
3. Al Qeda is using Iraq for a base of operations.
BECAUSE OF US! IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001. SADDAM HATED AL QEDA MORE THAN WE DO! Iraq BECAME a haven for al Qeda AFTER we 'liberated' it from the grip of Saddam.
So where does this leave me?
I bought the Bull Shit leading up to the war....hook, line and sinker...
But we are there now. We broke it, now....we own it! It's our disaster.
If we leave tomorrow, Iraq will most assuredly fall into a disastrous civil war. No doubt Syria and the Saudi's will find common purpose in supporting the Sunni minority against an Iran backed Shite majority. To say this will be bloody is a study in understatement! Who knows what the Iraqi Kurds will do, but Turkey will have an eye fixed on them to avoid a Kurdish uprising amongst their own Kurdish minority.
The wild card in all this is Israel! A nuclear armed ISRAEL!
Do you think for one minute the Israeli Government will tolerate a resurgent Iran rushing to fill a vacuum we create in Iraq?
What if Israel decides to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against suspected nuclear test labs on Iranian soil?
With a US withdrawal from Iraq this whole region becomes a tinder box waiting for for the match to strike. Best yet the blood that drives most western economies, OIL, flows right through the heart of it.
So we are damned if we stay and we are damned if we go!
President Bush I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for so clearly thinking this matter through back in 2002-3. You wanted your own precious little war in the middle east so you could go down in history. Well you got your war but it isn't so little and its repercussions will affect every man, woman and child on this Earth for decades to come.
My biggest regret is that I will have to tell my children that my generation didn't have the conviction and/or balls to stop you!
YOU STUBBORN MURDERING INCOMPETENT LYING BASTARD!
R
Back in early 2003, I believed Mr. Powell when he sat at the UN and described the evidence that big bad Saddam had chemical and biological weapons at his disposal.
I was also willing to give the current administration the benefit of the doubt when "W" at his state of the Union address uttered those now famous sixteen words that essentially accused Saddam of trying to acquire uranium ore from the country of Niger. The the thinly veiled threat being that that naughty boy Saddam was trying to build himself a 'nukular' weapon. What the context of those words was or what Bush knew and when he knew it is now a matter for historians to debate because we will never find out the truth so long as the people involved still draw oxygen into their lungs.
The bottom line is this:
The myriad of reasons and justifications given for the invasion of another sovereign nation have fallen away one by one.
As of this writing more than 3,500 of are armed service members have DIED for reasons that no politician, no spin-master, no intellectual, no Sunday morning political analyst can justify!
That's even mentioning the even higher number of PERMANENTLY disfigured and damaged that will live with their wounds for the rest of their lives.
We have an ostensibly all volunteer armed services and I have no doubt that many of these brave men and women truly believed they were serving their countries for noble and honorable goals.
But I have to ask: What are were/our goals?!
1. To remove a brutal and vicious dictator bent on acquiring WMD!
Eh!? Where are they? Saddam is gone. There is NO evidence that he was anywhere close to acquiring a nuclear weapon. Anyone with a moderate knowledge of Physics knows how to develop a bomb. Acquiring uranium ore is easy! The hard part is separating out the Uranium 235 necessary to make the very simple 'gun type' fission-bomb. This is exceedingly difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Saddam never came close!
2. To "bring democracy to the middle east".
This is the most disingenuous argument I have heard! Democracy must be brought to power in a country by the citizens of that country. Does anyone honestly believe the puppet government in Iraq would survive a day if it didn't exist behind the walls of the US-protected 'green zone'? I'm willing to bet my next paycheck that were you to conduct an honest polling of the Iraqi people they would overwhelmingly state that they want the 'occupiers' to leave. Is that not democratic?!
3. Al Qeda is using Iraq for a base of operations.
BECAUSE OF US! IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001. SADDAM HATED AL QEDA MORE THAN WE DO! Iraq BECAME a haven for al Qeda AFTER we 'liberated' it from the grip of Saddam.
So where does this leave me?
I bought the Bull Shit leading up to the war....hook, line and sinker...
But we are there now. We broke it, now....we own it! It's our disaster.
If we leave tomorrow, Iraq will most assuredly fall into a disastrous civil war. No doubt Syria and the Saudi's will find common purpose in supporting the Sunni minority against an Iran backed Shite majority. To say this will be bloody is a study in understatement! Who knows what the Iraqi Kurds will do, but Turkey will have an eye fixed on them to avoid a Kurdish uprising amongst their own Kurdish minority.
The wild card in all this is Israel! A nuclear armed ISRAEL!
Do you think for one minute the Israeli Government will tolerate a resurgent Iran rushing to fill a vacuum we create in Iraq?
What if Israel decides to launch a preemptive nuclear strike against suspected nuclear test labs on Iranian soil?
With a US withdrawal from Iraq this whole region becomes a tinder box waiting for for the match to strike. Best yet the blood that drives most western economies, OIL, flows right through the heart of it.
So we are damned if we stay and we are damned if we go!
President Bush I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for so clearly thinking this matter through back in 2002-3. You wanted your own precious little war in the middle east so you could go down in history. Well you got your war but it isn't so little and its repercussions will affect every man, woman and child on this Earth for decades to come.
My biggest regret is that I will have to tell my children that my generation didn't have the conviction and/or balls to stop you!
YOU STUBBORN MURDERING INCOMPETENT LYING BASTARD!
R
Friday, May 25, 2007
Oh yeah ...this is a good idea....
Just what America needs....
Religious propaganda posing as SCIENCE!!!
Religious propaganda posing as SCIENCE!!!
Friday, January 5, 2007
Oh she's a a genius!!!!
I picked this little gem off of Jack Cluth's page...
Seems Ms. Williamson of Roanoke, Virginia is terribly concerned about the effect of jack-hammer noise on her as yet UNBORN redneck I mean child...
Seems Ms. Williamson of Roanoke, Virginia is terribly concerned about the effect of jack-hammer noise on her as yet UNBORN redneck I mean child...
(Take a look!)
I have no words other than: Oh the IRONY!!!
R
R
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
2006 is history......
1. What did you do in 2006 that you'd never done before?
Had Surgery - The big "V"
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
More or less..... and YES I will and know I am not telling
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My brother got 2 cats...does that count?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My lovely wife lost her beloved Memere.
5. What countries did you visit?
Do to religious beliefs I am not allowed to visit other heathen nations!
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More peace of mind
7. What date(s) from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 24th....the accursed lay-off
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Achieving gainful employment at Analog Devices, Inc.
9. What was your biggest failure?
no comment
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Slipped in shower and tore open my side....YEEEEEEEEOUCH!!!
11. What was the best thing you bought?
HP49 Calculator.........geek to the core!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
DEREK JETER!!!!!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
A-Rod, "W", Cheney, Rumsfeld.....
14. Where did most of your money go?
Everywhere but in my savings
15. What did you get really excited about?
Returning to college in 2007
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2006?
"Vertigo" - U2
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Neither
ii. thinner or fatter? Neither
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
improving myself
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent it with family.
22. Did you fall in love in 2006? :)
23. How many one-night stands?
DOZENS!!!! being a man-whore is time-consuming
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Nothing is really standing out.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
OH I really REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y HATE Mitt Romney now!
26. What was the best book you read?
"One Percent Doctrine" Ron Suskind
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Loving 'Massive Attack' more everyday
28. What did you want and eventually get?
the skill to copy DVD's
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
'V for Vendetta'
31. What did you do on your birthday?
worked......got chocolate covered strawberries from my honey!
32. What's one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
being debt-free
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
timeless
34. What kept you sane?
timely advice and counsel from the lovely bride
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hell if I know....
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Republican denial and ineptitude
37. Who did you miss?
No one in particular
38. Who was the best new person you met?
My new boss at Analog
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Karma is very real.....the universe will provide....have faith....
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"You can't always get what you want....but try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need!"
Had Surgery - The big "V"
2. Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
More or less..... and YES I will and know I am not telling
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
My brother got 2 cats...does that count?
4. Did anyone close to you die?
My lovely wife lost her beloved Memere.
5. What countries did you visit?
Do to religious beliefs I am not allowed to visit other heathen nations!
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
More peace of mind
7. What date(s) from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
October 24th....the accursed lay-off
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Achieving gainful employment at Analog Devices, Inc.
9. What was your biggest failure?
no comment
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Slipped in shower and tore open my side....YEEEEEEEEOUCH!!!
11. What was the best thing you bought?
HP49 Calculator.........geek to the core!
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
DEREK JETER!!!!!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
A-Rod, "W", Cheney, Rumsfeld.....
14. Where did most of your money go?
Everywhere but in my savings
15. What did you get really excited about?
Returning to college in 2007
16. What song(s) will always remind you of 2006?
"Vertigo" - U2
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. happier or sadder? Neither
ii. thinner or fatter? Neither
iii. richer or poorer? Poorer
18. What do you wish you'd done more of?
improving myself
19. What do you wish you'd done less of?
Stressing
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Spent it with family.
22. Did you fall in love in 2006? :)
23. How many one-night stands?
DOZENS!!!! being a man-whore is time-consuming
24. What was your favorite TV program?
Nothing is really standing out.
25. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
OH I really REALLY R-E-A-L-L-Y HATE Mitt Romney now!
26. What was the best book you read?
"One Percent Doctrine" Ron Suskind
27. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Loving 'Massive Attack' more everyday
28. What did you want and eventually get?
the skill to copy DVD's
30. What was your favorite film of this year?
'V for Vendetta'
31. What did you do on your birthday?
worked......got chocolate covered strawberries from my honey!
32. What's one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
being debt-free
33. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
timeless
34. What kept you sane?
timely advice and counsel from the lovely bride
35. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Hell if I know....
36. What political issue stirred you the most?
Republican denial and ineptitude
37. Who did you miss?
No one in particular
38. Who was the best new person you met?
My new boss at Analog
39. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006:
Karma is very real.....the universe will provide....have faith....
40. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
"You can't always get what you want....but try sometimes, you just might find you get what you need!"
Friday, December 29, 2006
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