Sunday, May 29, 2005

Weighing in on Varous Issues, Part 2

Look, people. Why are you complaining about the fact that I’m practically down to posting about once a week. How many times to I have to tell you that I’m a lazy sonofabitch?!

Where to begin? Ah!

THE OHIO COIN FUND SCANDAL

It’s the scandal that keeps on giving. Every day, it seems, some new tidbit of information comes up about it. And my local paper, The Blade, is right there to report it. They are quite happy to repeatedly trumpet the fact that they were the first to break the story, and now they are glorying in the limelight. Good job, guys!

(For more details on this scandal visit www.toledoblade.com.)


Personally, I don’t even bother to say anything about it—I don’t have to. If there was ever an instance where Schaadenfreude was called for, this is it (look it up!)

This whole scandal is an object lesson in what can happen when one party controls everything for too long. I just hope the rest of the country is able to learn this lesson in time for the 2006 elections!

THE “GREAT COMPROMISE”

Or, as I call it, the great sell-out. Seriously. If Priscilla Owens does not qualify as one of the “extraordinary circumstances” where a filibuster is called for, then who the hell does?!

The irrepressible Molly Ivins calls her “the biggest, baddest, worstest judicial activist Texas ever produced.” (1) When Molly Ivins says that about someone, you KNOW she’s bad. After all, this is a woman who has dealt with Texas politicians for decades.

Memo to you democrats that approved this deal: You sold us out! We were counting on you to keep your power, not give it away in the interests of keeping the Senate working. Have you forgotten that the Republicans got away with shutting down the government back in the ‘90’s? It didn’t hurt them one bit! Quite the opposite, in fact!

ON THE STEM CELL BILL
Every time I hear some right-wing blowhard talk about “the culture of life” it makes me want to vomit. For the love of Christ, these are embryos that are SCHEDULED FOR DESTRUCTION ANYWAY. Most, if not all, of them are going to be flushed down the drain eventually. Why not do some good with them?!

And huge raspberries (yes, there’s a “p” in it!) to our “president” for his shameless photo op with kids who used to be frozen embryos who were implanted in infertile couples. This bill does NOT preclude the use of unused embryos for this. It simply allows for the possibility that embryos that will be otherwise destroyed will be used for a noble purpose.

And it shouldn’t surprise anyone that several Republicans are voting for this bill. They can safely vote for it, knowing that a second-term president will veto it, and then they can go to their people and say they voted for it but they couldn’t override the presidential veto. It’s win-win for them!

Meanwhile, of course, other countries are making huge leaps in stem-cell research. We are getting left behind in this vitally important scientific field, and I can’t help but feel we’re going to pay a huge price for that in the not-too-distant future.

ON DANICA PATRICK

It seems that every story leading up to this year’s Indy 500 mentioned her name in some capacity. As of this writing, she finished fourth, the best finish by a female driver at Indy. Personally, I think it’s about time that a woman actually had a chance of winning it all at Indy. Now if they could just break into NASCAR…

You go girl!

(Of course, I still didn’t watch the race. I never do! I think racing is silly!)

ON MEMORIAL DAY

All gave some. Some gave all. (Sometimes clichés work!)

Want to help our soldiers today? Go here and make a donation to the U.S.O. I did. And I will continue to do so. If there ever was a worthy cause in this day and age, this is it!


NOTES:

(1) Quote from Molly Ivins’s column in THE BLADE, Sunday, May 29, 2005

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