Inauguration

Let's call Obama's inauguration what it really is, The Ultimate "I-Told-You-So" Moment.

For Obama, for those who reject the Bush Doctrine, for those who realize that the USA is not ONLY for Anglo-White-Christians, for those who realize that the world isn't ONLY the USA, and for those who realize the importance of striving for true equality; this is the time we all get to look into the eye's of the narrow-minded bigots who tried to stifle our progress along our ways, and we all get to say, "see?.. I told you so! ...stupid."

After that the only tough choice is whether we laugh in their faces, or just shake our heads at them in disapproval.

...and once we've all gotten that out of our systems, we should realize that we need to be bigger than that. We need to take a deep breath, turn to the person we've just extacted our revenge upon and ask their forgiveness for our transgression against them.

I'm Befuddled - How is there Any Confusion?

All these discussions and questions about why is Israel so aggressive and adamant about sticking it to Hamas and the Palestinians now. Their current aggression is so much more intense and also so much more enduring than before. There have been skirmishes before, but an all out invasion, and ignoring so much international urging for cease-fires and allowances of humanitarian support? Why now? Why so intense? Why for so long? I don't understand...

Really, are you serious?
Here, let me make it as clear as possible; Israel's window of unquestioning U.S. support may be closing. Under the Bush administration they have a blank check to do whatever they please, and they are not sure that Obama will be as unconditionally supportive (AKA: so one-sided). They believe that he'll support and help them protect themselves, but stand by as they kill about 300 children (and counting)?.. of this they're not so sure.

Seriously, think about it. Gaza and Israel have been trading pot shots at each other for a very long time. Suddenly, with days left in the Bush Administration they invade Gaza killing nearly a thousand people (as of typing this), almost a THIRD OF WHICH ARE CHILDREN. Further, Olmert has no qualms with calling Bush up on the phone and insisting that Bush direct Condi-Rice to vote against a UN resolution to force a cease-fire. He needs to make sure that the damage to Hamas is as permanent as possible, and that the message is as clear as possible; so he's buying more time for more killing.

Israel knows that George W. Bush will provide whatever support they ask (more weapons & blocking UN efforts). They are not so sure they'll enjoy such a get-out-of-jail-free card under an Obama Administration. So they're trying to send a message now, before they run out of time.



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List Under 'Accomplishments'

There are less than 20 days left in Bush's Presidency and we are in a unique position to summarize it's impact. On one hand we now have sufficient hindsight bias to begin identifying many of the results of his administration, but have not yet "moved on" enough psychologically to cease to care. These results are pretty interesting.

Bush is a lame duck unable to do anything to address the current crises, while at the same time he is unwilling to admit that they are the results of his failed one-sided policies. Over the next several months there will be more and more results of the Bush Administration published. The Drum Major Institute (DMI) was founded by Harry Wachtel, lawyer and advisor to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The DMI is non-partisan and nonprofit public policy think tank. Here are some of the choice results posted in the "DMI Injustice Index: The Bush Legacy"

• Number of days during his presidency that Bush spent on vacation (including partial days off): 916
• Proportion of U.S. workers who have no paid vacations or holidays at work: 1 in 4
• Date on which a FEMA report warned that Hurricane Katrina “could greatly overtop levees and protective systems” in New Orleans: 8/27/2005
  
• Date of a second awarning, from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, that Katrina would “likely lead to severe flooding and/or levee breaching”: 8/29/2005
  
• Date that President Bush told ABC “I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees.”: 9/1/2005
• Cost of the Iraq War through 2008: $567 billion
• Proportion of U.S. public schools that are failing to meet No Child Left Behind standards: 2 out of 5
• Change in the number of children with health coverage during President Bush’s tenure: -78,000
• Percentage of President Bush’s total vetoes that blocked expansion of children’s health insurance: 20%
• Date President Bush signed legislation phasing out the federal estate tax: 6/7/2001
• Increase in the number of U.S. millionaires since that year: 928,000
• Increase in the number of Americans living in poverty since that year: 4.4 million
• Change in the real median income of non-retiree households since 2000: -$2,010
• Estimated home equity lost by American families with the bursting of the housing bubble: $4 trillion

Staggering Irony

The latest reports coming out of Iraq right now are that Muntader al-Zaidi, the Iraqi Journalist who threw his shoes at George W. Bush, has been beaten while in custody.

Is anyone surprised that the country who learned Democracy from the U.S. is beating/torturing their detainees?

This kind of reminds me of those anti-drug commercials from the late 1980’s. The ones where the dad finds his adolescent son’s marijuana stash and demands to know where he picked it up, and the kid responds back angrily “I learned it by watching YOU!” (click the image to watch)

Yeah, it’s kinda like that.

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Glenn Greenwald Makes it Very Very Clear

It's one thing to do something important in your field of expertise. Its entirely another thing to succinctly and concisely explain it so the rest of us can understand.

Glenn Greenwald just explained why it is important that we hold our senior political officials accountable for their actions, and do not allow anyone to be above the 'Rule of Law'. Bill Moyers could have asked a couple better follow up questions (like "exactly which laws did Bush break and how do we know that?"), but this interview absolutely moved me. I hope you all watch it. (click the image to watch)

You can also catch Glenn on his regular Blog on Salon.com
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Solution to Same-Sex Marriage Issue

Start a religion, and make it a religious practice. I know, its not perfect because, what if someone wants to marry their same-sex partner and be Christian (for example)? But maybe its a step in the right direction. Hear me out...

What if there was a religion that was recognized by United States government (just like Christianity, Mormonism, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism and many many others), and this religion allowed same-sex couples to marry? Just because the Christian Church (again, for example) doesn't allow same-sex marriage, doesn't mean this hypothetical religion's church would. So, wouldn't it be an infringement on this religion's followers' Freedom of Religion if we legislated against same-sex marriage?

We should be conscious of how the Separation of Church and State is designed to prevent the laws of religion from dictating the laws of man. That was important to the 'founding fathers' because this country was founded by people attempting to escape, amongst other things, forced religious practices.

Today is the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Does that mean that anyone who is still denied rights that the rest of us are granted is simply not "human"?

Stewart v Huckabee (Equality v Prejudice)

This post extends the discussion from the post 'The Next Frontier in Freedom'.

Comedian Jon Stewart and Southern Baptist Minister come Politician Mike Huckabee discussed the the contentious issue of same-sex marriage on Jon Stewart's cable program, The Daily Show. WATCH IT HERE. This was a fair and polite debate. However, no matter how much shuckin' and jivin' Mike Huckabee did, he couldn't escape the lack of logic in his argument. And Jon Stewart really posed a good line of reasoning.

I want to re-iterate a point from 'The Next Frontier in Freedom', and continue its line of reasoning:

• If you state out-loud that there are rights that a man should have the a woman should not, you're a sexist.
• If you state out-loud that there are rights that a White person should have that a Black person should not, you're a racist.
• So why is it ok to state out-loud (and to legislate) that there are some rights that a Straight person should have that a Gay person should not?

Doesnt that make you a "Gayist"? Or is that just another form of sexism? And if it is just another form of sexism, why is it ok? Is it that for some reason religious context makes this, and only this, form of sexism ok, while its not ok in any other form? Isn't that the definition of inequality? By the way, inequality is UNCONSTITUTIONAL, because the Declaration of Independance states, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal".