Texas textbook changes

And they say "The Gays" are trying to breed an army...


Read This:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/21/education/21textbooks.html

Another Family Values Conservative

Via Towelroad.com:

http://www.towleroad.com/2010/05/antigay-gop-family-values-lawmaker-mark-souder-resigning-over-affair-with-staffer.html

ANTI-GAY GOP 'FAMILY VALUES' LAWMAKER MARK SOUDER RESIGNING OVER AFFAIR WITH STAFFER

UPDATED

Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) is resigning over an affair with a female staffer:

"Eight-term Rep. Mark Souder will announce his resignation Tuesday after it came to light that he was conducting an affair with a female aide who worked in his district office, Fox News has learned. Multiple senior House sources indicated that the extent of the affair with the 45-year-old staffer would have landed Souder before the House Ethics Committee. Elected as a family values conservative as part of the Republican revolution in 1994, Souder survived a tough re-election challenge in 2008 and survived a contested primary two weeks ago. Souder was absent from Washington most of last week, missing multiple votes and only voting on Thursday. While the rumors had been flying, Souder claimed that he was at home tending to his ill wife."

Oh, the hypocrisy. Souder's website reads:

"I believe that Congress must fight to uphold the traditional values that undergird the strength of our nation. The family plays a fundamental role in our society. Studies consistently demonstrate that it is best for a child to have a mother and father, and I am committed to preserving traditional marriage, the union of one man and one woman."

Souder recorded a video PRAISING ABSTINENCE with Tracy Jackson, the aide with whom he had the affair.

Watch the video and read Souder's resignation statement, AFTER THE JUMP...

SOUDER STATEMENT

It is with great regret i announce that I am resigning from the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as resigning as the Republican nominee for Congress in this fall's election. I believe it is the best decision for my family, the people of northeast Indiana, and our country. I will submit my resignation to Speaker Pelosi effective this friday. I can never fully thank all those who have worked so hard, given so much and supported me through eight contested primaries and eight general elections. Only when you have been the recipient can you really feel the humbling power of such generosity.

It has been a privilege to be a part of the battle for freedom and the values we share. It has been a great honor to fight for the needs, the jobs, and the future of this region where my family has lived for over 160 years. It has been all consuming for me to do this job well, especially in a district with costly, competitive elections every two years I do not have any sort of "normal" life -- for family, for friends, for church, for community. To serve has been a blessing and a responsibility given from God.

I wish I could have been a better example. I sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff. In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain. I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process. Diane and my family were more than willing to stand here with me. We are a committed family. But the error is mine and I should bear the responsibility, Not only am I thankful for a loving family but for a loving God. My comfort is that God is a gracious and forgiving God to those who sincerely seek his forgiveness as I do. But I am so ashamed to have hurt those I love. I am so sorry to have let so many friends down, people who have fought so hard for me. The ideas we advocate are still just and right. America will survive and thrive when anchored in those values. Human beings, like me, will fail, but our cause is greater than individuals. It is based upon eternal truths. By stepping aside, my mistake cannot be used as a political football in a partisan attempt to undermine the cause for which i have labored all my adult life. I love this area. This is my home. It has been such an honor to serve you. For sixteen years, my family and i have given our all for this area. The toll has been high. As I leave public office, my plans are focused upon repairing my marriage, earning back the trust of my family and my community, and renewing my walk with my lord. I humbly ask you, for the sake of my family that you respect our privacy in this difficult time. I have no further comments.

Harvey Milk Day!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Sorry AZ but you gone crazy!

OK… so the reason I decided to start a blog came from a podcast. I subscribe to NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross (AMAZING) and listen to it while working. Last week, I was listening to podcast 5-6-2010 where Terry Gross interviewed Mr. Howard Fischer  (Journalist, Capitol Media Services) who covers Arizona politics. This story made me so angry! So angry that I stomped up from the lab, sat at my computer, and logged onto blogspot ready to speak my mind!

But of course… I didn’t belong to blogspot yet so I spent the next two hours setting up my page, making it look pretty, coming up with a name, and by the time I was ready to write…. I was no longer angry. In fact I was in delightful mood thinking of all the opinions I was soon to vomit out to the world at large. That kind of self-flatulence does not lend itself to critical thinking.

So, I had to give it a few days, re-listen to the podcast, and wait for a workday with lots of breaks between experiments. This is the day…

I want to begin by outlining the new laws that will take effect and some that are already swinging in Arizona; and I think most people know which one ill start with… (if you don’t, wake up and listen to the news).

Immigration:

On April 23^rd Arizona passed a new bill that requires police to question people about their immigration status if there is a suspicion that they are in the country illegally… Some police departments are against the new law but Arizona has made it legal for citizens to file lawsuits against police departments who are not enforcing the law.

BTW: lets look at the man responsible for this bill. According to Mr. Fischer: “Russell [Pearce] is very conservative. I mean, his background is law enforcement. He was a sheriff's deputy. He was a justice of the peace. He has a child who was shot by an illegal immigrant. Russell sees things in very black-and-white ways” (Fischer)

Guns:

A new law takes effect on July 29^th that will allow any adult to carry a concealed weapon without a permit… which means no training or background checks.

Ethnic Studies:

AZ has passed a law attacking ethnic studies courses. The law states that schools cannot have a course that teaches hatred of any other race… which sounds great! Except that is was put into effect in order to prohibit ethnic studies classes that build ethnic pride among Hispanic students. These classes held in cities like Tucson, old presidio towns,  were set up to look at contributions of Latinos to Arizona culture but are being taken away because people fear they are building ethnic solidarity and reverse racism.

Abortion:

Another new bill changes the kind of health coverage city employees can receive. Previously, city employees had the opportunity to include elective abortion coverage in their insurance plan, but it is now illegal for public money to “fund abortion” so city employees no longer have that option.

Embryonic Research:

It is now illegal in Arizona to produce human animal hybrids.

People in Arizona fear scientists are going to start researching things that would be ethically improper… like creating “minotaur’s…”

Thanks for that amazing visual Mr. Fischer!

And Finally, Prop 102:

Again, I hope most of you recognize prop 102 from 2008. This bill received lots of press, as did CA’s prop 8 and Florida’s amendment 2.

This bill amended the constitution to now read “only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.”

Anybody else confused… because I thought conservatives (like Az governor Jan Brewer, the one responsible for most of these bills…) wants government to get outta the way… you know, “don’t tell me what to do with all the money I make on wall street” and “don’t tell me I cant carry a concealed death machine with no training”… sort a thing.

But then, at the same time, they want the government to tell the homos that they cant get married, to tell women what they can and cant do with their bodies, to tell the police that racial profiling is ok but to keep Latino students from learning about their ethnic history because “that’s reverse racism” hmmm….

Lets look at Mr. Fischer’s final comments about Arizona politics:

“We [az] had a birther bill this year, for example, that actually got out of the House, that said if Barack Obama wants to run for reelection, he'd actually have to produce a birth certificate to the satisfaction of our secretary of state before he could be on the ballot here. I can't make this stuff up.

We had a lawmaker, name of Barbara Brewster, who, a number of years ago, put out a memo equating homosexuality with bestiality and cannibalism, who also went up to Senator Barbara Leff - who is a Jewish senator from Paradise Valley - and said to her: You can't be Jewish. You don't have a hooked nose.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=126535148

Getting Started...

Today, listening to the news, I got angry. So what... I know I'm not the only one... But the truth is, I actually thought that "We" were heading toward progress. Naive. Clearly. But I wanted it so badly that I let myself believe. So what am I going to do about it? Probably not much besides voting and spitting my ideas out into blog-world in hopes that some of you like minded liberal progress loving hopefuls tune in and wake up. Because if, like me, you thought we were going somewhere... think again and get ready for the backlash...


To Come:
Super scary AZ NeoCons...
Remembering Harvey Milk Day
and...
The Past and why it should stay there... most of the time...