Filed by Bil at 11:22 pm under Homophobia, Politics
No Comments

Who is this guy and where did he come from?

Congressman Patrick J. Murphy - Rep. Patrick Murphy, Veterans Announce Efforts to Repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

I’m appalled by “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but I am neither gay nor in the military, so it’s easy not to listen to me. Here’s a congressman who, while not gay, actually was in the military and, in fact, was in Iraq and earned a Bronze Star for being awesome. He’s an elected official from some blue-collar district in Pennsylvania. These facts – because he’s a decorated Iraq vet, because he’s from a socially conservative district, and because he’s NOT gay – make him perhaps the least likely and the best advocate for getting rid of a stupid, small-minded policy that directly affects our national security.

And don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those guys who goes around worrying about national security. It’s a political potato, and something I find boring after two seconds. But seriously, what’s a bigger threat: having gays in the military or having a military with 13,000 fewer individuals? Think about that one.

And keep your eye on Pat Murphy. He’s a mover and a shaker.

Filed by Bil at 4:21 pm under Environmentality, Fightin' Words, Politics
No Comments

I know Michael Moore is a polarizing figure, and there are probably more folks on the side of “I can’t stand that guy” than on the side of “this guy knows what he’s talking about.” However, I do strongly encourage anyone and everyone, even if you despise the man, to read his article from today’s Huffington Post.

Michael Moore: Goodbye, GM

Moore talks about the idea of repurposing GM factories not just for GM cars, which we need to let go of, but for other modes of clean, energy-efficient transportation, like cross-country bullet trains and clean buses for rural areas. Read up.

** Later that day…

I found this photo in an article from the Boston Globe:

I can’t tell if it’s on purpose or if it’s a telling sign of some kind, but the three vehicles we see here driving in front of the GM headquarters in Detroit are all made by Ford.

Hm.

Filed by Bil at 10:06 pm under Fightin' Words, Politics
2 Comments

I hate to talk about the economy – we all know it’s crappy, and I’m sure I don’t have much to say about it that hasn’t already been said five million times – and I wasn’t even worried about my own day job…until I read this news story:

GM to force more than 1,000 dealers to close (April 28, 2009)
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 12:11 pm under Damn Hippies, Fightin' Words, Politics
No Comments

According to the LA Times, “The Pentagon is open to the idea of European firm Airbus building the next fleet of planes that carry the president.”

Foreign maker of next Air Force One? That may not fly

If this were to become the reality, that would be like the President cruising around in a Mercedes-Benz or BMW limo instead of a good old-fashioned Cadillac limo.

Ordinarily, I don’t care about buying American vehicles over foreign vehicles; Devon and I bought a Scion instead of a Saturn or Ford because, simply stated, they are better cars. I’m not even a very good Capitalist, but I agree with the idea that better foreign cars should inspire American automakers to step it up. And, on a personal level, I kind of hate the new Cadillacs and the way they brand themselves nowadays (snotty-brat nouveau-riche market).

…But the President of the United States flying around in a French airplane? That’s not cool.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 3:31 pm under Damn Hippies, The Arts
No Comments

As I walked into the super-cheap Chinese/Korean food restaurant across the street from my office today, I heard the sound of a human voice singing loudly, which is a very unusual thing to hear in that particular restaurant. It seemed to fill the entire dining area, and there were four humans in there who might have been the one singing, but I didn’t know who.

When I listened more closely to the words being sung, I figured out that it was the homeless guy by the free water cooler. The words were along the lines of “This shit ain’t right, it’s broken, bitch, there ain’t no water in here…” and it was all in kind of the same four-note melody.

I ordered the lunch special, and the nice lady behind the counter who knows me (whom I will refer to only as “Nice Lady,” because I don’t actually know her name) confirmed that I was indeed getting the same thing I always get there, the lunch special with white rice. It went like this:

Nice Lady: Hello!
Bil: Hi there.
Nice Lady: Lunch special today?
Bil: Yes, please! Sesame chicken.
Nice Lady: White rice?
Musical bum: Whiiiite riiiice…
Bil: Yes. White rice, please.

(Keep reading…)

Filed by Lance at 12:47 pm under Activism, Fightin' Words, GOP, Gay Agenda, General, Politics, Religion, Social Issues
2 Comments

As a sure sign that we’ve elected the right man for the job, Mr. President-Elect is in hot water with some of his most ardent supporters for doing exactly what we elected him to do… it’s just that he’s not only going to do it with his most ardent supporters.

The lineup for Obama’s inauguration ceremony was announced yesterday, which includes Rick Warren delivering the Invocation. Rick Warren is the pastor of Saddleback [mega-]Church in Lake Forest, California and author of The Purpose Driven Life, which is one of my Mom’s favorites, and which I never finished reading. Warren has been credited with broadening Evangelical’s focus to social issues that aren’t gay marriage and abortion, including AIDS and poverty, which can be like getting a rabid bulldog to recite Milton.

It’s no secret that Warren supported Proposition 8, and is opposed to abortion and stem-cell research, and when the Inauguration committee released the news Warren will pray at No. 44’s Oath of Office, The Human Rights Campaign sent this letter to Mr. President-Elect:
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 9:48 pm under Environmentality, Fightin' Words, Politics, Social Issues
No Comments

All righty then. The bailout for the automakers didn’t go through. Like everyone else, I’ve got some thoughts and opinions. For the benefit of the readers, I’ll try to breeze right through them and get to something that hasn’t been discussed ad nauseam.

The rejection of the Auto bailout is good because:
- fewer tax dollars are going to help out irresponsible money-giants.
- this will (hopefully) force Detroit to rethink current business standards, increase the quality of their vehicles and maybe, just maybe, focus on environmentally-friendly products.

It is bad because:
- the country is going to see even more jobs lost. Like, a lot more jobs. There would have been mass layoffs anyway, but they might have saved a few.
- it sends a message that Manhattan trumps the Midwest in importance to Congress, and that’s not fair. Where were the tough standards for the Wall Street tycoons who also flew into Washington in private jets?

I am not necessarily a conservative, but I do insist that my tax dollars are wisely spent.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 10:22 am under Politics, The Media
3 Comments

It’s only Tuesday, and look what’s happened:

- Tribune Company files for bankruptcy protection.
- IL Gov. Rod Blagojevich arrested on federal corruption charges.

If you are awake in Chicago, neither one of these is particularly surprising. Something else that’s not surprising: it was a lot easier to find a story about the Tribune Company bankruptcy filing on the Boston Globe’s website than on the Chicago Tribune’s. Hmm…

I don’t really have anything especially interesting to say at this point in time, but I will certainly be following both these stories as they develop. Blagojevich’s arrest will probably be good for the state in many ways, but the immediate and long-term effects are uncertain. I’m not sure who will replace him as governor, and I have a feeling this will be a hot topic in the next gubernatorial election. (Luckily, the Green Party is automatically on the ballot, so resources can be better used toward actual campaigning. Seriously, people, vote Green in local elections. Seriously.)

As for the Tribune filing Chapter 11…well, I do love the Cubs and I have no idea what this means for old Wrigley Field. My own day job company is partly owned by the Tribune, but we have been assured by our CEO that our company is actually a source of income for the Tribune, not a drain, so there won’t be any effects on our operations. Still, though, you can never be certain.

More to come as these unfold.

Filed by Trevor at 1:59 am under Activism, Fightin' Words, Gay Agenda, Homophobia, Love, Politics
No Comments

“What is the “gay agenda” anyway? Is it assless wedding gowns?” — Margaret Cho

“Marriage is one of the basic civil rights of man, fundamental to our very existence and survival. To deny this fundamental freedom on so unsupportable a basis as the racial classifications embodied in these statutes, classifications so directly subversive of the principle of equality at the heart of the Fourteenth Amendment, is surely to deprive all the State’s citizens of liberty without due process of law. The Fourteenth Amendment requires that the freedom of choice to marry not be restricted by invidious racial discrimination. Under our Constitution, the freedom to marry, or not marry, a person of another race resides with the individual and cannot be infringed by the State.” — Earl Warren, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Loving vs. Virginia, 1967

For want of the ability to officially voice my opposition to Proposition 8 in my home state on Election Day, this past Saturday I joined 2,000 others in a massive protest against the measure — itself just one cog in a wheel that spanned the entire country in one coordinated effort. I feel the events of the day were covered more eloquently by Bil’s earlier post, so I will say simply that twice in as many weeks I have joyfully marched the streets of Downtown Chicago, and at no other point in my adult life have I ever felt so connected as I do now. Regardless of what lies ahead for us as a community and for us as a nation, there is relief and hope in the knowledge that this is a city of kindred spirits.
(Keep reading…)

Filed by Bil at 7:31 pm under Environmentality, Fightin' Words, Politics
1 Comment

So — evidently, the Democrats couldn’t rally in the ninth to get the ban on offshore drilling renewed. Boo. What do I have against offshore drilling? Well, not a lot, really, mainly it’s that it could DESTROY THE WORLD.

Never mind that some places are still all-natural. Never mind that it’s a short-term solution to a recurring and immediate problem that will take more than five years to have an effect. Never mind that it delays the inevitability that we must ween ourselves off crude oil. Never mind that the potential for disastrous oil spills goes up when the amount of oil being carried across the water goes up. What really galls me is that the fucking oil companies win. I hate that.

Actually, it really is about weening ourselves off gas entirely. The reason this is an immediate issue is because the reserves we are currently drilling into are starting to run a little dry (speculatively, of course, no one is really sure WHEN they will run dry), and the pro-off-shore-drilling mouths are saying we need to open up new, untapped reserves. This tends to happen a few times each century, and everybody always forgets about the last time it happened, because – why? New, untapped reserves were tapped. Or, in some cases, currently-tapped foreign reserves were taken by our government and sold to us at lower prices.

Oh, stop. I’m sitting on my couch, eating apple pie, drinking beer, and watching baseball in the background. I don’t think my patriotism is in question.

This time around, the Republicans and Big Oil want to drill in Alaska, as well as offshore in other states on both coasts, which are all domestic. So the gas would be cheaper. In theory.

Here’s the thing. The gas will run out here, too. It is not an unlimited supply. There is a finite amount of crude oil in the Earth. This problem will come back in the future. I don’t doubt that it will offer some relief in the meantime, even if it’s not as much as they say it will, but the main issue is that it’s not permanent. It’s like Novocaine.

Now seriously. There are 21 different gas-electric hybrid vehicles available on the market today. By late next year there will be more. By 2010 or 2011 we may even have the Honda FCX Clarity and others like it being mass-produced. This is especially exciting, because a) the hydrogen-driven car produces not smoke, but water, and nowhere near as much heat as a regular combustion engine; and b) hydrogen is the most abundant substance in the universe. We can get hydrogen from other planets if we need to. We can’t get oil, but we can get hydrogen. And we can make hydrogen by breaking down all the shit we don’t use anymore, like plastic furniture and Stussy T-shirts.

Wind energy is making strides. Solar panels on individual houses are getting more and more popular. Why are we lagging? Why is the government squabbling over whether or not to allow drilling off-shore? Well, probably because Big Oil owns most of the government, but also probably because the fix seems to easy to resist. No one is against other forms of renewable energy (except Sarah Palin), but no one seems willing to make it happen. Would it be so hard for us to actually focus and work towards this goal? And would it kill us to put up with the high gas prices while we do it?

I dunno. Maybe that can be our new New Deal. The next Great Depression is just around the corner, so maybe the government can create jobs again building renewable energy devices and fancy new car engines. It worked with the Hoover Dam. Let’s do us one better.