Category Archives: Politics

“Retard” Brouhaha is not what it seems…

Doubt the Palin clan knew actress portraying mentally retarded character on Family Guy has Downs Syndrome before they started lambasting it.  Before the Palins had a stage, the “Petarded” episode, where the main character was found to have a very low IQ, didn’t get much flack.  Apparently SOME of the letter that the actress wrote to the New York Times was published, but not the part that accused Sarah of carrying her son around “like a loaf of bread” for sympathy votes!



HBO Documentaries on Chinese Earthquake and Family Diversity

Both of them made me cry for different reasons.  I was very glad to see poor, rural Chinese citizens distraught over losing their children speak up about the shoddy construction (citing specific examples of there being no mortar between the bricks and small wires for large walls), including cursing at the Party leaders who were trying to stop a demonstration.  Some things don’t need translation, but what made this even more painful to watch is the one child policy that China has, which means that the likelihood that many of these parents who lost kids in the schools that crumbled while other buildings remained upright are probably unable to have any other kids either because of forced sterilization or because they are beyond child-bearing years.

I had seen Rosie O’Donnell interviewed about her family diversity documentary, which I thought as pretty well done.  Rosie is never shy about showing herself raw, and this is sort of what she looked like when I met her in person.  When I was on her show, though, I did not meet her.

Why is there any debate left on DADT?

When did people start forgetting the United States President is the de facto Commander-in-Chief of the military?!  That is clearly stated in the Constitution and it has worked to prevent us from having coups in this country.  Countries with coups have an army “independent” of the executive branch.  Obama said repeal DADT!  End of discussion! This should have been handled 17 years ago, but hypocrites like McCain who said he would follow “military leadership” (as if Bill Clinton himself wasn’t the Commander-in-Chief) reneged even when people like Colin Powell have changed their minds.

I know at least three active duty servicemen who I keep in regular contact with who are very comfortable with the fact that they are gay, even though it is not discussed where they work.  I don’t think they are particularly afraid of losing their jobs, but it sure would be a lot less stressful ON THE BATTLEFIELD if they didn’t have to worry about their own colleagues turning their backs on them.

How can we ever say anything bad about Bill Gates?

Yes, it’s a tax write-off, but TEN BILLION dollars for children’s vaccines to save untold millions of lives?  How many rich people even think of such benevolence?  By comparison the United States committed 100 MILLION to Haiti relief, even though I realize it might become far more as a result of the military efforts and that many of the expenses will benefit the American economy as companies from the United States will be providing many of the supplies.