By now you are probably wondering if Uncle Gerry had fallen off the face of the earth as I have not posted since last Thursday. Well, I did not but my internet connection did. It was like I was lost in the land of no input. It is amazing how much we have come to rely on the internet for communing with the world at large and when we are deprived of that contact how lost we feel. My connection went south about 7 pm as I was preparing to post and I did not get it back until today. So to make up for the lack of post, I will reward my faithful readers with an extra dose of eye candy tonight. But first let's look and see what is going on out there, shall we?
Public hearing are being held in the Walter Reed scandal and everyone called who might be responsible is tripping over themselves to apologize for the situation. The General in charge has been fired and the Secretary of the Army has resigned. I think they need to widen the investigation to all VA hospitals as the testimony of the soldiers paints a bleak view indeed of how the current administration "supports" our troops (or not!). It might be time to ask George how come the twins have not volunteered for service in his war that he believes so strongly in. How about it, George? Are you willing to send your kids to get hurt, maimed, or die for this little fiasco? I think not, they are too busy partying to care.
In the hate speech department, Ann Coulter is getting raked over the coals by everyone except the Republicans. At least one newspaper, the Lancaster (PA) New Era, has dropped her column. You can read the publisher's comments here. There have also been some major companies pulling their ads from her website. Verizon, Sallie Mae, and Net Bank have all pulled their ads according to a CNN article. You can now add AT&T to the list who do not want to be associated with here bigotry. There is also a great blog post by Eric Williams and commentary over at Ariana Huffingtion's website here. One of the suggestions in the commentary was to boycott her advertisers which I think is a good idea. People always learn the lessons that cost them the most, so if we cut into her money, maybe she just might shut the f*** up! No matter what she says, as one who has suffered the other end of the F-word, to me it is no joke and certainly not worth the laugh it got at CPAC.
In the good news department, one straight Republican is garnering praise for his stand for equal rights in Wyoming. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne spoke up to a committee considering a bill to deny recognition of Gay Marriages and Civil Unions granted elsewhere saying Gay Rights were the Civil Rights of his generation. He said "I will tell my children that when this debate went on, I stood up for basic rights for people". Committee member Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette acknowledged Zwonitzer's statement before voting to kill the measure saying "Maybe the right thing to do is stand up for tolerance". The vote was 7-6 to kill the bill with the deciding vote cast by another Republican, House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper. This is indeed encouraging to hear from the state where Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die. You can read the whole story from the Jackson Hole Star Tribune here.
Meanwhile in Iowa, The Des Moines Register reports the Governor Chet Culver signed an anti-bullying bill that includes GLBT people in the list of those protected, becoming the 10th state to have a comprehensive measure against bullying. At the signing ceremony he stated "Bullying, threats and intimidation have no place in public education system". The commentary following the story is pretty good also. More states need to pass this kind of legislation to protect all students from all forms of harassment whatever the cause.
The Soulforce Equality Ride 2007 kicks off Wednesday from Minneapolis with two buses, 52 riders going to 32 Christian colleges and Universities over 50 days. Soulforce has started a blog about it so you can keep up with it on a daily basis. One of the schools being visited is one that I attended, Baylor University in Waco, TX. A local reporter from the Waco Tribune-Herald, Terri Jo Ryan (is that not a real Texas name?) has contacted me in regards to an interview. I of course told her I would be happy to comply. I will keep you posted on that and link to it if they have the article on line. Turns out she is also a fan of Harry Turtledove, my favorite author. I look forward to the experience.
In other personal news, I find myself once more in the unemployment line. I was not making enough sales while cold calling businesses for the products the company was selling. The system the company uses is excellent, I am just not as aggressive as I need to be when beating down the door of someone who does not want to be talked to. So once more I must search for income opportunities, maybe this time I can draw unemployment insurance. I am going to try for it anyway, wish me luck. Cie le vie.
I guess that about wraps it up for today, I will make the effort to be more reliable in my posting as the connection permits. I hope my troubles in that regard are over. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
All photos processed with Picasa2
Public hearing are being held in the Walter Reed scandal and everyone called who might be responsible is tripping over themselves to apologize for the situation. The General in charge has been fired and the Secretary of the Army has resigned. I think they need to widen the investigation to all VA hospitals as the testimony of the soldiers paints a bleak view indeed of how the current administration "supports" our troops (or not!). It might be time to ask George how come the twins have not volunteered for service in his war that he believes so strongly in. How about it, George? Are you willing to send your kids to get hurt, maimed, or die for this little fiasco? I think not, they are too busy partying to care.
In the hate speech department, Ann Coulter is getting raked over the coals by everyone except the Republicans. At least one newspaper, the Lancaster (PA) New Era, has dropped her column. You can read the publisher's comments here. There have also been some major companies pulling their ads from her website. Verizon, Sallie Mae, and Net Bank have all pulled their ads according to a CNN article. You can now add AT&T to the list who do not want to be associated with here bigotry. There is also a great blog post by Eric Williams and commentary over at Ariana Huffingtion's website here. One of the suggestions in the commentary was to boycott her advertisers which I think is a good idea. People always learn the lessons that cost them the most, so if we cut into her money, maybe she just might shut the f*** up! No matter what she says, as one who has suffered the other end of the F-word, to me it is no joke and certainly not worth the laugh it got at CPAC.
In the good news department, one straight Republican is garnering praise for his stand for equal rights in Wyoming. Dan Zwonitzer, R-Cheyenne spoke up to a committee considering a bill to deny recognition of Gay Marriages and Civil Unions granted elsewhere saying Gay Rights were the Civil Rights of his generation. He said "I will tell my children that when this debate went on, I stood up for basic rights for people". Committee member Tom Lubnau, R-Gillette acknowledged Zwonitzer's statement before voting to kill the measure saying "Maybe the right thing to do is stand up for tolerance". The vote was 7-6 to kill the bill with the deciding vote cast by another Republican, House Speaker Roy Cohee, R-Casper. This is indeed encouraging to hear from the state where Matthew Shepard was beaten and left to die. You can read the whole story from the Jackson Hole Star Tribune here.
Meanwhile in Iowa, The Des Moines Register reports the Governor Chet Culver signed an anti-bullying bill that includes GLBT people in the list of those protected, becoming the 10th state to have a comprehensive measure against bullying. At the signing ceremony he stated "Bullying, threats and intimidation have no place in public education system". The commentary following the story is pretty good also. More states need to pass this kind of legislation to protect all students from all forms of harassment whatever the cause.
The Soulforce Equality Ride 2007 kicks off Wednesday from Minneapolis with two buses, 52 riders going to 32 Christian colleges and Universities over 50 days. Soulforce has started a blog about it so you can keep up with it on a daily basis. One of the schools being visited is one that I attended, Baylor University in Waco, TX. A local reporter from the Waco Tribune-Herald, Terri Jo Ryan (is that not a real Texas name?) has contacted me in regards to an interview. I of course told her I would be happy to comply. I will keep you posted on that and link to it if they have the article on line. Turns out she is also a fan of Harry Turtledove, my favorite author. I look forward to the experience.
In other personal news, I find myself once more in the unemployment line. I was not making enough sales while cold calling businesses for the products the company was selling. The system the company uses is excellent, I am just not as aggressive as I need to be when beating down the door of someone who does not want to be talked to. So once more I must search for income opportunities, maybe this time I can draw unemployment insurance. I am going to try for it anyway, wish me luck. Cie le vie.
I guess that about wraps it up for today, I will make the effort to be more reliable in my posting as the connection permits. I hope my troubles in that regard are over. Until next time as always, Enjoy!
All photos processed with Picasa2
