Whoopi Goldberg actually defendant Roman Polanski saying he's not guilty of "Rape Rape." Nice to know Whoopi has harsher words for Sarah Palin than a man who drugged and anally raped a 13 year old girl....
Meanwhile, I feel really bad for those internet losers who got multi-year prison sentences after getting caught trying to solicit 13 year-old girls on "To Catch a Predator." Roman Polanski was able to avoid prison AND he got to rape the girl... Some guys get all the luck...
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From Sarkozy's speech to the U.N.: We say: reductions must be made. And President Obama has even said, “I dream of a world without [nuclear weapons].” Yet before our very eyes, two countries are currently doing the exact opposite. Since 2005, Iran has violated five Security Council resolutions. Since 2005, Secretary-General, the international community has called on Iran to engage in dialogue. An offer of dialogue was made in 2005, an offer of dialogue was made in 2006, an offer of dialogue was made in 2007, an offer of dialogue was made in 2008, and another one was made in 2009. President Obama, I support the Americans’ outstretched hand. But what did the international community gain from these offers of dialogue? Nothing. More enriched uranium, more centrifuges, and on top of that, a statement by Iranian leaders proposing to wipe a UN member State off the map. I never thought I'd see the day when a French leader is more of a hawk than the President of the United States, and warns against naively trying to make peace with terrorists.
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Nat Hentoff writes, "I am finally scared of a White House administration."
I wonder if the White House will try and label Hentoff as part of the right-wing fear/astroturf campaign?
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Obama’s EPA plans fewer toxic cleanups: For years, the Bush administration was criticized for not cleaning up enough of America's most contaminated waste sites. The Obama administration plans to do even less.
Environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers railed against President George W. Bush's cleanup record. But this time, they're shying away from speaking out against a popular president who's considered an ally in the fight to clean up the environment. I'm shocked... shocked... Although it might be misleading to continue to refer to President Obama as "popular".
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One of the most amazing developments in the recent months of healthcare debate change in how Americans now view the current U.S. healthcare system. Confidence in the U.S. healthcare system is skyrocketing. Forty-eight percent (48%) of U.S. voters now rate the U.S. health care system as good or excellent. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that just 19% rate it as poor.
These figures reflect a significant increase in support for the health care system over the past few months. In May, just 35% of adults nationwide rated the system as good or excellent. A year ago, just 29% of Likely Voters rated the system in such positive terms.
The new polling also shows that 80% of those with insurance rate their own coverage as good or excellent. That’s up from 70% in May. Wow... approval for the status quo has doubled in one year... If President Obama and the Democrats keep up their efforts to "fix" the problem, maybe 75% of the country will approve of the status quo... Keep up the good work.
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Earlier this week, the Department of Justice brought obscenity charges against Barry Goldman, in the District Court of New Jersey for the distribution of fetish based pornography. This may be the first obscenity prosecution filed by the Obama administration.
Politico.com has a very detailed story about the indictment, its procedural history and the importance of jurisdiction in obscenity prosecutions. For further background of the nature of jurisdiction, obscenity and "community standards", you can read my 2005 article in the NY Law Journal on the Nitke v. Ashcroft case.
Essentially, the DOJ, under the Bush administration, initially indicted Goldman last year in Montana. Goldman's attorney argued that the government was forum shopping and that Montana was the improper jurisdiction. The judge agreed and ordered the indictment to be transfered to NJ, which was Goldman's state of residence. The DOJ appealed the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, but around the time the Obama administration took power, they withdrew the appeal and dismissed the indictment.
I find it interesting that Politico is spinning this story that the Obama administration is somehow being "less aggressive" in obscenity prosecutions by bringing this indictment in NJ, which is likely a much more difficult jurisdiction than Montana to obtain a conviction. It is true that as a social libertarian, I was distressed whenever the Bush DOJ prosecuted obscenity. Also, it was distressing that the DOJ usually chose to bring prosecutions in jurisdictions which would have more socially conservative juries.
However, this case raises many of those same concerns about Obama's DOJ. First of all, why is the Obama DOJ bringing this prosecution? Rather than devote resources to fighting terrorism and serious crimes, they're prosecuting dirty movies in which all the parties were adults and consented? Also, it seems to me that the strategy of withdrawing the the 9th Circuit appeal and re-indicting in NJ has nothing to with being "less aggressive.". Rather, it was a strategic effort to avoid the appellate court from affirming the Montana judge's opinion. If the gov't lost that appeal, it would have seriously damaged the government's ability to pick and choose which jurisdictions to bring obscenity prosecutions in. By taking the case out of the 9th Circuit's hands, the Obama administration has effectively defended the government's ability to pick and choose which jurisdiction to bring obscenity cases. In other words, the government still has the power to forum shop.
The developments of this case over the next few months should be very interesting.
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Let it never be said that I have never given credit or praise to the Democratic Speaker of the House.
Pelosi Blocks Resolution to Honor Michael Jackson.
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Well, apparently the Obama White House is firing Inspectors General under some very dubious and questionable motives. That should teach an Inspector General for daring to investigate close friends of President Obama's who control federal funds...
Other than FOX News and The Washington Post, the rest of the media has simply ignored this story. Of course, when Bush was accused of politically motivated firings of U.S. Attorneys, CNNMSNBCABCCBSHUFFPOMOVEON were shouting about it from the rooftops, demanding investigations and truth commissions.
On this one... the calls by the media are not quite as loud... I wonder why...
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America's most beloved child molester, Michael Jackson, is still dead.
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And she wonders why people have a hard time believing what she says.
I find the bit of editorial license used by CNN seen in the last 5 seconds of this clip... Mind-boggling, indeed.
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In addition to rendition, state secret privileges, and other war on terror policies, we now learn that the Obama administration is reinstating military tribunals for captured terrorists.
While I am happy that Obama is taking the war on terror more seriously as president then as presidential candidate, it is interesting how he adopts the very same policies in which he attacked President Bush for.
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I'm here with Lisa this weekend in DC/Silver Spring attending SEX 2.0, a conference dealing with the politics, sociology and media issues relating to sexuality. It leads me to ponder the ultimate question as to whether sex bloggers/rersearchers actually have sexm ;)
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The future generations will have a lot of fun paying off this debt which totals about $9 Trillion dollars.
Back in 2004, MoveOn.Org produced this rather compelling ad criticizing President Bush's deficit spending.
I'm still waiting for MoveOn.Org's criticism of Barack Obama's $9 Trillion deficit.
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Also, learn about the emotional side of murdering whores.
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Lisa and I attended the premiere of Kirby Dick's new documentary, "OutRage" at the TriBeca Film Festival last night. Dick had directed one of my favorite documentaries of all time, "Sick: The Life & Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist" and became quite famous with the success of "This Film is Not Yet Rated." "OutRage is an intense indictment against closeted homosexual politicians who stridently oppose gay rights legislation. The film predictably (and rightly) goes after the likes of Sen. Larry Craig and Rep. Mark Foley. I fully expected that Dick was going to bash Republicans in this film, and he does not disappoint. (The Manhattan crowd enjoyed it. Former N.J. Governor, Jim McGreevey is in the film and was in attendance at the premiere) To be fair, the Republican Party deserves its fair share of criticism on its gay-rights stance. Nevertheless, Dick does make an attempt to avoid naked partisanship by obtaining many interviews from Log-Cabin Republicans, and other gay activists who effectively make the case that closeted folks like Larry Craig are more victims of their own self-loathing. Dick is able to get access and interviews with a wide variety of politicians and activists ranging from Andrew Sullivan, Rep. Jim Kolbe, Rep. Barney Frank and the aforementioned former N.J. Governor, Jim McGreevey. While I had serious disagreements with McGreevey as a governor, his interview where he describes his personal torment wrestling with his sexual identity is especially moving. It's a powerful film, and no matter your stance on gay marriage and gay rights, it's a thought-provoking and powerful film. During the Q & A with the director, I was able to raise my one objection, regarding what I saw as selective outrage primarily against Republicans. Despite Dick's efforts to be "bi-partisan", he couldn't resist taking a few gratuitous shots at President Bush and the Republican Congress who passed the Defense of Marriage Act. However, the film makes no mention of the following facts: 1) President Obama opposes Gay Marriage. 2) Vice-President Biden opposes Gay Marriage and voted in favor of DOMA. 3) Former presidential candidate John Kerry opposes Gay Marriage and supported a Constitutional Amendment to the Massachusetts state constitution banning Gay Marriage. I also pointed out that McGreevey deserved a lot more criticism than the film gave him. So, where was the outrage against those Democrats? Surprisingly, a few people in the crowd applauded my rant question, knowing McGreevey was in the crowd. Dick acknowledged the point and at least conceded that Democrats have been guilty of being weak on the issue. I just wish the film had been stronger on that point. Notwithstanding my soapbox view, I highly recommend the film, and encourage anyone to see it.
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Ok... so she's ugly and she knows how to sing... I don't understand the hype.
She's no different than Lemmy Kilmister, the lead singer for Motorhead, and he's been doing it for 30 years...
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Remember how President George Bush trampled all of our Civil Rights with warrantless surveillance??? It's a good thing we have a new guy in the White House, right? The Electronic Frontier Foundation offers this interesting insight: In Warrantless Wiretapping Case, Obama DOJ's New Arguments Are Worse Than Bush's. As a candidate, Senator Obama lamented that the Bush Administration "invoked a legal tool known as the 'state secrets' privilege more than any other previous administration to get cases thrown out of civil court." He was right then, and we're dismayed that he and his team seem to have forgotten.
Sad as that is, it's the Department Of Justice's second argument that is the most pernicious. The DOJ claims that the U.S. Government is completely immune from litigation for illegal spying — that the Government can never be sued for surveillance that violates federal privacy statutes.
This is a radical assertion that is utterly unprecedented. No one — not the White House, not the Justice Department, not any member of Congress, and not the Bush Administration — has ever interpreted the law this way. I suppose we will soon see "King Barack" and "F#@K Obama" signs in the street from all those people who thought Bush was a fascist, right?
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Just received an e-mail alert from The National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, decrying the decision of the U.S. Census Bureau to not count same-sex couples in the 2010 Census. You can read their statement here. Here's the first paragraph. Census Bureau officials announced that they would waste time and money to remove any same-sex couple from being listed as married in the 2010 census survey. This expensive and insulting policy — a holdover from the Bush administration — simply cannot stand. I especially love the attack on former President Bush. Last time I checked, it was Barack Obama who was going to be president when the 2010 census will be conducted. In fact, President Obama is facing criticism over his plan to have the White House oversee the Census as opposed to The Commerce Department. Nevertheless, despite the fact that this was a decision of the Obama administration, we see how the supporters of gay rights refuse to attack or criticize President Obama. Instead, it's still President Bush's fault. I wonder how long The Task Force and other groups will continue to give Obama a pass. Then again, considering how there is never any mention of the fact that President Bill Clinton signed The Defense of Marriage Act into law, I suspect that they will continue to give him that free pass while he remains in office.
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Lisa and I are heading to Atlanta this weekend for the Leather Leadership Conference. I will be leading two workshops: 1) How organizations can "cover their ass" and 2) Post-Burnout Activism.
If anyone is in the area, feel free to say hello.
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