Alito: Hour 1, Day 2

Last Walz of The Lonesome

brandonmcb — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 07:43:29 EDT

Ever wonder what Las Vegas Blvd. is like at 4 in the morning? Of course not. Who gives a shit. But I am going to tell you anyway. Its a very sad scene where all the folks who are very drunk and didnt find bed buddies or just lost all their money to casinos/ strippers are walking about yelling at people on their cell phones. I on the other hand am thinking about the two most important things Ive learnd at the Yearly Kos (Perhaps to distract from my lack of a bed buddie and my empty wallet). They are as follows:
1) Mark Warner throws a good party. This guy rented out the observation deck at the Stratosphere which is the Vegas replica of the Seattle Space Needle. Amazing view, wide variety of free food and drink including a chocolate fountain, and James and Elwood Blues. Regradless of what you think of the guys politics, let me assure you that if elected as president, he will have one hell of an innagaration.
2) Harry Reid is a very good guy. He gave the so long farewell address and it was a very nice speech. It wasnt the pound the pulpit in your face style of Teddy Kennedy nor was it the often times painful droaning of John Kerry. It was a nice, cool, relaxed message about bringing the focus on issues that matter in order to bring the left back into power. I came to find out from one of Reid's aids that part of the reason it was so calm and cool is because the Senator was in three states today and was quite exhausted. Regardless, it was a call to arms that wasnt over the top and fake. He genuinely pressed the issue that the right wants to distract from issues such as social security, the national deficit, and the economy by stoking the falmes of fear so that they can stay in power as long as possible without any regard for the future. It is our job as lefty political types to bring the real issues back into the spotlight. Way to go Harry. Ill make you a deal. Get together with Warners party planner and I will gladly nominate you for King or Arch Duke or whatever you want to be.

The Left Is Going To Grow A Pair

brandonmcb — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 19:20:05 EDT

The panel I just dropped in on for had a pretty straight message: Dont be affraid to fight somebody. Its well known the right has a bit of a nasty streak and will crack your skull with a Louisville Slugger if you provoke them. This panel, which featured Mr. Kos himself as well as Hunter from the Daily Kos amung others, said fighting isnt unethical and dirty if you dont do it in an unethical and dirty way. Thats not a very revolutionary point but i think somtimes the general respect for humanity that progressive folks have gets in the way of the general meanness of political activism.

In a nut shell you can say Tom DeLay* is a greedy son of a bitch who would probably steal from orphans if given the chance but you can not say Dick Cheney obtains energy by feeding off of the souls of homosexuals and immigrants (at least until we get proof).

* I'm getting as many shots in as I can while people still know who Tom DeLay is.

Politics Now, Black Jack Later

brandonmcb — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 15:10:47 EDT

I just arrived at the Riviera and feel slightly uncomfortable. I live temporarily in Las Vegas and have come to expect greasy fat cats in shirts depicting awful beach fronts, women who's faces barely qualify to be called faces, and the occasional wide eyed child who cant understand why the women in the casino can walk around in their underwear and he cant. Then of course there is the onslaught of family men from Omaha who saw Vegas Vacation and wanted to give it a go.
The Rivera is missing that crew. It is filled with progressive political junkies out to figure out how to win back the ol' U S of A. There are all sorts of panels and speakers who are sure they have the formula and are going to enlighten us. I'm going to go see what it is they know and relay to you. Lets just hope that if they in fact do have the formula for reviving progressive values that just this once what happens in Vegas doesn't stay in Vegas.

I am truly a blessed man

brandonmcb — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 14:40:08 EST

After the lunch portion of the event that Annika will surely be writing on, I went and asked the man in the George Washington outfit for a photo. He said yes and we snapped one and he then invited me for another. It was at this point we got on our knees and he asked me for my name, he prayed to God to bless me, and I laughed. This was one of the wierdest and finest moments of my life. I was being blessed by the originial George W.

Soul Sanctuary (This is a Prince song)

brandonmcb — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 11:14:14 EST

Why all the talk of Prince? Well partially because I am very excited about his new album but more so becuase the last speaker, Rod Parsley, just took control of the Blue Room at Omni Shorum and shook it like only the artist formerly known as (insert symbol here) can do. Rod banged the pulpit, shouted to high heaven, made huge sweeping gestures, raised the bible in triumph, and broke into prayer mid sentence. People were screaming their amens and hallalujas to the proposed Christian revolution, the elderly woman behind me look slightly terrified, and Rod pleaded for a "new Martin, for you white folks here thats Luther King". Everyone giggled. I held my laughter in hopes that Rod would realize he is white and that he just made a fool of himself but alas, Rod is like the white guy in Boise Idaho who is driving around in an Escelade listening to Ludacris.

I had to take off early from Rowdy Rod's rant for coffee because, well, nothing highlights sleep deprivation quite like the earlier panel titled "Hollywood: Christians Through A Distorted Lense". The greatness of this panel was split between Don Feder's "I never exagerate" annalysis of V for Vendetta and Ted Baehr making a complete ass of himself.

Feder started his speech by saying it would be short and bitter. Again, the people here got the honesty bit of the bible down pretty well. Its the love thy nieghbor as thyself part they missed. And the let he without sin cast the first stone. And... sorry, Im rambeling. Feder said that the new movie V for Vendetta is proof hollywood hates christians. But he asked people not to go see the film-- because its bad m- kay-- but simply to take his word for it becuase he never exagerates. The rest of his speech was an orgy of exageration.
Quote:
"Christanity is dead in England"
Fact:
71.6% of Enlgand is Christian
Quote
"Hollywood wouldnt dream of making a movie about a brutal, dictatorial, bloody, murderist Islam regime"
Fact:
Syriana
The Living Daylights
Rambo 2
Rambo 3
The Mummy
Alladin
Rules of Engagement
Help! (The Beatles Movie)

I could go on. if you would like to add to my list of movies depicting Islam as evil, please feel free in the comments section. maybe we can email them to Feder.

Ted Baehr's shining moment came when panelist Robert knight said baehr was the go to guy on all things hollywood. later in his address he asked Baehr what year American Beuaty came out. American Beuaty came out in 1999. Bahers answer? 1991. What expertise!

Sorry for the typo's and lack of links. These bastards are relentless and I need to get back and learn about why news media hates god. More to come...

America's Sexualization (This Is Not A Prince Song)

brandonmcb — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 20:37:15 EST

"The word homosexual was invented. It is an invented word. It goes back to the 1890s to a German psychologist. Second thing is that the word that was used in America was perverted one. And literally in England it was called buggery. Don't bug me." -Spicy and coherent rhetoric from the honorable Rev. Louis P. Sheldon.

The Blue Room of the Omni Shoreham Hotel is filled with the most hard line folks the Christian Right has to offer and on day one of The War on Christians conference Lou outshined them all in blaring disregard for human decency. Lou is one of the panelists on "The Gay Agenda: America Wont Be Happy". The only person I am more impressed with then Lou is the person who named the panel. You have to be a Pulitzer Prize contender to come up with a title like that.

In his address Lou covered more ground then I knew to be possible in 10 minutes. He alluded to--for reason I'm still not quite sure of-- Sam F.B. Morris being able to fire up the telegraph back in 1841 because he was a Christian and then launched into a call to arms to squash the gay agenda. He referred to the current protesting in L.A. and Dallas as a model the Christian Right should follow to shut down the sexualization of America. I can see it all now. A terrible explosion of hatred and paper machete as bible touting suburbanites try to stomp out the gay pride parade in New York City. I'm not sure NYC could recover from this kind of thing but my man Lou insists if we don't stop the gay's now then they will get our children.

The rest of the panel was full of fantastic one- liners that seem to be in abundance at this conference. A few of my favorites:
Fight for normalcy
That whorey euphemism 'sexual preference'
Homosexual is an adjective, not a noun
Not tradition marriage, but REAL marriage
My happiest moment came when Peter Sprigg, the moderator, quoted George Orwell saying, "Sometimes the obvious bares repeating". I couldn't believe his brutal honesty. I have always felt that these right wing loonies were mimicking the oppressive regimes found throughout Orwell's fictional works but I never thought I would see one of them admit and encourage it.

Day one was painful and hilarious simultaneously. It was also quite eerie at times because the man sitting directly to my right looked exactly like my grandpa. Two Nazi references were made, one comparing the growing "gay agenda" to the rise of the Nazi's. Later in the day in a conference on the ACLU a comparison was made between Hurricane Katrina battering on New Orleans physically and the ACLU battering New Orleans spiritually. Hurricanes, Nazi's, telegraphs, and Orwell all in one day. (Expletive deleted) bless America indeed. *

*ACLU has removed God from this sentence.

The best legislation ever?

brandonmcb — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 10:46:01 EST

Ohio state senator Robert Hagan proposed a bill to ban republicans from adopting children last Friday in a brilliant maneuver in the legislative process. Hagan said he wanted to "introduce legislation in the near future that would ban households with one or more Republican voters from adopting children or acting as foster parents." I don't actually support the idea of republicans not being able to adopt, and Hagan doesn't either, which is why the bill is so ingenious.
In a time where almost everything about the law making process is formalized to the point where it is considered rude to express your feelings about another lawmakers ideas, Hagan is using the legislative process to give one of his colleagues a subliminal "fuck you pal".
The colleague in question is Ohio lawmaker Rep. Ron Hood (R). Ron introduced a bill a few weeks ago that would ban gay, bisexual, or transgender couples from adopting in the great state of Ohio. Hood, the same guy who proposed a gun safety and marksmanship class in Ohio high schools, says he introduced the bill because "studies have shown that the optimal setting to raise children in is a traditional setting with a mom and a dad." I tried to contact Rep. Hood to find out what studies he is talking about but the man wasn't home. I didn't leave a message because it was a home phone number and we don't need to bring his family into this. Just because he has no respect for other peoples families doesn't mean I need to stoop to his level.
It appears there are no studies reflecting the increase of likelihood of a child being unsuccessful or psychologically unstable because of being raised in a non- traditional home. Hagan supported his bill by saying he has credible research showing children from republican homes have an increased risk of "emotional problems, social stigmas, inflated egos, and alarming lack of tolerance for others they deem different than themselves and an air of overconfidence to mask their insecurities." It is my personal belief that Hagan is a genius and should be treated as such. I am thinking about sending him a gift card to Barnes& Nobles to let him keep know I appreciate the hard work he is doing for the fine people of Ohio.

Alito: Hour 1 Day 2

brandonmcb — Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:26:52 EST

About an hour into the second day of Alito hearings I became quite concerned that Orrin Hatch was going to propose to Judge Alito. This is an obvious problem because Senator Hatch is seriously opposed to same sex marriage.

It's no surprise to see Hatch lobbing soft balls to the nominee and singing his praises. I can't begin to understand why Alito's feelings on his stint in the military would be important to these hearings but Hatch made sure to ask. The distinguished gentleman from Utah, it appears, isn't quite as concerned with judicial rulings as he is more concerned with Alito's happiness. A very touching sentiment from the man who supposedly represents me, a Utahan, in the senate.

The opening speaker, Chairman Arlen Specter was a bit more critical of the judge especially on the case of abortion. Sen. Specter went down a line of questioning focusing on Alito's comments in 1985 stating that abortion rights are not covered in the constitution citing Planned Parenthood v. Casey and Roe v. Wade. The only real statement Alito gave on whether or not he would turn precedent around on abortion and whether his mind has changed since 1985 was that he would approach the case with an "open mind". One would hope that a man who has been a judge for 15 years has figured out that judges should go into things with an open mind.

It appears the hearings will go just as one could have predicted, mirroring the Roberts hearings. Liberals will ask critical important questions which Alito will dodge with vague answers and repetitive rhetoric. Hard line conservatives will make Alito out to be one of the greatest men ever, rambling on about how Alito has moral fiber that goes above and beyond any person's wildest imagination, and asking questions that don't tell us anything about Alito as a judge but rather make him seem to be, to take an Alito quote completely out of context, a "super duper" judge that will save America from impending moral doom.