"The practice of sodomy tears at the fabric of society"

Thanks to Buzzflash.com for finding this little beauty from the just-voted-on Republican party platform in Texas:

The new platform not only condemns homosexuality -- 'the practice of sodomy tears at the fabric of society' -- it also advocates felony penalties for anyone issuing a marriage license or performing a marriage ceremony for a same-sex couple.

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Bush disses Reagan

You can always count on George W. Bush to say a stupid thing at the wrong time. The man who spent the weekend showing up late for the Pope and late for his D-Day ceremony, took time off today to diss Reagan in an interview with Tom Brokaw:

"Bush refused Brokaw's invitation to label himself a 'Ronald Reagan Republican.' Bush said he thinks of himself as 'a George W. Republican.'"

It's a small slight that you could easily have overlooked (I did, until my friend Joe pointed it out), but it's an important and telling one.

What could Bush have possibly been thinking? His response is arrogant (is he somehow better than Reagan, or at the very least ashamed or angered by being compared to Reagan?), and downright rude (considering the man just died 12 hours before). As my friend Joe pointed out, there were lots of possible correct answers to the question, including:

1. We are all Ronald Reagan republicans.

2. I like to think there's a bit of Ronald Reagan republican in us all.

Or my suggestions:

3. I should be so lucky as to have the honor of calling myself a Ronald Reagan republican.

4. There is only one Ronald Reagan.

You get the picture.

But for Bush to take a softball question that's intended to give him an easy chance to praise Reagan, say "no," and then turn the question around and making it all about himself? Whatever you personally think of Ronald Reagan, for the current Republican president to respond that way, that's just fucked up. So why did he do it?

1. Because he's a moron. And I mean that seriously. Bush can't think on his feet and probably had no clue he was being fed a softball question, let alone did he have a clue how "normal" people respond to such questions.

2. Because he's an arrogant ass. For all of his failings, Bush thinks pretty highly of himself, and I get the impression he bristles at any suggestion that he's not "the man." Thus, it's quite probable Bush found the question insulting, since HE'S the president and NOT Ronald Reagan. Who is Brokaw, he must have asked himself, to diminish Bush's importance by suggesting he's just copy-catting Reagan, especially after Bush just met with the Pope and then a big ole bunch of European leaders in Normandy? Did Reagan just meet the Pope? Did Reagan catch Saddam? I don't think so.

In the end, this could all be explained by a big case of presidential pique. Bush plans his big adventure to Europe, he's waiting for the big photo op at Normandy where all of America will see him standing side-by-side with all the other big boy leaders of the world (remember: this guy thinks he's another Churchill or Roosevel), and Reagan goes ahead and steals all Bush's thunder by dying and hogging all the news. So rather than being asked about how presidential he looked in Europe, Bush is being asked how he stands up to Ronald Reagan, a "real" Republican God. Big surprise that the boy-who-would-be-president would stomp his feet and respond "me, me, me!"

What a loser. Read the rest of this post...

Iraqis Paying 5 Cents a Gallon for Gas

And you're paying for it. Read the rest of this post...

First chance in a lifetime to see the Venus eclipse

I'm a big astronomy buff. This is very cool. In the US, I've read, it will only be visible the first two hours after sunrise- you'll literally need to look at the sun to see a dark speck on it, so either use VERY good eye protection or do the pin-hole camera thing.

AFP:

Next Tuesday, the planet named after the Romans' Goddess of Love -- in reality, a scorched hell where rainfall takes the form of sulphuric acid -- passes between the Earth and the Sun, a sight unseen by anyone alive today.

The so-called Venus transit is in fact an eclipse, but unlike a solar eclipse, the Sun will be hardly dimmed.

Instead, Venus will appear like a little black dot, eerily crawling across the face of our star for some six hours.

If weather permits, the sight, running from 0513-1126 GMT, should be visible to five billion people, but skygazers absolutely must use proper filters to avoid eye damage.

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Kerry Suspends Campaigning

Good for Kerry. And can I just say, it's nice to finally be able to say "good for Kerry." He hasn't done hardly enough lately to make me say that - perhaps the tide is turning.

Associated Press:

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said Sunday that he was suspending 'overtly political' campaigning in the coming days in observance of former President Reagan's death.

'Ronald Reagan and many of us disagreed on one issue or another, but he always disagreed with a smile, without partisanship,' Kerry told reporters after attending church.

'I think he had a sense of idealism and a sense of optimism of the possibilities about our country that define leadership,' Kerry said. 'We will miss him, no matter what party, no matter what our beliefs. He was a leader, and we'll miss him.'

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Gaddafi Regrets Reagan Died Without Facing Trial

Ok, this story made me laugh. Amongst all the Reagan-was-a-god stories, this title pops up. Read the rest of this post...

Bush arrives late to ceremony in Arromanches

For the second time during Bush's visit to Europe, he arrived 15 minutes late for an event. For a guy that hates others to keep him waiting, he sure has a problem arriving on time during this trip. When he did arrive, he looked pretty uninterested in the ceremony that included Putin, Schroeder and other world leaders. Read the rest of this post...

D-Day Remembered

I have spent the morning watching D-Day ceremonies on TV and so far, it has been very impressive. Chirac's speach was very good, giving thanks to the young Americans who sacrificed themselves to liberate France and Europe. I first thought that Bush's speach was perhaps too graphic, considering the fact that many in the seats at the American Cemetary were all too familiar with the details, but afterwards one of the announcers mentioned that barely 50% of Americans know what D-Day is. Wow! I am fortunate enough to live within a half a days drive to the landing beaches and I have visited the region multiple times but even prior to my visits, I was aware of D-Day and what it meant to Americans as well as the world. France has done an incredible job with the Calvados region for the 60th anniversary and they've really welcomed vets from all nations involved. I'll be looking forward to the ceremony later in the day that will include Schroeder and Putin together with the Bush, Chirac, Blair and Howard. Who knows, maybe one of these years we will even see the same leaders all meet up for the Stalingrad ceremony. Anyway, I'm glad to see that so far everyone has stayed on the message of D-Day. Read the rest of this post...