CaturWeen

Yes, I missed Caturday. I went out of town over the week, and was fucking exhausted by the time I got back, not to mention hung-over as fuck-all. And I missed Hallowe'en, too. Just be grateful I didn't see fit to inflict Jesusween* on ya.

* Warning: StephenColbert Alert.

Things are tough all around, no need to dwell on what can't be cured, since it must be endured. La Casa de Los Gatos has never treated the blog as a place to whine about the many misfortunes to which flesh is heir. Suffice it to say that life sucks, and I'm sure yours no less than mine. We resign ourselves to updating our book list with book reviews for the year so far, and film reviews, over at the sisterblog. In the meantime, we stand in solidarity with #Occupy and the Indignados who #Occupy everywhere. Sadly, ex-Marine Scott Olsen was injured when Oakland Mayor Jean Quan decided to loose the police on the harmless Indignados there. We'll be keeping an eye on the #Occupation, but for today, we're weaseling out with this, for your amusement:

Figure out where YOU can #Occupy.

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Is It Just MEEEEEE?

Or are the protestors in WI drowning out the Witch of Wasilla?



Something like 6,500 people showed up in WI today. Why? Skanky Wailin'Failin'Bailin' Palin was giving a word-salad speech. AP (worthless corporate cocksucking shills that they are) claims that "hundreds" of te@b@gging Kochroaches showed up, and were met by "hundreds" of union supporters. But, if you look at this clip, it's pretty obvious that "hundreds" of teabaggers might have showed up but they were completely and totally outnumbered by THOUSANDS of union supporters. Who managed to shout Skanky's speech down. Go, WISCONSIN! Show us how DEMOCRACY'S DONE!

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Congratulations Are In Order!

It's the morning after the night before, and what a night it was! First off the bat, congratulations, California! It looks like the voters of the Great Golden State proved themselves, once again, to be the forward-looking independent-minded, trend-bucking bunch of eccentrics they've always prided themselves on being. Result: Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Barbara Boxer, Congressmembers Nancy Pelosi, Fortney "Pete" Stark, Henry Waxman, Lynn Woolsey, and a slew of other progressive Democrats. Neutral about Kamala Harris, but it looks as if she might have won her race, too. Thank you for keeping the Great State of California a deep and enduring blue. All over CA, Democrats have won their races by 60-80%.

Congratulations are also due to the Great State of Colorado! Despite forebodings and prognostications of doom, CO now has a Democratic Governor, John Hickenlooper, who ran on NOT attacking the other candidates. Yay, Hickenlooper. Hickenlooper's win means that disgusting maggot, Tom Tancredo, will have to find some other body politic to devour. CO has also returned Senator Michael Bennett to his Legislative seat. Good riddance to Ken Buck, the man who won't admit to wearing high heels. Finally, thanks to Dan Maes' dismal showing at the polls (<10% support), the Republican party is now an official minority party in CO. Thank you Dan, and thanks to all your teabagging supporters. Suck that Koch.

Congratulations to the State of Rhode Island, where former Republican-turned-independent and always-sensible moderate Lincoln Chaffee won the Governor's mansion with the help of Democrats, who turned the whole state blue. Democrats won all their statewide races. GO, RI! And as for Frank Caprio, dude, this is why you DO NOT fucking diss the fucking President of the fucking United fucking States, OK? He's the Prez. You might not like him, but he has a huge and loyal following. President Obama, despite the terrible shape of this country when he took over, still has higher ratings than most other Presidents at his stage of holding office. When you diss him, you  piss off a lot of Democrats who might otherwise have thought of voting for you. I hope you've learned your lesson., you little fucker. Now go hold your tongue and try to make yourself useful.

Congratulations to the blue, blue State of Massachusetts! Deval Patrick keeps the Governor's mansion, and Barney Frank goes back to the Senate! And better yet, Democrats won EVERY SINGLE RACE in MA.

Congratulations to the State of New Hampshire for retaining your Democratic governor, John Lynch. Despite the efforts of homophobes to unseat him because he supports LGBTQ rights, Lynch beat out the Republican handily and goes on to serve his fourth term. Some anti-incumbent mood.

Congratulations to the State of Maryland for returning feminist icon Barbara Mikulski to the Senate. The Senate sure could use a few more like her, and a lot less like, gee, Cornyn? Coburn? Brownback?

Congratulations to the State of Connecticut for rejecting Linda McMahon and supporting Richard Blumenthal instead. Blumenthal's clearly the better candidate, and your voters proved that they knew it.

Congratulations to Delaware for sending the would-be witch and perennial Senate Candidate, Christine O'Donnell, back to her battery-toy collection. DE went with Chris Coons, who knows the First Amendment by heart. Yay, DE!

Congratulations to the Great State of New York for choosing Andrew Cuomo instead of krayZloony Carl Paladino, who brought his baseball bat to his concession speech. The guy is nuttier than a fruitcake, and I'm glad he's history. Also, Schumer. I'm not wild about him, but his constituents seem to be, so good work, NY, for sending him back to the Senate. Pity y'all allowed five districts to slip into Repub hands, but Gillibrand won her race, so overall, y'all done good.

Congratulations to the beautiful State of Hawai'i for making Neil Abercrombie your new Governor! Duke Aiona was a dangerous loon. Abercrombie was by far the better choice. Thanks to y'all, Democrat Brian Schatz takes the Lt.-Gov's seat. Democrats hold both the State House and Senate, so y'all are on the right road! Daniel Inouye returns to the Federal Senate. Colleen Hanabusa beat Charles Djou. And Mazie Hirono returns to her job with a solid win. 

Congratulations to the Silver State for handing Sauron Angle a 7-8 point defeat in her widely acclaimed teabagger race for the Senate. The Koch brothers and Dick Armey spent millions there, only to lose. Happy Day. NV is no more for sale than CA or CO.

Congratulations to the Grand Canyon State for returning Progressive Rep Raul Grijalva to the House, despite last-minute attacks on him and his office. Congratulations for returning Democrats Ed Pastor and Gabrielle Gifford, also. Unfortunately, y'all have to live with the twin embarrasments of Dan "Potatoe-Head" Quayle and Jeff "There's A Good Reason For My Last Name" Flake. Also, Brewer? Srsly?

The Republicans are spinning like tops to claim that this was a landslide for their end of the political spectrum. We here at La Casa de Los Gatos are just really glad that the worst of the teabagger candidates went down faster than a manwhore. Palin endorsee and campaign slimebag Joe Miller? Looks like he's going down. Sauron "Church Lady" Angle? Gone, gone, gone. Cara Carleton Sneed Fiorina? History. Chuck deVore, are you happy now? PayLin endorsed her instead of you. It was the kiss of death.

Meg "Watch Me Spend My Billionz" Whitman? Gone. Christine "Masturbation is For Me, Not Thee" O'Donnell? Gone straight to jail, did not pass Go, did not collect those $200M dollars she needs to pay off all her bad debt, rehabilitate her candidacy, and try for political life ever again. Ken "Vote For Me, I Don't Wear Heels" Buck? A bad memory. Dan "Bicycles Are A UN Plot" Maes? To be remembered forever as the man who single-handedly took the Republican party to minority status in CO.

The teabagger candidates who won — Marco Rubio, Nikki Haley, and Rand Paul — represent a mere fraction of the total. But Rand will be a thorn in Mitch McConnell's side, which makes us kinda happy. Prediction? More political grandstanding, posturing, and fractures ahead. The Blue states seem to have become bluer, and the Red states seem divided between radicaloony teabaggers and moderate conservatives who find them unacceptable, with Democrats and Progressives tucked away in various corners, working hard to turn their Red states Blue. Despite teabagger challenges to most Republican candidates, most of them survived intact (Sam Brownback won handily in KS, Roy Blunt Trauma in MS, and Governor Goodhair in TX).

What's interesting is what happened to Blue Running Dog democrats, like Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin and Blanche Lincoln. 23 out of 54 Blue Dogs lost their seats. And their support of, (or opposition to) universal health care had nothing to do with it. If anything, we can expect more progressive Democrats in the House.

So, overall, as to be expected in a mid-term election year, the party in control lost seats. It's not a stinging defeat, it just shows that more work needs to be done. Today we celebrate. Tomorrow, we're back at work.

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What The FUCK Is Happening To This Country?

Unbelievable. Glenn Blech has just attacked a volunteer debate moderator from the League of Women voters.

What is it with these people? Fucking everybody is fair game? What are these fuckers up to? Ever since the day our President was sworn into office, Glenn Blech, Flush Rimbowl, and Pox Noose have been attacking him, and those of us who support him, despite the fact that 65,182,692 of us voted for him.

If you didn't want to click the linky, these are the linked incidents:

• FL gunman shoots exchange students;
  
• List of far-right politicians inciting violence;
  
• Murder of the Holocaust Museum guard;
  
• Murder of Dr. George Tiller;
  
• "Dirty bomb" materials found in RWNJ's home;
  
• TN skinheads arrested for plot to murder President Obama;
  
• Assault on WA activist Christie Stordeur;
  
• Assault on KY activist Lauren Valle;
  
• Arrest of a Democratic voter at a session for Eric Cantor;
  
• Intimidation of elderly black voters in TX;
  
• Attempted voter intimidation by teabaggers in TX;
  
• Reports of teabagger targeting of minority voters for harrassment coming out of many states.

There's lots more, not covered here. In OH, a McDonald's franchisee sent his employees a flyer telling them that if the Republicans win, they can expect bonuses and raises. Otherwise, fugaddeboudit. And, face it folks. This 24/7 demonization of anyone who isn't a fucking rightwing nutjob has gone too far.

It's one thing to attack your political opponents. But when you start attacking the fucking majority of your fellow-Americans because they voted for a black man in the White House, you are going TOO goddamned fucking far. For eight years, y'all told us, "Suck it up. Your side lost. Deal. You're either for us or agin' us. America — love it or leave it."

When does it get to be your turn to fucking suck it up? Y'all lost TWO FUCKING YEARS AGO, and all we've heard since then is threats, abuse, and promises of violence. And Pox Noose is at the heart of it all, spreading a seething discontent by feeding the fantasies of the worst of the worst. All along, y'all have been able to claim that none of you instigated this violence, this assault on the Constitutional liberties of the people. But now, stuff like this starts happening all over the place right around the elections, and it becomes clear to the rest of us who aren't stark barking mad, as the denizens of the TeaParty (what party? They're not registered as a party) appear to be.

Srsly. I don't want people who look or think like these pignorant dorks in charge of the country. Do YOU?

Raw Story commenter Sue Wilson says:

It's time to realize that Glenn Beck has 14 million radio listeners compared to 2 million Fox viewers. Radio airwaves are publicly owned, and we the people can and must demand accountability from broadcasters. Early next year, I am launching a project to empower communities to challenge stations' licenses. Why? Read here: http://retwt.me/1PsNH How? http://retwt.me/1PkA I need your help. I need specific instances of inciting violence on the radio. Not hate speech, our lawyers say it has to be inciting violence. I need date, time, host name, station call letters, and most importantly - audio. You get me these, I will challenge the stations' license. We the People are Taking the Media Back!

Sounds like a wonderful idea. When do we start?

If you like what Sue Wilson has to say, you can follow her on Twitter at @sueblueswilson.

And get your ass out there bright and early tomorrow and FUCKING VOTE. Unless you really want pignorant acephalic swine making the laws that will affect you and your children for the next 4-10 years.

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Human Rights: CA. Proposition 8

The election results made us so joyful with Obama's win that we couldn't bear to tarnish the excitement with thoughts of the passage of California Proposition 8 or, as the voters here now refer to it, Proposition Hate.

However, we've been seething about it ever since it passed and sooner or later we have to share the seethe. California, hello? Excuse me? What the fuck did Arnie put in the water that people actually marched to the polls and voted against their LGBTQ brothers and sisters?

La Casa de Los Gatos is well aware that not all of California is progressive. SF, LA, Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto, Monterey, Carmel, Mendocino, maybe a few other small towns here and there, are pretty forward-thinking and have a significant population of LGBTQ people. Orange County has a fair number of pinheads, and military areas like San Diego are pretty fucking hopeless. But still, people! Why you wanna do this for? What business is it of yours who does what with their naughty bits? You want people checking around in your bedroom? No? Then get the hell out of our bedrooms!

This is ridiculous, and we're not going to put up with it. Civil rights should never be left to the will of the majority because the majority tends to oppose civil rights for minorities (of any ilk). Imagine if we had asked the people to vote on slavery. There were only a few people brave enough to oppose it at the time. The majority would have happily permitted it to continue or merely ignored the issue.

In the same way we cannot leave the right of LGBTQ folks to love and marry who they will in the hands of those who have no understanding or empathy on this issue. Straight people say, "Well we don't care who you have sex with, just don't flaunt it in our faces. You can have civil unions. You'll have the same rights. Leave us marriage." (No, we don't personally know anyone who actually says such things because we strive not to associate with troglodytes. However, such things and much worse can be found in a few minutes of perusing teh InnerTubes.)

Unfortunately, this is a myth. It's simply not true that gay people have all the rights that straight people have through a civil union. For one thing, in community property states, married people who own property in common cannot sell or give away any part of that property without their spouse's explicit consent. Upon one spouse's death, the other spouse inherits the entire property as a whole — no part of it can be alienated without the surviving spouse's consent, and no probate is required for the property to pass intact from one spouse to the other.

A civil union confers some benefits on the partners thereto, but consider the case of Lisa Pond who was traveling with her partner and children when she suffered a brain aneurysm. Her partner and family were not permitted to see her on her deathbed. Would that happen to a straight couple? No. Consider the case of a gay couple who spent twenty years or more building a home and family, acquiring property together. Should one partner die, regardless of any contract or property arrangement to the contrary, the same biological relations who kicked the dead partner out of their home for being gay could descend upon the couple's property and contest the will and boot the survivor out of the home in which they had invested a lifetime of earnings and hopes. Could that happen to a straight couple? The family could try it, but the courts would most likely rule for the survivor.


Well, the time has come to insist on the same spousal rights for gay couples, and quite frankly we don't care what the hell you call it — civil union, marriage, schtuppenpupik — if it will allow a partner at their dying partner's bedside in any state in the country; if it will guarantee that two people in a loving relationship can legally inherit one from the other to no less an extent than any other people in such a relationship despite their sexual preference; if it will give LGBTQ partners the same tax breaks and family rates on health care and child care and family matters, then call it what you will but give us our rights.

Today is the day that LGBTQ people all over this country march in support of gay rights, and against such antigay legislation as California's shameful Proposition 8. They'll be marching in Portland; InTheNameOf8 lists groups that will be working against Prop 8 nationwide; JoinTheImpact gives pointers on how to organize yourselves, including a site that tells you how to find your local protest.

Fellow digger and gay activist Scoyboy of OnTopmag has a fine piece on the spontaneous marches erupting across the nation.

In good news, many Mormons are disgusted enough by their church's shameful support of this equality-denying proposition to up 'n leave. Thank you to those of our Mormon brothers and sisters who stand with us.

We urge our Catholic brothers and sisters to take a stand against the hate being perpetrated by their religion. Jesus did not teach hatred and discrimination. He taught love and acceptance. He sat with beggars and prostitutes and dined with publicans and outcasts. He did not, as the fathers of today's church do, wine and dine on gold and silver with the wealthy and powerful while turning his back on the poor who starve among us. If you profess to believe in him, then you must act in support of his message and stand up for the rights of your LGBTQ brothers and sisters and not permit Proposition 8 to take away the rights of a loving couple to marry and raise a family — a right that you yourselves possess and take for granted.

To do something about this shameful and discriminatory proposition, you can go here and sign the pledge.

Be sure to write the gubernator, who will be getting an earful from the bigots and haters who poured millions into this campaign.


Finally, for those who think that the record numbers of Black American voters who turned out for Obama were responsible for the passing of Proposition 8, stop it, OK? Just quit. Go read this first, and then come back and flap your gums if you still can. To imply that Black Americans are responsible for this hateful proposition passing is to hold all White Americans, gay and straight, harmless on the issue. And how could that be, when Black Americans comprise a whole six fucking per cent of the California electorate? Do you think if even half the White churchgoing population had voted against this proposition, it would have passed even if every single Black voter voted for it? And, furthermore, are there no LGBTQ Black Americans, or people of Tint among the ranks of the various LGBTQ folks? Is it not a clear manifestation of prejudice to assume that all LGBTQ persons are White, that White is the default colour of LGBTQ people?

Prop 8 passed because of gullibility and misinformation. The religious churchgoers were told that if it did not pass, their churches might be shut down, their preachers jailed. We don't find that a compelling argument, but religious people we're not. So we understand that they voted out of ignorance and fear. Such ignorance and fear must not dictate our lives though. Already the forces of provocateurism are at work, with "unknown individuals" mailing packets of white powder to various religious factions. We doubt that LGBTQ people were behind that, but if they were, we urge them to remember to whose detriment such actions redound.

Much as we may dislike it, we have to reach out to our churchgoing religious friends and neighbours and engage them in discourse. For a perfect love casteth out fear. And quite frankly, it's time everybody got over this fucking fear hangover that's been chewing our hineys to ribbons for nearly a decade.

So get out there, people, and wave a flag or a banner or a poster for those of us who can't stand up. We're with you in spirit. This fight ain't over, but we all have to fight it.

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2008 Elections: Calling A Lie A Lie

Where have all the student protesters gone? Well, some of them are alive and kicking ass out at the University of Iowa, apparently.

Take a look at the article, and if you support their actions, consider writing to the following pillars of the mass media. FTA:

Note from Stephen Fox: I think these students (Megan Felt, Hannah Rounds, Laura Kacere, Marni Steadham, Robin Berman, Dan Rathjen, David Goodner, Justin Feinstein, Brooke Bachelder, Lara Elborno, Naomi Prager, and Anthony Carter) deserve our commendation for their Gandhian courage and their intelligence to do what they did.

This could be in the form of letters to the editor of

1. Daily Iowan, the University Paper (diopletters@gmail.com)

2. Iowa City Press Citizen (opinion@press-citizen.com)

3. Des Moines Register (letters@dmreg.com)

4. Cedar Rapids Gazette (news@gazettecommunications.com)

plus five more listed here. (this is a "Live Blue" list of Newspapers in Iowa)

Thank you, students! May many more join your ranks and call these vile liars out at every opportunity.

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LGBTQ: An Activist Addition To The Blogroll

La Casa de Los Gatos welcomes Queers United to the blogroll and thanks them for this very interesting post on the formation of the LGBTQ Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives. The post links to all the LGBTQ Caucus members so you can thank them yourself, and includes such progressive stalwarts as Fortney (Pete) Stark, Lynn Woolsey, Robert Wexler, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Niki Tsongas, Henry Waxman, and our very own dearly beloved Barbara Lee!

You rock, Reps! Fifty-two members, count them.

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2008 Elections: Barbara Ehrenreich Weighs In

As longtime admirers of Barbara Ehrenreich, we were delighted to read her post in The Huffington Post today.

Titled "Hillary's Gift To Women," Ehrenreich's piece analyzes the myth of the nonviolent female of the species &mdash a myth that we, given our relationship with Mummy Dearest, have always known to be based on the slenderest of realities. Relevant excerpts:

A mere decade ago Francis Fukuyama fretted in Foreign Affairs that the world was too dangerous for the West to be entrusted to graying female leaders, whose aversion to violence was, as he established with numerous examples from chimpanzee society, "rooted in biology." The counter-example of Margaret Thatcher, perhaps the first of head of state to start a war for the sole purpose of pumping up her approval ratings, led him to concede that "biology is not destiny."

Need we remind the world of Golda Meir, who would have cheerfully kicked her opponents in the nuts; or Indira Gandhi, who had no qualms at all about forcibly vasectomizing working-class and poor men, or "disappearing" beggars, and flipped the mighty U.S. a rigid digit when offered wheat for the starving masses.

History records plenty of women like the Borgias, the Medicis, the dowager empresses of China who used military might, poisoning, war, and murder to get their own way. Regrettably, Hillary Clinton is made in their mold. As Ehrenreich says,

[...] by running a racially-tinged campaign, lying about her foreign policy experience, and repeatedly seeming to favor McCain over her Democratic opponent, Clinton didn't just break through the "glass floor," she set a new low for floors in general, and would, if she could have got within arm's reach, have rubbed the broken glass into Obama's face.

We don't agree with everything Ehrenreich says in her piece. For example, she states that the majority of those prosecuted for Abu Ghraib were female. We believe that is because women are generally treated more harshly for offenses that go against gender stereotypes. We note that Janis Karpinski's male bosses should have gone to the hoosegow for permitting untrained personnel, male and female, to "soften up" the prisoners of Abu Ghraib for interrogation. Yet Donald Rumsfeld walks free, as does Dick Cheney. Condi Rice will pay a greater price than Cheney or Rumsfeld for the mishaps of our foreign policy, although Cheney is undoubtedly the greater evil. We hold that this is due to sexism. Women who have power are often punished simply for holding power, much less wielding it.

Which is not to defend Rice, either, since she has proved herself at best thoroughly incompetent and at worst decidedly malign.

In any event, do go read the article. It, and the comments that followed, were instructive.

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Politics: Time For A Better Way

The WahPoo tells us that Jewish liberals (and, hopefully, progressives, moderates, nonsectarians, democrats, independents, and anybody who has seen that the State of Israel is being used as a catspaw for American imperialist ambitions in the Middle-East to the detriment of the Jewish people) are forming a PAC to counter the influence of the far-right AIPAC lobbyists.

The hawks of AIPAC do not represent the Israeli people, who are far more interested in peace than in the continuing manipulation of American foreign policy with detrimental results for both Israeli and Palestinian peoples. They do not represent the American people, who are bankrolling their militarism to the tune of nearly $100 billion. They do not represent anyone except a small handful of wealthy, powerful, militaristic maniacs who stand to profit from the continuing murder and horror.

Gaza is a concentration camp, and the stain of that, the responsibility for that, lies with AIPAC and "Israel uber alles" hawks. What the Israeli military is doing to the Palestinians is equalled only by what Nazi Germany did to the Jews. What a shame and a disgrace to think that the sufferings of the Jewish people, that forced the whole world to examine its conscience, should now be played out by the State of Israel on the hapless and helpless Palestinians. Israeli and Palestinian women have worked together for years to persuade the state of Israel to abandon its function as a tool of American militarism, with small success.

The article states, in part:

The lobbying group will be known as J Street and the political action group as JStreetPAC. The executive director for both will be Jeremy Ben-Ami, a former domestic policy adviser in the Clinton White House.

"The definition of what it means to be pro-Israel has come to diverge from pursuing a peace settlement," said Alan Solomont, a prominent Democratic Party fundraiser involved in the initiative. In recent years, he said, "We have heard the voices of neocons, and right-of-center Jewish leaders and Christian evangelicals, and the mainstream views of the American Jewish community have not been heard."

One can only hope that all Jews with a conscience will join together to counter the militaristic approach that has shown such dismal results, and try to forge a new policy. Peace in the Middle East is long overdue. Israel cannot guarantee the survival of the Jewish people by continuing militarism. It's time for negotiations, diplomacy, and an understanding that there has to be a better way.

AIPAC is much richer and more powerful than the new organization can hope to be for some time, but they own too many of our politicians already. Their influence must be countered. Americans, Jewish and non, are beginning to resent the influence of the powerful Israeli lobby on American foreign policy and the American pocketbook. So be prepared, folks. AIPAC will fight back, and they already own many of our politicians.

Even supporters said the new groups will be hard-pressed to match AIPAC's influence in Washington. AIPAC has more than 100,000 members, 18 offices around the country and an endowment of more than $100 million--dwarfing what organizers say will be a first-year budget for J Street of about $1.5 million.

AIPAC has cultivated alliances across the political aisle, especially in recent years with President Bush, who has worked hard to build good relations with leading Jewish groups. But AIPAC also works closely with congressional Democrats and the leading Democratic presidential candidates, and it sees itself as representing a broad cross section of Jews with an interest in fostering strong ties between Israel and the United States.

Those of us who have watched the demolition of Palestinian farms and homes, the violation of basic human rights, the murder of activists like Rachel Corrie with growing horror over the past few years, must work to show that America's &mdash and the world's &mdash commitment to Israel does not include violations of the human rights of non-Jews. Peace in the Middle East has been the stated goal of the world for our entire lifetime.

We are facing the death of our planet with all its peoples. Scarce water, rising temperatures, crop failures, epidemics, pollution. If the human race, in millions of years of evolution, cannot find a way to work together in peace, we will all die, and sooner than we want to, or think likely. It is time to join forces and work for all.

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March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm

Image from March 19 Iraq War Blogswarm

La Casa de Los Gatos is proud to join the March 19 Iraq War blogswarm to try and end this illegal and immoral war of occupation and genocide. To find out how you can join, click the caption.

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Health Care: Blue Cross

Well, well, well. It appears that Blue Cross has stopped sending out those obnoxious letters we blogged about yesterday, wherein they request doctors' assistance in reporting information that would allow them (Blue Cross) to drop coverage for their insured.

The reason they've called the whole thing off? The "torrent of criticism" they received. Good work, folks! Give yourselves a pat on the back if you contacted Blue Cross or the relevant California state bodies.

Incidentally, Blue Cross says they've been doing this for years with no protest. See how effective a little activism is?

Other major insurers in California said Tuesday that they had not asked physicians to do anything like what Blue Cross was seeking.

Everyone's been asleep on the watch for the past seven years, which is why we're now facing all these crises. Economic crisis, domestic infrastructure crisis, military crisis, civil rights' and constitutional crises, health care crisis, ad infinitum ad nauseam.

Meanwhile, after years of utterly despising Arnie and all the louts who voted for him, we're finding a soft spot for duh Gubernator creeping into our blackest of hearts. Here's what the leathery old fellow's been saying lately:

Schwarzenegger sharply criticized the [Blue Cross] practice, which he described as akin to telling physicians to "rat out the patients and to give the patients' medical history to the insurance company so they have a reason to cancel the policy."

The governor said the practice should be banned.

"That is outrageous," he said, and "one more reason why it is so important to have comprehensive healthcare reform."

Dammit, fella, don't make me like you. If the Republican party is to have a prayer of survival, it's people like Arnie, Chuck Hagel, and their ilk who will keep it afloat. Therefore, we at Casa de Los Gatos urge you to switch parties. The Republicans will never overlook your relatively moderate positions on core issues. Never. Look at what they're doing to McPain, who is at least 20 times closer to their core values than either of you!

Nope, ever since the Republican party sold their souls to the worst elements of the religious right, they've been a lost cause. Step out now and form a new conservative party, you guys. Damn right there's a place for you on the spectrum.

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B.A.D. Featured Blogger

We have an excuse for not posting a featured blogger yesterday. Actually we have two. One, we were goddamned tired, and Two, we read three books yesterday. Three! We're so pleased. All interesting, we must add. We're putting them on our February book review, which we post over at CultureVultures, our sisterblog. We'll post it on Leap Year Day.

But enough about us.

Today's featured bloggers &mdash there's just too many excellent bloggers out there to feature only one per day &mdash are:

• Nunya, over at PolitickyBitch, who has a good time mocking the WATB wing of the Republican Party (uh, that would be all of them, right?);
• Kyle, over at Comments from Left Field, who does a very interesting job of dissecting Hillary Clinton's and Barack Obama's claims as to their electability vis-a-vis John McCain;
• while Barrymax over at Jonestown is raising my hopes about Obama with this neat little tremulous yet hopeful post.

All very inspiring, and Dashiell's Photoshops at Jonestown deserve an extra mention, ew.

And finally, we posted over at our sisterblog, CultureVultures, about Rotus' music site, Clarkspicks, and a wonderful clip of Ali Farka Toure. You need to check this out. Just go.

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Politics: The Politics of Wealth and Poverty

Image from WaronWant

Langdon Gilkey, a Professor of Divinity at the University of Chicago School of Divinity, wrote an interesting little book called Shantung Compound, detailing his experiences as a detainee in a Japanese internment camp in China. Casa de Los Gatos prepares a reading list at the beginning of every year, to force a little focus on the process of reading one's way through rooms and boxes full of books that have been collecting dust for nearly two decades, leading to the ingestion of much cold and allergy medication as a result of dripping noses and sore throats.

At any rate, as part of the Book Project, slated to complete this year (more about this at some future time over at the Other Blog), we chanced upon Professor Gilkey's fascinating little book.

In light of the recent disappointed perusal of Norman Cleaveland's tome on his time in Ampang, Malaysia, we were prepared to be further disappointed by the experiences of Americans in an Asian continent swirled by social and political ferment.

We're pleased to say that Professor Gilkey has somewhat mollified our resentment by remaining impartial and lucid on the topic of his experience, while retaining a clear-eyed perception that we don't always agree with but respect nevertheless.

In the course of reading the book, we came across this interesting observation on wealth and poverty that we feel impelled to share:

... I came to see that wealth is by no means an unmitigated blessing to its community. It does not, as may often be supposed, serve to feed and comfort those who are lucky enough to possess it, while leaving unaffected and unconcerned others in the community who are not so fortunate. Wealth is a dynamic force that can too easily become demonic &mdash for if it does not do great good it can do great harm.

Professor Gilkey is referring to the arrival of care packages from the American Red Cross to the detention centre where he, together with several hundred other Americans and several thousand "gaijin" of other nationalities &mdash British, Russian, Persian, Eurasian, Belgian, Dutch, and so on &mdash were being held. While the bounty of the American Red Cross would have ensured each detainee would have one to one-and-a-half care packages that would help them survive the brutal Northern Chinese winter, some seven Americans preferred that the Japanese should turn over all the packages to Americans only, thus ensuring that each American had seven packages (way more than needed) and no other person had any.

He goes on to say:

Had this food simply been used for the good of the whole community, it would have been an unmitigated blessing in the life of every one of us. But the moment it threatened to become the hoarded property of a select few, it became at once destructive, rather than creative, dividing us from one another and destroying every vestige of communal unity and morale.

[...]

I suddenly saw, as never so clearly before, the really dynamic factors in social conflict: how wealth compounded with greed and injustice leads inevitably to strife, and how such strife can threaten to kill the social organism. Correspondingly, it became evident that the only answer was not less wealth [...] but [factors] that might lead to sharing and so provide the sole foundation for social peace. It is the moral or immoral use of wealth, not its mere accumulation [,...] that determines whether it will play a creative or destructive role in any society.

[...]

... Western culture as a whole is learning that material progress and the wealth that it creates are no unmixed blessings. The present possession of security and goods in a world where the majority are hungry and insecure puts the Western world in much the same position as those Americans in the camp [...]. If the material gains of modern Western society can be spread over the world with some evenness, this new wealth may create a fuller life for us all. [...] Wealthy classes and wealthy nations are unmindful of the destructive effects of their wealth, isolated as they are by the comforts and perquisites of their possessions. Those outside the charmed circle of privilege, however, remember, and no lasting community can be formed in the midst of the bitter resentment that inequality and selfishness inevitably engender. [...]

The resentment against the West on the part of the whole nonwhite world is mainly the consequence of the white man's refusal to share his social privileges with men of another color.

There you have it. "They" don't hate "us" for our freedoms. Everybody hates and bitterly resents anyone who lives in luxury as they starve. That's just the nature of the beast that we call the human being. No amount of moralizing, preaching, religion, aid, or whatever will change that.

That is why, in order for a lasting peace to be built that will embrace the whole world and lead to the end of war, cruelty, hatred, racism, abuse, and social injustice, we must all share what we have with our less fortunate neighbours. And that is not to imply any moral duty, but simple common sense. If you have seven loaves of bread and the poor and hungry neighbours around you have none, and you do not willingly share with them, they will come to your home and tear you limb from limb in order to acquire your bread to feed their hungry loved ones.

So, when we at Casa de Los Gatos hear the less humane among us retort, "If they want enough to eat, let them stop breeding like flies! That's why they're poor and starving," we reply, "If you want them to stop breeding like flies, give generously but commonsensically of your money and your service to teach them birth control. Give them condoms and mifepristone and The Pill and abortions. Give them medicine and science and education and half your loaf of bread."

Otherwise what else is there for them to do but bomb your towers and railways and marketplaces? It's not as if their life is joyous and meaningful. As their (and your) lives should, and could, be.

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Blogroll Amnesty Day

Yay Skippy! Yay Jon Swift.

Thanks to these two eminent bloggers, we small bloggers all throughout Blogtopia (y, Sctp!) get to celebrate the whole damned weekend by linking to small blogs everywhere.



Take a minute out of your busy schedule and go click on an unfamiliar blog. Read what they have to say. I've been pretty slack lately, but have added these people to my blogroll. I think they're mostly bigger than me, but I'll be looking for littler blogs to add, too:

The Content Black Woman (We're pretty sure she's NOT a smaller blog than us teeny-weeny kittehs here, but we like her politics);

The Smirking Cat

PSoTD

The Strange Death of Liberal America

922 Beauties

We here at ThePoliticalCat want to give a big ol' cat-ear twitch to Skippy and Jon for helping to make sure that the blogosphere is truly progressive and an IntarWeb of human endeavour everywhere.

If you want to leap onto our blogroll, please cruise on by and leave us a note, and we'll blogroll you! Please do the same for us. We can make the blogosphere one big party, dammit.

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LGBTQ: Yay Denise Simmons!

PageOneQ, source of all news about the Queer Community, reports that the progressive city of Cambridge in Massachusetts has elected its first black and openly lesbian Mayor. Denise Simmons, a city Councilwoman since 2001, is the first black lesbian Mayor in the U.S.

We regard this with a mixture of pride and shame. We're proud that an American city regards competence as more important than a person's private business. If we had behaved that way during the last Presidential elections, we'd have something other than an anthropophagous troglodytish buffoon who can't talk in a straight line in charge of the country.

We're ashamed that it took so long for us to come this far, and that although we can apparently elect a black lesbian Mayor, we still quibble about electing a black President or Vice-President; and we still refuse to grant full equality to folk who happen to be queer, female, or black (or brown, for that matter).

And, to our disgrace, we have yet to elect a transgendered person as Mayor. Unlike the city of Cambridge in England. Ms. Simmons replaces former Mayor Ken Reeves, an openly gay black man.

However, this is a new and healthy trend. If we elect enough Councilmembers, Mayors, Governors, legislators, judges, school board members, and other administrative officials who are openly gay, perhaps we will eventually move towards granting queer (and female and black and brown) people full human rights.

Throwing the current administration of crooks, liars, and bigots out of office and replacing them with progressives like, oh, Dennis Kucinich, or John Edwards, or Barack Obama, or even Hillary Clinton (caveat: we don't consider her a progressive, but she's still an arm, a leg, and a beating heart better than any of the louts on the Republican side of the fence) as our next President would be a good start.

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Vermont Town Wants to Arrest Bush and Cheney for War Crimes

This blog salutes the activists in Brattleboro, Vermont!!!! We're with you in spirit!!

Kurt Daims of Brattleboro, Vermont, speaks Friday about his movement against Bush and Cheney. Photo from Brattleboro Reformer/AP

Here's an article from the Associated Press:

Vermont Town Seeks Bush, Cheney Arrests

By DAVE GRAM – 20 hours ago

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — President Bush may soon have a new reason to avoid left-leaning Vermont: In one town, activists want him subject to arrest for war crimes.

A group in Brattleboro is petitioning to put an item on a town meeting agenda in March that would make Bush and Vice President Cheney subject to arrest and indictment if they visit the southeastern Vermont community.

"This petition is as radical as the Declaration of Independence, and it draws on that tradition in claiming a universal jurisdiction when governments fail to do what they're supposed to do," said Kurt Daims, 54, a retired machinist leading the drive.

As president, Bush has visited every state except Vermont.

The town meeting, an annual exercise in which residents gather to vote on everything from fire department budgets to municipal policy, requires about 1,000 signatures to place a binding item on the agenda.

The measure asks: "Shall the Selectboard instruct the Town Attorney to draft indictments against President Bush and Vice President Cheney for crimes against our Constitution, and publish said indictment for consideration by other municipalities?"

The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. The press office did not immediately respond to an e-mail.

Support for the measure is far from universal, even in Vermont, where the state Senate voted earlier this year to support impeaching the president. Anti-war rallies are regular occurrences here, and "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers are common.

"I would not be supportive of it," said Stephen Steidle, a member of the town's selectboard, which oversees its government.

"It's well outside of our ability. From my perspective, the Brattleboro Selectboard needs to focus on the town and the things that need to be done here."

Daims has been circulating documents that claim the community acquires a "universal jurisdiction" to take such steps "when governments breach their highest duties."

"We have the full power to issue indictments, conduct trials, incarcerate offenders and do all other acts which Independent jurisdictions may of right do," the statement says.

Vermont Attorney General William Sorrell, a Democrat whose office has repeatedly sued the Bush administration over environmental issues, called the move "of very dubious legality."

"I have not seen the proposal, and I've done no legal research on any of the issues," Sorrell said. "But at first blush, if this passed, they'd have really uphill sledding trying to have it be legal and enforceable."

Yes, well, women getting the vote was uphill sledding too, buddy boy.

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Politics: Let The People's Voice Be Heard!

Somebody's holding a fundraiser for Dennis Kucinich, with the aim of raising ten million. We here at Casa de Los Gatos think that's a wonderful idea.
We've had it with the major candidates, who are all in our opinion too centrist and corpocratic to bring about the real, much-needed change that is the only thing that can save this great nation. Ron Paul raked in the bucks in a huge groundswell of support recently.

If you care about the Constitution, your civil liberties, peace, justice, human rights, send some money Kucinich's way. He's being far more creative and spinal with his appeal to the people than just about anyone (I'll make an exception for Ron Paul and John Edwards).

Let's reclaim the peace dividend! Enough money wasted on foreign wars and enriching oil companies! (Never forget, Bush, his father, Cheney, and Condi all have ties to oil companies.)

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Politics: Dennis Kucinich Kicks Ass

And elephant. Seriously. He came out swinging in this TV interview, and I was blown away. The mass media gives us news on Hillary and Obama, with the occasional negative swipe at Edwards. We hear very little about Dodd, Biden, Gravel, Kucinich. It's time for that to stop.

Even this interview was pretty rude and condescending, but Kucinich was having none of that. Here's part of the report from Raw Story:

During an appearance on CBS's Early Show, host Harry Smith told Kucinich that Republicans had "basically called your bluff" in wanting to debate the impeachment of Cheney on the House floor.

"They didn't call my bluff," Kucinich shot back. "I was fully prepared for debate -- with a three-inch thick binder annotating the violations of law and the violations of the Constitution committed by the vice president which would justify an impeachment."

[...]

"Harry, you have to remember there are millions of Americans who are part of a national movement to defend the constitution," said Kucinich. "And they understand that the vice president made a false claim for war and is trying to beat the drums for a war against Iran and they're calling for action to be done."

Impeachment, said Kucinich, was a move on his part safeguard the Constitution.

"It's really abut the American people and their insistence that their government not be lost," he continued. "People are worried that we're losing democracy, and they're demanding that the Constitution be protected. And that's exactly what yesterday was about."

That's some serious ass-kickin' right there. The ass in question being Harry Smith of CBS' Early Show. Raw Story has the video.

These mavens of the media who sneer and deride and act like only they have the right to pick the next president - they need to go. We don't need to hear their claptrap. We can - and will - make up our own damn minds.

While they pounded into our head that we could and should all drink a beer with Bush, and Al Gore was a boring wonk, many people listened - and now, our children's, grandchildren's, our world's future looks pretty bleak, after seven years of corruption, nepotism, partisanship, and looting the Treasury. That's what happened the last time we listened to you jerks.

Let the people decide!

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The People Must Lead

Or the leaders will not follow. Tomorrow is your chance to make your voice heard. Our leaders have stopped listening to us. They don't hear what we're saying about ending the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq. They don't hear us when we say we're worried about our economy. They don't hear us when we say we need a better health care system now. They don't hear us when we say we want our food supply protected and safe for us and our families.

If they won't listen to us, we have to find a way to make them hear. So, tomorrow, call in sick to work, keep your kids at home, don't spend a dime in the stores or restaurants. Cook a meal, hang out with the cats and dogs, don't drive anywhere, don't spend any money. Because the only thing they hear is the sound of money talking.


We must take the country back. Shut it down!

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Politics - The Media And The Election

From the Guardian of the U.K. comes an impressive report on the U.S. elections of 2008 and the Presidential candidates. My question is, why do I have to rely on British papers to give me news about the Democratic candidates? The local birdcage liners are full of puerile pieces - witness this*, from Matt Bai - about how dreamy and manly-smelling the Republican candidates are, and what fucking hippies the Left are. Nothing of substance is asked about the political positions of the various candidates or their plans to lead the nation out of the quagmire that seven years of The Stupidest Fool On Teh Planet have left us in.

The war. The economic mess. The decay of the national infrastructure. The health care crisis. The mortgage crisis. The immigration crisis. The broken military. The corrupted Justice Department. The rise of racism. The unfunded, destructive, and pathetic NCLB act that is slowly sinking the schools. The treasury. The deficit. The destruction of a great and beautiful American city. The housing crisis. The destruction of the middle class. These are real issues, goddammit, and a lot more important to me than whether Fred Thompson smells of Aqua Vulva.

The Guardian article points out:

The Democrats who are running for president are flush with policy proposals, position papers and fact sheets. The leading Republican contenders, not so much.

Rudy Giuliani has his ``12 Commitments.'' Mitt Romney has his ``Strategy for a Stronger America.'' John McCain still serves up his ``straight talk.'' But, whether by design or default, they leave far more to the imagination than do the Democrats in discussing the big issues.

Yes! That's right! All I'm hearing from the Republicans is bullshit and babble. Mitt "My sons are just like the military, they're fighting to get me elected" Romney; John "We must keep throwing bodies into the Iraq meatgrinder" McCain; Rude "Torture! Kill! Imprison! 9/11!!9/11!! Scuse me I gotta take a call from my hot piece a nookie" Ghouliani; Fred "I don't know. I don't remember. I have no idea. Brawk! Blort!" Thompson; Tom "Hate 'em! Kill 'em! Shoot doze Messicans!" Tancredo.

And on the other side of the fence, Barack Obama, detailing his plans for the housing problem. Hillary Clinton (full disclosure: I can't stand her, although I once really liked and admired her) handling herself like a seasoned trooper; John Edwards, with his detailed health care plans, his ideas about jobs, the economy, schools, revitalizing towns and states and nations. Bill Richardson, who has figured out how to pay for the health care proposals he makes.

Goddammit, that's what I want to hear. And I'm willing to bet, as the economic crisis deepens and people realize that the fit is about to hit Awol McJeebus' shan, they'll want to hear it too.

At any rate. The Guardian. It's an excellent source of information.

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