Bridge To Nowhere: Sarah Palin

My heart goes out to New Orleans and others in the path of Hurricane Gustav.
The 24-7 coverage is warranted, and the region seems more prepared this time. This time W. isn’t on vacation in Crawford, press reports indicate he’ll be in Austin, Texas, when the storm hits. Political opportunists are shaping this as a chance for W., and the Republican Party to gain redemption from Katrina Even as a partisan opponent, I hope they do a heckuvajob this time.

McCain seems finally to be catching major breaks. His convention will now be free from saluting the worst President ever. The white hot intensity of the media spotlight quickly shifted from the Gov. Palin, who has served 18 months as the governor of a small state, and now finds herself potentially a heartbeat away from leading the free world.

I’m struggling to wrap my brain around McCain’s decision to put her on the ticket. She’s a maverick like him, I’m told. She said no to the ‘bridge to nowhere’ in her state; although, she supported it as a candidate until the project became an embarrassment to her state. So she supported it before she was against it, which was unpopular in the last election cycle.

She wants creation science taught alongside evolution in science classes. She’s big oil, all about drilling up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. She’s all about hunting and eating moose, bringing images of Teddy Roosevelt to the National Rifle Association. She’s got a son going to Iraq during the campaign. The clincher: she didn’t have an abortion upon learning her child would have Down syndrome.

Conservative pundits say evangelicals are dancing in the isles and suddenly can’t wait to vote McCain. She’s also responsible for state-funded benefits for the partners of Alaska’s gay employees. She abused the powers of her office over a bad brother-in-law, a state investigation will conclude a week before the election. McCain is still has that Keating 5 corruption scandal on his permanent record, but that was back in the 80s, when Gov. Palin was running for Miss Alaska. She played the flute and won Miss Congeniality.

I think I’m going to like this Alaskan Governor’s personality and energy. She’s profoundly unqualified. Evangelicals succeeded in keeping Lieberman off the ticket. Give credit where credit is due.

Gov. Palin, You're No Hillary Clinton

I was appalled that 72 year old John Mc Cain thinks two years as Alaskan Governor qualifies Sarah Palin to be President. This is John Mc Cain's Harriett Myers!

I don’t mean to be cruel or insensitive, but seems to me her baby with down syndrome requires a lot of love and care. Perhaps I’m sexist but my heart suggests Palin be should be a mom right now.

Palin’s wild west spunk today came across as somewhat trailer-trashy, as was the strange investigation into Palin’s firing of a state employee for not firing the state trooper boyfriend of the Governor’s sister during a messy custody battle. The results of the investigation are to be released one week before the election. Sounds like a Maury Povitch pay-per view to me.

Palin has evoked the name of Hillary Clinton, and suggests the Republican ticket can now chip away at that glass ceiling with 18 million cracks. Hillary worked hard and earned those votes. Palin was appointed by a man with increasingly questionable judgement. No way, no how, you’re no Hillary Clinton Gov. Palin. You simply aren’t qualified to be President under any circumstances, but certainly not under current circumstances.

Dems in Denver: Day One notes

Dem Convention: Day One notes

I noticed this morning that the three major TV networks were providing one hour of primetime coverage. Disappointing, but that’s why we have sallelites. CNN, MSNBC and C-SPAN were my choices for the “gavel to gavel.”

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was chewing gum during her speech. I was taught in high school that this is disrespectful. During her speech, CNN was interviewing Gov. Kaine. MSNBC let us chew on the Speaker. The gum was white best I can tell. It matched her dress anyway.

Rep. Jessie Jackson, Jr. gave a speech that deserved coverage. Excellent speech delivered with the vigor and eloquence of his father. CNN carried it live, while MSNBC carried commentary from Pat Buchanan.

President Jimmy Carter had a video about New Orleans. I have a fondness for the Carters, and was disappointed when after his introduction, he waved and left. No speech. I want to say it was 10 or 15 minutes went by before Anderson Cooper and cronies asked why.

God Bless Ted Kennedy, who overcame many barriers just to be there to symbolically pass the torch from the Kennedy family to the Obamas.

As prime time arrived, I thought NBC and ABC boiled the evening down fairly well into an hour. However CNN’s David Gurgen and James Carville were saying the Convention’s speaker lineup during prime time coverage was lack luster, and the night had no central message, so they thought the first night of the Convention was wasted. Donna Brazile defended her party as her microphone cut out.

Michelle Obama’s speech was insightful, educational, remarkably well written and delivered. She was clean and articulate, as Biden might say on a whim.

So as the day closes, the Kenndys and the Carters have passed the torch. In the next two days, the Clintons will pass the torch.

CNN and MSNBC provide more time to “their political teams,” and simply use the Convention as a backdrop or a new set for the same old show, plus a couple of speeches.

I know more about the Obamas now. Mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned. I'm sorry some were dissappointed. There was no big Bush bitch slap. Policy issues, which attract me to the party, were lightly touched vagueness. I heard more about the enviornment from the T Boone Pickens commercial.

I think the evening’s schedule was just fine for network prime time. They got Kennedy and Michelle and their own political teams in a neat tight package. THe schedule was designed to be boiled well and easily into that primetime hour.

Southern Baptist Sissies opens in Little Rock

Southern Baptist Sissies, a play about four gay men in a Texas Southern Baptist Church, is now running at The Weekend Theater in Little Rock. Director Ralph Hyman says the first act is a comedy and the second is a drama/tragedy that ends with hopefulness.

Hyman tells the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that “it talks about how the church, unfortunately, teaches children who are gay to hate themselves.”

Playwright Del Shores is said to have based the play on personal experiences.

I have such deep scars from my Southern Baptist childhood, which also left me a self-loathing gay man. We all know what happened to self-loathing gay men in the 70s and 80s, AIDS. I don’t blame my southern Baptist upbringing for my disease. I was mighty ignorant in my early 20s, and should have been paying attention. I numbed pain with Jim Beam, Willie Nelson, pills, and weed. Antidepressants work so much better.

I do blame the church’s teachings for the enormous pain, confusion, depression, and suicide attempts endured in the closeted rural isolation of my childhood. I almost didn’t live long enough to ignorantly face AIDS. The rage within is still there, just below the surface. It's sometime pointed at the Southern Baptist Church, and sometimes pointed at myself.

There is plenty of comedy to be had in a play with this subject matter, and Shores has the background (produced three seasons of the Showtime series Queer As Folk) and writing talent (also wrote Sordid Lives) to make me laugh, relax, and be vulnerable during the first act, while ripping open old wounds in the second.

I hear a movie based on the play is in the works as well, with Delta Burke. I look forward to seeing Southern Baptist Sissies. The $14 seat includes a hopeful ending. If not, Vino's across the street may have some Jim Beam. For more info, www.weekendtheater.org

Home Depot Special Order Hardwood Doors; How We Spent Our Winter, Spring, and Summer.

Buying hardwood doors this year was an endless nightmare with the assistance of Home Depot.

After waiting for Home Depot contractors to measure our current doors for a custom fit, we discovered the doors in Hillcrest are eight feet tall. We were then limited on companies who build good custom-sized oak doors. Finally, a company in Mexico had just what we needed. We special ordered two finished oak doors, and two storm doors with installation for around 5 thousand.

We were told the doors would be ready in three weeks. After several heated conversations with Home Depot management, we were eventually told getting the doors through customs would make the wait more like three months.

We were thrilled when the call came that our doors had arrived in Little Rock. Soon after, a Home Depot contractor called to schedule the installation. Three weeks we waited patiently for the installation. When the day arrived, the contractors stacked the doors in our living room and left them, saying the original Home Depot measurements were incorrect, and they'd have to have a new, more expensive installation plan approved by Home Depot. There goes another week. The next installation was then scheduled for, you got it, three weeks later.

Doors we thought would be delivered and installed in about a month took over five months and severely strained our relationship with the Home Depot in west Little Rock, Arkansas.




Anyway..the doors were installed yesterday. It'll be a long time before we trust the Home Depot in west Little Rock, Arkansas with a business project, but we are VERY happy with these doors.

Death by Effexor?

Arkansas Democratic Party chair Bill Gwatney was shot to death in his office earlier this week. The fall of Gwatzilla stunned me. He was a hero to those of us who survived the Mike Huckabee era in Arkansas. Public service makes people vulnerable.

We’ve learned little about the killer. According to press reports, the short list of items found in his home included loads of guns, a post-it note, and a bottle of antidepressants (how Tom Cruise of them to report). Not just any bottle of anti-depressants, every media outlet I’ve observed noted the specific antidepressant, Effexor.

Did we really need to know the specific name of his antidepressant? Is there an epidemic of Effexor-related shootings? If so, look out world, I was on Effexor for years. For the record, I’m on Cymbalta (“’cause depression hurts”) now.

I’ve been concerned for Senator Barak Obama since his campaign began. I hear some evangelicals are calling him “the anti-Christ” on the internet. I thought he was in danger from white supremacists, but the “anti-Christ” label may make him a high value target for Christian extremists as well. How horrible. Perhaps it’s just an effort to rally the Republican base to vote. With McCain heading their ticket, white supremacists and Christian extremists are probably eating a lot of Effexor these days.

Celebrate love

Michael and I have been a couple for seven years now, and this is the first "couple" picture to surface. My thanks to Samamtha for capturing the moment. Eric loves Michael.