Memorial Day Weekend CHEERS and JEERS!

CHEERS to the US Dollar, which is, in the wake of the weakness in BRIC growth and the crisis in Europe, the only safe currency right now.

JEERS to crooks getting off scott free; in this case, the Lehman Brothers executives who caused the 2008 economic crisis. The SEC recommended no charges or other sanctions be brought against them. And if you don't like it, the cops are there to pepper spray, billy club and LRAD you into submission. Yup.

JEERS to bigots, part one. Check out this letter sent to my friend Greg Harris and several other pro-gay rights legislators in Illinois. No. Seriously. Go look at it, because I guarantee you it's going to be in our grandchildren's history books as an example of the kind of ugly crap gays and lesbians used to have to put up with in the United States. Among other things, it recycles the old disproven tropes about what causes homosexuality, brings up the old HIV/AIDS argument in gay men (without bothering to address the virtual lack of STDs in lesbian women), and recycles the myths about "traditional" monogamous marriage. This letter was written by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality, Wayne Lela of Heterosexuals Organize for a Moral Environment (that's HOME), and John McCartney of Citizens Concerned About Media.

JEERS to bigots, part two. If a group of right-wing idiots rampaged through the streets of the nation's capital demanding the deportation of black people, and a conservative legislator joined in saying that blacks should be isolated from the cities, our media would be all over it. If this happened in South Africa, or Europe, or Russia, or South America, we'd have everyone to the left of Sean Hannity calling for a boycott of that nation. So where is this happening that we're not hearing a peep about it? Right here.

JEERS to Curt Schilling. Step one: borrow millions of taxpayer dollars to start your company. Step two: whine that you and your other fellow John Galts never had to take a dime of government money. Step three: fire everyone. If you want to know why I think objectivism and its mutant children are a joke, this man is a case in point.

CHEERS to Gay Marriage. For the third time now, a Federal judge has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. SCOTUS is going to have to take this up in the next few years. Remember: Mittens stands behind a Constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage in the United States, and even stands opposed to civil unions.

CHEERS to amusing idiots. I'm 100% opposed to bombing Iran, but their stupid shenanigans still amuse me. In this case, it's their pronouncements that a recently revealed manuscript of the Gospel of Barnabas threatens Christianity because it apparently claims that Jesus (A) wasn't crucified at all and (B) predicted the coming of Mohammed (PBUH). As someone who has little sympathy for Christianity, my first response is to wonder what's in the water in Iran. If these people weren't totally clueless, they'd understand that the big threat to Christianity isn't Islam at all, but in fact the same enemy that threatens Iranian Islam: modernity.

CHEERS to Amazon.com employees, who won the right to air conditioning in the warehouse. This is why we still need a labor movement, folks.

CHEERS to those that died and those that were left behind. The dead have their honor. Those left behind have the aftermath. For what it's worth, the Vice President has some advice on dealing with the aftermath.

Memorial Day Weekend CHEERS and JEERS!

CHEERS to the US Dollar, which is, in the wake of the weakness in BRIC growth and the crisis in Europe, the only safe currency right now.

JEERS to crooks getting off scott free; in this case, the Lehman Brothers executives who caused the 2008 economic crisis. The SEC recommended no charges or other sanctions be brought against them. And if you don't like it, the cops are there to pepper spray, billy club and LRAD you into submission. Yup.

JEERS to bigots, part one. Check out this letter sent to my friend Greg Harris and several other pro-gay rights legislators in Illinois. No. Seriously. Go look at it, because I guarantee you it's going to be in our grandchildren's history books as an example of the kind of ugly crap gays and lesbians used to have to put up with in the United States. Among other things, it recycles the old disproven tropes about what causes homosexuality, brings up the old HIV/AIDS argument in gay men (without bothering to address the virtual lack of STDs in lesbian women), and recycles the myths about "traditional" monogamous marriage. This letter was written by Peter LaBarbera of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality, Wayne Lela of Heterosexuals Organize for a Moral Environment (that's HOME), and John McCartney of Citizens Concerned About Media.

JEERS to bigots, part two. If a group of right-wing idiots rampaged through the streets of the nation's capital demanding the deportation of black people, and a conservative legislator joined in saying that blacks should be isolated from the cities, our media would be all over it. If this happened in South Africa, or Europe, or Russia, or South America, we'd have everyone to the left of Sean Hannity calling for a boycott of that nation. So where is this happening that we're not hearing a peep about it? Right here.

JEERS to Curt Schilling. Step one: borrow millions of taxpayer dollars to start your company. Step two: whine that you and your other fellow John Galts never had to take a dime of government money. Step three: fire everyone. If you want to know why I think objectivism and its mutant children are a joke, this man is a case in point.

CHEERS to Gay Marriage. For the third time now, a Federal judge has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. SCOTUS is going to have to take this up in the next few years. Remember: Mittens stands behind a Constitutional amendment barring same-sex marriage in the United States, and even stands opposed to civil unions.

CHEERS to amusing idiots. I'm 100% opposed to bombing Iran, but their stupid shenanigans still amuse me. In this case, it's their pronouncements that a recently revealed manuscript of the Gospel of Barnabas threatens Christianity because it apparently claims that Jesus (A) wasn't crucified at all and (B) predicted the coming of Mohammed (PBUH). As someone who has little sympathy for Christianity, my first response is to wonder what's in the water in Iran. If these people weren't totally clueless, they'd understand that the big threat to Christianity isn't Islam at all, but in fact the same enemy that threatens Iranian Islam: modernity.

CHEERS to Amazon.com employees, who won the right to air conditioning in the warehouse. This is why we still need a labor movement, folks.

CHEERS to those that died and those that were left behind. The dead have their honor. Those left behind have the aftermath. For what it's worth, the Vice President has some advice on dealing with the aftermath.