The old saying, “With friends like this, who needs enemies?” comes to mind when I recently dealt with the DCCC.  You see, I took the “Don’t Ask Don’t Give” pledge from AmericaBlog.com.  It means that I will not give money to the DNC, DSCC, or the DCCC until I think that there is actual movement on GLBT issues.  We need the Obama Administration to stop comparing gay marriage to incest and pedophilia.  We need Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repealed.  And we need the Employee Non Discrimination Act passed.  These aren’t hard things to do.  But 18 months into the Obama Administration, it appears that Dick Cheney was better on GLBT issues than Obama.

I got a phone call from the DCCC on Friday, asking me if I stood with Nancy Pelosi, and if I did, would I donate to the DCCC to continue Democrats in making progress.  I REALLY wish that I recorded this conversation, it left such a bad taste in my mouth.

The conversation started like normal.  I let the guy speak for a minute, and when I got time to respond, I told him about the “Don’t Ask Don’t Give” pledge.  He asked why.  I told him all of the basic reasons, but stressed on the gay marriage being compared to incest and pedophilia.  The guy LAUGHED.

I said, “Excuse me?” and the guy continued to laugh.  He then giggled through a “thank you for your concerns” and hung up.  It was INFURIATING.  Like I need any other reason not to give to the DCCC.

This whole thing reminds me of the time the DCCC sent out emails calling supporters “Slackers”.

UPDATE: I just talked to the DCCC.  They outsource the fundraising to another company, and they’ll be investigating what happened last Friday.

Reposted from sister blog BuryingTheLead.com

There is something to be said about the Republican party starting with the 2008 election, and that is their connection to violent speech.  Everyone remembers Palin’s comments during the 2008 election cycle where she claimed Barack Obama “palled around with terrorists“, and the fact that she didn’t denounce hate-speech shouted out from the audience.  Even before that, the Republican Party was filled with nothing but intolerant people.

Well it hasn’t changed in the last few years.  Palin, Beck, and company are still saying some crazy things, and they are still inciting violence.  Anyone who doesn’t connect Palin’s SarahPAC and the image of Democratic Congressional districts with gunsights over them and Palin’s “Don’t retreat – reload” Twitter comment and the inciting of violence, frankly, has their head up their ass.

The inciting of violence from Republicans against those not like themselves is truly nothing new.  Think back to the man who burst into a Tennessee church and shot and killed complete strangers “because the church was liberal”.  He had hoped to start a trend, so that people would take out liberals, gays, and the “100 people screwing up America” list by right-wing author Bernard Goldberg.

Well it may not be that far fetched to think that Joseph Sean McVey, age 23 of Ohio, was a fan of Palin, Beck, and Goldberg.  Why else can you explain why Goldberg had a car modified to look like a police/security vehicle, and showed up – armed – at the airport that Air Force One and President Obama had just departed.  What’s the most chilling aspect of the story?  When asked what he was doing, McVey said he heard Obama was in town and “wanted to see him”.

There are two Facebook groups out there that say it all.  “I didn’t like George Bush, but I never wished him dead“.  It has under 1,000 fans.  The Facebook group that is praying for the death of President Obama?  It has 1,000,000 fans.

Like many Americans, I have been watching the Senate wrangle with the issue of unemployment benefits, and the detestable act that Kentucky Senator Bunning has committed in denying benefits be continued.  Then I watched as Senator John Kyl of Arizona, the number two Republican in the Senate, call people that got unemployment benefits “lazy”.  This was pretty much a horrible situation for the American people.

But the big “FU” was not just Bunning flipping the bird to the American public.  It came in the form of an accusation from CNN reporter Christine Roman this morning.  Did you see it?  Roman, in explaining that the benefits finally passed last night, said, “Why did Democrats let this go for so long?”  Yes, she blamed DEMOCRATS for the fiasco.  I’m sorry, but when did Senator Bunning cross the aisle and become a Democrat?  Which top Democratic Party Official in the Senate asked Senator Bunning to object to the unanimous consent on the continuation of unemployment benefits?  NONE!  What CNN’s Roman did was subtle, but nonetheless, a jab at Democrats instead of the real culprit, Senator Bunning and his supporters.  I’ll post the transcript when it comes out.

CNN, you not only got it wrong this morning, you got it FOX NEWS wrong!

UPDATED: TRANSCRIPT FROM CNN:

ROBERTS: You got a Numeral for us this morning, a Romans Numeral?

ROMANS: I do, and this has do to with broken government, everybody — a 11.5 million people. Eleven and a half million people who for five days have been watching as the Democrats let the situation marinade and as Jim Bunning continued to talk about how we have to talk about — 11.5 million people are the number of people who get unemployment checks.

Many of the (ph) people couldn’t feed their families without them and I just think that — and what I’ve been getting — the feedback that I’ve been getting from our viewers and the like and on Facebook and on Twitter is that a lot of people have been watching this, quote- unquote, “Bunning bashing” but have been saying, wait a minute, why did the Democrats let this go on so long?

Couldn’t they have fixed this last Friday? Did they — is this — is this also political maneuvering on both sides? And 11.5 –

CHETRY: And the answer is yes.

There has been a great “compare and contrast Democrats and Republicans” list out there for quite a while, and trust me it is great.  But recently, something struck me as the biggest difference of them all.  Let me tell you about it.  And yes, it may sound hokey, but there is definitely a lesson to be learned here.

I worked in an office that was 90% Republican, 10% Democrat.  We had a little kitchen that wasn’t very well kept up, but we managed.  Towards the end of my assignment in that office, there was behavior that just struck me as odd.  Here’s what it boiled down to:  When a Republican was in the kitchen and in need of a paper towel to clean things up, they walked about 10 feet away to the bathroom, got a few paper towels, and cleaned up their mess.  Once clean, they went about their day.  When a Democrat was in the kitchen and in need of a paper towel to clean things up, again they walked to the bathroom.  However, every single time, the Democrat brought back enough paper towels for multiple jobs, not just for what they needed to clean up.  Republicans and Democrats would both use these reserve paper towels to clean up the mess, until such time as they were gone.  Then the whole cycle would start over again.

So what does a lesson in paper towel usage between Democrats and Republicans teach us?  That Republicans do what they need to for the short term, whereas Democrats do the same job, but at the same time, plan for the future.

So there may be a good “compare and contrast democrats and republicans” list out there already.  But all you really need to know comes from a little office kitchen, and how Republicans don’t plan for the future, while their Democratic brethren most certainly do.

You want to see the real difference between a Democrat and a Republican?  I know this comes from my observations, but having watched the same thing on right-wing television this morning, I know others have experienced it.

Democrats, upon hearing Senator Kennedy has died: He was the lion of the Senate.  He was the reason so much historic legislation happened.  He was bipartisan, and worked with everyone in the Senate.  He leaves a great legacy, and will be missed.

Republicans, upon hearing Senatory Kennedy has died: CHAPPAQUIDIK? (OK, I can’t spell it either)

As promised, Vermont’s Republican  Governor Jim Douglas vetoed civil marriage equality for all Vermont residents.  But this morning, the Vermont House and Senate have both voted to override the veto.  This means Vermont is the fourth state to guarantee equal protection to gays and lesbians.  No longer are gays and lesbians second-class citizens in Vermont.  Vermont becomes the fourth state, behind Massachusettes, Connecticut, and Iowa to legalize marriage.

As I posted previously, those biggoted “Christians” will say whatever they can to stop equality from going forth.  Religion has been used to justify killing, jihads, the repression of women, and the like over the years, and it will be turned to in the future, to justify discrimination and repression.  It’s sad.  Religion is such a beautiful thing, but people like Don Wildmon and his ilk lie (which, of course, is against a commandment he is supposed to be teaching!) to the public, scaring them into subservience.  As I heard one of his ilk say, “I don’t like what Obama’s doing”.  When I asked what specific they objected to, they said, “I don’t know.  I just know I don’t like it.”

So it’s wonderful to see truth and justice win out twice in one week.  But it makes me think of the injustice done throughout other states, like my beloved Oregon, like one BlueOregon.com contributor posted recently on their site.  It made me go and find the actual text of the current Oregon Constitution.  In it, the very first statement is:

Section 1. Natural rights inherent in people. We declare that all men, when they form a social compact are equal in right: that all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness; and they have at all times a right to alter, reform, or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper.

That first statement is powerful.  “We declare that all men, when they form a social compact are equal in right…” That, to me, says that every single Oregonian has the same rights as every other Oregonian.  But the people of Oregon actually undid that, specifically for gays and lesbians when this was added to the Constitution:

Section 5a. Policy regarding marriage. It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage. [Created through initiative petition filed March 2, 2004, and adopted by the people Nov. 2, 2004]

It is truly sad.  A document that is there to insure the rights and responsibilities of all people, and the singling out of a specific group for discrimination.  How right would it be if that article read this way instead?

Section 5a. Policy regarding marriage. It is the policy of Oregon, and its political subdivisions, that only a marriage between one WHITE man and one WHITE woman shall be valid or legally recognized as a marriage. [Created through initiative petition filed March 2, 2004, and adopted by the people Nov. 2, 2004]

People would be up in arms, would they not?  Because that is discrimination against people of color, saying that only “white folks” can get married.  How very true.  So the very basis of Section 5a of the Oregon Constitution is shameful, and should be removed.  And according to Nate Silver over at FiveThirtyEight.com, that could easily happen today, in Oregon, in 2009.

You gotta love DemocraticUnderground.com. There are some awesome posts over there, but nothing compares to the list found here. To quote a couple of my favorites:

* If you grow up in Hawaii you’re “exotic.”
* Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you’re the quintessential “American story.”

* If you are a Democratic male candidate who is popular with millions of people you are an “arrogant celebrity.”
* If you are a popular Republican female candidate you are “energizing the base.”

* If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you’re a Christian.
* If you have been married to the same woman with whom you’ve been wed to for 19 years and raising 2 beautiful daughters with, you’re “risky.”

…then this is the first type of commercial that I would be putting out right now.  You can click here to find it on YouTube.