On January 10, 2008, I contacted Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin's camp and requested an interview. On January 15, 2008,
Steven Grant, Finance Assistant for Tammy Baldwin for Congress, answered my email stating the following:
We received your interview request for your blog. Please feel free to email me the questions you would like to ask and I will pass them on to the Congresswoman's press secretary.
If you have any other questions or need anything else please feel free to send me an email.
On January 17, I sent a list of questions to Steven Grant. On February 13, I sent a one-line email to Steven and said, "I wanted to check on the progress with the interview questions I sent on Jan 17. Can I expect answers to those questions soon?" As of today, I have not received a response from Baldwin's camp.
I understand Congresswoman Baldwin is busy. But, I wonder if the questions were ignored on purpose:
1. You are the co-chair for Senator Hillary Clinton's Wisconsin campaign, in addition to being a member of Clinton's Health Care Policy Task Force. Is it correct to assume that you believe America won't see a repeat of Ms. Clinton's 1993 health care debacle?
2. In an interview with the Advocate, you stated your long-standing friendship with Hillary Clinton was an important factor when you made the choice to endorse her as a Presidential candidate. In that same interview, you stated that, although Clinton does not support same-sex marriage, you were hopeful she would eventually come around on that issue. Why didn't you endorse a Democratic candidate like Dennis Kucinich who supports same-sex marriage, the repeal of the first Clinton Administration's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, and same-sex adoption rights?
3. A House committee gave some consideration to an employment anti-discrimination bill that includes protection for gays and lesbians, but not for transgender people. Sources stated you had plans to introduce an amendment to that bill that would provide protection for transgendered people as well. Where does that bill stand right now?
4. Just as Oprah's critics have accused her of endorsing Barack Obama just because he's Black, some of your critics have accused you of endorsing Hillary Clinton just because of her gender. How do you respond to that accusation?
5. Do you believe your endorsement of Hillary Clinton will result in Black Wisconsin voters casting their vote for someone other than you in November?
6. In a 1996 phone interview with the Advocate you stated, "My fundamental belief is that voters cast their ballots based on what candidate understands their struggles and their dreams . . . " With that in mind, how do you feel your endorsement of Hillary Clinton will translate in the minds of those who do not support her candidacy?
Before I make a big stink about this, I'll give Baldwin a little while longer to respond. After that, I fear I may have to remove my
bloggin' gloves. I am especially curious to see how Baldwin will do in Wisconsin now that WI voters have made it clear that Obama is our candidate of choice -- not Hillary Clinton. Perhaps Baldwin's association with Hillary just might affect her in November. We shall see.
Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean presented Torontonian Rev. Dr. Brent Hawkes with the country's highest civilian honour for his long-standing work as a gay rights champion.
"About 27 years ago, I was fasting to protest the police actions around the bathhouse raids," Hawkes, 57, said in a phone interview. "And to see how far we've come, that Canada is the first country in the world to give its highest award to a gay activist."
Ok, Americans. It's time to catch up with the Canada's progressive gay rights movement.
Tuscon, Arizona has made a move in the right direction. This is definitely a good start:
Despite the city's budget crunch, the [Tuscon, AZ] City Council unanimously approved domestic partner benefits for heterosexual couples on Wednesday - matching the benefits for same-sex couples that was approved in 1997.
Several council members said the move was simply the right thing to do to be fair to all employees.
[read more]
I'm sure religious extremists are angry about this move -- especially Catholics! It's a great move in my opinion, because
it makes unmarried heterosexual couples more aware of how anti-gay laws really can affect them.
When states passed laws that made it illegal to recognize/honor any relationship other than legal marriage between heterosexuals, millions of unmarried heterosexual
couples who lived in common-law marriages were affected. Hopefully, other local governments will follow Tuscon's lead.
In the meantime, news like this still ticks me off:
The shooting death of a gay teenage boy who was dressed in women's clothing is being investigated as a possible hate crime, while detectives try to determine whether he was targeted because of his sexual orientation.
[source: Gay teen shot dead while dressed as woman in Fort Lauderdale]
That story touches on so many issues I can't even begin to address them in this post:
hate crimes, transgendered rights and awareness, race, and economics. I'll come back to that story later.
Looks like Rosie O'Donnell is well on her way to becoming a lesbian version of Martha Stewart. Sorta.
Hopefully she can successfully avoid
any prison time.
The latest addition to Rosie's website is called Crafty U. It appears to offer bored housewives and househusbands another place to find
great ways to turn plain ol' household crap into fabulous household crap. You'll also learn all kinds of
crafty little household secrets -- like how to use a hairdryer to help glues and paints dry faster.
Umm . . . yeah. Sounds exciting.
I'm not hatin' on bored housewives. I personally find their homemaking skills amusing and admirable.
Bored lesbian housewives are even more amusing. I need one of those. Any takers?
I finally finished reading The White Man's Guide to Dating Black Women and I'm ready to a write a review,
as promised. I thought I would simply post the words "That book sucks!" and call it a day,
but I'm guessing my readers would want to know why I came to that conclusion.
While Adam White, the book's author, made a very small and futile attempt to dispell stereotypes and insane myths about Black women,
it's my opinion that he was writing from a place of
ignorance if he really believed he had first-hand knowledge of any
Black woman's inner-thoughts and desires.
Just because a white man has dated a Black woman for years, doesn't mean he's acquired
knowledge that he can now apply to all Black women. We are diverse.
Extremely diverse.
White's language is probably the thing that bothered me the most about his book:
There is no real social support network that actively supports the realization of social tastes that cross the color line.
This means that should you attempt to migrate from the state of daydreaming about
your taste for Black women to going about indulging and satisfying your taste for Black women, doing so is something that will
necessarily have to be a self-propelled activity . . . (page 7)
That kind of language has sexual undertones that make Black women out to be nothing more than sexual beings created for nothing more than a white man's
gratification.
To add insult to injury, White offers up a few racially charged stereotypes about Black men:
Some Black men have a reputation for being players, meaning that their
primary mode of involvement with women, Black and White, is that of a superficial game-player.
Some are known to behave as players who often treat Black women as sexual and financial standby equipment.
They see unattached Black women
everywhere they look, and decide to play the field,
sometimes carrying on several simultaneous relationships
with different women, both Black and White. (page 15)
No he didn't go there! I personally see a lot of men --
Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, whatever -- as players. Race is definitely not a factor. My white ex-husband did his share of playin' around.
White made a very pathetic attempt to prop up white men as morally superior to
Black men; that's a low blow. If that's the tactic he uses to get Black women to date him, he needs better pickup lines.
One thing White doesn't understand is this: we, the Black community, can say what we please about each other. But we don't take too kindly to
outsiders spewin' off at the mouth, especially when their ulterior motive is to bed our women. White is making an attempt to co-exist (as a white male)
in the Black community
via social and sexual relationships with Black women. If he expects to co-exist in the Black community, he needs to work on his manners.
I recently asked Chisa Hutchinson what she thought about the 2008 election so far. She said:
Whenever anyone asks me about politics lately,
it just makes me want to run away and take cover until 2009.
I'm feeling pretty good about Obama right now, though.
Whenever I say that, inevitably some chick gives me the stink-eye.
I guess I would be fine with Hillary
-- she's a shark and could definitely
navigate those rough White House waters
--
but it would be refreshing
to have someone in charge
that nobody's had the chance
to wipe their dirty hands all over yet.
They're both preaching pretty much the same sermons,
so there aren't any dealbreakers where policies are concerned for me.
At any rate, it's cool that they're playing nice. For now. I give it 'til July.
I agree with Chisa. It would be nice to have someone in the White House who doesn't have to hide
all the dirty deals they've been making for years with one political contributor or another.
But the shear nature of
the American political system almost dictates that politicians
will make dirty deals -- and lots of them.
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain, John Edwards,
Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney could feed every citizen
of every "3rd world country" for an entire year (hell, make it 5 years!) with
the money
they've raised for this year's presidential campaign.
Campaigns cost money and dirty money will buy just as many television, newspaper, and radio ads as clean money.
Since John Edwards has dropped out of the race, I am shifting my support to Barack Obama.
If he wins the Democratic nomination, and
ultimately the election, I hope he has the good sense to hire advisors and staff who will help him figure
out the best way to pull America out of our mess with Iraq.
It's Blogroll Amnesty Day, folks. I betcha didn't know that!
I'm reading through some left-leanin' blogs while listening to a
playlist of songs I will attempt to sing at Karaoke later this evening.
My throat is still a bit scratchy from the cold and maybe
I shouldn't even try to sing tonight. But, I'm gonna!
Hughes for America,
News Corpse,
GreatScat!,
Texas Kaos, and
The Right's Field.
Also, I've been reading Move the Right Direction,
a right-wing blog written by a gay male friend of mine.
He's brand spankin' new to the blogosphere and has some valid complaints -- even if he is a Republican.
With a bit of work and fine-tuning,
I wouldn't be surprised if MTRD becomes a regular read for both liberal and conservative bloggers. For now, check him out
and offer some pointers if you will.
I've been nursing a very bad cold for over a week now.
I finally felt well enough to get out of the house yesterday,
but my car
must've picked up some kind of vicious virus as well,
because my poor little Toyota Camry died in its sleep. Its time was coming; it had 199,000 miles on it!
I guess it's time for me to bite the bullet
and buy a new another car. Thank gawd for income tax returns.
I want to take a brief moment to express gratitude to all the people who helped me deal with the death of my car:
Adolph: Thanks for loaning me your car to help me get around until I can buy another one. Elena: Thanks for being the best distraction ever. You kept my mind preoccupied with something other than my troubles. Frank: Thanks for towing my dead car out of that huge hole in the backyard. (LOL! Ya had to be there.) Melissa: Thanks for being the bitch who wouldn't help me because I won't go out with you. You suck.
If anyone lives near Beloit WI and has an extremely reliable used import for sale, (or you need Toyota Camry parts)
let me know.
I agree with Chisa. It would be nice to have someone in the White House who doesn't have to hide
all the dirty deals they've been making for years with one political contributor or another.
But the shear nature of
the American political system almost dictates that politicians
will make dirty deals -- and lots of them.