A Short Musical Career

The big story today in Cincy involves Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy new and now former music instructor.

Jonathan Zeng says he was offered a job with Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy teaching music at their downtown location, the Armleder School, but because of his sexual orientation, wasn't hired.

Zeng claims that before he was officially hired he had to meet with the head of the school and the board for final approval.

He said a board member called him back in for a meeting to talk about religious questions on his application. "In those answers I talked about Christ's unconditional love and I talked about how we as followers of Christ, are ultimate goal is to show that love to everyone without judgment," Zeng said.

During the meeting, Zeng claims he was questioned about whether he was a homosexual. "I was shocked and surprised," he said. Zeng asked why he was being asked the question.

He says the administrator said it was school policy not to employ teachers who are homosexual because of the work with children and the sanctity of marriage. Zeng was offended and hurt by the comments.

He told administrators he was homosexual and claims he wasn't offered the job because of it. 

Needless to say, the Human Rights Campaign isn't sitting on their laurels over this.

Cincinnati includes sexual orientation and gender identity in their non-discrimination protections. However, HRC respects that Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy, as a religious school, is exempt under the law. But that doesn't make their action morally right. Polling last year found that 86 percent of Christians believed the very tenets of their faith compelled them to support protections for LGBT people under the law. HRC and Equality Cincinnati are calling on members and supporters to contact the CHCA administration and Board of Trustees, urging them to do the right thing and hire the most qualified candidates for open jobs – regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

Sadly, under both Hamilton County and Ohio law, CHCA is completely within their rights to do this as a religious private school.  It just makes them complete assholes is all.  We'll see how Mr. Zeng's story works out.

OMG Texting Teen Sentenced

Aaron Deveau, 18, who became the first driver in Massachusetts to be convicted of motor vehicle homicide by texting, has been sentenced to two years in prison and loss of his license for 15 years, the Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors said Deveau, who pleaded not guilty, was texting on Feb. 20, 2011, when his vehicle swerved across the center line of a Haverhill street and crashed head on into Donald Bowley's truck, killing the 55-year-old father of three.

Deveau was charged with motor vehicle homicide and negligent operation of a motor vehicle, using a mobile phone while operating a motor vehicle, reading or sending an electronic message, a marked lanes violation, and two counts of negligent operation and injury from mobile phone use.

I haven't been able to dig this out yet, but something is troubling me.  There are no witnesses mentioned that saw him texting.  Time stamps and the difference that could be between them make all the difference. It may not change Deveau's role in the accident, but the truth is important.  Was he texting or not?  The burden of proof is on the prosecution.  A time stamp seems a bit flimsy to me.

A double tragedy, one life lost and one destroyed.

Professional Victims, Inc.

If you thought the ridiculous calliope music blaring from the right over Brett Kimberlin ended last week when a Maryland judge granted a peace order to get a bunch of insane people off Kimberlin's back, apparently the wingers are now whining to Congress and the Lamestream Media to DO SOMETHING.

A number of conservative bloggers allege they have been targeted through the use of harassment tactics such as SWAT-ting (fooling 911 operators into sending emergency teams to their homes), in retaliation for posts they have written, and now Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., has stepped into the matter. He has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder urging him to investigate the SWAT-ting cases to see if federal laws have been violated.

“I am writing with concern regarding recent reports that several members of the community of online political commentators have been targeted with harassing and frightening actions. Any potentially criminal action that incites fear, seeks to silence a dissenting opinion, and collaterally wastes the resources of law enforcement should be given close scrutiny at all levels,” Chambliss wrote in the letter.

“Regardless of any potential political differences that may exist, threats and intimidation have no place in our national political discourse. Those who choose to enter into that political discourse should not have to worry about potential threats to their or their family’s safety,” Chambliss continued.  “While I am certain that local law enforcement is reviewing each of these instances, I am asking you to please look into each of these cases as well to determine if any federal laws may have been violated. Future targets of SWAT-ting, whether engaged in political speech or not, may not be so fortunate as to escape physical harm.”

Nowhere in the ABC article is the peace order even mentioned, when the judge became so incensed at the blogger bringing these allegations against Kimberlin that he granted the convicted bomber the Maryland equivalent of a restraining order to keep the crazy wingers away from him.

How long before the calls for Eric Holder's resignation come for refusing to make this case a national priority?  And the winger bloggers have access to a United States Senator and they whine that they are powerless victims?

Insanity.  Absolute insanity.

The Barren Moose

Sarah Palin has jumped on the austerity train and is riding it across Griftopia.

“It’s good and encouraging news,” Palin told Fox News host Greta Van Susteren after Walker defeated Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett on Tuesday. “It’s good for the entire country because people are going to recognize through Gov. Walker’s efforts that austerity measures — responsible austerity measures of reigning in government growth — really will help our nation as a whole with the economic woes that we face.”

“This is positive news,” she added. “And Wisconsin is living up to its state’s motto, that providential motto of ‘forward.’ They’re moving forward.”

I thought 'forward' was COMMIE PINKO.

Now, my explanation for what happened in Wisconsin -- voters are tired of recalls and the ennui brought on by $50 million in soul-crushing ads -- seems to make more sense.  But then again, I'm not a grifter from Alaska, either.  Of course this means the Walker formula can be used to destroy unions in other states until we're all losers with wages stuck since 1970 and asked to work harder and longer for less money, fewer benefits, and vacation time you can lose your job over actually using.

Forward, alright.  To London during the Industrial Revolution, maybe.

The QE3 Is About To Set Sail

All abooooooooooooard the Bernanke Boat!

Equities gained as European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said officials stand ready to act as the euro region’s growth outlook worsens. Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta PresidentDennis Lockhart said extending Operation Twist, the program to lengthen maturities of debt on the central bank’s balance sheet, is an “option on the table.”

The Fed said in its Beige Book survey of business conditions today that the U.S. economy maintained a moderate pace of growth as factory output rose and the real-estate market improved. The report gives central bankers anecdotal evidence on the state of the world’s largest economy two weeks before they meet in Washington.

“There’s always hope that some magic tool would be found,” said Ron Florance, managing director of investment strategy for Wells Fargo Private Bank. His firm manages $169 billion. “There’s no sense of any economic recovery on the near-term horizon for Europe. I would be surprised if the Federal Reserve isn’t already having a contingency plan if everything unravels in Europe.” 

Helicopter Ben has a plan to save Europe.  At least, that's the rumor.  Of course, I'm thinking anything the Fed might try to do will run face first in the GOP doing everything they can to destroy the economy in order to win, and that's going to be an ugly battle here on Capitol Hill.  Anything remotely looking like "stimulus" comes across from Ben's office, it will be war.

And I'm pretty sure the losers in that war will be your average Americans.

StupidiNews!

• Syrian opposition forces are claiming the al-Assad regime has committed yet another massacre, with 78 reportedly dead in the small village of Qubeir, at least half women and children.
• California officials are investigating anti-gay group National Organization for Marriage for allegedly hiding millions in donors from disclosure.
• Washington state conservative groups are confident that the ballot initiative they filed for this week to change the state's constitution to ban same-sex marriage in November will win easily.
• House Republicans have passed a measure reversing light-bulb efficiency laws, but the legislation is expected to die in the Senate and faces a certain White House veto.
• Advertisers have quickly stripped Microsoft's IE 10's "do-not-track" default setting by threatening to drop out of the company's web browser standard.

One Last Call Into The Universe

Ray Bradbury, the world will sorely miss you, sir.

Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury, whose dystopian works served as cautionary tales about perilous futures and reflected the anxieties of post-war America, has died at the age of 91.

Bradbury’s publisher HarperCollins confirmed his death on Tuesday in Los Angeles after an unspecified “lengthy illness,” as tributes poured in from fans and family alike for a man seen as one of the genre’s greatest authors.

His most-remembered work, “Fahrenheit 451″ (1953), was a Cold War-era work about the evils of censorship and thought control in a totalitarian state and reached a worldwide audience as a film adaptation by Francois Truffaut in 1966.

“The great fun in my life has been getting up every morning and rushing to the typewriter because some new idea has hit me,” Bradbury said in 2000.

“The feeling I have every day is very much the same as it was when I was 12,” he said on his 80th birthday.

In all, the award-winning writer penned nearly 600 short stories and 50 books, including “The Martian Chronicles” about human attempts to colonize Mars and the unintended consequences.

“In a career spanning more than seventy years, Ray Bradbury has inspired generations of readers to dream, think, and create,” HarperCollins said in a statement.

He was the last of the big four science fiction masters to depart us for the unknown:  Asimov, Heinlein, Clarke, and finally Ray Bradbury.   Some 4 dozen novels over seven decades.  Eat your heart out, Stephen King.

We'll miss you Ray.  Your books got me through many a late night growing up, because I couldn't put them down.

The Great Prop 8 Debate Update: Accelerate Fate!

As widely expected, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday turned down a full en banc review of the Prop 8 decision striking down the California same-sex marriage ban as unconstitutional earlier this year, putting the case on a 90-day fast track to be taken up by the Supreme Court.

The 9th Circuit Court of appeals declined to take up the case of the constitutionality of California’s Proposition Eight Tuesday morning, suggesting that the same-sex marriage ban could possibly go to the Supreme Court.

The full court of the 9th Circuit refused to hear the case but did place a 90-day hold on its decision, meaning that same sex marriages cannot take place in California during the time period.

If the Supreme Court takes the case, the hearing likely will be held during the spring of 2013. 

So yes, arguments would be in the spring with a decision most likely by next summer.   Better hope that the man in the White House then isn't Mitt Romney, folks...or there's little hope for anything but permanent discrimination against marriage equality.

Greek Fire, Part 59

And now things are Getting Real(tm) in Europe.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s leading economies agreed to coordinate their response to Europe’s financial crisis on a conference call that dealt with Spain and Greece.

Group of Seven officials said they will work together to help both euro-area countries place their public finances on a sustainable footing, Japanese Finance Minister Jun Azumi told reporters in Tokyo following the call today. Azumi said he urged European leaders to do more to address investors’ concerns about the region’s finances.

European representatives “said they will speed up their efforts to resolve those problems, which was encouraging to us,” Azumi said. “Japan is ready to provide support if there is anything we can do.” The officials didn’t discuss a possible Greek exit from the euro, he said.

Less than two weeks before a Group of 20 summit in Mexico that will take place as Greece holds its second round of elections in as many months, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is facing increasing pressure from colleagues inside and outside the 17-nation euro area to apply Europe’s biggest economy to do more to stem the crisis. With the impact spilling over into the global economy, Spain for the first time today appealed for external funding for its banking system. 

Yeah.  Suddenly things have gone from nebulous to "coordinated G-7 response needed."  Merkel looks like she's in over her head.  Spain is now asking for money outright.  Greece?  Well, who knows.  But the fire is now burning in the Fatherland.

Buckle up, kids.

Teen On Bike Shoots, Kills Infant

A one-year-old boy is dead after being shot by a teenager on a bike.  He was outside with his father, and was shot in the torso.  He later died during emergency surgery.

Gang rivalry is suspected, but the murderer has not been caught.  The article is short and doesn't say if authorities have any leads or if this was so random that they may never unravel the truth.  This is the kind of crime that is so painful because it is so preventable.

I hope they catch him and that he has a long life in prison.  I'm going to go hug someone now.

School Blows The Call On Athletic Graduate

We have a story of a young man who plays football, and who has struggled in school and has set his sights for college.  Why in the hell would any high school withhold his diploma as punishment?

Apparently if too many people cheer for him.  I kid you not.

"Teachers, other students and other family members who weren't with us were also cheering for him also. He's well known," Traci said.

The excitement proved too much for the administration.

Instead of a diploma, Anthony got a letter from the principal, Marlon Styles, Jr. "I will be holding your diploma in the main office," the letter said, "due to the excessive cheering your guests displayed during the roll call."

"I did nothing wrong except walk across the stage," Anthony said. 

The school demands 20 hours of community service before he can graduate.

Those hours can be split between Anthony and his family, or the senior can perform them all himself. 

"I don't understand how he's being punished for something he has no control over," Traci said. "I just thought that was ludicrous... I have no clue where the logic comes in."

There is so much wrong with this I don't even know where to begin.  At best, this is a knee-jerk reaction by a school administration that believes it can order adults to perform community service for a little cheering.  Or a lot of cheering.  What the hell ever, since when is cheering education a bad thing?

I could not find mention of harm done to property.  No stadium stomps or crazy shenanigans.  Just cheering.

His mother called enough, and I back her and him a hundred percent.  This is insane.

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principal

You can only know where Mitt Romney's current political position is at any given moment, or the vector of him changing that position when asked by a reporter, but you can never know both his position and his direction at the same time.

When Mitt Romney left office as Massachusetts governor, his aides removed all emails from a server computer in the governor's office, and purchased and carted off hard drives from 17 state-owned personal computers, according to a current state official.

But a small cache of emails survived, including some that have never publicly surfaced surrounding Mr. Romney's efforts to pass his now-controversial health-care law. The emails show the Republican governor was closely engaged in negotiating details of the bill, working with top Democratic state leaders and drafting early copies of opinion articles backing it.

Mr. Romney and his aides, meanwhile, strongly defended the so-called individual mandate, a requirement that everyone in Massachusetts have or buy heath insurance. And they privately discussed ideas that might be anathema to today's GOP—including publicly shaming companies that didn't provide enough health insurance to employees.

Mr. Romney signed the bill April 12, 2006, and that night sent an email thanking a top aide, saying the law would help "hundreds of thousands of people…have healthier and happier lives."

At this point Mittens is praying that the Supreme Court has to completely strike down the Affordable Care Act, because if they don't, he's toast.   And yes, I'm well aware of the fact the article's from Rupert Murdoch's Wall Street Journal and that this is a fire break being set against a much larger wildfire in the wake of the SCOTUS decision on the ACA.

If all this came to light after the SCOTUS decision on the ACA, Romney loses no matter what he does.  If it comes out now, before the decision, then the ruling itself could obliterate this down the memory hole (but only if the law is totally vacated.)  If the law remains without the mandate, it's going to be ugly for both President Obama and Mitt Romney.  If the law remains untouched, same thing.  But if the law is struck down, both sides have to come up with a replacement plan, and that differentiation is the only thing saving Mitt from millions of Republicans yelling RINO and staying home in November.

So yes, this is coming out on purpose...so it can be turned into Mitt's latest etch-a-sketch later.

Fire Walker Chronicles, Part 10

The good news:  Turnout in Wisconsin was massive yesterday.  The bad news:  the election wasn't about Scott Walker at all, but whether or not recalls over policy were even appropriate...and Wisconsin said "no".

Republican Gov. Scott Walker has won the Wisconsin governor’s recall over Democratic Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, holding onto his job after his push to slash collective bargaining rights for public employees sparked intense statewide backlash.

Walker’s win caps a chaotic year in Wisconsin, marked by heated demonstrations, endless campaigning and a flood of outside money, all of which vaulted the state from ordinary battleground to Ground Zero of the national political debate — and elevated Walker to national superstardom among the Republican faithful.

Walker was favored from the outset, bolstered by an enormous cash advantage, and a firewall of support from national Republican figures.

And Walker went on to win by pretty much the 7 point margin all the polls were predicting, 53-46.   So what happened?  It's actually quite simple if you look at the exit polls.  The final question there was the key to the entire recall election.  When asked  "Do you think recall elections are appropriate"  some 60% of Wisconsin voters said "Only for official misconduct" and another 10% said "never".  And despite the allegations of Walker's shadowy dealings, the 60% who said that policy wasn't a reason to recall Walker voted 68-31% for Walker.

That was your ball game, right there.  Scott Walker's $30 million plus convinced voters that a recall over policy and allegations alone was unusual (it was) and unprecedented (also true given only 2 other sitting governors being recalled) and harmful to the democratic process (something I'd have to agree with).  Walker's massive cash advantage painted the recall process itself as the bad guy here, not Barrett and certainly not Walker himself.  All the down-ticket Republicans survived their recall as a result.  Some 18% of folks who favor Barack Obama in November voted not for Scott Walker, but against the recall process itself.

Anyone who tells you this has to do with unions, President Obama, the economy, jobs, Mitt Romney, same-sex marriage, the transit of Venus or the season finale of Mad Men is full of crap.  This recall election was about precisely one thing -- the recall election itself -- and it lost pretty resoundingly.  That's it.  That's the entire election.   Republicans spent a huge amount of cash convincing people to vote Walker as a protest against being able to exercise their rights to vote to be able to remove a sitting politician.   They used tens of millions to define the election on terms favorable to Walker and the GOP, and it worked as intended as all incumbent Republicans survived.

End of story.

Moving forward.

StupidiNews!

• Wisconsin GOP Gov. Scott Walker survived his recall effort comfortably, winning 53-46% over Milwaukee's Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett.
• As GOP senators blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act for the second time in three years, Maryland Democrat Barbara Mikulski called for "a new American revolution" by women.
• The US is claiming that a drone strike in Pakistan has taken out Al Qaeda #2 and propagandist Abu Yahya al Libi in a "major blow" to the terrorist group.
• Spain's health care system is in crisis as austerity cuts threaten to disrupt medicine, doctor visits, and long-term care.
• Microsoft is expanding its $99 Xbox offer with a 2-year Xbox Live on-line contract to retailers like Gamestop and Best Buy.

Last Call

Some delightful naivete from Rolling Stone's Chris Thompson on why the GOP's racial barricade strategy is "doomed to fail" needs to be tempered by some cold, harsh reality.  First, Thompson's premise:

Two decades of immigration and changing demographics have steadily eroded the Republican base in the Golden State. But rather than adapt to this new reality, the state party lurched deep into the far-right swamplands of American politics. As the state grew more socially liberal, the last of the Republicans doubled down on conservatism, and sank into irrelevancy.

But this is no local story. What happened in California is just beginning to happen all over the country. The GOP’s most reliable supporters are increasingly crammed into the South and the Midwest, energized by an ever more embattled sense of grievance and cultural alienation, while the rest of the country becomes younger, more multicultural, and more socially liberal. This trend is only going to accelerate, and unless Mitt Romney and his colleagues come to their senses and find a way to reverse it, the GOP is looking at a generation in the electoral wilderness.

And Republicans will have done it to themselves. Just like they did in California. 

That's the way it would work in the movies.  Here in reality, the Republicans realize they can't change demographics, so they are making it as impossible as as they can for those changing demographics to actually have that effect.  Here in reality, House incumbents win 85% of the time and Senate ones do even better.  Every ten years, districts are rebooted to remove competition and concentrate the competitive races into one or two districts per state at best.

Secondly, Thompson's own Rolling Stone colleague Jillian Rayfield in fact has an excellent piece on voter suppression in states like Florida, where the GOP there is simply going to change the rules and keep as many minorities and poor from voting, and count on the Supreme Court that gave us Citizens United to make the final call in their favor that the Voting Rights Act and National Voter Registration Act are antiquated and unnecessary in 2012.  I suggest he read it, because it's the road map to how changing demographics don't mean a damn thing, especially in the short term.

And finally, what the first two reasons have in common are the third reason why Thompson's scenario won't come to pass anytime soon:  more and more Republicans exercising local and state control to simply change the rules.  The GOP takeover of Texas and Florida and the resulting voter purges in both states (Yes, Texas is doing it too, some 300,000 eligible voters could be kicked off the rolls) are working as intended:  the fewer people that are allowed to vote, the better the Republicans do.

In California, the state may be blue, but the Republicans have managed to make it all but impossible for the state to ever raise taxes thanks to a 2/3rds majority or a statewide referendum necessary to do so, assuring that the bluest state in the nation has to make exactly the kind of draconian cuts that Republicans would make if they were in charge.  Witness Gov. Jerry Brown all but beg taxpayers to approve the latest tax measures or face billions more in cuts in schools, Medicare, state services and employee layoffs.  Republicans are winning here by a scorched Earth default, and if anything they want to copy the success of California in the other states.

If other populous blue states are reduced to the state California is in right now, then yes, Republicans will take that as a win, and if red states like Texas can remain blood red through voter suppression, well they'll take that too.  The real problem is the GOP takeover in state after state, systematic and devastating, in district after district, county after county.  They have the funding and the networking and the outrage necessary to make it so that even if the state goes blue, it will be in such a financial catastrophe when the Democrats get control that voters will simply consider giving it back to the Republicans just to make the nightmare stop.

One party is playing by the rules.  The other one is playing to destroy them.  Guess who's winning in the long run if things keep us as is?  If California, Illinois, New York and New England are the only blue states left because the GOP has made it impossible for Dems to win or even to vote, who's coming out on top?

Here's a hint:  it's not the Donks.  Wake up and smell the ashes, man.

We've got a hell of a lot of work to do.