Obama called out the Republicans on their “just say no” strategy.  How can he be bipartisan if the other side pretends to cooperate but then flat out refuses to work with him?  He’s extended the olive branch.  Bush 2 never did.  During 8 years of the Bush 2 administration not one Republican ever publicly declared that we were not paying for the Iraq war and that we were diving head first into massive deficits when they were handed a surplus after Clinton left office.  And when a few Democrats did object to Bush hiding the cost of the war, they were called traitors.  Remember that?  So now the deficits that were being piled up because we were not paying for 2 wars has front-loaded Obama’s administration.  Remember when Bush said the profits from Iraq’s oil would pay the cost of the war?  Ask your Republican representative to explain that to you next time you meet. . . 

DEMS, wake up.  Slice and dice the health care bill down to its basics.  Take charge.  If you don’t, you deserve what comes next.  REPUBS, just saying NO can’t work forever.  I don’t care how long it takes, it will come back to haunt you.  Our country is in trouble.  Say what you will about Obama but he’s been working his ass off while you put your hands under your asses and sit on them.  Good luck with that. 

Please take 5 minutes and use the link below to go to GQ Magazine and read the article about Cell Phone Use and Brain Cancer. What the article doesn’t address is how to safely use a cell phone, if that is possible. I’ll be doing some research and will post it here.

http://www.gq.com/cars-gear/gear-and-gadgets/201002/warning-cell-phone-radiation

That is a quote from Robert Gibbs, spokesman for President Obama, about the possible at the time and now confirmed win of Scott Brown, the newly elected Republican Senator from Massachusetts.  I am not surprised which makes me wonder why Obama is.  In a year’s time I have watched him abandon his base and move forward with an agenda that appears to have been born inside a fog of “no change” and “bipartisanship,” when clearly no Republicans wanted to work with him - that was their agenda.  How’d that work out?  Wake up, Mr. Obama, and learn how to govern, learn how to lead.  My best political bud, Jerry, thinks it’s too late.  He may be right.  But I’ll give you another year, Mr. President.  Make it happen.  Be daring like you were in the campaign.  Don’t prove me wrong.  I can’t take it.   

If you can, please send a donation to Doctors Without Borders so they can continue to spread relief around Haiti after the devastating earthquake.

And, be careful of scams. The first couple of Google hits I got were from organizations pretending to be Doctors Without Borders, promising to send donated money to them.

Follow the link below. It will take you to the Doctors Without Borders website, where they address the scams and you can donate money securely.

https://donate.doctorswithoutborders.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=197&hbc=1&source=ADR1001E1D01

So. The five conservative justices on the Supreme Court have ruled, in a 5-4 decision, that no one is allowed to see video of the Prop. 8 case now being argued in California. That’s something. Perhaps the case should have been argued in front of Judge Judy. Think about it. A trial is occurring that will end in a decision about whether gay people are second class citizens. Whatever the decision, it will be appealed to the Supremes. I feel confident, don’t you, that gays will remain second class citizens, maybe even third class citizens, by the time this gets decided by the Supremes.

It would be enlightening to see the trial now, since what I can gather from news accounts is that the main argument against same-sex marriage is “procreation.” Really? Or it is the “history of marriage.” Really? What sort of history does marriage have? One man and one woman who marry only to procreate? What about love?

I’m tired of ranting about this issue. I am one of the 18,000 couples who got married in California during the brief window of opportunity. Don’t get me wrong, it means everything to me on an emotional level. But on an equal rights level, it means nothing. I am not protected by the same laws that straight married couples are - my insurance benefits are even taxed as income on my husband’s paycheck. No federal protection exists at all.

It has always been my belief and remains so that straight Americans think gay Americans have far more “rights” than we do. The only “right” that Luke and I have now that we are married Californians is that we get to file a joint California tax return. That is it.

That is it.

Please visit my writer-in-arms, and the best editor on the planet, Paula Coomer’s new blog, Before the Last Blue Moon. It details her decision to become a vegetarian in 2010, along with her finance, Phil. Great writing, incredible recipes and well, just lots and lots of Paula. You’ll discover, like I have, that you’ll never get enough of her writing!

http://www.beforethelastbluemoon.blogspot.com/

I feel good about 2010.  A fresh start.  A reunion with art. 

” . . .  all things are continuous, and are parts of the original dream which I am now trying to discover the logic of.  This is the process whereby pain of the past in its pastness may be converted into the future tense of joy.”  - Robert Penn Warren.