Life of Ryan

Who Are These Grass Roots People Anyway?

2009-08-06T21:01:00.000-07:00

How many licks does it take to get to the center of healthcare opposition? Rachel lays it out:

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The Old One Two

2009-06-16T13:08:00.000-07:00

For the second time in the span of a week the administration of President Barack Obama has kicked sand in the face of it's most ardent supporters. It's incomprehensible that an administration that has so far made such tactically sound decisions could have reached the top of these twin spires of ineptitude, one right after another. The wound is made all the deeper following the decision from the California Supreme Court regarding Prop 8.

I refer, of course, to the administrations defense of Don't Ask Don't Tell and then DOMA. With regard to the merits of the DOMA brief, a number of people are extremely angry that the brief appears to compare gay marriage to incestual marriage or underage marriage. Having read the brief and then some good back and forth from appellate lawyers I (being, admittedly, a bear of very little brain) am reasonably confident that it does not... legally. It's moral equivalency vs. legal equivalency. The idea is that the DOJ had to site sources where the states disagreed about specifics in marriages and the only time states ever do that is when they're talking about how old you can be to get married and how closely related you can be. It wasn't meant to be a moral comparison. Judge for yourself if you think you're geek enough. But, there certainly is an implicit comparison, especially when it's surrounded by all other manner of vitriol, and the idea that it may have left Holder's office, to say nothing of the Resolute desk, without anyone batting an eyelash, is flatly astonishing. It really SOUNDS like a moral comparison.

Which is why, politically, it's a disaster. It shovels the raving right wing red meat. Even OBAMA says they're immoral! They're no better than pedophiles and uncles who marry their nieces, and that's the most liberal administration EVER. Anyone who didn't think this was going to blow up in their face is either an idiot or just not paying attention.

Incest hubbub aside, there are plenty of things to be furious about in this brief, not the least of which is whether that particular comparison had to be made at all. Many people are saying that it was unnecessary to site those cases and that it would have been enough to use a Jurisdictional and Standing argument. Worse, in my research I've learned that the legal theory used to evaluate constitutionality with regard to issues involving sexual orientation and Equal Protection is "rational basis", which is the lowest level of constitutional scrutiny. Frequently the courts simply defer to the government and can hypothesize all kinds of potential rational that may make the law reasonable. Strict scrutiny, the highest of three levels, is used in cases involving discrimination on account of a person’s race, ethnic or national origin, or religion. It's extremely strict and allows for almost no institutionalized discrimination. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this; it's like a caste system for minorities. And gays are at the bottom of the list. Of all the people justice doesn't care about, we're at the very bottom.

So, either Eric Holder and the DOJ are sending briefs without the President's consent or knowledge of their exact contents, or the administration has made the tactical call that the LGBT community will stay with them, even if they have to slap us in the face along the way, because, really...where else will we go. They're mistaken.

This is a colossal misstep on the part of the Obama administration a week before a Democratic Party LGBT fundraiser starring Vice President Joe Biden in Washington D.C. and they better clear it up quick. Due to certain biological realities, not to mention federal and state adoption policy in this country, many people in the LGBT community have no children and deep pockets. Pockets that just zipped up as far as Democrats are concerned. We're a good chunk of the democratic base. Almost everyone who is anyone in the LGBT community has already pulled out of the fundraiser, and anyone who doesn't will be branded a traitor. If the Obama administration and Democrats in general are looking to get fucked in the ass, they've come to the right place. We're rather accomplished at it.

Look, obviously I understand that it's the job of the DOJ defend the law of the land, despicable as it may be. And I'm not necessarily advocating that Obama continue the Bush precedent of directing the DOJ not to defend laws simply because he disagrees with them politically. I don't think I am anyway. The idea that this brief is coming out of this administration is reprehensible.

Hillary Clinton has done more for gay rights by granting partners of gay diplomats the same rights as their heterosexual brethren than Obama has done since he's become President. Makes you wonder if we as a community elected the right person.

I'm perfectly willing to entertain the possibility that the administration is really planning to make some major steps toward LGBT equality and this is a brilliant tactical maneuver that deftly outflanks the opposition in some Sorkin-esque way I won't get till the third act. That would be awesome, and it's what I'd expect of the President. Sometimes you need to manufacture your own enemy. I get that. But whatever the grand plan, this series of events is not okay, and it's not going to stand. It's incredibly painful to get this bloody nose from an administration on which all our hopes rest.

I've loved Barack Obama since before most people knew how to pronounce his name, and I feel unbelievably betrayed. We need a little love and we need it fast. There are only so many times you can kick a dog before he starts growling.

Note: Reports are surfacing now that the Obama administration will announce benefits similar to those that Sec. Clinton extended at the State Dept. to all federal workers tomorrow. It's unclear as to how related this is to the DOMA and DADT gaffes. It's great, and little, and late. At the very least perhaps the administration is no longer hitting the snooze button on those to whom they've promised so much.

Overseen In Disneyland

2009-06-10T12:48:00.000-07:00

Ext. Disneyland: Magical Train Stop - DAY.

A listless boy who can't be more than 10 years old leans against the railing waiting for a train. Shirt Reads: "The three best things in life are girls, football and parties".

RYAN VO: Dude, you're fuckin 10.......oooh, just got old.....

I've Had About All The Rationality I Can Stand

2009-06-08T17:30:00.001-07:00

Today the Supreme Court turned down a challenge to "Don't Ask Don't Tell", granting a request by the Obama administration. Yea, that Obama administration. The one with all the alleged change and the substance over politics. The policy is "rationally related to the government’s legitimate interest in military discipline and cohesion", they said - this Obama administration for change. I guess that depends on your definition of terms like "rationally".

It's flatly inexcusable for this administration to make this request - this argument, particularly considering that according to a recent Gallup poll 69% of Americans want to see the policy overturned. I wonder what they said about blacks serving in the military a hundred years ago, Obama administration? I wonder how they thought that served their interest in military discipline and cohesion? I'm willing to bet that there were some people who didn't think it served it very well, but they integrated the armed services anyway because institutionalized discrimination for no good reason is stupid and sometimes that's just the way it crumbles. It caused some problems for a short while, but it doesn't cause too many anymore. The reason it doesn't cause problems anymore is because racial integration is military policy and people in the military follow it. Anyone who has a problem with the policy shuts their mouths on the subject because in the military you follow orders or you get kicked out or locked up. Scene.

But, go ahead Obama administration, fire people who speak Farsi and Chinese and Korean because of with whom they're driven to sleep. That's rationality if ever I've heard it. Good to see that the Obama administration is looking out for National Security by making sure that no trained military professionals get the heebie jeebies caused by the idea of working with a gay guy or a lesbian. The United States government is in the business of catering to it's military's weaknesses. Nice job, Obama administration, outta the park.

The Obama administration better get it's head out of its ass before they get us all killed with all their rationality.

Fox News, Free Speech and Murder

2009-06-01T22:01:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot recently about the freedom of speech. I've been thinking about how that phrase has been used as a shield, ostensibly making it permissible to say any number of ridiculous, abhorrent, sometimes frightening things in the public forum. I'm a huge proponent of free speech. In fact it is (obviously) one of my favorite things. Right up there next to bright copper kettles.

But I have to say, from Miss California crying over her relatives giving their lives so she may spout bigotry and ignorance from a stage in her underpants, to the fascinating revelations (below) highlighting Fox News', if not complicity, than certainly cheerleading heading up to the murder of Dr. George Tiller, people are, at least figuratively, getting away with murder.

It seems to me that there's a common thread here. They're certainly right that we are all free in this country to say anything we like - any damn fool thing that pops into our minds we have the right to say. However, they seem to be laboring under the misconception that they need take no responsibility for it. I'm not so sure about that.

I can understand Miss California. She perhaps came to believe she was the only one with the right to free speech (beauty competitions will do things like that to you), and it came as a good galloping shock to learn that other people could say what they wanted too. And they said it about her! And it wasn't about her hair! And it wasn't nice! At the very least I think we can say that she was not malicious, and she was, in fact, speaking her mind...such as it is.

I'm not so sure we can give our dear old friends at Fox News the same pass. Not again. Not this time. Because really, I think the clips below make the case pretty damn strongly.

There are consequences to preaching hate and preaching violence. Sometimes those consequences are you don't make it past the talent competition. Sometimes the consequence is someone is shot to death on a warm spring morning in church. They say with great power comes great responsibility. I think the word power can often be used interchangeably with the word freedom.

I would just free speech this: In saying any damn fool thing you want, hard as it is to believe, there are people out there listening to what you say. Some people will even do what you say. And despite what you may think about the constitution giving you a fully blameless free-pass, the rest of us will, in fact, hold you accountable for what you say. And someday soon everyone is going get tired of your hate and your fear and incendiary free speech and they're just going listen to someone else.

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