BRAZENLY LIBERAL — a fact-based initiative

Last night, the Vermont House of Representatives passed a bill giving the OK to same sex marriage. Passed it by a healthy margin, too. 95-52. O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

The frustrating thing is that’s just a handful of votes short of what it would take to override the veto Republican Gov. Jim Douglas promised. So yes, he seems like the front runner in the hard fought Biggest Asshole in Vermont competition.

But no, my darlings, there was a bigger asshole in Vermont last night. And he was a Democrat.

Really????

Really.

One, Rep. Albert “Sonny” Audette, D-South Burlington, expressed sadness at having concluded he was required by his church to vote no.

“I am a devout Catholic,” Audette said. “My religion at this point would not want me to vote for this. I wish that I could and I hope for the best and I congratulate the people who are trying to get this through.”

Yep, you read that right. Ol’ Sonny knows the right thing to do, but has decided to do the wrong thing. He’d like you to know it’s not his fault - the devil Pope made him do it.

Don’t get me wrong - Governor Douglas has plenty of assholiness in him. But he honestly, if utterly wrongly, thinks he’s doing the right thing. Sonny knows he’s not, but is doing it anyway.

Rep. Sonny Audette of Burlington, congratulations. YOU are the Biggest Asshole in Vermont.

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I love it! The GOPbots are lining up to first kiss Limbaugh’s ample ass and then prostrate themselves at his feet.

This is not only damned entertaining, it’s political gold.

The GOP is never going to run that POS, but as long as they are bsusy grovelling, they aren’t presenting a genuinely viable candidate. Any Republican with any serious thoughts of a future in office is distancing him/herself from this mess as fast and as far as possible. But since they don’t dare confront him, cowards that they truly are, all they can do right now is take pathetic potshots at Obama and pray the press doesn’t ask them any questions about Jabba.

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Yes, I know I’m channeling Ed Grimley, but seriously — if this guy “did some dumb things” and “in no way anticipated the dramatic fall in energy prices that occurred,” how the hell can the rest of us hope to have a clue what we’re doing financially?

Thank Dog I have my investment income sitting tight in dvd rental deposits!

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Bobby Jindal, Horse's Ass Extraordinaire

Bobby Jindal is special gift with a big bright bow on it.  The bright future of the GOP not only failed miserably to deliver an adequate response to the President’s NSOTU speech, it turns out what he did deliver was a big ol’ steaming pile of bullshit.

Looks like the game is up.

Remember that story Bobby Jindal told in his big speech Tuesday night — about how during Katrina, he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a local sheriff who was battling government red tape to try to rescue stranded victims?

Turns out it wasn’t actually, you know, true…..

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Is anyone really surprised by this?  Of course not!

Americans may paint themselves in increasingly bright shades of red and blue, but new research finds one thing that varies little across the nation: the liking for online pornography.

A new nationwide study (pdf) of anonymised credit-card receipts from a major online adult entertainment provider finds little variation in consumption between states.

“When it comes to adult entertainment, it seems people are more the same than different,” says Benjamin Edelman at Harvard Business School.

However, there are some trends to be seen in the data. Those states that do consume the most porn tend to be more conservative and religious than states with lower levels of consumption, the study finds.

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I went to bed weeping and woke up crying some more.  I do that a lot these past few days.  The sense of possibility, the fear that it will be stolen, the joy at seeing Americans show we are so much better than these past 8 years showed we could be - it’s all just so overwhelming.

Coffee with the morning news.  That beautiful new First Family.  Ohmigawd, we won Indiana !!?!?!?!?!!!  Film of last night’s party in Grant Park, last night’s party in Times Square, last night’s party in (who even knew it existed??) Obama, Japan.

The sun is shining, we’re on our way to a beautiful day here in Illinois.  Maybe we’ll take the dogs for a nice long walk in the woods or enjoy one last lazy afternoon sitting in the swing and tossing corn to the chickens.  Why not?  Life is, overall, pretty damned good.

And then, amid the flood of news about Obama, comes the crawl across the bottom of the television screen.  Proposition 8 passed in California.  What the fuck???  When I went to sleep, I had been told it was close, but likely to lose.  Weren’t we proving all over the country once and for all that we can be and are an inclusive nation?    Weren’t we actively, determinedly, joyfully rejecting the old prejudices by a landslide?

We’ll likely never know how many of the votes cast in support of Prop  8 were by well-intentioned but low information voters who were confused by the weirdly and deliberately convoluted language of the proposition.   And chances  are it won’t survive  a  Supreme  Court  challenge.

But, ya know, that’s just not good enough.  What the hell is wrong with us that we take such pride in our freedoms, yet work so damned hard to limit which people can enjoy them?  What the hell is wrong with us that we fling our military might around wherever we damned please in the name of spreading this wonderful democracy around the globe but strive mightily to keep it from spreading in our own country?

We have elected our first black President.   Late, but wonderful nonetheless.    What the hell is wrong with us that, at the same time, we had to find a way to codify bigotry toward gays and lesbians?

If freedom is so wonderful, if democracy is the best way to live, why don’t we stop talking about it and actually give it a go?  Why, after more than 200 years of working on it, do we still not extend basic civil liberties to all our citizens?  What the hell is wrong with us?

I’m going to take today to feel the joy of electing Barack Obama.  I’m going to eat some leftover pie and take the dogs for a walk and bathe in the wonder of something I never thought would happen in my lifetime.  But tomorrow, it’s time to get back to work.   Our GLBT friends and relatives must not be denied the common ordinary rights guaranteed to all of us.  The fight goes on and I’ll be damned if I’m willing to allow that this one might not happen in my lifetime!

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Be alert, be watchful, be aware of any improprieties.  Volunteer to drive people to the polls, to make some calls, to some last minute door-to-door.  Don’t be disenfranchised.  Don’t let your vote be stolen.

But also don’t forget you stand on the brink of history.  This is no time to dip your toes.  Cannonball, baby!  This is it!  Revel in it.  Wallow in it.  Absorb it.  Feel the sheer naked joy and wonder of it.

Take pictures.  Take video.  Dance with your lover.  Dance with your dog.  Dance in the kitchen, dance in the barn, dance in the street.

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Our hearts go out to the Obama family.

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IV

FOUR

FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY, MONDAY

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