Repeal the Damn Patriot Act White House Petition

This ought to be an issue we ask of any candidate.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/repeal-whole-or-part-usa-patriot-act-order-stop-secret-warrantless-collection-data/pmTnXNw8

(I can't make the link button work so you get the whole raw link)

A person on the Progressive forum Daily Kos has started a petition to repeal in whole (or at least part) the Patriot Act concerning warrantless wiretapping, in light of all the interesting revelations of the NSA in the last couple days.

This is not a Progressive or Conservative issue. It is a civil liberties issue.

(In light of abuses of the White House petition system, the White House has raised the threshold for petitions to 100,000 signatures: this one needs about 98,000 more before July 6.)

To sign this (or any active petition) one must sign in or create an account at the White House petition site.

James, in Wyobraska.

“Can you hear me now” takes on a whole new meaning. . . .”

Wyoming Teen Ejected from Science Fair (odd news)

Sister-in-Law Approved Controversial Genderbender Cartoon

Boy howdy.

(link to cartoon at bottom)

I just learned something interesting about the backstory of the cartoon show Shezow (as it relates to Hub Network, which premiered on Hub TV June 1).

I spoke to my mother on the telephone today, and in passing mentioned all the transgender and gay bashing going on from the Reich Wing and the Christian Taliban (tm) over this cartoon. (Both my mother and I like quirky cartoons.) [see breitbart.com to view particularly venomous and scathing commentary and gay/transgender bashing about the show, if you have lye handy to wash your eyes out with after you visit that particular Website - ya gotta watch what the other guys are doing - you gotta know who your enemies are.]

My mother informed me that my sister-in-law was promoted to the Director of Operations of Hub TV a couple years ago (I didn't know that). She is married to my sister (in the last same-sex marriage in California before Prop 8 passed). I didn't believe it (last I knew, my sister-in-law was working for Fox Family). Checked LinkedIn, yup, there she is, DO of Hub.

Thus, my sister-in-law was the person who made the decision to put the show on the air.

On the other hand, since my wife forwarded my E-mail below to my sister, my sister-in-law might move to have the video removed from YouTube (copyright issues).

Bearing in mind where I live and what I do (Conservative western Nebraska and liberal town politician), even though I have no direct contact with my sister (not over her marriage – I don't care about that – our problems go way back further), I wonder what the blowback would be if someone made the connexion. Instead of running for re-election to office, perhaps I should be running from office?

So, since it is my sister-in-law that decided to put the show on the network, perhaps there are two liberal Progressive gay fascist socialistic (but not atheistic as they are both Christians) agenda-pushers trying to tear the Ten Commandments out of the Constitution? (said in sarcastic jest)

James.

Original E-mail sent to family and friends, before I knew my tenuous connexion to the show:

From: James
Sent: 02 June 2013 11:35
Subject: Crossdressing Kids Cartoon Causes Conservative & Religious Heads to Explode

(originally sent to several friends and family members)

I like cartoons. Especially quirky ones.

A five-year-old Australian offering has been picked up by The Hub (formerly Discovery Kids), called Shezow.

The premise of the show is Shezow is a hereditary superheroine, whose powers are passed on from generation to generation of females in a particular family.

When Guy's aunt dies, his family moves into her home, where he and his elder sister discover the legendary power ring of Shezow.

Guy, age 12, who scoffs at the idea his ancient aunt was really Shezow, puts on the ring. Poof – he turns into the female Shezow superheroine.

After his sister gets a good laugh, he tries to remove the ring. No dice. It is on for life.

So now Guy has to learn to activate and deactivate the ring (which turns him back to Guy), learn girlie secrets of dress and makeup from his sister, put up with the incessant ribbing from his friends, and fight crime.

The première episode aired on June 1, and already is on YouTube.

Predictably, conservative and religious wingnut heads are already exploding across the USA, and in the YouTube commentary, as transgender bashing goes into full steam.

Guy in the cartoon is not transgender: he is fully male (when not Shezow). He does not even want to be Shezow (but likes some of the cool gear that comes with the job).

His sister is terribly jealous as she realises this should have been her job. But she gets even with him.

This is not actually the first gender-bending cartoon: years ago there were Bugs Bunny, the character Him on the Powerpuff Girls, Ren and Stimpy, and Spongebob Squarepants which all come to mind.

So whaddya think? Kewl kids cartoon aimed at the preteen set, or the destruction of all that is moral, decent, and good about American society by the liberal Progressive gay fascist socialistic atheistic agenda-pushers trying to tear the Ten Commandments out of the Constitution?

Proposed Local Meat Plant Draws Racist Remarks from Both Sides

An article in my local paper, the Scottsbluff (Nebr.) Star-Herald offers some interesting insight into racism on its front page here. (I get the real paper, they don't post articles to their Website until the next day or so.)

A company called Future Food Energy LLC is proposing constructing a beef-packing plant in Scottsbluff. Nearly four-hundred people turned out to ask questions of its future general manager.

The proposal involves hiring approximately one hundred fifty people, and the venture is backed by South Korea. The South Korean investors see opportunity to help unemployed Korean-Americans in Denver, Colorado, so part (unspecified how big a part) of the recruiting drive for employees will be in Denver.

Racism was on full display at last night's meeting on both sides.

For the company, they note "Korean-American work harder [than you people? than other Americans? curious exactly where he was going with that], and they are not on unemployment [yeah we're just all deadbeat takers here]" thus not many local residents of Scott's Bluff and Morrill (my own) Counties would be hired. (Of note, Nebraska has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country.) Yeah, good way to get support for your project, by slam-dunking the locals with racist and bigoted remarks. He then proceeded to lecture the folk on how they needed to curb their racism and adjust.

Residents of Scottsbluff and surrounding towns opposing the construction of the plant noted problems with a similar plant in Lexington, Kentucky (a valid argument to make), and asserted that Korean-Americans would be "takers, not makers" and suck money out of Scottsbluff, that the school district would have to expand its English as a Second Language programme (remember, these are Korean-Americans) at the expense of art, music, and sports programmes that do not generate much income (like girls track, heaven forbid someone here suggest cutting football).

On one side a conservative businessman who makes racist commentary against the local community, and the local conservative community making racist commentary against people who are Americans but do not live in Scottsbluff. Nice welcoming attitude we have here in the Panhandle.

A fascinating article on how both opposition and support for a program degenerates into racism on both sides.

Concerning locking off-topic threads, a question.

A Novel Way to Fight the Keystone XL Pipeline

In my E-mail Inbox today, from [link:http://www.boldnebraska.org|Bold Nebraska
]
NEBRASKA VS. KEYSTONE XL:
BUILD OUR ENERGY FUTURE

Donate now to help build a wind turbine and solar-powered barn directly inside the Keystone XL pipeline route.

Dear Pipeline Fighter,
This summer, we need your help to declare our independence from tarsands and stand up for our future, by literally building our own clean energy in Nebraska. Bold Nebraska is partnering with Sierra Club, 350 and Nebraska Farmers Union on some "barn-raising" renewable energy projects: with the local community's help, we'll install a wind turbine and solar-powered barn on land directly inside the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route.

If President Obama approves Keystone XL, he'll then have to tear down these clean and locally-produced energy sources to make way for dirty and foreign tarsands.

Donate $50 now to help us build our energy future, and we'll put your name on the solar-powered barn.
The Build Our Energy project is part of "Summer Heat," a series of actions planned across the country this summer by a coalition formed to "turn up the heat" against the fossil fuel industry. In order to build these renewable energy projects in Nebraska, we need to raise $65,000 over the next two months. We're also welcoming folks who want to come out to central Nebraska on a weekend this summer to help with the physical construction of the wind turbine and solar-powered barn, and then celebrate the day's hard work with us at a community BBQ.

Can we count on you to join us in Nebraska this summer to help literally Build Our Energy future? Click here for details and sign-up to volunteer.

This is the summer of the Pipeline Fighter declaring our independence from tarsands. With your help, we'll not just tell, but we will show President Obama he'll have to bulldoze our investment in a clean energy future if he wants to make way for dirty, foreign tarsands.

Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to seeing you in the Summer Heat to Build Our Energy!
Jane Kleeb and the Bold Nebraska team

Another atheist outs herself in village government.

My little town of 128 people has a government that consists of five unpaid elected officials (the village board), five unpaid appointed officials (the library board), and three paid employees (the village clerk, the maintenance mechanic, and the library director).

When my wife and I moved to town here two years ago, we immediately outed ourselves as atheists. Subsequently, we led a year long fight on behalf of the village to save the Post Office from closure (and were successful).

My wife was then appointed to the Library Board to fill a vacancy. She was elevated later to vice-president of the board.

Then a vacancy came up on the village board, I ran for the position to fill the remaining term against four others and won the seat by one vote over the second-place candidate. (Being a socialistic liberal is worse here than being an atheist.)

On the retirement of the Library Director, my wife was hired to replace her.

Now yesterday, the maintenance mechanic, citing that there has been no blowback against my wife and me, openly declared she has been an atheist for a long time to the village clerk.

Of those thirteen people, three are now out in the open as atheists in this very conservative little village. Though the total number of paid and unpaid village employees is small, the percentage of atheists in the village government now exceeds 20%.

Mostly around here they do not really care who you are as long as you pay your bills and mow your lawn.

I suspect . . .

. . . that followers of this Journal-Star series (they are interviewing every senator in the Unicameral Legislature) will be outraged about people like this, until suddenly: Look at the pretty shiny bauble! Don't look at the crazies in the Unicameral, here's a new ag bill for your ranch!

Thanks for the info.

I will have to dig around for more interesting things that happened on November 7th besides Billy Graham.

Nebr. Senator Mansplains Women in Interview

Yup, they don’t even understand themselves, so they need to be ruled by (good Christian moral) men, like himself. Particularly their reproductive systems.

Men are easy he says, with separation of powers: the executive up top and the legislative down below. Women are just all confused, Senator Kintner maintains.

Ya gotta love living in a cheap-labour Conservative Red State. From the Lincoln Journal-Star, this article is a hoot, and very sad in an intellectually-dishonest way. The commentary from women after the article is particularly poignant.

I moved here from Oklahoma two years ago to get away from the crazies. I guess I did not move far enough north (or east). (Forget my home state of Michigan, Gov. Snyder is even crazier than our politicians here in Nebraska.)