With all of the news coming out this week, we've felt like every day, something else is going to drop out of the headlines and splatter all over these pages, like a grocery bag where the bottom fell out.
So it was with a sigh of relief when the headline story we're talking about today came scrolling across our screens last night. No, we're not talking about the NFL lockout being basically over with - but we're glad for that, too.
We're talking about members of our military finally being able to be proud of who they are.
As people who've grown up and lived many years in Nebraska, we tend to be very accepting of most individuals as they are, regardless of weight, height, skin color, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or just about anything else you can think of.
In a similar way to comments we made earlier this week, as long as a person is the best they can be, and they do their jobs to the best of their abilities, we have no problem with most folks.
Maybe our amiable, accepting Nebraska attitude comes from spending many years in Lincoln, a town with a large variety of educated people, immigrants, and gays. Maybe it comes from the fact that when winter comes, and Nebraska gets hit with mountains of snow and twenty below temps, as long as the person living next door knows how to shovel snow, drive out of a snowbank, and keeps the heat on while not burning the place down, we don't care if they're red, green, blue, purple or orange.
Yes, we'd even accept John Boehner in Nebraska, as long as he was willing to grab a shovel.
With that in mind, it shouldn't surprise anyone that we're very proud that new Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are going to certify the end to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" law today.
While Congress voted to repeal DADT last year, it's abolishment was conditional on the policy change being authorized by the top military brass in the U.S. Armed Services. They needed to give legal assurances that dumping DADT wouldn't harm military readiness or unit cohesion.
That's what both Mr. Panetta and Adm. Mullen will be certifying today.
We've never understood the point of DADT. Although most of us haven't served in the military, the one veteran among us assures us - only a small handful of bigots even cared about a fellow soldier or sailor's sexual orientation when he/she was serving. As long as each person did their job the best they could, no one in the service ever really cared who someone else was dating.
We are proud of our servicemembers and their families. Always have been. Whether it was Offut Air Force Base or Fort Leonard Wood just a short drive away, or Pentagon personnel throughout the community, we've been used to having plenty of members of all the Armed Services around - and we've never cared who they chose to date or marry either.
Today, we're glad that our Armed Service members who happen to also be part of the LGBT community can be proud of what they are too.
They're Americans in uniform.
Our thanks go out to them, and to all of our Armed Services members around the world.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Struggling To Keep Our Cool
We can't say preparing for today's commentary was easy.
While the ridiculous levels of heat are affecting millions of Americans, we can't directly blame the heat for our difficulties today. Our offices are all comfortably air-conditioned , and Paul even had the energy to create two cartoons for today, a 'Two-Fer Thursday,' if you will.
The biggest reason we had a difficult time today is the sheer volume of information we needed to wade through, especially on the two major stories dominating the legitimate media landscape this week: the budget and debt ceiling debate, and the Rupert Murdoch scandal.
On the topic of the budget debate, the situation continues to remain bleaker than we'd hoped, but not as bad -yet- as we've feared. It's become increasingly obvious that a majority of Americans want a compromise on the debt and budget, the President wants to compromise on a debt deal, and even some sane old-fashioned Republicans want to compromise on a deal. The problem remains that some far-right, regressive Republicans are willing to risk destroying the fiscal stability of the world, unless they get one-hundred percent of everything they want - and their political enemies get nothing.
We only wish that the blistering heat wave sweeping the nation were the only reason for these legislators' insane behavior. Sadly, though, these ideologues were this way long before the mercury ever hit triple digits.
The Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. scandal also continues to blaze even hotter, much like the incessant heat wave affecting the United States and Canada. All signs in the U.S. are pointing to major criminal actions coming down the road. News Corp just hired the law firm known in DC circles as the folks you go to when you're guilty. The other members of News Corp's Board of Directors have also hired their own law firm - a different one. To add to Rupert's legal problems in the U.K. and U.S., Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has now said that Murdoch will have to answer questions in Australia for his company's actions. It seems the only friend Mr. Murdoch may have is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Of course, Talal is the second-largest shareholder of News Corp. stock, so we highly doubt his support is without ulterior motives.
On both topics dominating the news right now - "Murdoch's Mess" and "The Debt and Budget Battle" - the jury is far from in, either literally or figuratively.
We hope you read through the stories on both topics thoroughly, and make up your mind for yourself on each.
After all, you may as well read all the articles on either story that you can find. We highly doubt you'll be outside running a marathon anytime soon.
While the ridiculous levels of heat are affecting millions of Americans, we can't directly blame the heat for our difficulties today. Our offices are all comfortably air-conditioned , and Paul even had the energy to create two cartoons for today, a 'Two-Fer Thursday,' if you will.
The biggest reason we had a difficult time today is the sheer volume of information we needed to wade through, especially on the two major stories dominating the legitimate media landscape this week: the budget and debt ceiling debate, and the Rupert Murdoch scandal.
On the topic of the budget debate, the situation continues to remain bleaker than we'd hoped, but not as bad -yet- as we've feared. It's become increasingly obvious that a majority of Americans want a compromise on the debt and budget, the President wants to compromise on a debt deal, and even some sane old-fashioned Republicans want to compromise on a deal. The problem remains that some far-right, regressive Republicans are willing to risk destroying the fiscal stability of the world, unless they get one-hundred percent of everything they want - and their political enemies get nothing.
We only wish that the blistering heat wave sweeping the nation were the only reason for these legislators' insane behavior. Sadly, though, these ideologues were this way long before the mercury ever hit triple digits.
The Rupert Murdoch/News Corp. scandal also continues to blaze even hotter, much like the incessant heat wave affecting the United States and Canada. All signs in the U.S. are pointing to major criminal actions coming down the road. News Corp just hired the law firm known in DC circles as the folks you go to when you're guilty. The other members of News Corp's Board of Directors have also hired their own law firm - a different one. To add to Rupert's legal problems in the U.K. and U.S., Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has now said that Murdoch will have to answer questions in Australia for his company's actions. It seems the only friend Mr. Murdoch may have is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Of course, Talal is the second-largest shareholder of News Corp. stock, so we highly doubt his support is without ulterior motives.
On both topics dominating the news right now - "Murdoch's Mess" and "The Debt and Budget Battle" - the jury is far from in, either literally or figuratively.
We hope you read through the stories on both topics thoroughly, and make up your mind for yourself on each.
After all, you may as well read all the articles on either story that you can find. We highly doubt you'll be outside running a marathon anytime soon.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Defensible And Indefensible: Snake Oil & Real Medicine
For a long list of reasons we won't go into today, it's rare that you'll see us defending Michele Bachmann much over the next year or two. Frankly, some of us really don't like her. Still, we dislike snake oil salesmen masquerading as legitimate news media sources even more.
Of course, since some of the planet's most well-known fake information peddlers are currently busy lying to the British Parliament and dodging pies, we've chosen to defend Ms. Bachman, at least a little bit today.
An online rag whose name we won't even mention ran a story yesterday, citing anonymous sources, stating that GOP presidential candidate and U.S. House member Michele Bachmann suffers from severe, somewhat debilitating migraine headaches. According to this unsourced story, Ms. Bachmann treats her condition with high levels of medication - which the story made sound as though Ms. Bachmann is a drug addict.
As we mentioned, there are many reasons we disagree with Rep. Bachmann - including the behavior of her bodyguards on Tuesday, which was far outside the range of acceptable conduct. Still - there is absolutely NO reason to accuse her of being a drug addict.
Bachmann addressed the spurious rumor herself on Tuesday morning, saying "Like nearly 30 million other Americans, I experience migraines that are easily controlled with medication." We applaud her for stepping up and addressing the slur directly. Thousands of her fellow Americans suffer from the same debilitating problem and also successfully treat it with prescription medications.
Whether someone has a physical or mental disease, or challenge, or handicap - or whatever you choose to call it - as long as they do their job to the best of their abilities, and try to be the best at what they do, we have absolutely no problem with them. We've had presidents and legislators who've been morbidly obese, had polio or Alzheimer's, were missing limbs, or have suffered traumatic brain injuries, or had any number of other challenges. Most of them have served honorably and ably. If Rep. Bachmann has some bad headaches now and then, and takes a few prescription pills to fight off the pain, we could frankly care less.
There are SO many more important things to worry about.
The insanity that is the debt ceiling and budget debate is still going on in Washington, DC. Yes, the plan put forward by the so-called 'Gang of Six' was praised by President Obama yesterday afternoon. Yes, it's basically the same three-dollars-in-tax-cuts-for-every-one-dollar-of-revenue plan the President has been pushing for some time. No, there aren't any real details in the plan yet. No, it won't likely pass. Yes, we and the rest of world are getting mighty jumpy about the whole damn thing right now.
Michele Bachmann's migraines certainly don't rate on our list of things to be worried about - and they frankly shouldn't rate on anyone else's list, either.
If the trash rag promoters who tried to take a shot at Rep. Bachmann were serious, there are SO many more questionable stories they could have focused on in her life - especially the continuing questions surrounding her husband's counseling "clinic". The Bachmann's so-called therapy center has been proven to try to "cure" homosexuals by "praying away the gay." Homosexuality has never been recognized by the medical community as a "lifestyle choice", as the religious right likes to call it. It hasn't even officially been considered a mental disorder that needed curing since 1973. Since there is nothing to cure, we see no point in Mr. Bachmann's highly questionable methods - and we can't understand why his clinic has received so much government money to cure something that doesn't need curing.
As we said at the beginning today, there are plenty of reasons we are not fond of Rep. Bachmann and what she stands for. But if a media organization is going to attempt to claim legitimacy, the least it could do when attempting to tar and feather someone is start with actual facts.
In the case of the slanted story about Rep. Michele Bachmann and her headache medicine, we hope the only ones that end up with a headache are the people at the organization that started the unfounded rumor against her.
Of course, since some of the planet's most well-known fake information peddlers are currently busy lying to the British Parliament and dodging pies, we've chosen to defend Ms. Bachman, at least a little bit today.
An online rag whose name we won't even mention ran a story yesterday, citing anonymous sources, stating that GOP presidential candidate and U.S. House member Michele Bachmann suffers from severe, somewhat debilitating migraine headaches. According to this unsourced story, Ms. Bachmann treats her condition with high levels of medication - which the story made sound as though Ms. Bachmann is a drug addict.
As we mentioned, there are many reasons we disagree with Rep. Bachmann - including the behavior of her bodyguards on Tuesday, which was far outside the range of acceptable conduct. Still - there is absolutely NO reason to accuse her of being a drug addict.
Bachmann addressed the spurious rumor herself on Tuesday morning, saying "Like nearly 30 million other Americans, I experience migraines that are easily controlled with medication." We applaud her for stepping up and addressing the slur directly. Thousands of her fellow Americans suffer from the same debilitating problem and also successfully treat it with prescription medications.
Whether someone has a physical or mental disease, or challenge, or handicap - or whatever you choose to call it - as long as they do their job to the best of their abilities, and try to be the best at what they do, we have absolutely no problem with them. We've had presidents and legislators who've been morbidly obese, had polio or Alzheimer's, were missing limbs, or have suffered traumatic brain injuries, or had any number of other challenges. Most of them have served honorably and ably. If Rep. Bachmann has some bad headaches now and then, and takes a few prescription pills to fight off the pain, we could frankly care less.
There are SO many more important things to worry about.
The insanity that is the debt ceiling and budget debate is still going on in Washington, DC. Yes, the plan put forward by the so-called 'Gang of Six' was praised by President Obama yesterday afternoon. Yes, it's basically the same three-dollars-in-tax-cuts-for-every-one-dollar-of-revenue plan the President has been pushing for some time. No, there aren't any real details in the plan yet. No, it won't likely pass. Yes, we and the rest of world are getting mighty jumpy about the whole damn thing right now.
Michele Bachmann's migraines certainly don't rate on our list of things to be worried about - and they frankly shouldn't rate on anyone else's list, either.
If the trash rag promoters who tried to take a shot at Rep. Bachmann were serious, there are SO many more questionable stories they could have focused on in her life - especially the continuing questions surrounding her husband's counseling "clinic". The Bachmann's so-called therapy center has been proven to try to "cure" homosexuals by "praying away the gay." Homosexuality has never been recognized by the medical community as a "lifestyle choice", as the religious right likes to call it. It hasn't even officially been considered a mental disorder that needed curing since 1973. Since there is nothing to cure, we see no point in Mr. Bachmann's highly questionable methods - and we can't understand why his clinic has received so much government money to cure something that doesn't need curing.
As we said at the beginning today, there are plenty of reasons we are not fond of Rep. Bachmann and what she stands for. But if a media organization is going to attempt to claim legitimacy, the least it could do when attempting to tar and feather someone is start with actual facts.
In the case of the slanted story about Rep. Michele Bachmann and her headache medicine, we hope the only ones that end up with a headache are the people at the organization that started the unfounded rumor against her.
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