Whatever happened to disagreement?

I remember, back when I was younger, that one of the best points about this country, one of the key selling points, was that people could disagree yet still live side by side. How amazing to live in a nation that valued empathy.

Whatever happened to that?

Somewhere along the way, we've all become high school debaters, yelling at each other for fake gold plastic trophies. Instead of understanding that any situation comes with a myriad of viewpoints and interpretations, none inherantly "righter" than the other, all our discussions become personal. People who disagree are intrinsically evil or, at the very least, irretrievably stupid and must be simply parroting some party line or other.

Discussion and exchange of viewpoint are important in the basic workings of this country. Yet they are no longer protected or, indeed, even appreciated. People have forgotten how to have disagreements without rancor or common respect. This, more than anything, concerns me in relation to the future of this country. Without empathy, the idea of men being created equal is impossible to maintain.

They Hate Judy Miller too!

The Missle Dick Chicks! Almost as creative as Landover Baptist!

Brokeback Torino

The opening ceremonies were so good it takes three syllables to describe them: Fab-U-Lous! Flaming rollerbladers skated like refugees from a James Bond film while mighty Thor, God of Red Spandex, hammered out a giant fiery penis with his Oh-My-God-It's-So-Big mallet.

Yes, with a subtle salute to the gay in all of us and an opening ceremony that looks like it was choreographed by Bravo Channel, the 2006 Winter Olympic Games are off to a flamboyant start in Torino, Italy. Now, while I personally care very little about the games themselves, I have to admit this rotation has already given me quite a chuckle.

Aside from The Gay Blades, the opening ceremony was full of other questionable costuming choices, such as the people with the huge white bulbs on their heads.

Maybe I'm just naughty, but that certainly looks like a stylized sperm to me.

It even contained a salute to livestock. That's right, this year's winter games have finally given status and thanks to that most humble of farm animals, the unassuming yet always tasty, cow.

Indeed, to show cow-love, all spectators at the ceremony were issues cow bells. High above the arena, 20 ft wide display screens would frequently flash, "MORE COW BELL" in 80 different languages when things appeared to be moving slowly. This was not only the year of the cow, but with all that white stuff in the back ground, one can only assume it was the year of the gay cow. The completely gay homosexual, So-Flaming-It-Has-A-Dedicated-Fire-Team cow.

Will Bode Miller get so drunk while skiing that he has a brief encounter with a husky Italian barrista named Giovanni? Will people realize that figure skating isn't nearly as gay as the tobogan where up to four men dry hump each other in front of God and everybody? Will curling finally receive the attention, appreciation and up-marketing that it so desperately deserves? By the closing ceremonies, when the influx of nubile athetes and the portly photo-journalists who love them leave Torino as empty and desolate as a Fire Island T-Room in November, maybe these questions will be answered. Until then, though, it's going to be a gay old time.

Some of the programs cut in the Bush budget

141 programs total will receive cuts, including 42 education programs.

Some program cut highlights include:

The Commodity Supplemental Food Program, which provides food for low-income elderly Americans.

The Preventive Care Block Grant, which maintains preventive health care services for underserved Americans.

The Community Serivces Block Grant, which gives states and federally-recognized Native American tribes funds to provide services for low-income families, the elderly and the disabled, including programs designed to help at risk marriages. On February 26th, 2002, Bush said, "My administration will give unprecedented support to strengthening marriages. Many good programs help couples who want to get married and stay married." There will now be less of those programs, which is ironic considering how supposedly important marriage (at least between a man and a woman) is to this administration.

A 26% cut in Section 202 housing for low-income families.

A 30% cut in the Community Development Block Grant.

A 79% cut in the Community Oriented Policing Services.

A $1.03 billion cut in the Child Care and Development Block Grant, resulting in some 400,000 fewer children receiving child care.

Medicaid cuts which would throw the funding burden back on individual states, forcing them to scale back eligibility or services for the elderly, low-income families and children. We already saw how well that went over here in Missouri with Boy Governor Matt Blunt learning that kicking children and grandmothers off the rolls is a quick way to piss people off.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the savings these cuts would acheive would be far outweighed by the 2001/2003 tax cuts which benefit primarily the wealthy. CBPP figures that making those cuts permanent would furish the top 1% of households in the country with over $900 billion over the next 10 years.

Where's the money going?

$79 billion increase in spending over the next five years. That's an increase, not a total amount. According to some budget analysts, the overall budget of the Pentagon would receive a 7% increase. As it stands, the Pentagon budget is 45% bigger now than when Bush took office.

Just something to think about.

Reading between the lines for Dummies

State of the Union address remix.

It's funny because it's satire...mostly.