25 | June | 2011 | Existential Ennui

Tags

Alfred Stieglitz, American Petroleum Institute, birthers, Florida, gay rights, Georgia O'Keeffe, Iowa, marriage equality, religious right, Rick Scott, WND

At last! New York State passed a marriage equality bill and Governor Cuomo signed it into law immediately. We’ve been waiting for this for some days, and late in the day yesterday, we learned that the probable delay was the attempt to gather some extra votes so that it would not pass with a one-vote majority and thus leave one person as a target for the right.

It ended up passing with four votes more than needed and apparently eruptions of happiness occurred in the streets.

We congratulate the people of New York and welcome them into the circle of states that have finally recognized that all people are entitled to the freedom to love and be united with the person they love.

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Keeping to the theme of love for the moment, great love affairs are a favorite of mine, and the way I often name my pets–Kate and Spencer our first two cats are named after Hepburn and Tracy. A new book is out about the love and lives of Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O’Keefe. Stieglitz was a photographer, and O’Keefe of course was the well-known painter. Her papers were released in 2006, twenty years after her death, and provide much of the basis for My Faraway One.

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I guess even dumb and evil Republican governors can hear the footsteps behind them. Rick Scott, the criminal that was elected in Florida, promised 700,000 jobs. So far he has only lost more jobs for the state with his “business first” schemes. Apparently realizing that his 20’s percentile favorables ain’t gonna win him a second term, Scott has taken to tweeting want-ads he finds. T’would be funny if it were not so darned sad.

There is a new organization in Iowa. Why should you care? Because one is probably coming to a city near you, if it’s not there already. The Iowa Energy Forum claims, through its “members” to be a grassroots organization concerned with “energy self-sufficiency and holding our elected officials accountable.” It’s pet project is the Keystone XL pipeline coming from Canada, and they are pressing presidential candidates to come out in support.

IEF is anything but grassroots. It is funded by the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association representing all the big oil companies, including Koch, Exxon-Mobil and BP. The group has been spotted passing out literature and asking their questions at events for Herman Cain and Mitt Romney as well.

There will no doubt be more of these “grassroots” groups in every state, all being paid for by one corporate interest or another. Beware and check them out. Their websites of course are sparkling clean of any fingerprints left by the corporate masters.

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We all know the religious right is ummm, crazy would be a good word. Now you can read all about it from the inside, from Frank Schaeffer who was raised from birth in the home of two very dedicated evangelicals and his book, How Should We Then Live? was considered formative for no less than Michele Bachmann. We’ll he’s seen the light, and now tells a much different story. This is actually his second book on the subject and is entitled Sex, Mom and God.

The Daily Beast does a nice review, and it’s quite an eye-opener. Schaeffer documents the religious right’s fear and fascination with sex, and how this dominates nearly all their thinking. His own mother told him that his father demanded sex every single night in some weird attempt to avoid the temptation of David with some potential Bathsheba.

Weird, but then you always knew they were.

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From time to time, we’ve had occasion to mention the rag WorldNetDaily. It purports to be a “Christian” website, but in reality it is anything but. My crazy high-school classmate used to refer me to it constantly, and she walked with Jesus 24/7 in her own mind.

They always have a banner at the top offering you something to buy that will prepare you for the coming of the final War, such as survival gardens or bunkers or some such crap.

Today’s editorial explains for the zillonth time that Barack Obama is not eligible to be President, just like Hitler wasn’t. Read if for the amusement and leave a nice Facebook comment letting them know they suck.