May 3, 2009 - May 9, 2009 | Orlando's Blog

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Week of May 3, 2009 - May 9, 2009

Meet Your New Roommate or Obama's Plan to House the Guantanamo Prisoners

May 7, 2009, 3:26PM

Sometimes, I get confused when people use slang or terms of art. I'm more of a straightforward, un-fancy communicator. I'm ashamed to admit it might be something I have in common with our former president--although I tend not to make up my own words.

Something I am less ashamed to admit is that I don't always follow some of the terms bandied about on the blogs. One of those terms is "strawman." I'm from the Midwest. Out here, strawmen live in fields and they don't generally talk, which makes it difficult for them to participate in arguments.

But, I'm proud to admit that today, for possibly the first time, I feel I have an absolute grasp of what "creating a strawman" means. Thanks, Republicans!

See if you can follow the trail of metaphorical straw. (Side Note: Real strawmen leave a straw trail too, only it's not metaphorical and it makes me sneeze.) From what I'm hearing coming out of conservative mouths this week, here's what I've got so far:

President Obama is going to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.
There are bad men who have been living there for many years.
We will have to find a new place for the bad men.
During the campaign, then-Senator Obama and his staff saved money by asking supporters to allow out-of-town campaign staff to stay in their spare bedrooms.
We can save money and solve the detainee housing crisis by asking Obama supporters to house terrorists.

Wheeeeeeee. Because it's not like we have maximum security prisons or anything. Those prisoners are coming to your neighborhood and Republicans want you to be hiding-under-your-bed-wetting-your-pants scared.

Honestly. It's not like we should expect anything remotely honest from the people who want you to believe that dinosaurs weren't extinct until a few thousand years ago, at which point we were calling them dragons. But just how stupid do they think we are?

Don't answer that. I can only handle one strawman per day.

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Cross posted, as usual, at Dagblog.com

Courage, Republican-Leaning Districts, and the Matthew Shepard Act

May 3, 2009, 4:51PM

I live in Indiana, in the 2nd Congressional district. It includes St. Joseph County, which routinely votes Democratic. It also includes a small town, where the grand poobah of the KKK lives. Or something like that. I can never quite get their leadership terminology down.

My current congressman is Joe Donnelly, Democrat. I've never been all that thrilled with him, but if you believe the hype, the areas that are in his district but outside of St. Joseph County are pretty conservative. So, he often votes a different way than I would prefer. I've heard him address it. He's doing his best to represent all the people who live in his district, he says. He's doing his best to keep his job, I say.

But whatever. I get that anyone the Republicans put up would be worse than Donnelly. If you want a better idea what I mean, take a look at the new Hair Club for Growth chairman, Chris Chocola. He used to be my congressman.

The Republican who challenged Donnelly in 2008 was Luke Puckett. Compared to Chocola, he really sucks. So I do understand, despite my sometimes simple mind, the need to make compromises and tradeoffs.

But last week, Congressman Donnelly voted against the Matthew Shepard Act. The Act, which passed in the House despite Donnelly's vote, is going to add gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity to the groups already protected under current hate crimes legislation.

Donnelly's rationale for voting against the legislation is that there are already laws under which we can prosecute those who perpetrate violent acts, no matter what the sexual orientation of the victims.

This is true, and I would almost even buy it as a reasoned decision, except that hate crimes protection for other minority groups has been on the books for a long time, alongside existing laws prohibiting violent crimes. So, maybe hate crimes laws have always been largely symbolic. In this case, however, symbolic legislation says to violent criminals who view members of a minority group as less worthy than they themselves, "If you choose to commit violence for the purpose of expressing your attitude that you are better than another human being not belonging to your identity group, you will be held to account."

The Matthew Shepard Act is important, even if lawyers may argue that it is redundant, and by voting against it, Congressman Donnelly choose to protect his job rather than to protect the safety and human rights of his gay and lesbian constituents. That's not representation. That's not compromise. And that's certainly not courageous.

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Cross posted at Dagblog.com, where our new blogger Larry Jankens has been coming up with new ideas for Florida license plates.

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Week of May 3, 2009 - May 9, 2009

Meet Your New Roommate or Obama's Plan to House the Guantanamo Prisoners

Courage, Republican-Leaning Districts, and the Matthew Shepard Act

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