From Overheard in New York
Sep 10, 2007
Tourist lady, very slowly: Uhhh, can you... Um, excuse me, can you... um, tell me where... that place downtown... I think it's, ummm...--4 train, Wall St station
Lady suit, interrupting: Christ on a crutch! What are you, Canadian or retarded?!
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Luciano Pavarotti died today. He is a man who brought opera to the masses. My personal, unexpected love affair with opera was very much connected to him. Bravissimo, you incredible man.
Postscript: I wasn't going to include this since I didn't actually hear it with my own ears...but it's too good to pass on. One of my coworkers was chatting with this older woman at work who, while sweet, does not always get her facts right and she asked him, Hey, did you hear that Paparazzi died? Seriously. She really says stuff like this. It's just too good.
(Not straw polls, silly. Homos.)
Great entry about the Iowa judge who ruled that anti-gay marriage laws are unconstitutional. For those of you philosophically opposed to clicking on the link:
...he applied the U.S. and Iowa constitutions to same sex couples precisely as worded.In response to religious arguments against the judge's ruling:The Iowa Constitution states, "The general assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms shall not equally belong to all citizens."
That echoes the substance of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds that no state may deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Note that neither document says equal protection of the law only applies to popular parties, or to those whose lifestyle is approved of by the majority. It applies to everyone, equally. Anything else is legislated discrimination.
I'm so damn proud of Iowa.Some opponents say this is an example of the country turning its back on its Christian traditions. But that is a false assertion. The United States is not a Christian nation, and never was intended to be one.
For proof, look no further than the Treaty of Tripoli, which became the law of the land in 1797, eight years after the Constitution became effective. President John Adams, with the unanimous support of the Senate, signed the treaty, which stated in part "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
...religion ought to have no impact on the law, just as the law ought to have no impact on ...religion. That's what the First Amendment says, in plain language. And it's what Americans, religious and secular alike, hold dear about our system of government.
Watching the veritable implosion of the Republican party: Rove, Gonzo, Snow, Craig, etc. is like a conservative lemming-fest, they are all but tripping over each other in their headlong rush to the cliff. Schadenfreude, despite what some of my glass-housed friends would say, is not my favorite pastime. However, when the unctuous, hypocritical and holier-than-thou take a well-earned nosedive...well, I'm going to sit on the sidelines and applaud gleefully.
Larry Methinks-the-Lady-Doth-Protest Craig read a "prepared" statement about how not-gay he was, beginning with "I want to thank you all for coming out..." One has to wonder if having that many Mormons in a state actually forces Irony to move away (anywhere but south to Utah, of course). To compound the politician's awkward denials, several blow-and-tell stories have been surfacing that indicate Minnesota's finest were not just hanging out in the john trying to pass all that cheese.
And one final (for the morning) note about the crapulence permeating Bush, et al., specifically about Condoleezza Rice, from the NY Daily News:
And while Bush sometimes introduces her as "the most powerful woman in the history of the world," he also considers her "like my sister." Thus, at a briefing, he skipped over the gory details of the rape and torture committed by Saddam Hussein's sons, explaining: "I didn't want to say [those things] in front of Condi."Does this alarm anyone out there? That the Secretary of State is being spared the details of heinous, politically significant crimes because the President doesn't want to offend her feminine sensibilities? We come this far to be taken seriously and professionally, only to be treated like demure debutantes. This, my friends, is unfuckingbelievable.
Well, we did it. Bought the property next door after thirteen years of hoping that it would come up for sale at a time when we could more or less afford it.
Woohoo!
We're land barons.
Overlords.
In debt up to our asses but happy to have doubled our little stake here in the Houston Heights.
P.S. The Monday after the Friday closing brought dramatic electrical storms to our area of the state. Lightning struck the house diagonally across from our new acquisition. Five big-ass fire trucks, several ambulances. The occupants were all okay and the house had no serious damage. But it fucking made my heart stop. Lightning is not really one of the short-term contingencies that we've budgeted for...
