Got to love this country, right? If it isn’t done (for you) ten minutes before you even knew you wanted it, it’s totally okay to toss the person under the bus. And then back over them.

Seriously, I guess none of us deserve even a single chance.

Good, pressing questions, Cafferty: way to keep up on that there hard-hitting journalism.

But honestly, she’s smart to keep the media away if she plans on doing any more with her life than being a GOP cheerleader.

While it’s useful to group all of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered folk together nationally for the cause, the truth of it is that we’re all very different. Just as different as heterosexual people, one might say. While gay marriage is big in the news lately, there are people I know who don’t want to get married. Just not in their life view as it were. But it doesn’t make the fight any less important.

Still, we’re different enough that there are classes of gay. Older versus younger: for any of the younger that actually care to listen, you’d hear the war stories. Stories of the outward, physical discrimination. You’ve got the Stonewall gays, the one’s that quite literally fought during the beginning of the Gay Rights movement. To them, I’ve been told, us younger generation is a bunch of candy-asses that have had everything handed to us on a silver platter because of what they did. And it’s partially true.

But we fight a different kind of war now. It’s a war of ideas against the final stalwarts of ignorance within our country. You’d think that “live and let live” would be good enough in 2010, but you’d be surprised. If “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” is overturned, then we’ll have been successful in destroying one of those barriers.

And we’ll have created a new class of gay exclusive to the military. The gay that served in fear that his sexuality would be discovered. Or not even discovered, but just hinted at – I believe that Roman Catholic church tends to call these things “particular friendships.” Once “Don’t Ask” is overturned all the new recruits will get to hear the war stories of the elder class, and get talked down to about how they never had to deal with it or worry about it.

For those of you who are straight, it’s a little akin to when your parents told you that they had to walk a mile to school in the snow uphill both ways. And it’s the same as when your grandparents told you that they had to walk ten miles to school in the snow uphill both ways.

Maybe though in another ten to twenty years we’ll have gotten all the classes out of our system. There won’t be any Stonewall gays and no Don’t Ask gays because all of the rights will have been won.

That’ll be a nice time.

Can I smell a new age of bipartisanship just over the next ridge? Oh. No. That’s just the lovely smell of bacon coming from my kitchen.

Jokes aside, I do think that the Senate will be able to come together on one issue. Jobs. Oh, don’t be mistaken: I don’t mean creating jobs for the American people. I mean keeping their own jobs. It’s an election year! Woo!

Oh, and maybe Toyota. Buy American!

DC government almost feels like playing house to me. We’ve got a fair amount of self rule, but pretty much at any time and for any reason, Congress can step in to review and overturn laws passed by the District government. That’s the very much not fun part of living in DC. Oh yeah, and paying taxes for no representation. That’s pretty awesome too. (So shut the fuck up the rest of you whiny Americans.)

Note: I’m not dismayed by the fact that I pay taxes and don’t see representation on a National level. (Although I’ve heard some Congresspeople say that the District has 535 representatives. You know, each person in Congress. Because we elected them there and they’re accountable to us… but I digress…) I’m not dismayed by paying taxes because I know that some of those taxes go to important services that we expect from our government. Services that I think a decent portion of our country believes should somehow be offered for free. I’m still trying to figure that one out.

Holla? Can we maybe get a couple of more admissions?

I guess after all those fun and games and repartee of his visiting with the GOP in Baltimore, we’re back to the good ole politicking.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but no one blamed Bush for 9/11, right? Maybe we should start.

Yeah, not really a news commentary, so sue me, it’s my day off.

I think this case proves an interesting point about the mindset of some of these apparent “Pro-Lifers.” First of all, I must state that I abhor the terms Pro-Life and Pro-Choice to define the sides of this debate. Having said that, I think the term Pro-Life shouldn’t be used within this debate. Last Friday (January 22, 2010), Washington saw the March for Life, a “Pro-Life” event. But the majority of these people, besides not fully understanding all the issues on both sides of this debate, simply aren’t Pro-Life: they are Pro-Birth.

Roeder has proven that he is not for life when he murdered Tiller. By his own admission, Roeder committed the crime in order to defend unborn children. Scott Roeder is Pro-Birth.

One might inquire to the difference, and it is substantial. The same people that are Pro-Birth sometimes also happen to be pro-Capital Punishment. Some of them, such as Roeder, are willing to commit violence in order to make their point. No one that has a true regard for the sanctity of life at all stages could support any act of violence against another human being.

Of course, being Pro-Birth reframes the entire argument, and that’s a good thing. The opposite side isn’t Pro-Death, and it’s still not Pro-Choice. Honestly, I’m not sure what it is… Pro-Leave-my-Body-Alone? Pro-Mind-your-own-Business? Pro-America-doesn’t-Afford-me-any-better-Options?

Speaking of better options, if the Pro-Birthers would like to reduce the number of abortions occurring, it’s not going to happen through trying to overturn Roe v. Wade. It’s also not going to change the course of our society by killing abortion doctors. Both of those kinds of actions only wastes time and money. What America needs to do is offer women a better option. Information. Free pre-natal care. Revamping foster care and child welfare services. Making it easier to adopt.

Until we push for these kinds of reforms, many Americans on both sides of this issue will continue to yell and shout and send their money to organizations that aren’t going to change the system, because as it is, the system helps them gain a whole lot of money. It’s a complicated issue that’s been boiled down to sound bites, bumper stickers and campaign posters. And that’s the worst thing that can happen to ensure that nothing is done at all.