EastGirlsWest

Finally, a Supreme Court decision I feel happy about! They ruled against the Bush administration’s plan to put Guantánamo detainees on trial before military commissions, ruling that the commissions were unauthorized by federal statute and violated international law.

From the New York Times:

The ruling marked the most significant setback yet for the administration’s broad expansions of presidential power.

This is good, people.

Our friend Dave Rolland, who is the editor of San Diego CityBeat, wrote a great column in this week’s issue about recently meeting President Clinton. The gist is that he discovered the stories about Bill are true: he IS that smart, that charming, that thoughtful.

Sigh.

Oh, it’s so good to be back on the elliptical. Angela and I finally crawled back to the gym together - after my long absence and several days of trying to get ourselves there since my return. It was insanely hot here today, and we were NOT motivated to go sweat even more. But somehow we made it, and managed to converse while panting through 45 minutes of sheer workout hell. Today’s discussion included:

The determination that a certain evil, blonde, nasty, pointy, souless and bilious conservative pundit/author needs to just GO BACK TO THE SLUDGE PILE SHE CRAWLED OUT OF. I’m taking a cue from the wise Jason Kottke here and NOT mentioning her name. Because you know what? If we all just stop giving her the attention she seeks when making “controversial” statements, then she will not sell books. If she does not sell books, we will not have to see her vile face anywhere except FOX News, which we don’t watch anyway. Right?

Tonight she was on MSNBC, wearing an excessive amount of makeup, especially green eyeshadow. But all the facepaint in the world couldn’t camoflauge the fact that she has no soul, which led Angela to observe that she looked like some kind of ghoulish peacock. And then we wondered: who has sex with her?

So one of the things that has me traumatized about turning 35 is that I CLEARLY remember my mother turning 35. So clearly. I remember what her hair looked like that year, and how upset she was about that particular birthday.

I was nine years old at the time, and must have been studying the U.S. presidency in my elementary social studies curriculum that year. Desperate to make her feel better, and put a positive spin on how old she was, I fell back on what I learned in school a few months before. As she tucked me into bed that night, I said, “Mom, you’re old enough to be president now!”. And the thing is, I really believed she COULD be president. Why not? She had the gravitas, apparently. What else was needed?

So, um, I guess I’M old enough to be president now. Please consider me as a write-in candidate in the next election.

Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling’s smug mugs will look so much better behind bars. I couldn’t be more pleased about the Enron verdicts, although, they will probably end up with a cushier incarceration than deserved.

Still, I long for a day when the same G-word would be leveled publicly against The Man Posing As President and many in his administration; for starting a war with false intelligence, torture of prisoners of war, complicity in the Enron debacle, leaking the identity of a CIA agent, stealing an election (or two), having ZERO command of the English language, being really freaking stupid and SO much much much more.

While I’m at it, I’d also like to convinct my HMO (I’m talking about you, Pacificare), for taking my $250 monthy premium and actively contributing to the deterioration of my precarious health. I’m pretty sure that sending me to specialists who can’t squeeze me into their schedules, denying me medication that I desperately need, and reducing me to tears of sheer and utter frustration every single time I call customer service is NOT helping me “get better”.

But hey, at least they’re making money off me so it’s all good, right?

P.S. I must reserve a kind, positive word for Amber, the nice, helpful customer service agent at Pacificare that I spoke with today. I was still reduced to tears, but it was by jackass Pacificare policy, not Amber. She tried to mitigate my hysteria with kindness while I hyperventilated. She probably couldn’t even understand what I was saying half the time.

Thank you, Amber. Thank you.

Read New ‘Anti-Abortion Pill’ Kills Mother, Leaves Fetus Alive. It’s a nice little follow-up to the post before last.

Forget the battle to preserve Roe v. Wade, people. That’s old news. Now it’s Griswold v. Connecticut.

Today’s New York Times contains a frightening article about the Christian Right’s burning desire to end the separation of the sex act and procreation. They’re still fighting your right to an abortion, but now they’d like to take that a teensy step further, into your bedroom, to curtail all that selfish, evil, hedonistic and deviant sex-for-pleasure you’ve been having.

Simply put: “The battle line…is shifting backward, from viability to implantation.”

There are quotes from representatives from a wide variety of social conservative groups, all proclaiming their belief that contraception is wrong, that The Pill has done untold damage to the moral fabric of America, and that even in marriage - sex is for procreation. They don’t just want to impact legislation about pills and procedures - they want a say in the way people think and behave.

And the Bush Administration? Well, we know he’s been avoiding a statement on whether he even believes in contraception for awhile now (I guess that’s a ‘no’, unless it’s for Jenna and Barbara). But here’s just one scary sample of the rhetoric from his team:

Dr. Joseph B. Stanford, who was appointed by President Bush in 2002 to the F.D.A.’s Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee despite (or perhaps because of) his opposition to contraception, sounded not a little like Daniel Defoe in a 1999 essay he wrote: “Sexual union in marriage ought to be a complete giving of each spouse to the other, and when fertility (or potential fertility) is deliberately excluded from that giving I am convinced that something valuable is lost. A husband will sometimes begin to see his wife as an object of sexual pleasure who should always be available for gratification.”

Charming.

There’s not much I can add to that. Just read the article, and then have some really hot sex without the risk of pregnancy while you still can.

Just catching up on the New York Times after a weekend away, and saw that FRANK RICH IS BACK!!! And in top form, comparing the Bush White House to the classic film “Carrie”. Read it here if you subscribe to Times Select.

Also, check out Salon’s coverage of Stephen Colbert’s performance at the White House Correspondent’s Association Dinner. You can watch his speech in full, plus a hilarious taped skit with Helen Thomas, here. Read the opinion piece on the speech here.

Hi there - quick update on the status of the EGW’s:

We are both currently traveling. I’m in Austin, TX and Angela is in San Francisco. And I was in DC earlier this week. The point is, we’ve been quite busy galavanting around and apologize for being negligent in the posting. I can only speak for myself here, but so far traveling has produced much to write about. As soon as I have a moment, you’ll hear all about my religious experience here in the Lone Star State, plus adventures at the denim bar, Ranch 616 and my purchase of the Best New Shoes Ever. I know, you can’t wait, right?

If I had more time I would blog about how THRILLED I was to read the news of the emerging Randy ‘Duke’ Cunningham sex scandal, but my dear friend Aaryn beat me to it, and is no doubt much better at expressing the unbridled joy this story brings. Do read.

More soon y’all!

Thank goodness Scott McClellan resigned today, because I really couldn’t take looking at his weenie face or hearing his evasive whine another, single second.

Of course, another will spring up in his place.

Sigh.