Observations, Pride 2014

Presidential proclamation declaring June LGBT Pride month ....

"I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people."

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release May 30, 2014

Presidential Proclamation -- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month, 2014

As progress spreads from State to State, as justice is delivered in the courtroom, and as more of our fellow Americans are treated with dignity and respect -- our Nation becomes not only more accepting, but more equal as well. During Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month, we celebrate victories that have affirmed freedom and fairness, and we recommit ourselves to completing the work that remains.

Last year, supporters of equality celebrated the Supreme Court's decision to strike down a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act, a ruling which, at long last, gave loving, committed families the respect and legal protections they deserve. In keeping with this decision, my Administration is extending family and spousal benefits -- from immigration benefits to military family benefits -- to legally married same-sex couples.

My Administration proudly stands alongside all those who fight for LGBT rights. Here at home, we have strengthened laws against violence toward LGBT Americans, taken action to prevent bullying and harassment, and prohibited discrimination in housing and hospitals. Despite this progress, LGBT workers in too many States can be fired just because of their sexual orientation or gender identity; I continue to call on the Congress to correct this injustice by passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. And in the years ahead, we will remain dedicated to addressing health disparities within the LGBT community by implementing the Affordable Care Act and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy -- which focuses on improving care while decreasing HIV transmission rates among communities most at risk.

Our commitment to advancing equality for the LGBT community extends far beyond our borders. In many places around the globe, LGBT people face persecution, arrest, or even state-sponsored execution. This is unacceptable. The United States calls on every nation to join us in defending the universal human rights of our LGBT brothers and sisters.

This month, as we mark 45 years since the patrons of the Stonewall Inn defied an unjust policy and awakened a nascent movement, let us honor every brave leader who stood up, sat in, and came out, as well as the allies who supported them along the way. Following their example, let each of us speak for tolerance, justice, and dignity -- because if hearts and minds continue to change over time, laws will too.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim June 2014 as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month. I call upon the people of the United States to eliminate prejudice everywhere it exists, and to celebrate the great diversity of the American people.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of May, in the year of our Lord two thousand fourteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-eighth.

Barack Obama

Observations 9.20

And so it's time for Democrats, progressives, and liberals to sit back and watch as the Republican Party destroys itself. The only problem with this is the Republican Party may also destroy the world economy in the process, it may be worth it.

This short statement on the Republican budget, released by The White House yesterday, is worth reading. Maybe if the Republicans bothered to read it they could save themselves before they takeoff on what even the The Wall Street Journal called a kamikaze mission. I doubt they will bother. Italics are my own.

September 19, 2013
STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY
H.J. Res. 59 – Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2014
(Rep. Rogers, R-KY)

The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.J. Res. 59, making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014 and for other purposes, because it advances a narrow ideological agenda that threatens our economy and the interests of the middle class. The Resolution would defund the Affordable Care Act, denying millions of hard-working middle class families the security of affordable health coverage.

If the President were presented with H.J. Res. 59, he would veto the bill.

The Administration is willing to support a short-term continuing resolution to allow critical Government functions to operate without interruption and looks forward to working with the Congress on appropriations legislation for the remainder of the fiscal year that preserves critical national priorities, protects national security, and makes investments to spur economic growth and job creation for years to come.

Observations from the Coffee Shop 2.8

I want to write down my other thoughts on drones quick because snow is beginning to fall in the Village, Nemo seems to have arrived right on schedule. Usually the world is very black and white to me but these drones just have me torn as you can probably tell by now.

The drone war is an important story but it doesn't seem to resonate at all with a public that at times seems tired of it all. Tired of war, tired of politicians who get absolutely nothing accomplished, or just tired of the total ignorance coming from one side of every issue. Yesterday morning Joe Scarborough said he was scared because nobody seems to care about the constitutional issues involved. As I said that is part of the reason I was writing about it because I don't understand why I don't care more.

It's an important issue but it's also a very cynical one. Would people care more if Dubya was still President? There is a huge amount of trust involved and people just trust President Obama more than they ever did him. At the same time Obama wont always be President so what then?

An even more cynical part is the story of the Justice Department memo that was released this week. Supposedly it was found and released by NBC News after much journalistic effort. You might think it was on the level of David Corn getting the "47 Percent" video of Willard but you would be wrong. Now it seems that in all likelihood the memo was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee itself to create some drama for their confirmation hearings of John Brennan.

The White House says there are rules that are followed before drone strikes but they refuse to release them saying they are classified. Actually the whole drone program itself is considered classified. The problem is the drone war is part of a larger war that has been going on for ten years now. A dirty, ugly, secret war that shows no signs of ending anytime soon. That statement was proved recently by the French intervention in Mali and the terrorist attack in Algeria that followed. There are secrets in any war, there have to be, even more so in a war fought in the shadows as this one is and today the Congress of the United States is quite possibly the worst place on Earth to keep a secret. Also the ACLU is suing the government in civil court to force the CIA and Justice Department to release any and all information on the drone program and war. The thought of that lawsuit is laughable in an age where the Somali terrorist group Al-Shabaab has a twitter account.

But than there is the other, the constitutional, side of the story. Senator Robert Kennedy once held hearings into the terrible treatment of farm and other migrant workers. During the hearings he questioned a California sheriff who admitted to arresting workers without reason because the sheriff said he had a duty to stop them from causing trouble before they caused it. When Kennedy asked how he could arrest someone when they hadn't yet broken a law the sheriff answered "They’re ready to violate the law." At the next break Kennedy stared down at the sheriff and told him he should "read the Constitution of the United States" over lunch.

President Obama is the only President who studied, not to mention taught, constitutional law before he became President. One could say he should know better.

Observations 1.10

I've mentioned the petitions on the White House website plenty of times, some funny, some scary in their total ignorance, and some very serious. Here is the official response to the petition to deport Piers Morgan over his views on gun control. The video is President Obama's personal response to all the gun related petitions and at the bottom is a link to a video from "Piers Morgan Tonight" a few days ago in which wingnut radio host Alex Jones goes into full meltdown mode.

OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE RESPONSE TO
Deport British Citizen Piers Morgan for Attacking 2nd Amendment
When Discussing the Second Amendment, Keep the First in Mind Too
By Jay Carney, White House Press Secretary

Thank you for participating in We the People to speak out on an issue that matters to you.

Let’s not let arguments over the Constitution’s Second Amendment violate the spirit of its First. President Obama believes that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms. However, the Constitution not only guarantees an individual right to bear arms, but also enshrines the freedom of speech and the freedom of the press -- fundamental principles that are essential to our democracy. Americans may disagree on matters of public policy and express those disagreements vigorously, but no one should be punished by the government simply because he or she expressed a view on the Second Amendment -- or any other matter of public concern.

We recognize that the tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, sparked an intense, and at times emotional, national conversation about the steps we can take as a country to reduce gun violence. In fact, your petition is one of many on the issue, and President Obama personally responded by sharing his views on this important issue.

link
Published on Dec 21, 2012 by WhiteHouse

"How many chimpanzees can dance on the head of a pin?" Otherwise known as 'my name is Alex Jones and I have totally lost it.' You really need to watch this, CNN.

Observations from the Road 12.27

I never did get back to my emotional response to guns but I still plan on doing it at some point. That doesn't mean it will ever happen, my head is full of posts I plan on getting back to but never do. This is more like a mid-week post Christmas edition of Sunday Observations which is going to seem more like an economics lesson.

I hope you had a good Christmas because it seems Congress has a very special New Years celebration planned this year.

And so I give you this fiscal cliff thing, something I'm totally tired of hearing about. Here is the fiscal cliff in a nutshell; Congress can't seem to do anything, with over 200 votes Congress passes a draconian law that automatically does its job for it, Congress figures it will have to do something before its own law takes effect. Now, and this is the surprising part, Congress can't force itself to do anything to stop what Congress itself has created. Is it any wonder said Congress has an approval rating slightly lower than the Communist Party's? I didn't know the Communist party still existed.

Meanwhile the government will once again hit the debt ceiling on New Years Eve, something else to add to the cliff. I agree with former President Bill Clinton on this one. President Obama should just raise the debt limit by executive order and let the republicans take him to court if they want to. As Clinton said why should Congress be allowed to vote on expenditures they already passed? It's like you went out and bought a Christmas present on credit and than when the bill came decided not to pay it. What makes this even crazier is that the government currently pays 1% interest on new loans so borrowing now to pay for projects is probably the best investment they can make. The Treasury department says they can put off the ceiling for a few months by using accounting methods, I think I'll try that when it's income tax time.

A quick note on White House petitions. Some people have been complaining that 'joke' petitions are taking away from serious politics in this country. It is beyond me how that is possible given the state of Congress but that's what they say. Anyway there are some serious petitions to look at. One would have the President "Legally recognize Westboro Baptist Church as a hate group." It was started by a member of the hacker group Anonymous after the WBC announced it was going to protest at the funerals of the Newtown shooting victims. As of now it has 263,000 signatures so will get an official response which should be interesting. You can read it here.

Also there was a good but sad article about the complete disconnect between those who fight our wars and the rest of the country in Christmas day's edition of The New York Times. The article, "With a Parent Off Again at War, a Holiday of Pride and Isolation," included this line; "No one really cares,” Tyisha Smith, a 19-year-old senior, said of the outside world."

I'm sure Congress will get to Afghanistan after it gets past its Thelma and Louise moment.

Finally, and once again, where have you gone NHL?

12/28 update - I just read a Reuters article about the Westboro petition and it said 475,000 people has signed it. I was thinking 200,000 more signatures can't be possible in one day so I checked it out. Seems there are three petitions; the main one has 287,000, another to investigate Westboro's tax exempt status has 69,500 signatures, and a third to revoke its tax exempt status and label it a hate group has 63,000 signatures.

Sunday Observations 12.16

The past few months I've had some fun with the petitions on the White House website. Who wouldn't have some fun with secession, death star building, imaginary countries? At the moment there is a very serious petition you should take a look at; We Petition The Obama Administration To: Immediately address the issue of gun control through the introduction of legislation in Congress. At the moment it has 113,000 signatures or four times what is needed for an official response from the Obama Administration. It's very short, only five sentences, and you can sign it here.

That's all I'm going to say about guns at the moment. I had a few notes for today but now they all seem relatively unimportant as I look at them. The wingnuts made a big deal of President Obama planning on spending Christmas in Hawaii and thought he should cancel those plans if there is no fiscal deal. Petty as hell because they know damn well, as Joe Scarborough noted, he was born there. Some of us are lucky enough to be born in Hawaii and some of us aren't. I wouldn't mind spending Christmas on Kee Beach with lights in the palm trees and a Corona in my hand but I don't see it happening anytime soon. The wingnuts probably think the President should be spending Christmas in Nairobi.

Meryl Schenker, ZUMA Press

Here is a little something to remind you that even after the past few days there is always something to make you smile about life. Last week I posted a photo of Larry Duncan and Randell Shepherd, the gay bears, getting their marriage license in Seattle. Last Sunday the two were married in Seattle's First Baptist Church. While not religious at all the two said they wanted a church wedding because as Larry said, "Enough people have told me, ‘God hates fags,’ I want someone in a church to say, ‘God loves fags,’ to have that stamp on it." No word on where the happy newlyweds spent their honeymoon.

I did something yesterday I have never done before, went into a Japanese bookstore. If for whatever reason you ever want to feel totally lost in the world I suggest a Japanese bookstore. The most awesome looking books you'll ever see but I have no idea what they said.

Finally Jesuit Father Jose Funes, the head of the Vatican Observatory, assures us the Mayan Apocalypse is not going to happen this week. In L'Osservatore Romano he published an article in which he emphatically states the Mayan calender is 'irrational' which is something I'm sure a Jesuit priest would know something about.

I have to go now, seems hell is calling ....

Observations from the Window 12.5

Did you ever wonder why when Bill O'Reilly is talking the words type next to him on a split screen? I never thought about it before but I think the answer came to me last night watching The Last Word. They showed a clip from O'Reilly's show and two reasons hit me. One reason could be that his viewers, and Fox News viewers in general, are so old they can't hear what he is saying. More likely is that those viewers are just so thick they need to see the words just to understand what they are hearing.

Wingnutism reached a new low yesterday when the United Nations disabilities treaty fell five votes short of ratification in the Senate. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, based largely on the Americans with Disabilities Act, was negotiated by the Bush administration and signed by President Obama in 2009. It has been signed by 155 countries and ratified by 126 including Britain, France, Russia and China. Eight Republicans voted for the treaty but a two thirds majority was needed and it fell five votes short. The reason the wingnuts used for voting against it, home schooling. I have this vision of a wingnut fantasy, blue U.N. helicopters flying over America dropping wheelchairs.

John Kerry called the vote one of the saddest in his 28 years in the Senate, "a wake-up call about a broken institution that’s letting down the American people." I repeat, The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is almost a copy of the Americans with Disabilities Act, something that has been law in the United States for twenty two years. These people really are just pathetic and stand for absolutely nothing positive, nothing at all.

After that embarrassing display a petition currently on the White House website looks even better than it did when I first saw it. It says, "Cease paychecks and health benefits to ALL members of Congress and the President until the fiscal cliff is avoided."

Maybe it should say stop paychecks until the Congress of the United States of America starts acting a little more mature than a typical junior high school student council.

Observations 12.1

Today is World AIDS Day. On a trip to New York when I was maybe ten I met a friend of my mom's who I now barely remember but I do remember as possibly the funniest person I have ever met. If somebody would ask me to describe him today what comes to mind is the Nathan Lane character in The Birdcage. My mom didn't tell me until later that he had AIDS because she didn't want my reaction to that fact clouding how I reacted to him. I never met him again and he died from the disease a year or so later. I can't even remember his name.

Since HIV/AIDS* was recognized by the CDC in 1981 over 30 million people have died and currently 35 million are HIV positive of which 3.5 million are children born HIV positive. In the United States 50,000 die every year and 150 are diagnosed every day. In comparison in 2009 10,839 people died in alcohol related traffic accidents.

I know comparing AIDS to drunk driving deaths is totally messed up but if you asked the average American what killed more every year, AIDS or drunk driving, I'd be willing to bet a majority would say drunk driving. This country's priorities always seem to be messed up that way. If we as a nation took half the money we spend on war, weapons, and killing and spent that money on AIDS and Cancer research we could probably go a long way towards wiping out both. Never going to happen.

For what it's worth ....

WORLD AIDS DAY, 2012
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

On World AIDS Day, more than 30 years after the first cases of this tragic illness were reported, we join the global community once more in standing with the millions of people who live with HIV/AIDS worldwide. We also recommit to preventing the spread of this disease, fighting the stigma associated with infection, and ending this pandemic once and for all.

In 2010, my Administration released the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, our Nation's first comprehensive plan to fight the domestic epidemic. The Strategy aims to reduce new infections, increase access to care, reduce health disparities, and achieve a more coordinated national response to HIV/AIDS here in the United States. To meet these goals, we are advancing HIV/AIDS education; connecting stakeholders throughout the public, private, and non-profit sectors; and investing in promising research that can improve clinical outcomes and reduce the risk of transmission. Moving forward, we must continue to focus on populations with the highest HIV disparities -- including gay men, and African American and Latino communities -- and scale up effective, evidence-based interventions to prevent and treat HIV. We are also implementing the Affordable Care Act, which has expanded access to HIV testing and will ensure that all Americans, including those living with HIV/AIDS, have access to health insurance beginning in 2014.

These actions are bringing us closer to an AIDS-free generation at home and abroad -- a goal that, while ambitious, is within sight. Through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), we are on track to meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets I set last year. We are working with partners at home and abroad to reduce new infections in adults, help people with HIV/AIDS live longer, prevent mother-to-child transmission, and support the global effort to eliminate new infections in children by 2015. And thanks to bipartisan action to lift the entry ban on persons living with HIV, we were proud to welcome leaders from around the world to the 19th International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

Creating an AIDS-free generation is a shared responsibility. It requires commitment from partner countries, coupled with support from donors, civil society, people living with HIV, faith-based organizations, the private sector, foundations, and multilateral institutions. We stand at a tipping point in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and working together, we can realize our historic opportunity to bring that fight to an end.

Today, we reflect on the strides we have taken toward overcoming HIV/AIDS, honor those who have made our progress possible, and keep in our thoughts all those who have known the devastating consequences of this illness. The road toward an AIDS-free generation is long -- but as we mark this important observance, let us also remember that if we move forward every day with the same passion, persistence, and drive that has brought us this far, we can reach our goal. We can beat this disease. On World AIDS Day, in memory of those no longer with us and in solidarity with all who carry on the fight, let us pledge to make that vision a reality.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States do hereby proclaim December 1, 2012, as World AIDS Day. I urge the Governors of the States and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, officials of the other territories subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, and the American people to join me in appropriate activities to remember those who have lost their lives to AIDS and to provide support and comfort to those living with this disease.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.

Barack Obama

*A few links if you want to learn more:
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS.gov
HIV Law Project
UN AIDS
Wikipedia HIV/AIDS

Observations from the Road 11.22

It officially begins, the holiday season. It begins with warm pastries, coffee, and a newspaper with enough Black Friday ads to kill a tree. Somewhere in this house my dad surely has a case of win hid but I haven't begun to seriously look for it yet. He started hiding it years ago when he bought a case of wine to last the entire month and I drank most of it over Thanksgiving weekend. My wingnut uncles will do that to me and I can call them wingnuts in writing because I've been known to call them wingnuts to their face. They laugh it off though because they know Katie never has been all there. Little do they know, Katie is just fine but they aren't all there. This is how it goes at our Thanksgiving dinner and I love every wine soaked minute of it.

Somewhere Christmas music is playing now. Probably that overly sentimental sister of mine preparing herself for an early round of shopping tomorrow morning. I know its not my brother because it isn't noon yet so he wont be awake. But I lie, he was up as early as me and made the coffee. Much better coffee than I could have made I might add.

It's a gorgeous if cold morning in Pennsylvania. The turkey seems to be suitably thawed and it looks like a nice if somewhat unlucky bird, it didn't win the White House turkey pardon lottery. Wine, cook, dinner, football, wine, argue, stomp out to the porch for a cigarette, football. I think that covers it but did I mention wine?

Strange but as much as I sometimes dislike this time of year it's also the time of year I'm the least cynical. I really don't understand why that is so I guess it just gets filed in the 'I'm just an enigma' category. So what am I thankful for, it always comes down to my family, really that's all I need and I would't change a thing about any of them. Hell I even enjoy arguing with the crazy wingnut branch of the family but maybe that's just because of the wine. I know they don't celebrate our Thanksgiving in the middle east but the Gaza ceasefire seems to be holding for now. That's something to be thankful for too.

Honestly I don't understand why everybody doesn't celebrate our Thanksgiving Day. I mean seriously, who wouldn't want to remember a group of religious zealots landing in a new land, celebrating with the native population, enjoying their gifts of food, all the while wondering how they could be rid of them in the spring. It's just so American. Sarcasm! Just prepping for my uncles.

Happy Thanksgiving people

Sunday Observations 11.18

Thanksgiving is Thursday so I suppose it is officially the holiday season now. It's cold enough in the Village and I went ice skating last night but something still seems to be missing. Oh yes, the NHL is still pretending to be a league on the level of the NFL and there is still no major league hockey. Some Philadelphia Flyers players are going to play some of the hated Rangers in Atlantic City Saturday night to raise money for Sandy victims and my brother has tickets. This now makes my Thanksgiving dinner goal talking him into taking his loving older sister to the game instead of his girlfriend, something that could be interesting with her sitting there. We shall see, I'll just have to keep their wine glasses full.

Another sign of the season is that I have turned on my iTunes playlist of 500 Christmas tunes. Yeah I know, so not me and I sometimes really don't like the season at all. It's just that same old love/hate thing I have going with Christmas.

There was another bit of election news, this time from Oregon. Democrat Tina Kotek was elected state House Speaker by the state's Democrats on Thursday. She will be the first open lesbian to lead a state legislature. Openly gay people will lead the legislatures of five states now, up from two before the election.

Not much news on the secessionist front but there is this very important petition on the White House website now that I will post below. It has been there for a couple days now and the White House doesn't seem in any rush to remove it. Must be something about the Hostess CEO raising his yearly salary to $2.25 million than filing for bankruptcy and putting 18,000 out of work.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Nationalize the Twinkie industry
"We the undersigned, hereby request Barack Obama to immediately Nationalize the Twinkie industry and prevent our nation from losing her sweet creamy center."
Created: Nov 16, 2012
SIGNATURES NEEDED BY DECEMBER 16, 2012
TO REACH GOAL OF 25,000: 22,125

I would scream "save the Twinkie" to finish but to be quite honest I hate the damn things. It would make a good sign for the Walmart Black Friday strikes though so I better get that copyrighted quick.

Observations on Amerika 11.13

Not long after President Obama's reelection the spirit of Jefferson Davis infected some people and they have filed petitions to secede from the union on the White House website. Now you can argue the merits of just letting Texas secede and be done with them but I have this fear of it becoming a narco-terrorist haven. A small country filled with religious zealots, a wacko leader in Rick Perry, and flooded with guns. What could possibly go wrong? Maybe we should just call it Texistan.

But this is the United States of America and if we can't have fun with secession who can? This is an official petition filed yesterday with the White House. I think it is courtesy of our friends at The Daily Kos but I'm not sure, maybe just its rogue editor David Waldman. It only has 25 signatures so far so please do your part to help this fledgling country.

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:
Peacefully grant the State of Herp-a-Derp to withdraw from the United States of America & create its own NEW government
As the founding fathers of the United States of America made clear in the Declaration of Independence in 1776:

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one neighbor to secretly let his dog crap on the lawn of another, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation." Therefore, herp-a-derp-derp, but please keep sending my Social Security check. I earned that, yo.

Created: Nov 12, 2012
SIGNATURES NEEDED BY DECEMBER 12, 2012
TO REACH GOAL OF 25,000: 24,975

11/14 update - Due to the seriousness of the secessionist cause I wanted to update this with some links. The first is a self-proclaimed epic rant by David Badash at The New Civil Rights Movement. Read his article and you will learn that wingnuts in 42 of the 50 states have started petitions to secede, "The Only States That Don’t Want To Secede Are The Ones With Gay Marriage."

On The Huffington Post I found something that's too funny. It seems somebody in Texas started a petition to have the city of Austin secede from Texas and remain part of the union. So far that petition has over 4,000 votes. But also in this article you will see that the Hardin County Republican Party Treasurer, Peter Morrison, called Obama backers maggots. That should give you a pretty good idea what kind of people these are.

From The New Republic comes the best of all, "Go Ahead and Secede, Texas. I Dare You," and the one you need to read if you read any of them. If you do read it you have to read it all from beginning to end. It gets a bit serious in the middle and you'll start to think that maybe Texas would be better off but the finish is totally awesome. I don't want to ruin it but I will finish with the final line from that column ....

"Don’t mess with us, Texas. You just might get what you want."

11/16 update - Sorry for this bit of sad news but the petition for the State of Herp-a-Derp to secede from the union was removed from the White House website because it violates the site's terms of service and is in fact fictional. Really? I never would have guessed. At this writing petitions to deport anybody who signs a petition to secede remain on the site. Probably just wishful thinking on everybody's part.

Observations 9.20

The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
September 20, 2012

Statement by the President on the One Year Anniversary of the Repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell

A year ago today, we upheld the fundamental American values of fairness and equality by finally and formally repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’   Gay and lesbian Americans now no longer need to hide who they love in order to serve the country they love.  It is a testament to the professionalism of our men and women in uniform that this change was implemented in an orderly manner, preserving unit cohesion, recruitment, retention and military effectiveness.   As Commander in Chief, I’ve seen that our national security has been strengthened because we are no longer denied the skills and talents of those patriotic Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian.  The ability of service members to be open and honest about their families and the people they love honors the integrity of the individuals who serve, strengthens the institutions they serve, and is one of the many reasons why our military remains the finest in the world.