The Progressive Puppy

This is the post in which I channel Gertrude Stein to explain how Art, Greg and I are trying to save the pond and its fishes from the devastating effects of an unprecedented Texas drought.

Stream of Consciousness, Pond of Conscience

Our pond was dying.  We needed more than Governor Rick Perry's call to prayer.  We needed action.  (Is it possible to write a post about farm pond management that isn't dull?  Probably not, but I'll give it a shot.)

"There are some punctuations that are interesting and there are some punctuations that are not...  When I first began writing, I felt that writing should go on, I still do feel that it should go on but when I first began writing I was possessed by the necessity that writing should go on and if writing should go on what had colons and semi-colons to do with it, what had commas to do with it, what had periods to do with it what had small letters and capitals to do with it to do with writing going on which was at that time the most profound need I had in connection with writing. What had colons and semi-colons to do with it what had commas to do with it what had periods to do with it.  What had periods to do with it. Inevitably no matter how completely I had to have writing go on, physically one had to again and again stop sometime and if one had to again and again stop sometime then periods had to exist."  - Gertrude Stein

This article if you want to call it an article is actually intended for my regular and much-valued readers although frankly even die-hard Pups might find themselves taxed by what I'm fixing to relate since it is both non-political and of limited interest to urbanites and anyway like the fascinating and inimitable Miss Stein I will for once eschew commas and most other punctuation marks and allow my sentences to run on and on and on and on like those ghastly "Left Behind" movies which glamorize Armageddon and the Rapture while plot and character development take a back seat to the filmmakers' torpid proselytizing.

I'm going to discuss this relentless drought that's effecting the Lone Star State and how our farm pond was drying up fast despite the governor's showy chinwags with God the Father always the Father never the Mother and the prayers of born-again evangelicals who are convinced that their Deity needs some worshipful prodding before he'll deign to bump a few thunderclouds together and send gully-washers to drench Texas with the joyous tears of angels or whatever daffy dominionism du jour is currently wafting around the fundamentalist ether.  It seemed to me that God must be tied up in another galaxy or a separate plane of existence not literally tied up because that would be silly but figuratively tied up and so Art and I elected to actually do something about replenishing the pond while a majority of Texas residents wait for the Man in the Sky to answer or not answer their plaintive cries for help. 

Due to the intense heat and practically no rain the water in our supposedly spring-fed pond was disappearing faster than Baptist preachers from the lobby of a hooker convention and the only logical plan of action or at least logical from my highly caffeinated point of view was to inject a shitload of water back into the island of cracked earth and weeds that had once been the center of our pond.  I could not bear the thought of our poor fish gasping for breath in unoxygenated water not to mention depriving the local wildlife of refreshing sips of aqua pura.  (We rise before daybreak here and on our early morning jaunts with the dogs I have seen deer, jackrabbits, armadillos, raccoons, herons, and other creatures slaking their thirst at the pond.)

The other day at the feed store I heard an elderly man drawl:  "Ahm jist a'watin' fer my pond to dry up.  Cain't be too long now."  The clerk responded:  "Git yourself a backhoe and make the damn hole deeper."  "Yep, I figure it will rain sooner or later.  This mebbe the right time to dig it out good."  As I overheard this exchange I was standing in line holding a thirty pound bag of fish pellets.  Wait for your pond to dry up?  Unthinkable!

Anyway, here's what we did and you'll probably think this is insane and maybe it is but we did it and it is done and there you have it.  We decided to have municipal water or rather water from a local county cooperative piped in at a distance of a quarter mile across open pasture to the house which is set back in the woods and not visible from FM 102ScruMe since the Philistines supplying H20 are charging a cool thousand just to drop a meter along the edge of the property.  For a staggering fee we hired a plumbing contractor who was not unfamiliar with pond replenishment to dig a trench from the road to the well and lay PVC pipe in both directions to and from the pump house and then more pipe back to the pond.  So we have been refilling the pond with water from our well and getting chlorinated water inside the house which came with the added bonus of enhancing water pressure when one of us is taking a hot shower or doing the dishes or shaving or brushing our teeth or bathing the dogs.  You would not believe how much this project has cost and frankly I am embarrassed to tell you but we are dipping into our retirement fund in order to make this happen.

This could well be my last financial extravagance before leaving this polluted planet to the tender mercies of corporate climate change deniers and mindless Tea Party puppets not that I am going anywhere anytime soon but you never really know at what moment the Grim Reaper will drop by to say howdy.

Incidentally.  Three days after we started adding water I noticed baby fish tinier than minnows in the shallows and then just this morning I saw for the first time an entirely different species merrily schooling at the surface near the center on the pond.  They were black on top and had silver bellies, channel catfish I'm hoping.  (Oh no a comma!) 

(There are more pics after the jump...)

Bickering Huskies (video)

You may have already seen this but I think it's worth a second - or even a third - look.

Delicious doggie dialogue.    (Hat Tip: HuffPo)

Scott Brown's Intolerant Side - and the GOP, Casting Stones

By now you've heard that every member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation enthusiastically participated in an inspirational video for the "It Gets Better Project" (which gives hope to LGBT youngsters that are routinely ostracized and bullied in public schools) except for Republican Senator Scott Brown who refused point-blank, insisting that he was too busy "creating jobs" to spend even a smidgen of his precious time on the anti-bullying initiative.  (What message does Brown's absence in this PSA send to his own daughters?)  Here is that video, sans the GOP lawmaker: 

Manning its Family Values Battle Stations, conservative strategists at the National Republican Senatorial Committee are frantically warding of criticism of Brown by attacking gay author and activist Dan Savage, who made the very first IGB video with his life partner Terry.  As reported by Ben Smith at Politico, NRSC spokesman Brian Walsh hawked up the following spittle:  "It’s truly reached a new level of desperation in their efforts to tear down Scott Brown, but we look forward to hearing whether state and national Democrat leaders agree with Dan Savage’s long history of lewd, violent and anti-Christian rhetoric. Given their press conference call today, one has to presume at this point that they do."  To which Savage tartly responded:  "I am not the IGB project. The project has had the reach and impact that it's had thanks to tens of thousands of people from all over the world who've participated. [A]nd no one who participates is required to crawl into bed with me...  It is interesting, though, that not a single GOP elected official can bring himself or herself to make a video, or participate in the creation of one. No GOP elected official can risk being seen letting bullied LGBT kids know that life isn't high school and that it will get better for them."

Joe Sudbay at AmericaBlog walks the dog:  That's pretty darn sanctimonious coming from the NRSC, which includes David Vitter (who was caught frequenting numerous prostitutes - a crime- while married) as a member.  It's also pretty hypocritical of Brown, who had no problem associating himself with a known hate group last year. ... Seriously, the "It Gets Better" videos are about saving kids.  Clearly, that's not a GOP priority.

I'll tell you what also isn't a GOP priority, despite the lip service it receives from conservative pols:  job creation. 

These are the top three Republican goals, as dictated by the Religious Right and Tea Party fanatics:

1.  More tax breaks for corporations and multi-millionaires
2.  Cutting social programs that bring some small relief to impoverished citizens
3.  Blocking all advances in equal rights for LGBT Americans

I'm concluding this post with a thoughtful "It's Gets Better" vid from one of my favorite actresses, Mary McDonnell:

Killer of Texas Gay Man "Prays" for Parole

"The defendants swarmed out of their vehicles, chased Paul down a dead-end street, surrounded him and they attacked — beating the defenseless Paul Broussard with a nail-studded two-by-four, kicking him in the face, chest and groin with steel-toed boots, crushing his testicles, hitting him with their fists and, finally, Jon Christopher Buice stabbed him to death."  - Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos, to parole board

Carol Christian reports for the Houston Chronicle:  Sometime in October, Jon Buice is set to walk out of a West Texas prison a free man, clear of his debt to the state for killing gay Houston banker Paul Broussard in 1991.  But a growing contingent of local elected officials is working behind the scenes to make sure Buice doesn't taste freedom quite yet.  Buice (pronounced "Bice") is serving 45 years in prison for his part in Broussard's murder, which stunned this city two decades ago. Commissioners in the Amarillo office of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles voted 2-0 on July 1 to approve Buice's parole.  (For the benefit of Pups who reside outside the Lone Star State:  Amarillo is a medium-sized city awash in fundie Christian extremism.  One especially virulent religious group there is called Repent Amarillo.   RA Pastor David Grisham made the news last year by threatening a statewide boycott of Houston for the sin of electing a lesbian mayor.  In Amarillo, the Qur'an is burned by born-again evangelicals.  There is a map with Google pushpins for pointing out hotspots of "wickedness."  So it's really not surprising that Amarillo-based officials would find nothing amiss in allowing Buice to go free after serving less than half of his sentence.)   Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos recently wrote a letter to the board, graphically recounting how 10 Woodlands-area "co-conspirators" drove to Montrose to bully homosexuals, targeting Broussard, then 27, and two friends...  Whitmire said it's unusual for him to write a letter to the parole board.  "I think if you do it too often, they think it's your routine," he said. "It's not my routine. I don't get people in prison or out of prison."  State Sen. Rodney Ellis and state Reps. Jessica Farrar and Garnet Coleman, all Houston Democrats, also sent the board letters.  (Republican politicians presumed to be "tough on crime" are invariably not as concerned when the victims are LGBT.)  Coleman said part of his reason for writing was this crime's "heinous nature."  (Did I mention that Jon Buice "found Jesus" while he was incarcerated?  Amarillo's Board of Pardons would consider this development sooooo inspiring.)

My partner and I were living in the Montrose area when this violent murder took place.  It happened, in fact, less than three miles from our house.  Even in the early nineties, anti-gay violence in the Bayou City was not uncommon.  This particular hate crime, however, sent major shock waves throughout the community.  The metro police were, shall we say, casual in pursuing the perps.  Prior to the trial, backroom deals were cut with Buice's accomplices that would make Jack McCoy cringe.  Neighborhood outrage and political pressure resulted in some justice for Broussard, no thanks to the HPD.  But this was the first time many LGBT Houstonians realized how vulnerable to assault we all were - and that we could not depend upon street cops to pursue gay bashers.  

Although the situation in Houston is different now, and a better relationship exists between law enforcement and the gay community, this case stirs up bad memories.  If Buice is released prematurely, it will seem like nothing has changed.

Bachmann, Barron, Bullying and Gay Teen Suicide

"See me. Feel Me. Touch me. Heal me."  ... from the rock opera Tommy

Would a sewer rat curry favor with a boa constrictor?  Would a lobster grovel before a sous chef that's preparing to boil it alive?  Would a bunny expect mercy from a L'Oreal Cosmetics chemist who squirts scalding test product into its eyes? 

The smug but undeniably fit Chris Barron, Obama-bashing dictator of the homo-cons at GOProud, apparently believes he can charm a woman who is possibly the most anti-gay presidential hopeful in the history of these United States.  Like the snivelling sycophant that he is, Barron has been pleading for a one-on-one audience with Her Wacky Majesty.  He wants that meeting and he wants it ba-aaaad.

As any political junky knows, Michele Bachmann's loathing for queer folk is matched only by Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern who once claimed gays are worse than the 9/11 terrorists that killed over 2,700 U.S. citizens.  Like Kern, Bachmann is married to a man who considers LGBT Americans to be depraved sinners that must be "fixed."  Pastor Steve Kern says he would force "deviants" (aka: those with a different sexual orientation than his own) into "treatment centers" against their will.  Marcus Bachmann hasn't used the word "force" (yet) but parents with adolescents who are gay and lesbian are strongly advised to send them to his profitable clinics for snake oil pray-away-the-gay treatment.  Perhaps Chris Barron should give this discredited "reparative therapy" a try, y'know, since he clearly identifies with homophobes and supports politicians who would undo our modest advances in equality and reward millionaires with even more tax breaks.

For all I care, Masochistic Chris can swap lust juice with the Bachmanns' symbolic "ex-lesbian" Janet Boynes and beget a brood of egomaniacal, intolerant, ignorant, greedy GOPers.  Barron's self-indulgent beliefs are his own business and 'Frankly Mah Dear I don't give a damn' - or I wouldn't, if Miserable Michele and her suspiciously prissy spouse were not embracing a destructive agenda that literally shames LGBT youngsters into an early grave. 

Stephanie Mencimer for Mother Jones:  Over the past two years, a total of nine teenagers have committed suicide in a Minnesota school district represented by Rep. Michele Bachmann—the latest in May—and many more students have attempted to take their lives. State public health officials have labeled the area a "suicide contagion area" because of the unusually high death rate...  And the anti-gay activists who are some of the congresswoman's closest allies stand accused of blocking an effective response to the crisis and fostering a climate of intolerance that allowed bullying to flourish. Bachmann, meanwhile, has been uncharacteristically silent on the tragic deaths that have roiled her district—including the high school that she attended...

Bachmann's anti-gay positions are well-documented and as Internet-searchable as the horseshit which emanates from that smirk Rick Man-On-Dog Santorum calls a mouth.  And yet, the Tea Party diva's silence on this issue shrieks volumes. 

Think Progress provides a noteworthy piece that shines light on the Michele Enigma titled "Five Reasons Why Bachmann’s Current Silence On Anti-Gay Bullying Breaks With Her Past Record."  Reason Number 3 is an astonishing comment made by the femme 'phobe that was delivered during a 2006 Minnesota Education Committee hearing on legislation mandating anti-bullying policies in public schools.  Sayeth Michele:  "I just don’t know how we’re ever going to get to point of zero tolerance and what does it mean? Will we be expecting boys to be girls? What is it exactly that we’re asking for?"  (Boys will be boys and anti-gay bullying is a natural part of classroom/schoolyard shenanigans - that's the Religious Right's primary talking point on the subject.) 

Born-again and running on empty.  The woman inhabits a house of smoke.  Not the good stuff.   (Barron photo via Queerty)

UPDATE:  I'm astonished at how fundie Christians can justify the persecution of LGBT students in Christ's name.  Mission America's Linda Harvey, a person so lacking in compassion that she condemns the "It Gets Better Project," recently railed against a grant that would create safe spaces for tormented and harassed school kids.  Harvey told the wingnut website World Net Daily that all anti-bullying programs represent "child corruption" and are "fast-tracking youth into homosexuality and gender confusion."  Sounds like she and Michelle and Sally could start their own Hellfire Club.

Glenn Beck Says Murdered Kids in Norway "Like the Hitler Youth"

For the first time in many years, the Fox News Channel had demonstrated a small token of responsibility when it stopped broadcasting Glenn Beck's television program - but why on earth is this man still spitting venom on the radio?  What sort of people actually embrace his paranoid, conspiracy theory, anti-progressive, ultraconservative bullshit?  Oh wait, that would be "Tea Party patriots" and their intolerant evangelical brethren.

As reported on the Huffington Post:  Glenn Beck spoke out about the mass killings in Norway on his Monday radio show.  Beck said that he was troubled by the summer camp that was the site of the overwhelming majority of the carnage perpetrated by Anders Behring Breivik, the right-wing extremist who has admitted to the killings.  The camp is run by Norway's leading center-left party, the Labor Party, and has long been a haven for young people looking to break into the political scene.  Beck said the camp "sounds a little like the Hitler Youth.  I mean, who does a camp for kids that's all about politics?   Disturbing." 

Who does a camp about politics?  Is he kidding?  Is Beck unaware that Christian conservatives regularly inject right-wing ideology into their so-called Jesus camps and youth rallies?  The NRA routinely hosts a variety of outdoor programs for children - and face it, there's no more political organization in America than the NRA.  Also, what about those woodsy gatherings of the racist Young Republicans?  Could Beck really be this stupid?  Perhaps the hate radio jock just naturally assumes that his listeners are as mentally lethargic as he is.   (HuffPo has the audio.)