Tim Brough's Black Leather Bookshelf

Some good news in this part of the world. I got news from PA Career Link that the College Grant I've been doing paperwork and tests for since April has finally been approved. This money will cover the costs of a course at Delaware County Community College for Network Administration from Microsoft. Then hopefully lead to a job with a career orientation. Class starts September 20th, two nights a week and runs into January of next year.

Our local Republican Congressmen in the House, Patrick Meehan, held a town meeting here in Springfield last night. Being a pissed-off unemployed constituent, I got there early enough to plop my butt down in the front row. When Representative Meehan arrived, I smiled, shook his hand along with the rest of the first line of attendees, and applauded at the appropriate talking points. Then, as soon as he went to the "Ask a Question" period, I shot my hand up. Since I was being so polite in the opening portion and nicely visible, I was probably the third or fourth person called on. His handler held the mic up to me, and I let him have it with both barrels.

"Representative Meehan, I am one of those 80% of the country frustrated with Congress. I've been laid of from my job and unemployed since January. When you and your fellow freshman Republicans ran for The House last year, it was all about 'jobs, jobs, jobs.' But since you came into office, not a single jobs bill has been introduced in The House. Bills about abortion, gay rights have, but not jobs. I want to know what, when you return to Washington, you, Speaker Boehner, Eric Cantor, who today is saying he won't approve help for hurricane victims without more cuts, are going to do about job creation!"

Cue wild applause.

Pro that he is, Mr Meehan went right to "we must work on bringing down the debt in order to make more jobs...." to which the room began to boo. Also, as soon as your question is done, the handlers race away with the mics so you can't reply. But that was pretty much the point where Mr Meehan began to sweat. I'd say that 70% of the room was not on his team, and the questions were pretty pointed, if at least civil. Only one real wacko, a right-wing nut-job who insisted President Obama was secretly opening sub-prime mortgages to high risk home buyers (IE: the blacks!), to which Mr Meehan was cognizant enough to tell her that he had heard nothing of the sort and did not think this was genuine. He also had his share of supporters in attendence, who lobbed softballs his way and he would smile, give the pat answer, and look for another sympathetic attendee.

However, this was not a coming out party for the guy. At 8 PM he stopped solid and I jumped from my chair, grabbed his hand in a firm handshake and thanked him for taking my question. I also repeated that I fully expected him to do more than what was going on and to see some work done. I got the feeling he was sincere if uncomfortable, and was taken aback by the forcefulness of the crowd (my guess about 100 people).

In storm news, my Mom finally got her power on yesterday afternoon after downed trees took out the electric in Northern Lebanon, and my Dad's electric came on yesterday morning. I want to find George Will, who whined that Hurricane Irene was overhyped, and lock him in a house with no electric and water for four days, then let him and his awful toupee come out and give an update. Same with Eric Cantor, whom I am beginning to suspect is a sociopath when it comes to helping the American Public vs GOP.

Utter Bunk
One Out of Five Stars

"House of Numbers" is a horrible, angering mess. That is the kindest thing to say about it. Basically a rundown of every anti-AIDS conspiracy theory since the crisis began, it repeatedly asks the question over and over; Why Have We not Found The Cure For AIDS? Simple question, sure. But the answers are more complex that this movie wants to address.

For starters, AIDS is a relatively young disease. The main outbreak and plague broke thorough in the late 70's and swelled through the 80's and 90's. While research suggests that there may have been cases far earlier, it wasn't until this period that the Scientific and Medical communities began taking serious research into the illness. In the USA, that research was near nil, thanks to the likes of Jesse Helms and the despicable policies of Ronald Reagan. So asking why we have not found a cure is foolish. Cancer and even the common cold are far older and more researched diseases, yet we still have nothing to cure either. Health Research is not a toaster; things do not just pop out after four minutes.

Then they try and look at the disease itself. They roll out the same tired tropes, like poppers gave you AIDS, the drugs were what caused AIDS deaths (partially true, the misunderstanding of the EARLY drugs - like AZT - harmed people), and the usual crap that gay men having sex were doing it to themselves. The modern 'drug cocktail' has been refined over the course of near 20 years to have balanced the side effects since then, but there's still plenty of conspiracy theorists who will try and convince you that "Big Pharma" is just trying to get your money.

Then they find the Doctors who are happy to tell you their theories why HIV and AIDS are right and the rest are bogus. However, the overwhelming preponderance of the Medical/Scientific have no doubts that HIV and AIDS exist and can kill you if not properly treated. The question raised in "House of Numbers" that HIV may not even be communicable is not just ignorant, it is dangerous. People are exposed to different infections every day (and I'll jump back to that common cold analogy again), but you don't have an illness every day. Illnesses break through in a variety of ways, and sometimes the factors involves vary from moment to moment, even in the same person.

"House of Numbers" raises question and offers no answers. It throws theories out but offers few facts. It questions the deaths of hundreds of thousands, but offers little insight into what killed them. It's easy to cast aspersions on things you do not want to believe. "House of Numbers" drags out stupidity and wild-eyed fear and then tries to offer it as controversy. Like Climate Change or Intelligent Design deniers, there can always be found a small group of true believers willing to argue that there is dissent over 'the facts.' But opinions are not facts and "House Of Numbers" does not offer much of factual info, and that makes it dangerous.



 

You can blame it all on Craigslist! It all started when the Congressman-Stud saw an ad. It said: "I'm looking for men who did not look like toads."


Republican Congressman Chris Lee


This then, brought a response from Mr. Lee: "Hope I'm not a toad. i'm a very fit fun classy guy. Live in Cap Hill area. 6ft 190lbs blond/blue. 39. Lobbyist. I promise not to disappoint." And then he sent her the above photo.

All well and dandy, except Mr. Lee is married. To a woman.

And so, rather than fight the obvious, Mr. Lee has decided to step down and resign his position as a New York Congressman.


Conservatives are losing a good man. Mr. Lee has a solid voting record:

• Anything Gay, he voted down, including the repeal of "Don't ask don't tell."
• Anything to criminalize abortions he voted for, including the Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act.
• He likes guns too, and wants you to carry one wherever you go.

Now don't worry! Mr. Lee will pretty soon find a replacement job. Just like he said: He's a Lobbyist! And we're sure he'll have a wonderful time spreading money around congress so American corporations can stay in China and not pay any taxes ... And those Heathen Homos can continue to be Second Class Citizens, by the glory of "god."

@@@@@
Too Bad Vitter and Ensign keep hanging on to their posts.