Gandhi, Fighting the Judicial Filibuster, and Good Music

I went to see Catie Curtis and Julie Wolf play on Wednesday night. (It was a special gift from my sweetheart.) What a great concert! A lot of fun, and it was in a great space -- the new World Cafe Live performance venue. (Try the hummus platter, too.)

Anyway, Julie has a quote I want to remember when it feels like the Radical Right are taking over the U.S., plowing through our government and our schools and into our homes and lives. Here it is:

When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they seem invincible but in the end, they always fall -- think of it, always.
--Gandhi

Of course, the tyrants always fall because good people do something to help the process along. For example, today that might mean calling your Senator and telling them to vote "No" on the changes to do away with the judicial filibuster. The filibuster is our friend.

Hoeffel Endorses Casey

I got an email a few minutes ago from Joe Hoeffel endorsing Bob Casey for U.S. Senate. It reads, in part:

This is the most important U.S. Senate race in the country ... because Rick Santorum isn't just another Republican vote in the U.S. Senate. Day after day, he's been leading the fight for President Bush's right wing agenda and ignoring the pressing problems of many poor and struggling middle class families here in Pennsylvania.

....

We've got to devote all of our energies to removing him from the U.S. Senate. That is why I have endorsed Bob Casey. Won't you join me?

I've known Bob Casey for more than a decade. I know him to be a person of great compassion and decency, and while he and I don't agree on every issue, I ask you to look at his record of standing up and making a difference for people in need.

....

Bob is an effective advocate for seniors, for children and for working families...

Of course, this isn't surprising, after Gov. Ed Rendell's lame move to endorse Casey last month, short-circuiting that little thing called the primary. (And with it, Democrats’ right to choose the candidate they want.)

Bob might be an effective advocate for seniors, children and working families that don’t need an abortion. Bob might be an effective advocate for those who don’t care about the precedential value of Roe v. Wade on women’s rights. Or those who are pro-death penalty. But for those of us who do, well, it just looks like we’ve been sold up the river (again).

Now, there are real differences between Santorum and Casey. Santorum pushes the Republican party further to the right. He is its well-scrubbed, young religious zealot of the future. He makes my skin crawl, and well, his whole comparison of homosexuality and bestiality really rubbed me the wrong way.

Casey, on the other hand, pushes the Democratic party further to the right. He is pro-death penalty. He supports the legality of abortion only when a woman’s life is endangered. (For those wondering, that means he does not support a woman’s right to an abortion in cases of rape or incest. Yea, family values!) He appears to support legislation that would make scientific research subject to passing a "moral test." (For more on his issues, check out this Daily Kos story.)

While the Dems might then pick up a seat in the Senate, at what cost? We in the United States continue to live in a country run by the aristocracy, by the rich, white, straight men who do little to effect change because it will only harm their own interests. Rendell’s power play to endorse Casey, and Hoeffel’s jump onto the bandwagon just reinforces that. All hail to the old boys’ club, ‘cause it ain’t going anywhere.

As Catharine MacKinnon wrote, “give women equal power in social life…Let what we say matter… Take your foot off our necks, then we will hear in what tongue women speak.”

Poopie Pope

Well, the bell tolled and now we've got a guy who chose to name himself after some egg dish. Sigh.

I'm not sure what to say about this (where to begin?). Sadly, my candidacy never got the traction it needed. I think my vagina got in the way.

As for the new Pope, there are two possible glimmers of hope. The first is, of course, his age. Since the average life expectancy of white men in the U.S. is 77.6 (and our Western European counterparts are typically about the same), I figure that he's living on borrowed time. They'll be tapping him with the silver mallet in no time.

The second potential bit of hope is his follow-all-the-rules-or-get-out approach. Fair enough. If you can't follow ALL of the rules that His Popedom bestowed upon you, then you don't belong in the Catholic Church. Or so his thinking goes. I think that's a good idea. Progressive Catholics have been looking the other way on the travesties that Vatican City has bestowed upon them for too long. Maybe if he pushes this point, all of the pro-woman, pro-Choice, pro-homo, pro-euthanasia, pro-birth-control, pro-non-Christian, pro-sexual-abuse-survivor Catholics will leave the Catholic Church, or split off and form their own separate sect of Catholicism. And then maybe, just maybe, Vatican City will keep its paws out of politics and my life.

Related note: Does the Pope uniform have special Pope underwear? Boxers? Briefs? Thong? Special Pope bloomers?

The Bell Hasn't Tolled Yet

Well, the first vote blew black smoke, so I've still got a chance. Unfortunately, I haven't made my way to Vatican City yet, so, well, it's just not looking too promising at the moment. Sad.

I think I would have been a good Pope, but I guess it's time to concede.

I'm also up to my ears in Crim Pro, Tax, Jurisprudence and First Amendment. Well, maybe not quite my ears. I'm at that point where I'm putting all of my notes into pretty little notebooks. Crim Pro is a lovely chartreuse. I thought it might be motivational. I don't know why, but I always like to segregate out my notes before finals. I think that if they're segregated, they'll have a better chance to coalesce with one another. You know, like the April 18 notes will get a chance to talk to March 28 notes. Say a big howdy ho. And it will all make more sense to me when I open it all up the next day.

My partner has announced that she is fleeing our home for my last finals-weekend-extravaganza, which nicely coincides with my birthday on May 2. (I'll be turning the age of Jesus, and would like to have a Dress As Your Favorite Biblical Character pary.) I don't blame her. I am one big special treat during exams. Like me, usually, except with a little gerbil-on-a-wheel, Roadrunner-esque, manic quality to add for special Examtime fun. Whee. Don't blame her one bit for heading north to the Cape. But she better bring me back something cool.

Andrea Dworkin Dead at 58

Since it has not been reported in the U.S. press (yet, I hope), here's the Guardian's obituary.

Campaign Volunteers Needed

I have a big announcement to make. And I need your help.

I'm running for Pope. I'm planning on sneaking into Vatican City, Yentl-style, with my boobs bound up and my hair shorn short, to throw my hat into the ring.

I want the papal ring. The big silver stick. The fancy outfits with the little beanie. Those nice gold pillows. The cool car with the bullet-proof glass. The trips around the world. The giant crucifix. A pulpit from which to speak every week. Millions who follow my every word and decree.

I want the power of the papal decree.

It's a grassroots campaign. I'm counting on a groundswell of support. I'll need to be a write-in candidate. But we can do it, together.

And if elected Pope, I promise to usher in a kinder, gentler papacy. Communion wafers in different flavors. Chocolate-dipped and strawberry-flavored. Wine of a respectable vintage. Pews with cushions. Limited kneeling. No more incense. Or charging for candles.

When I'm Pope, catechism will include lessons with condoms and bananas, and a guide on where to find safe, legal abortions. Homosexuality will be openly embraced, and the priests and nuns can finally march in the annual Gay Pride Parade. We'll do away with that whole celebacy charade, and let everyone get married. We'll ordain women as priests, bishops and cardinals, and clean house of the pedophiles. And sing Christmas carols all year long.

Happy Birthday Nancy McKeon!

The Pope's dead, there's a new potential new strain of HIV, we're still at war, and I have less than a month of law school, but, well, this blog is really about the pressing news of the day. So, with just an hour left in the day, I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Nancy McKeon (of Facts of Life fame). She doesn't appear to have an offical website, and I think her television show, the Division, sucks, but well, Happy Birthday, anyway.