From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
Clarknt67 says what???
Scott Wooledge is a native Midwesterner who moved to New York City in 1993 and has worked for the last 15 years in art direction for the consumer magazine industry. He's a long-time member of Cheer New York, which performs at charity events and exhibitions. And he also helped speed along the repeal of the 'Don't ask, don’t tell' policy by chaining himself, with 11 others, to the White House fence late last year. You know him better as Kossack Clarknt67, one of this site's most popular and prolific GLBT diary authors and activists. We're thrilled that he's agreed to plop himself in our giant beanbag chair as the latest hapless victim in our C&J interview series (now in its fifth year!), Yes, We're All Staring At YOU!
Cheers & Jeers: How long have you been blogging and what originally brought you to Daily Kos?
Clarknt67: Looks like I joined on October 28, 2007. I was looking for a spot where I could talk politics with smart people who shared my values and I found it.
You're a prolific and damned fine writer on GLBT issues here at Daily Kos. In the big picture, do you believe we've reached a "tipping point" in terms of momentum towards full equality, and now it's just a matter of time?
Aw shucks, thanks. Yes. We've turned a corner, absolutely. I don't like to hear "it's a matter of time" indicating an attitude of inevitability. We can go backwards. New Hampshire is likely to vote to repeal marriage equality in 2012. ENDA has never seemed more out of reach. I have a philosophy that we---activists---can only move the conversation forward by always saying, "Yes, and..." I was grateful that my Senator, Kirsten Gillibrand, responded to New York's victory by saying the very next day: Our Next Marriage Equality Fight: Repealing DOMA. If we're not always pushing forward, we will fall back.
You live in New York, which recently passed marriage equality for gay couples. Who, in your opinion, were the biggest winners and losers in that fight…and which states do you think will follow New York?
Winners: Teamwork. All the players worked in concert just beautifully. Rarely do we see such harmonious synchronicity between insiders, outsiders, big players and small. Props all around. Andrew Cuomo: The first Governor to really lead the charge, his confident leadership was inspiring. He mapped the strategy, commanded the troops and emerged a victorious hero. Human Rights Campaign ran a great field/ground operation. SEIU and other unions were a big help too.
Losers: Senator Rueben Diaz: killing marriage equality in 2009 was his pyrrhic victory. He has no friends left in Albany. He's now the crazy uncle increasingly fewer people can tolerate. The National Organization for Marriage: they never really brought their A game, they were listless and nonsensical during the fight and their post-defeat behavior has exposed them as mean, sour, and pathetic. Mike Long: the leader of New York's Conservative Party drew a line in the sand and his GOP friends walked right over it. He'll try to extract electoral revenge in 2012. If he fails, he and the religious right in New York will be humiliated and viewed as marginal players. Regardless, the right is now fighting among themselves over this (and ain't that grand?), while the left is victorious and united, and the center just doesn't really care.
Next states: I'm hopeful for Maryland and Maine in 2012. Maybe Prop 8 will fall at the ballot box or the courts in 2012, and California will rejoin us soon. Our movement will unfortunately be playing defense over the next year, staving off conservative religious efforts to demonize us in New Hampshire, North Carolina, Minnesota and elsewhere.
What does your gut tell you about the future of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)?
DOMA will fall in the courts. The Justice Department dealt it a crippling blow when they reversed course from defending it in February. But the Golinski brief the DOJ filed in July was especially devastating. It was 31 pages of pure fierce advocacy. This will be a historic milestone in the LGBT movement and the Obama administration deserves high praise for taking this action.
Last fall you and a dozen other people, including Lt. Dan Choi, chained yourselves to the White House fence to protest the 'Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell' policy. You were then arrested for your act of civil disobedience. What was the spark that urged you to participate in that?
There was a tipping point. After the midterms, both Harry Reid and President Obama held press conferences to discuss their agenda for the lame duck session. Tax cuts, unemployment extension, the START treaty and other items were mentioned. Neither man mentioned DADT repeal as being on the agenda. When asked by the press about DADT, Reid offered a not terribly reassuring quote: "I think it's something we could work out." And President Obama said there was still time "potentially during the lame duck session to change this policy."
There were only four weeks left. It couldn't be an option, or a potentiality, it had to be done. We had to communicate to our leaders in Washington that DADT repeal could not wait, the time was now, because it sure the hell wasn't going to be 2011 or 2012. I think the message was received, and a satisfying outcome reached, though there is still much work ahead to ensure an environment of non-discrimination is the norm.
What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde? Nothing renders us invincible, alas. But I can forget about them with Lady Gaga or Mamas and Papas. I have very diverse taste, I like oldies from Motown, and have a number of soundtracks from teen shows like The OC on my ipod. Anyone else a Her Space Holiday fan?
What's the one book every Kossack must read?
Randy Shilts' Conduct Unbecoming, written in 1993, exposes the really ugly underbelly of the military's treatment of gays and lesbians dating all the way back to the Revolutionary War. Meticulously researched, he did similarly great work documenting the early AIDS crisis in And The Band Played On. This is LGBT history told from the LGBT community's perspective.
If you had President Obama's ear during the proverbial 30-second elevator ride, what advice would you give him?
Mr. President, millions of Americans are suffering. They can't afford to hire lobbyists. They can't afford to donate enough to earn a place on a Senator's call-time list. They can't penetrate the insulated inner sanctums of power here in DC. You are their lifeline. Please remember when you negotiate with the Republicans that they want to destroy the middle class, and the stakes for every one of these battles are lives, real people's lives, and their futures.
Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean…
Gaucamole.
No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Do I ever waffle? Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Dogs. Cats? Achoo!!!
I have one question left, but I'm late for my squash game with the Koch brothers. Please ask and answer the final question yourself...
Was that you I saw in background of the diner scene in that Sex & The City episode?
Why, yes, it was.
Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, August 15, 2011
Note: If it wasn't for a good cause I'd be on the phone with my attorney.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Bill Clinton's 65th birthday: 4
Days `til the Steinley Cup Official State Microbrewery Competition, Chili Cook-Off and Saratoga Bullfest in Saratoga, Wyoming: 5
Number of commercial flights stuck on tarmacs for more than three hours in June (a big no-no under new rules): 14
Number of airlines fined for violating the 3-hour rule so far: 0
(Source: Dept. of Transportation)
Number of countries besides the U.S. that have an AA+ S&P credit rating: 2 (Belgium, New Zealand)
(Source: Um…Stephen Colbert?)
Average amount left under pillows by the Tooth Fairy last year: $3.00
Average amount left under pillows by the Tooth Fairy so far this year: $2.60
(Source: The Denver Post via The Week)
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Puppy Pic of the Day: And the Tony for Best Performance By A Three-Legged Pooch goes to…
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CHEERS to putting the race in Monday morning perspective. Now that the weekend's over, here's where things stand in the GOP's potato-sack race to the White House:
Michele RICK Bachmann PERRY won IS the RUNNING straw FOR poll PRESIDENT in AND Ames, WILL Iowa CRUSH Saturday MICHELE Afternoon BACHMANN.
Meanwhile, President Obama takes to the open road for a few days on a Harley with a sidecar for Biden tour bus, visiting the midwest to get feedback from "ord'nary folks" about how the government is performing on their behalf. I believe it's called the [Bleeping Bleep Bleep!] tour. Catchy!
P.S. "Exorcist to the corn dog booth! Exorcist to the corn dog booth!"
JEERS to poor prognostication. I applaud Lawrence O'Donnell for sticking his neck out. Unfortunately, this weekend it got whacked. We take you back to his June 14 edition of The Last Word:
"Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, THE LAST WORD‘s official pick to win the Republican nomination. … Everything I say is good for my boy, Tim Pawlenty. … Tim Pawlenty, my pick for the Republican nominee by process of elimination, he will be the last man standing in my view."
Whoops. Join Lawrence tonight at 8 on MSNBC when special guest Emeril Lagasse dishes up a succulent bowl of crow.
CHEERS to VJ Day. Sixty six years ago today, America celebrated the end of the war in the Pacific. Our youngest W.W. II vets are now in their 80s, so today it's our pleasure to slip a nip `o scotch in their Ensure with a wink and a "thank you"---that was a war worth fighting. Meanwhile the Afghanistan war has dragged on 75 months---75!!!---longer than the Second World War. Not that we're counting. Or seething.
JEERS to dicks visiting the sticks. Guess who came wanderin' through Maine with a hidden camera and a fake Irish accent looking for FRAUD IN THE WELFARE SYSTEM???!!! Yeah, good guess: James O'Keefe. He made a video, then sent it to two right-wing groups: Americans for Prosperity and Maine's franchise of the Heritage Foundation. They showed it to the press and the governor, breathlessly labeling it EVIDENCE OF MASSIVE FRAUD!!! And, boy oh boy, there's a whole lotta, um, nothing there:
Gov. Paul LePage said, “The video in its entirety does not show a person willfully helping someone de-fraud the welfare system." …
Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Justin Alfond of Portland [responded:] "This was a sting operation without the sting. No fraud was committed. I commend Governor LePage and Commissioner Mayhew for honing in on the real issues,” said Alfond. “At best, it’s an example of how more training can always be helpful but at the end of the day, the supervisor caught the red flags. This is a radical group pitting Mainer against Mainer and spreading distrust of government and hatred of public servants.”
But, by golly, nice try, O'Keefe. To coin a phrase: Bullshit walks. But we're just as happy to run ya out on a rail.
CHEERS to great moments in dirty fucking hippiedom. On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock festival got underway near Bethel, New York. We hear some of the cows are still trippin'.
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Five years ago in C&J: August 15, 2006
CHEERS to deafening silence. Thanks to a cease-fire effectively brokered by the United Nations (making right-wingers fume), the violence between Israel and Lebanon has stopped for now. President Bush---apparently the self-appointed spokesperson for Israel---says his team won. Hezbollah says its team won. Meanwhile Joe Lieberman accused both sides of petty political partisan posturing and announced an independent bid to win the region. (Hadassah, you really need to sit him down and have a chat...)
JEERS to "Macaca Republicans." Led by Senator George Allen of Virginia, they see people who look different from them and---in 2006, mind you---feel comfortable calling them "monkeys" to their face while supporters lauuugh...and lauuugh...and lauuugh. (Teacherken has a roundup of press coverage here). I say...today, to show our solidarity with diversity, we are all macacas. Now, whose turn is it to pick the fleas out of Allen's hair?
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And just one more…
CHEERS to returning for an encore. A bonus question for Clarknt67, from our interview:
Who are your heroes, living or deceased, of the LGBT movement?
Harvey Milk. He gave every LGBT American a task that would forever change the political landscape for our community. The task is paying huge dividends today, and it was: "Come out." The most devastating blow to the regressive religious right is queer people living out, proud and showing America we just ain't what the haters say we are. He also helped forge the alliance between union labor and the LGBT community that continues today.
I bow before all the Red State LGBT troublemakers like Constance McMillen and those two lesbians who wore a gay-identifying t-shirt to Dollywood. I live insulated in a gay mecca, they have real courage and face serious consequences.
I love Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes and Adam Lambert, too. Ally Julian Bond's words always inspires me, he's brilliant and kind and gracious man to his core.
We'll file that under, "Reasons I Wouldn't Trade Being A Liberal For Anything." Our team may be harder to herd than the proverbial cats, but, damn, we're cool.
And so another week begins. Everybody stay calm, take a deep breath, and hold it 'til Friday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
"I'll work every day to make Bill in Portland Maine as inconsequential in your life as I can."
---Gov. Rick Perry
8/13/11
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