From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
FREEZE!!!
Talk about a law enforcement officer who has it together. Lupe Valdez, elected Dallas County Sheriff last November, is a Hispanic woman who is a Democrat and happens to be gay. Here are some excerpts from an interview with Janice Hughes in the summer issue of `Equality,' the magazine of the Human Rights Campaign (Join here)...
What do you think first motivated you to work for a better society?
Well, when I was young, I remember watching "The Martin Luther King Story" on TV. At some point, King says, "If we don't want to be second-class citizens, we've got to stop acting like second-class citizens." And that hit home.
Do people come up to you and say you're the first lesbian they've ever met?
What I have found is a lot of people will say, "We're so glad, my son is gay," or "My neighbor is gay, and they're really good people." I think what I've done is validate a lot of good gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
A colleague at HRC tells me her partner, who is a police officer, worries the most that one day she will be working a shift with someone who will be anti-gay and may not back her up on a dangerous call. Did you ever think about that?
Oh yes, of course. But it wasn't only because of being gay. Now remember, I've been in law enforcement for 30 years. Thirty years ago, it was the same thing against women. Thirty years ago, I remember somebody would say, "I'm going to do everything I can to get you fired." You have to hope that the people backing you are professionals and can look beyond their biases.
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
I have been a public servant all my life. So if I'm not here, I'm going to be serving someplace. You know, you just continue. Where am I going to be 10 years from now? I'll be 10 years better.
Read the rest here. I [Heart] Lupe Valdez.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Cheers for Thursday, July 21, 2005
Note: This generation of Americans has a rendevous with jiggy.
By the Numbers:
Days `til Labor Day: 46
Days `til Friendship Sloop Days in Rockland: 9
Number of divorces among Army personnel in 2001: 5,658
Number of divorces among Army personnel in 2004: 10,477
(Source: AP)
Severance pay for fired Krispy Kreme CEO Scott Livengood: $46,000 per month
Severance pay for fired adulterous Boeing CEO Harry Stonecipher: $600,000 per year
(Source: Newsweek)
Severance pay greedy/incompetent CEOs deserve: $0 (plus a swift kick in the ass)
Your Puppy Pic of the Day: If the heat hasn't melted you yet, this surely will.
CHEERS to intel from the locals. Bill Kayatta is a respected Portland, Maine lawyer and lifelong Democrat who has known John Roberts for 30 years. This quip makes us breathe a tad easier: "I think of John as a conservative in the old-fashioned sense of the word, not a cable TV conservative. But someone who has respect for history and institutions. Both the far left and far right are going to be a little bit uncomfortable with this." We could live with that.
P.S. In your FACE, cable TV conservatives!
JEERS to that lying, bamboozling, piece of weasel poop (with apologies to real weasels and their innocent poop). George W. Bush gets caught lying to the American public again...this time a golden oldie from Inauguration Day, 2001:
"I expect every member of this administration to stay well within the boundaries that define legal and ethical conduct. This means avoiding even the appearance of problems. This means checking and, if need be, double-checking that the rules have been obeyed."
Karl and Scooter must not have gotten that memo, huh?
CHEERS to comeuppance. 31 years ago today, in 1974, the House Judiciary approved articles of impeachment against Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon. This time, his dog Checkers wasn't around to save his paranoid ass.
CHEERS to G.I. Billy. I turn 41 in two weeks, which now gives me a full year to turn openly-heterosexual (Help me be strong, Jesus!) so I can enlist in the Army. But I'll only sign the papers if I get to invade Amsterdam.
JEERS to the not-so-safe skies. Terrorism of another kind: 40 pilots were indicted in California for a bunch of unreported problems like, oh...schizophrenia and drug addiction. Nice day for a walk, don't you think?
CHEERS to subversive scribes. Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau turns 57 today. Thanks for taking the fight to the funny pages every day. It drives the fundies crazy.
JEERS to online slowpokes. Yesterday afternoon at 5, the top story in the PlanetOut section of my Yahoo home page was headlined: "Edith Clement is likely Supreme Court nominee". The story is dated Tuesday at 9:58pm! Wow...that must've been some party.
JEERS to losing our favorite engineer. Oh, this hurts. James Doohan---aka Montgomery Scott of the very real world of Star Trek (and don't tell me otherwise)---has died at 85. When all seemed lost, you could always count on him to patch things up in a pinch. "Earth to St. Peter...one to beam up."
CHEERS to the depth of my wisdom. Wouldn't it be nice, once Democrats take control of the White House, to appoint a Supreme Court Justice who is---this is so brilliant---a Native American??? Thank you, thank you...you can just engrave "BIPM" on my Pulitzer.
JEERS to excessive earwax. Okay Dubya, I'm going to shout this real loud so maybe you can hear it real good: "GLOBAL WARMING IS CAUSED PRIMARILY BY HUMANS AND `NEARLY ALL CLIMATE SCIENTISTS TODAY' AGREE WITH THAT VIEWPOINT, THE NEW HEAD OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES---A CLIMATE SCIENTIST HIMSELF---SAID YESTERDAY!! [waves hand in front of Preznit] Amazing...the guy sleeps with his eyes open.
JEERS to libido-busters. On this date in 1985, three of Playgirl's "10 Sexiest Men" were John Candy, Mario Cuomo and GOP Rep. Jack Kemp. A carbon monoxide poison-control team was immediately dispatched to the magazine's headquarters.
CHEERS to ursos arctos outwitting homo sapiens. A brown bear weighing a quarter of a ton is startling residents in Croatia---get this---by knocking on their doors, walking in, and stealing food from their kitchens. But since the incidents happen at night, and many residents are far-sighted, police suspect it might just be crazy Uncle Sasha.
JEERS to Canada. Not because they officially made gay marriage legal yesterday...but because they beat us to it. Probably by decades.
CHEERS to tough broads. Happy birthday, Janet Reno. The former Attorney General and Saturday Night Live dance sensation turns 67 today. We echo Time magazine's opinion of her.
C&J Flashback: July 21, 2004...
CHEERS to tree-hugging Republicans. Russell Train, EPA chief under Nixon and Ford, says he's gotta vote for Kerry because, "It's almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection. I find this deeply disturbing." Meet one of the good guys
JEERS to Katherine Lanpher. Says on The O'Franken Factor that Labrador retrievers "aren't very smart." When C&J's chocolate lab, Molly, was informed of this, she gently put down the New York Times, removed her reading glasses, walked over to our PC, logged in, took a sip of her Chianti, and peed on the Franken blog. Thanks, Katherine.
And just one more...
Cheers to Hillary in '08. As in, "Hillary in '08---the Broadway showstopper." Funny stuff in the spirit of Jib-Jab if you click here. The sad part: reality is even loonier.
Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless Testimonial:
"The significant rise in purchases of Cheers and Jeers-blocking software seems to have charged some regional markets with speculative fever."
Alan "My Favorite Color Is" Greenspan
7/20/05
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