10,000

Sometime between yesterday and today, the number of people who have checked out my blog in the last year crossed the 10,000 mark. Not too shabby gentle, readers, not too shabby. Thanks for reading and commenting and I hope that you will continue in the New Year.

Happy New Year everyone. I know I have been slack of late, I blame the eggnog, but have no fear—2009 will be an interesting ride, of that I have no doubt.

Holiday Hiatus

My favorite Christmas Bible verse:
Luke 2:19
"But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart."

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you who have been Broad Minded in the last year.

Now is certainly the time to ponder things in our hearts. I will be enjoying my respite from work and the news and the world in general, but I will rear my opinionated little head before too long, don't fret.

After all, the one-year anniversary of the blog is coming up, and festivities must ensue.

A Feminist Pause

"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is; I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute." Rebecca West

Dontcha Know?

He's good enough, smart enough and apparently, gosh darn it people like him. Yup, it looks like after WEEKS of recounting and wrangling Al Franken will be the next Senator from Minnesota. The state that brought us Governor Ventura has done it again.

Let's all take a moment to reflect on this.

Nature vs. Nurture

News items like the following make my day, especially because they shoot giant holes in the theories of fundamentalists and their ilk who are so opposed to things like gay marriage and gays being parents.

Two gay penguins in a zoo in China had been removed from the communal pen for stealing other penguins eggs and trying to hatch them. Visitors protested and the zoo keepers decided to give the pair eggs from an inexperienced penguin mother to hatch. Apparently the two male penguins have done a great job. For those of you who aren't aware, the male penguins are the ones in charge of caring for the eggs until they are hatched. Yeah for stay at home penguin dads!!

Now of course, I don't know how the zoo came to the conclusion the penguins were in fact gay, I can only assume it is because they weren't mingling with the ladies as they should be, wink, wink. Regardless, these two dudes still had the urge to follow their paternal duties though and guard a penguin egg.

But people choose to be gay, God didn't make them that way at all . . .

Shoe-capades

In case you hadn't heard, an Iraqi reporter chucked his wing tips at Dubya. In Arab cultures this ain't exactly a form of friendly greeting. I get that the dude is pissed and has much to be upset about, it isn't like we have left his country in better shape.

I admit that I giggled, somewhat profusely, when I first heard of the shoe throwing. I mean come on, if anyone deserves a good bean on the head it is Bush. The problem comes when we consider what good such a display does. Most of us just want to forget that Bush is still "in charge" and move on to the next chapter. (According to a recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 79% of us won't be missing Bush come January 21, 2009. Additionally, the same poll shows that people aren't even coping to voting for the man anymore. Welcome, gentle readers to a little bit of revisionist theatre.)

So dude with the size 10 dogs has reminded us that Bush is still in charge. Great, thanks and merry Christmas to you too. Second, he has actually created some sympathy for Dubya, something I can never quite cotton to. Although it does seem a bit late in the game to be staging petulant protests if you ask me. Seven years into the quagmire that has become Iraq, part of me would expect the Iraqis to simply be immune to it all at this point, but I suppose one never gets immune to occupation. Sadly, this was one time that Bush managed to not only not look like an idiot, but didn't sound like one entirely either. Now that doesn't make my morning oatmeal sit well at all.

Finally, I guess it all just seemed like an act of desperation, and unfortunately I think we as Americans need to be gearing up for a lot more of those in our future. My good friend and fellow blogger on life matters, Creative Kerfuffle, posted today about the general malaise that seems to be gripping us from sea to shining sea. I agree, things have been perkier. And with ugly incidents like what happened this morning in my hometown becoming more and more common as people's desperation and poverty collide, it is highly unlikely that people's moods are going to improve any time soon. And yet, the Pollyanna in me just won't die. (God knows I have tried to knife that snarky little bitch on

numerous occasions.)

So gentle reader, you may be asking, Broad how do you stay sunny side up? Well, I like to look to that paragon of rationality, Scarlett O'Hara in times like this, whose credo could be summed up as—you do what you have to do to survive and when it all gets to be too much you just say, "I'll think about that tomorrow, after all tomorrow is another day" and you pray that the next day dawns with a solution.

But you never, never throw your shoes.

Meet the New Boss

Same as the old boss  . . . well that remains to be seen I suppose. But NBC has finally announced that David Gregory will be filling the moderator shoes of the late Tim Russert for their Sunday morning political roundup, Meet the Press.

The 38-year-old journalist has jam packed some experience in his working years, so I don't doubt that he is up to the task. But change is a hard thing, something I personally don't always cotton to, and Russert's charm was as much is brains as his demeanor, tough with a gentile inner core. Gregory will have to develop his own style presumably, but from his tenure as a White House correspondent his style seems a tad more brash than Russert's, perhaps that was just due to the circumstances and the current administration's lack of respect for the press. Tune in and decide for yourself.

For My Non-Hetero Bretheren

In solidarity with my gay and lesbian friends, here is a shout out for Day Without a Gay.

Today's event is meant to impress upon the nation the impact the gay community has on our lives, community and economy.

While I think this is a fabulous idea in principle, I am not sure how this sort of thing would play out in my neck of the woods. A larger urban area like Atlanta or San Francisco seems idea for this sort of event, a) because the impact would be greater and b) presumably anyone calling in "gay" would be less likely to be penalized for doing so.

Friend of the Blog, Wes made the valid point that certain companies who may not have an anti-discrimination clause, could technically fire someone if they so wished for hopping right out into the open and announcing their non-heteroness. (Btw, double kudos to Wes for bringing this event to my attention.) He went on to say he had heard the suggestion that another way to honor today was to support gay-owned businesses in your area.

So . . . wherever you live and however you choose to participate today, by all means make an effort to honor the gays or lesbians in your life, they'll love ya for it!

And the Good Times Just Keep a Comin'

Per Salon today:

If anyone needs any more evidence that the American healthcare system is broken, consider the birth of Kathryn Darling, the new daughter of one Starla D. Darling, 27, of Ashland, OH.

Laid off from her job at a cookie factory, where she'd worked for eight years, the expectant mother took medicine to induce labor two days before her health insurance would expire in hopes she would not be stuck with the bill for the delivery. She ended up having an emergency C-section and still getting the bill.

As Darling told the New York Times: "When I heard that I was losing my insurance, I was scared. I remember that the bill for my son’s delivery in 2005 was about $9,000, and I knew I would never be able to pay that by myself."

So she asked her midwife to induce: "I was determined that we were getting this baby out, and it was going to be paid for," said Darling. The insurance company denied her claim leaving the unemployed new mother with more than $17,000 in medical bills, since a C-section is more expensive than a vaginal delivery.

As the recession deepens and more American workers lose their health insurance along with their jobs, we expect to hear more mind-boggling stories like this one.

'Nuff said, I think.

Wrong Direction

Seeing as how my gas gauge was dipping into the negative territory (I don't know what it is, but I loathe getting gas, not because of having to pay for it, but because I hate to actually get out of the car, pump it and pay. Back when I had my BP card it was somewhat better because at least I could pay at the pump. But since BP is dead to me, those days are over.) I thought it might be time to stop and fill up.

The spouse, who always seems to have cash on hand, proffered $20 since I am currently between currency and off I went. And dang if that $20 didn't practically fill up my wee car.

Unless you have been visiting a sister planet, we all know that gas flirted for awhile with the $4 mark, but today I purchased my plus unleaded for the bargain basement price of $1.77 a gallon.

You would think this would make me happy, but au contraire, gentle reader. Gas prices going down sends the entirely wrong message to the American consumer. Listen I get that things are not so shiny, happy out there. I hear the news, but gas prices going down is not the answer, it is like giving a heroin addict, meth. Sure they aren't on smack anymore, but they haven't exactly gotten clean. We need gas prices to stay up so industry and the consumers are more motivated to find alternatives. I say this not only so we can stop destroying our planet, yes I crunch like that, but also so we no longer have to kowtow to the countries with the oil. Becoming energy independent, developing the necessary technology to make that happen, is one of the few (if not only ways) the U.S. is going to retain our superpower status.

Beyond Abortion

More from the frontlines on Dubya's last ditch efforts to leave his mark on our country. You mean the scorched earth so far isn't enough?

For about 30 years, medical workers have had the option to refuse to perform abortions. Dubya and the gang would like to extend that "option" to include healthcare workers having the right to refuse to provide information or advice to any patient who might be getting an abortion.

Those who think this expanded "right of conscience" medical refusal effort is a load of BS say that the new option could open a whole can of worms that would allow healthcare folk to refuse much more than just abortion, including birth control and artificial insemination. Don't believe them? Check out these actual instances of people being denied care or information that the LA Times compiled:

In Texas, a pharmacist rejected a rape victim's prescription for emergency contraception. In Virginia, a 42-year-old mother of two became pregnant after being refused emergency contraception. In California, a physician refused to perform artificial insemination for a lesbian couple. (In August, the California Supreme Court ruled that this refusal amounted to illegal discrimination based on sexual orientation.) And in Nebraska, a 19-year-old with a life-threatening embolism was refused an early abortion at a religiously affiliated hospital.

Nice legacy Bush. Forty eight days is way too much time left for this jackass to be monkeying around with our rights.

Tell Me Something I DON'T Know

Just another example of how wrong the Bush Administration has been on so many fronts, today the National Bureau of Economic Research announced that we have been in a recession since December 2007. (Dubya is top of mind today, as Air Force One recently touched down at my local tarmac. Our "Commander in Chief" is sitting in on a roundtable of Big Brothers/Big Sisters, as well as giving out a Volunteer Service Award. Yes, this is our tax dollars at work folks. The country is in meltdown and he is handing out volunteer plaques. Nice.)

A whole year. Well I would venture to say that most of us knew that already. The question that remains, however, is how long this thing will last and how bad will it get before it gets better. Frankly, I don't know that anyone has an answer to those questions.

Stocks dived on the news, but interestingly enough 30-year mortgage rates have hit a low not seen in many years—5 percent. The big reason this happened is the Fed announced that it was actually going to use some of the bailout money to buy Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bonds (like they said they would in the beginning, whatever.) In a rather bizarro co-ink-y-dink, I am writing a freelance piece on the deals available now for first time home buyers. The bank folk I have spoken to locally are all saying that the gloom and doom we hear on TV is not the reality and now is a great time to buy. Ok, I will grant you that if you have the cash now is a good time to buy, but I question how readily the banks are going to be giving money out these days. I don't mean to scream about the sky falling when I am merely getting dinged by a pecan, but something tells me that unless you have some stellar credit and cash in reserve, the banks are not going to welcome you with open arms.

But if I am wrong, that's great. I would personally love to refinance for a 5 percent interest rate on my mortgage . . .

Madame Secretary

It's official: Hillary Clinton will be Secretary of State in the upcoming Obama administration. Are you starting to wonder if the Senate shouldn't just hold a special election to replace all of its members who are defecting to special posts?

I am excited about this. One, after running for president, it has to be a bit of a step back to go back to your day job, even if that day job is in the United States Senate. Two, Obama and Clinton, in my opinion, were never massively different in their stances and world views to begin with. So while some may see this as Obama reaching out to his enemies, I say, "eh." Third, Clinton has balls and will do the post (and her predecessor and friend Madeleine Albright) justice.