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The Inky Does What It Does Best, Again
2008-09-02 05:45:00
In today?s AP?s story by Becky Bohrer carried in the Philadelphia Inquirer today with the dubious headline of ?Gustav Gives Nagin Second Chance To Do It Right? (and yes, I?ll admit he was partially to blame for Katrina too), we learn the following?As Gustav gained strength from warm Gulf of Mexico waters and headed toward the Louisiana coast, Nagin's tone wasn't the only thing different from three years ago.The White House is "showering us with resources," Nagin told a local TV station, and President Bush called him yesterday "to check in."A third public official who was stained by Katrina, former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, is long gone. Her replacement, rising GOP star Bobby Jindal, has been as visible as Nagin as the storm approaches.Now, you may be wondering ?hmmm, a third public official? Why, I?ve only heard about references both to Nagin and former governor Kathleen Blanco? (Dubya only rated a mention for the call), and you would be right (and further discussion of thei...
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Sunday Stuff
2008-09-01 05:59:00
Is it my imagination, or does McBush look like he just took a big bite out of a sh*t sandwich (h/t Kagro X at The Daily Kos, and The Jed Report of course)......and I actually watched CNN's coverage of Gustav tonight with Anderson Cooper talking to that drone Rick Sanchez, and after Cooper finished, Sanchez brought on Gloria Borger and Alex Castellanos to talk about how the hurricane is affecting the Repug convention so far - sounds like all of the first-night speakers bailed including Dubya, an inadvertent triumph of good taste - and the three managed to talk about how Obama supposedly did not enjoy a post-convention "bounce," with CNN giving Obama a one-point lead as of now.Two things: 1) I've read polling numbers all over the place at this point, including here where Zogby gives McBush a one-point lead but Gallup/USA Today has Obama up by eight (I'd like to believe that, but I'm sure the real number is somewhere in the middle, maybe 3-4); 2) Given the fact that as many as 10,0...
More About: Stuff , Sunday

As Disaster Beckons Once More
2008-08-31 20:42:00
I read this quote in the Bucks County Courier Times yesterday, and I thought it deserved a mention:?There are a lot of things that are different between now and what we faced in 2005 when Katrina came ashore. We?ve had three years to put together a plan that never existed before.?And if you guessed that that came from Mike (?City of Louisiana?) Chertoff in response to the question about FEMA?s preparation for Gustav versus Katrina, you win a free ticket for an Arabian horse courtesy of former FEMA head Mike Brown (he used to be commissioner for the Arabian Horse Association, you see, just to jog our memories).Well, here is a New York Times editorial that tells a very different story?Three years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, residents there are nervously watching the progress of Tropical Storm-threatening-to-be-Hurricane Gustav. No less nerve-wracking is the knowledge that federal emergency planners have failed to come up with a new strategy for providing housing...
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Broder ?Labors? To Produce Another Obama Farce
2008-08-31 18:35:00
I have a lot of issues with the latest attack on Obama by ?The Dean Of Beltway Journalism,? but I just want to highlight a few in particular?Obama's disappointing speech (in Denver Thursday) also reflected what I had thought was the one conspicuous failure of the convention program -- the missed opportunity to introduce the country to others in the younger generation of Democrats than just Obama and his dazzling wife, Michelle.Gosh, apparently Broder was watching a different convention than I was, because I saw some terrific speeches from Illinois State Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana, and of course, Congressman Patrick Murphy (and I thought Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown did a nice job hosting a sort of ?town hall? kind of forum with three pre-recorded questions that were answered by a panel of experts).The convention hall was full of bright, attractive men and women serving as governors or mayors or in other posts. Obama knows many of them from his ca...
More About: Farce , Produce

A Sunday Deep Thought
2008-08-31 17:46:00
I wonder if Gov. Sarah Palin will be able to correct John W. McBush the next time he says that Iran's Shiites are helping Iraq's al Qaeda Sunni insurgents?Discuss...(Oh, and I forgot to note this earlier, but here and here is more related corporate media nonsense.)
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Today's Palin Post
2008-08-30 22:17:00
Doesn't this little audio item speak volumes (h/t Atrios)?And also, I thought this was an exceptionally clear-eyed look at what the selection says about McBush (the following excerpt in particular)......He?s desperate. Let?s stop pretending this race is as close as national polling suggests. The truth is McCain is essentially tied or trailing in every swing state that matters ? and too close for comfort in several states like Indiana and Montana the GOP usually wins pretty easily in presidential races. On top of that, voters seem very inclined to elect Democrats in general this election ? and very sick of the Bush years.McCain could easily lose in an electoral landslide. That is the private view of Democrats and Republicans alike.McCain?s pick shows he is not pretending. Politicians, even ?mavericks? like McCain, play it safe when they think they are winning ? or see an easy path to winning. They roll the dice only when they know that the risks of conventionality are greater than t...
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Friday Stuff
2008-08-30 06:19:00
Funny thing, Governor, but we thought YOU would be able to tell US at this point, seeing as how you JUST SIGNED ON AS McBUSH's RUNNING MATE (this may be the most craven political maneuver I've ever seen, and anyone who thinks Karl Rove didn't have a hand in it must also believe in the Tooth Fairy)......and the TV station in Alaska actually set up a tip line for people to call to figure out what's going on with the whole "troopergate" thing with Palin and Walt Monegan? I mean, don't stations usually do that to find out about a lost pet or jewelry or something? Looks pretty direct to me; somebody's lying, and it isn't Monegan......and as far as "the top of the ticket" goes, forget about McBush's homes for a minute; did you hear about his parking lot?......and I can't tell who's stupider here, Larry Elder or Ben Stein, trying to reinforce some laughable fiction that Bill Clinton could have prevented 9/11; guess that came from that Mickey Mouse production - being literal here ...
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Is This McBush's Veep Selection? (updates)
2008-08-29 17:49:00
Oops...wrong Palin.Update 1: If nothing else, I hope she at least gets a commemorative "Victor The Victory Elephant" (here).Update 2: I thought this was a terrific post on Palin; her story reads a bit like an Elmore Leonard novel, IMHO (h/t The Daily Kos).Update 3: A hat tip goes out to Editor and Publisher Online for jogging my memory about Palin's diatribe in the New York Times that I posted about here in which she defended global warming and said that the polar bears could all drown (paraphrasing, I'll admit).
More About: Updates , Selection

Thursday Stuff
2008-08-29 06:29:00
This is the first 16:24 of Obama's acceptance speech tonight. I still can't believe it.He hit all of the right notes, people. All. Of. The. Right. Notes.Accuse me of drinking the Kool Aid as much as you want, but that was the best political speech I've ever heard in my life. And what a presidency of promise (hat tip C&L).(Update: The hell with MSNBC; here's the whole thing courtesy of TPM)...(Oh, and by the way, here's the predictable corporate media attack, and this from BoBo is not only an insult to the Times, but to journalism itself, to say nothing of the Dems of course.)...Simple Plan ("Shut Up"); I hereby dedicate this to the loathsome NPR radio team of a woman announcer whose name I couldn't locate from their web site, some supposed gadfly named Bob Smith who thought it was more important to ignore Susan Eisenhower's speech tonight and talk to someone in the stands about the sunset over Invesco Field and buffalo brats (a grinder, as I think they call it out there),...
More About: Stuff , Thursday

Three Thursday Crybabies
2008-08-28 22:58:00
(Note: I said a day or so ago that posting would be problematic, but I?ve been able to do so more than I thought. However, tomorrow is anyone?s guess.)The Inky wingnuttery has been relentless; yesterday, Smerky told us that political correctness is causing the current baby boom in this country (not to rival the post WWII ?surge,? if you will, but still statistically significant), and today, Former Senator Eye of Mordor criticizes Barack Obama twice for knowing how to use a TelePrompTer (here).He also says?Obama doesn't limit his denial of human rights just to babies in the womb. When he was an Illinois state senator, it was within his pay grade to vote against the Illinois version of the Born Alive Infant Protection Act (a bill I authored that passed unanimously in the U.S. Senate). It prohibits the killing of a child after it is born.Until last week, Obama contended that he never voted against such a bill. He even called those of us who said he did liars. Now, his campaign concede...
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More Anti-Dem Beck Dreck
2008-08-28 19:55:00
?The Most Trusted Name In News? granted another opportunity for Glenn Beck to spew his drivel today against the Democrats (here). And while I don?t intend to reply all of what he said (even if I wanted to, I couldn?t, because he doesn?t source his claims so I could detect from which bodily orifice he obtained them), I do want to address three points in particular??instead of traveling to Denver, Colorado, and reporting on the Democratic National Convention in a fancy suit like a real show, I get to watch the speeches at my house in my boxers. Sorry for that image. Here are my impressions of some of the noteworthy quotes from the convention so far, which I observed from a safe distance.Nancy Pelosi: "I am very proud of the Democrats in Congress."Never mind that no Congress in the past 20 years has passed fewer public laws than this one, according to the Wall Street Journal. How could they?They are spending one quarter of their work week debating and passing symbolic measures such as ...
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A Campaign Of Ideas? It's "Greek" To McBush
2008-08-28 18:43:00
This post from the LA Times blog describes a truly silly development from the Repug nominee for president (R-Too Many Homes)?Reporters covering Barack Obama are getting style tips from an unexpected source: the McCain campaign.John McCain spokesman Brian Rogers on Wednesday sent out an illustrated "style guide." It includes detailed directions of how to select and properly wrap a toga -- yes, a toga -- as well as instructions on where to don one: Obama's nomination acceptance speech, which he'll give at Denver's Mile High stadium tonight.Why the sudden interest in Classical haute couture? Hint: It's not about attire but satire.See, McBush and his people think it?s funny that Obama?s stage tonight will feature ?a podium in front of a backdrop featuring neo-classical columns,? as the LA Times blog tells us, and they?re trying to use that as an excuse to prolong this idiotic ?cult of personality? theme about Obama, even though writer Kate Linthicum points out that Dubya accepted th...
More About: Ideas , Greek , Campaign

Wednesday Stuff
2008-08-28 06:23:00
I heard Patrick Murphy on WHYY in these parts (good stuff on Iraq and our vets), and The Big Dog rocked also (loved the line about our country leading by "the power of our example rather than the example of our power," or words to that effect), and Biden did his thing also, but for me, the star of the night was John Kerry, and this is a big part of the reason why......Descendents ("I'm The One"; time for a quick "mosh" before the big speech tomorrow).
More About: Stuff , Wednesday

A Bushco Boomlet, Ready ?Orr? Not
2008-08-27 22:37:00
I tell you, you really have to hand it to Michael Smerconish; if you?re looking for someone to completely obfuscate and demagogue on a vital issue facing our country, he?s your guy. And he provides more evidence of that in today?s Philadelphia Inquirer here, in which he tells us?Newly updated census data confirm that the United States is in the midst of unprecedented population growth. Today, we are a nation of about 305 million, and in three decades we will reach the 400-million mark.Left undeterred, this will be the single greatest growth spurt in our history, as we expand by 135 million additional people by 2050.I?ve been trying to figure out how Smerky would ?deter? a man and woman from ?begattin?,? as they used to call it; would he stand next to them with a megaphone and shout at them, telling them to knock it off in that annoying, high-pitched nasally whine of his? Or would he do something similar to that, as he did here?Continuing??what's really driving the population growth...
More About: Ready

When We Become The Enemy
2008-08-27 21:03:00
The New York Times tells us here today that...In March or April 2007, three noncommissioned United States Army officers, including a first sergeant, a platoon sergeant and a senior medic, killed four Iraqi prisoners with pistol shots to the head as the men stood handcuffed and blindfolded beside a Baghdad canal, two of the soldiers said in sworn statements.?After removing the blindfolds and handcuffs, the three soldiers shoved the four bodies into the canal, rejoined other members of their unit waiting in nearby vehicles and drove back to their combat outpost in southwest Baghdad, the statements said.As I read the horrific details of this story, my mind kept coming back over and over again to one name, and that is Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp.As this New York Observer story tells us of Beauchamp?s tales that appeared in The New Republic (hat tip to Media Matters for the link)...The stories Scott Thomas (Beauchamp?s alias) told were almost too bad to be true.There was the Iraqi boy wh...
More About: Enemy , The Enemy

Some End-Of-Summer Labor Pains
2008-08-27 19:49:00
The Murdoch Street Journal tells us here (a few days before the holiday) that??rewriting federal law to promote union organizing is now near the top of the Democratic agenda. The main vehicle is "card check" legislation, which would eliminate the requirement for secret ballots in union elections. Unable to organize workers when employees can vote in privacy, unions want to expose those votes to peer pressure, and inevitably to public intimidation. This would arguably be the biggest change to federal labor law since the Taft-Hartley Act in 1947. The Democratic House passed card check last year, and Mr. Obama has pledged his support. With a few more Senators, it might pass.Card check is merely the start. Next on the agenda is a campaign to repeal "right to work" laws in the 22 U.S. states that have them. Right to work laws allow employees to decide for themselves whether to join or financially support a union. Former Michigan Congressman David Bonior told a union event in Denver on Mo...
More About: Summer , Labor

A Station Break
2008-08-27 18:41:00
I really don?t have a lot to say here, but I only want to echo the comments of Atrios and others concerning the network coverage of the Democratic National Convention (here).I haven?t watched as much of it as others, but if you really want to get an idea of what?s going on, watch CSPAN or PBS (maybe MSNBC, but even with K.O. as a moderating force for Tweety, they?re still prone to gaffes such as the Norah O?Donnell/McCaskill one noted by Atrios and Media Matters).ABC, on the other hand, featured Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson yapping over the speech by Montana governor Brian Schweitzer last night, until they started to notice how good it was from the crowd reaction and decided to shut up for a little while.This more or less continues what the networks did when John Kerry spoke four years ago when he ran for president; the film would show Kerry speaking and concluding to applause, while the networks spoke over his words (granted, Kerry is not Barack Obama, but let?s see if they co...
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Tuesday Stuff
2008-08-27 05:52:00
Rilo Kiley ("Silver Lining")......and to think, I almost gave BoBo a bit of a nod today for being one of the few pundits not claiming that Obama should scream about Dubya from here to eternity (as the movie/book title goes); I mean, populist rage is a good thing and he needs some of it, but Obama is also a teacher, and he should use that too or else he won't reach the people he'll need in November, IMHO ("North Korean pep rally" - bit me, you nimrod, as he fans the flames of some imaginary crisis of disunity)......and here's a "BoBo Golden Oldie"; comparing bin Laden to "lefty bloggers" (everything I said above...cubed)......from the ridiculous to the sublime: I'm going to try and grab Hillary's entire speech the first chance I get, but this is a terrific sound bite, and so true - as she spoke (and Bill beamed, and got a bit choked up also), I told the young one (who was watching) "This is what leadership sounds like," and I'm sure I'll be able to say that Thursday night also...
More About: Stuff , Tuesday

Obamanomics 101
2008-08-26 23:43:00
(I should point out that posting is likely to be flaky over the next week to ten days for a variety of reasons ? we?ll see.)I basically stole the title of David Leonhardt?s excellent article on what Barack Obama proposes for our economy (adding the ?101?) that appeared in the New York Times Magazine on Sunday ? when you can?t improve on something, don?t even bother.There are many ways that Obama is superior to John W. McBush: Iraq, improving our schools for real, restoring our economic competitiveness, rebuilding our infrastructure, addressing health care, entitlement reform (eventually?and I?d like to add preserving the Constitution to that list ? maybe I?ll be able to one day), but with the exception of the war and the climate crisis, the underpinning of all of will be the return of equitable distribution of wealth in this country (or some approximation of that, at least something a hell of a lot better than anything we?ve seen over the last eight years) to levels close to what we...

Abusing The Excuse
2008-08-26 18:44:00
When it comes to narratives in this presidential campaign that I?m definitely sick of by now, the supposedly irreparable conflict between the disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters and those favoring Barack Obama (with the Clintons doing all that they possibly can to quash this nonsense as nearly as I can see) tops the list.However, I would put John W. McBush?s POW experience as a close second.And it shouldn?t be that way, I know. And we should always express gratitude and admiration for what he endured in our country?s service.However, McBush has utterly tarnished that himself, particularly in this campaign, and he only has himself to blame.And the latest example of the entire ?noun-verb-P.O.W.? syndrome, as Atrios and others have put it, came last night on (appropriately enough for the ?non-elitist? Arizona senator) ?The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,? as noted here?After their opening segment together on the stage, Leno came back from a commercial break to ask McCain, ?For $1 millio...
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Monday Stuff
2008-08-26 05:22:00
Danielia Cotton ("Bang My Drum," recorded live in White Plains, NY)......and in that spirit, if you can endure the presence of Katie Couric at the end, this video retrospective of Ted Kennedy hosted by Jeff Greenfield is worth a watch......as a warm-up to this.P.S. - Jesse Jackson, Jr. gave a good speech also - I'll embed it if I can.(Oh and one more thing - go soak your head, Carville.)
More About: Stuff , Monday

More ?Hard Hitting AP Reporting?
2008-08-26 00:19:00
Your favorite news organization brings us this no-holds-barred, shooting-from-the-hip, hot-off-the-presses, rip-and-read, up-close-and-personal, insider?s look at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.(If I ever write a lede like that again, I?m going to blow my brains out with a pea shooter.)Spontaneity has been in short supply since before the time of Bill Clinton, who applied political calculation to his choice of vacation destinations. President Bush's message-control operation is drum tight.And are we sure that passionate kiss Al Gore gave Tipper at the 2000 convention wasn't inspired by a focus group telling him to loosen up? Could a kiss really be just a kiss?_By Calvin Woodward?Welcome to Denver, a city a mile high and a convention an inch deep._By Philip ElliottLast (and certainly least)?The nomination of the first black candidate by a major party for the presidency is a salient moment in the history of a country built on slavery, compounded by an ugly tradition of raci...
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McBush Blows Hot Air On Global Warming
2008-08-25 23:07:00
This Reuters story tells us?ACCRA (Reuters) - Morality should be a spur for stronger action to fight climate change, which threatens food and water supplies for the poorest in Africa, a group of Christian activists said on Saturday during U.N. climate talks."We hear about climate change as a political issue, an environmental issue and an economic issue. We want to press the point that this is a moral issue," said Marcia Owens, a minister in the Florida branch of the African Methodist Episcopal Church.She and a group of Christian activists told Reuters they were lobbying delegates at the August 21-27 U.N. talks in Ghana to work out a strong new treaty, due for completion by the end of 2009, to slow global warming.This is, to me, the proper context for framing this issue, for it truly is a matter of faith as far as your humble narrator is concerned (and the Catholic Church has spoken out also here, though not lately as nearly as I can determine from my ?Googling?).And with this in min...
More About: Global Warming , Global

A ?Pro-Life? Flowers Fraud Against Obama
2008-08-25 19:06:00
I missed some items from the weekly screed by Christine Flowers of the Philadelphia Daily News last Friday, so I?d better catch up here.On this occasion, she took all-but-named Democratic nominee Barack Obama to task, calling him ?NARAL?s dreamboat? (in case you hadn?t guessed by now, Flowers is rabidly anti-choice); in so doing, she also provided a plug for "The Case Against Barack Obama" by David Freddoso, one of the smear merchants from the cottage industry of propagandistic assaults against the Illinois senator.There?s some tricky stuff here, so I?ll try to pick through this carefully. At the outset, though, I should note the lawyerly trick employed by Flowers in implying that (here it comes again?) the Democratic Party did not allow Bob Casey, Sr. to speak at the 1992 Democratic Convention because he was pro-life, though Flowers does not say that in so many words.However, she does tell us this?A glance at a draft of the Democratic platform reveals just how entrenched pro-aborti...
More About: Life , Fraud , Pro-Life

Sunday Stuff
2008-08-25 05:45:00
I'm sure there'll be plenty of political stuff later, but for now, I'm in the mood for a couple of tunes, and I hope you are also.First is Ryan Shaw ("We Got Love" on the CBS "Second Cup Cafe"; "Nobody" knocked me out, and this is a neat tune too)......and next is Melody Gardot ("Worrisome Heart").
More About: Stuff , Sunday

Saturday Stuff
2008-08-24 06:41:00
Staind ("Believe" - I guess this could go out to those disaffected-former-Hillary-supporters, right?)......and there were a couple of flubs, but otherwise, Biden did good here I thought (biased, I know - "seven kitchen tables"...heh, heh, heh).
More About: Stuff , Saturday

Obama/Biden Yields A Fournier Farce?Already
2008-08-23 18:26:00
Boy, this didn?t take long?In picking Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, Barack Obama sought to shore up his weakness ? inexperience in office and on foreign policy ? rather than underscore his strength as a new-generation candidate defying political conventions.Apparently, Fournier needs me to point out that NO ONE who becomes president has ?foreign policy experience? compatible with the requirements of the job. Every person who has assumed the responsibility of President of the United States has received a crash course in all of the world?s hot spots where the potential exists for U.S. military intervention, to say nothing of places where are troops are deployed.The Sainted Ronnie R didn?t have it. Bill Clinton didn?t have it. And Dubya sure as hell didn?t.The media, including Fournier, typically cedes the ?foreign policy experience? card to the Repugs. In the case of someone like Poppy Bush, though, I could see it to a point because he served both in the military and overseas...
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Friday Stuff
2008-08-23 06:23:00
Jane's Addiction ("Stop!" - my opinion on the "Obama's VP" speculation at this point).....oh, and let's not forget this "golden oldie" from McBush (h/t Atrios)......more Dubya scandals, particularly Our Gal Condi's remarks about "missile defense" in Poland (all jokes aside, this truly is shocking)......and here's K.O.'s "Worst Persons" from last night - technical difficulties prevented me from embedding it; more "mystery-ware" from MSNBC......and here's today's, with Sean Hannity apparently prepping himself to attend a cross burning (what a pathetic human being)......and by the way, keep fighting, Al (h/t The Daily Kos)......"The Pap Attack" gives us the lowdown on The Mittster and his VP chances with McBush; I'm not particularly concerned about Jindal at this point (and by the way, Mike, watch that "Democrat leadership" remark, OK?)......and one more time, here's K.O. from tonight over McBush and his homes.
More About: Stuff , Friday

Uh Oh, Silvio ?Nips? This Just In Time
2008-08-22 23:34:00
It seems that Italy?s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi took a page out of John Ashcroft?s book, as it were, and covered up a female body part in a work of art, in full public view of course (here)?ROME: The government cover-up making headlines in Italy this August has been over its clumsy attempts to hide the truth.The truth, in this case, refers to an 18th-century allegorical figure in a painting by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo that serves as a backdrop for government news conferences in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's official residence.It was retouched in recent weeks to cover an exposed breast, which "might have upset the sensitivity of some viewers," Paolo Bonaiuti, the prime minister's spokesman, told the Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera over the weekend."That breast, that little nipple, ends up right in the shots that TVs make during press conferences," Bonaiuti said....And then there is tradition. From an iconographic point of view, "the truth is usually depicted nude,"...
More About: Time , Just in time

Friday PA Blogger News
2008-08-22 23:19:00
I received the following in my ?in? box a few days ago?When I was a boy growing up in Boston I had an older neighbor who was a little different. As a teenager Rick was outgoing, liked to dance and wore flamboyant outfits. Despite his clothing choices, he was popular with a lot of the boys in the neighborhood because he was a great dancer, and he was willing to teach us some basic moves so that we could go to the junior high dances and not look completely foolish.One day I saw Rick walking by my house, but I didn?t recognize him. His face was swollen, his nose was broken, and he lost some teeth. My mother said he was beaten up because he was ?a queer.? I didn?t know what that meant, but I knew it was wrong to beat up somebody simply because he was a little different. I remember telling my mother that there should be a law to protect people like Rick.In Pennsylvania, there was a law protecting people like Rick. It was an amendment to a law called the Ethnic Intimidation and Institutio...
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