Any day of the week I'd take a gay man over a stupid man. Boozman is George W. Bush without the alcohol problem. He has his own Cheney operating his voting hand.

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barn door fell on the wrong brother...

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Kudos to the 80 Senators who are educated enough, worldly enough, and humane enough to realize they were elected to represent ALL of their constituents, not just the ones they deem worthy.

In order to have a fair and balanced judiciary, it must be composed of people from all walks of life who meet the qualifications.

Maybe not, but it would appear that these 13 Republicans attempted to deny this position to a qualified candidate, based on his sexual orientation. Don't we have laws against that sort of thing?

Perhaps there is another common denominator besides being a gay man that all 13 Senators felt would be damaging enough to prevent Mr. Oetken from being an effective federal judge. If so, they should make that factor known in order to prevent themselves from appearing more bigoted than they presently seem to be.

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The ONLY qualification they need is competence. Sure, there are some judges who believe they make the law, instead of interpreting the law, but if they know the law and can be objective, then why the fuss?

I am not surprised that Boozman couldn't give a reason why he voted the way he did. During some of the town halls I had cornered him on some of his votes, and the best he could do was drone on about how he accomplished so much. I reminded him that naming a couple of post offices was not quite procative.

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Steven, you make an excellent point. Our constitution lists no specific requirements for a Federal Judgeship. However the Dept. of Justice has established some guidelines and it is doubtful someone who hasn't gotten a degree, passed the bar and spent some time in the practice of law would be appointed by the President or confirmed by Congress.

But I don't think anywhere would you find "being straight" as any sort of prerequisite for the position.

As for judges who believe they make the law rather than interpert it, I worked for one in another state for six years who made it up as we went along. But he had been on the bench for so long and was so powerful, no one was ever successful in challenging him.

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IF WE WANT TO REIN IN THE RUNAWAY JUDICIARY, WE MUST ONLY PUT CONSERVATIVES IN THOSE JUDGE SLOTS.

A GAY PERSON MIGHT BE CONSERVATIVE, BUT THE ODDS ARE AGAINST IT.

THIS COUNTRY WILL NOT BE FREE UNTIL WE HAVE JUDGES WHO ARE OPEN MEMBERS OF THE TEA PARTY AND HAVE TAKEN THE VARIOUS PLEDGES.

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Grannie, with all due respect, a gay conservative might be considered the equivalent of a black Clan member. Why would you be a member of a group whose mission it is to eradicate you?

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See what playing football will do to ya!

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I don't know Mountain Girl -- Ask the Log Cabin Republicans. (Or the Arkansas Stonewall Democrats...)

And I think you mean Klan. Black clan members are pretty big, hairy and like to hibernate in the winters.

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lol............Traveler, I am the worst speller EVER! I think I must have been absent a lot in the 4th grade when it was taught. I apologize for all future spelling errors to come...........and they will! Please know I don't think in misspelled words.......but my fingers type in them.

I wish Max would take pity on the spelling challenged folks like me and add spellcheck.

(PS....I did read Clan of the Cave Bear...and I have several of the hibernating sort in them woods behind my house, so despite what my spelling might indicate, I DO know the difference.)

This blog needs spellcheck.

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In other gay news:

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07…

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mountaingirl, you don't need to have spelling problems to misspell words. Macro deterioration in one eye will cause you to miss misspelled words because when I look at them, I never see all of the letters unless I turn my head. Given any 6 letetrs in a row, I see only 5 and as I move my head, the missing letter changes. Makes for a lot of one-eye prescription refill calls.

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Wow CBB.........I never knew that. Thank you for sharing.

I have always been "spelling deficient", which drove my very proper English teacher mother asbolutely nuts! I think she was ashamed.

I guess if it bothered me enough, I would have taken measures to correct it. But now I am in the "old dog, new tricks" category.

I used to keep dictionaries everywhere......in my purse, in the car, on every desk, etc. I was sort of a "closeted misspeller". Then came computers and I am now in an intimate relationship with spellcheck.

But on here, I am exposed.

Oh well..............in a way it is very liberating to be out of the spelling closet!.

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No big deal, mountaingirl. Trolls, especially the 'baggers', are the only ones we really give a hard time on spelling.
At least YOU own dictionaries. These folks....not so much.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/g…

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YIKES HHW........I am not in very good company, am I?

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HHW, that is not true at all. In my moments of dyslexic typing, I have been hammered on spelling alone, not the content or the message. I think it is a natural element that when the message cannot be refuted, the weak of mind will fall back on inconsequential errors.

As I hammer out this responce, I am concsious of the fact that I am pressed for time and cannot check all my little spelling errors. On my home computer I use Firefox, and they have a pretty good spellcheck that corrects you no matter where your typing.

It's funny,too, when you read some of the letters from educated folks hundreds of years ago, ow they spelled their words and set up their sentences. They could have a really creative way of expression. When I was younger, I used to write and talk like that, but most folks would just look at me like I dropped out of some Shakespearean time warp. Guess that happens when some of your first books are the Bard, Austin, Hugo and Dickens. Grow up in a heavily mexican neighborhood in Echo Park, dark skin, dark hair and speaks like something out of some British period play.

MG, being gay doesn't exempt one from appreciating a Creator. I have known many that wonder why so many of God's children can be such unrepentant twits.

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Well said Steven......
I am friends with an openly gay former Catholic priest. He left the church because could no longer live the lie (even though they always knew and no one forced him to leave the church). He still remains one of the most devout people I know. His faith in God is unshakable.

Perhaps you should post something in your Shakespearean venacular.......I would find that very interresting.

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Oh, MG, it has been about 25 years since I used that kind of speech. I do endeavor to regain my former superscilliousness. It was pretty useful to start fights in bars when I was in my more combative years. Youw ould find just the right way to tell them to go foul themselves, and you could see the lights working in their little heads. About that time they figured you had said something nasty and they would just throw blows on principle. I was fortunate, indeed, that my youthful exhuberance matured into a more stable state of being, else I would present a visage not unlike some of the lesser souls residing in McDonald County, Misery.


In my experience, those who have found their path through a combination of Bible and observation are far better folks than those that choose to cleave heavily to their dogma. My godfather was like that. Devout, and one of the sweetest men I have known. I take great pride in having been an student of his life. He survived many great perils, first in Russia, then Nazi Germany, thence the wilds of Canada. His doctral thesis was on atavism, and he did have a rather daring adventure rescuing a young girl from her abusive situation. In his manner of living, he was quiet, reasoned, logical, yet he was exceedingly decisive. I didn't get my illumination through Catholic dogma, but through his serene example. I fail more than I succeed, but that doesn't stop me from trying to emullate his example.

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Steven, your inability to spell is the least of your problems. I will no longer waste my time on you. Peddle it on someone else.

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Steven, your grandfather sounds like an amazing man. You are fortunate to have had his guidance. We should all be so lucky!

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I am sure Boozman voted against the nominee just as much for his being an Obama nominee, as for his being gay. Don't you all remember the constant anti-Obama tirades in his advertising when he was running for office? You'd have thought he was running for president.

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Good point PJ (how cute is that moniker!). I suppose voting for an Obama nominee of any persuasion would be a hard pill for him to swallow.

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Oh, HHW...you know I love you like a sister (and that's not blog-speak).

But, c'mon, Steven wasn't being teabaggerish. Sure, he can be at times, but this isn't one of those times.

I have common ground with Steven. He defends gay equality as staunchly as any liberal poster here, which I deeply appreciate (of course). I don't necessarily disagree with him about guns, either.

Plus, he just doesn't have the *feel* of a typical teabagger. I would venture to guess 75 percent of the 'baggers follow in lockstep with any Fox News/Rush Limbaugh talking point that comes down the pike because they're too intellectually incurious to do their homework for themselves.

(I would count Sen. Boozman as one of those. The vote was 80-13 and even Sen. Jeffery Beauregard Sessions from Mulletland, the biggest gay-hater of the Senate, voted for passage. Boozman was either too stupid or asleep to even read the memo from the GOP leadership that it was OK to vote yes).

Steven's not like that. I think he's had long-held beliefs/principles that come by research and/or life experiences. I don't agree with him 95 percent of the time, but I've come to respect his viewpoint because I think it's an *honest* opinion, right or wrong.

Mountaingirl, I'm glad you're a regular now. I think you're a fantastic addition and I loved your analogy (before arkansastraveler chimed in with an inane criticism).

I'll never understand gay Republicans but I have a theory. They're so busy trying to gain approval from non-approving family/friends that they're willing to throw fellow gays under the bus at any cost. They're to the gay movement what Phyllis Schafly and her ilk were to ERA in the '70s. They're certifiable self-hating losers.

I'd like to say to one of them, "If mommy and daddy don't like you because you're queer, it really doesn't matter if you want to protect their pocketbook along with hating other queers. Fact is, mommy and daddy don't like YOU. Get over it and get on with your freaking life.''

But, that's just me. Who knew?

Love to you, HHW. I do adore you so.

STJ

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