Editor’s note: Jim Bunning finally relented and allowed a vote on the short-term extension of unemployment benefits. But dcap’s profile of the other senator from Kentucky is well worth a look anyway — and besides, Bunning promised to milk this goat until his retirement on January 4, 2011.

Originally posted at distributorcap NY.

If you’re nosy like me, sometimes you meet someone at work or in a social situation where there is something unusual about them, something that you don’t know much about but would like to.  And then you want to ask a lot of personal questions to help you better understand this person.  (Ok, so maybe you just want to ask because you’re nosy, like me.  But work with me here.)

As an example, the first time I met someone with AIDS I wanted to ask things like “How do you think you got it?” and “How did you feel when you got the test results?”  Luckily I do possess just the tiniest shred of tact, and I usually refrain from probing too deeply – at least until I’ve had a chance to know the person long enough to form some sort of bond.  At which point I get comfortable enough to pull out the thumbscrews and start my own little Spanish Inquisition.

The Tea Party is shaping up to be 2010’s first major media darling. First came the storm of coverage that surrounded the Tea Party convention in Nashville two weeks ago. Then, they stole the show at last weekend’s CPAC conference in DC. Now, they’re gearing up for a new month-long road show that starts at the end of March — a repeat of last fall’s national tour, this time with more busses and, no doubt, more media coverage.

It’s obvious that the movement’s organizers have a professional touch for getting the corporate media’s attention. What’s less obvious is how much of this attention is deserved. The reporters following in their wake are devouring the narrative of scrappy Americans rising up in populist rage; but beyond that, they’re not asking many real questions about what this movement means, or whether it actually has the kind of clout that gets things done.

Looks like queers in the District of Columbia are gonna get to marry, thanks, this time, to none other than the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court himself, John Roberts.

And please don’t confuse him with CNN’s John Roberts, who was a VJ on some Canadian version of  MTV back in the day. Justice Roberts did no such thing.

Last week, I was saddened to learn that Brother Tim passed away. His “Blog of Revelation” was a collection of religious and political writings that always looked to help our world progress and grow.

I never met Brother Tim – I only knew him through his writing and the occasional e-mail. But I know he was a compassionate human being – and a strong Christian. His writings reflected the tolerant, inclusive Christianity that was preached by Jesus – and Brother Tim was always keen to look at similarities between religions instead of differences. The world needs more people with the kind of religious wisdom of Brother Tim.

Tempering Turmoil

by Brother Tim – March 17, 2007

Turmoil lusts against peace; and peace, against turmoil. They are contrary, one to another. They cannot co-exist. It is like heat and cold, or light and darkness; one must overcome the other to have a viable existence.

At the completion of my senior year in high school, I was 5’3” and weighed a whopping 88 lbs. (with clothes on). Breasts? Is that what those little pimply-looking things on my chest were supposed to be called? Honestly, I longed for the day that I could grow enough boob to fit into a 32A bra.

A friend invited me to a protest meeting on Friday outside Ballynahinch’s Baptist Church. It was organised by SCOTT (Stop Conversion Therapy Taskforce) in response to an international conference that claims that homosexual behaviour can be cured.

I did not attend because I was sitting with my sister in the hospital who has a very real illness as opposed to an imaginary illness invented by people who cannot accept the diversity of the human being and have closed their hearts and minds. These people believe they can ‘cure’ homosexuality. The total arrogance of them is almost unbelievable.

The new conservative ‘Mount Vernon Statement’ unveiled last week claims that right-wingers are upholding what the Generation of 1776 held dear. But those right-wingers, history shows, are conveniently overlooking what the Founders truly feared.

When I first began trying to peek into lesbian life, there weren’t very many places to go for information.  Today there are many ways to get information, to help young lesbians through the early years of identification and acceptance.  I had met a few lesbians in my teen years.  My parents paid for private tennis lessons one summer, and the instructor, Marion, was a lesbian.  I didn’t know it at the time, and I didn’t feel an attraction to her then, but I worked out the details later.

I had been taking lessons for at least a few weeks.  She was living in a spare bedroom in a fancy house in what was the wealthiest part of town, and the house had its own tennis court where we met for my weekly lessons.  The woman who lived in the house was in the middle of a divorce and needed income, so she rented out the space.

President Barack Obama doesn’t begrudge Wall Street’s banksters their bonuses.

The president, speaking in an interview, said in response to a question that while $17 million is “an extraordinary amount of money” for Main Street, “there are some baseball players who are making more than that and don’t get to the World Series either, so I’m shocked by that as well.”