Indiana
updated
10:44 p.m.
This one time, I was taking a shower when I heard a strange ka-dong! sound. It scared the crap out of me (not literally, thank the wizard). I looked down at the shower floor! And there was a damn penny! Lying there! It scared the crap out of me! Again! (Also not literally, but closer this time!) I thought there was a polterghost throwing pennies at me! Then I looked at my belly and saw ...
Shakespeare's Sister - 4:47 p.m.
Echidne notes Where the Female Bloggers Are : Not at the meeting Speaker Pelosi organized for bloggers about the health care reform proposal: I just got back from an on the record meeting for blogger with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Also present were David Waldman, Igor Volsky, Greg Sargent, Jason Rosenbaum, Ryan Grim, Chris Bowers, Brian Beutler, and John Aravosis. Aside from hearing a lot a...
Shakespeare's Sister - 3:20 p.m.
I would like to put forth the radical notion that, if a fat person is fat by choice, it's okay. I'll give you a moment to sit with that idea—that it's okay for someone to choose to be fat. Because it really is a radical notion, and, like other radical notions, it is both has the capacity and is likely to evoke visceral reactions of protest. Like: "But being fat is (potentially) unhealthy! An...
Shakespeare's Sister - 2:43 p.m.
Just moments ago: Deeky: Do I need to come over and Bedazzle™ your vajayjay? Liss: Yes. :-( Deeky: What color gemstones should I bring? Liss: Blue to match my eyes. Deeky: Not something girly like ... Oh ... I dunno ... Pink? Liss: LOL! Deeky: Because if there's one thing that's not feminine enough, it's the cooter. Liss: LOL! Deeky: I also have one of those beard trimmers, if'n yo...
Shakespeare's Sister - 12:42 p.m.
Pennsylvania kills proposed constitutional ammendment banning gay marriage: The latest effort to amend Pennsylvania's constitution to effectively ban same-sex marriage is stalling. The state Senate Judiciary Committee voted narrowly Tuesday to table the measure defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman. The senators didn't utter a word of debate before or after gay-rights propon...
Shakespeare's Sister - 11:04 a.m.
[Trigger warning.] I know it's the Post , but still... From an article on Mike Tyson's upcoming reality show on Animal Planet: Tyson served three years for rape in the mid-'90s and effectively ended his fight career two years later by biting Evander Holyfield during a bout. But he is now well on his way to remaking himself into a sensitive guy. Wow. Of course, he's well on his way to remakin...
Shakespeare's Sister - 9:22 a.m.
At least, that's my opinion. I imagine it'll be given all due consideration by the Vatican, which will either regretfully discover there isn't enough information for action, or will bury the incident in committees and crocodilic apologies (made of the same stuff as crocodile tears). (Trigger warning - slightly graphic discussion of pedophilia below the Open Wide) Shaker Bald Soprano sent me a...
Shakespeare's Sister - 9:22 a.m.
I've got a new piece up at The Guardian 's CifA about the new "miscarriage" bill in Utah, and how it's part of the anti-choice whittling strategy to render Roe a meaningless statute, to make the US a country in which abortion is technically legal but inaccessible for most women: Legal abortion is only worth as much as the number of women who have reasonable and affordable and unencumbered ac...
Shakespeare's Sister - 8:05 a.m.
I read the news today, oh boy ... House may try to pass Senate health-care bill without voting on it : After laying the groundwork for a decisive vote this week on the Senate's health-care bill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Monday that she might attempt to pass the measure without having members vote on it. Instead, Pelosi (D-Calif.) would rely on a procedural sleight of hand: The Ho...
Shakespeare's Sister - 7:41 a.m.
Suggested by Shaker Spryte: Do you like or dislike your name? If you dislike it, what would you change it to? Is there a story behind your name? I like my name, which is Greek for honey bee; it suits me. There's no real story behind my name, apart from the fact that it was difficult for two schoolteachers to decide on a name, because so many names they each liked had been ruined for the othe...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 4:22 p.m.
...but his primary opponent, J.D. Hayworth, is sure giving it the old college try : [Hayworth] declared that he supports a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage—because to do otherwise could lead to a man marrying a horse. "You see, the Massachusetts Supreme Court, when it started this move toward same-sex marriage, actually defined marriage—now get this—it defined marriage as simply, 't...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 2:57 p.m.
Deeky: There is a "Women of Ninja Warrior" marathon on. Guess the dominant color in the promos. Liss: Pinkity-pink-pink! Deeky: You must be psychic! Liss: I have a psychic vagina! Deeky: LOL! That would make a good movie. Liss: Psychic Vagina vs. Megashark! Deeky: LOL for real. Liss: Psychic Vagina Takes Manhattan! Deeky: Psychic Vagina 2: Electric Boogaloo. Liss: To Wong Foo, Thanks 4 ...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 1:44 p.m.
From Brazil: An ad campaign for Marilia Light dairy products. If you don't eat them, you make a bigger target for people wanting to shoot at you. Or something. [Click images to embiggen.] [Images are of a fat female form and fat male form pictured as rifle targets, with various body parts marked with weights as targets are marked with points.] This? Is eliminationist imagery. And t...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 1:25 p.m.
"I am as strong as a man. I am as smart as a man. I demand the absolute respect of a man. If you understand this, we will get along well." — Peggielene Bartels , a secretary at the Embassy of Ghana in Silver Spring, Maryland, also known as Nana Amuah Afenyi VI, the lady king of Otuam. Bartels inherited the kingship after her uncle died and the elders determined she would be his successor. She s...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 12:41 p.m.
This blogaround brought to you by Shaxco, makers of Iain's Styling Gel, for all your Rick Astley Lookalike Needs. Recommended Reading: Marcella: Carnival Against Sexual Violence 90 Andy: RIP Robert Carter Imani: Embracing Precious: The nuances and truths in the individual and collective stories we tell. Renee: Weight Loss Companies Target Gabourey Sidibe Lindsay: Four-Year-Old Hate ...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 12:09 p.m.
This morning, Shaker koach forwarded me the link to this AP story about queer seniors who come out and/or transition later in life. It's a pretty good article, quite moving in places—even though, like many articles in the mainstream media dealing with gender and sexuality, it's imperfect, and the Herald Tribune headline, "Gay seniors come out late, start second life" erases trans people altog...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 11:18 a.m.
See Deeky's archive of all previous Conniving & Sinister strips here . [In which Liss reimagines the long-running comic "Frank & Ernest," about two old straight white guys "telling it like it is," as a fat feminist white woman and a biracial queerbait telling it like it actually is from their perspectives. Hilarity ensues.] ...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 10:27 a.m.
Last week, I put out a call in this space for requests for structured poetry on topics of your choice. Well, here it is Monday morning - and being me, I've procrastinated. But, I'm sitting down right now and making my poems, so you'll get 'em fresh off the keyboard. I started writing this at about 1030 Shakesville time, so you can get a sense of the live-ness of this. So, we'll start where...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 10:27 a.m.
In the fall of 2010, I'm teaching a new (for me) class, the title of which I've whittled down to "A Brief and General Overview of the Construction of Femininity and the Ways in which It Was/Is Reflected, Perpetuated, and Mandated by Popular Culture in the United States in the 20th and 21st Centuries." Strangely, the class schedule still refers to it by the way too broad, overly-ambitious title, "T...
Shakespeare's Sister - Mon 10:09 a.m.
There's a new study on the costs and benefits of consolidating couty courts in Crown Point, and it's quite sobering. What I think is sobering is the cost of renovating facilites in Crown Point to accomodate the consolidation. That cost is $22.8 million. The savings in utilites are $1.1 million, and there is savings in cutting as many as 80 support positions that would not be needed. My quest...
Blue County in a Red State - Mon 7:02 a.m. - 5 clicks 
Gary hasn't made a payment to the RDA in 2 years. East Chicago is behind on their payment. Poster County has voted to get out of the RDA, and they're no longer making their payment. It's all documented here. The RDA is a mess. Unfortunately, the powers that be are probably going to try to enact a Food and Beverage Tax, which automatically goes to the RDA, rather than just dissolve the thing...
Blue County in a Red State - Sun 1:46 p.m.
Who controls the past, controls the future. Who controls the present, controls the past. I don’t know how bad it really is, but this article about the Texas State School Board’s decision to modify the history curriculum to reflect a more conservative-friendly vision of the past brought to mind Orwell’s quote. The curriculum will now, [...]...
Masson's Blog - Sun 6:06 a.m.
Tomorrow is the time to change our clocks back to double fast time.[] Not much to say that I haven’t already. Here is the archive. Still, I was beginning to enjoy the morning light. Oh, and studies show it might cause heart attacks. []So called because you get +1 fast time for moving from Central [...]...
Masson's Blog - Sat 4:06 p.m.
Editors' Note: Guest blogger Chris Worden is a family-law attorney and political commentator . Chris has managed two successful statewide races in Indiana, including the campaign to elect Pam Carter, the nation's first African-American woman attorney general. As if homophobia weren't its own evil! This story chronicles how my high school administration snuffed out my love for journa...
Bilerico-Indiana - Sat 2:08 p.m. - 3 clicks
I'll be at Rob Pastore's campaign for Congress kickoff rally at noon in Highland, the Winfield Republican's fundraiser at Buddy and Pal's in Winfield at 4PM, and the Lake County Friend's of the NRA fundraiser in Merrillville at 5:30. ...
Blue County in a Red State - Sat 7:22 a.m. - 2 clicks
There was excellent news in the Times today. Lake County can't have a referendum to support the creation of a Regional Transportation Authority. The referendum was supposed to happen last November, but the Lake County Council violated the law and didn't have the vote (saying that it would cost too much money, which it would). The law was written in such a way that the only vote that would be ...
Blue County in a Red State - Sat 7:22 a.m.
Legislators finally reached a deal that primarily involved the Unemployment Insurance Fund and schools. The deal means about $500 million for businesses and give schools some flexibility to deal with about $300 million in cut state funding. On the business end of things, legislation will delay implementation of a 2009 deal raising unemployment insurance obligations of [...]...
Masson's Blog - Sat 6:41 a.m.
This is a MUST READ from Jack Clark. It explains the whole deficit versus debt and who's responsible debate in a manner that will fully arm you in engaging the right wingers who spout their talking points in attacks on Obama: In the last couple of podcasts, you've heard about obviously life-and-death issues like Haiti and health care. When I started looking into today's topic, federal budget...
Left in Aboite - Fri 11:22 p.m.
A group of lawyers, a dentist and a weekly newspaper publisher succeeded Friday in injecting conservative ideals into social studies, history and economics lessons that will be taught to millions of students for the next decade: Teachers in Texas will be required to cover the Judeo-Christian influences of the nation's Founding Fathers, but not highlight the philosophical rationale for the ...
Left in Aboite - Fri 11:22 p.m.
This is what I'm going to say at the Pastore rally tomorrow: Thanks. Hi everyone, I’m Eric Krieg, and I’m running for Lake County Council from the 4th District, which covers Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, and Schererville. The first thing people ask me when I tell them I’m running for Council is, “Why?”. Everybody knows that the County is full of bad people who steal gas, or pay themselv...
Blue County in a Red State - Fri 1:42 p.m.
One of the issues that we have in Lake County is that we have different tax caps than everyone else in Indiana. Payments on debt that municipalities incurred in the past are not included in the tax caps. Over time, this exclusion is supposed to be phased out, so that, perhaps in 2020 or so, we'll have the same tax caps as everyone else. But that doesn't mean that we can't pay off that debt from...
Blue County in a Red State - Fri 9:03 a.m. - 3 clicks
My Democrat opponent has the misfortune to be County Council President while some bad things are going on. First you've got the Tom Philpot bonus scandal. Next, you've got this junket to D.C. to explain to the Feds why the Lake County Jail is so awful. Mr. O'Donnell has been a councilman for a numeber of terms now. While he has been on the Council, not one property tax bill has gone out on...
Blue County in a Red State - Fri 9:03 a.m.
The Candidate of NO! will be at the: Rob Pastore 4 Congress Campaign Kickoff Rally Saturday March 13, 2010 Noon to 3 pm Higand Main Square and Gazebo (Ridge Rd., 1 mile East of Indianapolis Blvd) Kids' Avtivities Patriotic Singing Guest Speakers Good Food Music FUN FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY Vote for ROB PASTORE on the May 4 Republican Primary Ballot! If you care ab...
Blue County in a Red State - Fri 9:03 a.m. - 3 clicks
It looks like Michael Newdow lost another round in his crusade against the 1954 legislation which injected the words “under God” into the original Pledge of Allegiance to keep us safe from the godless Cold War communists. As I posted in the comments over at Opening Arguments, I think Newdow is clearly correct that the 1954 [...]...
Masson's Blog - Fri 7:41 a.m.
SB 73 is ready for the governor’s signature. It is primarily concerned with railroad crossings – making it an infraction for failing to obey the instructions of a railroad flagman to stop the vehicle and requiring a motorist to stop at a railroad crossing upon the approach of on-track equipment. But, it also has a [...]...
Masson's Blog - Fri 5:07 a.m.
SB 46 has gone to the Governor and is ready for passage. It allows 16 year olds to donate blood with written parental permission. ...
Masson's Blog - Fri 4:43 a.m.
Abdul is reporting that Rep. Fry (D-Mishawaka) is out of town at Spring Training, the result being that the House Democrats (also missing the sick Dennie Oxley Sr.) can’t get to 51 on the proposed compromises the House Democrats have worked out with the Senate Republicans. The fact that these compromises can, apparently, get the [...]...
Masson's Blog - Thu 7:06 p.m. - 4 clicks
Cross-posted to Project Vote’s blog, Voting Matters Although the 2008 presidential election showed unprecedented increases in turnout from underrepresented citizens, their rates of voter registration and participation were still well behind the electorate in general. As we approach election season, this pattern may only continue. Instead of taking steps to improve the administration ...
DailyKos (Indiana) - Thu 4:45 p.m. - 5 clicks
I realize even talking about this is futile. Facts, logic, and other trivial details of rational analysis are utterly lost on anyone who finds Beck persuasive. And Beck himself is laughing all the way to the bank. But, whatever. His recent bit of idiocy was to condemn any church that advocates social justice. “I beg [...]...
Masson's Blog - Thu 4:23 p.m.
What have I learned through all this? While I wasn't able to get Dernulc kicked off the ballot, I learned a heck of a lot about the Hatch Act. I think A LOT of politicians and public employees are in violation of the Hatch Act in Lake County. For example, if you could show that Christine Cid handles federal money of any kind in her capacity in the County Clerk's office (for example, if she was ...
Blue County in a Red State - Thu 2:27 p.m.
My premonition was correct, the Election Board ruled against me, and I get to meet Dan Dernulc in the Republican Primary in May. I can't say that I agree with their decision, obviously. They ruled that Dernulc, despite being an officer of the Little Cal, is not covered by the Hatch Act because he's not an employee. And despite not providing any evidence that he made more with his employment at ...
Blue County in a Red State - Thu 2:07 p.m.
FINDINGS OF FACT, CONCLUSIONS OF LAW & DETERMINATION The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration, (“Board”), conducted a properly noticed hearing, on March 8, 2010. Both parties appeared and evidence was presented and arguments heard. The Board took this matter under advisement and recessed the meeting for the purpose of permitting the parties to submit proposed Findings of Fact and Conc...
Blue County in a Red State - Thu 2:07 p.m.
Waiting for them to meet again to hear my challenge. I don't have a good feeling, I think that I'm going to lose the challenge. More info soon. Sent on the go from my Peek ...
Blue County in a Red State - Thu 8:05 a.m.
HB 1106 contains a provision that would extend the status of Tippecanoe, Wayne, and Cass counties as “vote center pilot counties.” Under the original legislation passed a few years ago, the pilot status is set to expire. From my personal perspective, vote centers have been a great thing, and I think they have been [...]...
Masson's Blog - Thu 5:42 a.m. - 4 clicks
Jerame and I are starting our road trip to South By South West today and while I'm gone you'll have a new Bilerico to kick around. Contributor Joe Mirabella has volunteered to be me while I'm gone. I'll be shooting some video and taking lots of pictures on the drive and I'll check in each night to comment and look around, but I'm looking forward to the break from the blog for a couple of days....
Bilerico-Indiana - Thu 5:02 a.m.
Eric Bradner has an article in the Evansville Courier Press that sums up what legislators have on their plate to end the session. The biggest issue is unemployment insurance. The UI fund was ignored for years and went bankrupt. The Republican Senate and the Democratic House agreed on a fix in 2009. Part of the [...]...
Masson's Blog - Thu 4:49 a.m. - 6 clicks
The annual South By South West conference and festival in Austin, Texas, is one of the biggest and most popular festivals in the nation. It combines film, music and the internet into a sort of interactive geek fest , film festival and rock concert . Tens of thousands of people attend each year. My understanding though, is that they've never had a session that was explicitly queer. Until...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 9 - 3 clicks
Recently, the boys of raannt were lucky enough to chat it up with Ongina, drag illusionist extraordinaire, most famous for her presence on Season 1 of Rupaul's Drag Race...Here's what she had to say... 1. What is your name and what title would you use to describe yourself? Like my real name? Ryan. My drag name is, as you know, Ongina and a title that would best describe her? GORGEOUS!...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 9 - 2 clicks
I was at a campaign event over the weekend, and I got to talking to George Janiec regarding the County's finances and the "need" for an income tax. We got into a bit of an argument over whether the county makes money on its "businesses" like the water park and children's center. Janiec says that they do, I say they do only if you ignore things like pension costs and the fact that these things do...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 8 - 2 clicks
Bil made an excellent comment regarding trans allies on one of Antonia's recent posts . I want to repost it it here because I think its an important sentiment in the LGBT community: Even in a previous post from this week on a trans issue, someone said in the comments that I should stop posting on trans issues. From the comment, I assume that they're trans. When I asked for a trans 101...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 8 - 3 clicks
So I presented my case before the Lake County Board of Elections that it is a Hatch Act violation for Dan Dernulc to be a candidate for Lake County Council. I wrote my first legal brief, which isn't bad considering I'm not a lawyer. I made my case that Dernulc, as Little Calumet River Development Commission Chairman is not eligible to be a candidate. Dernulc brought his lawyer. The bottom line w...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 8 - 2 clicks
I had a supporter at the hearing today. Very cool! Okay, so she was really there to file her homestead exemption, and was killing two birds with one stone. Hey, I'll take whatever support I can get. ...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 8
So I was invited by the Munster Republican chairman to come over to the Munster Lions Club Pancake Breakfast to do a little campaigning (He's a Lion, too). They put on an unbelievable event, there were a ton of people there. I'm not big on bugging people while they're trying to eat, so what I did was put one of my signs by the door, I put my nametag on, and I just opened the door for people comi...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 8 - 5 clicks
It says so right here: Chapter 36: LAKE COUNTY AND PORTER COUNTY FOOD AND BEVERAGE TAX IC 6-9-36-8 Distribution of revenue Sec. 8. (a) The entire amount received from the taxes imposed by a county under this chapter shall be paid monthly by the treasurer of state to the treasurer of the northwest Indiana regional development authority established by IC 36-7.5-2-1. (b) The taxes paid to the trea...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 8 - 5 clicks
Editors' note: Janet Walsh is the deputy director of the Women's Rights Division of Human Rights Watch. Imagine that you are four months pregnant, excitedly telling your friends and family and starting to make plans for baby. You tell your human resources director at work, a small company, and ask about maternity leave pay. You're told there is no paid leave, but you can take off six weeks...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 7
I'm glad we have so many contributors! After all my recent travels plus getting ready to leave for Austin, TX next week and Los Angeles/Palm Springs the week after , I'm having trouble keeping all the balls in the air. Housekeeping, blogging, pet care, writing for other outlets, editing, meetings, and consulting obligations have kept me hopping this week, but check out these fantastic posts Bi...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 6 - 2 clicks
In an article titled "Earmarks and Ethics" Congressman Visclosky is featured very prominently. One of the reasons that I have such a hard time with Times Editorial Advisory Board Member Cal Bellamy and his Ethics Board is that he is one of Visclosky's biggest campaign contributors. Visclosky is a bad guy. He is corrupt, and he has been for a very long time. It is high time that people like B...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 6 - 5 clicks
Have we got a deal for you today! We've partnered with PFLAG to send unemployed LGBT people to Washington DC on March 16 to lobby on behalf of ENDA. How do you participate? Glad you asked! Are you unemployed? Did you lose your job because of your sexual orientation or gender identity? Do you live in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio or West Virg...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 5 - 7 clicks
When you have a website, you get tools that can show you who has visited your site and where they came from. I’ve had a congressman visit my site from housegate32.house.gov And someone else from DC: 173-8-13-54-washingtondc.hfc.comcastbusiness.net Visclosky? ...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 4 - 5 clicks
Well, I've bought some signs, I've got my postcards and business cards, but I'm in need of money for postage and such. So I'm thinking of throwing a fundraiser for myself. Let me give you the idea, and you guys give me some constructive feedback. What I'm thinking of is having a fundraiser in the beginning of April. I enjoy going to Omni Tobacco, next to Albert's. I go there to their walk in ...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 3
I got this comment from commenter "Molly": I read some earlier posts that included references to civil engineer, Mahlon Plumb. Mahlon, a grand and kind person passed away this past Saturday, February 28. Mahlon lived a long and amazing life. He sent me a letter regarding the Cline Avenue Bridge, and I talked to him a number of times. He was the chief brige inspector for what was then call...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 3 - 2 clicks
I've been served! I got a letter in the mail that my challenge to Dan Dernulc's candidacy for the Republican Primary of the 4th District of the Lake County Council will occur on Monday at 10AM at the Lake County Government Center. I'm getting out the word and we'll see how many people I can get to show up. ...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 2 - 4 clicks
I was honored to co-host a gathering of top bloggers and print media editors with Paul Schindler of the Gay City News last weekend. The Four Freedoms Fund sponsored the gathering and we spent several hours on Saturday talking about comprehensive immigration reform. I'm still mulling over my thoughts about the issue so I'll post on CIR tomorrow. For now, I wanted to put down some personal mu...
Bilerico-Indiana - Mar 1 - 2 clicks
My man Mitch has a nice piece in the Wall Street Journal today on the state's experience with switching over to consumer directed health insurance, from comprehensive or managed care health insurance. Consumer directed, catastrophic style health insurance with a health savings account is exactly where Lake County needs to go. Enroll every employee in such a program, and the savings will be imm...
Blue County in a Red State - Mar 1 - 4 clicks
A couple of weeks ago, the Grassroots Fundraising Journal asked me to sit down for an interview about the nuts and bolts of owning and managing Bilerico Project. They were gathering information on a myriad of non-profit organizations' IT/communications structure around their blog and I asked if I could publish my Q&A here since it'll only end up in a snippet of the final report. Every time w...
Bilerico-Indiana - Feb 28
So I haven't exactly been chummy with State Rep. Ed Soliday. But last night, I went right up to him, introduced myself again, and talked with him him and Tim Fesko for about 5 minutes. ...
Blue County in a Red State - Feb 28
Indiana Democratic Party chair Dan Parker's staff put out this press release today. I've translated it below if you're having difficulty parsing it... Indiana Democratic Party Chair Dan Parker on Baron Hill's Decision to Seek Re-Election Applauds dedication and public service to Hoosiers I speak for my fellow Hoosier Democrats in thanking and acknowledging U. S. Congressman Baron H...
Bilerico-Indiana - Feb 27 - 6 clicks
