Maine: not just for Maineiacs

Last week, the state of Maine gained the dubious distinction of being the first in the nation to repeal its law protecting gay men and lesbians from discrimination in housing, employment, and credit. This moronic first was accomplished after a single-issue referendum was held in an off-year election, at a time when a severe ice storm had paralyzed much of the state for days.

After their upset victory, the reactionary forces responsible for the repeal congratulated themselves, telling reporters that they hadn't even tried to be "clever" in their efforts to strike down the law. Paul Volle, executive director of Maine's Christian Coalition and a driving force behind the campaign, was especially pleased after covering the state with flyers that read, "Do you want to send your children or grandchildren to day cares, pre-schools, and schools that are forced to hire homosexuals?"

Hey, Paul, you're right. There is nothing clever about that ploy. It is merely despicable on two counts. First, civil rights protections don't "force" anyone to hire people. They merely ensure that one's sexual orientation cannot be used as a reason to deny a person employment, credit, or housing. More disgusting is the implication that pedophilia is somehow related to sexual orientation when numerous studies have proven otherwise.

By ignoring these facts, the organized forces of fear and ignorance were able to slip this referendum issue past the people of Maine. As the question on the pamphlets reveals, the opponents of the civil rights law have every intention of discriminating against superior behaviorists.

Meanwhile, back in the Biggest Little, there are bills in both the House and Senate to establish voter initiative here. (It was Maine's voter initiative that allowed a well-organized minority to get the repeal vote on the ballot.) But while chances of passage are questionable, the legislation being proposed in Rhode Island does have at least one noteworthy safeguard -- it would not allow a referendum question dealing with civil rights issues to be put on the ballot.

Brock means business

Into the muck and mire of local Cranstonian politics wades state Representative (and Casa Diablo favorite) Brock Bierman, who officially announced his candidacy for mayor of the Big Hair city last Monday.

Brock's campaign slogan is "Brock Means Business," and he's not talking about business as usual. Indeed, it was refreshing to note that at his announcement and subsequent rally later that evening, there was not a huge crowd of city workers to swell the numbers, just a bunch of ordinary citizens and supporters.

Like the longtime powers-that-be in Cranston, Bierman is a Republican, but he is not part of the machine apparatus, as evidenced by the dearth of city workers as well as the cursory treatment his candidacy has received from the city party structure. Those skids already have been greased for good ole boy Ray Votto, and Brock wisely has told the city committee that he is not interested in their endorsement and would not accept it if proffered.

Let's hope the people of Cranston give the Brockmeister a good look-see. We like him and think he's got plenty of the "right stuff" and a healthy streak of independence to boot.

Nuke Nike

No one in the world is more insecure and hyper-sensitive than television executives and reporters. Nor are these people more reluctant to buck their bosses when forced to make a choice between their principles and some empty suit's supposed flash of genius.

The most recent TV troops to march into the tank in the face of rampant commercialism were the folks at CBS, who paraded onto the nightly airing of the Winter Olympics all kitted out in official Nike sportswear, the famed swoosh swishing right into camera range.

Now, ordinarily, this type of unpaid advertising simply would be written off as stupidity on the part of the executives who authorized it, but we're not talking about a local cable-access television show here. We're talking about CBS Sports, where even usually reliable correspondents, such as Bill Geist, were played for fools by the kings of Asian sweatshops.

Naturally, CBS Sports execs tried to dodge the criticism that followed the new outfits, but it took the head of CBS News, Andrew Heyward, to finally put his foot down. Rumor has it that CBS Sports execs were reluctant to drop the Nike outfits out of fear that the company would reduce its sponsorship of the network's Olympic coverage. And this speculation was further fueled by the dilemma of one Roberta Baskin, a CBS News reporter.

According to the NY Times, Baskin did an investigative piece on Nike for 48 Hours but claims in a letter to Heyward that a follow-up segment was spiked because CBS was worried about retribution from Tiger Woods's sugar daddies.

Not that this was a unique instance. Herbert noted that the San Francisco Examiner killed a column last year that criticized Nike because the paper allegedly feared that Phil Knight's goon squad would withdraw sponsorship of the Examiner's "Bay to Breakers" race.

Girls just wanna have fun

Phillipe and Jorge just happened to hear from a friend who recently encountered a 20-year-old female White House intern during his extensive travels. The estimable young lady reports that White House aides have made it quite clear to the interns that talking to the media is verboten during President Billary's time of personal torment, as is keeping any sort of journal or diary.

Your superior correspondents also consulted with our own 20-year-old intern in search of her views on the tawdry Oral Office scandal. But rather than being appalled by the president's alleged sexual favors from a woman almost the same age as his daughter, our intern was disgusted by the possibility that Clinton lied to the public about his so-called zipper problem. (As Dennis Miller put it recently, "A 21-year-old ought to want to blow the President of the United States.")

Finally, the Urinal got it backwards when they interviewed Captain Blowhard's daughter, Kara Sundlun, and another Rhode Island youth who had worked as a White House intern. In the article, Kara and the young man were quoted as saying that, in their day-to-day chores, they'd never come into such close contact with the president as Lewinsky.

But this is precisely the point. The fact that Lewinsky did indeed have access usually granted only to Al Gore and Asian campaign contributors (not to mention the shine Vernon Jordan evidently took to her career) speaks volumes.

Righteously indignant

A tip of the beret and sombrero to P&J's old buddy at the State House, Scott MacKay of the Urinal, for getting an enormous rise out of temporarily "exonerated" former governor Ed "Gerber Baby" DiPrete, who has been accused of racketeering and extortion.

A January 31 story by Scottso got the Gerb's knickers in such a huge twist that Fast Eddie wrote a response that was published in the Other Paper's editorial pages on February 13. In it, the Gerbster accused MacKay of distortions, outright fabrications, and revisions of history, which DiPrete said he could not let "lie unchallenged."

Well, Gerb, all of Scott's observations looked right on target to us. And when it comes to lying unchallenged, we thought that was what happened when Judge Cresto dismissed your case.

The form of welfare reform

Now that we've got a budget surplus in Vo Dilun, don't you think it might be time to give a little cost-of-living adjustment to the 36,000 children in this state who are living in poverty and on AFDC? Governor Bigfoot's budget proposal (like all of his budget proposalsso far and Governor Sundlun's before that) offers no relief for our most vulnerable, nor does it include any money for the 550 disabled children who were cut off from Supplemental Social Security last year.

Your superior correspondents are among those who believe that the true values of a nation, or a state for that matter, are reflected in the way its poorest citizens are treated. At this point, the average AFDC payment is about half the federal poverty level. Is this welfare "reform"?

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