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Saturday, September 19, 2009

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Friday, July 3, 2009

What did Evan Mecham ask the Pope? - the jokes that impeached a governor

The jokes that impeached a governor. What Did Evan Mecham Ask The Pope?

What was it that finally drove Evan Mecham from the Arizona governor's office? His bigoted comments? His hand-in-the-till approach to campaign finances? In the end, his most enduring enemy may have been the countless Mecham jokes that swept the state, fueled the recall drive, and helped bring down the governor. Mecham's gone, but the jokes remain. A sampling:

Why did Evan Mecham cancel Easter?

Because he heard some of the eggs were going to be colored.

What do Evan Mecham's political appointees have in common?

Parole officers.

Why does Evan Mecham have to open his mouth?

So he can change feet.

What do Mecham and an untrained puppy have in common?

They both cringe at the sight of a newspaper.

How do you spell relief?

R-E-C-A-L-L.

What would be the difference if Mecham and a skunk were run over on the highway?

There would be skid marks in front of the skunk.

Did you hear what Mecham asked the Pope?

"How's the little woman?" Arizona bumper stickers:

I'll take a urine test if Mecham will take an IQ test.

God--Leave Oral and take Evan.

Don't get mad! Get Evan.

After Mecham began defending his use of the word pickaninny to describe black children, Arizonans turned it back on him: Pickaninny: What we did for Governor.

Mecham's education adviser, supporting a bill that would have required the teaching of creationism, told the legislature that if a student "wants to say the world is flat, the teacher doesn't have the right to try to prove otherwise." Shortly afterwards, a caller to a radio station suggested a state tax to fund the purchase of flat globes for schools.

At times, it seemed that Mecham and the jokes had merged. He was saying things so outrageous that the only logical explanation could be that he was mocking himself. As when he told a Jewish audience that America was a great Christian nation. Or when he denied being a bigot by arguing that he hires blacks "because they are the best people who applied for the cotton-picking job." Or when he scolded a reporter by telling him never to ask "for a true statement again!"

Speaking last summer, Morris Udall borrowed a line from Will Rogers and said he couldn't tell any jokes because Mecham had appointed them all. Udall, of course was wrong: Mecham left a few behind. Thanks for the laughs.

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Ask the Pope to lift the ban on condom use



I got a request to share this information with you all, and I hope you'll take the time to sign the following letter at the link above:


His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI
Apostolic Palace
Vatican City

Your Holiness:

Today, we are writing to you in solidarity with the approximately 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS and out of concern for the more than 15 million children who have been orphaned.

We know you share our concern and have supported the many Catholic health and social service agencies, who have treated those with HIV and AIDS. In so many ways, the Catholic community has been an international leader in providing compassionate, nondiscriminatory treatment to those living with HIV and AIDS, and we applaud those efforts.

We write to you today to express our support for your decision announced 23 April 2006 for senior theologians and scientists to prepare a document discussing the use of condoms as a means of preventing the transmission of HIV. But we urge you to move forward quickly to set new guidelines for the prevention of this disease that would enable all agencies that collaborate with the Catholic community to educate those at risk of the option of using condoms to prevent the transmission of HIV and AIDS and to actually provide condoms to those it serves whose conscience leads them to choose to use them.

For years, Vatican spokespersons and other church officials have made clear the church’s moral objections to condoms as a contraceptive. However, the extension of this position to HIV and AIDS prevention has resulted in dangerous practices that have contributed to the spread of HIV and AIDS. There have been public burnings of condoms, gross distortions of the statistics on the efficacy of condoms
as a preventive and disregard of the very real human toll of this pandemic by some whose ecclesiastical objections outweigh concern for the common good and the promotion of a culture of life.

Indeed, since you became pope on 19 April 2005, 5.5 million people have acquired the HIV virus. And 3.7 million people have died of AIDS-related causes.

As people of faith, both Catholic and not, we urge you to pay special attention to those bishops and health care workers who have witnessed the devastation firsthand and who have courageously spoken out in support of the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV as a stand for life:

We think their witness demonstrates that a culture of life requires support for a full array of prevention methods, including condoms.

We know that condoms are neither 100 percent effective nor a simple solution to a complex problem. They remain however the only hope for those who are sexually active, either voluntarily or in forced circumstances, such as women who do not have the right to say no to risky sex.

We believe the world community must offer compassionate quality care to those already infected with HIV/AIDS, as well as fully support integrated prevention programs that incorporate women’s empowerment, sexual education, condom counseling and distribution, monogamy and abstinence— without discrimination or stigmatization. We maintain that the most ethical approach to combating HIV and AIDS is a comprehensive and balanced approach that meets the varied needs of all people while upholding scientific and medical integrity. To that end, we believe in and support a comprehensive range of methods by which to stem the spread of this pandemic, such as:

o the ABC method that equally emphasizes abstinence, fidelity and condom use, and
o the SAVE approach that emphasizes safer practices, available medication, voluntary counseling and testing, and empowerment through education.

As concerned and compassionate people of faith, we are bound together by moral and ethical values that call on us to address the global AIDS crisis with compassion and respect for the dignity and conscience of each person. Most of the world’s religions have recognized that support for condom education and use freely chosen reflects those moral values. We call on you to bring the Catholic community into this
religious consensus and support condom use as an important part of the international strategy to save lives.

We thank you for your consideration.


At the end of the letter there's a place for you to tadd your own text as well.

The letter is not perfect, and I certainly would never address a man as "Father" let alone "his holiness" but I'm signing that letter because people are dying. People who don't have to die are dying when they could be saved by simple use of a condom.

One unnecessary death is one too many. In this case, deaths number in the millions. This pandemic is decimating an entire continent, Africa, and it reaches every corner of the Earth. It's not a "gay" disease - the largest number of infections currently occurs in women, many of whom believe that they are in a monogamous relationship. No woman should have to die for her husband's infidelity and their children shouldn't be orphaned for it. Children don't deserve to be orphaned in the millions when there is a simple, effective method of prevention available.

Please sign the letter, and send the link to all of you mailing lists. Lives depend upon it.

Namaste~
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