John Danforth: fed marriage amendment is silly

The former Missouri senator (and Episcopalian minister) recently spoke to the Log Cabin Republicans and said that the religious extremists in the GOP are hurting the party with their incessant push for an amendment to ban same-sex marriage. (365gay.com):

Danforth, a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest, made the comments in a speech Saturday night to the Log Cabin Republicans, which support gay rights. He said history has shown that attempts to regulate human behavior with constitutional amendments are misguided.

"Once before, the Constitution was amended to try to deal with matters of human behavior; that was prohibition. That was such a flop that that was repealed 13 years later,'' Danforth said.

Referring to the marriage amendment, he added that perhaps at some point in history there was a constitutional amendment proposed that was "sillier than this one, but I don't know of one.''

This set of a firestorm over in Freeperville, with the usual claims that Danforth is a Republican in Name Only, going to hell, or perhaps in favor of bestiality.

Actual Freeper Quotes™

Anyways, Danforth is a RINO, he was a RINO in the senate, and he hasn't worked a day in his life, he is spoiled, he comes from a rich family, and was rarely a practicing pastor, he was in elected office almost all of his life. I resent everyone like him.

Ah yes. Christians who support traditional marriage are hurting the GOP, but butt-packers disguised as Republicans aren't.

I have to agree here, this is a state issue and should not be molested by the federal government like abortion was.

Hello...rouge judges have legislated from the bench and miraculously discovered a clause that gays and lesbians can be married. That is why a constitutional amendment banning gay marriages is being discussed in the first place.

[Sanity alert!] I have to agree here, this is a state issue and should not be molested by the federal government. I also agree that it's dangerous to tamper with the constitution over an issue like this. This "protect marriage" movement isn't protecting anything. I can tell you that my marriage isn't threatened at all by what two people of the same sex do or don't do. Those who see this as a constitutional issue need to get a life. I can tell you what it does do and that is that rather than vote entirely GOP as I used to do, I now pick and choose and think long and hard before voting for anyone who considers this a federal issue.

Oh sure! It's political suicide for the GOP to back a proposal that has won every time it's been placed on a referendum ballot, always by at least a comfortable margin and usually by a huge margin. GOP support for traditional marriage must be the cause of the current low polling numbers for President Bush and the Republican congress. It surely has nothing to do with their embrace of amnesty for illegal aliens, an idea Danforth would not doubt endorse.

Danforth will get to be among the first in line explaining himself according to IIPeter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God???

Danforth is why I left Missouri

I've never heard of them, but is there a list of members of the Log Cabin Republicans?

[Attention LCRs, the Freepi don't want you in the party...] They're not Republicans, they're a bunch of liberal infiltrators trying to water down the GOP, just like the Soros-funded Main Street Republicans and Republicans for Choice are doing.

I bet I know which mountain the log cabin is on.

John Danforth is practicing heresy when he says that. He must be pandering to the homosexuals because he has got to know better. Why would he want to mock marriage? Or does he not know what is going on here in this attempt to dissolve traditional marriage? He is playing into the Marxist playbook and our country slips into socialism.

It wasn't easy building that log cabin. They forced the logs into the wrong openings.

Danforth also supports embryonic stem cell research. His is an odd theology.

Danforth you nitwit...this is fundamental to who we are as a people.

I take it that those who eat pork will be included in God's wrath as will those who wear cloth made of multiple thread. Maybe a constitutional amendment is in order to combat those sins also.

What was the consequence for eating pork when the Heavenly Father said He did not make it fit to be consumed? Mocking the Heavenly Father is Written to be a far greater sin than wearing mixed threads.

Wonder if he thinks laws against having sex with animals are silly.

[And the winner of this thread...] Homosexuality is an aberrant stain upon society that must be addressed NOW. I am sympathetic towards states' rights, but sometimes such rights have to be set aside for the needs of the greater good. Just like certain liberties need to be curtailed by the Patriot Act so we can properly fight the new global war on terrorism.

Your right, lets give the feds the right to legislate away all "Stains" and abominations to society. Government knows best right? What happens when the democrats regain control in which will happen someday whether this year or decades from now it WILL happen, they decide that guns are a stain on society, as are profits, and incomes above $100,000, property rights, and religion and they decide to cleanse society of there evil because decades earlier a republican congress gave the federal government the power to right all wrongs that "society" i.e. those in power at the time deem wrong.

Poor Don Wildmon

The American Family Association's homo-hating head honcho is feeling the pain at the pump, so he's put out one of his Action Alerts, in a call to "Christians" to reduce their gas consumption by 3%.

This move is ostensibly to encourage conservation, but I kinda think this has a little more to do with the fact that their man in the White House is hurting on this issue and that, friends, is always the bottom line with these creatures. They want to save Dear Leader from sliding into below 30% approval ratings and putting the fall elections at risk for their fundamentalist party.

What I want to know, is what kind of car is Don driving?

I recently filled up my car with gas. The price? Nearly $50. This $3 a gallon gas (some say it will soon hit $4 a gallon) is having a very negative effect on our family pocketbooks.

Individually, we can't do much about this situation, but if enough of us stick together and work together, we can help bring down the price of gas.

We urge you to join our "3% Solution" project. We are asking each person to reduce their consumption of gas by at least 3%. If demand goes down, so does the price of gas. Simply reducing our use of gasoline by 3% will be a major step in bringing down those gas prices! The law of supply and demand will kick in.

Find a complete guide to gas saving tips by clicking here.

I realize this is a complicated issue and there is no single or simple answer. However, I do feel that if enough people join together we can make a difference. If we fail to make our voices heard, then the price will simply keep going up!

Don't worry, he also tosses in a fundraising plea at the end of the message.

I'm all for conserving gas; we all know the AFA isn't doing this for the right reasons. Their man in the Oval Office is who got us in this mess.

To illustrate Don's hypocrisy regarding the environment, conservation and the effect of our oil addiction (as Dear Leader says) on the planet, take a look at the list of evangelicals who opposed National Association of Evangelicals leadership on a proposal to declare that mankind has "a sacred responsibility to steward the Earth and not a license to abuse the creation of which we are a part."

...More than 20 evangelical leaders urged the NAE not to adopt "any official position" on global climate change because "Bible-believing evangelicals . . . disagree about the cause, severity and solutions to the global warming issue."

The letter's signers amounted to a Who's Who of politically powerful evangelicals, including Charles W. Colson, founder of Prison Fellowship Ministries; James C. Dobson, chairman of Focus on the Family; the Rev. D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries; the Rev. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention; Richard Roberts, president of Oral Roberts University; Donald E. Wildmon, chairman of the American Family Association; and the Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Traditional Values Coalition.

'Nuff said.

And now, a message from the completely unhinged

Homosexuals headed for Jerusalem: 200,000 from the nations to flaunt perversions in God's holy city.

That is the screeching headline from Stan Goodenough of the Jerusalem Newswire. He's talking about the WorldPride 2006 festival, to be held in the city in August. The theme of the festival is "Love without Borders."

As I read this, I imagine the man drooling over his keyboard, wiping away the spittle as he pounded away, thinking of the wickedness that he desperately wants to see for himself.

In August this year, hundreds of thousands of men and women who practice perverse sexual lifestyles plan to descend on Jerusalem for a week of wickedness.

Not content with morally polluting cities “from San Francisco to Montreal to Sydney to Berlin,” the movement whose members insist they have the right to flaunt their behavior in the face of the rest of the world want to notch up a victory in the capital of Israel.

Having successfully conquered Jerusalem, these people clearly hope to ensure that no other city on earth will be able to withstand their assault. The aim of these homosexuals – who in 2000 purposely held their first international event in Rome in order, according to them, to have it on “the Pope’s doorstep” – is to confront and defy the teachings and followers of Judeo-Christian faith.

Their destination this year is the city of King David, a man after God’s own heart; who’s son Solomon built a temple here for the LORD. It is Israel’s God Who says that for a man to lie with another man is “an abomination” (Leviticus 18:23) that is “against nature” (Romans 1:26-28).

...They are coming to what they even dare call “the holy city” in “a massive demonstration of dignity [sic], pride and boundary-crossing celebration,” – homo-speak for public displays of lewd and lustful behavior.

As they do on their marches elsewhere, they plan to parade through Jerusalem on August 10, men openly fondling and kissing men, women groping and kissing women, while bodies will be bared for all passers by to see.

The left-wing Israeli government that will be sworn in next week will almost certainly not oppose an event that promises millions of homosexual dollars in revenue.

Good god, this is completely off the charts, isn't it? The homos are going to destroy the Holy Land.

Hat tip, Holly.

Monday will tell the tale

Below is one of many businesses that will have to shut down -- in both large cities and small towns -- when undocumented workers and supporters walk out in the Day Without Immigrants on Monday. From the Waterloo Cedar-Falls Courier in Iowa:

A day without immigrants at the Tyson Foods plant means a day without meat.

...Tyson announced nine of its plants will close temporarily Monday, and while company officials declined to name which plants would close, several sources, including Tyson employees, said the plant would be closed Monday.

Chris Kromm over at Facing South asks a pertinent question -- where is the progressive blogosphere on this massive upcoming event? The prospect of so many workers not showing up has so shaken corporate America that companies are actually endorsing shut downs and are sympathetic to the worker action. The California legislature has actually endorsed the boycott.

There seems to be no problem finding right-wing blogs chattering about the issue. Chris:

Most of the country -- especially power brokers who know how critical the immigration debate is to the country -- are standing up and taking notice.

But where is the progressive blogosphere? A quick Technorati search shows that lots of blogs are commenting on May 1 -- but by my quick estimate, over 90% of them are conservatives in a frenzy of anger over the looming activities (some even declaring May 1 is Conservative Shopping Day).

...What's going on? Why is the progressive blogosphere so completely out of touch? Is it because most of them closely identify with partisan politics, and the Democratic Party doesn't have a very clear position on the immigration issue? Is it due to a racial blindspot in the blogosphere, connected to its demographic make-up (and yes, I know Markos at DKos hails from El Salvador; I'm talking about the larger reality)? Do they not understand the historic nature of this movement?

And Chris is right. The hand-wringing about the impact of this boycott is hitting home and, as I've said before, both the left and the right really don't know what to do about the immigration issue. It's a no-win situation politically, because both sides know some large group of people will pissed off no matter what compromises are made to try to address a situation that everyone has chosen to ignore.

A surf over to Freeperland illustrates the reality. One, located in California posted a situation he's dealing with at his business. You can smell the fear...

Phone call I recieved a few minutes ago. Our Plaza Housekeepers are not coming in on Monday. (It begins)

I just recieved a phone call from one of our employee's Daughter. She called to tell me that Maria and Jose will not be coming in to work on Monday.

I asked why, of course, and she said they would be joining the protests. My response was "This is the wrong way, I like your family, and we've been as much freinds as co-workers, but this is going to change all that. It's the wrong way, and I don't think you know some of the really bad players involved in the planning of this. They have no interest in helping legal, or for that matter, illegal Mexicans"

I like and treat with respect all of our employees, but I told her, "I've just lost some of that respect" they've had all week to tell us, in fact we've been asking them if anyone planned to do this thing or not. I am personnally offended. For what they do, and the fact that they've been so reliable over the past two years, I have seen to it that they get an average pay of $11.00 and hour. (The highest rate on the Monterey Penninsula)

His daugher said that they HAD to do this protest, (I'm wondering about this statement, perhaps they're being threatened?)to show that they "matter". My response was, if you "didn't matter, We would be paying you $7.75 instead, but we've always taken care of each other, and this is our thanks"

She then implied that they wouldn't be able to get to work anyway due to "Rte 1 being blocked."

I am calling the Highway patrol to let them know.

Before you say "Fire them" Know that everyone involved has already given two weeks notice over this past week. We're already looking for replacements. Furthermore, don't misunderstand. These are not (supposedly)illegal alliens. They have I551 cards and verified SSA cards.

I'm beginning to think something is not above boards.

They had both already given notice in the past week, and will be leaving for Mexico by mid-month.

I sometimes read here that the Emplouyers should be punsihed for hiring these folks, but I really wonder. How many fake documents are there floating around. And, how many employers only "think" they have legal employees?

Anyway, I called her back to say, we'll get by just fine without them. (It will be quite a chore, but we can do it)

Is anyone else getting these calls?

And the responses:

Actual Freeper Quotes™

Jose can you seeeeee ...A pink slip?

Speaking as a Canadian, if you don't fire them you are just a gutless piece of wormdust.

They've already quit. And they've called and given a two day notice of taking the day off. According to our company policy I CANNOT fire them, unless we'd like to hand over our company to them, with the blessing of the court. This is California. If there are any CA,NV,AZ,TX folks on here, I would have to say, they may understand this a little better. We are literally at the pointy end of the spear, and we live it every day.

Well, if an employer can produce a paper trail of a bona fide effort made to check their legal status, then it would be difficult to find a convicting jury.

2 weeks notice, my rear-end. Tell them not to bother coming back on the 2nd, and that you're informing the INS.

Interesting post. This invasion is better organized than people know. It even has tentacles in rural towns. Wonder who the Godfather is? He and those like him will be cracking a lot of whips over our heads in years to come.

if they are like law enforcement here don't bother calling they wont do anything. We have been given notice our city streets will be blocked by students marching to protest in front of our republican congressman's office.

I called the police to ask if they will enforce the truant and loitering laws which are meant to keep the kids and gangs off the street when if they ditch school, , but was told that the kids in our city will be in school on Monday, which is really a joke if i was supposed to believe that,

i mentioned that the city has been failing on investigating vandalism and graffiti, and that we know the gangs doing it are the children of illegal immigrants. After mentioning the term illegal immigrant , the police dispatcher said the call was over and hung up!

however i called my congressman and was told the city had alerted him, so law enforcement knows whats going on, but they ain't going to alert the public , or do anything, even if illegal acts are being committed.

Not sure if this is a state or Federal policy for the police to remain hush, but it wouldn't surprise us here.

I think that these shenanigans will backfire. Like the old saying goes, "this ain't gonna play well in Peoria".

I think he posted this because of the evidence of coordination (Rte 1 will be closed) and the air of intimidation (they HAD to go.)

Any employer who claims to be honest, knows damned well they can go to the SS Web Site and confirm any Employee's legal status to be using their SS number.

Well, many commie groups have claimed to be in support of or involved in the organisation of this action. Folks forget that the commies remain a threat to the Federal Republic.

Commies and mafia-esque organizers and coordinators. Chiefly what I suspect and fear is more fascistic than Marxist--little dictators dealing in power swaps and corruption.

My concern is that this seems much more coordinated than one would expect. One of these people/protesters is about 60 yrs old, and in no way an activist of any kind. I'm a little shocked that they would even bother with such things.

Fear and intimidation are in the air and the California State Senate is walking out in sympathy...with the illegals. Meantime the US Senate is lurking in the shadows trying to run the clock out. Funny how they were just grandstanding on the Dubai deal, showing how "tough" they were on national security. It's going to be a long hot summere folks.

It is going to be real hard to get a clean hotel/motel room in the West come Monday.

Fire them and hire Americans...of any race.

I've given up on the Senate doing anything but granting amnesty. We have to let the House know we loved HR4437 and for them to stand firm. They are our only hope and they are the ones being blamed by the WH, the Senate, and the 3rd world mobs in the streets. They are our only hope.

Our President

A snapshot of a portion of Raw Story's front page right now. Love the pic selection.



The headline "Bush ignores hundreds of laws" points to a powerful Boston Globe article that is stomach-churning but completely unsurprising. Since he took office, Dear Leader, according the Globe, has issued signing statements on hundreds of laws, declaring that he has the power to set aside them when they inconveniently conflict with his legal interpretation of the Constitution -- and any master plans he has in the works, or any enemies he wishes to punish. We all know his vision of what is contitutional is to be charitable, limited.

Legal scholars say the scope and aggression of Bush's assertions that he can bypass laws represent a concerted effort to expand his power at the expense of Congress, upsetting the balance between the branches of government. The Constitution is clear in assigning to Congress the power to write the laws and to the president a duty ''to take care that the laws be faithfully executed." Bush, however, has repeatedly declared that he does not need to ''execute" a law he believes is unconstitutional.

Former administration officials contend that just because Bush reserves the right to disobey a law does not mean he is not enforcing it: In many cases, he is simply asserting his belief that a certain requirement encroaches on presidential power.

But with the disclosure of Bush's domestic spying program, in which he ignored a law requiring warrants to tap the phones of Americans, many legal specialists say Bush is hardly reluctant to bypass laws he believes he has the constitutional authority to override.

Far more than any predecessor, Bush has been aggressive about declaring his right to ignore vast swaths of laws -- many of which he says infringe on power he believes the Constitution assigns to him alone as the head of the executive branch or the commander in chief of the military.

Many legal scholars say they believe that Bush's theory about his own powers goes too far and that he is seizing for himself some of the law-making role of Congress and the Constitution-interpreting role of the courts.

Glenn Greenwald rightly points out the dangerous nature of the flagrant lawlessness of this President that is pointed out in the Boston Globe piece..

The entire article -- which I highly recommending reading -- details the numerous instances in which Congress has passed laws banning certain conduct, the President has signed those bills into law, only for the President not only to reserve the right to violate those laws but to then order that those laws by violated, systematically and repeatedly. As the Globe article reports with startling clarity, to describe the state of affairs we have in our country is to describe, by definition, a state of authoritarian lawlessness. We literally have a President who has been saying for years, right out in the open, that he can act without regard to the law whenever he wants, and we need to repeat that fact - and prove it - over and over until that debate is finally had. The Globe article advances that objective significantly.

It is not uncommon for a President to refrain from executing a law which he believes, and states, is unconstitutional. Other Presidents have invoked that doctrine, although Bush has done so far more aggressively and frequently. But what is uncommon - what is entirely unprecedented - is that the administration's theories of its own power arrogate unto itself not just the right to refrain from enforcing such laws, but to act in violation of those laws, to engage in the very conduct which those laws criminalize, and they do so secretly and deceitfully, after signing the law and pretending that they are engaged in the democratic process. That is why the President has never bothered to veto a law -- why bother to veto laws when you have the power to violate them at will?

Among the laws Bush feels fine running roughshod over:

March 9: Justice Department officials must give reports to Congress by certain dates on how the FBI is using the USA Patriot Act to search homes and secretly seize papers.

Bush's signing statement: The president can order Justice Department officials to withhold any information from Congress if he decides it could impair national security or executive branch operations.

Dec. 30, 2005: US interrogators cannot torture prisoners or otherwise subject them to cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.

Bush's signing statement: The president, as commander in chief, can waive the torture ban if he decides that harsh interrogation techniques will assist in preventing terrorist attacks.

Aug. 8: The Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and its contractors may not fire or otherwise punish an employee whistle-blower who tells Congress about possible wrongdoing.

Bush's signing statement: The president or his appointees will determine whether employees of the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission can give information to Congress.

Dec. 23, 2004: Forbids US troops in Colombia from participating in any combat against rebels, except in cases of self-defense. Caps the number of US troops allowed in Colombia at 800.

Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can place restrictions on the use of US armed forces, so the executive branch will construe the law ''as advisory in nature."

Dec. 17: The new national intelligence director shall recruit and train women and minorities to be spies, analysts, and translators in order to ensure diversity in the intelligence community.

Bush's signing statement: The executive branch shall construe the law in a manner consistent with a constitutional clause guaranteeing ''equal protection" for all. (In 2003, the Bush administration argued against race-conscious affirmative-action programs in a Supreme Court case. The court rejected Bush's view.)

Aug. 5: The military cannot add to its files any illegally gathered intelligence, including information obtained about Americans in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches.

Bush's signing statement: Only the president, as commander in chief, can tell the military whether or not it can use any specific piece of intelligence.

That's just a sampling. Can you imagine the reaction from Republicans if Clinton had been this aggressive about asserting "presidential authority"?

It's all about the customer service at strip clubs for this guy and his posse

One of our fave newshounds, Paul of Paul's Rants, sent me an email and a photo about this outlandish story. His note:

Here's the story of a "man of God" who unhappy with the service he was getting at a San Francisco strip club, wasn't satisfied with just getting his money refunded but had to run down one bouncer with his BMW and attempted to hit another.


(Photo: Paul Barwick)

This is the same self-rightious jerk who had his followers storm into corner stores owned by Middle Eastern immigrants and trash the establishments because they were selling liquor.

From SFGate:

A young Black Muslim leader already charged with vandalizing a West Oakland liquor store was jailed Friday for allegedly using his BMW to run down a bouncer after being thrown out of a San Francisco strip club, police said.

Yusuf Bey IV, 20, son of the late Black Muslim leader Yusuf Bey, was booked on suspicion of attempted murder and aggravated assault after he allegedly ran over one bouncer and tried to hit a second with his car outside the New Century Theater on Larkin Street, authorities said. He was being held without bail.

Bey went to the club with four other men Thursday night, authorities said.

"They basically were being entertained by the women and they sort of become a little rambunctious and the management tells them to tone it down,'' said Lt. Leroy Lindo of the police general work detail.

After another dispute involving the group in one of the club's upstairs private rooms, Bey and his friends asked for their room admission fee back and management agreed, Lindo said.

Back downstairs, Lindo said, one of Bey's friends tried to grope one of the dancers. "That's when the management said, 'It's time for you to go,' " he said.

"As they are leaving, one of the people in the group hauls off and hits a bouncer," Lindo said.

The ensuing fight spilled out onto the street, police said. Bey allegedly got into his car and hit one bouncer, who suffered non-life-threatening injuries, and barely missed a second.

Florida's 'Dr. Phil of prayer' coming to cable

Bible beater Bill Keller has a big following, on local TV in St. Petersburg, Florida and on the Internet. Look at the popularity of this man, who was convicted of insider trading and lived the high life.

Now the "Dr. Phil of prayer," according to WingNutDaily, will be able to reach millions more nationwide on the PAX television network. You will be able to see him take calls from the sheeple, like this unhinged woman from Palatka, FL, who was battling with what WND calls the "forces of darkness."

Trudy: I need you to pray for me. I've been in the occult and I'm trying to change my life, and I want to do that, and the spirits are really strong.

Bill Keller: You ready to turn your back on Satan and accept Jesus?

Trudy: Yes, but they won't let me.

Keller: Who won't let you?

Trudy: The spirits.

Keller: Well, let me tell you something. The Spirit of the Living God says to turn from Satan right now and get on your knees and accept Jesus. ... Are you ready to cast Satan out of your life and accept Jesus? ... Pray with me right now, will you?

Trudy: I can't.

Trudy's phone line mysteriously went dead, and Keller prayed for God to help the woman in turmoil. Jeebus. Houston, we have a mental problem. When I read crap like this, I really wonder about the future of our country. It seems like the stories about delusional, easily manipulated people like this are endless.

The Weekly Planet article by Eric Snider notes that Keller's no friend of the homos -- big surprise, huh?

"That's the biggest hot-button issue, the one that causes the most outrage," Keller says. "Listen, sin is sin. There's no way you can justify homosexuality from a biblical perspective. No sin is greater than others. When someone commits adultery, they're ashamed of what they've done. The person who commits an act of homosexuality, there's pride there. They put the sin of homosexuality in parades."

It's nice that Bill can teach us about morality and family values with a background that sounds like your average scam artist when you read about his personal story of booze, coke, power suits, full-length mink coats, weekends in Vegas losing 50 grand at the crap table, according to the Weekly Planet. And his questionable dealings got him in a heap of trouble.

Then came a fateful dinner with a couple of old acquaintances from the brokerage world. They were investment bankers with knowledge of pending corporate takeovers. They set up a deal: The brokers would give Keller information about companies that were about to be bought up; he would buy gobs of their stock via an off-shore account. When news got out about the acquisition, the stock would skyrocket, Keller would cash out and the insider trio would split up the spoils.

This is the bit of business that eventually caught the attention of the SEC. The guy is a piece of work. He also has the deadly combination of arrogance and stupidity.

After a few months of legal scrums, the SEC referred the case to the U.S. Attorney's Office for criminal charges. Keller remembers the scene well: It was chilly in Chicago on Oct. 12, 1989. His lawyer had told him to be at the U.S. Attorney's office for a meeting. Keller was running late, so he had his limo driver pull up on the sidewalk in front of the federal building. He emerged from the back seat, draped in a mink coat, 45 minutes late.

...Ten days later, Keller left for a Florida vacation. He insists he did not go on the lam. Brazenly, he failed to leave a contact number with his lawyer, so he was not aware he'd been indicted. On Dec. 17, 1989, Keller was lounging around a friend's Pensacola Beach condo, sipping a snifter of Louis the 13th cognac, waiting for the pizza delivery man and Monday Night Football to come on, when he answered a knock at the door. A bevy of U.S. Marshals, with a helicopter hovering overhead, pushed Keller to the floor, handcuffed him and tossed him in the Escambia County Jail. On the day after Christmas, he was shipped back to Chicago, where a judge pegged him a flight risk, denied him bail and remanded him to the city's Metropolitan Correction Center.

Yes, the bible beating sheeple really do deserve a guy like Bill.

Stephen Colbert scorches the admin at dinner

[Welcome, good folks from Firedoglake and Glenn Greenwald's pad, Unclaimed Territory -- we're not worthy, buddies!]

OMG. If you didn't catch Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert last night at the White House Correspondent Dinner, catch the video at Crooks and Liars. He smoked this administration, completely scorched it to an ash. And Dear Leader and Laura weren't laughing. From E&P:

A blistering comedy “tribute” to President Bush by Comedy Central’s faux talk show host Stephen Colbert at the White House Correspondent Dinner Saturday night left George and Laura Bush unsmiling at its close.

...Colbert, who spoke in the guise of his talk show character, who ostensibly supports the president strongly, urged the Bush to ignore his low approval ratings, saying they were based on reality, “and reality has a well-known liberal bias.”

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “They are re-arranging the deck chairs--on the Hindenburg.”

Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face—“and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”

Turning to the war, he declared, "I believe that the government that governs best is a government that governs least, and by these standards we have set up a fabulous government in Iraq."

...Observing that Bush sticks to his principles, he said, "When the president decides something on Monday, he still believes it on Wednesday - no matter what happened Tuesday."

...E&P's Joe Strupp, in the crowd, observed that quite a few sitting near him looked a little uncomfortable at times, perhaps feeling the material was a little too biting--or too much speaking "truthiness" to power.

There was a visual reference to cub "reporter" Jeff Gannon illustrating how to handle things when the press corps action gets too hot for a Bush press secretary -- Eject, Gannon, or Volume. Priceless. Atrios has a screen shot of it.

UPDATE: Here's a much clearer screenshot of it, via 2 Political Junkies:



A complete transcript is at this DKos diary (it includes text of the Colbert-Thomas video presentation).

I agree with my bloggrrrl Shakes Sis, and Paul the Spud (who have commentary at her pad). Colbert deserves the Brass Balls Award for fearlessness:



Also: check out Joe's take over at The Moderate Voice.

***

I had to go over to the dark side to see what the thugs at 101st Fighting Keyboarder Jonah Goldberg's mommy's site, Lucianne.com, had to say about the dinner. The knuckle-draggers there channel the Freepi very well.

Actual Lucianne Lunatic Quotes™
"Steve Colbert was utterly disgusting. Even the libs didn't laugh most of the time. He was rude, snarky and unpatriotic toward the President and First Lady. Who was the yahoo that booked him for the gig? BTW, Valerie Plame was covertly sitting where everyone could see her, along with her sleazy manhandler. Steve Bridges [a Bush impersonator at the dinner] and the Pres. did okay."


President Bush, left, and Steve Bridges, a comedian and President Bush impersonator, speak during the White House Correspondent's Association's 92nd annual awards dinner, Saturday, April 29, 2006, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

"So Valerie Plame Wilson and her liar husband and erstwhile investigator for the CIA (he was looking for the best stocked bar in Niger) were seated at the AP's table. Gee, how does this show lack of bias?"

"I see Willie Wonka Nagin was invited too. Did he drive one of his Floating Busses to the gig and bring his Oompa Loompa's with him?"

"No wonder old Mark looked uneasy around the President - nasty of AP to have those wilson beasts there at all. Colbert did get off a rather snotty remark at them also, otherwise, he was rotten and that long, endless video tape with helen thomas was a real snorer. I had never seen him before and don't think I will bother looking his show up. The President looked jovial enough, but bored and Laura looked worse than bored. I am sure the doggies and kitties would have been better company. It was good to see the President anyway. One terrific guy!"

"Captain's Quarters said that Bridges & Bush were funny and that Colbert fell flat, the audience not enjoying him. You gotta think when scheduling a comic whose target will be there. Is it a roast? Or will people feel uncomfortable laughing at snarkery against the live human beings instead of the vaguely imagined figures?"

"And there were some in the audience who just sat there stoned faced during the speech (or speeches, since there were two George W's). Is their hatred so overwhelming that they can't ease up even for this event?"

"I hope Fox has a video of this, I want to see it, both for the humor and to see just how nasty some were."

"God bless our President for having the fortitude to put up with this waste of time and these tacky, talentless, hollow little people."

"Oh. My. God. I cannot believe the vile string of invective cloaked as comedy delivered by that simpering fool Colbert. It was a serious lecture. He picked up confidence and conviction with every worn out accusation he learned on Daily Kos. Unlike Imus, who had enough of a conscience to pour flop sweat on his filthy self, this guy actually developed a glow by the end of his diatribe. He was proud. I cannot believe our president was forced to endure this disgusting insult. I am beyond ashamed."

"If you have the stomach to watch, be sure to pay attention to the psychopath's exit. GWB shook his hand curtly. Laura pointedly refused to stand or extend her hand. She gave him a look. Then the filthy coward moved on to kiss and warmly embrace the fossil Helen Thomas... great minds and all."

"Stephen Colbert's long presentation could not have been more awful. I did not laugh once. I broke a smile maybe once (the Mayor Nagin joke). Colbert even managed to ridicule the President's standing-on-the-rubble 9/11 moment as a "staged photo-op". His blinding hatred for all-things-Bush could not have come across more clearly. Ugh."

"Watching Stephen Colbert was an exercise in agony. It went on and on and on forever, generating few laughs with everyone checking their watches. Whoever said he was funny, besides Don Imus, should have watched Colbert's non-performance tonight. It's like he didn't have a clue that he had bombed! Bush and his look-alike stole the show. Bush is a master of self-deprecating humor which makes him endear himself more to the American people. Gosh, I love this guy and am so proud of him."

"I just watched the clip with Steve Bridges, it was great! I've seen him doing his Bush impersonation on The Tonight Show, he was exactly the same tonight. He has the style and mannerisms down and their timing was excellent. Missed Colbert and it sounds like a good thing. He is a smarmy little guy. I've watched his show a few times to see what it's about. Whoever invited him failed to realize that he is MOCKING conservatives and Fox News types (especially O'Reilly), not in a nice way either. [Give this moron a cookie!a] Too bad he couldn't be decent tonight. "

Dear Leader's prep plan for the upcoming hurricane season

Hat tip to Ms. Julien, who passed along our preznit's readiness plan as the storm season approaches. After being told that FEMA needs to be abolished because it's too broken to fix, this was his reaction:

President Bush on Friday rejected the idea of killing FEMA.

"The lessons of Katrina are important,'' Bush said. "We've learned a lot here at the federal level. We're much more ready this time than we were the last time.''

"Let's, first of all, pray there's no hurricanes,'' Bush said. "That would be, like, step one.''

This man is mentally ill. The hurricane season is barreling down upon us and everyone knows the federal government is not ready.

Only a few of the 211 suggested improvements from three federal reports will be ready when the hurricane season starts June 1, and limited dollars and political squabbling already are complicating the progress.

"Nature doesn't care about reports,'' said Kathleen Tierney, director of the Natural Hazards Center at the University of Colorado. "Nor does it care about the fact there are people still suffering, and we're not ready.

My suggestion -- in support of Dear Leader's Plan -- is tha he better get Falwell, Dobson, Bauer and all his other peeps on the heaven hotline in action pronto. And he must marshall all his flunkies on the payroll over at the newly established Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives at the Department of Homeland Security.

Ken-bot addresses National Conference of Black Mayors

"As Chairman of the Republican Party, I'm honored by the opportunity to speak to the National Conference of Black Mayors," Chairman Mehlman said. "By working together toward our shared goals of ending discrimination, closing the wealth and educational achievement gaps, and making the American Dream accessible to all Americans, the party of Lincoln and the African American community can restore our historic ties."

Can you believe the National Conference of Black Mayors actually asked Ken Mehlman to speak? Oh, never mind. Actually, this is the first time an RNC chair has addressed the group and it's part of the GOP outreach to shave off votes here and there from the community.

The sad truth is that the GOP can always count on finding some support in the community, even after Katrina. Look at the Delusional Bush/Mehlman Self-Loathing Negro^TM, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, the fools at Project 21, or folks like the discredited, former columnist-on-the-govt-payroll Armstrong Williams, and of course, many of the black pastors you've read about here on the Blend, who fixate on homosexuality and find common ground with the fundies that make up the GOP Base.

Indiana bishop gets the vapors over 'The Vagina Monologues' at Notre Dame

Ever since Notre Dame announced it would host the performance of The Vagina Monologues on campus (as it has for the last five years) as well as a gay and lesbian film festival, the knickers have been twisting in the pants of pious bible beaters, including the unhinged folks at AgapePress. Now an Indiana bishop is moaning about it. (AP):

Bishop John D'Arcy, in a nine-page "pastoral response" issued Thursday, faulted the Rev. John I. Jenkins' choice and his reasoning for allowing the play.

...Jenkins announced April 5 that the school will allow the play and other events that may go against Roman Catholic teachings on campus because universities should be places where debate is promoted. The play has been staged at the school in February in recent years.

The announcement came 10 weeks after Jenkins, who took over as president on July 1, said he wanted a campuswide discussion on whether the play, an annual gay film festival and other events some might view as objectionable should be allowed.

...When Jenkins announced he would allow the events, D'Arcy said he was "deeply saddened." In Thursday's retort, which also appears in the April 30 issue of Today's Catholic, D'Arcy said he could not fully respond at the time because he was preparing for Holy Week.

D'Arcy said Jenkins' decision fails to give room to the "great truths of the faith."

"The teaching of the church on sexuality, on academic freedom, on the relationship between a man and a woman and on the human body is hardly mentioned, except to admit that the play stands apart from, and is even opposed to, Catholic teaching," he wrote.

My question -- what happened the last five times this event occurred? Has the level of wingnuttery in the culture reached a level that church officials feel more comfortable bleating away, or has Bishop John D'Arcy always felt a need to be concerned about the sexuality of women on each time this event rolls around?

Interestingly, this one paragraph in the AP article would never pass muster over at Wildmon's screeching "news" organ, AgapePress, where they cannot peck out v-a-g-i-n-a on their keyboards:

"The Vagina Monologues," written by Eve Ensler, is based on discussions with 200 girls and women and includes graphic descriptions of women's anatomy, homosexuality and orgasms.

After the pious editors scanned the copy, it would probably read more like this:

"The V_ Monologues," written by Eve Ensler, is based on discussions with 200 girls and women and includes graphic descriptions of women's a_, h_ and o_.

Related:
* V is for Vagina

Hat tip, Holly.

Bifocals

I am officially old. I just picked up my new glasses today, they are my first pair of bifocals.

The strange thing is that I am terribly nearsighted (i.e., I cannot see for distance), wearing glasses since I was six. I'm talking really bad -- like -8.00 in both eyes, thick lenses. I had no idea that eventually I wouldn't be able to see things close up either. Sigh.

The moment of truth occurred during my last trip to NYC. I was sitting around the table after dinner with a bunch of my relatives, and my cousin handed my a box of something, I think medicine, and I went to read the label and I couldn't focus enough to read the tiny type on the package. One of my other cousins handed me his reading glasses, you know, the cheapees you pick up at the drug store. I put them on and eureka -- I could read it. I was bummed.

When I returned to NC, I had my eyes examined and yes, it was time. So here I am, with stylish progressive lenses. Will I ever get used to seeing out of these things?

I'm still blind as a bat without my glasses, but at least I'm not crippled by the fine print on a bottle when I have them on.

Anyone else out there traumatized when you learned you needed bifocals? How old were you when it you got the news that you needed them? :)

Rethug sleaze surfaces yet again

You have to wonder how much worse the culture of corruption can get before people wake up and bounce all of these sleazy politicians out. I was over at Think Progress, and I saw that this lobbyist prostitution scandal story has taken off, with "as many as a half a dozen" members of Congress caught up in it.

I recall blogging about this back in December, when now-former Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham was first tied to shady "co-conspirator No. 1,"lobbyist and military contractor Brent Wilkes in Pulitzer Prize winning coverage by the San Diego Union-Tribune.

The 63-year-old Rethug Cunningham, you might recall, recently plead guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, mail fraud, tax evasion and wire fraud for receiving at least $2.4 million in bribes, including checks totaling over $1 million, cash, rugs, antiques, furniture, yacht club fees and vacations.

The level of greed was beyond the pale -- he had a freaking bribe "price list" for his ability to steer business to defense contractors.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison in March.

In December, the rumblings about Brent Wilkes providing "hospitality suites" for congressman began. From my Dec. 6 post:

The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a lengthy piece that dug into all the connections, but The Hotline pulled out a most interesting snippet that sounds mighty randy to me...

According to the U-T, Wilkes also "ran a hospitality suite, with several bedrooms, in" DC -- "first in the Watergate Hotel and then" in a Capitol Hill hotel.

Come again? A "hospitality suite with several bedrooms"?

Talk about raising more questions, including:

-- Why does a lobbyist need a "hospitality suite with several bedrooms"?

-- Who uses those bedrooms and for what?

These lobbying scandals involving Cunningham and Wilkes and Abramoff are looking more and more like a bad movie script every day.

Fast forward to the present and the WSJ:

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes and free use of a limousine and hotel suites, pursuing evidence that could broaden their long-running inquiry.

Besides scrutinizing the prostitution scheme for evidence that might implicate contractor Brent Wilkes, investigators are focusing on whether any other members of Congress, or their staffs, may also have used the same free services, though it isn't clear whether investigators have turned up anything to implicate others.

In recent weeks, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents have fanned out across Washington, interviewing women from escort services, potential witnesses and others who may have been involved in the arrangement. In an interview, the assistant general manager of the Watergate Hotel confirmed that federal investigators had requested, and been given, records relating to the investigation and rooms in the hotel.

...Mr. Wade told investigators that all the arrangements for these services had been made by Mr. Wilkes and two employees of Mr. Wilkes's company, according to people with knowledge of his debriefing. He said Mr. Wilkes had rented the hotel suites and found the limousine driver, who had "relationships" with several escort services. Mr. Wade told prosecutors that sometimes Mr. Cunningham would contact him to request these services, and he would pass on the request to Mr. Wilkes or his employees, who then made the actual arrangement. Mr. Wade said that other times Mr. Cunningham called Mr. Wilkes directly to make the requests.

Oy. The sleaze factor is on red alert.

If you surf over to Think Progress, you can see video of MSNBC’s Scarborough Country, featuring Dean Calbreath of the San Diego Union Tribune, who talks about the "half a dozen" members of Congress who are probably not sleeping well at night, knowing their names are in the "black book" for hooker service and may be made public.

Q: Was Gannon on the menu of "services"?

Rush cops a plea

The doctor shopping for Oxy came home to roost for the "Hillbilly heroin" consumer and radio show host and hypocrite. Sweet. (Raw Story):

Rush Limbaugh has entered into a settlement agreement with the Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office to end their probe of allegations that the conservative talk show host went "doctor shopping" to obtain prescription pain-killing medicine, RAW STORY has found.

The Palm Beach Post reported that Limbaugh turned himself over to Florida authorities late Friday afternoon after a warrant had been issued.

"The conservative radio commentator came into the jail at about 4 p.m. with his attorney Roy Black and bonded out an hour later on a $3,000 bail," said a spokesman for the State Attorney's office, according to the Palm Beach Post.

According to attorney Roy Black, a single charge of doctor shopping will be filed in court by the state attorney, and as long as Limbaugh "completes an additional 18 months of treatment" by his physician, and pays $30,000 "to the State of Florida to defray the public cost of the investigation," the charge will then be dropped.

Look at the list of drugs America's Conservative was popping like candy:

Limbaugh was accused of "doctor shopping" in order to obtain an "inordinate abundance of painkillers," which included "OxyContin, Lorcet, Norco, Hydrocodone and Kadian, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, the cholesterol-lowering drug Niacin, and Clonodine.

Considering the amount of painkillers this man was consuming, I have to ask this somewhat tasteless question -- how on earth did he not self-destruct from the constipation alone?

UPDATE: The mug shot (via AmericaBlog)...

Rosie to take Meredith Vieira's chair on The View

What this could do for queer culture, beaming into the living rooms of the heartland. I never watch The View, but I may have to record the show just to see how long it takes for Rosie to take on Star Jones, spouse of the questionably heterosexual Al Reynolds. The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), welcomes Rosie O'Donnell's return to daytime.

"Rosie's unique blend of wit, wisdom and passionate family advocacy will be a perfect addition to 'The View,'" said GLAAD President Neil G. Giuliano. "We're thrilled at the possibility of Rosie's return to daytime television where she'll be able to bring stories about her life and family to millions across America."

As host of the syndicated "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," O'Donnell won six Daytime Emmy Awards as best talk-show host during the show's 1996-2002 run. She left the grind of daily television to raise four children with her partner, Kelli Carpenter O'Donnell. The couple operate the cruise line R. Family Vacations for LGBT families, which was featured in the recent HBO documentary "All Aboard! Rosie's Family Cruise."

Rosie announced earlier this month that she would be exec-producing a program for the cable channel called "The Big Gay Show."

I found her first daytime show heavy sledding, particularly her overbearing fetish for the insane Tom Cruise. The one thing she's been in that I can watch over and over is A League of Their Own. What a fun movie. From the IMDb, a fun fact.

Goofs: Miscellaneous: After they bring out the Peaches for their first game, and announce all of them, they run out on the field. In the background, you can see Rosie O'Donnell trip over a wire and fall down.

Anyway, according to TMZ, Rosie was up against Connie Chung (good lord), Patricia Heaton and Soledad O'Brien for the job.

Let's see, how long before the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America or Focus on the Anus weigh in on this development courtesy of The Homosexual Agenda^TM? Well we can see what they have to say in the swamp...nothing very bright, as usual.

Actual Freeper Quotes™

Laura Ingraham is going to have material for years to come with her liberal rants!

Thats a pretty big ego jumping into that pond of egos, don't you think?

Ewwwwwwwwww - just - ewwwwwwwww.

Watched it once....won't again, now they have ALL libs on the show.

Will the behemoth be packing heat while on the set?

Star Jones and that redhead comedienne with the mullet are two of the biggest lefties you'll find on TV. Now with Rosie it's just going to be a Bush-Bashfest.

This ought to be good--everything O'Donut touches goes down in flames.

Rosie is going to drive this ship into the ground!!

Recipe for the mother of all migraine headaches: Turn on "The View" and listen to Rosie and Joy Behar shriek obnoxiously for an hour. The levels of brain deadness and decibels for this show just went through the roof. Why don't they add Sandra Bernhard as a host, and increase those levels by yet another order of magnitude?

What's the over/under on Star Jones quitting and going back to NBC News & the Duke Rape case, 3 weeks?

I guess the View needed more ballast, er I mean balance.

Hey Rosie, Make sure you ask Connie how her hubby's girlfiend is doing.

I thought you had to be a woman to be on that panel.

She is there to give the dyke point of View. She may even go after Star Jones's carpet. That would bring out the barf bags. The Moose isnt a lesbian because she wants to be , she is just too repulsive to attract a man.

Are they changing the title to "The View from the Buffet Table"?

When you see a announcement like this things immediately come to mind. If you ever saw the movie Blazing Saddles the have one scene where these guys are all sitting around a camp fire farting. That's the first thing I thought of when I read this because during the one and only time I saw The View for all of 60 seconds that's what it reminded me of. Now, with Rosie it's even more smelly.

More support for the repeal of DADT

"I questioned high-ranking members of the armed forces, active duty military personnel, veterans, military families, members of the LGBT community, my congressional colleagues and other interested groups."
-- Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA), the 115th member of Congress to sign on to the Military Readiness Enhancement Act

The significance of Davis's statement is that there are high-ranking officers ready to deep-six this bigoted, idiotic policy, as the casualties continue unabated in Iraq, and gay and lesbian service members are being discharged. (365gay.com):

Davis is a member of the House Armed Services Committee which is considering the bill introduced in March 2005 by Congressman Marty Meehan (D-MA).

Her San Diego district is home to a large naval base, a marine corps station and recruiting depot, an Air national Guard installation. In all there are some 317,000 military personnel and more than 21,000 lesbian and gay veterans in the area.

Congresswoman Davis carries enormous respect with military leaders in her district, said C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network .

"Her sponsorship of this legislation sends a clear message that repealing ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ is in the best interest of our armed forces,.” said Osburn.

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network National Dinner is coming up on May 13. It features a keynote by Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy, USA (Ret.), the highest ranking female officer in Army history, former Marine Corps Sergeant and Iraq veteran Brian Robert Fricke. The event honors Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), with the Randy Shilts Visibility Award. I'll be there live-blogging it.

Homobigot of the day - Don Feder

It gets wearying at times, wading around and reading the filth put out by the homophobes. It makes you sick to see such ignorance, hate and flat out lying to justify their bigotry in the name of family, God and country.

Here's yet another example, a piece by extreme assclown Don Feder, author of A Jewish Conservative looks At Pagan America and Who’s Afraid of the Religious Right? in a column for ChronWatch:

A family is a man and a woman joined by marriage, with or without children. Two male homosexuals, or two lesbians, who are roommates, engaging in mutual acts of sodomy, aren't a family. Two homosexuals who have children are just that--two homosexuals who have children. They're no more a family than a fish with a machine gun is an army.

Homosexuals acquire children--through adoption, artificial insemination, or from a previous marriage. And now they're using our natural sympathy for children as a weapon to normalize the abnormal--to put the healthy and life-giving on the same plane as the sick and life-negating.

While families sometimes adopt children, most men and women are capable of reproduction, and--even with widespread divorce--most children live with their natural parents.

When was the last time you went to a homosexual baby shower? (But, I thought they were just like any other family.) In most cases, homosexuals can "have" children only if heterosexuals reproduce first.

Homosexuals generate not life but death. Forget AIDS. Every venereal disease imaginable is rampant among homosexuals. For homosexual "partners," monogamy doesn't mean quite the same thing it does for George and Laura. (In a 1978 study by gay researchers Jay and Young, 23% of homosexuals admitted to having had more than 100 sexual partners, while 18% said they'd had three or more in the previous week!) Family values, anyone?

In bleating such hateful crap, I'd hope Don doesn't have any gay or lesbian family members or close friends, though that hasn't stopped the likes of Alan Keyes from his own homophobia, kicking his daughter out of the house when she came out to him.

Feder's proud of his bigotry. Take a look at this from his bio:

I’m to the right of Sharon on Zionism, to the right of Pat Buchanan on immigration and Americanism, to the right of Mother Angelica on abortion, to the right of Chuck Heston on Second-Amendment rights, and generally make the legendary Atilla look like a limousine liberal.

These people are sick. They have no idea what family values are.

Hat tip to Blender StephenPNJ

More barnyard animal abuse

"What I saw on the tape, I still can't believe...Always [going] to the same animal. On the tape, he was [going] to the same animal performing sexual acts.""
-- St. Gabriel Police Chief Kevin Ambeau, after reviewing the activities going on in a St. Gabriel barn

Paul emailed me this with the subject line: Attention Sen. Santorium - We need you here! Tony Soprano's favorite senator, Little Ricky, needs to be aware of this bestiality case of the week, which occurred in St. Gabriel, Louisiana.

A seventeen-year-old was caught on tape assaulting a horse; the owner of the barn set up two cameras after "sexual paraphernalia" was found in the stall. It didn't take long before the crime against nature were captured on video, with this sick guy going to the same stable each time, in sexual acts with the same horse. Argh, thank goodness I haven't eaten lunch. (WAFB-TV):

WAFB 9NEWS: Image from Surveillance Tape; Suspect's Face Blurred

The juvenile, who is under age 17, is being held in the Iberville Parish Juvenile Detention Center. Authorities said Thursday they were trying to get psychiatric help for the juvenile suspect. Detectives say they received a tip from someone who saw a WAFB 9NEWS report in which still frames from a surveillance tape were broadcast Wednesday night. The tipster said they believed they recognized the young man shown on the tape, detectives said.

St. Gabriel Police Chief Kevin Ambeau says in all his 20 years in law enforcement, he’s never come across a case like the one. "We gotta catch this guy, he needs help," Ambeau said Wednesday, when he first released the tape to the media.

Paul: "This just goes to show you that us guys will stick it into anything that moves, and some things that don't."

By the way, the TV station felt the need to add a note to the piece:

WAFB 9NEWS carefully reviewed the circumstances regarding this case before deciding which course of action to take in our reporting. The St. Gabriel Police Department requested that we air the video, or portions of it, in hopes of identifying a suspect in its on-going investigation into an alleged case of bestiality involving a man and a horse. WAFB 9NEWS decided not to broadcast moving video clips that appear to show the man and horse together. Instead, we included only still frames from the videotape in hopes that someone would be able to recognize the man shown in the videotape. The still frames we selected for our report do not show any situations in which the male appears to be in direct contact with the animal. We realize the very sensitive nature of this story, and because of that, we chose to air this report only in our late evening newscast, at 10pm Wednesday.

Other recent stories of our fellow citizens with a BIG problem:
* Man in Bainbridge, GA jumps a fence at a stockyard and has sex with a hog
* Mesa, AZ fire battalion chief caught with his pants down in a barn assaulting a lamb
* Gig Harbor, Washington State: man dies while having sex with a horse on a farm

Setting up tent in 'Jesus Camp'

House Blender Joel, a Texas native currently living in Brooklyn (shout out to my peeps there!), went to see the documentary Jesus Camp (by by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady) while at the Tribeca film festival.

The film sounds awesome. From Nancy Schafer's description on the film festival site:

In Jesus Camp, Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, directors of the acclaimed film The Boys of Baraka, introduce us to children who are growing up as evangelical Christians. Twelve-year-old Levi, who was "saved" when he was five, is a shy boy except when he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Nine-year-old Rachael is outspoken in her love for the Lord. They are home-schooled by their Christian parents and interact with their peers at church and church events.

In the summer they travel to Becky Fischer's "Kids on Fire" summer camp in Devil's Lake, North Dakota, to intensify their devotion to the Lord. Fischer is a children's pastor, who specializes in tapping into the hearts and minds of kids on their level. She recognizes that this generation accesses information through video, images, and music.

Intercut with scenes of the kids is the radio commentary of Mike Papantonio, a Christian who believes that the Evangelical movement has strayed from the original teachings of love that Jesus died for. He worries that the movement's position on the environment, creationism, and other fundamental tenets are short-sighted and will hurt the conservative movement in the end.

Joel says it's a must-see look into extreme wingnuttery. It really sounds like a cult to me -- yes, it's Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman's Base of the GOP. Joel passes on his thoughts about it below.

My partner and I, along with an old friend, went to see the premier of Jesus Camp last night. It was a part of the fab Tribeca Film festival.

Seeing as all three of us are from Texas, and each of us having been to such a camp in our youth, we could really relate. As an adult, I squirmed in horrid recollection more than once. It is a good movie, more telling especially to those who are completely unaware of the indoctrination (yes, that IS the word, even one of the lead characters admits as much at the end) in which these adults engage. Fear, hatred, and guilt dripped from the screen. The scary part was the fact that these were real people, real children, who participated.

All through it, the lead nutcase running this camp, Pastor Becky, prayed over everything from the PowerPoint software to the electrical panels to the church pews. I found myself wondering, ‘How did the producers of this film ever get access and free reign to film this inside gaggle of god freaks?’ Well, near the end of it, Pastor Becky explains that she just knows this film will scare the liberals out there, once they see how strong and smart the evangelicals are. Huh? No, pastor, what we liberals saw was a freak show and a group of crazies preying on the most innocent and good citizens we have. What we saw was abusive and denial of scientific education. What we saw was the same, tired fearful adults hell bent on instilling their same rabid fear, same denial of youth, and a preaching of superiority over their neighbors.

And they speak of gays preying and indoctrinating the young!

Upon leaving, I told my companions, "Well, one good thing I see of it. When those poor, tortured kids grow up, get out and get a lawyer and sue, at least they’ll have video evidence against these crazy people who screwed up their lives."

I suggest everyone go see it.

To the point

The Malcontent has this howler up as the quote of the day, from "DC's Funniest Celebrity" contest, over at The Hotline (subscription. req.):

"Poor bastard took it better than a gay porn star. ... Wait, he did take it from a gay porn star."
-— Rep. Linda Sanchez, (D-CA) on Scotty McClellan in his former gig for Dear Leader (and, oh my, as "catcher" of softballs from JG).

Anti-gay bogus scientist touting latest published 'research'

As expected, junk scientist Paul Cameron, of the Colorado Springs-based think-tank Family Research Institute, is sending out press releases on his latest garbage about gays, touting the publication of his latest "study," Children of homosexuals and transsexuals more apt to be homosexual, which is in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Biosocial Science.

A third of homosexuals’ children become homosexual. That’s the major finding from the largest study of adult children of homosexuals. Children of transsexuals were also more apt to become homosexual or transsexual. At least 23 (30%) of 77 adult children of homosexuals were homosexual and 25 (32%) heterosexual. Of 10 adults with transsexual parents, at least one became transsexual and another homosexual.

“Our society has been told by gays and professional associations that children were not more apt to become homosexual if their parents were. We’ve been told that genital mutilations by parents who pretend to be the opposite sex wouldn’t have any effect on their children,” said investigator Paul Cameron. “Too much bogus information about homosexual parents has been sold to the public. Most people think homosexual parents create an environment that stimulates homosexual desires in their children. We expect children to be confused when a father decides to pretend he’s a woman and demand that his family participate in his charade. The American Psychological Association and National Association of Social Workers have told court after court that common sense is wrong. They say foster care and adoption by homosexuals is absolutely harmless -- there is no correlation between children adopting homosexual tastes and the sexual proclivities of their parents. Examination of three published reports by pro-gay investigators shows the falsity of these claims. These professional associations seem more interested in pushing for social acceptance of homosexuality than what’s good for children.”

Yes, this is a man of science. A couple of weeks ago, Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway destroyed this article in a must-read post that exposes Cameron's shoddy work and blatant propaganda.

His article for JBS suffers from many of the same egregious flaws found in almost everything else he writes: a hostile premise, a weak methodology, deliberate mischaracterization of the works of others, unproven conclusions, and a flagrant bias. These glaring weaknesses, which I will discuss one by one, have made him a pariah among legitimate social scientists.

Go read it all.

On his web site, Cameron says this:

Family Research Institute is a non-profit scientific and educational corporation that believes the strength of our society depends on preserving America's historic moral framework and the traditional family. FRI is working to produce sound, scientific data on pressing social issues — especially homosexuality — in an effort to promote traditional policies.

That doesn't sound like an agenda, does it? Does this opining by Cameron sound like he's interested in objective research? From a Feb 6 press release, bleating that same-sex marriage, even partner benefits, are dangerous to society

Currently there is one voluntary relationship that immediately confers these benefits and more — that relationship is marriage between a man and a woman. Society gets tremendous value out of marriage, because married individuals are more economically productive, provide the best place to raise children, and are the least criminal. Homosexuals, on the other hand, are less economically productive, have few children, do not raise them well, are more criminal, and tend to spread disease. Society should not reward homosexual relationships with marriage-like benefits.

To put Cameron's "research" into perspective, take a look at his reputation as a scientist.

On December 2, 1983, the American Psychological Association sent Paul Cameron a letter informing him that he had been dropped from membership. Early in 1984, all members of the American Psychological Association received official written notice that "Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists" by the APA Board of Directors.



Cameron has posted an elaborate argument about his expulsion from APA on his website, claiming that he resigned from APA before he was dropped from membership. Like most organizations, however, APA does not allow a member to resign when they are being investigated. And even if Cameron's claims were accepted as true, it would be remarkable that the largest professional organization of psychologists in the United States (and other professional associations, as noted below) went to such lengths to disassociate itself from one individual. 

At its membership meeting on October 19, 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it "formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality."
 

In 1985, the American Sociological Association (ASA) adopted a resolution which asserted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" and noted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research."The resolution formally charged an ASA committee with the task of "critically evaluating and publicly responding to the work of Dr. Paul Cameron."
At its August, 1986 meeting, the ASA officially accepted the committee's report and passed the following resolution:

The American Sociological Association officially and publicly states that Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and condemns his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research. Information on this action and a copy of the report by the Committee on the Status of Homosexuals in Sociology, "The Paul Cameron Case," is to be published in Footnotes, and be sent to the officers of all regional and state sociological associations and to the Canadian Sociological Association with a request that they alert their members to Cameron's frequent lecture and media appearances."

Cameron's credibility was also questioned outside of academia. In his written opinion in Baker v. Wade (1985),

Judge Buchmeyer of the U.S. District Court of Dallas referred to "Cameron's sworn statement that 'homosexuals abuse children at a proportionately greater incident than do heterosexuals,'" and concluded that "Dr. Paul Cameron...has himself made misrepresentations to this Court" and that "There has been no fraud or misrepresentations except by Dr. Cameron" (p.536).

How he managed to get published in a peer-reviewed academic journal is amazing and frightening, since Cameron's other work was pay-for-play, he can now tout that this study has ostensibly passed rigorous professional scrutiny. Jim of Box Turtle Bulletin:

So now, and against that backdrop, his JBS article arrives as the latest in a long litany describing the supposed harms that gay parents pose to children.¹⁶ Almost all of his work has been self-published, either on his own web site or in the pay-to-publish journal Psychological Reports. Occasionally, he manages to get published in a few other journals, but they tend to have a very low impact factor, often ranking near the bottom among social science journals.¹⁷ While the Journal of Biosocial Science is not so near the bottom, its impact factor nevertheless places it in the lower half among social science journals for 2003.¹⁸ This article isn’t likely to improve to their standings.

The Homo Risk Audit Project

"The overwhelming majority of Christian parents who even have gone out of their way to become involved and to try to determine what's going on in their local schools will be surprised at how extensive the pro-homosexual agenda is in every government school in the nation."
-- Steve Crampton, chief counsel at the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, on what the Risk Audit will uncover

A cornucopia of the usual Christofascist suspects have banded together to root The Homosexual Agenda^TM out of the school system with a new effort, the Risk Audit Project, developed by our friend Linda Harvey of Mission[ary Position] America.

On board with Linda are the old stand bys -- the Family Research Council [Tony Perkins!], Concerned Women for America [Bob Knight!], the Illinois Family Institute [Peter LaBarbera!], and the American Family Association [Don and Tim Wildmon!].

An AgapePress article explains the Project:

The Risk Audit Project measures the extent to which public school districts are collaborating with homosexual activists by determining, among other things, whether schools have adopted pro-homosexual policies or curricula, and whether the school district is sponsoring pro-homosexual clubs, events, or activities. Crampton feels the risk audit is not a luxury for schools but a necessity.

"We believe that since schools are called upon and required to protect children while they're at school, by that same token they have an absolute obligation to do no harm to the children that are under their care," the AFA Law Center spokesman says. "And so this risk audit is an effort to first ascertain the extent of the activities in our schools and, second, to let the American public know what's really going on."

I went over to check out the Homo Risk Audit Project site at Mission[ary Position] America (so you don't have to). This stuff is the height of sleaze, repeating bogus science and tired, outrageous winger talking points. Read and try not to get ill.

Homosexual behavior presents many serious risks, and those risks are well-documented.

With homosexual behavior comes a whole host of very significant health and lifestyle risks. Whether high-risk conduct is a result of homosexual desires, or contributes to developing them, or some of both, is anyone's guess. The fact remains that teens engaging in homosexual behavior are participating in a lifestyle that:
• reduces life expectancy at age twenty by at least 8 to 20 years
• increases by at least 500% the risk of contracting AIDS
• increases the risk of contracting a sexually transmitted disease by nearly 900%
• increases by 4,000% the risk of developing anal cancer
• substantially increases the likelihood of smoking, having mental health disorders (other than same-sex attraction), being the victim of "domestic" violence, and being involved in alcohol and drug abuse.
• substantially increases the likelihood of contracting hepatitis and other gastrointestinal infections
• substantially increases the risk of contracting bacterial vaginosis, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer
• has high levels of participation in sadomasochism, coprophilia, sadomasochism, fisting, and other dangerous, deviant sex practices
• involves extraordinarily high levels of promiscuity

As it now stands, each child enrolled in a public school is likely to receive numerous direct and implicit messages at school that homosexual behavior should be accepted as normal. The underlying (and erroneous) assumptions of these messages are:

• That homosexuality is inborn and inevitable for some students and teachers and therefore a matter of "rights". There is no body of scientific research that establishes this proposition.

• That homosexual behaviors are no higher risk than current trends in heterosexual behavior. This is not supported by public health data or common sense.

• That homosexuality is a viewpoint and should be protected by "free speech" constitutional protections. Like smoking, it is actually a high risk behavior. Schools should no more permit homosexual behavior to be presented to children as "normal" and "acceptable" than smoking or drug use should be presented to children as "normal" and "acceptable".

• That objections to homosexuality are a threat to the welfare of students who are assumed to be "born gay." As is so often the case with politically correct "conventional wisdom," exactly the reverse is true. Objections to homosexual behavior actually save lives and improve mental and physical health.

The effort to uncover and prevent homosexual indoctrination going on in the school systems involves deep questions that get to the core of the deviance. Some examples of the questions in the Risk Audit from the site:

* Does the district have an anti-harassment or anti-bullying policy specifying sexual orientation? ___ yes __no If yes, is gender identity also included? ___ yes ___no

* Does the district have a non-discrimination policy that specifies sexual orientation?
___ yes __no If yes, is gender identity also included? ___ yes ___no

* Are there requirements for teacher/ staff training on “diversity,” “tolerance,” “sensitivity”? Please provide as much information as possible, including frequency of such training, when last workshops were conducted, and whether elementary and/or secondary teachers attended?

* Does the school have an ongoing relationship with a “gay” activist group, such as GLSEN, PFLAG, or a local community group? Is this in the form of a consulting contract, or a referral relationship?

* Are there lessons/books/programs as part of the school curriculum urging tolerance/acceptance of homosexuality, and implying that objections are unacceptable?

* Are there classroom lessons on different types of families that include endorsement of homosexual partners as heads of families?

* Are there pro-homosexual stories/novels featured or suggested in reading and literature classes? Note: This should be only those books required or on classroom lists of recommended reading, not books simply available in the library. Attach a separate sheet if needed.

* Are there HIV/AIDS and “safe sex” education programs which teach acceptance of homosexual behavior?

* Are there political science or current issues classes teaching that acceptance of homosexuality, same sex marriage, and “gay rights” is the most desirable position?

* Is there a homosexual club at any schools in your district?

* Has the school held an event specifically advocating homosexuality, such as a “Diversity day,” Day of silence,” “gay” pride celebration day (or week), “coming out” day, etc.?

* Does any school have a “pink triangle” or “rainbow” or similar program designating pro-homosexual classes or zones of the school?

At the end of the Audit, you get to "score" the level of homosexual infiltration, and then, Linda warns those doing the audits about what needs to be done, based on an assessment of the "findings."

Photo enhancement by Mike Tidmus.

Each research group will arrive at its own conclusions regarding the importance of what it finds. Nevertheless, because of the health and life- threatening consequences to children of school district collaboration with homosexual activists, we recommend the following:

1. Any district with a homosexual club, any program or curriculum that would tend to influence children to regard homosexual behavior as in any sense normal or acceptable, should be identified as a clear and present danger to children and society and should receive a failing grade. Please bear in mind, too, that it does not matter that in some instances school districts are collaborating with homosexual activists because of state or local law. The dangers to children and society are the same whether the collaboration is required or discretionary.

2. In other cases – as, for example, where a school library might have contain books that attempt to influence children to accept the homosexual lifestyle as normal – it might be more appropriate to identify the school district as one that poses a risk to the welfare of children that requires immediate correction.

3. In all cases where a Risk Audit finds collaboration with homosexual activists, parents, churches, and state and local family-oriented organizations should be alerted and asked to demand immediate corrective action from the school board. The response of the school board to such demands should be communicated clearly to the public, and if a school board promises corrective action, it is important to determine whether the school district actually follows through in good faith. Even if the school district follows through, continued vigilance is important because there are always pressures from within the education establishment to encourage acceptance of homosexual behavior.

Nah, can't be racism

I thought White House Press Secretary Tony Snow told us it was all a thing of the past. Here we go, right from today's headlines. Perhaps someone should shoot Tony an email link to this little event in Spring, Texas:

Two white teenagers severely beat and sodomized a 16-year-old Hispanic boy who they believed had tried to kiss a 12-year-old white girl at a party, authorities said.

The attackers forced the boy out of the Saturday night house party, beat him and sodomized him with a metal pipe, shouting epithets "associated with being Hispanic," said Lt. John Martin with the Harris County Sheriff's Department.

They then poured bleach over the boy, apparently to destroy DNA evidence and left him for dead, authorities said. He wasn't discovered until Sunday, 12 hours after the attack.

The victim, who was not identified, suffered severe internal injuries and remained in critical condition Thursday.

"It's more than likely the boy won't live," Harris County prosecutor Mike Trent said.

Hat tips to King Cranky and Mike B.

***

UPDATE: Shakes Sis said in the comments that the latest reports say the girl who was kissed was Hispanic; from the DA's statements in this AP story (I saw him live on CNN this AM when he said this), he won't move on it as a hate crime.

At one point, the teens tried to carve something on the boy's chest with a knife, he told CNN Friday.

"I don't know that the very beginning of the attack was racial," Trent said, "but there's no question that they were venting quite a bit of hatred in their hearts."

The victim lay behind the house for more than 10 hours before he was found and someone called an ambulance. Trent said there were witnesses to the beating, though no one else had been charged.

"You do certainly have to wonder why anyone not report that for as long as they did," he told CNN.

Investigators said the attack happened at an unsupervised house party in Spring after the 16-year-old tried to kiss a 12-year-old Hispanic girl.

Shakes Sis has an excellent rant on the culture that produces such monsters. I would love to hear the families of these two lowlifes to come out and say what good boys they were. As she says in her post, this shit doesn’t happen in a void.

Offline

I was offline most of the day, only on to post entries I had queued up in Blogger early this AM. The day job is somewhat insane, as it is for most regular Joes and Janes who are about to take a vacation of any length -- so much to get done so that you can hopefully enjoy yourself while away. You try in vain to ensure that you don't return to a desk will be piled mile-high with work as payback for taking a few days off. At best, it's at least a half-mile high, and the emails are out of control.

All I can say is we look forward to having a decent time in Philly. There's nothing more depressing than scheduling time away from work, getting a petsitter, and doing all the travel rigamarole and it turns out to be more stress-inducing than just staying home.

***

Anyway, my Blend mailbox was overflowing again when I checked in a few minutes ago, with a heap of emails of continued support for dropping off the Campaign for Jeff Gannon's Legitimacy panel. I surfed over to John's pad, to see what other cowdung has hit the fan over this panel, and it appears that the whole thing has reached surreal levels of absurdity that one can only describe -- politely -- as unfortunate.


The latest twists and turns come from an interview in Philadelphia City Paper with Equality Forum program director Mike LaMonaca, who talks about the panel as if it was supposed to be focused on Gannongate. This is diametrically opposed to the position of the panel moderator, who John and I had numerous exchanges over the weekend, as well as LaMonaca's own press release just yesterday excoriating John for daring to suggest Gannongate should be a major focus (never mind that my concurring role in this has been mysteriously rendered invisible in subsequent discussion, but whatever).

John:

Now we find out that LaMonaca apparently intended all along that GannonGate be discussed at the panel. From LaMonaca's interview, it sounds like GannonGate was the only issue that interested him at all from the panel, or at least it was the one most on his mind. And LaMonaca is the guy CREATED the panel in the first place. Bizarrely, he's also the guy who publicly criticized me yesterday for trying to edge the panel back to what he apparently intended it to be.

Then why did LaMonaca yesterday criticize me for proposing the same thing he advocated in this week's Philly City Paper - discussing GannonGate as one of the panel topics? Not to mention, this is now clear evidence that the direction of this panel very much changed from where it was only a week or so ago when this article was completed. Why was that? Did Gannon put his foot down? Did a board member or a donor or a Republican in the senior ranks of the Equality Forum flip out? Did the moderator in her ivory tower (she teaches at the Annenberg School) refuse to address that icky sex issue? Growing numbers of questions, and fewer and fewer answers from the Equality Forum on just what the heck is going on here.

As John pointed out in his other post yesterday, we both received emails at points over the weekend from the exec director of EF agreeing with us that Gannongate should be a centerpiece of the panel. The spin cycle is on high, understandably so.

At this point, one can only speculate about what is really going on behind the scenes, but it seems pretty safe to say that ensuring rentboy-cum-cub "reporter" JG/JG's Campaign for Legitimacy appearance is quite important to someone.

Christian video duping service is under attack by the homos

I kid you not.

Upon being asked to duplicate two pro-homosexual films, Tim Bono of Bono Film & Video politely refused the business, citing his company policy -- do not duplicate material it deems obscene, that may embarrass employees or tarnish the company's reputation, or that is contrary to Christian and ethical values.

But the customer making the request was long-time lesbian activist Lillian Vincenz, who took her complaint to Arlington County officials, asking them to force Bono to duplicate her materials. The county's Human Rights Commission subsequently began an investigation into the Christian businessman's actions, even conducting a public hearing to discuss the alleged "discrimination."

Those actions by the Human Rights Commission, says Joe Glover of the Family Policy Network, may warrant a lawsuit for what he sees a violation of the religious liberties of Christian business owners. He sees the response of Vincenz -- a so-called "gay pioneer" in the area who has been promoting homosexual behavior for more than four decades -- as an attempt to quash religious freedom. "With the help of Arlington County, this lesbian activist proves that [homosexual activists are] really out to publicly use the power of the government to destroy the religious liberties of decent people," says Glover.

The county has reportedly decided that Bono's actions violate Arlington County code that prohibits "discrimination by a public accommodation ... on the basis of sexual orientation or perception thereof." Glover, however, is seeking out business people in the county who would be willing as anonymous plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the county. The county's involvement, he says, is an "anti-Christian, pro-homosexual witch-hunt" against all businesses in the area. "It's a heavy-handed threat to turn government against Christians who want to live their lives according to scripture," Glover adds, offering his thoughts on the potential outcome of the case. "Even if [the homosexual activists] can't win a case like this on the merits, they're out to strike fear in the hearts of Christians who want to live according to their faith," he says.

I don't know why Vincenz is wasting her time on this small fry. If he turns away all the unholy business out there that violates his pious company policy, his potential customer base will be miniscule.


He should just hang a sign o' the fish on the door and be done with it.

Upcoming bible-beater rally against homos: 'Not Ashamed Charlotte'

We are absolutely not intolerant bigots, and we believe that strong moral convictions must go hand in hand with respectful and gracious treatment of all people. So we reach out to homosexual men and women with compassion, but we resist with courage their agenda to reshape America."
-- Michael L. Brown, Director of the Coalition of Conscience, on his Charlotte event

Yes, he's full of compassion, isn't he? Mr. Coalition of Conscience is holding a rally on May 6 to Celebrate the delay of Charlotte Pride, which lost the use of the public park it had held part of the event in the past.

The wingers, including Rev. Flip Benham of Operation Save America, have been proclaiming blanket "victory" over the Homosexual Agenda^TM over this, and this latest attempt to "prove" the homobigots are surging in numbers and power is incredibly pathetic. From the "Christian" news outlet, LifeSiteNews:

The first-ever "Not Ashamed Charlotte" rally will unite Christians from different churches to proclaim their faith in the public square, replacing the annual gay pride event usually scheduled for early May in Marshall Park. The Christian rally will be held from 3-4 p.m. May 6 in the park. According to Dr. Michael L. Brown, Director of the Coalition of Conscience and organizer of Not Ashamed Charlotte, the timing of this event is highly significant.

"For the last four years," Brown explains, "on the first Saturday of May, Marshall Park has been will filled with as many as 3,000 gays and lesbians celebrating Charlotte Pride." This gay pride event, marked by public lewdness and obscenity, has drawn protest from various Christian groups. Mayor Pat McCrory has also voiced his displeasure with the Charlotte Pride event being held in a public park. In other cities, similar gay pride events have drawn upwards of 100,000 participants.

"This year," Brown states, "the Charlotte Pride organizers had to delay their event, and we were able to get the park for our rally. So, instead of transvestite dancers simulating sex in the presence of toddlers and little children, we will be proclaiming the goodness of God and the love of Jesus. And instead of vendors advertising hot nudist camps, we will be standing together with our families proclaiming that we are not ashamed of purity and morality and wholesome living."

This is heinous. Local gay publication QNotes dispels the myth that Charlotte pride is on the ropes.

I fully expect that Mecklenburg County Commissioner, the wild-eyed, anally fixated bigot Bill James, to show up at a rally like this of The Base.

Little Gary is worried

Going down with the ship, friend?

President George W. Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low, even among Republicans -- and a pro-family leader isn't sure that shake-ups on the White House staff will help matters. The president's approval ratings have sunk to 33 percent -- his lowest ratings ever -- and even the ratings of GOP supporters have dipped below 70 percent.


A series of changes are taking place among the White House staff -- but Gary Bauer of American Values is not sure that will help. "I think it's too early to tell whether we're just rearranging chairs on the deck of the Titanic or not," he offers. Bauer says it is good to move folks around at times, "but I think at the end of the day it's the policy," he says. Between now and November, he says, the White House needs to get "serious about renewing the tax cuts, getting the budget deficit under control, getting the marriage amendment passed, and doing something serious about border control." Skyrocketing gas prices, adds Bauer, are another issue President Bush must address.

Tony Snow on the end of racism

"Here's the unmentionable secret: Racism isn't that big a deal any more. No sensible person supports it. Nobody of importance preaches it. It's rapidly becoming an ugly memory."
-- newly minted Bush shill Tony Snow, on an October 2003 edition of Fox News Sunday

Bush's new press secretary is an expert on racism in America. No wonder he fits in so well at the White House.

I wonder if he's even heard of this bit of business -- Dillard's salon: kinky hair harder to clean

I dug back in my hair files for fun. How about these nuggets, Tony?

* Dreadlocks don't cut it at St. Louis bar. The Cheshire Inn denied entry of two men into the bar because of their dreadlocs. Jack Lueders, president of the corporation that operates the Cheshire Inn said:

"You can't wash that hair, and it stinks, and we're a crowded bar, and we don't want stinky people in the bar," he said, explaining the policy. "If you look nice and you're obviously clean, nobody's going to go up and smell your hair."

* Judge Upholds Public School Ban on Cornrows. U.S. District Court Judge Scott O. Wright in Kansas City, Missouri upheld a long-standing rule imposed by Boonville High School Coach Richard Smith that prohibits basketball players from wearing braided cornrows during games or practice. No reason is given in the story as to why this particular hairstyle is banned; only that the judge ruled citing federal appeals courts in general have deferred to the authority of the public schools.

* Dreadlock Lockout: The Dallas Police Department is firing employees based on their hairstyles. Two dozen police officers were stripped of their duties last spring when the Dallas Police Department decided to “crackdown” on dreadlock and other unconventional hairstyles. As the author of the opinion piece, Gjared Robinson, says:

The department claims that officers must look authoritative and assume a role of power. I don’t know about most people, but if I were pulled over by an officer, the badge he wears on his chest is all I need to see to know they have the power to arrest and charge me.

* Hair Cuttery Accused of Racial Discrimination. Monica Clark of Capitol Heights and Leslie Mercer of Reston claim in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, that they were mistreated because of their race repeatedly at several Hair Cuttery locations in the Washington area. In visits to separate stores, they tried to charge them $10 more for services because of their race, or were denied service.

Or let's get down to brass tacks. What about this:


Burning Cross Left at Home of Interracial Couple on L.I.

We had one here in Durham last year as well.

Glad to see Tony's on top of the matter. I clearly must be misinformed on the whole race thing.

Corporate America: gay dollars and employees are valued

Let's start off with more good news:

Bank of America board slaps down shareholder anti-gay proposal
Another winger proxy issue comes to vote at a corporate shareholder meeting (see earlier post on Kraft blowing off its stockholder fundie).

This time it's Bank of America, and its board has recommended the rejection of Louisiana shareholder Virginia M. Brown's proposal which would require BoA's management to "amend its written equal opportunity policy to explicitly exclude reference to sexual orientation."

Look at WingNutDaily's bleating spin.

A Louisiana shareholder, Virginia M. Brown (owner of 306 shares of Bank of America stock) calls for shareholders to vote in favor of her initiative where the "sexual interests, inclinations and activities (of) employees should be a private matter, not a corporate concern," concluding that sexual orientation provisions are not needed for the bank's human resources guidelines. Calls from WND requesting her comments, were not returned.

Thomas Strobhar, from the group Citizen Action Now, submitted the proposal on behalf of the Louisiana shareholder. Strobhar, the director of CAN, said by phone he believes the bank's human resources policies do not have to include "sexual orientation" in defending the rights of homosexual employees or applicants. He points out that many Fortune 500 companies already have rules and regulations in place to protect the private interests of its staff. He says that by bringing up sexual issues in the workplace companies like Bank of America open the door in the future to other problems (i.e., cross dressing, sexual harassment and dress code violations).

Bank of America's board of directors has recommended to its shareholder to avoid adopting the proposal, reasoning that exclusion of the "sexual orientation" terminology would not be in the best interests of the bank. In their statement to shareholders, the directors cautioned them by saying "if the change requested ... is adopted the (company) might face costly lawsuits that could diminish shareholder value."

This is the trend, you bigots out there. Corporate America is voting to back its LGBT employees and to court gay dollars. You are losing the culture "war" because fairness wins, and fairness is profitable.

In an article up on Fortune.com, Plugged In: Gay rights are good business, no matter the politics, it presents a bible-beater nightmare of progress for gay rights that should give Don Wildmon of the AFA agita (since his days and nights are consumed with ways to boycott his "values" into the corporate boardrooms of the country).

More than 80 percent of companies in the Fortune 500 now ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Some 249 of the Fortune 500 offer health and other benefits to the same-sex partners of their employees. That's up from just 28 a decade ago.

Last year, Wal-Mart, America's biggest employer, agreed to support a network for its gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) workers, joining such firms as Citigroup, DuPont and IBM. All these trends are moving in one direction - towards more rights for gay and lesbian people.

This is remarkable, given the setbacks that gay rights have taken in the political arena, especially around the issue of gay marriage.

"Corporate America is ahead of government in providing equal treatment for GLBT people because it knows that fairness is good for business," declares Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay and lesbian civil rights group.

...Shareholder groups that favor gay rights, led by New York City's pension funds and socially responsible investors, filed resolutions this year at more than 20 companies, asking them to expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. Most agreed, but some - notably ExxonMobil, the biggest company in America by revenues - oppose the idea. ExxonMobil says the resolution is unnecessary because it has existing "zero-tolerance" policies that ban "discrimination or harassment for any reason, including sexual orientation."

...Other companies opposing resolutions that ask them to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation include Leggett & Platt, a diversified manufacturer based in Carthage, Missouri, and Amsouth, a regional bank based in Birmingham, Alabama.

Meredith Benton of Walden Asset Management, which filed with Leggett & Platt, says, "You want to be sure you have access to the best and brightest employees. That is most sucessfully done when you have an inclusive workplace."

And the article notes that most of these winger proposal to remove or prevent anti-discrimination language pertaining to gay and lesbian employees go nowhere, and what's even more impressive, the votes in some cases aren't even close.

Meanwhile, shareholders filed resolutions asking American Express, Bank of America and Ford to consider taking sexual orientation out of their anti-discrimination policies.

Yes, there's a backlash underway. The Amex resolution, which was defeated Monday, says, among other things, that "domestic partner benefit policies pay people who engage in homosexual sex acts, which were illegal in this country for hundreds of years, and have been proscribed by the major traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Mohammedism for a thousand years or more."

Interestingly, at Amex, the supporters of the anti-gay resolution could muster only 2 percent of the vote. Backers of gay rights at Exxon last year got 29 percent.

As if we give a sh*t about vile Exxon. We've already got this poster child to remind us why that company shouldn't get a dime from any Americans, let alone homo dollars:


Former CEO Lee Raymond's receiving a $400 million platinum retirement parachute, with a fat pension, stock options and perks that include a $1 million consulting deal, home and personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for "professional purposes." When he testified to Congress last year about price gouging after Katrina, he said "we're all in this together." Indeed.

Also:
* Jeremy of Good As You blogs about Bank of America.
* Bank of America's staff survey on sexual orientation

Southern Baptist faction ready to pull kids from public schools

This threat has been floating around by the Southern Baptist Convention for a while. It looks like another push to give up on the homosexualized school system is in the works. See ya. (365gay):

A group of activists in the Southern Baptist Convention are again calling on the denomination to remove its children from public schools, two years after a similar action was rejected.

The resolution to urge Baptists to develop an "exit strategy" from public schools is co-sponsored by Texas lawyer Bruce Shortt and Roger Moran, a Missouri businessman and member of the convention's influential executive committee.

Shortt and Moran said they plan to submit the proposal for a possible vote by the convention at its annual meeting in North Carolina in June. The resolution's release yesterday comes as 56 Baptist pastors and organizational leaders urged denomination members last week in a letter to "speak positively about public education" in response to the movement to pull Baptist children out of public schools.

They also said that it's wrong for church leaders to urge their congregations to abandon public schools for either home-schooling or private Christian academies. The Shortt-Moran resolution says recent federal court rulings have favored public schools "indoctrinating children with dogmatic Darwinism" and have limited the rights of parents in dictating what schools can teach, including matters on sexuality.

The resolution also says public schools "continue to adopt and implement curricula and policies teaching that the homosexual lifestyle is acceptable" and that Christian alternatives to public schools are "desperately needed immediately by orphans, children of single parents and the disadvantaged."

Campaign for the $200/hr man

The mailbag was stuffed with feedback on my decision to drop off the Equality Forum panel featuring Jeff Gannon. Thanks for the overwhelming letters and comments of support.



John's been keeping up with the latest on the maelstrom of the Campaign for Jeff Gannon's Legitimacy, as I've been out this evening. I really can't add anything to what he says in his latest post, now that EF has a press release out on the matter.

Sigh. It's all unfortunate. I need a cup of English breakfast tea.

Daddy Dobson signs up two Tennessee legislators

In Tennessee, two anti-gay legislators are leaving elected office to join Daddy Dobson as he takes on the homos in the fight to preserve the sanctity of marriage.

At least you can say these losers are getting off the public payroll and onto the AmTaliban's. (KnoxNews):

State Sen. David Fowler, R-Signal Mountain, has accepted a job as executive director of the Family Action Council of Tennessee. The group is associated with Colorado-based Focus on the Family, a conservative Christian advocacy group that opposes gay rights.
Eventually Fowler will become a lobbyist for the group, but he said he will have to wait a year to do that because of the new ethics law.


Fowler, Clem.

Rep. Chris Clem, R-Lookout Mountain, is going to serve on the board of the Family Action Group of Tennessee. Both lawmakers announced earlier this year they wouldn't seek re-election. Fowler said he plans to move to Nashville for his new job.

Fowler, 47, said one of his top priorities in his new job will be promoting passage of the state Marriage Protection Amendment, scheduled for the November ballot. The proposed amendment, which seeks to ban same-sex marriage, was pushed by Fowler in the General Assembly.

"It will allow me to engage fully in those issues that really brought me to the legislature in the first place without the distractions of all the other things we must do, discuss and debate up here," Fowler said.

Clem last year sponsored a bill to ban homosexuals from adopting children, which was ultimately defeated in a House committee.

Kraft blows off fundie pressure on Gay Games

The shareholder proposal to terminate Kraft Food's backing of the 2006 Gay Games was rejected by the company and investors, despite fundie pressure from groups like the American Family Association and one of Kraft's stockholders, Marcella Meyer, who submitted this particular dumb proposal, which included statements like this:

• The gay rights movement is not a charitable activity; rather, it is a political movement designed to promote increased acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle, and

...• The "gay games" event will be appealing to immature young people attracted by the excitement, fun, and even glamour of the event. Some of these young people are likely to experiment with homosexual behavior as a result of this appeal

Well, she was smacked down.

It's a rare occasion when a marketing sponsorship can take the stage at a shareholder meeting. But Kraft's decision to support the eight-day event in Chicago this July with a $25,000 donation rankled Kraft stockholder Dr. Marcella Meyer of Chicago, who proposed in a proxy statement that Kraft "disassociate itself" from the Gay Games themselves and any other future activities supporting homosexual activities and lifestyle.

Dr. Meyer's proposal, rejected by 99% of stockholders, rested largely on the supposition that numerous studies have linked homosexual activity to sexually transmitted diseases that cause sickness and premature death, especially from AIDS, and that Kraft's support of the games could make it legally liable in the event that a young attendee decides to "experiment with homosexual encounters and later develops a serious, even fatal, illness."

In May of last year, Marc Firestone, Kraft's exec VP-corporate counsel and corporate secretary, sent a memo to Kraft employees reiterating the company's commitment to the event despite protests, voiced most loudly by the American Family Association. In the memo he stated, "Diversity makes us a stronger company and connects us with the diversity that exists among the consumers who buy our products." The company's board and stockholders agreed.

Hat tip, PageOneQ

FDA: OTC emergency contraception will lead to sex cults

OMG. The FDA has been wrangling over the issue of over-the-counter availability of Plan B, the emergency contraceptive for some now, with pressure from the fundies not to approve it.

In a staff memo, an FDA official indicated that one of the issues that led the agency to balk at approving it (more precisely, a decision was deferred) was that it would lead to rampant teen sex. This is your government. (Newsday via Raw Story):

Former FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford, Dr. Janet Woodcock, deputy operations commissioner, and Dr. Steven Galson, director of the FDA's drug evaluation center, are to testify in court-ordered depositions to be taken by attorneys for the Manhattan-based Center for Reproductive Rights on April 26, 27 and 28 in Washington, D.C. and Rockville, Md.

...The women's group seeks to force approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B, which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. Simon Heller, one of the attorneys, plans to quiz Woodcock about a March 23, 2004, staff memo suggesting she was concerned Plan B might lead to teenage promiscuity.

...In the memo released by the FDA during the discovery process, Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh, an agency medical officer, wrote: "As an example, she stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B."

Rosebraugh indicated he found no reason to bar nonprescription sales of Plan B.

"This was the level of scientific discourse, so to speak," Heller said in a phone interview, referring to concerns attributed to Woodcock. "I find it very odd that these people who are supposed to be responsible scientists and doctors are making up wacky reasons."

Why I won't be on the panel in Philly

I was scheduled to appear next Wednesday at the National Media Panel on Blogs during Equality Forum. I'm still going to Philly, but I won't be on the panel. John Aravosis of AmericaBlog has declined to participate as well.

What happened?

When I received the email from panel moderator about the final agenda of the panel discussion last week, I was surprised to see that the Gannongate dustup was not going to be the centerpiece of the agenda, in fact it wasn't mentioned at all. Quite frankly, a discussion of journalism, ethics, and the intersection of sexuality, politics and impact of blogging puts the Gannon story front and center -- it should be the focus of the panel, not a sideline.

John's blogging on the White House Press Whore/Talon "News" cub reporter Gannon/Guckert is a landmark in LGBT and mainstream political blogging. No matter what anyone along the political spectrum may think of John's views on some issues, this is the elephant in the room that people are coming to see a discussion about.

In my response, I made it clear that most regular readers of my blog have zero respect for Gannon as a representative or voice of the LGBT community in the blogosphere, regardless of politics. He's a homophobe and a serial plagiarist. He has little to add to the discussion about LGBT media and blogging, since his blog has no impact or influence in the community in terms of blogger journalism; he's a joke.

There have been many rounds of correspondence over this, up until last night, when I finally tired of trying to get clarity and resolution on this -- the issue is principle. This panel is planning to give Gannon legitimacy as a blogger/journalist while refusing to focus on his scandal, the only thing he's legitimately able to speak about on this front. It's unfortunate - and a repeat of what happened at the National Press Club when Gannon was given a forum. John elaborates more here.

If the goal was meant to politically balance the panel in a discussion of the responsibilities of bloggers writing about LGBT issues, there are certainly right-leaning gay bloggers of influence who could have been invited. Gannon can't even represent this; he rarely writes about LGBT matters at all.

So, unless these organizers have a come-to-Jeebus moment at the 11th hour, I've deep-sixed my first panel appearance. It was something I had looked forward to; since we already bought the plane tickets we'll still be there to attend events, meet up with Philly bloggers, see the city and celebrate Kate's birthday.

Many thanks to those at Equality Forum for extending the gracious invitation to appear.

Myriad reasons why Gannon is the story:
* Condi, 'ho boots, and rent-boy Gannon: sex and power in Washington
* Make your own Jeffy Lube pro-war rally poster
* ePluribus Media: The Spectacular Rise of the Miraculous Mr. Gannon
* Gannongate - the Players
* AmericaBlog: A man called Jeff
* Crooks and Liars: Jeff Gannon retrospective in video

'How homosexual school clubs offer sex to students'

Photo enhancement by Mike Tidmus.

She's baaaaack.... The above is the title of Linda Harvey's latest column about the Day of Silence (today) for WingNutDaily.

She works night and day in her organization Mission[ary Position] America to working to stop the Homosexual Agenda^TM from taking over the public school system with those evil Gay-Straight Alliances.

The "Day of Silence" in most schools is organized by the homosexual club or "gay-straight alliance" as it is often called. Both GSAs and the Day of Silence are projects of a group called GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. But GSAs are too often disruptive activism – training groups that prop up the homosexual identities of vulnerable kids by fomenting bias against traditional morality, while concealing the grave risks of homosexuality.

...After all, the ACLU usually contends, these clubs don't discuss or encourage "sex," but only talk about prejudice and "homophobia." Officials who might be tempted to eliminate them based on keeping students safe from HIV and the other fruits of high-risk homosexual behaviors are in a bind, because it's hard to prove these clubs do encourage homosexual activity.

But there's one connection surfacing that schools and communities should watch: the strong link between the school "GSAs" and community-based "GLBT" youth groups. With little accountability except to the adult "gay" community, there's no doubt that these offsite youth groups do offer students opportunities to learn about graphic sex and socialize with peers and adults who are active participants in the homosexual lifestyle. And the target age starts as early as middle school.

...The activities at these centers range from help with homework, to games, playing pool, cookouts, parties, proms and lots of "hanging out." More training in "gay" activism may be a focus, infusing impressionable youth with hardcore attitudes. The kids also get recruited for local demonstrations, and are often encouraged to attend the citywide "gay" pride parade, as well as accompanying adult social events.

There is so much BS in this article; she bleats on and on, each paragraph more ludicrous than the last.

I had to trot over to Freeperland to see what they had to say about the Day of Silence. I know, it was vile and ignorant as usual.

Actual Freeper Quotes™

It's fine with me if they want to shut up about it for a change. I'm getting pretty sick of their in-your-face militantism. If they'd just shut up about it and not advertise to the whole world what they do in private, they might not feel so discriminated. What a novel idea.

So, they will spend the whole day with their MOUTHS SHUT?.......I doubt it...............especially if they're GAY.............

Not only do the socially diseased shut their holes, but the other students get to go a whole day without hearing homosexual advocacy.

Our kid's HS is doing this today. Perhaps the radical homosexuals should be encouraged to extend the day of silence indefinitely.

I can't wait until the Republicans control the Presidency, the House and the Senate. [Where has this freak been?] Then they will change the way that the ACLU not only sues to destroy the fabric of our society, but they get paid from the govt coffers for doing it. Just you wait, the things that the libs have done to the system over the years will be returned to balance.

How about a year of silence from the little perverts? We could make it an annual celebration.

Just makes me want to shout all day!

The crazy thing here is that the Gay lobby has successfully gotten the Boys Scouts banned from Gov't facilities. These Gay activities are all being done on the taxpayer's dime!

Most information about HIV isn't written for us. We're afraid to talk to our family doctor – he may tell our parents. So where can you go for help if you're young and gay? Aha! Here is an unreported problem! The mainstrean media SUPPRESSES any discussion of the dangers of a homosexual lifestyle so these kids never hear that they shortening their lives and putting themselves at risk. Contrast the trumpeting of the problems with smoking and campare how much is said about tne disease ridden gay population.

If a school observes the day of silence in support of the "homosexual rights" fallacy then one can rightly assume that the children attending are being exposed to homosexual agenda propaganda on all the other days of non silence...

I would like to point out that the gay activists have been influencing kids in state run counseling groups, rehab groups, and even juvenile detention facilities. Those I know for sure. I suspect the same is true of children's homes, at least I know of one big city that took a ten your old black child who lost both of her parents (they died) and they shipped her off to another city to live with two white lesbians. HOW COULD SUCH A THINK HAPPEN?! It makes me sick. Linda did a great job investigating the school situation. I just wanted to make people aware that it goes even further than that. DO NOT let the government have your kid for any length of time if you can help it. If they are arrested and sent away, WATCH OUT. You had better count on deprograming them. If they weaken, they will likely walk out of the facility with all kinds of contact numbers (and vice versa -- they WILL be getting calls).

The voice we are not hearing is that of Our Lord

Other gems from Linda:
* Homosexual Agenda Escalates in Public Schools

* The Risk of 'Gay' Activism in Our Schools

* What homosexual 'marriage' will mean to America's children

Glenn Greenwald's book is #1 at Amazon

Snapshot at 6AM. You can pre-order it (I did yesterday). Talk about push from the blogosphere! Congrats, Glenn! Digby reviews it.

Dillard's salon: kinky hair harder to clean

Un-f*cking-believable. Yes, It's time for yet another hair post, thanks to Blender Fritz passing on this tale of race-based bullsh*t by Dillard's hair salon in Montgomery, Alabama.


Vaughan Thomas and seven other women are suing the salon, charging racial discrimination because Dillard's policy is that black customers are charged more than white customers because "ethnic" hair is harder to clean and style.

You have got to be joking. How can a salon make a blanket judgment about hair care pricing by race? Here you go...

A defense brief submitted in Alabama federal court cites numerous supposed characteristics of black hair that make treating it more "time consuming and technically demanding than fulfilling the minimal (or non-existent) conditioning needs" of the typical white customer.

"The rendering of professional hair care is a personal service typically tailored to the specific needs and preferences of the individual," Dillard's scientific expert, Mort Westman, said in a deposition. "Numerous factors exist and must be considered during the process of cleansing, conditioning and styling, rendering the resultant treatment somewhat unique."

OK. What is Mort talking about? Natural kinky hair, pressed hair, chemically straightened hair? Is it all the same to him, because all "ethnic" hair is not the same, any more than hair of a "typical white customer" is not natural, permed, colored, curly or even kinky.

The "science" goes on...

The brief, which is based in large part on Westman's declaration and a study published in 2003 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, highlights the "highly brittle, tightly curled" texture of ethnic hair as a factor that prolongs the cleansing portion of the treatment.

The brief also refers to "lack of resiliency" and the frequent use of "intricate coiffures" and extensions as other factors that affect the complexity of drying and styling the hair of black customers.

"These factors would typically indicate that the pricing for the shampooing, conditioning and styling of the African-American client would normally be higher than that of the Caucasian client," Westman claims.

WTF is this about prolonged cleansing? Gee, it took me about five minutes to lather up and condition my locs just a few minutes ago. It definitely took even less than that when I had a short natural afro. What is this assclown talking about? How can washing my hair take more time that it does to wash straight hair of "typical white customers" that is full of styling products such as gels, sprays, creams, etc.? I don't use any "product" on my hair after washing and conditioning it -- no blow drying, no rollers. Hell, no salon. I don't need to give anyone money to do my hair.

Perhaps the highly trained professionals at Dillards are prone to ripping "ethnic" hair from "ethnic" scalps because they don't know what they are doing.

And extensions...let's see, how many white celebrities can I name off the top of my head that are known to wear them -- Britney Spears, the Simpson sisters, Paris Hilton, the list goes on and on, geez, just pick up an US Weekly magazine and they actually tell you who's wearing fake hair now.

So, if Paris Hilton and Tyra Banks both walked into Dillards, Tyra would get the negro surcharge for the same extensions? Nice.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs presented their case two weeks ago in support of their argument that Dillard's alleged pricing scheme was part of a systematic effort to charge customers across the country solely on the basis of race.

..."It's amazing to me that a Fortune 500 company would use this kind of pseudo-science in court to prove that it takes longer to wash African-American hair," [lead attorney, Patrick] Cooper said.

"The day they can show me that every black woman in the country has the same hair is the day I'll ask the judge to dismiss the case immediately," he said.

If the salon wants to make sense of its pricing structure, it should be guided by actual complexity of service. Perms, whether to straighten or curl should cost more than a wash and blow dry. Washing a short hairdo, whether it is straight hair or kinky natural, should take the same amount of time to do, and thus cost the same.


About the only service I can imagine that might cost more and would apply more often to black (or kinky-haired) customers, is a press-and-curl with a hot comb, which takes skill that those race-based Dillard's stylists are probably not familiar with.

Back from SF and Bush plunges lower

"Radical" Russ, Tommy Chong, and Oregon NORML Executive Director Madeline Martinez

I'm back from San Francisco, so let's see what's happening.

Hmm, Scott McClellan left his job as White House Spokesman so he could spend more time lying in the private sector.

The DEA pressured the FDA to issue a statement that marijuana has no medicinal value... on 4/20... while NORML is putting on a conference in a major media market and has every major physician and expert on medical marijuana in one place to easily rebut the nakedly political manipulation of science. The New York Times was quick to point out, on the front page, above the fold, that this FDA statement flatly contradicts the 1999 findings of the National Academy of Sciences, as well as the cases of thousands who've found relief in cannabis over the last ten years in California's Prop 215, Oregon's Measure 67, and the nine other free states with medical marijuana statutes. San Francisco's local CBS and NBC affiliates both convered the story and made use of NORML experts to refute the charge.

I'm busy writing up the review of the whole conference, which I'll post as soon as it's done. Meanwhile, enjoy the latest iteration of the Bush Approval Map.

The map finds The Chimperor picking up some ground in his base in the Intermountain West (but nowhere near as high as previous levels). He continues to lose the South and the Midwest, and the New England states are so far from Bush that I ran out of shades of light blue to color them. New York is down to -48%, and Rhode Island broke -50%, meaning 3 out of 4 Rhode Islanders disapprove of Bush.

[Crossposted at Radical Writ, and read the whole story and see more pictures at Oregon NORML]

The brain-free White House

Not that it's a surprise or anything, but how can you take an administration seriously when they can't keep on message.

Take the situation with the gas prices. BushCo is freaking out, and so today he got up and did a little policy shilling, ordering a temporary halt of deposits to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to ease the supply, saying "we’re serious" about reducing the cost at the pump.

The problem is that just last week, Dear Leader's Energy Secretary, Sam Bodman, said that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve was not going to be manipulated to lower gas prices.

Watch the two clips of Bush and Bodman back-to-back at Think Progress.

Family Research Council: Matthew Shepard story 'fiction'

More BS from the Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council, via PageOneQ. Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered in 1998, and we've got the right wingers already doing revisionist history.

Washington Update, a publication of the right wing organization, The Family Research Council, has likened a story about the murder of Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998 to Brokeback Mountain, a fictional short story written published by The New Yorker, PageOneQ has found.

Under a headline, "From the 9th Circus," an apparent reference to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, FRC president Tony Perkins condemned the Court for ruling that a shirt with the phrase "Homosexuality is Shameful Romans 1:27," printed on it was inflammatory speech.

...In the ruling (available here), Judge Stephen Reinhardt refers to Judge Alex Kozinski's dissenting opinion (available here), recommending that the dissenting Judge turn to the film Brokeback Mountain and the television production The Matthew Shepard Story, "as evidence of the harmful effects of anti-gay harassment..."

Mr. Perkins, of the Family Research Council, took quotes from the story above and wrote that the Court took pointed to, "Hollywood's Brokeback Mountain and The Matthew Shepard Story - two works of fiction."

PageOneQ has the ridiculous complete statement by Tony Perkins.

More revisionism on the Shepard case:

* NYT details Matthew Shepard 20/20 piece: McKinney is a self-loathing bisexual, so it isn't a hate crime

* It was a smear -- 20/20 on Matthew Shepard

This and that - open thread

I had quite a lot in the mailbag...nosh and add your own links.

* Amanda posted about this Dear Abby letter over at Pandagon, and it also caught the eye of Blender Karen. Daddy Dobson's handbook didn't prepare mommy for this:

DEAR ABBY: My husband, "Ron," and I are at odds over parenting our 7-year-old son, “Brett.” My husband is very domestic. He cooks like a world-class chef and does more housework than any man I know of. I have read Dr. James Dobson’s books on family. He clearly states that a father should be the manly role model for the son, to prevent the son from being homosexual. I’m concerned that Brett will learn feminine ways from my husband and turn out to be gay. How can I convince Ron that he needs to teach Brett the more manly things in life?
— WORRIED MOM IN FLORIDA

DEAR WORRIED MOM: From my perspective, you don't need to change a thing. With all due respect to Dr. Dobson, your husband is already a manly role model to your son. He is teaching the boy important survival skills that will be invaluable when he is older. With luck, your son will turn out to be every bit the man -- and father -- that your husband is.

High-five for Abby!

***

Oy! You must catch Gene Stone's Huff Post column, The Gay Republican: Oxymoron, or Just Moron?

Why would any gay man or woman belong to a party that has stated, over and over, as clearly as can be, without equivocation, that he or she is not welcome?

It's understandable why someone might not choose to be a Democrat. Those brought up in a family or culture where the traditional Republican party values were celebrated, such as smaller government and less taxes, might feel uncomfortable with the Democratic party (although these days it's the Republican party that seems to stand for pork barrel politics and large government).

...Today the bottom line is that there simply is no excuse left for any gay man or woman to embrace a party whose prime agenda is to stop him or her from enjoying the same rights as every other American.

Read George Bush's lips: The party doesn't want you. Can you hear that? It doesn't want you. You can't pretend any more that you can change it. It doesn't want you. You can't make a difference. It doesn't want you.

Whew. Go read the rest. Gene, btw is also the author of the just published Duck! The Dick Cheney Survival Bible

***

* Drew found out that Dear Leader likes to harass endangered Peninsular bighorn sheep.

***

* Nothing subtle here (hat tip to Blender David) -- Rolling Stone: The Worst President in History?

George W. Bush's presidency appears headed for colossal historical disgrace. Barring a cataclysmic event on the order of the terrorist attacks of September 11th, after which the public might rally around the White House once again, there seems to be little the administration can do to avoid being ranked on the lowest tier of U.S. presidents. And that may be the best-case scenario. Many historians are now wondering whether Bush, in fact, will be remembered as the very worst president in all of American history.

***

* Matt Hill Comer updates us on the LGBT-inclusive proposal debated by UNC Association of Student Governments last Saturday. The General Assembly of the body failed to pass equal opportunity clause proposal. Only six out of approximately fifty delegates voted to add gender, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and socioeconomic status.

***


* Nancy Goldstein has bright idea on how to handle the problems on the immigration front.

My modest proposal, if implemented correctly, could resolve the dilemmas raised by both of these critical social phenomenon in one fell swoop. Why don't we swap skanky guys who flout the law for hard-working immigrants who want nothing more than US citizenship and a shot at a better life?

***


* Winger Brian Camenker, of the Parents Rights Coalition in Massachusetts, has his panties in a bunch over the use of the children's book "King & King," fairy tale about gay marriage, by a teacher in class to illustrate the different kinds of weddings. Same-sex marriage is legal in the state, but Brien can't reconcile this in his tiny brain. He thinks this is sex education and thus parents have to be notified. "It's just so heinous and objectionable that they would do this... There is no question in my mind that the law is being abused here." (Hat tip, Frederick)

***

* Ohio Churches' Political Activities Challenged. Blender Holly is keeping tabs on the activities in her state of Ohio, where the wingnut pastors are violating their tax-exempt status by shilling for Ken Blackwell, who is the secretary of state and the favored candidate of bible beaters for governor.

***

* Jessica over at Ms. Magazine points to the cover story in the latest issue, an article on sweatshops in Saipan, Paradise Lost: Greed, Sex Slavery, Forced Abortions and Right-Wing Moralists, and how the Abramoff scandal hurts women.

Anti-sweatshop leaders and some members of Congress have long sought to increase wages and protect the islands’ garment workers, most of whom are women, from what amounts to indentured servitude. But their efforts were repeatedly stalled in Congress. And who was among the biggest opponents of reform? None other than the notorious lobbyist Jack Abramoff, whose tentacles reached deep into House Republican leadership. And who was one of the loudest congressional cheerleaders against reform? Tom DeLay, who praised the islands as "a petri dish of capitalism."

***

* And how about those "crisis pregnancy centers"? These are simply bogus clinics run by an womb-control groups waging intimidation campaigns to pressure women not to have an abortion. Our government is funding these "clinics" with $60 million of your tax dollars. (Hat tip, Deborah)

Nassau County bigots deep-six domestic partnership registry

Everyone thought it would pass in this NY county on Long Island, but it didn't. The nearby town of Hempstead does have a DP registry, but the 'phobes came out during the debate in the Democrat-held legislature and they prevailed at the last minute. (Newsday):

"It is a very embarrassing moment," said Presiding Officer Judy Jacobs (D-Woodbury), a major supporter of the bill that would have allowed domestic partners of any sex to register with the county as couples without being married.

The registry would have facilitated a partner's receiving medical insurance from a private employer or gaining access to the other person during a medical emergency, among other things. Suffolk, New York City and Westchester already have such a registry.

...Paul Kosowski, a leader of the Nassau County Civics Association, an activist organization with a Cedarhurst address, said: "A vote for domestic registry is a vote for gay marriage."

James Barker, pastor of the Bible Baptist Church in Elmont, said: "You just did the Pledge of Allegiance and said 'One nation under God.' Well, if you believe that, how can you go against God's law?"

'GOP Superstar'-- the Empty Wig gets pummeled

This N&O article is a hoot. My senator, Sugar Lips Dole, also serves as chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. She has been stumping around the country for various scandal-laden candidates, and as far as I can tell, she isn't doing a damn thing for our state. Actually, she's having a hard time doing her NRSC work as well, with the quality of folks that she's showing up to bleat for at rallies.

Take Senator Conrad Burns, for example. He recently received the honor of being named one of the nation's five worst senators by Time Magazine, and recently had to return the money he received from bed buddy Jack Abramoff.

Burns, who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for the Interior, is also under scrutiny from federal investigators. Whatta guy. But Liddy gives it the old college try in her stump speech:

The wind chased clouds of brown dust across the endless Montana landscape, a view so different from the rolling green of North Carolina's Piedmont.

Volunteers tacked up fluttering banners for a campaign rally, and aides to Montana's junior senator prepped for the big event -- a visit by GOP superstar Elizabeth Dole, senator from North Carolina.

Hours later, she would stand next to Sen. Conrad Burns, a man under attack for his ties to a lobbying scandal, and call him a man of integrity.

"There's nowhere I'd rather be today," she said into the microphone, a "Conrad Burns" button pinned above her heart. She smiled at her host. "He's doing such a great job."

Can you just imagine a tumbleweed blowing by what had to be a sad sack rally, given Burns landed at 38% approval in a SurveyUSA poll.

Dole's getting scorched for her pathetic performance in support of the 33 Senate races that she is responsible for fundraising and recruiting for.

She failed to persuade top GOP choices to enter races in several key states. And reports filed last week show her committee remains behind its Democratic counterpart in raising money. Dole defends her record, saying that she's been successful at finding dollars and that the party has outstanding candidates.

"We're doing well in an environment that's. ... " She paused. "You know, it's been a tough environment."

Despite the demands of the post, Dole insists she is taking care of North Carolina's business.

"I'm doing everything possible to make sure I'm in the state as much as possible," Dole said. She was in Winston-Salem on Thursday for the opening of a nonprofit senior center.

She has possibly the worst constituent services on the planet.

To see the level of effectiveness at the NRSC, check out this effort: donkeyswantyourmoney.com. Yawn. What was that?

Granted, she's got an impossible job at the NRSC due to the sterling performance of Dear Leader -- who'd want to shovel the flaming pile of horsesh*t in Iraq, or explain away the Katrina response or all the scandal-ridden Senators hoping to be re-elected.


That said, it's been positively hilarious to see Dole squirming over Katherine Harris, who's running the most ridiculous campaign in Florida against incumbent, Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson. The Empty Wig desperately tried to recruit others to run -- even courting MSNBC's Joe Scarborough -- but to no avail. Nelson will easily cruise to victory. But Florida wasn't her only problem...

Recruiting problems began to surface last year. Dole failed to persuade top choices to enter races in North Dakota and West Virginia. And she couldn't keep a GOP challenger out of the primary race in Rhode Island, hurting incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee.

In Florida, she couldn't find any Republicans beyond U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris -- she of the hanging chads in the 2000 presidential election -- to take on Democratic U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Dole shunned Harris and tried repeatedly to find someone else to run.

...Dole tries to shake off the party's bad news on the war and approval ratings.

"I've said, 'Put the blinders on. Stay focused,' " she said, holding both hands by her eyes. "We know what our goal is."

Again, look at what kind of crap the NRSC is putting out, from Sugar Lips's press release on gas prices:

Now Democrats have decided to play partisan politics with gas prices in a flailing attempt to distract from the growing economy. These are the same Democrats who accomplished nothing in terms of an energy policy during eight years with President Clinton at the helm and the same Democrats who voted to increase the gas tax and blocked efforts to repeal or suspend it. These are also the same Democrats who obstructed a bi-partisan comprehensive energy bill for four years in Congress.

We're closing in on six months until the November election and therefore the other side has begun to ratchet up the scare tactics. Like on so many issues, the Democrats have offered nothing but pessimism and posturing when it comes to responsible energy policies.

Yawn, again. Let's see, the GOP has no business talking about "scare tactics" when they roll out the gay boogeyman, the brown menace coming over the border, or jack up the terror alert to rouse the foaming-at-the-mouth Base. Please.

Looks like Tony Snow is stepping up to shill for Dear Leader

CNN says it's almost a done deal. Quite frankly, I don't know why Tony Snow wants the Scotty McClellan job as press punching bag. It's going to be nothing but grief from here on out, with the administration tanking on all fronts (and so many lies to defend); the article mentions Snow's concerns about his health and family. Does he love the Chimpistration that much?

Vatican's no-condom policy failing in AIDS battle

By Mike Tidmus

Papa Ratzi and crew are realizing, way late in the game, that the abstinence-only response to the spread of HIV/AIDS is an abject failure. A document is being prepared that may allow those "with grave diseases" to use condoms. I want to see how they square this with the fact that the church will appear to be saying that the spread of some STDs is AOK under this reversal of church doctrine. (AP):

"Soon the Vatican will issue a document about the use of condoms by persons who have grave diseases, starting with AIDS," Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, who is in charge of the Vatican's health care ministry, was quoted as saying in Sunday's La Repubblica newspaper.

"My department is carefully studying it, along with scientists and theologians entrusted with drawing up a document about the subject that will soon be made known," the Mexican cardinal said.

"It is Benedict XVI who asked us for a study on this particular aspect of using a condom by those afflicted with AIDS and by those with infectious diseases," he said.

There was no official comment Monday from the Vatican. Lozano Barragan was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts by The Associated Press to reach him.

Mick Jagger prevents Dear Leader from booking hotel suite

A ha ha ha ha ha...

George Bush can’t get no satisfaction — after Mick Jagger grabbed his hotel room.

The Rolling Stone splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite days before the US leader tried to book it.

Now Mick, 62, who has been a fierce critic of the Bush-led war in Iraq, is refusing to give it up. The veteran rocker hired the luxury Royal Suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, for June when the Stones are due to play a gig in the city.

Bush’s aides then tried to book it to tie in with a summit meeting. But Mick put his foot down and insisted he was keeping the booking.

A source close to the millionaire singer said last night: “White House officials had wanted to reserve the suite and all the other rooms on the first floor. “But Mick and the Stones had already booked every one of them.

“Bush’s people seemed to be under the impression that they would just hand over the suites but there was no way Mick was going to do that.”

Please don't laugh too hard -- 'Conservative Coming Out Day'

'Conservative Pride' Celebrated in Sun Devil Country. Arizona State University's young college Rethugs are so pathetic. Is our culture not already drenched in conservative thought (rolling back as fast as the sheeples' wallets empty at the gas pump)? How many of these Operation Yellow Elephant prospects have enlisted to serve for Dear Leader yet -- any guesses?

The College Republicans (CRs) at ASU have just wrapped up their second annual "Conservative Pride Week." Last Monday (April 17) the group observed "Conservative Coming-Out Day," which featured members of the College Republicans and other conservatives coming out of an actual closet to happily proclaim their beliefs without fear of liberals on campus. On Tuesday the CRs held an "Anti-United Nations Day" in which students tossed water balloons at a picture of U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan.

On Wednesday, conservatives celebrated "Border Security Si Se Puede" day in protest of illegal immigration. Thursday was "Academic Diversity and Political Incorrectness Day," which was highlighted by a speech from conservative author David Horowitz on the topics of academic freedom and his new book, Professors.

Hieu Tran, director of public relations for the CRs, says there is a need for more conservative professors on campus -- especially in the political science department.

...Reaction to the Conservative Pride Week has generally been positive, says Tran. "A lot of people are coming up, thanking us for doing this, because they're going to classes and they're hearing the other side -- but they're not hearing any of our side, the views of our side," he explains. "So they appreciate what we're doing."

"We're bringing out issues into the mainstream," Tran continues. "Also, a lot of liberals and other people in our community are coming up and saying, 'Well, why are you doing this?' And we're just saying, 'This is for debate.'"

Ban of Easter candy with religious messages in school unhinges mom

The bleating from these faux-Christians about being "victimized" never stops.

The mother of a North Carolina second-grader is threatening to sue a public elementary school for prohibiting the boy from passing out Easter candy displaying religious messages.

Natalya Hill alleges her son Robert was barred from handing out Easter candy with an attached religious message to his classmates at Leesville Elementary School in Raleigh. Hills' attorney, Delia Van Loenen with the Alliance Defense Fund, has penned and sent a letter to the school demanding that it end its "censorship of student religious expression."

According to Van Loenen, the youngster was told he could not distribute the candy during class time, at lunch, or even during recess. The attorney says that violates the U.S. Constitution.

"The school needs to know that the students have a right to religious expression -- that's protected under the First Amendment," Van Loenen says. " And basically the school has treated this student's religious speech as second-class speech, and it's a blatant violation of his constitutional rights."

Note this is the same Alliance Defense Fund, which is also sponsoring the Day of Truth mentioned in my earlier post. If her panties are in such a twist, why is this child in public school? There are plenty of religious schools out there where her son is free to proselytize all day long to his peers.

Bush explains how God shapes his foreign policy

As his numbers hit 32% today, Dear Leader tells us about the voices he hears in his head. I'm convinced that the dry-drunk prez is in need of a padded cell now. (E&P):

Bush also explained, in unusually stark terms, how his belief in God influences his foreign policy. "I base a lot of my foreign policy decisions on some things that I think are true," he said. "One, I believe there's an Almighty. And, secondly, I believe one of the great gifts of the Almighty is the desire in everybody's soul, regardless of what you look like or where you live, to be free.

Yeah, the same Almighty voice in your head told you to bomb the hell out of a country that had no WMDs (and you knew it), and sent our servicemen and women over to die, and alerted you to make sure your friends cashed in during the aftermath. Here's more pious, delusional BS:

Bush said he'd sat in a California church on Sunday near a mother and stepfather grieving for their son who had been killed in Iraq. "I also want to let you know that before you commit troops that you must do everything that you can to solve the problem diplomatically," he commented. "And I can look you in the eye and tell you I feel I tried to solve the problem diplomatically to the max and would have committed troops both in Afghanistan and Iraq, knowing what I know today."

Jeezus.

District Court dismisses challenge of DADT

“We continue to believe the military’s ban is un-American and unconstitutional. There is no reason lesbian, gay and bisexual Americans should be prohibited from serving our country. They are patriotic, dedicated veterans. America should welcome their contributions and honor their commitment to our country."
-- C. Dixon Osburn, executive director of Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) after today's news

Another setback in the fight against discrimination in the U.S. military. The decision to dismiss the case of Cook v. Rumsfeld, was handed down by Judge George A. O'Toole Jr. The suit challenged the constitutionality of the Pentagon's ban on gay and lesbian servicemembers.

The SLDN lawsuit asserts that “’Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ punishes gay, lesbian and bisexual service members . . . for their sexual orientation and for their private, constitutionally protected conduct. As a result, it has denied and continues to deny them several Constitutional rights, including the right of privacy, equal protection of the law, and freedom of speech.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit all served honorably in the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard. Together, they have served more than sixty-five years in the armed forces. Three have served in direct support of operations in the Middle East. Among them, they have earned more than five dozen awards, medals and commendations.

Here is a list of the plaintiffs and their bios. The U.S. Attorney seeking the dismissal for the government, Mark Quinlivan, according to 365gay.com, called the suit "frivolous and without merit," and had argued that the ban didn't violate the constutional rights gays and lesbians because they could still serve as long as they remain in the closet and don't have sex.

He also used the old saw of homos causing harm to unit cohesion without offering up any evidence of this "fact."

Can I scream now?

Wednesday is the National Day of Silence

Brent Hartinger of Voices In My Head and The Big Gay Picture, sent in a reminder that this Wednesday is the National Day of Silence, a project of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and the United States Student Association.

This event is a day-long vow of silence taken by students who support making anti-LGBT bias unacceptable in schools and to recognize and protest the discrimination and harassment. Brent:

I knew of no openly gay teachers or administrators. But even then, the teenagers I worked with yearned to be open and honest about who they were. Heterosexuals often ask me why gay teenagers would want to talk about their sexuality in the first place. “Their wanting to talk about sex is just another form of rebellion, right?”

But being openly gay doesn’t mean rebellion, and it isn’t talking about sex. It just means no longer maintaining the elaborate ruse of pretending to be straight.

I always ask heterosexuals to imagine their teen years if they had had to hide the fact that they were straight. That means no talking about which pop star you thought was cute and definitely no idealized night at the prom. You might have had to date someone you’re not emotionally attracted to, even becoming sexuality active in order to keep your lie intact.

In other words, being a closeted gay or lesbian teenager means being silent. And for someone who is itching to forge a self-identity, as all teenagers are, this is a very frustrating way to live.

In 1996, some gay and straight students at the University of Virginia created the Day of Silence, going a whole school day without speaking to protest the silence of most gay students and teachers and the fact that most school curriculums ignored the contributions of gays and lesbians in history and literature.

Since then, the protest has mushroomed. This year, on Wednesday, an estimated 500,000 gay and straight students from at least 4,000 schools, some in the Tacoma area, will participate what is now called the National Day of Silence. In the history of the civil rights movement, there have been few protests this dignified and this exactly appropriate.

Sounds great, right? It's so great that the Day of Silence ruffled the feathers of the wingers -- the Alliance Defense Fund is putting on its The Day of Truth loser event, scheduled for the next day, April 27th.

The Day of Truth was established to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.

In the past, students who have attempted to speak against the promotion of the homosexual agenda have been censored or, in some cases, punished for their beliefs.  It is important that students stand up for their First Amendment right to hear and speak the Truth about human sexuality in order to protect that freedom for future generations. The Day of Truth provides an opportunity to publicly exercise our free speech rights.

Participating students are encouraged to wear T-shirts and pass out cards (not during class time) with the following message:

I am speaking the Truth to break the silence.
Silence isn’t freedom. It’s a constraint.
Truth tolerates open discussion, because the Truth emerges when healthy discourse is allowed.
By proclaiming the Truth in love, hurts will be halted, hearts will be healed, and lives will be saved.

Blend Exclusive: an interview with Virginia Delegate David Englin

[This post will be up top for most of the day; check below for fresh Blend.]

Virginia Delegate David Englin (D-45) recently caused quite a stir in the blogosphere; many of us learned about him after he gave a whale of a speech in support of civil equality on the floor of the legislature. He's proven to be an outspoken ally for the LGBT community, working mightily at the state level to directly challenge the right wing's message of bigotry and fear.

The religious right-beholden Republicans (and way too many Democrats) went on to vote to place the bigoted marriage amendment on the ballot this fall, which bans civil unions, domestic partnerships and any relationship/legal arrangement that approximates marriage.

A fighting Dem who was in the Pentagon on September 11, and served in the Balkans while in the Air Force, David Englin had nothing to gain and everything to lose politically by getting up and sharing these thoughts with his colleagues before that vote:

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this resolution.  I'm not going to talk about same-sex marriage.  I'm no fool -- although others might make a different judgement about a freshman delegate rising in this chamber on the third day of session.  But I understand that on the issue of marriage, I'm in the minority, perhaps even in my own caucus.  I also sleep very well at night knowing that at some point in the future of this great Commonwealth, those of us of my opinion will be judged to have been on the right side of history.  But let's for a moment forget about the question of same-sex marriage, because this amendment addresses much more than that.  We need to be clear and honest:  This amendment also outlaws civil unions and domestic partnerships and other similar private legal arrangements.

We have heard from the other side that this constitutional amendment is necessary to protect conventional marriage.  I am blessed with a beautiful and brilliant wife who is the love of my life.  In June, Shayna and I will celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, and I would fight with every ounce of my strength anything that would threaten my marriage.  So I would like to know, how exactly civil unions and domestic partnerships and other similar arrangements threaten my marriage?

We have heard from the other side that this amendment will protect families.  Shayna and I are blessed with a strong and bright six-year-old son, Caleb, and we have a strong family.  My friend the gentleman from Rockingham County, Delegate Lohr,  and I have discussed how we come from different backgrounds and different parts of this great Commonwealth, yet we share a deep and abiding commitment to our families.  I want nothing more than to protect my family.  I spent 12 years wearing the uniform of the United States Air Force to protect my family.  I've been in harm's way to protect my family.  So I would like to know, how exactly do civil unions and domestic partnerships and other similar arrangements threaten my family?  Because if they do, I will be the first one to stand up and fight, because nobody better threaten my family.

There's much more of this speech, which you can read it in my earlier post on his courageous stand, Virginia delegate shows Dems how to support gay rights.

I recently had the opportunity to ask David Englin about the outpouring of support he received after the speech (and the criticism), the state of progressive politics in Virginia, the effect of the religious right there, and how other Dems can and should stand up for what is right.

***

Interview with David Englin

Q: Your passionate speech against the Virginia marriage amendment in the House of Delegates garnered a lot of attention and support from all over the country. What has the volume of email, calls and snail mail been like since that day?

I spoke on the House floor in the morning, and when I checked my new BlackBerry that evening, I thought it wasn't working properly because I suddenly had more than 300 new messages. Within a few days, I had nearly a thousand emails and dozens of calls to my office from all over the country. I've received a handful of actual letters, but most people seem to communicate electronically these days. I haven't really kept track of the total number, but I'd guess I've had roughly a couple of thousand email messages. They've tapered off at this point, but I still get a few new messages every week.

Q: Did most people find out about it from the blogosphere, and when did you realize the impact of the speech?

There wasn't much traditional media coverage of the floor debate, so I assume most people found out about it from the blogosphere. A few days after the speech, my uncle, who is gay and lives in Arizona, called me to let me know that a friend had forwarded the speech to him not even knowing he and I are related. I guess I didn't appreciate the impact of the speech until a few days later as I was wading through the emails. Gay and lesbian families were sending me their personal stories and family photos and thanking me for having such courage and for giving them hope. These families are forced to live each day with the fear and insecurity that stems from our collective failure to live up to our nation's founding principles. They are the ones with real courage.

Q: What kind of reaction or responses have you gotten from the Right?

Sources are telling me that local Republicans are already targeting me. I assumed I'd have a Republican opponent when I'm up for reelection in 2007, but it sounds like they feel a greater sense of urgency now that I've confirmed their worst fears -- that I'm a Democrat with a spine who's not afraid to use it. Other than that, the right has been surprisingly quiet about my speech. I received three or four emails calling me names -- which I actually kind of got a kick out of -- and a couple of people trashed me in blog comments, but that's been about it. I'm sure they're using my name in vain in their fundraising letters and biding their time to strike.

Q: One of the interesting behind-the-scenes business about your speech on the House floor is that a fellow Democrat told you that it was "bad strategy." How do you respond to that comment, and was that isolated or did you hear from others with the same opinion?

What does "bad strategy" even mean? That by speaking out, I made the amendment more likely to pass? I was under no illusions that speaking out would cause the House to defeat the amendment, but it's important for Virginians to know that there are people like me -- a husband, a father, and a military veteran -- who are willing to stand up against this kind of bigotry. It's never bad strategy to defend people who are being abused. When was the last time you saw a Republican get the vapors because a fellow Republican stuck to his (albeit misguided) principles?

Q: You serve the 45th district, which is in Northern Virginia (NoVa). It's a progressive area, but Virginia is not a state known for progressive politics overall; the right-wing extreme element of the GOP has a level of control that has resulted in relentless efforts to demonize gays and lesbians. There are also plenty of Dems willing to side with Republicans on socially conservative issues. What is the overall atmosphere in the legislature in a climate like this?

We're in a very partisan, contentious period in the Virginia legislature, mainly because the House Republican caucus is controlled by that right-wing extreme element of the GOP. Interestingly, Senate Republicans are fairly moderate (although not moderate enough to defeat the marriage amendment) so we count on the Senate to kill many of the extremist bills that sail through the House. This divisiveness isn't limited to social issues. We're in a special extended session right now fighting over the state budget where the Senate Republicans, Senate Democrats, House Democrats, and Governor are all on the same page, but House Republicans are obstructing the process because of their extremist anti-tax theology.  

Q: Do you see any shifts toward more moderation in Virginia politics overall, or more of a balkanization between urban/suburban and rural political spheres in the state?

The recent string of Democratic victories in Virginia suggest that voters are rejecting extreme right-wing social dogma in favor of Democrats who are talking about education, health care, public safety, transportation, and other issues that matter to the vast majority of people, gay or straight. In November, we elected our second consecutive Democratic governor, and we're back up to 40 (out of 100) Democrats in the House and 17 (out of 40) in the Senate. Nearly all of the newly-elected Democrats in the General Assembly have consistently voted against the extremist social legislation coming from the Republican majority. We're not there yet, but we're moving in the right direction.

Q: On a day-to-day basis in the House, how strong is the pressure of the religious right in terms of lobbying and pressure? Clearly they've been effective.

On balance, the religious right is still very influential in Virginia, although I'd say that it's starting to wane a bit. There are legislators who naturally embrace the politics of the religious right, and there are others who are more moderate than their voting records suggest but who are hostage to the religious right, who put them and keep them in office. One of the most interesting results of my speech on the marriage amendment has been the number of Republicans who have told me privately that they agree with me but feel beholden to the religious right. That suggests to me an opportunity for our side to organize and become a more potent electoral force, so legislators will feel beholden to advocates of reasonable, progressive policies instead. That's why I'm so focused on grassroots organizing and building the party.

Q: Dem party officials -- where do they stand regarding strategy on progressive politics in Virginia? The Dem and progressive forces haven't been successful in countering this enough to make serious headway. What is the plan?

Actually, Democrats have been making quite a bit of headway in Virginia, and I think we can be a model for other parts of the country where Democrats are trying to claw their way back to a majority. As I mentioned, we just elected our second consecutive Democratic governor, and we continue to pick up seats in both houses of the General Assembly. We were down to 34 Democrats in the House a few years ago, and now we're up to 40, including two seats we won in special elections since November, so the momentum is on our side. Not all of my newly-elected colleagues vote as progressive as me, but nearly every one of them voted against the marriage amendment --including Delegate Shannon Valentine, whose district includes Jerry Falwell and Liberty University, and Delegate David Poisson, who ousted one of the most hateful extremists in the state.

In terms of "the plan", we need to keep running terrific, energetic Democrats who are smart enough to campaign on the issues most voters actually care about, like health care and education. That's step one, which has been aided by the fact that Republicans here keep running extremist candidates who campaign on the death penalty, abortion, and bashing immigrants and gay people. We also need to continue strengthening our investment in grassroots field operations so we are identifying voters year round that we can turn out on election day.

In my opinion, our weakest area -- here in Virginia as well as nationally -- is having a coherent, compelling agenda for the future, but it's something several of us at various levels are working on. Finally, progressive Democrats need to get fully engaged. Ask yourself if you can give just a little more money or just a little more time, so that when people like Shannon Valentine and David Poisson --and me! -- are up for reelection, they have what they need to win. Even beyond that, get down to your local Democratic committee and get involved, recruit other people to be committee members, and run for committee leadership positions. If you do that, eventually you'll be one of those party officials deciding strategy. To quote my favorite TV president, "Decisions are made by those who show up."

Q: A politician who catches a lot of grief on the Blend is Governor Tim Kaine, whom you helped to elect. Obviously, (Kaine's Republican opponent) Kilgore represented the bottom-of-the-barrel level of wingnuttery that had to be defeated, but Kaine has been playing cute on the marriage amendment -- unhappy with its "language," but ultimately he is not for civil equality. How do you square your views with his - which are clearly aimed at positioning himself as a centrist at the expense of gays and lesbian voters (and taxpayers)?

I wish Governor Kaine agreed with me on same-sex marriage, but he doesn't. That said, I think you're otherwise being a bit too hard on him. While he doesn't believe in complete marriage equality the way you and I do, he does support most other forms of equal rights, and he began challenging Republicans on issues like employment nondiscrimination the very moment he took office. (His first act as governor was an executive order on employment nondiscrimination.) Moreover, he has been surprisingly public and outspoken in his opposition to the marriage amendment, refusing to sign the legislation putting it on the ballot and publicly urging Virginians to follow his lead and vote against it. He's shown a lot of courage on other progressive issues too. For example, against his staff's recommendation, he vetoed a bill on baccalaureate services that was important to the religious right that only 11 of us voted against, which took real guts. He's not as progressive as I am, but on a whole range of issues, he does the right thing.

Q: Have you had discussions with Kaine (or his campaign) about this all-too-familiar attempt by establishment Dems to woo the right wing elements rather than court the many disaffected voters who are looking for real change in politics?

I've spoken with Governor Kaine and his staff about the future of the party and how we can keep building and bringing in new voters, and it's a constant topic of concern to our caucus and party leadership here in Virginia. There's a lot going on behind the scenes through the governor's leadership PAC and through the party to build the grassroots and to reach out to those disaffected voters. Honestly, seeing things from inside the wall, I've been impressed with how little wooing of the right wing there is and how much unity and determination there is on our side right now. To some extent, it might be a reaction to how far right the Republicans have gone. For example, they killed a cabinet nomination for the first time in history for no other reason than the appointee -- who was also a close personal friend of the governor -- had been the president of the Virginia AFL-CIO. Not much wooing happens after that sort of thing.

Q: Here in North Carolina, we have managed to turn back an amendment bill a few times, with it dying in committee in the Dem-controlled General Assembly. There is a realization that this amendment is bad for business. What do you think is it about Virginia politics that makes it difficult for elected officials to see the damage this amendment can do for business in terms of recruitment of employment talent, businesses and tourism?

You said it: You have a Democrat-controlled General Assembly. Among Virginia Republicans, Grover Norquist and the religious right carry more sway than the business community. The fact that the marriage amendment is bad for business and intrudes upon private sector business practices will help us defeat the measure at the ballot box in November, but it wasn't enough to stop it in a Republican-controlled General Assembly. Like so many issues, the real solution is to win back Democratic control of the House and the Senate.

Q: In the next election cycle, do you think your strong progressive views are going to put you on the defensive, or do you think the groundswell of support that you've received bolsters your case that fairness is "electable"?

My main weakness right now is not my progressive views, it's that I'm still carrying $25,000 in campaign debt, which makes it difficult for me to pay for everything I need to communicate with my constituents. If I don't erase my debt fairly quickly, I become a juicy target. However, I'm as progressive now as I was when the people of the 45th District elected me in November, so I don't imagine my views will put me on the defensive. I'm not on the ballot again until 2007, but I'm already out meeting with constituents on their doorsteps, through various organization meetings, and at Metro stops throughout the district. A number of people have commented that they aren't used to the kind of energetic leadership I work hard to provide. This seat doesn't belong to me, it belongs to the people of the 45th District. Anyone is free to challenge me, but they had better be prepared to face the grassroots juggernaut I've built. But I still need money, so please go to my website, www.davidenglin.org, and donate $100 online right now. :-) Many, many thanks to your readers who have already contributed.

Q: Blenders have complained endlessly -- and rightfully so -- that the Democratic party at the national level just doesn't get it. The endless cozying up to the right, the inability to defend and frame progressive issues successfully, the endless begging for money from the very groups -- gays and women -- that they continually throw under the bus when it comes for standing up for civil equality, and reproductive freedom. It's maddening. Why can't they do what you do?

I wish I knew the answer to that question. To me it's not rocket science: Be who you are, stand strong on your principles, and be loyal to your friends. I guess the downside of being a party of thoughtful, intelligent, open-minded people is that we're so open and tolerant that we never want to say simply, "We're right and they're wrong." Well, on so many issues, I believe in my heart that we're right and they're wrong, and it's my duty to my community and to my country to say so.  

Q: Is the problem the high-paid, consultants (that continue to lose so often), the endless focus groups and polling -- what is wrong with the party? What can we do to fix it, aside from supporting the rare Dems with spines like yourself?

There are all kinds of consultants who provide all kinds of services, some of which are very helpful and make a big difference. The problem is candidates who let consultants turn them into something they're not. If you're not strong enough to be true to who you are on the campaign trail, why should voters think you'll be strong enough to do that in elected office? I've heard that Republican consultants operate on a "three strikes" policy where three consecutive losses and they will no longer be able to find work. I don't know if that's true, but maybe it's something Democrats should consider. But the real solution is to get more involved, not just online, but offline. There are plenty of Democrats out there with energy and ideas and backbone, there just aren't enough of them running for office. Have you considered running for office?

Q: Who are the progressive pols who you feel are willing and able to frame these issues effectively? (state or national)

That's a difficult question to answer in part because "progressive" includes a number of issues, and I don't know that there's anybody out there who's exactly where I want them to be on every issue. Certainly, social issues are important, but where a candidate stands on the environment, health care, poverty, and other issues matter too. To varying degrees, I'd say the national list probably includes Barak Obama, John Edwards, Mark Warner, Russ Feingold. Here in Virginia, our House Democratic Caucus chair, Delegate Brian Moran, is very talented and would make a terrific statewide candidate, and he's strong on most progressive issues.

Q: When Dem politicians at the local level clearly articulate and define progressive positions, and how can these pols get party support when the machinery is concerned with running to the right?

If we want party organizations to become more progressive or support progressive candidates, progressive activists need to get more involved and work their way into the party structure. The next time your local party reorganizes -- as many local party committees are required by party bylaws to do every couple of years -- show up with 20 of your people to become new committee members, and then run for a leadership position on the committee.

Q: What role do you see for blogs and the internet generally for candidates at all levels? Do you find that one party or another is making better use of new media?

Blogs and the internet can be extremely helpful, especially for candidates at the state and local level who otherwise wouldn't get much attention. The real problem is that most candidates don't know how to take advantage of the internet. You can use blogs and the internet to build buzz and even to build community, but if you can't translate that into volunteers, money, and ultimately votes, you can't win. My gut feeling is that the left makes better use of the internet than the right, which is better at talk radio. That said, Republicans still control all branches of government, so our online advantage has yet to fully translate into electoral victory.


Q: How has all of the excitement and exposure affected your family? Shayna has been very effective and supportive.

Elected office requires tremendous family sacrifice -- probably more than most of our constituents realize -- and this experience demonstrates how much those sacrifices are worth. Shayna and I have always been committed to fighting to improve the world -- I guess you could say that it's one of our family's core values. I am blessed with a brilliant wife who is the love of my life. Effective and supportive don't even scratch the surface. I wouldn't be the man I am without her, and she happens to be a brilliant campaign strategist, so I probably wouldn't be in elected office without her either.

Q: When are you going to clone yourself?

Thanks for the love, but that's a scary thought! I was the one to stand up and speak, but when I look at the courageous progressive votes some of my colleagues cast this past session, knowing that those votes will hurt them come election time, it makes me want to clone them.

***

We have to continue to encourage and support the fearless people out there willing to put themselves at political risk. They want to be on the right side of history, but there is intense pressure from the deluded political machinery to de-spine themselves and court the right wing. Civil equality-affirming pols, particularly those in Red states, need to be held up as the example of what good, responsible (and responsive) politicians can be -- in either party -- and that they can still win races.

Our dollars and support need to go to candidates who don't pander to the bible-beating, womb-controlling, privacy-invading, power-mad homophobic bigots -- the real enemies of the principles of freedom upon which this country was founded.

We need allies in office who don't have to wait for the polls to shift in our direction before they feel safe enough to come out from behind their mother's apron to support civil equality.

Thanks, David, for setting the bar high.

***

Virginia's marriage amendment:

Constitutional amendment (voter referendum); marriage. Provides for a referendum at the November 2006 election on approval of a proposed constitutional amendment to define marriage. The proposed amendment provides that "only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions." The proposed amendment also prohibits the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing "a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage." Further, the proposed amendment prohibits the Commonwealth or its political subdivisions from creating or recognizing "another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage."

The ballot shall contain the following question:

"Question: Shall Article I (the Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of Virginia be amended to state, in part, that 'only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions' and to add provisions relating to the legal status of other relationships and prohibiting the Commonwealth and its political subdivisions from recognizing a legal status for relationships that intend to approximate marriage?"

Religious coalition gearing up for Marriage Protection Amendment vote

The fire has been lit under the AmTaliban as the June vote on the federal amendment to ban gay marriage nears, and there are religious leaders of all stripes lining up to sign a petition to support the amendment.

This time around, the Catholic bishops are out and active, readying 10 million postcards to bombard Senators. Man, oh man, these guys have no business getting on the moral high horse, but they are shameless. (IHT):

A coalition of about 50 prominent religious leaders, including six Roman Catholic cardinals and a half-dozen archbishops, have signed a petition and pledged their influence to support a constitutional amendment blocking same-sex marriage.

Organizers of the petition said it aimed to revive the groundswell of opposition to same-sex marriage that played a major roll in moving conservative voters to the polls in 2004. Republicans are increasingly worried about turnout in the elections this autumn, and Republican Senate leaders have scheduled a vote in June on the proposed constitutional amendment.

..."The personal involvement of bishops and cardinals is significantly greater this time than in 2004," Korten of the Knights of Columbus said.

Several people involved in the effort said it had been organized in part by Professor Robert George of Princeton, an influential conservative Catholic scholar with close ties to evangelical Protestant groups.

Others involved said aides to Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the Republican leader, Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Senator Sam Brownback, Republican of Kansas, were involved in the planning as well.

UN Spokesman is gay, defends anti-gay vote

Another scoop for blogACTIVE, this time on the international front.

Raw Story recently reported on the horrid U.S. vote in the United Nations, our country siding with Iran and other homophobic countries to deny observer status to two gay rights groups at the world body.

As Mike Rogers points out, the man whose job it is to speak for John Bolton's office doesn't have a problem representing support for this vote.

blogACTIVE has learned that John Bolton's spokesman at the United Nations, Richard Grenell, is gay. Mr. Grenell confirmed this information directly to blogACTIVE and he explained that ambassador Bolton had welcomed him into his home with a male date.

Spokesmen always hold a special place at blogACTIVE. They are the guys crafting the message that sells this crap to the American people.

For this, Grenell receives blogACTIVE's first Roy Cohn Award of the 2006.

Grim Reaper Bolten ready to ax staff

How many folks were sweating in the room after this announcement by new chief of staff Josh Bolten on April 17? (CNN)

Signaling a possible shake-up among President Bush's senior advisers, the new White House chief of staff told top presidential aides Monday to expect changes that "refresh and re-energize the team." He invited anyone who is thinking of leaving before year's end to do so now.

Bolten didn't ask for anyone's head at that time, but no one stepped forward to say they would leave, either.

"Fetal position" Scotty was the first to hit the self-eject button, Karl Rove got a mini-demotion, but according to Raw Story, the New York Times' Elisabeth Bumiller has a column up tomorrow highlighting the extent of the sweating over Josh the Grim Reaper among the Bushies.

"There is fear and moaning in the West Wing these days as Andrew Card Jr., the genial father figure who promoted a family-friendly White House, has been replaced as chief of staff by Joshua Bolten, a Goldman Sachs-trained workaholic who is exposing President George W. Bush's aides to market forces.

In other words, after a big set of staff changes last week - Karl Rove gave up his policy portfolio to focus on the midterm elections and Scott McClellan, the press secretary, resigned - no one is sure who is in and who is out. Aides say they are on edge, and Bolten has promised more housecleaning this week, after Bush returns from a four-day trip to California. Treasury Secretary John Snow is possibly the next to go.

...Bolten, who is single [More about that here: Another closet case serving Dear Leader? --Pam], keeps investment banker hours and is well known for staying at the office until 11 p.m. When he was White House deputy chief of staff in Bush's first term, he was also known for making it to the 7:30 a.m. senior staff meeting with only minutes to spare.

Even more embarrassing, the Rethugs of the Beltway are now bleating for Darth (18% approval and falling) Cheney to get the hell out of Dodge, floating Condi (good god) as a replacement. The flopsweat of desperation flows...

Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard magazine and author of Rebel in Chief, a sympathetic new biography of Bush, said: “There are going to have to be sweeping personnel changes if people are going to take a second look at the Bush presidency.”

Barnes, who is close to the White House, said he believed Cheney would be willing to stand down in order to help Bush. “It’s unlike Bush to dump somebody whom he likes and respects,” he cautioned. “But the president needs to do something shocking and dramatic such as putting in Condoleezza Rice.”


Also: floating the Condi trial balloon for 2008 is already under way in some circles, including Freeperland.

...Tom Edmonds, a leading Republican consultant, said the White House had failed to grasp that the party was in desperate straits. “I have never talked to so many disenchanted Republicans,” he said. “The president even stonewalled the minor changes he made by talking about how he was really perfectly happy with his team. He didn’t even give himself wiggle room.”

Big post tomorrow - interview with David Englin

I don't often put up teasers here, but one of the reasons that posts have been a bit sparse the last couple of days is that I have a big exclusive that will go up tomorrow AM -- an e-interview with a favorite here at the Blend, Virginia Delegate David Englin.

It's a wide ranging discussion -- he shares the feedback that he received on both sides of the aisle after he gave The Speech in support of civil equality on the floor of the legislature before it voted to place the bigoted marriage amendment on the fall ballot, the state of the Democratic party (the good and the bad), and much more.

Be ready to spread the word. Maybe some spineless Dems out there will take note.

South Carolina ready to ban sex toys

SC, you're behind the times! Your peeps in 'Bama were right on this abomination months ago.

In August of last year, the Supreme Court refused to hear a case on the legality of a ban on the sale of sex toys in Alabama. The law prohibited the distribution of 'any device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs.' You could get a year in jail or be fined $10K on a first offense.

Alabama's law does allow the sale of vibrators and body massagers that are not specifically designed or marketed to the public as sexual aids. Sales of sexual devices were exempt if they were to be used 'for a bona fide medical, scientific, educational, legislative, judicial or law enforcement purpose.' Hmmmm...name valid law enforcement uses for a blow-up dolls or a butt plug. The other states with bans are Georgia, Mississippi and Texas.

Anyway, back to the Palmetto State, Rethug Rep. Ralph Davenport of Boiling Springs, SC, is the man with a plan to deep-six dildos. Under his bill (H. 4830), if you're convicted of selling a vibe you can receive up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. (Anderson Independent-Mail):

Lucy’s Love Shop employee Wanda Gillespie said she was flabbergasted that South Carolina’s Legislature is considering outlawing sex toys.

...The South Carolina bill, proposed by Republican Rep. Ralph Davenport, would make it a felony to sell devices used primarily for sexual stimulation and allow law enforcement to seize sex toys from raided businesses.

"That would be the most terrible thing in the world," said Ms. Gillespie, an employee the Anderson shop. "That is just flabbergasting to me. We are supposed to be in a free country, and we’re supposed to be adults who can decide what want to do and don’t want to do in the privacy of our own homes."

The proposed law is completely based upon the premise that selling a sexual device is a violation of obscenity laws.

A person disseminates a sexual device within the meaning of this article if it is designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs and solely for the sale of prurient interest in sex.

Look at Davenport's level of detail and research that obviously went into crafting this masterpiece of legislation. Warning: -- it could give some of you the vapors, but the man is serious about protecting South Carolina's citizens from the purveyors of products for pee-pees, hoo-hahs, and any other body parts that might be subject to stimulation.

(B) For purposes of this article any material is obscene if:

(1) to the average person applying contemporary community standards, the material depicts or describes in a patently offensive way sexual conduct specifically defined by subsection (C) of this section;

(2) the average person applying contemporary community standards relating to the depiction or description of sexual conduct would find that the material taken as a whole appeals to the prurient interest in sex;

(3) to a reasonable person, the material taken as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value; and

(4) the material as used is not otherwise protected or privileged under the Constitutions of the United States or of this State.

(C) As used in this article:

(1) 'sexual conduct' means:

(a) vaginal, anal, or oral intercourse, whether actual or simulated, normal or perverted, whether between human beings, animals, or a combination thereof;

(b) masturbation, excretory functions, or lewd exhibition, actual or simulated, of the genitals, pubic hair, anus, vulva, or female breast nipples including male or female genitals in a state of sexual stimulation or arousal or covered male genitals in a discernably turgid state;

(c) an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated bestiality, sado-masochistic abuse, meaning flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is nude or clad in undergarments or in a costume which reveals the pubic hair, anus, vulva, genitals, or female breast nipples, or the condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of the one so clothed;

(d) an act or condition that depicts actual or simulated touching, caressing, or fondling of, or other similar physical contact with, the covered or exposed genitals, pubic or anal regions, or female breast nipple, whether alone or between humans, animals, or a human and an animal, of the same or opposite sex, in an act of actual or apparent sexual stimulation or gratification; or

(e) an act or condition that depicts the insertion of any part of a person's body, other than the male sexual organ, or of any an object into another person's anus or vagina, except when done as part of a recognized medical procedure.

(2) 'patently offensive' means obviously and clearly disagreeable, objectionable, repugnant, displeasing, distasteful, or obnoxious to contemporary standards of decency and propriety within the community.

(3) 'prurient interest' means a shameful or morbid interest in nudity, sex, or excretion and is reflective of an arousal of lewd and lascivious desires and thoughts.

(4) 'person' means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, firm, club, or other legal or commercial entity.

(5) 'knowingly' means having general knowledge of the content of the subject material or performance, or failing after reasonable opportunity to exercise reasonable inspection which would have disclosed the character of the material or performance.

(D) Obscenity must be judged with reference to ordinary adults except that it must be judged with reference to children or other especially susceptible audiences or clearly defined deviant sexual groups if it appears from the character of the material or the circumstances of its dissemination to be especially for or directed to children or such these audiences or groups.

(E) As used in this article, 'community standards' used in determining prurient appeal and patent offensiveness are the standards of the area from which the jury is drawn.

(F) It is unlawful for any a person knowingly to create, buy, procure, or process obscene material or a sexual device with the purpose and intent of disseminating it.

(G) It is unlawful for a person to advertise or otherwise promote the sale of sexual devices or material represented or held out by them as obscene.

(H) A person who violates this section is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than five years or fined not more than ten thousand dollars, or both.

(I) Obscene material and sexual devices disseminated, procured, or promoted in violation of this section is contraband and may be seized by appropriate law enforcement authorities."

Hat tip, Raw Story.

33%: Cutting Into The Base

(This was my guest-post over at Firedoglake last night.)

More Americans disapprove than approve of how George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld and Congress are doing their jobs, while a majority approves of Condoleezza Rice. President Bush’s approval hits a record low of 33 percent this week, clearly damaged by sinking support among Republicans. – Faux News, breaking the bad news to the faithful with its latest poll

I figured that once we hit 33%, it would represent the bottom for the Chimperor. After all, there’s a hardcore Base, the blind followers of this disaster of a president who simply won’t give in, won’t accept the reality of major failures like Iraq, the rotten-to-the-core widespread corruption, or the fact that Bush is, to be charitable, a dunce and embarrassment at home and abroad.

You know what? I heard also howls coming from the fetid swamps of Freeperland when I saw that poll. At 33%, we are digging into the rotting flesh of the most vile, ardent fans of Dear Leader, and they are yelping in pain.

We have a few ready to abandon their man, others are still tethered to IVs filled with wingnut-flavored Kool-Aid concentrate. and a subset who, even by the swamp’s standards, are ready for the padded cell.

Actual Freeper Quotes™

As I watched the TV today…I couldn’t help but wonder to myself…are we being represented AT ALL?? 6 posted on 04/20/2006 11:55:20 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55 (DON’T FIRE UNTIL YOU SEE THE WHITES OF THE CURTAINS THEY ARE WEARING ON THEIR HEADS !)

Will the RNC please nominate someone in 2008 who can speak well and sound somewhat smart? And please, no more rich people or sons of rich people (Bush family). Ronald Reagan - please extend your hand from the heavens and point us to this person.

That would be Rice, Jeb Bush, Rudy, or Romney.

You mean the Ronald Reagan all of you Dinasours whined about all thru the 1980s for negotiating with the Commies? Amazing how quick you all are to forget reality to create a revisionist history. You all did the same whining about Reagan back in the 1980s. Spare us the selective memory and psuedo historical claims.

I agree with the idea that Bush low poll numbers are in fact due to many people who voted for him, being really po’ed right now. The dems never liked him, understandable. But you don’t get this low in the polls without people who once supported you being really disillusioned with you.

And please, no more rich people or sons of rich people

I agree 100 percent. I’m very very upset. I’m not one of these people that want to be angry with him. Its simply the fact that…I’ve held my nose as long as I can.

Personally I don’t think it’s just a Bush problem, as much as it is a GOP problem. What do they stand for? Do they stand for smaller government? That’s a hard case to make with their spending. Are they for lower taxes? Hell, I just had to pay the AMT for the first time ever, what’s up with that? It all goes back to "that vision thing."

The country doesn’t want liberals. The country doesn’t want half ass republicans. WE WANT CONSERVATIVES. Liberals end up getting elected because they either A: Pass themselves off as Conservatives or.. B: People get so angry with liberal republicans they vote third party or not at all..and some idiot like Spector gets elected.

You’re not the only one who feels this way. I’m really disappointed in Bush. I voted for him twice and don’t regret it, considering the alternative, but I am disappointed and getting a little nervous about November. The situation at the border infuriates me and his yammering about the ROP makes me sick and I’m damned sure not thrilled to see the Chinese Butcher in Chief feted at the White House by a Republican President.

But we have to keep things in perspective. I think that the President is doing a very good job in Iraq and Afghanistan. Don’t forget that he nominated and got Senate confirmation for Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court and we’re still enjoying the fruits of his tax cuts.

There’s allot of things I don’t like. Like having to apologize for being a white consevative working American male. But damn. We have Democratic Underground trolls lurking here all the time and they are loving this sort of thing. They copy these threads and post them over there and set back and LTAO. I lurk there to see what they are saying. To tell you the truth, this thread would fit right in over there if posted on the regular forum.

I headed over to Lucianne.com, to measure the pain of the true believers there. Mommy-of-Jonah runs a tight ship over there, yet some of the most vile, racist and unhinged bile outside of LGF can be found without digging very hard. Some of the lunatics in this hangout are actually blaming Faux News itself for Bush’s woes — the network’s been hijacked by the left.

I kid you not.

Actual Lucianne Lunatic Quotes™

Reply 1 - Posted by: baja_ha, 4/20/2006 8:27:54 PM Very similar to polls announced on the eve of the last two presidential elections. These polls are written to give the specific result the organization paying for the poll desires. Proof: Who won both elections? Elections are the only meaningful polls.

Reply 4 - Posted by: loislanee, 4/20/2006 8:39:33 PM Just wake up, would you? Like FOX of all companies is going to go out and commission a poll to make Bush look bad. Get real. Worst. President. Ever.

Reply 5 - Posted by: TiminPhoenix, 4/20/2006 8:39:40 PM While polls are biased for the most part against the president, his approval ratings are very low.

You have the Moonbat crowd of 40% of the country, the fools that voted for Kerry who are going to dislike Bush by habit.

You also have that mindless group in the middle that gives about one tenth of the thought they give to sports, to what is happening in the world. They are the bumpersticker middle. They after years of a media that no longer even attempts to hide their partisan ship has succumbed to the notion that it’s chic to hate Bush.

And then you have many conservatives, who are so angry, especially over Bush’s love of Shamesty on real border control, that they also somewhat poll against him.

Some of the lack of support is from people who are haters, those who are followers, and those who are the neglected base.

Reply 9 - Posted by: 4LadyK, 4/20/2006 8:49:35 PM Perhaps these polls are reflecting what a lot of us are feeling whether we voted for him or not: That he isn’t listening to us.

If I were polled right now, I’d give him a very low rating. I’m spittin’ mad about the illegal alien mess he sat on for so long. Plus, what happened to his whole "switching to ethanol" thing that he was talking about only a few months ago? brazil is TOTALLY SELF-SUFFICIENT on "sugar-gas". He has had to many opportunities during his presidency to step up,like on SS, Immigration, fuel…and right now he is just letting them all go like dust in the wind. I am infuriated.

Reply 14 - Posted by: judy, 4/20/2006 9:13:49 PM Ask me how I feel about Fox. It stinks. It’s has been infiltrated with libs. Brit, Tony, Gibson & Ollie are the only ones worth watching. Fox should watch their own shows, it would show they are turning into cnn 2. e I quit watching msnbc, & cnn because they always put a snitty remark when they describe anything Bush, now Fox is doing the same thing.

Reply 16 - Posted by: greggojo, 4/20/2006 9:21:15 PM This is ridiculous. The media cooks up biased nonsense about Bush and others in the Bush Administration, which (as Rush points out), sensible people must then straighten out, which takes time. Meanwhile, after pounding Bush with lie after lie and just pumping blatant biased misinformation into the national consiousness, the members of the media run out and ask loaded questions to get the responses they want about Bush. As people turn their attention to politics for the November elections, they will see through the fog and vote Republican (I hope and pray.) The truth is that the Democrats are as always, lying and incompetent and just scummy and they cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

Reply 19 - Posted by: typhoon, 4/20/2006 9:25:03 PM I wonder what percentage of the 33% who think Bush is doing a good job are the illegals pouring into the country?

What will they do if Dear Leader dips into the 20s? How low can we go?

Al Gore's evolution on gay marriage?

Any force that tries to make you feel shame for being who you are, and loving who you love, is a form of tyranny over your mind. And it must be rejected, resisted, and defeated.
-- Al Gore, speaking at the Human Rights Campaign Gala on March 25, 2006, at the Century Plaza Hotel.

Consider this a pre-emptive 2008 strike against the man who really won the 2000 election. Baptist Press is frothing at the mouth, happy to start a gay marriage-loving smear against Al Gore -- and set the tone for attacks on any Dem who tiptoes toward a message of civil equality.

Remember, Gore actually supported Clinton's DOMA, and has stated that he favored separate-and-unequal civil unions, so it's a far cry from Russ Feingold's open support for marriage equality. That said, Gore was a strong supporter of the Employment Nondiscrimination Act (ENDA).

Former Vice President Al Gore delivered the keynote speech at a homosexual group's dinner in late March, and while he didn't directly mention "gay marriage," he implied that he supported its eventual legalization.

Gore spoke March 25 at a gala dinner in Los Angeles for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest homosexual organization. HRC supports "gay marriage."

What the wingers are upset by is Gore's speech intimates that civil equality is necessary, inevitable and the right thing to do. It will be interesting to see, if Gore is planning to run (he's stated that he will not), whether he has had an evolution in thinking regarding same-sex marriage. From his stirring speech, Gore really does sound like he's had a change of heart, ready to speak out, and willing to reframe the message for a party that continually runs screaming from the issue. (IN Los Angeles mag):

It is that love, after all, that is at the heart of why everybody is here. That is what must be honored and respected. Your right to fall in love with who you fall in love with. And your right to expect that that will be recognized with the same dignity and honor that love is recognized for other couples. Love is transcendent and fulfilling and powerful and any force on earth that endeavors to make you feel that you should be ashamed for feeling genuine, deep love for another of your choosing is a form of oppression.

...Much has been made of the second simple truth -- the first being that love ... that transcendent feeling is at the center of all the debates. The second simple fact is that -- it's been mentioned here -- is that when your fellow Americans come to know you for who you are, everything changes. But the so-called Catch 22 that discrimination and oppression put you in, is that the law requires gays and lesbians in the military or in job settings where they have no protection or in other settings where discrimination is rampant -- if the law and the culture of society requires you to be closed and secret and inauthentic and to pretend that you are not who you are, then you are not allowed to use your basic humanity to change the minds and hearts of those around you. You must have the right to be who you are, just as I have the right to be who I am.

As I was on the way here, I reflected on why is there so much controversy about the question of equality for gays and lesbians. Why? This fight has been so long and so hard for something that is so simple and so right.

To read about another Dem with a spine on marriage equality, check out my exclusive interview with Virginia Delegate David Englin.

The sanctity of marriage: Sheen edition

Actress Denise Richards didn't hold back in her allegations against soon-to-be-former husband Charlie Sheen. The Smoking Gun has her sworn declaration of a few of Charlie's proclivities that will curl your hair. Apparently he likes surfing for underage gay and straight porn, among other entertaining, family-man activities. This stuff is so rank. But here's just a taste of the depravity. The man needs serious help:

Richards claims that an enraged Sheen--who was over for a visit with the couple's two children--told her she was "fucking with the wrong guy" and called her a series of vulgar names in front of the children. The actor, Richards said, then shoved her to the ground and screamed, "I hope you f--king die, bitch."

As Richards, 35, tells it, Sheen was angry because she had told her divorce attorney about discovering details of Sheen's porn-surfing practices. Richards's declaration, filed in support of her request for a restraining order against Sheen, contends that Sheen "belonged" to "disturbing" sites "which promoted very young girls, who looked underage to me with pigtails, braces, and no pubic hair performing oral sex with each other." Other sites visited by Sheen, Richards alleges, involved "gay pornography also involving very young men who also did not look like adults." Richards claims that she also discovered that Sheen "belonged to several sex search type sites" on which he "looked for women to have sex with." His online profile, Richards adds, included a photo of "his erect penis."

The Richards evisceration also portrays Sheen as a lousy father who urged her to abort their first child. And, when she was about to give birth to their second child via a C-section, Sheen's attention was "diverted to his pager for the results of his betting.

Bleh. What a winner this turd is.

Oakland carpenter nailed for working in his birthday suit

This dude probably could have gotten a ton of business if he advertised by word-of-mouth about his "services," though this guy is on the too-pervy side of the fence for that. Heaven help this guy if he drops the wrong tool on his tool. (NBC11):

An unfinished bookcase and a day in jail has brought down Alameda County's infamous nude carpenter.

Fifty-year-old Percy Honniball is vowing to work fully clothed from now on after being arrested and charged with misdemeanor indecent exposure. He is free on bail and is scheduled to return to court in a few weeks.

Honniball says he loves working in the buff because it gives him a better range of motion and makes him a more efficient worker. But an Oakland homeowner who hired him called police after discovering the contractor building a set of bookcases in the nude.

Honniball apologized and said he was simply behind on his work. He said this was his way of speeding the process.

It turns out he has a long history of run-ins with police. Officers have stopped him three times since 2000 for working in the nude or allegedly exposing himself to mail carriers.

Hat tip, Holly.

Sexy images short-circuit men's ability to think clearly

A Belgian research study found that images of sexy women or lingerie made it hard for men to concentrate and think clearly -- the little head overruled the big head. (BBC):

The more testosterone he has, the stronger the effect, according to work by Belgian researchers.

Men about to play a financial game were shown images of sexy women or lingerie.

The Proceedings of the Royal Society B study found they were more likely to accept unfair offers than men not been exposed to the alluring images.

...Dr Siegfried DeWitte, one of the researchers who worked on the study, said: "We like to think we are all rational beings, but our research suggests ... that people with high testosterone levels are very vulnerable to sexual cues.

"If there are no cues around, they behave normally. "But if they see sexual images they become impulsive."

...Dr George Fieldman, principal lecturer in psychology at Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, told the BBC News website: "The fact men are distracted by sexual cues fits in to evolutionary experience. It's what they are expected to do.

"They are looking for opportunities to pass on their genes."

In case you're wondering, the researches have not found women respond to visual stimuli in the same way.

There is no indication that these folks tested any gay folks. Hmmmm...

Hat tip to Waveflux, who is drooling over Rosario Dawson in his post.

Molesting priest kept on staff after admitting crimes

The hits just keep on coming for the pedophile priests, this time in Alabama.

The Birmingham-based Eternal Word Television Network said the Reverend Real Bourque conducted mass, held weekly Bible study for workers and visitors and gave talks at retreats, but he was not allowed on the air or to be around young people after 1995, when executives say they learned of his past.

Bourque left E-W-T-N in 2002 and now lives in a Catholic retirement facility in Bellville, Illinois. Officials said they were unaware of any allegations of misconduct by Bourque related to his time in Alabama.

In an interview published last week in a Belleville newspaper, Bourque admitted sexually abusing boys in the late 1970s and early 1980s while serving as a priest in Maine and Massachusetts. He has not been charged with any crimes.

John Dean: Bush is increasingly dangerous

Watergate figure John Dean has an excellent analysis of what we are going to face under the rule of the Chimp through January 2009, (when he can't do any more damage).

In a mid-2004 column, I argued that, at that point, Bush had already demonstrated that he possessed the least attractive and most troubling traits among those that political scientist James Dave Barber has cataloged in his study of Presidents' personality types.

...Currently, President Bush is busy reshuffling his staff to reinvigorate his presidency. But if Dr. Barber's work holds true for this president -- as it has for others - the hiring and firing of subordinates will not touch the core problems that have plagued Bush's tenure.

That is because the problems belong to the President - not his staff. And they are problems that go to character, not to strategy.

An aside -- it looks like Harriet Miers, the apple of George's eye, and completely out-of-her-depth SCOTUS nominee, may be the next one in chief of staff-cum-grim reaper Josh Bolten's scope, likely to be demoted or booted.

No, moving one of your doormats to the back door won't help, Dear Leader. Dean uses the example of Bush defending Rumsfeld from the upstart generals as proof that the president's power trip blinds him to the long-term damage he does to his standing each time he pulls rank.

Bush's defense of Rumsfeld was entirely substance-free. Bush simply told reporters in the Rose Garden that Rumsfeld would stay because "I'm the decider and I decide what's best." He sounded much like a parent telling children how things would be: "I'm the Daddy, that's why."

This, indeed, is how Bush sees the presidency, and it is a point of view that will cause him trouble.

Bush has never understood what presidential scholar Richard Neustadt discovered many years ago: In a democracy, the only real power the presidency commands is the power to persuade. Presidents have their bully pulpit, and the full attention of the news media, 24/7. In addition, they are given the benefit of the doubt when they go to the American people to ask for their support. But as effective as this power can be, it can be equally devastating when it languishes unused - or when a president pretends not to need to use it, as Bush has done.

Apparently, Bush does not realize that to lead he must continually renew his approval with the public. He is not, as he thinks, the decider. The public is the decider.

What it comes down to, is that we have an unbalanced man at the helm who listens to no one, who cannot be trusted by aides to speak extemporaneously without mucking things up, and has people who work for him too intimidated to let him know the public isn't buying his BS.

George Bush has misled America into a preemptive war in Iraq; he is using terrorism to claim that as Commander-in-Chief, he is above the law; and he refuses to acknowledge that American law prohibits torturing our enemies and warrantlessly wiretapping Americans.

Americans, increasingly, are not buying his justifications for any of these positions. Yet Bush has made no effort to persuade them that his actions are sound, prudent or productive; rather, he takes offense when anyone questions his unilateral powers. He responds as if personally insulted.

And this may be his only option: With Bush's limited rhetorical skills, it would be all but impossible for him to persuade any others than his most loyal supporters of his positions. His single salient virtue - as a campaigner - was the ability to stay on-message. He effectively (though inaccurately) portrayed both Al Gore and John Kerry as wafflers, whereas he found consistency in (over)simplifying the issues. But now, he cannot absorb the fact that his message is not one Americans want to hear - that he is being questioned, severely, and that staying on-message will be his downfall.

Geez, you have to read the rest of this column, including Dean's thoughts on what we can expect from Dear Leader in the future, including the near certainty that as his poll numbers continue circling the drain -- and as the mid-term elections near -- he and Rove will stop at nothing to prevent the Rethugs from losing control of Congress. Expect an October surprise.

Clowns on the Hill grant Homeland Security funds for clown and puppet shows

And we wonder where the billions are going. It's certainly not making us safer if Congress is earmarking funds to go to puppet shows and gyms, especially when all kinds of crap makes it through airport security, and effective communications systems for first responders are still not where they need to be. More waste, fraud and abuse courtesy of the Rethug-led Congress. Even Dear Leader couldn't rein in the pork on this one.

Fire departments are using Homeland Security grants to buy gym equipment, sponsor puppet and clown shows, and turn first responders into fitness trainers.

The spending choices are allowable under the guidelines of the Assistance to Firefighters grant administered by the Homeland Security Department, which has awarded nearly 250 grants since February totaling more than $25 million out of the current spending pot of $545 million.

...The Bush administration has specifically asked Congress not to allow funding for physical fitness, but the members who run Congress' appropriation committees keep inserting the language into the department's budget, officials say.

Head of Dear Leader's faith-based initiative office resigns

"Jim Towey has waged an unrelenting war against church-state separation. With Towey's resignation in hand, the president should do the American people a favor and close the misguided faith-based office... the faith-based initiative has always been about funneling public funds to favored political constituencies, not helping the poor."
-- Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of United for Separation of Church and State

It's a relative revolving door over at the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which has been funneling cash to religious organizations ostensibly for social services, but in reality looks a whole lot like pastor political payoffs. H. James Towey, director of the office, resigned on Tuesday.

Amy Sullivan on the honchos who have paraded through, attempting to give the office credibility.

Towey also chose to mouth the Bush administration's fiction that government discriminated against faith-based groups until George W. Bush came to save them. And he stayed in his position long after it was clear to most observers that the faith-based office was little more than a political showpiece for the White House. On that score, it may turn out to be very difficult to replace him.

The first director of the faith-based office, John DiIulio, left after just six months in the position and later blasted the White House for using the office as a political tool. DiIulio's deputy, David Kuo, said much the same thing after he left the office. It took Bush six months to find someone willing to fill the position after DiIulio left, and when Towey accepted the job, it was in February of 2002, too early to know for sure (although surely early enough to guess) that the entire operation was a religious PR stunt. Now, with even the most loyal congressional supporters of the faith-based initiative calling the effort a sham, it will be nearly impossible for the president to find a Democrat willing to take the job.

The WaPo recently (March 22) ran a lengthy article on the administration shell-out of cash grants to socially conservative religious organizations and non-profits. The hungry fundie hogs have slopped up $157 million in grants from the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Among other new beneficiaries of federal funding during the Bush years are groups run by Christian conservatives, including those in the African American and Hispanic communities. Many of the leaders have been active Republicans and influential supporters of Bush's presidential campaigns.

Programs such as the Compassion Capital Fund, under the Health and Human Services, are designed to support religion-based social services, a goal that inevitably funnels money to organizations run by people who share Bush's conservative cultural agenda.

The article also notes that Crazy Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing took in $23.5 million, and five organizations run by black and Hispanic leaders who endorsed Bush have received more than $2 million each from the administration's "compassion fund." The abstinence-ed and anti-choice folks get to belly up to the bar as well.

Towey, in the same article, defended his office saying said politics played no role in grant-making decisions to faith-based organizations.

Right.

Exhibit A: Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, of Holy Redeemer Institutional Church of God in Christ in Milwaukee, received over $600K in 2003 and $800K in 2004 from the Compassion Capital Fund. And guess what? Daniels was a 2004 Republican National Convention delegate. A little more on how Sedgwick was turned on by Bush cash.

In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for example, Bishop Sedgwick Daniels, one of the “city’s most prominent black pastors,” who supported both Bill Clinton and Al Gore in past presidential elections, switched to Bush. His “face appeared on Republican Party fliers in the battleground state of Wisconsin,” and he endorsed President Bush “as the candidate who ‘shares our views.’” Two weeks before the election Bishop Daniels “turned over the pulpit to Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele, one of Bush’s most prominent African American advocates.”

“We know what faith-based can do every single day,” Steele told the congregation, drawing head nodding and remarks of “yes” and “Amen” from more than 1,000 in the vast sanctuary.

The Times also reported that Bishop Daniels met “with top administration officials” and also met with “the president himself.” Later, his church received $1.5 million in federal funds through Bush’s faith-based initiative.

More sexual imagery from the bible beaters

If there's one thing we all agree on around here, it's that the more rabid the religious zealotry, the more they fixate on sex, sex acts, and how important sex is -- because it's so evil.

Here's yet another example of completely unhinged, sex-drenched imagery in the fertile mind of a bible beater under the guise of fighting porn and woodies. This essay is called The Serpent of Porn, by Steve Gallagher of Pure Life Ministries, a Kentucky-based outfit whose goal is to "lead Christians to victory over sexual sin and a deeper life in God."

Solomon intimately understood how powerful sexual temptation can be for a young man. It was with him in mind that he wrote the fifth chapter of Proverbs. "My son, give attention to my wisdom, incline your ear to my understanding .... For the lips of an adulteress drip honey and smoother than oil is her speech" (Proverbs 5:1-3).

...Time spent in the Word every day builds up a man's immune system against the poison of pornography. The scriptures are simply the thinking and perspectives of the Lord. As a man continually immerses himself in the Bible, he will gradually take on God's mindset toward life, people and, yes, even sexuality. a man who devotes daily time to the Word is given spiritual insight into the power of temptation and how it works.

Notice again what Solomon says about sexual sin. He personifies it as an adulteress whose lips of honey represent promised fulfillment. The temptation seems irresistible because it is laced with deception -- namely, that the act of sin will bring about tremendous pleasure and satisfaction. The tantalizing thought is presented and all thoughts of resistance are forgotten. the act of sexual sin looks absolutely intoxicating and therefore irresistible. The smooth oil represents the craftiness of the enemy .... Fully camouflaged and extremely calculating, he presents the perfect illusion, timing each consecutive attack "to steal, and kill, and destroy God's property."

The wise man, whose heart has been fortified with the Word of God, sees the devil behind that intoxicating temptation. In the Garden, Satan exposed himself as the "crafty" serpent he is. I imagine him being very much like a cobra. Known for the hideous hood it extends when preparing to attack, it actually spits into the eyes of its victim before striking. With its target blinded and helpless, the serpent could easily squirm away into the brush. But this viper is not content with escape; it enjoys killing. With bared fangs, it lunges, injecting its deadly poison into its victim's body.

This is a fitting picture of the man lured into viewing pornography. The temptation usually begins when he comes across a glimpse of flesh and/or a sexually suggestive hyper-link. It is just enough venom to temporarily blind him to the impending danger. The initial presentation is stimulating, creating a sensual atmosphere which spiritually incapacitates him.

Now the serpent moves in for the kill. That one glimpse of porn unleashes a poison that rockets into the man's soul and instantly spreads throughout his being. Just like a snakebite victim, he enters a catatonic state of mind: a sexual trance where all reason seems to abandon him. Lust rushes through his body; his face flushes with excitement; his palms get sweaty.

I think Steve Gallagher needs to check out the Daddy Dobson-approved help for horny boys.

Think again

Kerry 'thinking hard' about 2008 run for president. God, no.

Former Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said on Thursday he was seriously thinking about another White House bid in 2008 and will decide before the year is out.

"I will make that decision toward the end of the year, but I'm thinking about it hard," Kerry said in response to a question at the Latin Economic Forum at the United Nations.

"If you can get help me find 60,000 votes in Ohio ...," he joked, referring to the close race in that state on which his 2004 loss to President Bush hinged.

He's got about as good a chance as sHillary to win. Please. Don't any of these establishment Dems see that the party needs a serious image overhaul? Sorry Kerry fans, he's stale goods.

GLAAD: St. Maarten paper gives thumbs-up to gay bashing

"Let's be clear. When a newspaper waxes nostalgic about a time when it was more acceptable to assault gay people, that's not just condoning violence — it's endorsing it. I don't care who you are; you don't get to editorialize support for gay bashing and then turn around and claim that you're the victim."
-- GLAAD President Neil Giuliano, on a slur- and hate-filled editorial in the St. Maarten paper Today

How sick is it when a paper longs for the days when you could go thumping fags for kicks? On St. Maarten, where a heinous anti-gay attack on two CBS News employees put the island's homophobic culture front and center in the media, this is what passes as "damage control"? (GLAAD):

The "Today" editorial began by protesting — as anti-gay activists have done for years -- use of the term "homophobia." The paper then ridiculed the term "gay bashing," claiming such occurrences "might have been a case of a stronger (and non-gay) person taking advantage of a male whose strength may be suspect to the more macho individual."

The newspaper then proceeded to blame and attack the victims of the assault:

Now we don't know what the news producer and his male pal, who also works for a syndicated news organization in New York, might have been drinking or ingesting before the unfortunate incident. They were in a bar setting, from accounts of eye witnesses they were "all over each other" and four upset young men didn't like it.

They didn't like it so much that after they were asked to leave Bamboo Bernie's, they glared at the gay men, who have also been known as faggots, homos, homosexuals and other names that won't go into this family newspaper. They glared at them hard and they exited the place.

And waited in the parking lot.

Gay bashing has taken many forms over the decades. During and after World War II, it was considered common sport for military guys to let themselves be picked up by a faggot in a bar in Los Angeles or San Francisco. The one who was picked up would pretend to go along for the ride, only to turn around and beat up or rob the homo who picked him up, leaving him without wallet and sometimes teeth.

All that has changed, of course, largely due to American laws that are being spread around the world. Gay bashing is now a no-no. Slurs against homos, a no-no. And beating a person over the head for flagrant public behavior that once was considered criminal misconduct is a no-no.

This is a sorry case and we hope the police find the attackers. But it is made much worse when silly homosexuals use their power in the New York media to trash a friendly island for a one of a kind incident. The homosexual community should be ashamed.

Perhaps a few words of reason should be directed at the St. Maarten tourism bureau: info@st-maarten.com.

John @ Americablog had an excellent idea: contact the St. Maarten Bureau for Constitutional Affairs, because it is still part of the Netherlands and seeks independence. This clearly reflects badly on the island: sxmconstiburo@sintmaarten.net

One for the ages (under 24)

Sorry for the dearth of posts, but today has been quite hectic. Shakes Sis found a live one in God's Country -- Oklahoma:

Man willing to pay cash for a young, non pig-worshipping, virgin bride.

A sign that 45-year-old Michael Thelemann posted in his yard Sunday said that he'll pay $1,000 for a virgin bride between the ages of 12 and 24.

"I feel like I'm living down the street from a pedophile," said neighbor Christy Sternadel. "We want him out of this neighborhood. Who asks for a 12-year-old virgin bride?"

..."I'm just somebody who is getting up there in years, and I'm looking for a born-again, God-fearing virgin between the ages of 12 and 24 who can bear me children," said Thelemann, who was divorced in 1989. "What's the problem? I just think I have some wicked neighbors."

Who is wicked? Jeezus.

BTW, Thelemann hasn't received any offers yet.

Petey's petition desperation in Illinois

Our reliable AmTaliban entertainment master Peter LaBarbera of the Illinois Family Institute is trying to drum up support and signatures for his anti-gay marriage amendment petition and his effort is flagging. His April 20 deadline to collect signatures is here and he hasn't reached his goal -- so he's extending it to the 30th.

To rub salt in the wound, the Gay Liberation Network is tossing a shindig today to mark Peter's failure to whip all the fundies into a frenzy by his self-imposed deadline.

Read below and experience the flopsweat and extreme bleating by the homo-sex obsessed fundie; the hysteria on the IFI site is over the top -- what a drama queen!

A far-left homosexual group in Chicago is planning a premature "celebration" on April 20th because they think Protect Marriage Illinois will fail to get the signatures it needs to qualify for the ballot in November. Are you prepared to do all you can to make sure that their prediction doesn't come true?

Last week, the Gay Liberation Network" engaged in a bit of wishful thinking by announcing an April 20th rally in Chicago's homosexual "Boystown" neighborhood that will "Celebrate the FAILURE" of far right forces in Illinois to get an anti-gay referendum."

Here's the problem for GLN: We're NOT going to fail, and the April 20th deadline is only an internal one. In fact, petitions are pouring in like never before, so we are extending the deadline for mailing in Protect Marriage Illinois signatures to April 30th to accommodate the rush of petitions. (The official date when we have to turn them over to the state is Monday, May 8th.)

More Christian Bashing

Take a look at the Gay Liberation Network's flier, available at www.gayliberation.org.



The group mocks several high-profile individuals opposed to homosexual activism, including former GOP Senate candidate Alan Keyes, former GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Oberweis and Rev. and St. Sen. James Meeks. Under a photo of Chicago Catholic Cardinal Francis George's is this caption: "Cardinal 'Boy' George, my 'Christian charity' includes opposing equal employment, housing and access to public accommodations [for homosexuals based on 'sexual orientation']."

...Isn't it interesting how the Left engages in mean-spirited insults against men of faith and there is no media interest or outrage whatsoever?

Smear the messenger
Under my photo in the GLN flier is this caption:


"Peter 'I butch it up in leather & whips only so that I can investigate the homosexual lifestyle, really I do' LaBarbera." This refers to my and IFI's efforts to expose the radical homosexual agenda, including the sadistic and pornographic "International Mr. Leather" event that is held every year in a swank Chicago hotel. (It's coming to the Palmer House Hilton on May 25 through May 29--Memorial Day Weekend.)

So, according to the Gay Liberation Network's illogic, exposing the perversion that surrounds homosexuality makes one a pervert himself. That's like saying that pro-lifers who march outside of abortion clinics secretly yearn to have abortions themselves--how absurd.

I urge you to join me in making one final push for signatures so that in November, all of us will be able to vote to reaffirm the natural and historic definition of marriage as between a man and a woman!

Related:
* Letter from Peter LaBarbera

This and that - open thread

Post links and blogwhore away...


* Bye Bye Tom: when a publication in your state publishes a cover like this, it's hard to say "there's no place like home" (hat tip, Adrian).

***

* The Political Pit Bull has a video of Scotty's Greatest Hits up on the podium at the White House press briefings. It's about 4 minutes, and at about 3:15 into it, check out Scotty's tussle with homo-obsessed WingNutDaily columnist Les Kinsolving over a question about Brokeback Mountain and "whether Bush watched any of the Academy Awards for prostitution and sodomy."

* Speaking of Brokeback, with the release of the DVD comes an ace review of it over at DVD Verdict. It's worth the click.

***

* Paul passed along the news that former San Francisco D.A. Joseph Freitas Jr. died. You may not know his name, but he has an infamous legacy as the man whose office oversaw the prosecution of of Dan White, the S.F. supervisor who assassinated Mayor George Moscone and the first openly gay Supervisor, Harvey Milk, in 1978. The jury in that case failed to convict White of first-degree murder, finding him guilty of two counts of voluntary manslaughter, which set off riots in the streets.

White, btw, climbed into the window of City Hall to avoid metal detectors and reloaded to shoot Milk, which indicated the acts were clearly premeditated. His lawyer used what became known as the Twinkie Defense, alleging White consumed too much sugar, in this case Twinkies and Coke, and it set him off on his murderous rampage.

***

* The latest in womb control, this time in Ohio (hat tip, Blender Katie):

Ohio house bill 228 introduced by Tim Brinkman, R-Mount Lookout, in April would make it a felony for a woman to seek to terminate her pregnancy and holds the same penalty if she chooses to leave the state for the medical procedure. Additionally, anyone who helps coordinate an abortion or transportation to leave the state for one could be charged as well.

"House Bill 228, as far as I know, is still in committee. Some bills take more time to come out of committee. You just never know," said Ohio Rep. John Schlichter, R-Greenfield. "I'm a pro-life person. My voting record has been consistent. I was raised in a Christian home."

New levels of pervdom

Sick bastard poses as a doctor giving door-to-door 'breast exams'. Argh, I get nauseous just looking at the picture. This gross coot in Lauderdale Lakes, FL, clearly looking to cop an illicit feel (and more), showed up at the apartments of two women -- and they fell for his line of crap. One of the women he conned was an immigrant who didn't speak much English; the other figured out 76-year-old Philip Winikoff wasn't an M.D, only after he started feeling her up. This is nasty.

Philip Winikoff walked up to the door of the Lauderdale Lakes apartment carrying a black medical bag. He told the woman inside he was a doctor from ''North Miami Hospital,'' going door- to-door offering free breast exams.

But authorities say the 76-year-old Winikoff was no doctor. And the medical bag wasn't his, but his wife's. She is a registered nurse.

On Wednesday, Broward sheriff's deputies arrested Winikoff on charges of sexual battery and simple assault. Winikoff allegedly fondled the breasts of two women and then sexually assaulted them.

It's a ''very bizarre crime,'' said BSO spokesman Hugh Graf. ``It may very well be a first.''

There is video here.

Snail mail moron

Boy, I thought the elected official who made the Blend recently, Colorado State Representative Jim Welker, for sending idiotic, offensive emails around was a dunce, but this takes the cake -- Repub Missouri Representative Jo Ann Emerson's office sent out a hard copy letter to a constituent with this closing sentence:

"I think you're an asshole."

Emerson says she can't explain how the offensive language made it into the letter, which otherwise reads like a typical response to a citizen's question about last year's testimony of oil executives before the Senate Commerce Committee.

"There is no excuse for this inappropriate letter having been sent, and every apology has been made to the individual who received it," Emerson said in a statement to The Associated Press.

"We cannot determine whether the addition to the letter was made by someone within the office or by someone with access to the office, but it is on my letterhead and the responsibility for it lies with me. A valuable lesson has been learned and new procedures will be adopted as a result."

Spokesman Jeff Connor said the measures include locking down all computer workstations when they are not being used, increasing the editing of outgoing mail and reviewing policies on who has access to the office.

"No one has been disciplined at this time because we are not yet able to identify the person responsible," Connor said.

Hat tip, Raw Story.

What is wrong with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee?

I'm still trying to figure out why it's a flipping political problem to display your organization's anti-discrimination policy. Apparently the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has some issues, because when PageOneQ asked whether their policy included sexual orientation, to say there was a pissy reaction is an understatement.

Less than twenty-four hours after an inquiry by PageOneQ about the lack of sexual orientation in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee's (DCCC) non-discrimination hiring policy, the organization removed all job listings and the policy from its website.

...Bill Burton, a spokesman for the DCCC said that the policy included sexual orientation and that its absence on the website was an error. A return visit to the website revealed that the policy had not been corrected, but completely removed.

Once you read the rest, you'll see how quickly it turned pissy.

While checking out the non-discrimination policies on the other side of the political fence, PageOneQ fared no better, though that's not surprising:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) explained that the policy request must be faxed to Cathy Secor at the RNC. When contacted to follow-up on the faxed request, Ms. Secor hung up the phone on this reporter reporter.

Carl Forti, Director of Communications of the National Republican Congressional Committee said, “I will not tell you if there is a non discrimination policy here and if there is one I would not send it to you as it would be an internal policy.� When asked what good the policy was if perspective job applicants could not find it, Mr. Forti responded, “I am not going to discuss that with you.�

The sensitivity of the DCCC regarding openness on what should be a no-brainer for them is ridiculous, considering the many, many organizations -- for-profit and non-profit -- that list sexual orientation in their policies because it's good for business/reputation. The overreaction speaks volumes.


On the RethuggliKKKan side, those organizations should be saying how they are proud to discriminate against the homos because it pleases their fundie masters, or simply state that they don't discriminate, given the teeming amount of fags they have working for them.

[UPDATE: the information has been restored on the DCCC jobs page, reading: "All applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, sex (including marital or parental status), disability, or age or any other basis prohibited by law." (H/t to Blender Kevin, who located it)]

Does Dear Leader read the Blend?

CIA mines 'rich' content from blogs. I don't know how rich the content is here at the Blend, but any spooks from the CIA who want to stop by for a cup of java, please drop by to increase your intelligence. (Wash Times):

President Bush and U.S. policy-makers are receiving more intelligence from open sources such as Internet blogs and foreign newspapers than they previously did, senior intelligence officials said.

The new Open Source Center (OSC) at CIA headquarters recently stepped up data collection and analysis based on bloggers worldwide and is developing new methods to gauge the reliability of the content, said OSC Director Douglas J. Naquin.

"A lot of blogs now have become very big on the Internet, and we're getting a lot of rich information on blogs that are telling us a lot about social perspectives and everything from what the general feeling is to ... people putting information on there that doesn't exist anywhere else," Mr. Naquin told The Washington Times.

Eliot A. Jardines, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for open source, said the amount of unclassified intelligence reaching Mr. Bush and senior policy-makers has increased as a result of the center's creation in November.

..."I can't get into detail of what, but I'll just say the amount of open source reporting that goes into the president's daily brief has gone up rather significantly," Mr. Jardines said. "There has been a real interest at the highest levels of our government, and we've been able to consistently deliver products that are on par with the rest of the intelligence community."

No military secrets here, folks. But we could pass along a bunch of links to gay nightlife that you can send over to the RNC. Oh wait, they probably have that covered.

One frightening photo

What does this image conjure up for you?

I think it is going to give me nightmares about vampires.

You can thank Holly for serving up this one.

***

The Green Knight kindly pointed to another papal portrait that deserves comment and interpretation:



***

A quote on Papa Ratzi's one-year anniversary:

"There is no reason and no indication that Benedict will not as vehemently punish, silence and make difficulties for any theologian, politician or other person within the church that doesn't tow the line in orthodox ways."
-- Catholics for a Free Choice, U.S.-based church reform group.

Recruiting 45-year-olds for the Dear Leader's Iran Adventure

As I mentioned yesterday, with Holy Joe doing the shuffle and jive for the White House as it rumbles about military action in Iran, one has to wonder where are they going to find soldiers if it comes to on-the-ground efforts. The military is having a difficult enough time maintaining forces as it is.

One answer: lowering admissions standards, including raising the age of recruits...

A U.S. military advisor and former combat officer is troubled by recent reports that the Army has had to lower recruiting standards to meet its quotas.


Retired Lieutenant Colonel Bob Maginnis says after missing last year's goal by 7,000 recruits, the Army is going to have a tough time reaching is fiscal year 2006 goal of 80,000 new soldiers. Still, he is not happy about what the branch has had to do to fill its ranks. "It means that 2,500 of the people this year that we'll recruit are getting in basically with waivers of the old standards," the Pentagon advisor says. "However, in order to fill the ranks of 80,000 this year, it's become necessary to take some action. We're also recruiting an older population -- bringing in people in their early 40s to basic training. I don't understand why this nation has to revert to that."

Although these older recruits are "probably reasonably healthy," Maginnis notes, "by the time you're that old, you're older than most of the drill sergeants that are trying to run you through basic training, and the idea that we're going to be fighting wars with 45-year-old infantry privates just seems to be a bit ludicrous to me." It is unfortunate that the U.S. Army has had to "change the standards in order to get the numbers," the Lt. Colonel says, "but that's what happens in a volunteer force." Maginnis also points out that, besides accepting older recruits, the Army has lately been issuing recruits more waivers for criminal convictions, drug use, and medical conditions.

Buh-bye: Scott-bot out, Rove booted from 'policy development'

"I have given it my all sir and I have given you my all sir, and I will continue to do so as we transition to a new press secretary."
-- Scotty, finally tired of going into a fetal position from continuous pummeling as Dear Leader's official lie-master

[UPDATE: Tony's angling for this job more than I imagined - Think Progress has video of him attributing high gas prices to "People Complaining About Donald Rumsfeld." ]

Geez, I go out to a business meeting and miss all the action about the Scott-bot stepping down and Karl Rove's assignment shift. And even more wingnuttery's rolling in -- a suggestion that Faux News's Tony Snow might get the call to officially shill for the White House, something he's been doing from the mothership of "fair and balanced" for quite some time. (CNN):

A shake-up in U.S. President George W. Bush's administration widened Wednesday as White House press secretary Scott McClellan announced his resignation and a senior administration official said longtime Bush confidant Karl Rove will no longer oversee policy development.


...CNN has learned from multiple Republican sources that new White House chief of staff Josh Bolten reached out to Fox News anchor Tony Snow several weeks ago at the White House. Snow, who was a speechwriter for former President George H.W. Bush, had no comment on the story.

...As for Rove -- the powerful architect of Bush's two presidential campaigns -- a senior White House official told CNN that Rove will no longer focus on policy but will be involved in long-term strategic planning as a deputy chief of staff and a senior adviser.

The official said the Joel Kaplan, now a deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, will move to the White House as deputy chief of staff for policy.

I don't see how shifting Turdblossom is going to make a bit of difference in the mix, since he's running the political show no matter what office he's sitting in. This bit of business is simply smoke and mirrors.

What did Rudy say to Little Ricky?

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, left, laughs as Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., covers his face following a joke by a speaker at a campaign event, Tuesday, April 18, 2006, at Centre Square Fire Company in Blue Bell, Pa. (AP Photo/Joseph Kaczmarek)

Barf bags at the ready: Giuliani calls Santorum a remarkable leader.

Does Rudy want to be prez so badly that he would stoop to sucking this hard on Mr. Man-On-Dog? Oh, never mind...

"Sen. Santorum is a remarkable political leader," Giuliani told a receptive crowd of elected Republican officials, GOP candidates and first-responders and their families. "He is not just a U.S. senator, not just a political figure, but a leader."

...Giuliani said Santorum stood with President Bush when the president vowed to track down the terrorists wherever they were and to take the war to Afghanistan.

..."Sen. Santorum had that position because he was able to look into the future, make a determination on what he believes is in the best interests of this country and to stick with it even when it becomes unpopular," said Giuliani, who has been mentioned as a possible GOP presidential candidate in 2008. "That’s the kind of leadership we need."

***

In other Santorum news, Little Ricky wasn't happy with receiving a shout-out on The Sopranos:

On Sunday night's episode of "The Sopranos," Tony (James Gandolfini) told his shrink Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) that when it comes to homosexuality, he agrees with "that Sen. Sanatorium, who says if we let this stuff go too far, pretty soon we'll be f---ing dogs." Santorum, several years back, made similar remarks, only he used more delicate language than Tony did.

..."We're not gonna dignify that comment by commenting on it," said Santorum [self-loathing openly gay] communications director Rob Traynham.

'Ex-homos' bleat away on gay rodeo, White House Egg Roll

Hartline: Gay rodeo full of perversion. More over-the-top, batsh*t insane AmTalibannery comes out of the mouth of California 'ex-gay' activist James Hartline, who has his knickers in a twist over a Ford dealership that is a corporate sponsor of the International Gay Rodeo Association (IGRA).

For the "Christian" crusader for deliverance from homosexuality, all the gay calf roping and bronc bucking is just too much to bear.

"It's the number-one volume Ford dealership in the world," Hartline says of Galpin Ford. "In other words, they sell more Fords out of this one dealership than any individual Ford dealership anywhere in the world -- and they're a corporate sponsor of this gay rodeo." Other sponsors of the Los Angeles chapter of the GSGRA [Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Golden State Gay Rodeo Association] include the Hilton Burbank Airport & Convention Center, Bud Light, and the homosexual television network "Logo."

..."These gay rodeos are not necessarily marketed in a way where people will know because they don't read the gay newspapers [or] the gay press," the activist says. "So a lot of these families will think, 'Oh, it's a rodeo.' So they bring their kids to this event, thinking they're just going to another fun rodeo."

So instead of just watching bucking broncos and barrel racing, families may encounter men dressed up as women as well as "mocking" of family values, says Hartline -- and unknowing parents will be very shocked by other things they and their children will see, he adds.

The Christian activist claims the homosexual agenda is being forced into very family-friendly arenas -- like rodeos -- by corporations such as Ford through sponsorship. Hartline believes strongly that consumers need to let their dealerships know such anti-family sponsorship will not be tolerated.

***


Speaking of "former homosexuals," our BrightSmile friend and radio evangelist Stephen Bennett had to weigh in on the Egg Roll -- he viewed it as a gay recruiting event.

A former homosexual says he is not surprised that homosexual activists led by the group Family Pride Coalition showed up at yesterday's annual White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington, DC.

Stephen Bennett, a Christian entertainer and speaker who left the "gay" lifestyle over a decade ago, says the Family Pride Coalition's effort at the April 17 Easter Egg Roll is a typical expression of the mentality behind the homosexual agenda.

"Homosexual activists today are looking for any public venue to get affirmation and acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle -- to do anything that they can to normalize it," Bennett contends. "I think it's tragic that they would use something like the White House Easter Egg Roll, which is a children's event, for political means," he says, "but the whole idea behind the entire homosexual activist movement is 'Get them while they're young.' And what I mean by that is [they want] to start indoctrinating people into believing gay is okay, to normalize it as much as they can." It is regrettable that children were exposed to the homosexual activists at the White House Easter event, Bennett says; however, he asserts, such people routinely target children in order to shape their view of homosexuality.

Gridiron bible-beating

You can't avoid the proselytizing in the bible-belt; witness this promotion at an upcoming arena football game in Alabama.

The Birmingham Steeldogs will be wearing Christian throwback jerseys during the May 5 game against the Louisville Fire. Both teams are members of the 23-team Arena Football League. The jerseys worn by Steeldogs players that evening will display the name "Samson" on the front -- a reference to the Bible hero with incredible physical strength. On the back, players' names will be replaced by a book of the Bible, and players' numbers will correspond with a specific chapter and verse of that book.

In addition, free Bibles will distributed at the gate, and the Christian rock group Audio Adrenaline will perform in a pre-game concert. It is all part of the first of three "Barber's Dairy Faith Nights." Steeldogs' managing partner Scott Myers helped come up with the promotion.

...Myers says Steeldogs coaches fully supported the decision to wear Bible-themed jerseys even though it was made before the team's final roster was set. The jerseys are made by the Christian Throwback Jersey Company of Birmingham.

Gay icon Patti Labelle and the homobigot pastor

This is a fricking shame. Why must Patti Labelle hobonob with the likes of Eddie Long, the homophobic pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church? James of At Thirty-three shared the awful news that she sang at his church on Easter Sunday; he's pissed at Patti's blindness to this man.

Long has bragged about his friendship with President George W Bush and reaffirmed his rigid brand of Christianity by jockeying for "Faith Based" dollars from the Bush administration. Labelle the popular R&B singer has had a long relationship with gay community marked by her public friendship with the Sylvester and scores of gay men. Patti, as gay men lovingly call her, owes much of her success to her popularity among gay men.

...We cannot accept this kind of behavior from individuals who purport to be our allies. Patti should not embrace the pain that Eddie Long and his church have caused the thousands of Gay men she has touched if she considers herself an "Ally." Patti needs to be checked. We must let her know what it cost to embrace our enemies!! We must let her know that a more accepting church is a more acceptable place for her to promote her new album.

Bishop Eddie Long is a truly awful 'phobe. In 2004 he organized a march with his 25,000 megachurch in Atlanta (homobigot and daughter of Martin Luther King, Bernice King, helped lead it as well), bringing thousands of people into streets, with its first goal promoting an amendment to ''fully protect marriage between one man and one woman."


He's quite unhinged as well; he has made some memorable comments about homos -- and human anatomy.

Woman is the soul of man. She is his flesh consciousness. In essence, God made Eve to help Adam replenish the earth. Woman has the canal…everything else is an exit. God had to separate Adam and Eve where they connected so he could tell them to reconnect in covenant to duplicate Him. In Christ, God puts his seed in us. Any other way is a spiritual abortion. Cloning, Homosexuality and Lesbianism are spiritual abortions. Homosexuality is a manifestation of the fallen man."

UNC student government roiled over anti-discrimination proposal

Matt Hill Comer's blogging about a debate at UNC-Greensboro over a proposal to add sexual orientation and gender to the UNC Association of Student Government Constitution’s equal opportunity clause. The proposal will be heard at the next General Assembly meeting on Saturday, and Matt's not sure it will pass.

We will be meeting at Eastern Carolina University. Just a heads up though: It is very likely that this proposal will not pass. For this I am very, very worried. Some of the arguments used against it are along these lines:

* “We don’t have a problem with it now… so why add it?”
* “It should go in a policy statement. It does not need to go into the equal opportunity clause.”
* “We don’t need to recognize this type of discrimination because UNC System policy, state law and national law does not yet recognize it.”

To me, these arguments are ridiculous. UNCASG must stand up for what is right, but I have a feeling that it is going to be an uphill battle at the state level, even though a similar proposal would probably pass at each, individual UNC campus.

The part that scares me the most is that one of the voting members of the ad-hoc committee at UNCASG wanted to contact UNC Counsel. Knowing the way this state works in regard to LGBT people I have a feeling as to what Counsel would say: It would either be something along the lines of “It isn’t necessary” or just flat-out “No.”

I'm goin' back to Cali, to Cali, to Cali...

Well, my wife and I are packing up and preparing for our road trip to lovely San Francisco, California, to attend the 2006 National NORML Conference. We're traveling with Smoke Dogg & Madeline, the Executive Director of Oregon NORML, who are also a couple of our best friends in the movement. Madeline will be speaking at the event in the discussions of state-level chapters and how she and Oregon NORML have lobbied with great effectiveness and presented so many positive events for the Oregon cannabis community.

With luck I'll also get to meet another online acquaintence or two. Perhaps a Paul in SF...

I'll check in as I can with some same-day blogging from the National NORML Conference.

Lesbian-baiting Penn State basketball coach 'reprimanded'

Given the damage done by Penn State and the personal sacrifice of Jennifer Harris, the consequences faced by Rene Portland are insulting and inadequate.
-- Kate Kendell, Executive Director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights

The investigation into anti-lesbian bias by Rene Portland of the Penn State's womens basketball program has found she did indeed violate the diversity policy of the school, creating a hostile environment for Jennifer Harris, a six-foot guard on the Lady Lions basketball team from 2003 to 2005.

What did the school do to Portland? She got a letter of reprimand and a fine. Do you think the results would have been different if her team consistently sucked? A mild proposal to suspend her from one game was deep-sixed, for crap's sake! (365gay.com):

The results of the probe were announced Tuesday by Penn State president Graham Spanier who said Portland has been given a letter of reprimand that will become a permanent part of her official personnel file, but no further immediate action against her is planned.

Spanier said that the letter informed Portland that should there be any future instance of so-called lesbian-baiting, she would be fired as coach.

...Harris alleges that Portland repeatedly questioned her about her sexual orientation, repeatedly threatened to kick Harris off the team if she found out Harris was a lesbian, and eventually told other players not to associate with Harris because she believed that Harris was gay. In 2005, Coach Portland abruptly told Harris to find somewhere else to play. Harris transferred to James Madison University.

...Harris was also disappointed by Spanier's statement. "Penn State did not take the allegations seriously and does not appear interested in solving the underlying problem," she said in a statement.

...In his statement Tuesday Spanier said that Portland must participate in a diversity program but he rejected a recommendation from investigators that she receive a one-game suspension. Instead he is imposing a $10,000 fine on her.

But I didn't get the memo from Dear Leader

Think Progress has brought to my attention the new official White House policy on homos and sex -- you can't have any. Here is the strict new definition of abstinence to be taught in abstinence ed classes, according to the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) unit of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:

Abstinence curricula must have a clear definition of sexual abstinence which must be consistent with the following: “Abstinence means voluntarily choosing not to engage in sexual activity until marriage. Sexual activity refers to any type of genital contact or sexual stimulation between two persons including, but not limited to, sexual intercourse.”

Later, the guidelines explicitly define marriage:

Throughout the entire curriculum, the term “marriage” must be defined as “only a legal union between one man and one woman as a husband and wife, and the word ’spouse’ refers only to a person of the opposite sex who is a husband or a wife.” (Consistent with Federal law)

Hmmm. It looks like Dear Leader left us with polishing the knob/butterin' the muffin as valid activities.

Why are Roy Moore's prayers not being answered?

Just asking. Kathy at Birmingham Blues passed on the news that Mr. Ten Commandments must have a bad connection to the Big Guy Upstairs, since he's trailing incumbent Bob Riley in the polls by 44 points.

"These poll results suggest that Moore's campaign has pretty well tanked," said USA political scientist Keith Nicholls, who directed the polling.


Guess touring the country shilling his pious tome didn't help him either.

...Moore dismissed the results, saying that they would prove "totally inaccurate" when voters go to the polls.

Nicholls said Riley's lead appears "insurmountable" at this point.

"It's hard to imagine what might happen to bring Moore back to competitiveness," he said. "Bottom line is that the fat lady may not have sung for Roy Moore, but she's warming up."

Kathy: "Sounds like magical thinking to me, Roy. Don’t you consider magic sinful?"

Related:
* Roy Moore's wife lobs the 'Christian' bomb in fundraising email

* Boobage and the governor's race in Alabama: the Libertarians nominate Loretta Nall

Schools lobby for bill allowing rejection of LGBT students

Congress Moves To Except Religious Schools From Gay Rights Laws. Good grief. The onslaught against homos just never f*cking stops. This bill has already passed the House and is before the Senate.

Private Christian colleges would be excepted from local and state non-discrimination laws under a proposed amendment to the Higher Education Act - a move that would allow the schools to legally reject LGBT students.

The amendment, proposed by Rep. Chris Cannon (R-Utah), would prevent accrediting boards from making adherence to non-discrimination laws a requirement.

Brigham Young, University of Notre Dame, Baylor, Pepperdine and Samford universities have all been lobbying heavily for passage of the bill.

...The [Senate] committee also inserted language in the bill stating that it is not meant to allow an institution to discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age or disability. The provision does not include sexuality.

So, for instance, if a celibate but self-identified gay student applies, that's all one of these schools needs to know to reject them. Nice. The impetus for this? Extra pressure on the schools, they say, as a result of the Soulforce Equality Ride. They claim a need for "protection" from the Homosexual Agenda^TM by preemptively ensuring that accreditation is not tied to adherence to non-discrimination laws in the future.

Brigham Young, incidentally, was the site of 24 arrests of Soulforce Riders on April 11.

The students and Riders were part of a procession carrying Easter lilies onto campus in remembrance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Latter Day Saints church members who have committed suicide because of the church's oppressive stance on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members.

...As the marchers reached the gates of the campus, they stepped forward with their lilies as stories and names of the individuals who had committed suicide were read aloud. The Riders and BYU students crossed onto campus one by one as the dead were remembered, and lay down in the grass until Provo police asked them to get up and escorted them off campus. Each arrested marcher left a lily behind until a pile of flowers had accumulated as a memorial to young people who were unable to resolve the conflict their church had created between their sexuality and religion.

The Equality Ride folks stop at Bethel University in St. Paul, MN today. Eleven Equality Riders were arrested on the campus of the Air Force Academy on Friday.

Military police descended on Equality Riders, handcuffed, and detained them, when they attempted to present a check for signing to the commandant of the Air Force Academy. The check was made out to the Department of Defense from U.S. taxpayers for 364 million dollars, the amount the government has spent training lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender U.S. service members who have been discharged because of the military's 'Don't Ask Don't Tell' policy.

"This check represents an unacceptable waste of money for the purpose of taxpayer-supported discrimination," said Jacob Reitan, Equality Ride co-director. "There was a time when the armed forces were segregated. That kind of discrimination in our public institutions was wrong then and it is wrong now."

Holy Joe: Bombs away on Iran

"The US is probably incapable of completely destroying the Iranian nuclear program, but as a last resort it could attempt to knock out "some of the components" in order to "delay and deter it..."I don't think anyone is thinking of this as a massive ground invasion, as in Iraq, to topple the government." Rather, he said, he envisaged "an attempt to hit some of the components of the nuclear program," primarily from the air, with some potential for covert ground assistance."
-- Holy Joe, in the JPost

He's got to go. Joe Lieberman is nothing more than a Dem shill for the White House these days, a little puppet to trot out when they need to produce evidence of Dem support for its failed policy in Iraq -- and now he's ready to bend over again as Dear Leader plans to bomb Iran. John over at Americablog summed up this lunacy well:

This is the imbecile who thinks Iraq is going really well. Now he's trying to convince people that we not only need to go to war in Iran, but that it will only take a surgical air strike? Is he crazy? First off, from what I hear, a surgical air strike isn't enough.

1. There may very well be nuclear facilities we don't know about - an air strike won't hit those.

2. The very reason the Bush administration is talking about possibly using nukes against Iran is because, one assumes, we fear conventional weapons aren't enough to destroy the Iranian nuclear facilities.

3. That means, according to defense experts I've spoken to, we're going to need to send in ground forces to scour the entire country of Iran in order to determine if we've sufficiently destroyed the nuke facilities we targeted, and to determine if there are any other nuclear facilities we didn't even know exist.

Yes, Virginia, we're going to need to launch a massive American ground invasion of Iran.

John aptly noted that Iran is three times the size of Iraq with more than twice the population -- just how is the U.S. supposed to effectively remove the "threat" while we are still entangled in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Where in the hell are we going to find the military personnel to engage in George's Next Big Adventure? Will the Yellow Elephants be lining up at the recruiting stations to give W one last high-five for military action?

If the U.S. goes ahead with Joe's advice (going alone on this of course, because even Tony Blair won't get burned again), 9/11 could look like small potatoes. (Boston Globe):

Iran is prepared to launch attacks using long-range missiles, secret commando units, and terrorist allies planted around the globe in retaliation for any strike on the country's nuclear facilities, according to new US intelligence assessments and military specialists.

But military and intelligence analysts warn that Iran -- which a recent US intelligence report described as ''more confident and assertive" than it has been since the early days of the 1979 Islamic revolution -- could unleash reprisals across the region, and perhaps even inside the United States, if the hard-line regime came under attack.

''When the Americans or Israelis are thinking about [military force], I hope they will sit down and think about everything the ayatollahs could do to make our lives miserable and what we will do to discourage them," said John Pike, director of the think tank GlobalSecurity.org, referring to Iran's religious leaders.

''There could be a cycle of escalation."

And Holy Joe is ready to sign on for another war tour with Dear Leader. I hope the people of Connecticut have finally heard enough and boot this "moderate Dem" from office.

Hat tip, oddjob.

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen to receive SLDN's Randy Shilts Visibility Award

>
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN) will honor Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) for her work on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender service members at the organization's annual dinner on May 13 in Washington, DC.

Ros-Lehtinen will be presented with the SLDN’s Randy Shilts Visibility Award, given each year to an individual who has worked to keep the plight of LGBT service personnel under the unfair policy of Don't Ask, Don't Tell in the public eye. She is a one of 114 supporters in Congress of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1059), which would repeal DADT.

"Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen has a distinguished record on issues important to the lesbian and gay community and our men and women in uniform," said SLDN executive director C. Dixon Osburn. "In addition to supporting repeal of the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law, she rejected an attempt to amend our constitution to prohibit same-sex unions, is a staunch supporter of employment non-discrimination and has been a tireless Congressional advocate on behalf of Americans living with HIV/AIDS. SLDN is proud to have Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen as an ally in Congress. We are pleased to honor her work on behalf our community."

The keynote speaker at the fundraiser dinner will be Lieutenant General Claudia J. Kennedy, USA (Ret.), the highest ranking female officer in Army history. She has spoken out against DADT in the Detroit News. (SLDN):

"The Army damages itself when it doesn't live up to its own values," General Kennedy said in an exclusive interview with columnist Deb Price in this morning’s Detroit News. "Gay men and lesbians are serving with honor and distinction. We should focus on people's performance, not on whom they're sleeping with." Kennedy went on to say the armed forces could lift the ban without incident, noting that, "If we set the standard that someone gay should be treated the same, you train to that standard and enforce it."

Kennedy was also recently interviewed by EDGE Boston about the insanity of DADT and she said:

We should stop talking about whom people sleep with but about their performance in the military."

The Army teaches its soldiers--officers, NCOs and other enlisted personnel--to live by seven values: loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity, and courage. ...Tell me...which is only found in the heterosexual population?

Some people always want to drive home the fact that they believe you are simply evil if you are homosexual. To people who often use religion to badger people who are vulnerable I say, ’Remember they are all God’s children.’"

Kennedy's so full of refreshing common sense about why this policy is expensive -- and ineffective -- at making the military stronger by "weeding out" gays.

But supervising talented gay officers -- in particular, one skilled Chinese linguist -- made her see that prejudices and stereotypes long used against women had just been repackaged.

"It used to be about the latrines. Now it's about the showers," she says with a laugh.

Now she believes anti-gay arguments are just part of the military's growing pains in keeping up with a democratic society that instinctively rejects discrimination.

...What about privacy in the showers? She responds that group showering is rare and enforcement of harassment rules should ease fears. Besides, she notes, "putting in private showers for basic training would be far cheaper than the bill sent to taxpayers for 'Don't Ask.'"

***


Big news: Rebecca Sawyer of SLDN has kindly invited me to attend the dinner and to live-blog it (she said I'm the only blogger invited to do so). I worked out my schedule and will be able to make it!

FYI, going to events like this one (and Equality Forum), are all on my own dime for travel and lodging, so the piggy bank only allows for a really limited amount of this sort of thing.

That's not a call to hit the tip jar, folks (if you want to hit one, hit Russ's). It's just that I've gotten emails from folks assuming that some expenses are picked up by the hosting org. Nope. I don't know whether the well-known A-list, full-time bloggers get that kind of treatment, though I assume some do.

When you're a non A-list blogger (with a FT day job) located outside the big media centers, you simply hit a wall in your ability to take up offers to be on panels, to contribute to other blog projects, interviews, and such, either because of time/scheduling or money or both. That's just the reality, for better or worse, sigh.

White House Easter Egg Roll pictures

Blender Steve (below), who went to the event, graciously sent these photos in...





It wouldn't be the Blend without featuring the best and brightest of bigot wingnutteria standing outside the Easter Egg Roll with these offensive signs (click to enlarge):


Some of the simpleton bullsh*t: "Attention Sodomites: Your behavior is a gross abomination! Not a "genetic trait" Read the bible for details." Family values, right on display for children to see.

***

D.C.-based photographer Joe Tresh was at the Egg Roll as well, and has some fabulous pictures over at this pad. Below are a few.






Mike Wilson and Kennji Kizuka, from Washington, D.C., brought 21-month old Auden to his first White House Egg Roll.

Go see the rest of the fun shots, including a picture of Alberto "Torture" Gonzales, reading "Tomas and the Library Lady" to children. Not kidding.

***

Terrance of The Republic of T has video up as well.

WingNutDaily columnist on WH Egg Roll: S/M next year?

Good god, the right wing is off its rocker. WingNutDaily columnist Les Kinsolving made an ass out of himself asking a question about the egg roll dust up at the White House Press Briefing. PageOneQ:

A bit of additional controversy was added to the briefing when conservative radio talk show host and World Net Daily columnist Les Kinsolving turned the discussion to sadomasochism by asking if next year's Easter Egg Roll would "include all sexual orientations, including those wearing arm bands proclaiming that pain is pleasure, or not?"

Mr. McClellan would not directly answer the question, despite Mr. Kinsolving’s pressing him. The press briefing continued for a moment when Mr. McClellan told Mr. Kinsolving, "You've already had your question." At that point laughter could be heard in the press briefing room.

Texas elementary school principal caught in sex sting

More family values in action, this time in Bush Country. Here's the tale of (former) elementary school principal (and Baptist deacon) Doak Lamb, who was caught with his pants down at Beaumont's Tyrrell Park last week. (The Port Arthur News):

Beaumont Police Department Vice and Narcotics Unit conducted a surveillance and sting operation at the park after having received numerous complaints from individuals, as well as parents, about men in the park approaching them and asking for sexual favors. These men also exposed their genitals to some of the complainants.

According to the BPD, undercover officers were approached by a variety of men, including Lamb, who asked for sexual favors. The undercover officers had contact with approximately 15 men. Of those, seven were arrested for indecent exposure and two for traffic charges. The other contacts became suspicious that the undercover officers may have been police and conversations were terminated.

One of the men arrested with Lamb was a manager at the Chuck-E-Cheese store. There have to be plenty of jokes out there from you all on that one.

UN report: Iraqi gays target of kidnappings, murders

"I don't want to be gay anymore. When I go out to buy bread, I'm afraid. When the doorbell rings, I think that they have come for me."
-- Hussein, 32, gay Baghdad resident who fears being kidnapped or murdered as a result of a fatwa on gays issued by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani

Doug Ireland has been covering this horror story for some time (you can read his work here).

Now that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has released a report on the atrocities and fear instilled in the community by death squads, maybe someone will take note. (DIRELAND):

This U.N. report, released April 10 by the UNOCHA‘s IRIN news and information service, described the widespread increase in kidnappings for ransom and the subsequent killings of university professors and teachers—350 in the past five months alone—and quoted Iraqi Interior Ministry official Ra’ad Hassan as saying that “roughly 50 kidnappings take place countrywide every day.”

Hassan also told the U.N. office, “Since January, the number of kidnappings has increased unabated, along with attacks and threats against certain communities.”

The U.N. report said that Iraq’s gay community is one of those targeted “for reasons other than ransom money,” and said that one local non-governmental organization reported that “members of Iraq’s small gay community had received more than 70 threats from kidnappers in the past two months, while 12 have been killed.”

The BBC has finally weighed in on events that have been undercovered (or not covered at all) in the MSM about the treatment of gays in Iraq. This blood is on the hands of the U.S., which has unleashed religious extremism in Iraq as a result of Bush's folly.

They say that since the US-led invasion, gays are being killed because of their sexual orientation. They blame the increase in violence on the growing influence of religious figures and militia groups in Iraq since Saddam Hussein was ousted.

Islam considers homosexuality sinful. A website published in the name of Ayatollah Sistani, Iraq's most revered Shia cleric, says gays should be put to death. "Those who commit sodomy must be killed in the harshest way," says a section of the website dealing with questions of morality.

...Hussein is 32 and lives in Baghdad with his brother, sister-in-law and nieces. He says his effeminate appearance and demeanour make him stand out and attract hostility.

"My brother's friends told him: 'In the current chaos you could get away with killing your brother without retribution and get rid of this shame,'" Hussein said, after agreeing to speak to the BBC only if his real name was not used.

A transsexual friend of his, who had changed names from Haydar to Dina, was killed on her way to a party in Baghdad about six months ago, Hussein said.

Hat tips to Ms. Julien, Holly, and Katie.

Yank that football, Lucy...

Big yummy smackaroos to Glenn Greenwald for his post, Lucy, Charlie Brown & the Football, which is precisely what the Bush Administration and his supplicants in the MSM are doing in the drumbeat to make Iran the Next Big Imminent Threat to Civilization^TM.

Glenn nails it.

As amazing as it is, there is no question that exactly the same political segment which led us into the Iraq disaster really is in full-on, coordinated war-mongering mode with regard to Iran. What's most startling about it is that they are not even attempting to do anything differently. It's all exactly the same.

Thus, we have Weekly Standard and National Review prattling on about all sorts of scary stories showing that Iran is an uncontainable danger (invariably as a result of hostile overtures towards Israel, but that doesn't seem to matter, just like it didn't last time); we have New Republic publishing a cover story, complete with all-too-familiar cartoons showing demonic Iranian leaders, which enable people like Jonah Goldberg, on simplistic script, to recite: "Don't let anyone tell you that it's the American right which is trying to "demonize" Ahmadinejad" (yes, what a revealing shock it is that even The New Republic has jumped on the War-Against-Iran craze); and all of the tough-guy bloggers are beating their chest in manly unison, proclaiming their bravery and strength to the world as they stand tall against the Hitlerian-Persian Threat.

But what is really most alarming -- although, I know, it shouldn't be surprising at all -- is that the American media seems not just willing, but tongue-waggingly pleased, to be exploited and used again, in the best tradition of Pravda, as the principal mechanism for venerating governmental claims as though they constitute "news," without even pretending to subject those claims to the slightest bit of skepticism or scrutiny.

Why think of new ways to sell a potential war when they can trot out the old hoary scare tactics? They assume the American people are ignorant sheeple, well, they would be right most of the time. What cojones it takes, given the utter failure, deception (oh sh*t, flat-out lying) surrounding the Iraq debacle, with the body count (and costs) rising at a hair-raising rate, to toss out the same scare tactics to build support for another Bush adventure.

You'd think the Bushies and the conservative media machine could be more imaginative, or at least want to coast out the rest of the term so that they aren't saddled with another military bungling as part of Dear Leader's legacy.

Also, check out Glenn's earlier post, Fighting all the Hitlers. This post is one of the most satisfyingly accurate I've ever read about the frightening clowns in leadership (another smoocharoo for you, Glenn):

To pro-Bush war supporters, the world is forever stuck in the 1930s. Every leader we don't like is Adolph Hitler, a crazed and irrational lunatic who wants to dominate the world. Every country opposed to our interests is Nazi Germany.

...We were led into invading Iraq by a group of people who are as bloodthirsty as they are historically ignorant. They are stuck in a childish and stunted mental prison where every event, every conflict, every choice is to be seen exclusively through the prism of a single historical event, an event which – for a variety of reasons, some intellectual, some cultural, some psychological – is the only one that has any resonance for them. Even as we are still mired in their last failed war, they are attempting to impose these stunted historical distortions to lead us into a new one.

Laura Bush avoids gay families at Easter Egg Roll

Only kids of straight folks got to cozy up to Laura Bush. (Reuters/Larry Downing)

The plan to ensure that the First Lady wasn't photographed with gay families at the White House Easter Egg Roll succeeded, but these families were still visible and it was a big story. (365gay.com):

More than 100 gay and lesbian families lined up in a heavy morning downpour Monday to join thousands of other families for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

...Mrs. Bush and the President posed for pictures - but only with the families of White House staff.

By the time the gay and other families were allowed in the First Lady had left - a carefully orchestrated move to avoid being caught on film meeting any of the children of same-sex couples as the Administration pushes for a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.


Same-sex couple Christina Burke (L) and Victoria Burke (R), both from Salisbury, Maryland, pose with Mrs. Bunny and their daughter, Phobe (6 months old), on the South Lawn of the White House during the annual 2006 White House Easter Egg Roll in Washington, April 17, 2006. The Burke's are wearing a rainbow lei to indicate their support of same sex union. REUTERS/Larry Downing

But even without a photo op Family Pride which rallied gay and lesbian families to take part in the event declared victory. Television cameras focused on families with rainbow leis around their necks as they waited to enter the grounds.

"The visibility of LGBT families has been exceptional," said Renna. "It puts a face on gay families for the American public."

Terrance of the Republic of T was among the families at the event. He'll have photos and a report up later. His earlier post on lining up to get tickets to the event is here.

Related:
* LGBT families wait all night for Easter Egg Roll tix, White House shuts them out of opening ceremonies

***


Whoa. Homo-sex obsessed media whore Peter LaBarbera couldn't resist weighing in on the egg roll controversy.

He does know how to provide absolutely perfect quotes for mockery; this bit of business is over the top. I'm also trying to figure out how many organizations this guy is affiliated with. This article is from some place called Americans for Truth:

The “gay” crashing of this morning’s White House Easter Egg Roll is just the latest demonstration of selfishness by adult homosexual activists, who invariably put their wants above the best interest of children, Peter LaBarbera, President of Americans for Truth, said today.

..."There are some bad eggs on the White House lawn today and they should be marked SSA for Selfish Sexual Agendas. Shame on these adults for exploiting an event designed solely to bring joy to young children," LaBarbera said.

"Whether it's redefining marriage to legitimate sexual sin, indoctrinating impressionable schoolchildren with pro-homosexual lesson plans, legally harassing the Boy Scouts, pushing 'gay adoption' despite kids' obvious need for a mom and a dad—or crashing a White House Easter Egg Roll as a crass publicity stunt to promote 'gay parenting'—one common theme stands out: it’s all about the 'gay' adults and their desperate need for approval of their lifestyle choice, not what’s best for children.

"What a pity that the homosexual lobby had to tarnish a great tradition with this in-your-face political maneuver," he said. "Turning the Easter Egg Roll into a 'gay' propaganda exercise represents a new low in the movement for ‘rights’ based on aberrant sex."

Where's the Empty Wig?

I'm completely disappointed by Time Magazine's 10 Best and 5 Worst Senators list. The Tool landed in the top 10, for goodness sake.

You absolutely cannot have a Worst list without my senator, the Empty Wig Elizabeth Dole on it. But here are the magazine's picks...

The Best:

Thad Cochran
Kent Conrad
Dick Durbin
Ted Kennedy
Jon Kyl
Carl Levin
Richard Lugar
John McCain
Olympia J. Snowe
Arlen Specter

The Worst:

Daniel Akaka
Wayne Allard
Jim Bunning
Conrad Burns
Mark Dayton

If you want to get an idea of what actual citizens think of their senators, check out Survey USA's rankings, taken in March:

Top 10
1 ND Conrad, Kent
2 HI Inouye, Daniel
2 ME Collins, Susan
4 NE Nelson, Ben
5 ME Snowe, Olympia
6 RI Reed, Jack
6 IL Obama, Barack
6 SD Johnson, Tim
9 VT Leahy, Patrick
10 MS Lott, Trent

Bottom 5
96 OH Voinovich, George
97 FL Martinez, Mel
98 PA Santorum, Rick
99 KY Bunning, Jim
100 MT Burns, Conrad


Hat tip, Facing South and Shakes Sis

Spending all her money isn't working

It should be lights out for the Senate campaign of boobie-swinging Katherine Harris soon.

The Florida Senate seat held by Bill Nelson (D) was once seen as a pick-up opportunity for the GOP. Now, however, the imploding campaign of Katherine Harris has Nelson counting down the days until May 12. That's the deadline for some other candidate to file and challenge Harris in the Republican Primary.

...Numbers like these have even caused the state's top-ranked Republican, Governor Jeb Bush, to express concern over the state of the Harris campaign. Over the past month, every senior member of the Harris campaign resigned.

Just a reminder, Katherine Harris said this to Sean Hannity on 3/15:

Let me tell you what the truth is. I’m staying. I’m in this race. I’m going to win. And let me tell you how. I’m going to put EVERYTHING on the line. Everything, not just my future and my reputation, my father’s name. I’m gonna take his legacy…"

Her flopsweat campaign (or what's left of it) later said she really didn't mean she was going to spend all the cash daddy left her.


Harris's boobage got more attention from patrons than her message when she campaigned at a restaurant near Kissimmee on April Fool's Day. Photo: Ed Sackett/Orlando Sentinel

The AmTaliban leans hard on the GOP to deliver the social agenda

Again, no surprise. The whining bible beaters are not satisfied with the progress the Bush administration and Congress have made on implementing the theocracy. The AmTaliban has made it clear that if Congress doesn't act on abortion and gay marriage pronto, something bad (as in sheeple staying home on election day) is going to happen. (AP):

Protection of marriage amendment? Check. Anti-flag burning legislation? Check. New abortion limits? Check. Between now and the November elections, Republicans are penciling in plans to take action on social issues important to religious conservatives, the foundation of the GOP base, as they defend their congressional majority.

In a year where an unpopular war in Iraq has helped drive President Bush's approval ratings below 40 percent, core conservatives whose turnout in November is vital to the party want assurances that they are not being taken for granted.

"It seems like for only six months, every two years - right around election time - that we're even noticed," said Tom McClusky of the Family Research Council. "Some of these better pass," he added. "You notice when it's just lip service being paid."

Former presidential candidate Gary Bauer agreed that the effort matters. "If they get to these things this summer, which we expect that they will, that will go a long way toward energizing the values voters at the base of the Republican Party," said Bauer, head of Americans United to Preserve Marriage.

The first shot across the bow by the wingers was the announcement of FRC's "Values Voter Summit," which will be held in September, so those running for re-election can get face time with the AmTaliban, and the latter will be keeping a tally of who's on message about social issues.

As I said in the earlier post on the conference, these folks will use any means necessary to control all wombs, pass out enough chastity promise rings, and to chase enough homos back into the closet. The Hill is already quaking in its boots.

The House has approved an amendment to the Constitution to outlaw flag burning and passed a bill to crack down on the practice of minors' crossing state lines for abortions to evade legal limits in their own states


Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., and a possible presidential candidate in 2008, announced early this year that the Senate would consider those and the anti-gay marriage amendment that has failed in both chambers despite Bush's endorsement. "When America's values are under attack, we need to act," Frist told the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.

Those were sweet words to Bauer's ears. "The marriage amendment is in a class by itself because of what's at stake," Bauer said...Sending the proposed amendment to the states for ratification may not win the two-thirds majority required in the House and Senate. But committing to a vote in June is a gesture of good faith that would resonate with social conservatives, Bauer said.

***

In somewhat related AmTaliban bloviating, Rev. Tinkywinky went on the Sunday chat show "Late Edition" and broke some earth-shattering news -- he won't back Rudy for the 2008 GOP nom.


Damn, we didn't see that coming, huh?

"Everybody admires him. And I'll never forget the great things he did on 9/11 and following," Falwell said.

"But, of course, we have, as conservative Christians who take the Bible seriously, we have probably irreconcilable differences on life and family and that kind of thing," Falwell said Sunday on "Late Edition" on CNN.

"I'll never speak an ill word about him because he means so much to America. But, yes, you're right. I couldn't support him for president," he said.

Who knows what Rudy was thinking when he recently attempted to court the wingnuts in the South? Plus, Falwell's doing the two-step with McCain the Flip-Flop Tool right now.

More fresh Blend here.

Chimperor's record-shattering downward spiral: 39%

Rasmussen Reports, the most accurate polling firm during the 2004 Presidential election, drops this bomb today:

Thirty-nine percent (39%) of American adults approve of the way George W. Bush is performing his role as President. That's the lowest level of approval ever measured by Rasmussen Reports.

Sixty percent (60%) disapprove of Bush's job performance, the highest level ever recorded.

The question is, will the the Rethug up for election get flushed down into the sewer with Dear Leader? The bad news continues. Break out the hankies... ::sniff:: ::sniff::

More people now identify themselves as Democrats than they did around Election 2004. Month-by-month party affiliation numbers show that the Republicans gained ground during 2004 and have been losing ground ever since.

Thirty-eight percent (38%) of Americans believe that President Bush should be censured, or formally reprimanded, by the U.S. Senate. The proposal, advocated by Senator Feingold, is not necessarily good news for the Democratic Party, but it has the potential to boost Feingold's standing within the Party.

For the first time ever, a majority of Americans (52%) say that the U.S. mission in Iraq will be judged a failure. Just 32% believe history will judge it a success.

I guess this means the bombs will start dropping on Iran shortly and/or the terror alert level kicks up a notch.

I had to go over to the swamp to measure the level of denial and hand-wringing. Many are actually ready to cut and run from the guy; a bunch of the really drunk-on-Kool Aid freepi are blaming the "general's revolt" on Iraq/Rumsfailed on the Left (!). Jeezus.

Actual Freeper Quotes™

Lowest level ever... Now there isn't a single poll that shows the President at 40 or above.

The so called Generals Revolt is going to hurt alot. And, it will be a gift that keeps on giving to the dems to election day.

It was 45% three days ago

what happened is gas prices quickly went up

Well there is no reason for any poll to show 40 percent approval. Bush spends like a drunken sailor; refuses to protect our borders; has signed off on the US being a part of some north american one country and has wasted all of his politcal capital in return for very little. Having said that, I agree that he is better by a factor of 1000% over either algore or jean kerri, but that doesn't mean he is any good.

I still support President Bush 100% +. Funny, the Polls never call me. The good news is - my opinion is the one that counts with me.

and immigration, and the Plame/Scooter leak flap and..... I know I am not satisfied.

Wait for the privately funded DNC campagn campaign ads with Generals demanding that Rummy step down. This is a well organized plot. But, think if you were the average American and you were unhappy with the way the war was going and out pops a number of generals saying this isn't the militaries fault it is Bush and Rummy's fault, what are the American public going to think?

Bush not only has more than his share of enemies, he also has done a number of things to dampen the enthusiasm of his base - the biggest being his failure to address the immigration/borders issue in a meaningful way.

And, of course, you bitchers and bellyachers have just the right candidate in mind...... Likely, some extremist that stands no chance of getting more than .5% of the vote, but, by God, he's the right man for the job. I have to laugh at how negative this place has become.

It seems to me that you have the right to your opinion about him, but groaning about it doesn't really have any effect at this point. Bringing down his job approval goes nowhere except getting the weak kneed GOP Senators and Congressmen to wobble all over the place over everything - not something that will improve your chances of getting what you are looking for in the future. I say this, sincerely. I am always puzzled because ranting against Bush seems to push the only people who will matter in the future (Senators and Congressmen) further away from what you are looking for.

I'm not so sure it was the generals. I think folks are waking up to the illegal immigrant situation and haven't quite signed on to the vision Bush has for the future of our nation.

A question that I'd like to see asked of the "generals" is...Have you, General ______ communicated with Hillary Rodham (Clinton), her agent(s), or more generally, any operative in the Democrat party: and, have you been offered consideration for a position (anything from VEEP, SECDEF, on down to advisory capacity) in exchange for your opinion?

I don't know, I think Rumsfeld's approval rating is higher then Bush's. These generals come off as cry babies.

Prices are pretty close to where they were after Katrina, and there's no hurricane now.

almost everyone I work with is an uninformed sheeple - none of them are talking about the generals, everyone is talking about gas prices, and a few are talking about the immigration issue.

George W. Bush 1Q 2006 Report Card:

US Economy: A+
Global War on Islamo-Facists: A-
Judicial Appointments: B+
Energy Security/Independence: C-
Federal Spending: D
PR/Communications: D-
Immigration Enforcement: F
Border Security: F

in a country that is as divided as ours, the "its time for a change" theme is a powerful factor in every election. don't underestimate it, "Bush fatigue" is going to be a big part of the 2006/2008 elections, even though he isn't running.

That's evidence that a wave of negative emotion about Bush has swept the saps in America, who always look to blame somebody when things don't go as they wish. Bush has nothing to do with the fact that only 86% of refineries are operating at capacity, and that several suppliers of MTBE have refused to make the stuff any longer (since Congress refuses to shield them from lawsuit), so gasoline requiring the stuff is in short supply in some urban areas.

I hear you, but I think that most Americans see gas prices as something that effects them directly. For a lot of Americans many issues-whether it is immigration, the war or what have you-do not impact them directly (or at least they don't think that they do), but gas prices do.

In another poll, 74% of Americans blame Bush for the gas prices. Perhaps AlQeda's agenda is moving forward.... : (

The generals revolt is a despicable manipulation of the military by the left. I believe it is an organized movement by someone to attack Rumsfeld / Bush knowing full well that other Generals who support Rumsfeld / Bush will not come out and do so as to look political too. I've got to hand it to the left, they come up with sleazier and sleazier political tactics every day.

Looks like Rass got a bad sample.

I don't think so. Bush is losing freepers for crying out loud. So unless he's picking up support with DUmmies, these numbers seem right.

After coming out for a couple weeks and advancing his agenda and spreading his message to the American people, the President has fallen back into bad habits. Maybe Josh Bolten can get him motivated again. If not, I'm afraid Dubya's numbers will remain in the sub-30% to low 40% range for the next 2-1/2 years. This idea some folks have that Bush doesn't care about polls, or is concerned about how the American people perceive his Presidency, is political naivety.

Excellent economy, war on terror being pursued, and Iraq moving steadily forward. And 60% dissaprove. Lots of blame to go around. Ineffective republicans, troublemaking dems, left wing media, and a fickle public.

what plan? I don't even know what the Bush plan is. he has no specific plan, just some broad outlines, and he seems willing to jump on anything he thinks can pass (like the senate bill) - no matter which party offers the predominant support for such plan.

It's the pollen count.

Rev. Tinkywinky's Easter 'ex-gay' bleating

In his Easter weekend WingNutDaily column, Jerry Falwell takes time to reflect on one of the most important issues of the day -- the "former homosexual."

I would like to tell you about some people who are often treated as if they do not exist. While they flourish as citizens and are active in our churches across the nation, it is as if they lack reality as far as the so-called mainstream media are concerned.

These people are former homosexuals, sometimes known as ex-gays, who have prevailed over their previous existence. I imagine they are the most politically incorrect people in our nation. They do exist, though, and there are untold thousands of them.

But when former homosexuals are depicted on the networks, they are typically unhappy or anxious to return to their former lives. On NBC's "Law and Order: SVU," an ex-gay man returns to his former lifestyles but murders another gay man to hide his backslide. On NBC's "Will & Grace," a meeting of former homosexuals ends with everyone present running off with a same-sex member of the group.

So you see, when these individuals are not being completely ignored, they are being demeaned and put down by those who argue that one cannot overcome homosexuality.

Ex-gay ministries attempt to reach homosexuals with the Gospel of Christ so they can find fulfillment in Him. Former homosexuals learn to overcome their same-sex attractions and often marry and have children.

I am proud to know several former homosexuals. It is thrilling to see them joyously living out their lives. I have actually had the privilege of working with a few individuals who have turned their backs on homosexuality so that they can live fully in Christ.

I actually addressed a rally of ex-gays last year and can tell you that they are living out their faith as fearlessly as any group of people I have seen in quite some time. It is a great pleasure to see people discover true peace, true purpose in Christ.

This isn't a popular notion, by any means. But it is imperative that the Church of Jesus Christ boldly confronts the issues of homosexuality and the power of Christ to enable change.


As Stephen Bennett says, "Jesus never tolerated sin. He confronted it - in love."

Stephen lived the homosexual lifestyle until he was 28. And then he gave his life to Jesus Christ. Today, 16 years later, he is happily married, the father of two, and one of the nation's most courageous spokesmen on overcoming homosexuality through Christ. You can learn more about his story at: www.sbministries.org.

That's enough. I couldn't take any more of this bullsh*t. Once he threw the Stephen Bennett card out there, I simply stopped reading. How can you take Stephen Bennett seriously when he spouts this lunacy:

1. "I don't understand why everybody is jumping on the bandwagon of homosexuality," says Bennett. "It is like the 'in thing' today. And, of course, with this movie Brokeback Mountain, everybody is jumping in now to do what they can to capitalize on this newest, latest fad that people are accepting."

2. "I just spoke with a married man on the telephone who is contemplating leaving his wife and children," says host Stephen Bennett. "He says he's gay, and Brokeback Mountain has influenced his decision."

3. "We keep in contact with many of those active homosexuals who are curious [about Stephen's "deliverance from homosexuality"]. But in most cases, they will tell me I was never "gay" in the first place. And I tell them, "Yeah, you go and ask my 100-plus partners how 'gay' I was not." I was "gay."

Alrighty then.

I decided to skim further so you could choose to go on with the torture if you wanted to -- the rest of the commentary pimps the work of Rev. Tinkywinky's legal arm, Liberty Counsel and Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays (PFOX) to combat diversity training and tolerance in schools.

For instance, PFOX's response to Gay Straight Alliances (GSA) at schools is to encourage kids to start "Ex-Gay" & "Everstraight Clubs". One of its leaders, "ex-gay" Richard Cohen, was expelled from the American Counseling Association for unethical behavior.

The purpose of an ex-gay & everstraight club is to provide a safe environment for all students to discuss alternatives to homosexuality and find ex-gay resources. Clubs can be started by students who have never been gay (everstraights), ex-gay students, and those struggling with unwanted same sex attraction. These alternative ex-gay clubs are started at schools (high school or college) which already have a GSA (Gay Straight Alliance) or similar gay affirming club. These ex-gay clubs can be called by whatever name the student(s) decide is best for their school.

Also:
* BlogActive on Stephen Bennett: "Now, I don't know if he has sex with men any more or not...but I can tell you he sure looks at the guys. Not one male intern walked by Bennett's exhibit table [at a Concerned Women for America conference] without being checked out by Mr. Ex-Gay."

AgapePress and other "dirty" words

I recently posted about the ludicrous AgapePress article in which the author couldn't spell out v-a-g-i-n-a when referring to The Vagina Monologues. It was rendered The V Monologues (making more than one Blender, including me, to think about the sexy, big haired lizard alien in the TV series V).


V's Diana is probably too sexy for Don Wildmon as well.

However, Daniel at Ex-Gay Watch had some more fun with the prudery of Don Wildmon's crowd at his "news" organ. Daniel decided to do a little research on the selectivity of the AFA "vulgarity police."

I was curious what other words might have slid past the AgapeCensors in past articles:

Sodomy, as well as Sodomize
Anal Sex
Vibrator
Orgy
Rimming
Penis
Sex Club as well as Bathhouse
"gay.com"
And lastly my personal favorite, Gay Bowel Syndrome

Update: Found a few more real gems:

Clitoris
Crack Whore (Always popular)
Damn
Teenage Prostitute
Beastiality
Masturbation
Sadomasochism
Upon being told the Agapepress has used Penile Penetration, Peterson Toscano remarked, " this is a very unsafe site for a struggling homosexual."

God I feel like I'm 12 years old.

Now that was a good laugh.

This and that in the mailbag

Some tidbits as I opened the full mailbox. Blogwhore and post any links of interest in the comments...

* Box Turtle Bulletin's Jim Burroway is blogging about the discredited bogus anti-gay "scientist" Paul Cameron, who looks like he may have pulled the wool over the eyes of a reputable peer-reviewed journal with his BS and actually got an article published.

Paul Cameron's article, "Children of homosexuals and transsexuals more apt to be homosexual" has just appeared in the May 2006 issue of the Journal of Biosocial Science, an imprint of Cambridge University Press. Until now, almost all of his work has been self-published, either on his web site or in the pay-to-publish Psychological Reports. But now it is only a matter of time before he is able to brag of having obtained the imprimatur of Cambridge University Press.

Cameron was booted from the American Psychological Association "for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists."

In his post, Jim does a point-by-point analysis of Cameron's latest drivel and notes:

It's a terrible pity that the editors and reviewers of the Journal of Biosocial Science (JBS), who presumably posses far better credentials than I, have not been able recognize blatant propaganda when they see it. This is all all the more surprising given the clue that is not so well hidden in the very first sentences of the article:

'Common sense' holds that homosexuality is 'contagious' (Levitt & Klassen, 1974). Thus Rees & Ushill [sic - ed.] (1956) state 'it is vain to blind oneself to the fact that the problem of male homosexuality is in essence the problem of the corruption of youth by itself and by its elders. It is the problem of the creation by means of such corruption of new addicts ready to corrupt a still further generation of young men and boys in the future' (p.29).

***

* We've blogged a lot here about Daddy Dobson and his lunacy. The man's written books on child-rearing (he's got a Ph.D. in child development -- scary), and I received an email from a reader who was actually by parents using his twisted Dare to Discipline as a tool. From Christine @ Rising Up Whole:

I was disciplined and guilted and shamed into submission for many years. It somehow seems appropriate to me that Focus on the Family is such a partner with Exodus. My parent's treatment of me as a child (using Dobson as their guide) no doubt made me all the more vulnerable to the ex-gay message. I was ready and willing to believe myself a damaged and broken person that needed to be fixed, with my sin nature needing to be beaten down and submerged, subdued, and dominated. I was willing to believe that my homosexuality was a part of my own strong-willed defiance gone horribly wrong and satanically out of control.

Read her post; it shows you how damaging The Dobson Way is.

***

* The Lovely Litbrit @ The Last Duchess (and Shakes Sis contributor) likes reading my posts about nappy hair, passed along a cool article by Nicole Johnson on the hot comb (ssssss...as it fries your natural locks to temp straighitude), Combing Through Memories, in the St. Pete Times-Floridian.

Times photo: Bob Croslin
Part. Grease. Slide the comb. Part. Grease. Slide the comb. A hair boogie of sorts, transforming woolly clumps, wiry spindles and rough waves into black satin.

One misstep, and an ear or forehead was burned. To outsiders, it may sound more barbaric than beautifying. To the pressed, it is both.

Well, to this former victim of the hot comb, it's frigging barbaric, but it's still a great article that gives readers who have no exposure to the ritual an insight to a part of black culture that is rarely discussed.

***


* On May 1, Deborah (a.k.a. Goldfish) will be hosting the first ever Blogging Against Disablism Day at her pad, Diary of a Goldfish, noting "Disabled people are very much the poor relations of the egalitarian movements and I am in a rather quiet corner of the blogosphere," and

Many of us blog regularly on subjects surrounding disablism and disability issues, but the idea is to see how powerful disabled people and the supporters of equality can be as a combined voice in the blogosphere. Are there as many people prepared to put their two pennies' worth in on this subject as there are on sexier subjects such as Race and Gender?

If you want to participate in BADD, leave a comment at Deborah's blog.

***

* Easter, the non-traditional view: Blender and artist Becky Jayne sent links about JesusInLove.org (a queer view of Christianity). One of the topics she raised that is featured now on the site, is controversial art, including Kitt Cherry’s queer Christ, “faggot� crucifixion -- and other artists who are doing gay Christian artwork. Check it out.

***

* That Colored Fella has a good post up on Tavis Smiley's tome, The Covanent With Black America, which contains essays on the state of black America and ideas about improving lives in the community. Smiley, not surprisingly, speaks about religion and the role it plays in the black community, but makes no mention of same-sex marriage and civil equality.

Presently, I can envision no better strategy to possibly stem the dire spiral currently gripping the Black community in this country...We can easily list the many debilitating factors that have contributed; yet we no longer have a Bull Connor, George Wallace or J. Edgar Hoover to assign blame. If the Black faith movement in this country is genuinely growing a moral society, why are building bigger houses of worship and turning morality tales into feature length movies a priority, and an easily financed mission to end the cycle of poverty and illiteracy non-existent? There are over 200 citations concerning the poor in the Old and New Testament, and no mention of Gay Marriage.

Which begs the opportune question, by advocating in support of gay rights, why did Coretta Scott King believe it to be an extension of the civil rights cause?

There's a lot more to the post -- it's a must-read.

The lap dog won't roll over

Blair refuses to back Iran strike. Oh that nutty Tony Blair, he's not listening even as his master Bush is jerking the chain, trying to get him to roll over once more for the big guy after Tony was oh-so-obedient on Iraq. Is Dear Leader going to have to resort to pet abuse to get him in line?

Tony Blair has told George Bush that Britain cannot offer military support to any strike on Iran, regardless of whether the move wins the backing of the international community, government sources claimed yesterday.

Amid increasing tension over Tehran's attempts to develop a military nuclear capacity, the Prime Minister has laid bare the limits of his support for President Bush, who is believed to be considering an assault on Iran, Foreign Office sources revealed.

...in the midst of international opposition to a pre-emptive strike on Tehran, and Britain's military commitments around the world, the government maintains it cannot contribute to a military assault. "We will support the diplomatic moves, at best," a Foreign Office source told Scotland on Sunday. "But we cannot commit our own resources to a military strike."

Another e-moron

A Pennsylvania official (need we ask whether he was a Rethug). hits the send button and doesn't think anyone would be offended by the garbage he's sending out there -- say, the township supervisors, including the chairman. (NBC10.com)

An e-mail controversy has some people calling for the resignation of an elected official in Bucks County.

Republican Warminster Township Supervisor Fred Gold distributed the e-mail. Gold sent an e-mail picturing a topless woman to other township employees. It was sent back in January, but then photocopies started popping up earlier this month.

The e-mail supposedly celebrates the fictional holiday of National Breast Appreciation Day on Jan. 15. Accompanying the photo of the topless woman is the message "Beats the **** out of Martin Luther King Day doesn't it."

"I find that type of humor to be offensive and not funny at all," one woman said. "He sent this out? That's really crude," another woman said.

...Now, Joe Bowes, the chairman of the township's Democratic committee says an apology isn't going to cut it..."The thing that was most disturbing to me was the number of people it had been sent to from him -- township supervisors, the chairman of township supervisors, the other supervisors," Bowes said.

Gold told NBC 10 News that he sent the email from his home computer and he now realizes he never should have sent it.

Hat tip, Paul

Also:
* Email moron: Colorado State Representative Jim Welker

Transgender candidate challenges House Whip Blunt

"People are seeing what I stand for. I'm not for a gay or a transgender agenda, I'm for equal rights for all people."

-- transgender Midge Potts, a veteran of Operation Desert Shield, who is a self-described "fiscal conservative and Eisenhower Republican"

Man, the Show Me state will never be the same. Midge Potts, Missouri's first openly transgender political candidate, is campaigning for the GOP nod in southwest Missouri's 7th District, trying to unseat five-term congressman and House Majority Whip Roy Blunt.

"Even though I have my own unique niche, being transgender, I really feel like I'm a candidate of the regular people, for the regular people," Potts told The Associated Press.

...Potts faces an uphill battle in a region where the Republican Party is dominated by moral and social conservatives.

"Given the conservative nature of the 7th District, her chances of winning the primary are slim. And the primary voter tends to be more conservative yet," said Missouri State University political science professor George E. Connor.

"To have her run as a Republican is not the craziest thing, because there is a part of the Republican Party that is fiscally conservative but shows support for personal choice. It harkens back to a part of the Republican Party that does not exist in southwest Missouri," Connor said.

Blunt, who has won solidly in his previous races, and the state Republican Party declined to comment on Potts' campaign.

Dee Wampler, a Blunt supporter and prominent Springfield Republican activist, dismissed Potts' chances, in part because she is transgender. "A person with that background would not atrract a serious vote," Wampler said.

Blunt btw, is an ace homobigot (rated 92% by the Christian Coalition), is for a marriage amendment and voted to end gay adoptions in D.C.

Hat tip to Blender Kevin

Pam: extreme makeover edition

The weekend is the time to drop in a few self-indulgent, non-political postings, so today's activities definitely fit that bill...

The other day I received an email from a reader, Richard Conrad, a makeup artist who recently moved to NC from Hotalanta.

I'm writing to you because I wanted to let you know that I am makeup artist and I'd love to do your makeup sometime!--(not that you need it!) I just know that sometimes ladies like to get a little glammed up for certain occasions--even those who don't normally wear makeup. I have a light touch with makeup-so don't worry!

I primarily do bridal makeup, but I also freelance for Laura Mercier here in the Triangle area-in fact I will be working @ the Nordstrom in Southpoint this Saturday @ the Laura Mercier counter!

Now I do wear makeup on occasion, and don't know what the flip I'm doing; I just don't take the time. I've never even gone into a department store to sit in the chair for a makeup session for fun, so I decided to take Richard up on his offer just to see how bad the situation really is, lol.

Kate's the big makeup gal, I laugh at her dropping buxxx over at the Trish McEvoy counter once a year. For me, I just cruise in the drugstore for makeup as needed. The most I've ever spent is $7 on Revlon Colorstay lipstick, since it really does last all day. I'm too lazy to reapply the other stuff.

So, it's Saturday AM. We get over there a little after noon and there's really no one around at any of the counters. Richard recognizes me right away and I get in the chair and the construction work begins, with Kate there for feedback on the overhaul. My biggest problem, and this is true of many women of color, is finding foundation/base that matches well (and doesn't make you yellow or orange), something that's true of any drugstore product I've used, so I don't wear any. If nothing else, getting good advice and product on this front was the most valuable thing I walked away with. But Richard was full of much more good counsel. I was embarrassed to tell Richard all the pedestrian products I use (or what I don't use at all).

He did the whole shebang, and we talked about blogging and politics (Jeff Gannon, Kerry, Bush, you know, all the stuff we gab about) as he patiently counseled me on options -- good brushes for application (yes), mascara (yes), disposable mascara brushes (big yes), false eyelashes (not for me), gel eyeliner vs. pencil (trying out gel). I definitely need work on the eyebrows, but that's always been a problem area for me -- not enough hair there, as opposed to having a lot to shape).

I guess I was in the chair about an 45 min or an hour, maybe, and I walked out with a great makeup job, a lot of good advice and a lighter wallet, courtesy of Laura Mercier. Since I never indulge and don't wear makeup too often, I figure this stuff in the bag will last a loooooong time.

Kate took a pic on the cell phone of the end result in the store with Richard:

The lighting in Nordstrom really sucks, so Kate took a better shot of the overhaul once we got home:


Of course it would help to show the "before", but we don't want to break Dear Leader's internets, now do we?

All, in all, we all had a great time (it certainly beat doing yard work, which was what we would have done this AM), and thank you Richard for your work on the extreme makeover!

Richard's temp web site, featuring photos of some of his excellent work on way better subjects, is makeupthebride.com.

LGBT families wait all night for Easter Egg Roll tix, White House shuts them out of opening ceremonies

Nice move, Bush Admin, to deep-six the visibility of the LGBT families. Guess the AmTaliban batphone to the White House has been ringing off the hook ever since then Family Pride Coalition announced that gay families would line up and come to the event wearing rainbow leis to distinguish themselves.

This year, at the last minute, for the first time, the policy for distributing tickets to the White House Easter Egg Roll has changed, with the families waiting outside all night to get opening time tickets receiving tickets with an entrance time of 11AM or later -- after the cameras have rolled for the opening ceremonies of the event, because the egg roll is slated for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m, according to the White House press release.

So, the bob and weave is complete -- they cannot bar the gay families, but they can try to ensure invisibility to avoid a PR nightmare for the Bushies and their religious right masters.PageOneQ has the scoop on this story.

The unannounced change means that the families who waited in line the longest, in one case for twenty-four hours, will not be among the visitors at the event's opening ceremonies.

...One ticket recipient who was approximately fifty people behind the Family Pride Coalition, told PageOneQ that he was "upset, very upset, that they would change the policy to make those of us who spent the night be the last ones to get into the event." When asked his name, the man said that, "Because my brother works for the State Department, I'd rather keep my name out of the article."

The Family Pride group, which was located approximately 150 people from the start of the line, received tickets with entry times of 11:30am and later.

Mike Rogers, as you'll see in the article, called and exchanged emails with White House shill, er, Deputy White House Press Secretary Dana Perino. The official excuse is that children from volunteer organizations were designated to fill the earliest times, when in the past, special guests and the public who waited for tix were integrated into the opening ceremonies. Look at the spinning.

PageOneQ wrote back to ask Perino:

There is one question that is still unanswered.

In years past, with the exact same arrangement of invited guests, those that spent all night outside for tickets were given tickets to the event's opening times. When was the decision made, and by whom, to exclude those families from the opening ceremonies? This is the first time that no early tickets were distributed to those that waited the longest. Do you know why?

Perino's reply:

"The early morning tickets were designated this year for the youth voulunteers[sic]."

You can see pictures of the families camping out for tickets at photographer Joe Tresh's blog.

The ad (and Q of the day)

I happened to check in here to look at some comments and saw this in the Blogads to the right yesterday:



I was sitting next to Kate at the time and nearly screamed. "These prominent bloggers"?! I think it's safe to say most people who see that ad don't know who the flip I am. My pass and program for the Equality Forum arrived yesterday as well.

This ad is running all over the blogosphere, sheesh! Earlier on, the ad featured the nice Equality Forum globe in the ad, but today it switched it over to this one. Oy, I need some Tums.

Why do I think the experience will mostly involve watching John and Jeff/Jim/Bulldog -- whatever the f*ck he's going by these days -- just going at it the whole time? It will be interesting, given John's blogging on him.

Questions of the day -- what would you ask the disgraced former Talon News "writer" and former White House cub reporter-cum-rent boy if you were on the panel? Or, if that fruit is too low-hanging for you, what would you ask John A.?

Flashbacks:
* Condi, 'ho boots, and rent-boy Gannon: sex and power in Washington
* Make your own Jeffy Lube pro-war rally poster
* Freepers in a tizzy over pseudo-journalist, White House prop "Jeff Gannon"
* ePluribus Media: The Spectacular Rise of the Miraculous Mr. Gannon
* Gannongate - the Players
* AmericaBlog: A man called Jeff
* Crooks and Liars: Jeff Gannon retrospective in video

Some news makes you want to go postal

Think Progress passes along news that makes you want to hurl (or riot):

Average Americans are struggling to keep up with persistently high gas prices, now approaching $3 a gallon. Testifying before Congress last November, Exxon CEO Lee Raymond blamed the problem on"global supply and demand" and assured the public that"we're all in this together."

Last year, Raymond made due with"a total compensation package" of just $69.7 million or $190,915 a day, including weekends.

Oh, and guess what? Look at his retirement package, as you fill up your tank and sell your first-born (ABC):

Exxon is giving Lee Raymond one of the most generous retirement packages in history, nearly $400 million, including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes.

What do you say behind that sh*t?

V is for Vagina

The folks at Donald Wildmon's "news" organ AgapePress can't bring themselves to type the word v-a-g-i-n-a. I get the feeling that there is some nun or preacher there slapping a ruler on the wrist of anyone who dares to tap it out. Read and weep with laughter.

A conservative Catholic group is criticizing the University of Notre Dame for once again allowing a homosexual film festival and a vulgar feminist play on the Indiana school's campus.

Notre Dame's President John Jenkins recently stated that he saw "no reason to prohibit performances of the V Monologues on campus." His position comes as a surprise to some who object to the play's content, which includes profanity and graphic descriptions of lesbian sexual relationships.

The prestigious Catholic school near South Bend, Indiana, has hosted the V Monologues for the last five years and a "gay and lesbian" film festival for the last two years. Patrick Reilly, president of the Catholic watchdog group the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), says he is not surprised the university is continuing to allow homosexual activism on its campus.

...In fact, the president of the Catholic watchdog group believes most Notre Dame faculty are strongly resistant to any idea of restoring the school's faith-based identity. And he feels it is disingenuous for administrators like Jenkins to claim Notre Dame is not endorsing the V Monologues and other pro-homosexual events when it is obviously funding them.

...But as far as how individual Catholics should respond to a production like the V Monologues goes, "The question is just whether it's sinful, whether this is scandalous, whether we're leading people away from the church," Reilly contends. "And I think there's no doubt that these events clearly scandalize the faithful."

Now go and repent...

D.C. bus driver fired because of anti-gay sign

This dude isn't playing with a full deck if he's got a sign saying this prominently displayed behind the driver's seat of his D.C. tourist bus:

‘He is to be worshipped…[and] feared by refraining from all that he has forbidden (i.e. worship of other than Him…murder, oppression, homosexuality/lesbianism [sic]…all sins done in public or in secret).’”

He gets bonus lack of gray matter points for telling a person objecting to the message to go to the back of the bus.

A bus driver for one of the city’s new Circulator tourist buses was fired last month for telling a passenger to move to the back of the bus after the passenger complained about a message hanging behind the driver’s seat that equated homosexuality with murder.

“Those comments were completely unacceptable,” said Karen Meachman, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of Transportation, which created the Circulator bus system.

“We don’t know if he posted these signs,” she said. “But the fact that he told the passenger to go to the back of the bus was completely unacceptable.”

Yikes! I've been sacked!

Well, well, well. There is a first time for everything. Today I got fired for the first time ever in my life.

This all relates back to my contaminated armpit hair. I've been working for the company for nearly two years, and I went through seven interviews and a background check and was given an offer letter... which was then rescinded when my armpit hair tested positive for marijuana metabolites, just as I told them it might, since I volunteer with medical marijuana patients... like, 200 of them, all smoking and vaporizing in an enclosed room for three hours straight.

I should never have taken the test or gone for the job in the first place. Drug testing is reprehensible. I should have just read my own words from a year ago. But I snookered myself into denying my morals and surrendering my privacy because of the lure of a salary finally commensurate with my skill and dedication, awesome benefits, and the assurances of human resources that they'd "greased the skids" for me and would do everything to get me hired. Ben Franklin was right: those who sacrifice essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither. That lesson is now well learned.

Anyway, how I got sacked: It was Thursday, and I realized that Friday was a company holiday (Good Friday... nice to see that we get paid days off for Christianity). This was my last chance to tell my friends at the company to watch my cable access show on Sunday.

I made up little handouts that said the following:

To my co-workers and friends at [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.]... IT'S BEEN A PLEASURE TO WORK WITH YOU!

As you know, [Chew’em-up ‘n’ Spit’em-out IT Services]'s contract with [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] ends May 1. I've told many of you that I was looking forward to working full-time with all of you, since [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] had offered me a Field Service Engineer position.

Unfortunately, [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] decided to rescind that offer, because I volunteer to help people suffering from cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma, anorexia, hepatitis-C, and chronic pain. Also, I drink far too much water during the day.

If you think that sounds unbelievable and you'd like the true story you can't get on the grapevine, tune into my cable access TV show this Easter Sunday at 2:00 pm, on Comcast Cable Channel 11.

-- "Radical" Russ Belville

I roamed the halls and handed these out to all my friends I could find. Unfortunately, some of my friends weren't at their desks, so I left the flyer on their keyboards (mistake borne of ignorance, more on that later). Later, I found one of the HR people walking around with a handful of my flyers -- they were gathering up my personal invitations to my friends! That motivated me to crank out the following e-mail to everyone in the company (mistake borne of emotional irrationality):

Subject: Apparently, [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] frowns on free speech, too.

This afternoon, I made some small green handouts, inviting my friends here at [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] to watch my political affairs cable access TV show, this Easter Sunday, LIVE at 2PM with viewer call-in, on Comcast Channel 11 (re-broadcast Saturdays at 6PM on Ch. 21). I was able to deliver a few personally, but some of you were away from your desks, so I left the handout on your keyboard.

The handout read: [same as test above]

Since [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] rescinded their offer, I complained that it would be very embarrassing to have to tell all of you that I'm not going to be here after April 30, especially when I've been going around for a month telling everyone I would be here with [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.]. That would get me the inevitable and embarrassing "why?" questions. H.R. told me that I don't have to answer "why?" and that H.R. wouldn't be telling anyone "why?", but c'mon, if a company gives you an offer letter, then takes it back, how many possible "whys" are there ("did Russ commit a felony?" "Is he a registered sex offender?" "Is Russ a heroin junkie?" "Did he fail a security background check?")

Rather than let all the possible rumors float around, I've told a few people what's going on. Still, I wanted to clear up the reasons and shine the light of truth on this episode, and I felt the best way to handle that would be through the exercise of free speech on my television show. After all, H.R. told me that I could (and I quote) "tell everyone whatever you want to tell them."

So, not more than an hour after I distributed 60 of these handbills, I discover one of the women from H.R. with at least 20 of them in her hand.
She was told to go throughout the building and collect them. MY PERSONAL INVITATIONS TO MY FRIENDS! I doubt invitations to personal baby showers or dragonboating or full-color copies of Dilbert cartoons get the same treatment.

Anyway, my story must be pretty compelling if [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] feels the need to censor it. You can find out what all the hullabaloo is about by tuning in this Sunday:

SUNDAY, APRIL 16 (EASTER SUNDAY)
COMCAST CABLE CHANNEL 11 at 2PM

If you're not a Comcast Cable subscriber, you can read the whole story on my
website:

http://www.radicalruss.net/blog/2006/04/so_this_is_what_discrimination_feels_like.html

And once again, it was nice working with you all. Too bad [We Hate Medical Marijuana, Inc.] prefers to discriminate against talented employees with a two year record of commendable performance.

OK, so, yeah, that's gonna get a guy fired. I got the call last night with the first hint. I went to the office to try to drop off my equipment, but my badge was locked out. That's a pretty good sign. Then this morning, the triumvirate of boss, grandboss, and great-grandboss all conferenced in (after boss took ten minutes trying to figure out the "conference" button on the phone) to let me know to bring in my equipment and badge on Monday morning.

They also let me know that I would be getting no severance pay, because I was fired for violating company policy forbidding "solicitations for non-work related activities". I asked, "solicitations... is that like asking people to buy something?" No, it refers to any non-work related activities. "So, you mean like the birthday party invitations, Dilbert cartoons, intramural sports solicitations, and other non-work-related stuff I see people posting around here all the time?" No, see, those don't count because the company didn't complain about those. "Ah, I see, so it is the content of the speech that is a problem, not its non-work-related nature, huh?"

I was also busted for "using your knowledge of the company network and computer system to distribute non-work-related communications to [the company's] employees, even though you used your own personal e-mail account." Uh-huh. Basically, it was me sitting there, trying to recall as many names of people I could from that company, by memory, and creating the standard lastnamf@wediscriminate.becausewecan.com e-mail address. So, apparently, now I can't send e-mails to my friends at work, either.

After that, the conversation with my consulting company overlords went to the whole "we wish you good luck / we're really sorry / we really appreciate you / we were really trying to help you out" reach-around they give you as they pound you up the ass. It's okay, though; I was already lubed and limber from the pounding the client company gave me two weeks ago -- and they didn't even give me a reach around; they gave me a lie and an insult.

The lie was this:

As a federal government contractor, we are obliged to comply with the Federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988...

...which any reasonably smart fellow with Google can refute by visiting the US Department of Labor Website:

(1) All organizations covered by the Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 are required to provide a drug-free workplace by taking the following steps:
(a) Publish and give a policy statement to all covered employees informing them that the unlawful manufacture, distribution, dispensation, possession or use of a controlled substance is prohibited in the covered workplace and specifying the actions that will be taken against employees who violate the policy.
(b) Establish a drug-free awareness program to make employees aware of a) the dangers of drug abuse in the workplace; b) the policy of maintaining a drug-free workplace; c) any available drug counseling, rehabilitation, and employee assistance programs; and d) the penalties that may be imposed upon employees for drug abuse violations.
(c) Notify employees that as a condition of employment on a Federal contract or grant, the employee must a) abide by the terms of the policy statement; and b) notify the employer, within five calendar days, if he or she is convicted of a criminal drug violation in the workplace.
(d) Notify the contracting agency within 10 days after receiving notice that a covered employee has been convicted of a criminal drug violation in the workplace.
(e) Impose a penalty on--or require satisfactory participation in a drug abuse assistance or rehabilitation program by--any employee who is convicted of a reportable workplace drug conviction.
(f) Make an ongoing, good faith effort to maintain a drug-free workplace by meeting the requirements of the Act.

What's the obvious missing portion? Any requirement whatsoever to drug test employees!

And the insult was this:

In addition, [the company] manufactures products that, in the event of failure, could result in the loss of life. Because of the criticality of our products and the Company's obligations under federal regulations, [the company] has decided to withdraw its conditional offer of employment.

Funny, I worked there for two years and nobody died. You know what else is funny? Portland cops don't have to drug test. You'd think some cop on drugs might get somebody killed, wouldn't you? Even funnier: presidents of the United States don't have to drug test. You'd think some president on drugs (or at least one with DUIs and cocaine allegations in his past) with a finger on the "nucular" button, threatening to use nukes on Iran, might get somebody killed.

So... I'm out with two weeks to go, when one of those weeks was already booked for my vacation time. I'll be getting my vacation payout (I'd better be getting my vacation payout!) and I've already got full-time work booked for the last two weeks of the month; actually, more than full time - I'm splitting my time working at Oregon's largest medical marijuana clinic and teaching computer software by day, and I'm collecting signatures for an initiative that would make marijuana offenses the lowest law enforcement priority in Portland by night and weekend.

I've got to believe this is all for the best. I am not some cog-in-the-wheel corporate worker drone. I was not born to give up my privacy and risk my health to devote my talents to enriching the profits of an already-wealthy family. I have a higher purpose. I am fighting for the day when Americans have their privacy rights back and no one must suffer the indignity of a "guilty until proven innocent" unnecessary intrusive seizure of their bodily fluids or hair just to put food on the table and a roof over their head. I am fighting for the day marijuana will be regulated and taxed like alcohol and nobody will be imprisoned for their choice of socially-harmless intoxicant. I am fighting for the rights of seriously ill people to use the natural herbal medicines that work so much better and cause so much less harm than expensive toxic pharmaceuticals. I am fighting for the return of America to her roots in hemp to provide environmentally-friendly fuels and textiles and nutritionally rich foods.

Most of all, I'm fighting for the day when all my volunteering and activism will be rendered moot, because America has matured enough to abolish prohibition of nature's most perfect plant.

[Crossposted at Radical Writ, just as soon as I come down off the cross...]

The Tool flip flops again on fed marriage amendment

The Tool was against it...before he was for it...before he was against it again. Is this a lame bob and weave, or just another sign of his insanity? Let's see...

In 2004, he said this:

"The constitutional amendment [banning same-sex marriage] we're debating today strikes me as antithetical in every way to the core philosophy of Republicans. It usurps from the states a fundamental authority they have always possessed and imposes a federal remedy for a problem that most states do not believe confronts them."

Then, McCain humped Rev. Tinkywinky and agreed to speak at Liberty University's graduation on May 13, Falwell said McCain told him that he was on board with a federal amendment.

"He is in the process of healing the breech with evangelical groups,” Falwell said. Falwell said McCain has expressed a willingness to support a Federal Marriage Amendment, an issue dear to conservative Christians.

Now, while stumping in Iowa yesterday, he changed courses once again.

During his Iowa appearances, McCain refused to change his stand on issues that rankle both the party's establishment and conservatives, including his opposition to ethanol subsidies and a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

..."I intend to vote against it," he said. "I believe each state should decide."

Will Falwell get on the hotline and demand clarification from The Tool before he gets to speak at Liberty?


Dirtbag McCain and Protect Marriage Arizona chair Lynn Stanley smile with glee about his state's amendment, which he supports.

Air Force Reserves dismisses lesbian major under DADT

"I joined the Air Force because I wanted to serve my country. I have loved being in the military – my fellow airmen have been my family. I am proud of my career and want to continue doing my job. Wounded people never asked me about my sexual orientation. They were just glad to see me there."
-- Major Margaret Witt, who is challenging her discharge for "engaging in homosexual conduct" by the Air Force Reserves in a case filed by the ACLU of Washington state

Don't Ask, Don't Tell claims another much-decorated member of the military, this time a major and flight nurse assigned to McChord Air Force Base near Tacoma, Washington.

Major Margaret Witt was booted out of the service by an anonymous "tip" received two years ago, identifying her as a lesbian in a long-term relationship. The military, under DADT, opened up an investigation that led to her discharge. (ACLU):

From 1997 to 2003, Major Witt was in a committed relationship with another woman, a civilian. In the summer of 2004, Major Witt was notified that the Air Force had begun an investigation into an allegation that she had engaged in homosexual conduct. In November 2004, Major Witt was placed on unpaid leave and told she could no longer participate in any military duties, pending formal separation proceedings. In March 2006, the Air Force informed Major Witt that she was being administratively discharged on grounds of homosexual conduct.

The lawsuit seeks to restrain the Air Force from discharging Major Witt or from otherwise hampering her military career. The military has provided no evidence that her sexual orientation or conduct has caused a problem in the performance of her military duties. To the contrary, the ACLU is submitting declarations from military colleagues that her forced absence is harmful to her unit’s morale.

Mind you, there is a critical shortage of flight nurses in the Air Force Reserves, with 121 vacancies for flight nurses at Major Witt's rank.

This makes no flipping sense, and everyone knows it.

How can someone with this record be cut loose when the military needs more people like her in the ranks?

During her 18-year career in the Air Force, Major Witt has served in the Persian Gulf, has received many medals and commendations, and has always had superb evaluations from her superiors. In 1993, she was selected to be the "poster child" for the Air Force Nurse Corps recruitment flyer. In 2003, Major Witt was awarded an Air Force Commendation Medal for her action in saving the life of a Department of Defense employee who had collapsed aboard a government-chartered flight from Bahrain.

Servicemembers Legal Defense Network's Steve Ralls told 365Gay.com that the requirement of DADT that a commander must receive "credible evidence" of a service member's homosexuality is quite fast and loose.

"Unfortunately, however, the definition of 'credible evidence' is determined by the command...SLDN has represented numerous service members who were investigated based on questionable information, including anonymous emails and accusations made by individuals who were clearly untrustworthy."

This all has to stop. With Dear Leader swaggering about Iran, and as the body count continues to rise in Iraq, how long can this insanity of terrorizing and discharging gays and lesbians for simply wanting to serve their country continue?

***

Links:
The complaint filed by the ACLU of Washington State
Major Witt's Air Force commendations
Servicemembers Legal Defense Network

Hat tips to Blenders Paul and Lisa

Irony, part 2

As a counterbalance to his rant: Catholic Church Gets 783 New Abuse Claims.

I hate to keep posting about this bastard, but he keeps on coming up with the most foul, hypocritical bullsh*t posturing imaginable -- with absolutely no shame. After yesterday's bloviating (see my post Irony) about urging Catholics to confess for Easter (after all, God's forgiven him for enabling all the raping, molesting priests he's in charge of), today, Good Friday, he's going to deliver an address condemns geneticists "who play at being God,"and the general moral decline of society -- "satanic mores" -- which apparently exists everywhere outside of the Vatican.

The pope will deliver a blistering attack on the “satanic” mores of modern society today, warning against an “inane apologia of evil” that is in danger of destroying humanity.

In a series of Good Friday meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of “anti-Genesis” described as “a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family” [Are you listening homos?]. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the “filth” that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from “decadent narcissism”.

Particular condemnation is reserved for scientific advances in the field of genetic manipulation. Warning against the move to “modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God”, the Pope will lead prayers against “insane, risky and dangerous” ventures in attempting “to take God’s place without being God”.

Episcopal loons want to indict gay bishop for heresy

"The homosexual thrust is real, aggressive and largely influenced by a shadow gay-lesbian-transgender hierarchy of bishops, priests and laypeople. The most persistent campaigner for accelerating the gay agenda in the Episcopal church is Integrity, a 30-year-old homosexual activist organization believed to comprise much less than one per cent of the national church."
-- quote from the unhinged statement of Lay Episcopalians for the Anglican Communion

What century are we in? These nuts sounds like they are ready to burn openly gay bishop Gene Robinson at the stake.

It also looks like, someone must have sent the Lay Episcopalian Crackpots a copy of Star Parker's All-Purpose Homosexual Agenda^TM to clue her in on our plans for world domination. (365gay.com):

A conservative Episcopal lay group is calling for a chur