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More Foleygate
Saturday, September 30, 2006
[UPDATE: I responded to a commenter on the "taking the high road" strategy in a post update.]
Since we were out at NCPride today, I wasn't in the loop on any additional news on Mark Foley and the GOP litany of lies, coverup and general stupidity in allowing the former Congressman free rein to harass 16-year-old pages.
According to the Associated Press, Congressman Reynolds’ spokesman confirmed that Reynolds had been informed by another Congressman that the boy had complained about Foley’s inappropriate communications “months ago.” According to the report, the allegations first came to light in late 2005. [AP, 9/30/06] It appears that Reynolds did not tell authorities about the emails or take any step to discipline Foley, apparently choosing instead to sweep the matter under the rug to protect the Republican party’s dwindling chances of retaining control of the House of Representatives this November.
* Some of the contradictions over when who knew what about "the Foley problem" continue -- Foley E-Mails 1st Reported in Fall '05. The NYT has coverage of this as well.
* In the NYT piece, Republican Chris Shays smacks the GOP leadership down.
Representative Christopher Shays, Republican of Connecticut, said any leader who had been aware of Mr. Foley’s behavior and failed to take action should step down. “If they knew or should have known the extent of this problem, they should not serve in leadership,” Mr. Shays said.
* Mike Rogers' work on this sleazebag got a boost today in The Miami Herald -- Gays comment on Foley resignation. Mike's on target -- the GOP closet is where a lot of this blame lies...
"He was a homophobe who needed to be exposed," said journalist Michael Rogers, whose website, http://www.blogactive.com/, reported on Rep. Mark Foley of West Palm Beach for three years.
"I first started to report on Foley in March 2003," said Rogers, who is gay. 'The reason why -- he's antigay. He voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and has not renounced that vote. He refused to acknowledge that he supported the repeal of `don't ask, don't tell.' He would not sign on as a co-sponsor. He should be held accountable for not supporting that or co-sponsoring.
"No community is expected to harbor their own enemies from within. He is an enemy of our community, yet he wants to step into our community and put us at risk. He puts every one of us in a bad light."
...Rogers said Foley's problems come from being in the closet.
"I do believe that he had unhealthy sexual advances to these guys because he was living his life as a closeted gay man," Rogers said. "Healthy gay men who are mature and dealing with their sexuality in a mature way don't hit on kids who are 16 years old. What's his signature issue? You don't know whether to laugh or cry."
Sully weighs in with the same sentiment we've also discussed many times here about the corruption that comes when power hungry-pols protect their closets. I, however, have no patience with people who attempt to govern from the closet. The McGreeveys, Schrocks, and now Foley watched their political careers go up in smoke over their pathologies.
I don't know Foley, although, like any other gay man in D.C., I was told he was gay, closeted, afraid and therefore also screwed up. What the closet does to people - the hypocrisies it fosters, the pathologies it breeds - is brutal. There are many still-closeted gay men in D.C., many of them working for a Republican party that has sadly deeply hostile to gay dignity. How they live with themselves I do not fully understand. But I have learned you cannot judge someone's soul from outside. That I leave to them and their God, and some I count as good friends and good people.
What I do know is that the closet corrupts. The lies it requires and the compartmentalization it demands can lead people to places they never truly wanted to go, and for which they have to take ultimate responsibility. From what I've read, Foley is another example of this destructive and self-destructive pattern for which the only cure is courage and honesty. While gays were fighting for thir basic equality, Foley voted for the "Defense of Marriage Act". If his resignation means the end of the closet for him, and if there is no more to this than we now know, then it may even be for the good. Better to find integrity and lose a Congressional seat than never live with integrity at all.
Amen. What I don't understand, however, is his need to forgive those who remain closeted. These folks need to be outed, because their pathologies (and ability to pass legislation) affect my life.
Feel free to add you own links in the comments about more updates on this GOP meltdown! :)
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UPDATE: I was going to respond to Anonymous (the first commenter) in the comments, but I decided to post it here. He/she insists:
I'm wary of making this "about the GOP." This is a whole other subject, but sometimes I wonder if a good way to stop the demonizing of gay people, would be to take the first, courageous volleys and curtail the demonizing, overgeneralizing, us-them-ing on our own part.
My response:
Foley only moderated his voting patterns after he was outed in gay media, and he continued to evade the media on his orientation -- as opposed to Kolbe.
I have no sympathy for Foley or the current makeup of the GOP.
Yes, this is all about the oh-so-pious GOP leadership and their hypocrisy. I'm tired of being on the receiving end of this Party's vitriol as a whipping boy whenever they want to stir up their sheeple Base, and when they are caught off guard in an indefensible position like this, particularly a "values voter" issue (isn't it all about saving and protecting the children?); they deserve all the attention they can get when things blow up in their face.
It is us against the AmTaliban, and the fact that the GOP has been taken over by the Right wing nutcases is not my problem. I'd welcome a return to a moderate Republican party, but it isn't happening any time soon. In fact, we have to be wary of a Democratic party that spends any time courting the fundie vote.
And it cuts off thinking, it cuts off creativity, it cuts off possible creative solutions. It's intellectual short-cutting.
This almost sounds like astroturfing. The GOP and Faux News would pound this story into the ground if the sides were reversed. Look at what taking the high road (Swift Boat) results in. Am I sorry that American politics has fallen to this level. Absolutely. Is being "nice" the way to victory? Ask Karl Rove. He's a master tactician, and he preys upon Dems inherent desire to play fair. And we lose because he is right. Sorry, but true.
This GOP leadership has rubber-stamped this president and has nearly destroyed the principles upon which this country was founded. They aren't going to get away with this one.
"Luis Vizcaino, a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay political group, said HRC had no comment on Foley’s resignation and the allegations against him. He said the group was not likely to discuss the development any time soon."
That's ball-less. Come on people, Foley's behavior isn't defensible and HRC can't even COMMENT? If anything the group should be out there educating people about how the closet is responsible for this in Foley's case and clarifying that orientation does not equal pedophile.
This is the same problem with HRC that we see over and over, "self-protection" instead of truly getting at the heart of what the issues are. It's the same pathetic logic for continuing to support Holy Joe because of his incumbency instead of Ned Lamont (who is more vocally pro-gay).
We don't need our advocates to clam up as well.
If folks allegedly on our side can't see the larger picture of Republican corruption on the Hill that "Foleygate" represents (just to back someone who began to vote our way only after being outed), it's a sad state of affairs.
***
Paul had his own poetic commentary on Foleygate, which you should definitely check out.
It was a great day in Durham - we had a huge turnout for NC Pride, more folks than I've seen in the last few years. Great weather - in the high 70s, low humidity.
For the first time that I can recall, we had honest to goodness fundies out there. The crew from Operation Save America showed up with the same tired signs that they probably use over in Charlotte. Everyone was laughing at them. OSA is not a local group -- they bus their folks in wherever they think they can drum up some publicity. This American Taliban-style organization isn't even from this area (it's based in TX). The goal of OSA, besides returning homos to the closet, is to get God back in the classroom and the state back into a woman's womb.
Today was no exception, though their signs were not nearly as colorful as the Westboro Baptist crew (they came to protest a production of The Laramie Project last year).
A couple of shots (click to enlarge).
One of the bikers in the parade revved their engine to drown out the fundies as attempted to bleat nonsense about sodomy and sodomites.
Our side had quite a few great zinger signs of their own. "Blood of the lamb" was one of Kate's favorites:
There was this one fundie all by himself on one street corner. I think this was a local dude, not an OSA-er. It was kind of sad that he couldn't find anyone else to "perform" with.
Kate and I marched with my old neighborhood association, Old West Durham, which is the host neighborhood of the parade. I'm with community allies OWDNA President John Schelp (far right) and City Councilman Mike Woodard, who said he has the Blend bookmarked (!), joined our group for the whole march -- and earned a blister!. It was good to see a lot of local pols out there today, mingling and even with tables set up to meet with the gay community.
Pastor Donald Fozard of Mt. Zion Church in Durham, said he follows the Bible's teachings, which say homosexuality is a sin.
"Why do they have to have a parade?" Fozard asked. "What we need is an open forum to talk about it face to face."
This dude lives about a half mile from our house. He has a life-size statue of a white couple in an embrace to symbolize "one man, one woman" in his front yard. The place looks like a compound.
He's a real winner.
Minister preaches against 'faggots', March 3, 2004. From this past Sunday's sermon, one would think the Rev. Donald Q. Fozard Sr. likes saying the word faggot. The pastor of Durham's Mount Zion Christian Church hollers the word's last syllable as if he were exorcising a demon, or as if he were a movie star who understands that notoriety rises when you do something incendiary.
"Faggots across the nation, heading churches. Homos on the pianos. Faggots in the choir. What kind of spirit is leading that church?" he asked his 150 worshippers.
Foley blasted 'vile' Clinton in 1998 for his 'sad sexual addiction'
Hahahahahahahahahhaha....Raw Story dug this one up from 1998. Oh that GOP hypocrisy comes back and bit you in the ass, Foley.
For more than a week, members of Congress said they would avoid partisan politics when they got Kenneth Starr's report on President Clinton. But when they finally saw it Friday, they split along party lines.
Republicans were aghast at Clinton's behavior, with many saying it showed he had lied and abused his power.
"It's vile," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. "It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction."
Read the online chats at PageOneQ of the oh-so-discreet IMing of the former chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children with a teenage House page:
Maf54 (7:58:59 PM): but it must feel great spirting on the towel
[redacted screenname] (7:59:06 PM): ya
Maf54 (7:59:29 PM): wow
Maf54 (7:59:48 PM): is your little guy limp...or growing
[redacted screenname] (7:59:54 PM): eh growing
Maf54 (8:00:00 PM): hmm
Maf54 (8:00:12 PM): so you got a stiff one now
[redacted screenname] (8:00:19 PM): not that fast
[redacted screenname] (8:00:20 PM): hey
[redacted screenname] (8:00:32 PM): so you have a fetich
So, let's see what the Republican-controlled House plans to do about Foley. The reaction of the House leadership (denial, changing stories over who knew what and when) -- and the lack of a reaction from the AmTaliban will prove what a sham they are putting on regarding "pro-family" values.
Resolution for ethics probe over Foley passes 410-0
The GOP is heading for meltdown as Nancy Pelosi offered a resolution to investigate the behavior of former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL). It passed 410-0.
Now the denial and cover up games begin, however there is no way they can blame Democrats for this one. They are in charge and this has blown up in their faces.
Let's look at some of the lying and butt-covering scrambling going on.
1. House Speaker Leader Dennis Hastert said he's shocked and didn't know about Foley's emails and IMs to teen pages.
"I was surprised," Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said after being informed of Foley's decision. "I didn't know what the situation was."
Gee, he must have amnesia, because perpetually tanned House Majority Leader John Boehner told the WaPo that Hastert knew months ago and the latter said to do something about it (clearly it didn't mean booting Foley).
The resignation rocked the Capitol, and especially Foley's GOP colleagues, as lawmakers were rushing to adjourn for at least six weeks. House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of some "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.), and that Hastert assured him "we're taking care of it."
2. The Dem on the House page board was never informed about Foley.
Roll Call has been all over this story, and breaks some news about John Shimkus (R-IL), head of the Page Board, and who didn't tell the Democrat on the board, Rep. Dale Kildee.
"I became aware of it this afternoon when [Shimkus] came by my office. I think we should have had a page meeting right away," Kildee said, referring to last year's discovery of Foley's e-mails.
When asked if was upset about being excluded, Kildee said yes, adding, "I've been on the page board for 20 years."
"I'm the chairman of the page board," Shimkus said when asked why he didn't include Kildee. "The Clerk and I addressed this issue."
So Kildee wasn't told, yet Roll Call reports that these Republicans were aware of the situation: Boehner, National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) and Reps. Rodney Alexander (R-LA.) and Shimkus, the former Clerk of the House Jeff Trandahl -- and the senior aide to Hastert.
Wait -- we're supposed to believe that Hastert's senior aide didn't tell him? The House Clerk was informed about an explosive matter like this, but not the Speaker? Jesus, they must think we're stupid. Either he was told, or, knowing the potential maelstrom that could occur if the story leaked, Hastert was given plausible deniability. I can't believe the latter -- I'm sure they thought they could keep a lid on this. And that leads to...
3. A sign of the implosion -- they can't get their stories straight.
-- In the Roll Call article, John Boehner denies telling Hastert. So which publication did you lie to, Boehner? -- The article also says that "according to a senior House GOP leadership aide, Hastert’s office was informed of the interview shortly after it occurred, but Hastert himself was not told." Love the anonymous spin job. Again, who's lying (and who has the motive for doing so)?
4. What, if anything, did those who did know about Foley's predatory, sexually harrassing behavior at the time (it obviously didn't involve any action against the Florida Congressman, then head of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children)?
Shimkus said in a statement last night, "in late 2005, I was notified by the then Clerk of the House," that Alexander had told the Clerk "about an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House Page. I took immediate action to investigate the matter."
"Foley asked about the former Page's well-being after Hurricane Katrina and requested a photograph," Shimkus said. He said Foley assured him it was an innocent exchange, but "nevertheless, we ordered Congressman Foley to cease all contact" with the boy and to respect all pages. "Only now have I learned that Congressman Foley was not honest about his conduct," Shimkus said.
Well, wasn't that a slap on the wrist. And no follow-up, clearly.
This was sexual harrassment of a House employee, a minor at that. Is this the best that the GOP leadership in this country can do to protect those who work for them from predatory elected officials?
Perhaps the ethics probe, the last thing the Republicans needed on the agenda as the election nears, will expose the real "values" of God's Own Party.
Of course in Freeperland there is plenty of gay bashing going on, though a lot of them are doing some hand-wringing about strategy. One thing for Log Cabinettes to note -- the Base, always willing to conflate any perverted sexual behavior with homosexuality, see the solution as booting all of you out.
Makes one wonder what they'll find on his computer.
GAWD....how the hell did the GOP caucus give him that committee assignment?
My God, this creep was head of the caucus on Missing and Exploited Children? Co-Chairman, at least that's what I heard on TV. Sounds like the fox guarding the henhouse. Good riddance to him. I hope authorities responded quickly enough and secured the computers and other gear that might been used in his sick little game.
Chalk up one more district for the Dims. What a sick POS.
Well...it's be a great way to get Jeb into the national picture....
Then to his republican supporters, it was alright to be gay, but not gay with 16-18 year old boys. I guess he crossed a some line that his republican supporters could not accept. What a fool.
You know what chaps my hide - the fact that the leadership knew about this months ago and did nothing. He should have been pressured to resign "to spend time with family" or whatever and then a suitable replacement could have been moved in his place to run. The district leans right. Now it's lost to the RATS. Way to frickin go. Politicians are idiots. This is a chess game that needs to be thought out three steps ahead, always.
Sheesh people all is not lost. foley won in 2004 with 65% of the vote, so that tells you that the district is conservative leaning. There is still a month to go, and like I said this lemon could turn into lemonade with the fact that the democrats have barney frank and patches kennedy, and that the democrats never call on the resignation of their trash.
I've heard rumors over the years about a dozen or so Reps having gay leanings, about equally split between Democrats and Republicans - GOOGLE will turn up numerous reports. As long as they stick to consensual relationships with adults (21 and over) , and the voters in their districts are satisfied with them otherwise, I say let it ride - likely "outing" would be harder on the Republicans than the Democrats. Adults praying on children and adolescents of either sex is something else, of course.
Good. The Republicans have enough problems with this fellow being sick and twisted adding to them.
The more research I do into this guy, the more it looks to me like he was yet another fake Republican. I don't know much about his district, but he sure as hell was no conservative. Good riddance to bad rubbish.
well, if a longtime politician is single, or has some issues, it seems that people let them slide, until something like this comes up. somebody close and personal should have said a looooong time ago: "Look, are you a homosexual or not? If so, are you going to push a homosexual agenda? If so, well then, you need to bring this out and let the constituents realize what you are all about. If not, well then keep you private life private and lets keep the house in GOP hands. And stay away from the pages."
Doesn't Rush live near Foley's district. Time to step up for the good of the country Rush.
RINO infestation - that's what happens when people settle.
Unfortunately, this "trash" may end up helping Pelosi run the house. When you combine Foley's district with Delay's, Ney's, and AZ-08, things are not looking too good for the GOP holding the house. Unbelievable.
Before everyone calls him a predator we should wait for a few more facts in this case. I dont really care if he gay or not and there is not going to be some "purge" of gays from the party. That being said if he did something wrong I am glad he is leaving
One more queer gone from leadership. It is GREAT news that we're getting rid of both Kolbe and Foley this election. It doesn't matter if we lose both seats, the damage these scumbags do to attack the GOP from within is far worse than any Democrat could do.
#1 - It was well-known that Foley was gay, though he refused to say either way in public. He had an open relationship with his boyfriend. #2 - Foley supported "gay rights" legislation
Yet the Republicans in his district kept supporting him and even tried to get him to run for Senate. Shame on them!
Just when you figure we've hit rock bottom, along comes something like this. Sick son of a bitch! I hope he's prosecuted.
Oh, boy you know the Rats and the MSM are going to use this big time tonight and the rest of the weekend. Way to go, you idiot.
"Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children..."
The entire United States Congress is run by imbeciles.
One more queer gone from leadership. A good thing even though he wasn't a dimorat.
Denny Hastert must resign for doing nothing about Foley
Friday, September 29, 2006
“Recent news stories remind us that there are predators using the Internet to target children,” Hastert said. “And just as we warn our children about ‘stranger danger’ when they are at the park or answering the door or telephone, we need to be aware of potential dangers in Cyberspace.” -- from a press release on House Speaker Denny Hastert's web sitetoday, touting his "Effort To 'Keep Kids Safe In Cyberspace"
Jesus. Too bad the Tyrannosaurus of Turpitude didn't give a damn that House pages were being preyed upon in IMs and emails by Rep. Mark Foley. Hastert knew about Foley's "problem" over a year ago, yet he didn't do anything about the Florida congressman, who was the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.
The page worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen's parents. Alexander told the Ruston Daily Leader, "We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem," a reference to the House's Republican leaders.
"I was surprised," Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said after being informed of Foley's decision. "I didn’t know what the situation was."
So who's lying? Heck, if didn't know, that's a bigger problem to explain -- no one thought he needed to know?
The bottom line is that Hastert didn't follow his own cyberspace advice -- and do something about the predator in his midst. He should resign.
We know all too well that in the GOP the buck never stops at the top.
***
More nasty Mark "totally stiff wood" Foley IM chats with a teen page have emerged (boy, no wonder he resigned so fast; he knew what was coming out), courtesy of ABC (PDF). Here is a snapshot of some of the exchange.
***
UPDATE: There is an interesting piece up at ABC, in the Reporter's Notebook by J. Jennings Moss, who outed Foley in The Advocate. He bolsters my case that Foley was drunk with power, deep in the closet and thought he could keep it padlocked while his pathological behavior went unchecked.
He also makes the point that the MSM simply won't hold politically closeted gay lawmakers accountable for hypocritical voting.
Ten years ago, I outed Foley as a gay man for The Advocate, the national gay and lesbian newsmagazine. But aside from one story in the St. Petersburg Times, no other Florida or national publications would touch the tale, either because Foley and his camp did a great job of shooting the messenger or because of the inherent fear the media have to delve honestly and without judgment into a person's sexual background.
...I remember that former GOP Rep. Bob Barr, the congressman who was the chief sponsor of DOMA, got asked once which of his three previous marriages he was defending, and no one raised a stink.
But asking a lawmaker if he was gay and how his sexuality affected his vote was just not acceptable. It wasn't in 1996, and I doubt many reporters would do it today. It's not homophobia per se. It's really more like homo-aversion.
Foley was a master of aversion. For The Advocate story, as I recall, Foley didn't grant a face-to-face interview but instead answered written questions. "Frankly, I don't think what kind of personal relationships I have in my private life is of any relevance to anyone else," he said.
...By staying so deep in the closet and browbeating others to keep his secret for him, Foley probably thought he was invincible. But secrets have a way of bringing down the powerful.
As we can see, the kinds of "relationships" Foley had were quite relevant -- his ghastly behavior involves preying on young pages -- and no one in the House leadership stopped him.
When do you think we'll hear from Daddy Dobson, Concerned Women for America or any of the other "pro-family" organizations about this government's coverup of a predator serving on the Hill?
Saying he was "deeply sorry," Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress today, hours after ABC News questioned him about sexually explicit internet messages with current and former congressional pages under the age of 18.
A spokesman for Foley, the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, said the congressman submitted his resignation in a letter late this afternoon to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.
Hours earlier, ABC News had read excerpts of instant messages provided by former male pages who said the congressman, under the AOL Instant Messenger screen name Maf54, made repeated references to sexual organs and acts.
Yet another reason why homo pols who vote anti-gay have no business holding office. When you live your life in the shadows of self-loathing trolling for sex, this is the end result -- poor judgment, outlandish arrogance that you won't get caught, and ultimately, in this day and age, public humiliation when it surfaces.
How does (now former) Rep. Foley, an alleged protector of children from sexual predation, explain this sh*t:
Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late. Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.
Another message:
Maf54: What ya wearing? Teen: tshirt and shorts Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.
And this one:
Maf54: Do I make you a little horny? Teen: A little. Maf54: Cool.
The language gets much more graphic, too graphic to be broadcast, and at one point the congressman appears to be describing Internet sex.
Well, in the end, he couldn't, so he had to step down.
The mind-blower (and the much bigger story here) is that the GOP House leadership knew about Foley's "activities" regarding pages -- and did nothing about it! (SFGate):
The page worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, R-La., who said Friday that when he learned of the e-mail exchanges 10 to 11 months ago, he called the teen's parents. Alexander told the Ruston Daily Leader, "We also notified the House leadership that there might be a potential problem," a reference to the House's Republican leaders.
How on earth does this square with all the bleating by Republicans that this was somehow a Dem smear when they knew what was going on? Someone better come up with a realistic explanation of how they could leave Mark Foley in his position as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children?!
This boggles the mind. How is God's Own Party going to explain away leaving a "potential problem" with access to pages?
***
Foley, you should hook up with Ed Schrock and compare notes about your respective downfalls. Schrock, you might recall, dropped out of his campaign when audio tapes surfaced of him seeking out gay sex on a phone service (courtesy of Mike Rogers), asking, among other things, that his respondent have “a great body on him,” be “white” and have a “good-sized endowment.”
These GOPervs just don't get it. In the end, they are addicted to access and power, and will never jeopardize that power bestowed upon them by the homo-hating wing of the GOP that currently rules the roost. They will only self-destruct because of their own corrupt, sad behavior that is paired with the inner turmoil of living in the closet.
Gay R.I. couples can legally marry in Massachusetts!
Big development! This will send the fundie machine into overdrive.
A Superior Court judge in Massachusetts has ruled that gay couples from Rhode Island may marry in Massachusetts because RI's constitution does not specify that marriage is between a man and a woman.
Up until this point, marriages of couples from other states performed in Massachusetts were not legal if the home state didn't recognize same-sex marriages. (Boston.com):
Wendy Becker and Mary Norton of Providence, R.I., argued that a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state residents from marrying in Massachusetts if their marriage would not be permitted in their home state did not apply to them because Rhode Island does not specifically ban gay marriage.
Suffolk Superior Court Judge Thomas Connolly agreed.
"No evidence was introduced before this court of a constitutional amendment, statute, or controlling appellate decision from Rhode Island that explicitly deems void or otherwise expressly forbids same-sex marriage," he ruled.
The ruling has no effect on whether Rhode Island or any other state must allow gay marriage.
State Attorney General Thomas Reilly said he would not appeal Connolly's ruling.
Reilly's office had argued that Rhode Island laws' use of gender-specific terms -- including both "bride" and "groom" -- made it clear that the laws' intent was to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
In a statement after Connolly's ruling was issued, Reilly said appealing the decision "would be a waste of time and resources."
"This case has always been about respecting the laws of other states," Reilly said.
That 1913 law was enacted over inter-state recognition of interracial marriage. Some of the very reasons for opposing marriage equality for gays were used to justify that discrimination. It's time for it to end everywhere.
"I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney are the only ones supporting me." -- Bush to key Republican leaders on his desire to "stay the course" in Iraq -- no matter what, in Bob Woodward's new book, State of Denial
That Dear Leader and his failed administration are trying to conceal the level of violence going on in Iraq is pretty much a given. What news reports we do see point out the obvious failure of this administration to be honest about a situation that is spinning out of control. Woodward's book makes it clear that urgent warnings back in 2003 about the insurgency were simply ignored, as Bush insisted the message had to be that things were peachy in IED land.
Perhaps Woodward's now trying to sharpen his teeth after for going soft on the administration re: the Plame Affair. (NYT):
The book says President Bush’s top advisers were often at odds among themselves, and sometimes were barely on speaking terms, but shared a tendency to dismiss as too pessimistic assessments from American commanders and others about the situation in Iraq.
As late as November 2003, Mr. Bush is quoted as saying of the situation in Iraq: "I don't want anyone in the cabinet to say it is an insurgency. I don't think we are there yet."
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld is described as disengaged from the nuts-and-bolts of occupying and reconstructing Iraq — a task that was initially supposed to be under the direction of the Pentagon — and so hostile toward Condoleezza Rice, then the national security adviser, that President Bush had to tell him to return her phone calls.
Cheney comes off as a Dr. Strangelove freakshow:
Vice President Cheney is described as a man so determined to find proof that his claim about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq was accurate that, in the summer of 2003, his aides were calling the chief weapons inspector, David Kay, with specific satellite coordinates as the sites of possible caches. None resulted in any finds.
Rumsfeld is perceived by some in the admin as off his rocker.
Mr. Rumsfeld reached into political matters at the periphery of his responsibilities, according to the book. At one point, Mr. Bush traveled to Ohio, where the Abrams battle tank was manufactured. Mr. Rumsfeld phoned Mr. Card to complain that Mr. Bush should not have made the visit because Mr. Rumsfeld thought the heavy tank was incompatible with his vision of a light and fast military of the future. Mr. Woodward wrote that Mr. Card believed that Mr. Rumsfeld was "out of control."
Bush and Rumsfeld refused to sit for an interview, but as usual, Woodward got a lot of the administration higher-ups to talk about the dysfunctional relationships in the White House that have brought us to where we are today.
* Paul has two good ones, Candidate facing N-Word accusations (picture Vernon Robinson), and posts on lesbian activist Aleta Fenceroy, who died this week.
* Mike Tidmus on anti-gay cartoons being distributed on a college campus by a "Christian" whackjob. The comics depicted the homo straw man that the Right loves to beat on -- we're portrayed as rapists, child molesters, murderers and thugs.
* The American Constitution Society for Law and Policy blog is running a five part Supreme Court preview featuring leading legal experts writing about key upcoming cases. The first in the series is "Abortion and the "Health Exception."
Two Roman Catholic priests stole and misappropriated $8.6 million in offerings and gifts made to their parish and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of it on car payments, rare coins and other personal expenses, authorities said Thursday.
Monsignor John Skehan, a former Miami-Dade and Broward priest who was pastor at St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church for four decades, was arrested Wednesday night at Palm Beach International Airport after he returned from Ireland. He was being held on $400,000 bond, police said.
Also accused is the Rev. Francis Guinan, another former Miami-Dade priest who succeeded Skehan three years ago. He is on an Australian cruise and called investigators Thursday.
''Millions of dollars that should have gone to helping the homeless folks or the school itself'' didn't, said FDLE agent Amos Rojas Jr.
''These guys lived the life they told everyone else not to live -- and they lived it on everyone else's dime,'' police spokesman Jeff Messer told the Palm Beach Post.
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Meanwhile, Papa Ratzi's pedophiles are still turning up; here's one in New Mexico on his way to the clink. (KOBTV):
A former New Mexico priest was sentenced in federal court Thursday to five years in prison for molesting a 14-year-old boy during a trip to Europe last summer.
George Silva, 74, in June agreed to a deal in which he would be sentenced to five years in a federal prison rather than go to trial and face a possible sentence of up to 30 years.
..."We agreed to a sentence of five years, the victim does not have to testify in this case, and we all thought that was an appropriate resolution in this case," said Assistant US Attorney Charles Barth following Silva's June 12th guilty plea in federal court in Albuquerque.
Silva, who had been a priest in Raton, was indicted by a federal grand jury on four counts of transporting the 14-year-old Raton Boy to France and Portugal for the purpose of having illicit sex. That's despite Silva being admonished repeatedly by the archdiocese of Santa to stay away from the boy.
Admonished? They were going to keep circulating this sick man until it bit the church in the ass. Again.
Leaders of a Roman Catholic order of priests worried for decades that the Rev. Michael Toulouse was a pedophile, but opted to move him rather than report him to police, a lawyer for several victims said.
Citing internal documents discovered in a U.S. District Court lawsuit against the Society of Jesus in Seattle, attorney Mike Shaffer said the Jesuit priest continued to molest boys after he was transferred from Spokane to Seattle University in 1950.
..."At least a dozen victims have been identified by now who suffered assaults from Toulouse's aggressive, predatory pedophilia," lawyers for the victim, identified only as J.C., wrote in court filings Wednesday.
...Documents dating back six decades show Jesuit leaders knew Toulouse was a pedophile, but took no action, Shaffer alleges. "They turned a monster loose in Seattle," he said.
Court filings contend Toulouse cultivated friendships with Catholic families, and then groomed their sons for sexual abuse even as Jesuit leaders worried about his behavior.
As early as 1938, Jesuit leaders suggested that the priest should leave the order, stating he "does not seem to understand the meaning of obedience," according to minutes from a provincial meeting marked "Confidential."
There's no way that you can consider former U.S. Dick Armey (R-TX) a friend of the homos (he voted yes on banning gay adoptions in DC, for example), but he's clearly had enough of the fundies. From Daddy Dobson's CitizenLink:
Former Texas Congressman Dick Armey, once a stalwart ally in the culture wars, appears to be turning his back on Christian conservatives and their leaders.
The former majority leader of the House of Representatives reportedly told Ryan Sager, author of a new book on the Republican Party, that values voters and their leaders — especially Focus on the Family Action Chairman Dr. James Dobson — are "nasty bullies."
In the interview, Armey responded pointedly when Sager asked why he thought Christian conservatives seemed more powerful now than in the 1990s.
"To a large extent, because Dobson and his gang of thugs are real nasty bullies," Armey said. "I pray devoutly every day, but being a Christian is no excuse for being stupid. There's a high demagoguery coefficient to issues like prayer in schools. Demagoguery doesn't work unless it's dumb . . . These issues are easy for the intellectually lazy and can appeal to a large demographic."
Hahahahahahahaha. Of course, the rest of the piece has Dobson's minions defending their boss and slamming Armey. Ooooh...delicious:
Focus on the Family Action President Jim Daly said it's shocking the former congressman would attack millions of values voters who helped Armey and other social conservatives gain control of Congress.
"Values voters expect to hear such cruel insults from the Left," he said, "but not from a champion of family values, as Mr. Armey once claimed to be...Perhaps Mr. Armey should spend less time with the ACLU, for whom he is now a paid consultant," Daly said, "and more time apologizing to American families."
Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., who served under Armey's leadership, said it was sad that someone of Armey's stature would call Christians a "gang of thugs."
"That would be your listeners and readers, (he's talking about)," the congressman told CitizenLink. "That would be the many Christians around the United States who devoutly hold conservative moral beliefs — and he's acting like this is just some kind of political game. And it's disgusting. I was incredibly disappointed to read these comments."
The Governator signs bill limiting 'gay panic' defense
"This is a victory for fairness in our criminal justice system and a tribute to the courage of Gwen Araujo. Too many Californians live with the very real fear that they will be victimized simply because of who they are. Government should have as its first priority the protection of all its citizens. Making sure that our court system treats all Californians fairly, regardless of individual differences is essential." -- Assemblywoman Sally Lieber (D-San Jose) on A.B. 1160, which Schwarzenegger signed last night
It's a tactic that rarely wins, but the fact that it has been legally acceptable to attempt to mitigate violent criminal acts using a defendant's homophobia until now in California is a travesty.
Gwen Araujo was a transgender teen from Newark, CA. who was murdered in 2002. Defense lawyers used the "gay panic" defense -- claiming that their rage and actions stemmed from having sex with Araujo and later learning she was born male.
Araujo was only 17 when she was killed.
The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act directs the Office of Emergency Services to create training materials for district attorneys on best practices to address the use of bias-motivated defense strategies in criminal trials. The bill also requires the Judicial Council to adopt a jury instruction that tells jurors not to consider bias against people because of sexual orientation, gender identity or other characteristics in rendering a verdict.
The law was praised by Araujo's family.
"Since my daughter was killed, my family and I have spent literally thousands of hours working hard to make sure that California is a state where everyone is respected and treated fairly," said Sylvia Guerrero. "The Gwen Araujo Justice for Victims Act will really help us in our work."
***
But it was a mixed bag for LGBT rights, as the Governator signed some bills and vetoed others:
* AB 2800, Civil Rights Housing Act of 2006 (signed). California housing laws are amended to include all of these categories in its anti-discrimination policy: race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, disability, sex (and gender identity), marital status, sexual orientation, familial status and source of income.
* AB 606, The Safe Place to Learn Act (vetoed). This would have required the withholding of state funds from school districts that did not adopt an anti-discrimination policy that included sexual orientation and gender identity.
* AB 1056, Tolerance Education Pilot Program (vetoed). The anti-bullying measure would have required funding this program to strengthen existing state law prohibiting LGBT harassment.
"We thank God that children in California public schools will be protected from this direct assault for one more year," said Randy Thomasson, president of the Campaign for Children and Families (CCF), a conservative, pro-family organization.
"The Democrat politicians and teacher unions are relentlessly pushing to sexually indoctrinate kids. Schwarzenegger has delayed them for now."
In his veto messages, Schwarzenegger said he vetoed AB 606 because it was "irresponsible" to create a new state mandate on schools, and he noted that existing laws already deal with discrimination and harassment in the schools.
The governor said he vetoed AB 1056 because it duplicated current efforts to provide "more avenues to teach about tolerance and human rights."
The final bill will land on the Chimperor's desk on Friday. This sailed through so that pols up for re-election could look tough on terrorists. Instead, it places our men and women overseas at risk. (AP):
The bill would create military commissions to prosecute terrorism suspects. It also would prohibit some of the worst abuses of detainees like mutilation and rape, but grant the president leeway to decide which other interrogation techniques are permissible.
Democrats contended the legislation could set a dangerous precedent that might invite other countries to mistreat captured Americans. Their opposition focused on language barring detainees from going to federal court to protest their detention and treatment — a right referred to as "habeas corpus."
"The habeas corpus language in this bill is as legally abusive of rights guaranteed in the Constitution as the actions at Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and secret prisons that were physically abusive of detainees," said Sen. Carl Levin, the top Democrat on the Armed Services panel.
Bush went to Capitol Hill Thursday morning, urging senators to follow the House lead and approve the plan.
"The American people need to know we're working together to win the war on terror," he said.
Bush had determined prior to that ruling that his executive powers gave him the right to detain and prosecute enemy combatants. He declared these detainees, being held at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and in secret CIA prisons elsewhere in the world, should not be afforded Geneva Convention protections.
...The legislation also says the president can "interpret the meaning and application" of international standards for prisoner treatment, a provision intended to allow him to authorize aggressive interrogation methods that might otherwise be seen as illegal by international courts.
Twelve Dems voted for the measure. Raw Story has the official tally.
Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL), like most of these full-of-themselves Beltway numnuts, probably didn't think that tawdry email exchanges with a 16-year-old male page (one remarking how sizzling one of his teen buddies is), would surface.
Reports circulated on the Internet earlier this week, indicating that in private emails, Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) had requested photographs of the page, asked what he wanted for his birthday, and inquired about his age. The emails may be viewed below.
A subsequent investigation by RAW STORY discovered that the addresses on the emails were indeed those of Foley and a now-seventeen year old boy, who forwarded them to a fellow staffer.
...RAW STORY spoke with several sources, who confirmed that they felt Foley was unusually friendly with young Hill pages, but failed to uncover anything of a more serious nature. Foley's office contends that the Congressman is only guilty of being overly-friendly and has categorized the story as part of an opponent's "smear campaign."
Foley has long marketed himself as a protector of children from sexual predation. In 2003, he became an outspoken critic of a summer nudist camp for children.
A couple of notes here -- the age of consent in DC is 16, and there's nothing overtly sexual in these emails, it's just pretty darn dumb for any elected official to be doing this sort of thing and expect it not to surface in an election campaign. Particularly when your reputation is that of a "protector of children from sexual predation."
Foley is another one of those political closet cases. Like David Dreier, he was outed in local media several years ago, but he doesn't discuss his orientation -- and the MSM is basically silent on the matter. Foley voted consistently against gay rights legislation before the outing; his record improved only after he was ejected from the closet.Still, last year he voted to allow faith-based organizations to bypass local anti-discrimination laws so they could fire gays.
Peter LaBarbera, btw, was one of the wingers tossing barbs at Foley's closet back in the day (2003).
Foley and his spokesman say they will not answer reporters' questions about his "personal life." The homosexual newspaper Washington Blade was told the same when it asked spokesman Kirk Fordham "point blank if Foley is gay."
Most nonhomosexual newspapers did not pursue the story, but after Norman broke the ice with his column, the pressure grew on Foley, who is running for the seat vacated by Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham. (Foley has raised far more money for the Senate run than fellow GOP congressman Bill McCullum, who is also in the race.) Foley sought to go on the offensive by holding a conference call with reporters May 22. However, the call, in which Foley restated his refusal to discuss his "orientation," only generated more press coverage.
***
Mike Rogers, who has been involved in getting these emails out there, plans to go to the FBI to request a full-scale investigation into Foley's contacts with Congressional pages.
NC Pride and features on gay legal issues in the Independent Weekly
This weekend is NCPride, which is held in the Triangle. The main festivities, including the parade, are held in Durham starting tomorrow. We hold our Pride later in the year to avoid the oppressively hot weather in late June, the month when most celebrations are held. The events list is here. I'll be there marching with my former neighbors of Old West Durham, the host neighborhood of the parade.
The Independent Weekly, the area's progressive paper, has a couple of great feature articles on gay issues to dovetail with the upcoming events.
One is a piece, Family Values, by Kristin Howard, a mental health clinician and artist in Durham, on being married to a gay man. She makes the case that marriage equality would prevent so many gays and lesbians from trying to "fix" themselves by throwing themselves into marriages in the mistaken belief that their orientation will change.
In her case, both she and her husband came from a conservative Christian community and were raised to believe gays were "abominations before God."
Ten years into the marriage, it was revealed to this bride, who was still very much in love with her husband (though he was often distant and depressed) that he had a "terrible secret." He was gay. He had fought that fact all of his life. When he met me, he knew that he was gay, but he thought he could change--that God would heal him. And the alternative--coming out as a gay man--could get him killed. Certainly it would mean he would be shunned by his congregation, his friends and possibly his family.
...In many of these situations, the ministers who married the couples knew that one of them was gay (or in their words, struggled with same-sex attraction), and they encouraged them to marry anyway, even though the straight spouse knew nothing. To "save" the homosexual from hellfire and damnation ... they never gave a thought to the straight spouse who could, and eventually would, be destroyed by it.
These gay people who married--some of them hoping that God would heal them or change them, some of them to simply have a "normal" life in a marriage with children and the picket fence, some of them to hide from persecution--had they been accepted for who they are, would probably never have married someone of the opposite sex.
Had they been allowed to marry a partner of the same sex and been accepted, they never would have made the choices that are now destroying their lives, the lives of their unsuspecting spouses, and in some cases the lives of their children. All because the only way they can be equal--and have the same rights as everybody else--is to pretend to be everybody else.
The other piece I was actually interviewed for (a few quotes made it in), Making it legal, covers legal protections that same-sex couples can avail themselves of until there's marriage equality (or an amendment that makes it difficult to sustain even those measures).
Durham Attorney Sharon Thompson points out, "A heterosexual can spend $50 on a marriage license and all of the sudden hundreds and hundreds of laws apply.
"In order for a same-sex couple to create some of those same protections, it's going to cost them. Wills for an average middle-class couple with some assets could run $1,000, $500 each for all those documents," she says. "But then if you want a property agreement, that's another $1,500. And then if you add on all the parent stuff, you add on several thousand dollars more. So you're looking at $5,000-$10,000 just to create legal protections and a family."
..."There are ways to cut that cost down," Thompson adds. "Healthcare power of attorney, for one. You can go online to the secretary of state's Web site (www.sosnc.com), or the medical society (www.ncmedsoc.org), and download healthcare power of attorney forms, and it's free. And those are fine, because they're North Carolina documents."
John Boddie, a Raleigh native who currently practices law in Greensboro, has a few more suggestions.
"I like people to make sure that any significant property that they own is owned 'in joint tenancy with right of survivorship.' You can own any property that way--your house, your car, your bank account. It's just a matter of using that magic language. And when I say 'magic language,' I mean that, because in North Carolina if you don't use those precise words, then you don't own your property jointly.
In the interview, it's mentioned that we found Sharon Thompson's table at NCPride, her firm is well-known as one of the go-to attorneys for LGBT couples around here who want to protect their rights (to the extent that we can).
Kate and I established "joint tenancy with right of survivorship" for our property, and had wills and healthcare and other power of attorney documents drawn up. We didn't spend anywhere near the figures quoted in this piece because we don't have kids -- that sends legal fees into the stratosphere, because there are so many legal bases to cover.
Don's a piece of work. He's not stupid though, as his ongoing battle against Ford for its support of The Homosexual Agenda has earned the automaker an American Family Association boycott -- he now realizes that this could all backfire on him.
The intent was to punish Ford with bad PR, not destroy it, but he issued press release after grandiose press release bleating about the AFA's success and influence on Ford's situation (as opposed to, say the auto giant relying on big trucks and huge SUVs as its meal ticket).
The latest spin now? Don is saying that the AFA was forced to boycott Ford, lest it look weak as an organization. Holy mother of dog...
Wildmon says Ford is suffering the effects of its decision to aggressively promote same-sex "marriage" and other aspects of the homosexual agenda. The pro-family leader notes that AFA had suspended the boycott for six months; however, after Ford reneged on its agreement to remain neutral in the culture war, he says the boycott was back on.
Last weekend, Wildmon addressed the Values Voter Summit in Washington, telling the audience there that Ford left AFA and other pro-family groups with no other choice than to act in protest of the automaker's decision. "If we have the boycott," he observed, "we're going to hurt some people, and that is no fun. But if we don't boycott, we have no integrity left, and we're going to hurt more people in the long run."
The pro-family spokesman says Ford is hurting. And although AFA and other groups who have joined the boycott are not responsible for all of the auto company's financial woes, he says they are responsible for a substantial part of the difficulty Ford is now having with its bottom line.
...The officials at Ford made a decision, Wildmon asserts. "They elected to continue supporting the homosexual agenda and homosexual marriage," he says. And if pro-family and conservative groups fail to respond to the automaker's actions, the AFA spokesman contends, those groups will, in essence, have "given corporate America over to homosexual leadership."
Too late, Don -- the AFA integrity train left the station long ago. It's all your fault, isn't that what you wanted?
Bush is visiting Alabama today and will be making a stop in The Magic City (to fundraise for Governor Bob Riley's re-election campaign). Like most of Dear Leader's stumping and shilling these days, it's under wraps -- the events aren't open to the public.
***
Open thread...links and blogwhoring highly encouraged.
As usual my insomnia had me up last night and I happened to catch about 10 minutes of a rerun of an excruciating interview with American Idol runner-up and fellow Tar Heel Clay Aiken on Larry King Live that aired earlier that evening.
The boy needs to give it up on the gay rumors. Watching him dodge the fairly softball questions from Larry King was painful to watch, given King made it easy for him to just get the whole thing over with, one way or the other.
Whoever is advising him on how to handle this needs to find a new job. Straight guys don't have a problem affirming their heterosexuality. This interview made Clay look like he has something to hide -- and it's ultimately sad, because you can see that he's struggling with the fallout from the Paulus incident. Being a Southern Baptist doesn't make life any easier, btw. (CNN):
KING: Monday night on this show Oprah was on and was asked the same thing, wrote an article about it, and said she's not going to discuss it anymore but she's not gay, nothing against being gay. If she were gay, she would say she was gay but she's just not and that's it. She's not going to discuss it anymore. What's the big deal?
AIKEN: I have no idea.
KING: How did it start with you?
AIKEN: I don't -- I don't really know why. I've never been really involved in like in celebrity stuff. People always ask me who is your favorite singer? Who is your favorite -- all that stuff and I really don't know because I didn't pay attention to it too much.
And I've never really picked up the magazines and read any of them even before this and so I've not been involved in the whole sensationalism of celebrity's lives and never understood it.
So, I don't understand why people care. I mean I kind of think you know what you do what you do, I'll do what I do. Everybody does what they do. I hope that I'm here to sing and be successful and do it well enough that people want to hear me and that's kind of what I want to do, you know.
KING: But you're smart enough to know that people do care so the obvious question would be why not just -- it ain't going to affect your career one iota no matter what you are. Why not just put it away?
AIKEN: Because, you know what I found because I responded before and what I found is that people are going to think what they want to think anyway.
KING: You mean you responded by saying no?
AIKEN: I've responded every way I can, you know. I said, "Listen, I'm not going to deal with this anymore now because it doesn't matter what I say. People are going to think what they want to say."
When I was a kid and I would get in trouble in school the only -- the only acceptable answer if you broke something or you cheated on a test or whatever was yes. And, if you didn't say yes, the teacher didn't believe you anyway, so what's it matter. And I found that no matter what you say there are going to be people who believe one way or the other and so on and so forth.
KING: So, in other words, no matter what you said it wouldn't matter?
AIKEN: I've just -- I've given up. And at the same point, I kind of figure, you know, I've got -- I want to be available and open to fans who have been supportive of me but at the same time, you know, when people drive by my house and take pictures of where I live and put it on the Internet and put my home address online and whatnot, it's a little too much.
And so, you kind of have to draw -- I've had to realize it doesn't matter what. I'm going to draw a line here. I'm going to perform. I'm going to sing and I'm going to do whatever I can and hopefully entertain people and make them happy and make them smile, you know. Some people are going to hate me.
KING: I'm going to give you some logic from an older person.
AIKEN: OK.
KING: No matter what your sexual being is by answering it yea or nay you put it away. It's gone once you answer it. In other words, if you said -- if you say yea, what are they going to do hit you over the head, not listen to you sing, no. If you say nay, what are they going to do to you? In other words, you're putting yourself in a no win and you could be in a win-win.
AIKEN: Or I could just say, you know what, forget it. I'm not going to deal with it anymore.
...KING: All right. As a hypothetic do you think it would be career affecting if you were? Do you think people would stop buying your CDs?
AIKEN: I don't -- hypothetically I don't think so.
KING: Hypothetically.
AIKEN: I don't think so. I think...
KING: I don't either.
AIKEN: I think it's -- I think we're a very progressive America now. I don't really sit around and hypothesize about it though, you know. I don't really -- it's not something that occupies my time.
KING: But you don't think it would be career ending?
AIKEN: No, I don't think anything -- I mean I think, again I think people's -- if celebrities nowadays can do the things that celebrities do and still be successful, you know, I think that anybody can get by with pretty much anything. I don't plan on killing anybody. And so, I don't think but, again, I don't think about it that often.
This goes on and on. Aiken says he's had to deal with escalating panic attacks over this, for crying out loud. Quite frankly, coming out of the closet can't be worse that what he's dealing with now. It's hard for him to see that when he's padlocked in, though. It's something many gay folks can attest to -- but they never regret coming out once they muster that courage to do so.
I had to turn off the TV because it was tortuous watching him do this dance. He could have dismissed the line of questioning by simply giving the kind of answer Oprah gave and moved on and discussed his new record. If he's truly straight (in the hypothetical of course), then he's got a whole host of other problems if he's unable to better control an interview to prevent an extended nails-on-the-blackboard session like this.
When reading the entire transcript, a lot of Clay's issues have to do with his difficulty handling fame (whether due to his success as a recording artist or over the tabloid stories); this is a young man in need of better handlers and some counseling.
Yes, the fundies have now embraced the digital age — for the coffers. Since most folks don't carry a lot of cash on hand (with the popularity of debit cards), Pastor Marty Baker of the evangelical Stevens Creek Community Church in Augusta, GA, helps parishioners part with their cash by providing ATM-like devices in the church.
Baker has waded further into the 21st century than most fishers of American souls, as evidenced one Wednesday night when churchgoer Josh Marshall stepped up to a curious machine in the church lobby.
It was one of Stevens Creek's three "Giving Kiosks": a sleek black pedestal topped with a computer screen, numeric keypad and magnetic-strip reader. Prompted by the on-screen instructions, Marshall performed a ritual more common in quickie marts than a house of God: He pulled out a bank card, swiped it and punched in some numbers.
The machine spat out a receipt. Marshall's $400 donation was routed to church coffers before he had found his seat for evening worship.
"I paid for gas today with a card, and got lunch with one," said Marshall, 30. "This is really no different."
Not only does the church, where Baker preaches that the Bible is the "eternal and inviolate word of God," receive the e-tithing, but the Baker family gets a cut of the buxxx as well.
Gee, didn't I just post about the growing concern about the "prosperity" gospel producing holy-rolling greedy windbags?
"It's truly like an ATM for Jesus," Baker said.
This summer, Baker and his wife, Patty, began selling the devices to other churches through their for-profit company, SecureGive. They are its only employees, but a handful of contractors help them custom-tailor the machines for churches.
...The Bakers charge between $2,000 and $5,000 for the kiosks, which come in a variety of configurations. They also collect a monthly subscription fee of up to $49.95 for licensing and support. And a card-processing company gets 1.9% of each transaction; a small cut of that fee goes to SecureGive.
The next bright idea the Bakers have, if this takes off, is to produce and sell donation machines that attach to the backs of the pews.
***
When I crossposted this at Pandagon, a reader seemed to think that I had an objection to the idea of an ATM in the church. The ATM idea in itself to address the debit card society isn't a bad idea. The irony is that technology has been adopted by the fundie flat earthers — the same people who will be lining up to go to The Creation Museum.
Unless the Bakers are giving it all away (the article only indicates that they will "give a significant sum to their church"), they are cashing in -- per tush-in-the-pew. Trust me, they are "banking" on the prosperity gospel. Once commenter there noted:
This is like giving the metalsmith 1% of each week's collections, or paying the stonesmith a fee for each dunk/sprinkle, or paying the carpenters a per-butt-in-pew fee every week.
Traditional Values Coalition: 'Will Cross-Dressing Activists Come To Your School?'
"TVC has long warned that one of the next phases of the homosexual movement is to normalize cross-dressing and sex change operations. The ultimate goal is to blur all distinctions between male and female-and to destroy marriage as a God-ordained institution." -- from TVC's society saving report, "Will Cross-Dressing Activists Come To Your School?"
Oh, please stop it. Wild-eyed Lou Sheldon and his mouthpiece Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition are fixated on all things homo. Lou is convinced every gay (man, of course) is a pedophile. TVC drones have a special place in their tiny, confused, diseased brains for gender identity disorder (GID). Trans folks are now destroying the sanctity of marriage too -- and the schools are next, as you will read below.
Actually, Lou, who is a big advocate of exorcism as "reparative therapy," clearly doesn't have a clue what gender identity disorder is. Last year, he was on American Family Radio's Today's Issues and he said this:
Now, you may have gender identity conflict -- that's the medical-scientific name for homosexuality -- where you're attracted to the same-sex person, but once you enter into the culture, into the music, into the gay bars, into the gay literature, into the gay theater, and all of that kind of -- and gay travel -- once you immerse yourself into that, you have really put yourself into a groove that only a sort of an exorcism can release you from.
"Transgender activists are aggressively targeting our public school children this fall," said TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty. "These sexually confused individuals have made it their goal to deceive our kids into thinking they're the opposite sex. This insanity must stop. Our new report, "Will Cross-Dressing Activists Come To Your School?" exposes this dangerous effort to confuse our children."
TVC's Back to School Report details the growing movement of transgender activists, including teachers, counselors and pediatricians who are teaching children that being male or female is "fluid" and changeable. "This is absolutely crazy, but pediatricians from some of the nation's most prestigious children's hospitals are involved in this gender confusion movement," said Lafferty.
"Children who suffer from a Gender Identity Disorder are being redefined by these radical pediatricians as 'gender variant' children who should be affirmed in their sexual confusions. These children need serious therapy, not affirmation for their gender confusion. A boy who thinks he's a girl, needs help-not a sex change when he becomes a teenager. These kids need compassionate attention to overcome self-hatred and to live normal lives as males and females-not to be told that they're actually girls trapped in boy's bodies. This is a physical and mental impossibility," said Lafferty.
The article wastes a lot of space challenging scientific findings and respected doctors in the field of GID by quoting studies on the fact-challenged National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) web site.
One laughable passage in the report, about the influence of the Homosexual/Trans Agenda on private schools, lists several "homosexual friendly" institutions that are leading America's children into a sea of sexual and gender confusion. It's off the charts batsh*t crazy:
Park Day School is so well-known for its "homosexual friendly" atmosphere that the San Francisco Chronicle featured it in a March, 2002 article: "Teaching the reality of gay life; Oakland schoolkids learn a rare lesson."
The Chronicle notes that in early March 2002, kindergarteners through 6th graders listened to 45 speakers from a "list of Bay Area's gay movers and shakers" describe homosexuality and "A male therapist who was once female talked to the sixth-graders."
The San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus sang songs about self-pride and "Rubber Ducky," a Sesame Street classic.
...Children are encouraged at Park to write essays about famous "gay" people and to decorate their classrooms with rainbow flags and pictures of Melissa Ethridge and her homosexual partner. Eleven-year-old Ben Ruffman-Cohen, "who has two moms" said that the experience was the "best week of my life."
What is being done to gender confused children at Park Day School will be coming to your school soon. It is only a matter of time.
Argh, the evil influence of the sexually ambiguous gay duo of Ernie and Bert. And I thought Rev. Falwell (queer Tinkywinky) and Daddy Dobson (homo Spongebob) were unhinged.
Hey 'Radical' Russ, we've got a live one out in your neck of the woods -- a dude from some outfit called the Idaho Values Alliance, Bryan Fischer. He's getting the vapors over Wal-Mart's decision to co-sponsor LGBT Diversity Week at Boise State University.
I think his real problem is that the other sponsor, The Pleasure Boutique, sells sex toys. According to Don Wildmon's "news" organ, AgapePress, the big-box retailer has given its "full endorsement to the homosexual agenda."
The Pleasure Boutique is a company that openly boasts of having the "largest adult toy section in Idaho," as well as the state's largest selection of adult movies and DVDs. Bryan Fischer, executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, says it is "just bizarre" that a retailer that has traded on a pro-family image in the past "would join forces with a porn peddler to promote the homosexual agenda."
Faithful Wal-Mart shoppers, Fischer observes, must be wondering what the company's corporate executives are doing to Sam Walton's once family-friendly company. "If companies are known by the company they keep, like people are," he adds, "Wal-Mart has some serious explaining to do."
The Idaho Values Alliance spokesman believes those at the helm of the world's largest retailer are making a costly mistake. "By pandering to two percent of the population, they're running the risk of alienating the millions of families that have made Wal-Mart one of the most successful businesses in history," he comments. "Why Wal-Mart would want to take that kind of a risk is a mystery."
...Another event being held during Boise State University's week of LGBT promotions is a lecture called "Heterosexism," [Don] Wildmon points out. In this presentation, the pro-family leader says, a heterosexual couple will "help" heterosexuals deal with their supposed bigotry toward homosexuality.
Abandon ship for another Christian Coalition chapter
Wednesday, September 27, 2006
Georgia's chapter of the Christian Coalition is saying "see ya".
The exodus of state affiliates continues from the Christian Coalition of America. The Georgia Christian Coalition has become the latest state affiliate to break away from the national body over disagreements with priorities. Iowa, Ohio, and Alabama branches have done the same thing in recent weeks.
In a September 25 letter to Christian Coalition president Roberta Combs, Georgia state chairman Sadie Fields says her group wants to abide by its standing mission of speaking out against things such as abortion, pornography, and gambling. As an Associated Press report notes, the state groups charge the national organization has switched priorities to things such as the minimum wage, the environment, and Internet law. The national organization is also one-million dollars in debt.
***
In the same news roundup -- AgapePress bleats about White House spokesbot and expert on racism, Tony Snow, who spoke at the Values Voter Summit over the weekend and passed along Dear Leader's salve for the fundies in attendance -- "preserving the famiy." Boy this is empty. (AgapePress):
White House press secretary Tony Snow says one of the key issues in the upcoming election season is the preservation of the family. The former Fox News host says for a society to be strong and whole, it must preserve the family. Snow, a father of three, says the family is an institution that not only continues to transmit values, but also creates a core of conviction that enables individuals to thrive in good times -- and rise to the challenge in bad.
Speaking at the Values Voter Summit in Washington, DC, over the weekend, Snow shared that President Bush has made it clear in several ways that he is willing to defend the family, most notably with the Marriage Protection Amendment. "This is a president who does, in fact, believe in the sanctity of the family," stated Snow. "He wants people to know that the definition ought not to change, because it has a real meaning for all of us."
The black Jesse Helms has a new ad up, and it's ridiculously desperate. Vernon Robinson, who's attempting to unseat Brad Miller in the 13th District race here in NC, loves putting up outrageous ads, like the mindless, classic Twilight Zone ad (below).
This time around, Vernon accuses Miller of supporting the expenditure of taxpayer dollars on controversial National Institute of Health projects. Some of the questionable studies: elderly masturbation, Vietnamese prostitutes and panda bears, according to Raw Story. A measure to remove those projects (which were folded in a massive appropriations bill -- where lots of pork always gets rolled in), was defeated, and Robinson lays the blame at Miller's doorstep -- even though 46 Republicans also voted it down. How convenient.
Vernon uses talking points put out by Mother Schlafly's Eagle Forum. Here's the ad:
I love this write-up by Mike Sheehan of Raw Story:
Robinson, who formerly worked in George H.W. Bush's administration and was once called "the black Jesse Helms" by the Winston-Salem Journal, is notorious for political ads that border on camp. He previously ran an ad featuring mariachi music with a voice intoning that America could be "nothing but one big fiesta for illegal aliens and homosexuals," as well as another which included a man grabbing his crotch.
Former GOP presidential candidate Jack Kemp withdrew his endorsement of Robinson in the 2004 race, saying "[he] was running a very negative and aggressive anti-immigration campaign, which I believe is contrary to the core values of the party of Lincoln."
But in UFOs, the Greys, MIB...do you think beings from other worlds have visited Earth -- and that there is a conspiracy to cover it up?
Some Brits are convinced that their government is hiding evidence of something. (Guardian Unlimited):
The Ministry of Defence went to extraordinary lengths to cover up its true involvement in investigating UFOs, according to secret documents revealed under the Freedom of Information Act.
The files show that officials attempted to expunge information from documents released to the Public Records Office under the "30-year rule" that would have revealed the extent of the MoD's interest in UFO sightings.
In particular, the ministry wanted to cover up the operation of a secret unit dedicated to UFO investigations within the Defence Intelligence Staff. UFO conspiracy theorists have likened the unit, called DI55, to a sort of "Men in Black" agency for defending the Earth against invasion but the released documents show this is far from the truth.
Just thought I'd completely change gears after a day full of weirdanti-gayposts.
BTW, fun fact: the infamous Roswell incident -- the Roswell Daily Record newspaper story on it appeared on my birthday (not birth year, mind you!).
Here is an opportunity for Howard Dean to say something of consequence about equality and the Democratic Party. He will speak at Baltimore Black Pride. From the organization's press release (thanks, T):
The International Federation of Black Prides, Inc. (IFBP), International Federation of Black Prides Fund For Leadership (IFBP Fund) and Baltimore Black Gay Pride are pleased to announce Gov. Howard Dean, Chair of the Democratic National Committee as the featured speaker at the 2006 Baltimore Gay Black Pride Pre Black Out Party Reception on Friday October 6, 2006 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at the Wyndham Baltimore Inner Harbour Hotel 101 W. Fayette Street Baltimore, MD.
..."We are all very pleased that Gov. Dean chose Baltimore Black Gay Pride as the first opportunity to address the Black LGBTI community as we continue to engage our people in the various political processes. It is a very historic appearance given this is the first time the Chair of any national party system has addressed a Black gay audience specifically, said Earl Fowlkes, President/CEO of the IFBP and the IFBP Fund.
I hope someone out there is able to attend and hear whether Dean does anything other than a "rally the troops" message, telling them to vote in November. It would be impressive if he used this forum to address the crowd with a message about what the Democratic party intends to do to:
1) counter the inevitable demonizing of gays by the Right for political gain, particularly where there are amendments on the ballot in Nov.;
2) make it clear to voters what the party's values are regarding full civil equality (not just marriage) and discrimination -- many potential het allies have no clue what is at stake, and voter education is sorely needed;
3) talk about the subject of homophobia in the black religious community. (Hell will probably freeze over before he says anything about this.)
Will Rev. Willie Wilson drop by to shout out some epithets about "lesbians taking over the community?"
I don't have high hopes that what he says will be anything substantial, given the DNC probably thinks his appearance alone will inflame the Right. That's probably true, but as I've said before, they already think Dems are the party of the homos, so take a position and defend it, not run away from it.
Two Visions of Ohio. This video sends chills down your spine. Equality Ohio captures the outlandish, batsh*t-crazy -- but powerful -- Rod Parsley, the Talibangelist head of Reformation Ohio and Center for Moral Clarity and the unhinged Right.
It started with a group of diners talking about gay marriage and the same-sex marriage amendment that will be on Wisconsin's November election ballot.
A gay woman named "Jorryn" says the debate got heated when a customer from another part of the restaurant came over and joined the gay marriage discussion. "He said it's never going to happen, it's never going to never going to pass in Wisconsin, and it's against God."
That when the argument got physical.
Surveillance video shows the man, who had just joined the debate, pushed "Jorryn" down and then punched another customer.
The fight continued with the suspect yelling, throw chairs and punching people.
The suspect walked out of the restaurant and some witnesses thought he was going to get a weapon. He came back, not with a gun, but throwing ketchup bottles and anything else he could get his hands on.
Gay History Month at schools irks some Philly parents -- and the Freepi
October has been designated Lesbian and Gay History Month by the The Philadelphia School District, and when 200,000 calendars were mailed out to households, some parents had a cow. (NBC10):
The calendar also listed September as Hispanic Heritage Month, February as African-American History Month as Philadelphia School District and May as Asian Pacific-American Month.
..."Gay and Lesbian Month? That's sexuality - that's a preference," said Nicola Rucker, 41, a mother of two students told the Philadelphia Daily News.
...The idea, according to the district, is to promote and instill pride in those from various cultures as well as different sexual orientations.
This is the kind of story that you know generates the most riotous responses in the swamps of Freeperland, and I was not disappointed, though it was nice to see the allegedly non-racist forum get down to the things that matter.
[Only three comments in to bestiality!] Bestiality Week is coming soon. Bring your pet to school!
I wonder what month Pedophilia Month is?.......and Beastiality Month........and .........
What do you bring to school for Sado-Masochism Week?.......
If I was African American or Asian, I'd be highly insulted that I received the same exact honor as gays and lesbians.
I will recognize "black history month" and "gay and lesbian history month" just as soon as we get an official "white history month" and a "heterosexual history month" Man! ...the stomach-churning hypocrisy of the left.
Surely you jest. Everyone knows EVERY month since the beginning of time has belonged to whitey and straight people. It's high time they get theirs.
....or Christianity Month........How about Short People Month or Fat People Month?.........
And don't forget a celebration of first amendment pornography rights.
I am Asian ascent, and I'm insulted. I think I'll go riot and burn cars..........
Make sure they are cars with leftist bumper sticker slogans on them. They might even help you if you claim you are being oppressed for some reason or another by "the man". They can never pass up a good street riot/demonstration/ smashing of other people's property. It's a sacred part of their religion.
All I have to do is torch the Priuses, Hondas, and Volvos.......
What's next,Brokeback basketball???
The school district also allows 20 Gay and Lesbian clubs meet on various high school grounds after classes Aiding and abetting?
they can't figure out how to teach reading but they can figure out how to teach kids about homosexuality. get the kids out of public schools NOW - run and don't look back.
Why not Blow Job Week to honor Clinton?
I'd be all for a gay month, just so the school can get it out of the way and have a homo-free rest of the year.
Maybe they could provide seminars to the students, like use and care of colostomy bags, abc's of infections, bathroom etiquette for homosexuals (deciding who should raise the seat and when), and how to hold the attention of a lover with a wondering eye.
Because these people's accomplishments are only worthwhile if they are gay? Sheesh!
The only way to avoid the Left's Perversion of the Month Club is to steer clear of all public schools and the culture of evil and mediocrity they foment.
So a "pride weekend" each summer isn't enough...now they need a whole month to celebrate perversion and deviant behavior?!
School Boards have restrictions on sexual material. Homosexuality is STICTLY a recreational sex subject. This is 100% subject to explicity sexual material policies.
Feingold mulling presidential bid. One of the few Dems with a spine at the national level -- Russ Feingold is a vocal supporter of marriage equality. We need someone like him to jump into the 2008 race to help reframe the debate, because he won't sit on the fence -- or worse, court the fundies -- like some we know who have White House ambitions.
Maverick Wisconsin Sen. Russ Feingold said yesterday the outcome of this November's elections could determine whether he runs for president in 2008.
Before giving a speech at the National Constitution Center yesterday, the Democrat said "a discouraging outcome would be if the Republicans didn't lose any ground in the Senate or didn't lose much ground, if they kept the House, if the analysis of the election was people really were squeamish about leaving Iraq."
...An often-controversial progressive voice in the Senate since 1993, Feingold is best-known for the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance legislation. He also was the only senator to vote against the Patriot Act and voted against invading Iraq.
...Feingold, who has sponsored a resolution to censure Bush over allegations of illegal wiretapping, also spoke out against what he called Bush's obsession with expanding executive power. "There has to be something on the pages of history... indicating the lawlessness of this administration," he said.
"The proposed ban on civil unions and marriage is a mean-spirited attempt to divide Wisconsin and I indicated that it should be defeated," Feingold said."It discriminates against thousands of people in our communities, our co-workers, our neighbors, our friends, and our family members. It would single out members of a particular group and forever deny them rights and protections granted to all other Wisconsin citizens. It would also outlaw civil unions and jeopardize many legal protections for all unmarried couples, whether of the same or the opposite sex. We shouldn't enshrine this prejudice in our state's Constitution." -- Russ Feingold, on his web site, slapping down the bigots in his state
A seven-point plan to combat the Homosexual Agenda
Linda Harvey style. The queen of Mission[ary Position] America (which "focuses on homosexuality and its destructive impact on youth"), has her latest screed up at LifeSite News.
This time she's claiming that homos have deployed some kind of secret weapon that is "secretly destroying the Christian faith of millions of teens, whether they are involved in the behavior or not." It's a pathetic, sad, desperate attempt to appeal to parents by drawing a picture of the familiar predatory homosexual straw man. If folks don't combat it, she suggest that an entire generation will be lost to The Homosexual Agenda.
Not to worry, she has a Seven-Point Plan to Protect Christian Youth Against Homosexuality. You can read the entire insane piece, but I'll summarize in snippets.
1. Begin a serious Bible study for your youth group on homosexuality, reading and discussing the Scriptures that pertain to this issue.
2. Repeat, and repeat again, and repeat again, that there is no evidence in Scripture or in science that homosexuality is inborn. This is not an inevitable condition for certain unlucky people, but is a developmental desire that may feel "natural" to some but ultimately is changeable. [She then proceeds to cite an article from Concerned Women for America's Culture and Family Institute as proof.]
3. Put homosexuality in the broader context of sexual sin in general, showing how Scripture points to the weakness for sin all humans have especially as we stray from God's created order and His teachings. [Linda then goes into unhinged nonsense about "ungodly pagan sexuality."]
4. Make sure your youth know that no one is condemned forever through homosexual behavior or any other sin. What condemns a person is refusing to accept Christ as Saviour and lack of repentance, while willfully, deliberately continuing to sin. This is a good place to discuss the number of former homosexuals who are now publicly telling their stories. [Yes, the stories of the usual "ex-gay for pay" or "professional heterosexual" suspects (and reparative therapists) are very convincing...]
via Truth Wins Out. View the whole video about "ex-gay" Richard Cohen's "therapy" here.
5. Also emphasize that Christians do not have to apologize for what the Bible says about homosexuality. All Christians should be kind, polite, and civil to others, but we need to stop apologizing and giving special recognition to homosexual sin or those involved. Sentences that start with, "I'm not homophobic, but...." are concessions to a framework of thinking that those advocating homosexuality have developed and our culture often now accepts, but Christians should not. [She also believes that condemning gays is part of "God's careful, protective provision of us."]
6. Now, here's the tricky part. Teens need to have some idea about what homosexuals do, and how physically destructive and high risk this behavior often is. How can this be communicated without getting overly graphic? It's important to cover HIV risks, the lack of protection of condoms, the risks of oral sex, and the risks of anal sex. Also, one should mention the highly promiscuous nature of adult, homosexual lifestyles as most live them. [BS. No stats to support this, of course.]
7. Finally, we need to caution our kids against friendships with people practicing homosexual behavior, and with those who condone it, particularly those who call themselves Christians... It's a serious mistake to believe they are mature enough to be thrust into situations which the enemy will use to confuse them. [There's that thrusting again.]
My, we are powerful. Just look at all those amendments passing. How's that happening -- is our weapon not deploying properly?
***
It looks like Daniel at Ex Gay Watch and Jeremy at Good As You found Linda's laff riot as well.
The article, published in the Enquirer's Oct. 2 issue, claimed that her hubby, Al Reynolds, is gay and has moved out of the couple's abode and is now cohabitating with a man.
"Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds have tried to handle these vicious lies and attempts at character assassination with quiet dignity for far too long," Jones' rep said in a statement to E! Online Tuesday. "Now they will pursue immediate legal action against anyone who makes false statements about their family."
New York lawyer Robert Chapman wrote in his cease-and-desist letter, obtained by TMZ.com, that Al Reynolds is just away for a short period of time on business and that his absence has nothing to do with any man whatsoever--not that there's anything wrong with that. The attorney was sure to emphasize that his clients "believe that everyone should be free to make their own choice concerning sexual preference."
"The true facts are that Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are happily married," Chapman said, adding that the Enquirer story has already caused them "massive damage."
How could the Enquirer get this so wrong? Star described her hot relationship with Al in her book, Shine. That should have been all the evidence the publication needed to get the facts straight.
"The first time he held me in his arms sexually, it was almost frightening because we knew our erotic interest in each other could take over every other thing," Star writes breathlessly. "We had an intoxicatingly sexual connection the first two months of our relationship."
So volcanic was their lust that they consulted their pastor, who advised them to remain celibate until their wedding. "It wasn't an easy decision," recalls Star. "Al is a beautiful man. He's got the legs of a stallion. He'd be a perfect Ralph Lauren model."
Help. Barf. Bag. Now.
Maybe the Enquirer staff read this and got the wrong idea.
Democrat Bob Casey appears to have doubled his lead over Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania's Senate race, according to a poll released Tuesday.
Casey had a 14-point lead in the Quinnipiac University Poll, with 54 percent of likely voters saying they planned to vote for him compared to 40 percent for Santorum. One percent said they wouldn't vote and 6 percent said they didn't know. Casey had a seven point lead among likely voters in a match up between the two in the same poll on Aug. 15.
On Monday, a state judge said Green Party candidate Carl Romanelli would be removed from the ballot because the party did not have enough valid signatures in its nominating petitions a move pundits said would help Casey.
In a three-way matchup, Casey led Santorum 51 to 39 percent among likely voters with 4 percent saying they would vote for Romanelli, the poll found. Five percent were undecided.
Yeah, Little Ricky's Republican friends tried to pull a fast one by supplying most of the $100,000 that Romanelli spent in his attempt to get on the ballot. Even that flopped.
And what about all those women Santorum is courting? I guess they aren't coming through for him either, I suppose. After all, this is what he said in his book:
"The notion that college education is a cost-effective way to help poor, low-skill, unmarried mothers with high school diplomas or GEDs move up the economic ladder is just wrong."
Poor Little Ricky -- even a June diatribe on the Senate floor calling for the recriminalization of sodomy isn't helping him out. He agrees with Tony "does he sodomize his wife" Scalia's dissent on Lawrence v. Texas:
State laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution, masturbation, adultery, fornication, bestiality, and obscenity are likewise sustainable only in light of Bowers' validation of laws based on moral choices. Every single one of these laws is called into question by today's decision; the Court makes no effort to cabin the scope of its decision to exclude them from its holding.
Banton’s management released a statement earlier this year stating that he was no longer performing his song "Boom Bye Bye," but recent concert footage from Miami of him leading a sing along, suggests otherwise.
Black LGBT bloggers recently waged a successful campaign against the New York based LIFEbeat, the music industry’s non-profit that focuses on AIDS for its Reggae Gold Jumpoff Concert that featured Beanie Man.
Beanie Man, as you may recall, in his song "Han Up Deh," sings, "Hang chi chi gal wid a long piece of rope." The term "chi chi" is a Jamaican reference to homosexuality. The term is often used to refer to "chi chi men" but can also refer to lesbians (chi chi women or chi chi girls). Loosely translated, the lyrics mean, “Hang lesbians with a long piece of rope."
I was surfing around Left Blogsylvania and stopped in to visit my favorite Christian Warrior, Jesus' General. He's been playing the faux-outraged Christian Conservative satire long before Stephen Colbert made a show out of the act; I highly recommend stopping by there from time to time for a laugh.
The General has a new guest poster there named Austin Cline. Austin is an atheist who writes for About.com and his posts at the General's pad have been excellent.
One link he provides is to a series of Christian Right Propaganda Posters. He's taken old propaganda posters from WWI & WWII and Photoshopped them to fit the agenda of the right-wing radical religious fringe (sort of like Bill Maher did in his excellent book, "When you ride alone, you ride with bin Laden"). I've provided six thumbnails that closely match the gay rights and reproductive freedom "agendas" we promote at the Blend, but Austin's got 31 posters total, each with some excellent commentary, so I recommend taking a look over at About.com for the whole set.
More progress! Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund endorsee and LGBT activist Jamie Pedersen has won the Democratic primary (it was a close vote) in the 43rd district state senate seat.
When the polls closed on Election Day a week ago, Pedersen was in the lead, but the race was too close to call. With the tally of mail-in ballots almost complete, Pedersen's lead has grown to 252 votes, an insurmountable lead for his closest challenger. County election officials will certify the election on Friday. Pedersen, who is expected to win the general election easily in the overwhelmingly Democratic 43rd District of Seattle, succeeds openly gay Rep. Ed Murray, who is running for a seat in the state Senate.
"Jamie's win reflects what we've seen in the election of openly LGBT candidates across the country. He'd given back to his community through his work helping local organizations, and brought to the table tremendous experience and understanding about issues important to his district. Voters saw that he had fought hard to protect the rights of others and would do the same for them as their representative. Jamie's years of leadership, hard work and the relationships he forged with so many diverse communities will serve his constituents well in Olympia," said Chuck Wolfe, president and CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund.
Three men who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a series of brutal beatings after a gay pride festival were sentenced Monday to prison terms.
James Carroll, 24; Lyonn Tatum, 18; and Kenneth Lincoln, 24, pleaded guilty on Friday in San Diego Superior Court on the second day of their preliminary hearing during which they heard testimony from three victims.
Prosecutors said Carroll, Tatum and a boy assaulted six men with a baseball bat and a knife as the men were leaving the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Festival in Balboa Park on July 29.
Judge Frederick Maguire sentenced Carroll to 11 years in prison, Tatum to eight years and Lincoln to 32 months. They were immediately taken from courtroom after the sentencing.
Oscar Foster, one of the victims in the attack, was hit in the head and torso 12 times with a baseball bat. The attack was so savage, according to a doctor's testimony in the trial, almost every bone in Foster's face was broken and the victim almost died. He required reconstructive facial surgery and spent two weeks in an intensive care unit.
In an earlier post, A heartwarming letter to the editor, I put up an unhinged letter to the editor from Allyson Smith, who tried to equate the assaults to the perceived obscenities she saw at the parade. A snippet of the filth:
For days, we have been hearing from the Union-Tribune and other local news outlets about a purported "hate crime" committed by punks who assaulted homosexual men during the recent Gay Pride Festival. But there was another hate crime committed that weekend that was not reported: The hateful moral assault committed by the homosexual community against San Diegans of all ages through its degrading and indecent "pride" celebration.
...It showed its hatred of Christians by giving an award to the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, drag queens who dress up like nuns and mock the Catholic Church. It exhibited its hatred toward all San Diegans by turning Balboa Park into a filthy blot on "America's Finest City." The politicians, law enforcement officials, churches, schools and businesses who participated are equally guilty of morally attacking San Diego's citizens.
While the physical assaults are deplorable and rightly to be condemned, it should not serve as a distraction from these hateful moral assaults.
A noted Christian author and teacher says the "prosperity" gospel is producing self-centered church members. A recent cover article in TIME Magazine focused on the growing popularity of the gospel message that claims God wants all Christians to be healthy and wealthy.
But Ron Carlson, founder of Christian Ministries International, believes the "prosperity" message is not the true gospel. Carlson contends that a gospel that cannot be preached to every individual on the planet is a "counterfeit" gospel. "I turn on television and I see some of these preachers ... [who say] that God wants you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous," he says. "I often wonder why is it they never go to the Cambodian border or the Gulag or China and tell those Christians, 'Don't you know you're the King's kid? Don't you know God wants you healthy, wealthy, and prosperous?'"
Carlson is concerned that such teaching reduces God to a servant's role. "The health, wealth, and prosperity gospel is really a product of a Western, materialistic mentality," he says. "It's a humanistic philosophy that reduces God to be the servant of man, that man can manipulate for his own selfish gain." Carlson made his comments during a recent interview with Worldview Weekend creator Brannon Howse.
That might explain some of these good men in the pulpit:
* United Methodist pastor sentenced on a laundry list of charges. A jury found Hutcherson guilty in May of committing five counts of fraud, lying to federal officials and obstruction of justice. He's out as mayor and was booted as pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church.
* Preacher guilty of stealing from hundreds of black churches. Abraham Kennard was found guilty in U.S. District Court on 132 counts, ranging from mail fraud to tax evasion. He ran a pyramid scheme on 1,600 churches, claimeing his company was developing Christian resorts around the country -- and bilking ministers of thousands of dollars.
This lunacy continues. Allen had another embarrassing experience on The Situation Room yesterday, trying to defend his "secret" Jewish heritage by blaming it on his mother's "fear" of exposing this family factoid. It's pathetic.
To add fuel to the flaming downward spiral on the N-word front, two more people came forward to confirm that he tossed the epithet around.
* Christopher Taylor, an anthropology professor at Alabama University in Birmingham, AL (NYT):
n the early 1980’s he heard Mr. Allen use an inflammatory epithet for African Americans. Mr. Taylor, who is white and was then a graduate student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, said the term came up in a conversation about the turtles in a pond near Mr. Allen's property. According to Mr. Taylor, Mr. Allen said that "around here" only the African Americans — whom he referred to by the epithet — "eat 'em."
* Political guru and University of Virginia Professor Larry Sabato heard him say it, and didn't mind telling Chris Matthews about it. (MSNBC video and transcript):
MATTHEWS: The accusation here, I believe is that he was distinctive in what is being called racial hatred, that he regularly used the awful word, the "N" word with some sort of attitude. Is that true?
SABATO: Well I'm simply going to say that I'm going to stay with what I know is the case. And the fact is that he did use the "N" word, whether he's denying it now or not. He did use it. It was the '70s, you‘re right, it was a harsh term, it was an obscenity at this as far as I'm concerned.
MATTHEWS: In all fairness, it was a word that we were told growing up never to use, and most of—in fact, I don't think hardly anybody used it, even in Philly, which was pretty racially divided for most of my growing up. There were other words used, perhaps not quite as malicious, that were ethnic in nature. But you say he used the "N" word?
SABATO: That's correct.
Gee, well who's lying? Allen doesn't have a good track record on this so far.
"I don't like it when people say, 'But you're against abortion.' I say, 'No, I value life.'...I tell people I'm actually just for keeping marriage in the only manner for which it's ever been known in any culture, in any civilization throughout all of history...Dear friends, until Moses comes down with two stone tablets from Brokeback Mountain saying we've changed the rules, let's keep it like it is." -- ordained Baptist minister, advocate of covenant marriage, governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee
Har-dee-har-har. And now, to Governor Blow Dry from Massachusetts...
"The court focused on adult rights -- they said if heterosexual couples can marry, then to have equal rights homosexuals have to also be able to marry. That court's mistake was they should have focused on the rights of children -- because marriage is primarily about the development and nurturing of children."
"Marriage is not an activity like gambling -- [about] which you can say, if you don't want it, it just goes on in one state or another state. Marriage is a status. If people come to a 'Las Vegas of same-sex marriage' [like Massachusetts], and then they go home, they still believe they're married. And then they represent themselves [to their community] as being married. Therefore, we have to have a federal standard that says marriage in this country is a relationship between one man and one woman." -- Mitt Romney
By the way, The Washington Times reports that other possible presidential contenders invited, but who declined to show up and rub elbows with Dobson and Co: sHillary, John "I'll kick Swift Boat ass two years later" Kerry, Holy Joe, Bill "Cat Killer" Frist, John "The Tool" McCain.
***
As we've mentioned before, Mitt Romney's running into a bit of trouble with the bible beating evangelicals over his Mormon faith. Look at what recently happened to him in South Carolina. (The State):
Cyndi Mosteller, chairwoman of the Charleston County Republican Party, one of the largest GOP organizations in the state, came armed with a bunch of material — and questions — about the Mormon church.
The incident only underlines what could become an uncomfortable debate over Romney’s faith if he runs for the White House. The issue will be on the table in South Carolina’s early primary contest, where roughly 35 percent of GOP voters are evangelical Christians, many of whom view Mormonism with skepticism.
Mosteller, an evangelical, said she especially was concerned about the church’s attitude toward African-Americans and its stand on polygamy...She fears they could become campaign issues and hurt Republican chances. She had planned to ask the questions in an open committee session, but Romney nixed that idea by ending his short address with a final “thank you.” The governor then proceeded to meet with the media for about 15 minutes.
Enter Mosteller. Sensing trouble, Romney aides hurriedly ushered reporters out the door. Afterward, Mosteller said the governor did not answer any of her questions. She described the meeting as “very tense.”
Minds that need to be washed out with soap, second edition
Monday, September 25, 2006
John Goff of One Big JackGoff, a Blender and regular commenter at Pandagon, has another edition up at his pad with more of the racist, sexist BS that his father has bleated to him.
The first installment was pretty raw stuff, and I give John a ton of credit for sharing some of garbage that his dad said (without shame and in complete seriousness). Most folks want nothing more than to hide the bigotry that we hear our relatives spew, as if it reflects badly on us. It takes a lot to rise above the stereotypes and poisonous bigotry served aplenty at the family table; it's important to help break the cycle of pain we inflict on one another based on ignorance and fear. Thanks, again, John, for letting me repost these painful comments.
So, I guess it's time again for another list of my father's seriously fucked up sayings. The first installment dealt with a few of the things he says verbatim all the time, so I guess I'll just go into some of the random spewings he has unleashed on my sister and I. I should say that although he is an obvious misogynist, for some reason he always left my sister to make her own decisions about her life, such as going to MIT and majoring in engineering. My guess is because he told me at an early age that I better get a good job so I can support him later on in life, my sister took in the "lesson" as well, and that was fine and dandy for him, as long as he had a gravy train to ride his fat ass on.
Anyway, a little more asshattery from Pappy Goff (these are mostly paraphrasing, but the sentiment is there):
"Turning it into a glass parking lot is the only thing left to do." [with regards to the Middle East]
"I'm not racist, just realist, and in this country, you either assimilate or you get tossed in the trash heap." [I guess that's a new law now, be white or stick you in a landfill somewhere.]
"You got no business voting if you don't have reverence for our founding fathers. Black people and illegal immigrants can't possibly understand what it took to do what Washington and the rest did to create America. Black people whine about slavery and the Mexicans can't understand English. I'm sick and tired of dealing with the ignorance in our country!" [BAH HAHAHAHAHA! Blargh.]
"Feminazis want men to give up their rightful place as the head of the household. They want abortions clinics on every corner and women in the workplace. What happens then? Our homes will fall apart and our workplace will be in ruins, that's what."
"America is ordained by God himself and if you don't believe he's smiling on all of us and putting hellfire to our enemies, you'll be burning in hell too!" [Great, honest Christian, me ole pappy.]
"Dems have nothing more than hatred towards white people. That's all they have to fomment"
"Martin Luther King, Jr was nothing but a filthy communist and he wanted us to lose in Vietnam."
"Vietnam would have been won if we just nuked the slanty eyed sons a'bitches!" [Heh, why stop there? Got an "Unamerican" thought? Ya get nuked. Thinking about reading Das Kapital? Yer ass is grass, and this 500-pounder is a lawn mower.]
"If I hear one more spic sonuvabitch say something in Spanish, I'm gonna call the police." [Oh, and what are you going to tell them when they get here?]
"The world was meant for America, and I say we should kill anybody who thinks otherwise."
[and the kicker]
"America is the only nation that matters in the world. If I could, I'd invade their countries and kill every last one of those freedom-hating bastards before they have a chance to kill me. They've got nothing but goats and desert and jungle and disease, so I say kill em all and let God sort it out."
Yeah, Dad. The Nazis would have loved you dude.
As we grow up, it can be difficult to accept the fact that our relatives are capable of such ignorance. Once we become aware that some of the views of our relatives are, to put it charitably, outside of the mainstream, we're often faced with the choice whether to confront them, get away from them, or just accept it all and move on. It's hard when you realize that these folks -- your folks -- aren't interested in engaging, learning or exposure to new ideas to free them from their ignorance.
John's father is an easy target because we can say "I don't think that way," but we cannot deny that our worldview is shaped by racism, sexism and homophobia that isn't that overt. In fact, subtle bigotry can be more damaging because of "plausible deniability." There may be a wink and a smile in public, but the mask often comes off in private when people feel they are among like minds and can "let it all hang out." It's not every day that a George "Macaca/N*gger" Allen pops up with a public motherlode of bigoted BS that blows up in his face.
As we did last time around, feel free, if you haven't before, to contribute some of the gems you may have witnessed -- to wash your brain clean of the hate and ignorance.
Don't expect to see this awful story out of Afghanistan to receive a lot of media attention (or action from this administration), as the Taliban fights to regain control, and roll back what precious few rights women have in the country through intimidation -- and assassination.
Two gunmen on a motorbike killed the provincial director of Afghanistan's Ministry of Women's Affairs outside her home Monday in apparent retribution for her efforts to help educate women, officials said.
Safia Ahmed-jan was slain outside the front gate of her home in this southern Afghan city as she was walking to her office, said Tawfiq ul-Ulhakim Parant, senior adviser to the women's ministry in Kabul.
...Ahmed-jan was known for being an active proponent of women's rights in this former Taliban stronghold, a region where insurgents have turned increasingly violent the last several months.
Her secretary said one of Ahmed-jan's most successful projects was running trade schools. "She was always trying her best to improve education for women," Abdullah Khan said.
In Kandahar alone, Ahmed-jan had opened six schools where almost 1,000 women learned how to bake and sell their goods at market. She had also opened tailoring schools for women, and clothes made there found their way to Western markets, Khan said.
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Meanwhile, in the political and military vat of quicksand called Iraq, confidence and success on the ground are clearly in short supply if this is what's going down: Army mulls more Iraq combat units.
The U.S. Army is considering whether to add more combat units to the rotation plan to meet a top commander's decision to keep more than 140,000 troops in the country until at least mid-2007, The Washington Times reported on Monday.
The Army also is considering accelerating the deployments for some brigades in a move to try to stop sectarian violence among Sunnis and Shi'ites in Baghdad, the newspaper reported, citing Pentagon officials.
"It may accelerate the pace of deployments or it may mean looking at calling up additional units," a Pentagon official who asked not to be named told the newspaper.
Army Gen. John Abizaid, head of U.S. Central Command oversees the war, said last week that the United States is unlikely to begin cutting its forces in Iraq before the middle of next year.
He said the United States might even increase the size of its force from the current 147,000.
* The Episcopal Diocese of Newark passed over Canon Michael Barlowe, who is an openly gay priest from California when it selected its next bishop. Dodging that old gay bullet.
* And the Presbyterians are experiencing a drop in membership and deficits, ostensibly over a vote by the legislative General Assembly that opens the door to gay ordination. It didn't help that the denomination had to fire its treasurer after $102,000 in church money disappeared.
* The fun continues in Wichita, as anti-gay Reverend Terry Fox of Wichita's Immanuel Baptist Church had to resign last month after church leaders charged that he used church money to support his national radio show. The good reverend is also accused of threatening to sue anyone who said anything negative about him.
There will be light posting as I am under the weather and don't have much stacked up for you all today (a couple of new ones are below this post).
Saturday we did a lot of yard work (my patrol was cleaning the tons of spiders and webs off the house -- argh).
Sunday I started to feel bad and vegetated and watched Season Two of Project Runway (had to go out and get the DVD last week; I'm hooked). Time Warner Suck-*ss Cable here doesn't carry Bravo, so I'll have to wait on for the current season to come out on DVD.
The video of SLDN's Sharon Alexander debate with the ridiculous woman-hating, gay-baiting Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness on Faux News is up at PageOneQ. You can leave comments here and at SLDN's blog, Frontlines.
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Consider this an open thread. Drop in and chat, leave links and share what's going on out there.
Clif at Outside the Tent found a ripe double dip of racism and homophobia in the mind-blowing commentary of Gerald Bray, an unhinged Anglican priest currently teaching at an Alabama Baptist seminary.
Homobigot Bray recently bloviated about gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson in a publication called The Churchman, and for good measure, let his Klan slip show.
For example, although the American South is well-known for its conservatism and no-one [sic] will be surprised to discover that many (probably most) of the Episcopal churches there are horrified at the recent election of a practising homosexual as bishop [sic] of New Hampshire, the nature of Southern [sic] traditionalism does not immediately suggest that they would turn to a place like Rwanda for assistance. But faced with a choice between a white American homosexual bishop and a black-skinned African Archbishop [sic], there has been no hesitation — Rwanda has won hands down. The celebrant may look more like the church janitor than like any of the worshippers in the pews, but it does not matter. . . .
Black = janitor. Nice. My thought was much the same as Clif's when I read it -- "At least he didn’t say that the celebrant looked more like a chain-gang worker than the people in the pews."
As it goes with bigots, they often just keep stepping in it once called out. Bray actually wrote Clif to, I suppose, straighten out the record.
It is a simple statement of fact. The incident I described actually happened. I am not in favour of it, of course, but there it is. I am sorry if this was not clear to you.
Alrighty then, so he's not in favor of what, black janitors, perceptions of blacks as janitors? Is it "fact" that blacks look like janitors? Hmmm. I don't think Bray was thinking when he fired off that email.
First-hand account of Love Won Out/Palm Springs protest
Ex Gay Watch has photos and a wrap-up on Saturday's protest against Daddy Dobson's ex-gay roadshow. An interesting aspect of the account is Daniel's discussion of the tactics used by the announced protest group, which called itself The Unity Rally.
The Unity Rally was a coalition of liberal political, social and gay rights groups formed to provide a uniform voice in response to Love Won Out. Ex-Gay Watch ultimately decided to speak in our own voice and remain unaffiliated with the Unity Rally coalition. We planted ourselves firmly on the curb by the church's main driveway and each person was given a sign they had picked the slogan for. Before the Unity Rally buses arrived several other small groups of private individuals arrived.
...Based on the Unity Rally's website and literature distributed around town I was concerned by their frequent use of the word "hate." My concerns were confirmed at the rally where two common buzz words worked into almost every speech were "hate" (used in connection with Focus) and "unity" (used in connection with gay folk). Most speakers had limited knowledge of ex-gay issues since most speakers were politicians or representatives of local gay and liberal political groups. However the rally organizers took great pride in their event being a local effort. Focus/Exodus/NARTH were continuously and vaguely accused of spreading hate, hating, creating hate and so forth by speaker after speaker... UNTIL the Rev. Nick Warner of the Desert Oasis Chapel got up had the balls to say something to the effect of "the people attending Love Won Out do not hate you" and that they were just misguided about gay people. The rally crowd seemed stunned by Warner's radical message and several times during his speech our group from XGW had to start the crowd applauding. Bravo to you Rev. Warner for being informed about ex-gay issues and not going along with the party line and making accusations of "hate."
I agree with Daniel -- these folks missed the mark by declaring Love One Out and other organizations like it hate homos. It's clear that they honestly believe homosexuality can be "cured" -- that's heinous enough to make note of, particularly because Love Won Out takes advantage of people who are struggling with their sexual orientation in ways that are dangerous and immoral, only reinforcing to those in pain that there is something wrong with them. But that can't be equated with wanting to kill gays. We can find plenty of those kinds of beasts out there if you search the Blend archives. You can draw a distinction without blunting the fact that LWO and other "ex-gays" who promote their bogus theories are a threat that must be exposed and stopped.
What the "ex-gay" movement is responsible for, however, is promoting the idea that being gay is "sick" or "diseased" -- it gives license to the psycho homophobes out there to deal with the "disease" through their own methods, including violence.
"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,' He used the N-word on a regular basis back then." -- Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback.
The hits keep on coming for the cracker lovin' Virginia Senator, who's watching his words come back to haunt him -- again. (Salon):
Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.
...A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.
A third white teammate contacted separately, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being attacked by the Virginia senator, said he too remembers Allen using the word "nigger," though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term. "My impression of him was that he was a racist," the third teammate said.
Salon contacted Allen's Senate office, and members of his campaign for comment (email and phone), and no one has responded. One consultant to Allen hung up on a Salon reporter.
Tossing the "N" word around is one matter, but look at this hair-raising anecdote from Shelton.
Shelton said he also remembers a disturbing deer hunting trip with Allen on land that was owned by the family of Billy Lanahan, a wide receiver on the team. After they had killed a deer, Shelton said he remembers Allen asking Lanahan where the local black residents lived. Shelton said Allen then drove the three of them to that neighborhood with the severed head of the deer. "He proceeded to take the doe's head and stuff it into a mailbox," Shelton said.
Of course he said that before this bit of business came out. If it was a "youthful indiscretion" (or at this point a long list of them), then his campaign shouldn't have a problem discussing it as a matter of the past. Hanging up doesn't sound like the Allen campaign has a game plan for spinning this one.
Too damn bad.
Oh, don't forget to catch the anecdote in the article where Allen gives Shelton the nickname "Wizard" -- after United Klans imperial wizard Robert Shelton.
"I certainly hope that Hillary is the candidate. She has $300 million so far. But I hope she's the candidate. Because nothing will energize my [constituency] like Hillary Clinton. If Lucifer ran, he wouldn't." -- Jerry Falwell, during private remarks to church pastors and activists as part of the Values Voter Summit. He didn't know it was being recorded.
You all know I'm no sHillary fan, but I couldn't let these remarks by Rev. Tinkywinky go unnoticed. He's stirring The Base with ridiculous crap that you know he'd keep under wraps from the MSM. (LA Times):
A recording of Falwell's comments was obtained by The Times, and his remarks were confirmed by eyewitnesses.
...But two in attendance, including a Falwell staff member, confirmed that Falwell said that even Lucifer, the fallen angel synonymous with Satan in Christian theology, would not mobilize his followers as much as the New York senator and former first lady would.
One critic who has been observing the conference said Saturday that Falwell's words offered a rare glimpse into how religious conservative leaders were planning to inflame opposition to the Democrats with below-the-radar messages that are often more scorching than the ones showing up in public.
"He was calling Hillary Clinton a demonic figure and openly arguing that God is a Republican," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of the advocacy group Americans United for Separation of Church and State. "It's hard to know whether people thought he was joking or serious, but once you start using religious imagery and invoking a politician in this way, it's not funny. A lot of people who listen to him do think that she's a dark force of evil in America."
At this same breakfast, Falwell also pontificated that God would preserve a Republican majority in Congress and that Rudy Giuliani must not win the GOP presidential nomination.
"It can't be a Giuliani and it cannot be a [New York Gov. George E.] Pataki," he said. "It cannot be a pro-choice. It cannot be a person on the wrong side of the social issues. We've got to have somebody worth fighting for because we will be energized if Hillary is the standard-bearer."
***
With that in mind, why can't sHillary come to her senses and accept the fact that the Right already has her painted as a pro-baby killing, anti-religion advocate of The Homosexual Agenda, and will use that to raise tons of money and to motivate the sheeple. If she runs, there's nothing to lose by taking a public position on marriage equality that squares with her private views. From a post back in March.
And folks, here's another example of what's wrong with this picture -- Hillary supports full equality -- but it's behind the scenes, in private conversations. Yes, this is the problem.
Ethan Geto, a longtime activist who ran Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign in New York, said that in personal conversations he has had with Clinton, she has been emphatic about her view that committed gay and lesbian couples should have "full equality of economic benefits" with married heterosexuals at the city, state, and federal levels.
..."She takes the most progressive position among Democrats on the national stage," he said. “Would I like her to say she supports gay marriage? Yes. But are we back to the perfect being the enemy of the good? Is she one of our champions? Is she one of the very small number of people we would like to see as a presidential candidate? I say yes.”
W-E-A-K. And so here we are again, tucked away in a dark room, getting "reassurance" and "promises" on the down low.
Falwell and the rest of the AmTaliban will have no problem drawing a connection between sHillary and gays for their people, so it serves no purpose for Clinton (or any Dem) to avoid specificity on positions on gay rights and reclaim the frame.
In the absence of real information, the void of silence will be filled with disinformation -- and demonization. Guaranteed.
What we can expect to see instead will be more of what we have already seen -- the misguided decision to cozy up to "values voters" who won't vote for a Dem even if Lucifer dropped by and handed over a sack of cash to them.
Het allies, we've been warning you that the fundies, while the homos are the whipping boy in vogue at the moment, are still working hard on its movement to control the womb and sexuality of the rest of you. It's all one big ball of wax for them that they define as "moral values." In that game, gays and anyone interested in non-procreative sex are the Satan-loving enemy.
Reproductive freedom has never been on the back burner for these folks, with the attacks on the sale of Plan B, efforts to put abortion service providers out of business, and the passing legislation allowing pharmacists not to dispense medications because of "religious principles" -- isn't it funny that these stories never seem to revolve around the Viagra? No, the fundies are focused women and gays.
In a frightening article in the Chicago Tribune, Abortion foes' new rallying point, reporter Judith Graham reveals the escalation of the fundie wars over contraception itself -- controlling women's sexual behavior is clearly the goal. If you read their bleating, birth control is a "gateway drug" to all sorts of social ills.
Emboldened by the anti-abortion movement's success in restricting access to abortion, an increasingly vocal group of Christian conservatives is arguing that it's time to mount a concerted attack on contraception.
Their voices were raised in Rosemont on Friday and Saturday at an unusual anti-abortion meeting that drew 250 people from around the nation to condemn artificial birth control. Experts at the gathering assailed contraception on the grounds that it devalues children, harms relationships between men and women, promotes sexual promiscuity and leads to falling birth rates, among social ills.
"Contraception is more the root cause of abortion than anything else," Joseph Scheidler, an anti-abortion veteran whose Pro-Life Action League sponsored the conference, said in an interview.
... "It is clear there is a major rethinking going on among evangelicals on this issue, especially among young people" disenchanted with the sexual revolution, said Rev. R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. "There is a real push back against the contraceptive culture now."
It should be noted that these folks are mounting a challenge to this stark reality: according to the Guttmacher Institute, 98% of sexually active women 15 to 44 used at least one method of contraception -- almost 40 million women in that age group use birth control. A Harris poll found that 91% of Americans believe couples should "have access to birth-control options."
What this boils down to is a case for "women and men having sex only within marriage and only for the purpose of procreation," said Steve Trombley, president of Planned Parenthood of Chicago, and "I don't think that's sellable in any corner of America."
Those stats, however, mean little to these zealots (or the elected officials that they've put in charge). Some quotes:
"It's time to get serious about denying Planned Parenthood funding for birth control or sex education and abortion. We need to hold them accountable for this contraceptive welfare. We have to work very carefully to keep that sword away from Planned Parenthood...Chemical contraception doesn't prevent abortions, it causes abortion," he said in an interview. "If we believe life begins at the moment of conception, we have to defend it against [this] chemical attack." -- Rev. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International
"When people use contraception, they're not asking themselves, do I want a lifetime relationship with this person or would this person be a good parent," Smith explains. "They're simply hooking up, typically because of sex, and sliding into marriage." -- Janet Smith, professor of moral theology at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit
"It's not just a side issue from pro-life, it's the core issue. Abstinence is the way to prevent abortion." --Libby Gray Macke, director of Project Reality, an abstinence program in Illinois
OK, it's been a couple of months since I posted the Bush Approval Map. If you came to the Blend late, this map is culled from data at www.SurveyUSA.com. They track opinion polls in all 50 states.
This data represents Bush's Net Approval Rating. You take Approval Rating minus Disapproval Rating and you get Net Approval. Positive (+) states like Bush more than dislike, and are colored in shades of red. Negative (-) states dislike Bush more than like, and are colored in shades of blue. The lighter the color, the more extreme, the "purpler" the color, the more neutral the feelings toward Bush.
Click on map for a full size version or to freeze individual months for review
Do you think young voters will make a difference in the election?
This Reuters article, Young voters -- a wild card in 2006 U.S. elections, notes that the margin of victory will be so small in many races that the turnout of young people (18-24) could make a difference.
This is a demo group that is frequently touted about and talked about in the media (even courted with Rock the Vote campaigns), but it's a sector that simply doesn't consistently vote at the rate other age groups do. While the Reuters article points out that a record number of young folks voted, it wasn't a greater percentage of that demo than before. SFGate, in 2004:
...polls from the Harvard Institute of Politics, the Pew Research Center and MTV all predicted that that this would be the year that the long- ballyhooed youth vote would finally make a difference in the presidential race. The youth voter pool is immense -- 40.6 million Americans are between 18 and 29, comprising 1 in 5 eligible voters -- but it has rarely been a factor in the 32 years since 18-year-olds have been eligible to vote. Four years ago, just 37 percent of 18-24-year-olds voted.
But despite all the efforts, an Associated Press exit poll survey found that fewer than 1 in 10 voters Tuesday were 18 to 24, about the same proportion of the electorate as in 2000.
One significant point made in the Reuters article is that while Republicans have done a poor job of registering young people -- Dems are quite successful here, and have support in polls -- the Republicans actually turn out the votes.
A nationwide survey released this month showed young Americans prefer Democrats to Republicans by a 21-point margin, up from 19 percent in April.
That's enough to cost some Republican candidates the race, said Ed Goeas, a Republican pollster who analyzed the survey taken by the nonpartisan "Young Voter Strategies." He said if young voters turn out in November in the same numbers as in the 2002 mid-term elections, they could give Democrats a 1.8 percentage point advantage, enough to sway any of several razor-tight races this year.
"We can do a better job, as Republicans, addressing the registration of the younger voters," he said.
But Democrats also face a challenge. Although they have a clear advantage in numbers, the poll shows young Republicans are more intensely loyal and likely to vote. "The Democratic base continues to need work," said Democratic pollster Celinda Lake in Washington. "Young voters are not very engaged."
IMHO, about the only thing that would motivate young people to vote in much more significant numbers would be a draft. Any thoughts?
500 show up to counter Daddy Dobson's 'ex-gay' conference
Five hundred gay folks and allies held a peaceful, positive rally on Saturday in Palm Springs to counter the sad lies being regurgitated at the "ex-gay" roadshow known as "Love Won Out," put on by Focus on the Anus and Exodus. (365gay):
Amid signs that read "Welcome to the Coachella Valley: A Hate-Free Zone" speakers from the gay, business and religious communities stressed the importance of coming out and disputed the "Love Won Out" mantra that homosexuality is a matter of choice that can be "corrected".
One of the speakers was Nancy Heche, the mother of actress Anne Heche, who urged the crowd not to hate gays but to help them overcome their "urges".
...Another speaker, Joseph Nicolosi, said that homosexuality in part is the result of boys not forming close relationships with their fathers. "If you don't hug your son, some other man will," said Nicolosi who is billed as the principal researcher of the National Association of Research and Therapy of Homosexuality or NARTH.
If that wasn't bad enough, a commenter, Boo, at Wayne's pad and Ex-Gay Watch discovered that NARTH has an article on its web site that endorsed slavery (or rather it did -- see below). The National Black Justice Coalition and Truth Wins Out asked NARTH and Nicolosi to address the issue and to make a statement about the article and whether the organization supports it -- it was written by a member of NARTH's Scientific Advisory Board.
"With all due respect, there is another way, or other ways, to look at the race issue in America," the article, written by Gerald Schoenewolf, Ph.D. stated. "It could be pointed out, for example, that Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle, as yet uncivilized or industrialized. Life there was savage, as savage as the jungle for most people, and that it was the Africans themselves who first enslaved their own people. They sold their own people to other countries, and those brought to Europe, South America, America, and other countries, were in many ways better off than they had been in Africa. But if one even begins to say these things one is quickly shouted down as though one were a complete madman."
Daddy Dobson and Exodus didn't seem to have a problem with the above statement -- they didn't cancel Nicolosi's appearance either. That's outrageous. Oh, and as Daniel at Ex Gay Watch noted, the article in question has been removed.
As the organization did with another article recently highlighted, NARTH has quietly removed the article referenced above with no explanation of why it was published, i.e. do they agree with it or not? You can view a Google Cache version for now, but this will expire soon. We call on NARTH to exhibit some intellectual honesty by not simply erasing this in an attempt to again revise their history.
The NBJC didn't let the removal of the article go unnoticed.
Dr. Nicolosi, we are particularly disturbed with Dr. Schoenewolf’s comments drawing a parallel between the civil rights movement and the murder of innocent African Americans. Please clarify what message NARTH was trying to impart when Dr. Schoenewolf wrote the following statement?
"The irony is that the Civil Rights Movement has been vehement about pointing out the hysterical lynchings that took place in the Old South, but completely blind to its own hysterical tactics."
It has been exactly one week since Dr. Schoenewolf’s article has been uncovered and no action has yet been taken on behalf of NARTH to distance itself from this divisive rhetoric. In lieu of such inaction, NBJC can only conclude that NARTH is in concurrence with such sentiments. Taking the offending article down off your website in the dead of night is no substitute for honestly and earnestly addressing this festering issue.
***
There is also great coverage of the event by The Desert Sun, which also quotes Timothy Kincaid, one of our friends over at XGW:
"I don't object to having a religious belief," said Timothy Kincaid of Los Angeles, who protested the event. "What I object to is when you come in and you don't tell the truth."
Kincaid said the message of love at the conference is undermined by the Focus on the Family suggestion that people cannot simultaneously be gay and effective Christians.
"That message is so detrimental," Kincaid said during a telephone interview after the protest. "It pries the gay community away from god."
Ex Gay Watch has several excellent posts on the conference.
Electronic voting machines are making many election officials wary, according to an article slated for the front page of Sunday's edition of The New York Times, RAW STORY has learned.
"A growing number of state and local officials are getting cold feet about electronic voting technology, and many are making last-minute efforts to limit or reverse the rollout of new machines in the November elections," reports Ian Urbina.
In my county we use the optical scanning system -- that's the paper ballot that requires you to connect two ends of an arrow with a black marker to indicate your choice. That ballot is then placed into a scanning machine that tallies it. New Mexico is moving to this system as a result of all sorts of problems with the electronic touch screen devices (NPR via BradBlog):
New Mexico has a new law mandating paper ballots, which are then electronically scanned and counted. Governor Bill Richardson pushed for the new law because New Mexico had all kinds of difficulties with touch screen equipment in 2004, making it one of the last states to report results.
Governor BILL RICHARDSON (New Mexico): We became one of the laughing stock states in the country because we had these technological machines that were not working, that in several counties were defective, were slow, were unreliable, and I basically said to myself I'm not going to go through this again. And I just think that the paper ballot system, as untechnical as it seems, is the most verifiable way we can assure Americans that they're voting and their vote is counting.
What kind of system will you be using on election day?
Something light to discuss here, since there's plenty to rant about in the post below on the Washington wingnut cavalcade...
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Do you have any phobias -- ones that you would consider debilitating?
Do you have an eccentricity that other folks might find strange?
For instance, I like wearing cotton, or rather, I have a real problem with clothes that aren't made of 100% cotton. The feel of 100% polyester or wool, even though the latter is a natural fiber, makes me nuts. I can even look at an item on the rack and know whether I want to touch it or not. I can handle some blends for a limited time (after all, most dressier clothing has some sort of unnatural fiber in it) even then, I can't wait to get out of those clothes and into -- ahhhhhh...cotton. I also hate tags that rub (they drive me to distraction) -- those are the first to go when I get an article of clothing home.
Kate thinks it's amusing. She also says that this phenomenon, in an extreme form, is not uncommon in some of the kids she works with who have autism. It's a tactile/sensory integration issue -- oversensitivity of the nervous system, if you will. I don't know. All I know is that I know is that it is just one of my eccentricities that I accept because it no means rises to a "Monk"-level of debilitation.
I don't have any of the phobias that people commonly have -- flying, heights, snakes. I don't like spiders, but I don't flee at the sight of one. Maybe that's less about the insect than the horror I feel thinking about running into a web (that tactile thing again).
On the PBS web site there is a feature, Growing Up Different, with an essay by Temple Grandin, an adult with autism, who describes a more extreme version of this tactile issue.
Small itches and scratches that most people ignored were torture. A scratchy petticoat was like sandpaper rubbing my skin raw. Hair washing was also awful. When mother scrubbed my hair, my scalp hurt. I also had problems with adapting to new types of clothes. It took several days for me to stop feeling a new type of clothing on my body; whereas a normal person adapts to the change from pants to a dress in five minutes. Many people with autism prefer soft cotton against the skin. I also liked long pants, because I disliked the feeling of my legs touching each other.
[UPDATE: I added more below, linking to People for the American Way's Right Wing Watch, its coverage of the Values Voter Summit.]
A Who's Who of AmTalibannery is gathered for the Family Research Council's "Washington Briefing" (Thurs-Sun) at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in DC. If only the earth would open up and swallow this crew:
Tony Perkins, Don Wildmon, Gary Bauer, Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS), Gov. Mitt Romney (R-MA), Dr. James Dobson, Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Maggie Gallagher, Governor Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Bishop Wellington Boone, enator George Allen, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, Brent Bozell, Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Bill Bennett, Sen. Rick Santorum, Paul Weyrich, Rev. Herb Lusk, Dr. Richard Land, Tony Perkins, Katherine Harris, Tony Snow.
Take a look at a couple of the breakout sessions: * Impacting the Culture through the Church (featuring black homobigots Herb Lusk, of Greater Exodus Baptist Church and Rev. Dwight McKissic of Cornerstone Baptist Church)
* In Defense of Mixing Church and State from Acts 16 (Rick Scarborough, President, Vision America)
Today a featured session was "The Preservation of Traditional Marriage," a panel with homo-obsessed Colorado Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Professor and columnist on the Bush payroll Maggie Gallagher. Some of Marilyn's bloviating (a transcript of her diatribe landed in my inbox -- thanks Andy). A snippet of the insanity:
As we face the issues that we are facing today I don't think there's anything more important out there than the marriage issue. And I've been a pro life activist most of my adult life. I care very deeply about the sanctity of life. But this issue that's in front of us today is critically important. I am amazed when I hear Robby George speak and Maggie and I hang on every word they say. And I believe that thing that Robbie said recently when he was talking to members of Congress about how if we have gay marriage our religious liberties are gone.
I'm sure that Colorado voters don't think marriage is their obsession, and that's why Marilyn's looking in the rear view mirror as Dem challenger Angie Paccione is bearing down, about to run her over in the race. You can almost feel the flop sweat in this closing bleating.
Where's our side, what are they doing? I believe that when you're in a cultural war like this, you have to respond with equal and hopefully greater force if you want to win this battle. But this battle is the most import issue that we face today. What an honor it has been to serve in the United States Congress and carry the marriage amendment.
Last time we were 54 votes short in this legislative session, that's 9 votes more than we had last year but there's much work to be done. I hope that you will realize how high the stakes are. The future is grim unless we do what we need to do to win this battle.
***
UPDATE: I think the larger issue here, given the carousing of 2008 possible presidential contenders and elected political officials happy to do face time at this event (George Allen, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, etc.) is AGAIN, does the Democratic Party know or care that these folks are going to drag out the gay boogeyman. Face it, the Republicans don't have anything to run on, so when the going gets tough, they whip on the homos.
The spineless, strategic silence of the Democratic party on this issue is about to occur again, and any Democrat running in Red States who may be an ally to the LGBT community is getting the strong message that they will not be backed up by national party voices when it comes to reframing the issue to combat the right wing.
These bible-beating, privacy-invading, hateful people know they can go back to this poisonous well time and again without worry. The Democrats run for cover. Look at the brazen public statements at this "Values Voter Summit":
While some speakers, such as Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Sen. George Allen (R-Virginia), asserted that limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples is a "foundational value" upon which America is built, and others proclaimed the unfitness of gays to be parents (Jennifer Giroux of Citizens for Community Values: "The ultimate child abuse is placing a child in a gay home"), many speakers pushed the notion of a "homosexual agenda" to the limit. Dobson asserted that the goal of advocates of same-sex marriage is to simply "bring down marriage." (Family Research Council President Tony Perkins claimed that the divorce of the Goodridges, named in the Massachusetts case that established marriage equality in the state, proves that point. "That tells you the commitment to the institution of marriage," he said.) Princeton Professor Robert George, architect of the "Princeton Principles" against gay marriage, warned that the "forces arrayed against the conjugal conception of marriage are very powerful ... And they will strike hard."
...And, beginning with Romney, speakers warned that equality for gays will lead to "repression" of Christians. "The homosexual agenda and [freedom of] religion are on a collision course," said Alan Sears of the Alliance Defense Fund, as Perkins added that "They know they must silence the church."
Gee, that isn't subtle, is it? Will there be any press release from the Dems attacking the bigotry being tossed about with abandon at the Omni Shoreham Hotel this weekend?
How about our black homobigot brethren? These folks can always find a sizeable number of grandstanding black pastors to tap dance for the fundies, giving them the show of diversity -- and unity in bigotry -- that they want to portray to the public.
Bishop Wellington Boone, a frequent speaker at Promise Keepers events, reveled in what he thought would be shocking the polite crowd with his unapologetic attacks on gays and anyone who supports them. He touted a flyer he'd written called "The Rape of the Civil Rights Movement," which he said explained how "sodomites" were hijacking the civil rights to "promote perversion."
After recounting the history of violence and oppression against African Americans, from deaths on the middle passage through slavery and Jim Crow, he hollered, "You tell me a gay has a right to get in on some of that? Get out of here!"
Boone recalled that as a young person, he and his friends used the words "faggot" and "sissy" to refer to people who didn't stand on principle. "God has not called us to be sissies!" Boone seemed disappointed that his gay-bashing hasn't gotten more notice. "I want the gays mad at me. I am not on enough of their hit lists."
Boone also seemed to long for an unapologetically Christian nation, when anyone he derides as "unbiblical" wouldn't be serving in office.
If anyone can find an official Dem response to the above gay-bashing, pass it along so I can post it. Don't hold your breath, btw -- they would have to articulate where the party stands on these issues.
Griffin, who is black and gay, grew up in a Missionary Baptist church. Based on his life and church experience, he has witnessed how "black church leaders and congregants have been resistant and even closed in treating gay and heterosexual congregants equally or, in many cases, of simply offering compassion to gay people."
...Comparing the plight of black gays and lesbians to "a game of Russian roulette," where the children of the church are no longer welcomed by the church, black lesbian and gay Christians find themselves in "no-win situations," he says. The end result robs them of "their soul, if not their integrity, family and lives."
..."Black church leaders use the bible to oppress gays and lesbians in a similar fashion to the approach once used by white church leaders to oppress blacks during slavery and segregation." [How soon we forget.]
The black church's "sexual secrets," says Griffin, have led to tragic outcomes, including a quiet complicity with the HIV/AIDS epidemic. "Even after two decades of AIDS research ... African American ministers, for the most part, display almost no change in their attitudes that AIDS is God's retribution on the 'sinful,'" he writes.
...Griffin says the black church often "rewards" its gay and lesbian ministers and members for staying in the closet. "Everyone within black churches realizes that there is reward and acceptance for those presenting themselves as heterosexual, while (out) gays and lesbians encounter ridicule and condemnation," Griffin writes. "Even in churches where it is 'known' that the pastor is gay, black church Christians are content to remain in the church if the pastor is willing to present himself as heterosexual with a wife and children."
A woman was likely still alive as a former boyfriend began sawing off her head in a frenzied fit after she disclosed she was a lesbian, a pathologist has told a British court. Jacqueline Queen's blood soaked body was discovered wrapped in a sheet on a quiet North London street last November.
One time boyfriend James Seaton,46, is on trial for murder.
On the witness stand Dr Vesna Djurovic testified that Queen had suffered dozens of injuries before she died. Djurovic said most of the wounds came from a club hammer.
It pains me to see in story after story that human beings are capable of such evil.
According to this survey, 73% of U.S. adults disapprove of viewing pornographic websites.
When posed with the question: "Do you consider it to be morally acceptable to view pornographic websites and videos?" -- 21 percent of the 997 respondents said "yes," 73 percent said "no," 4 percent said "not sure," and 2 percent refused to answer.
Findings also revealed that older female Americans are more likely to consider viewing pornography unacceptable, whereas younger male Americans are more likely to consider it acceptable.
"It is disturbing that so many younger males think it is morally acceptable to view pornography," said Robert W. Peters, president of Morality in Media. "Since males are vulnerable to visual depictions of sex, however, perhaps it should not come as a surprise."
So does this mean that the 21% are responsible for all that porn consumption out there? And if so, what slice of it is all those fundies who watch porn in hotel pay-per-view? Maybe the 73% disagree because they need to flog themselves after surfing to XXX.com sites.
After all, a recent ChristiaNet Poll showed a whole lot of good evangelicals are ordering up porn and participating in "sexual sin," including -- shock! -- the putative leaders of the flock.
The people who struggle with the repeated pursuit of sexual gratification include church members, deacons, staff, and yes, even clergy. And, to the surprise of many, a large number of women in the church have become victim to this widespread problem. Recently, the world's most visited Christian website, ChristiaNet.com, conducted a survey asking site visitors eleven questions about their personal sexual conduct. (http://www.christianet.com)
..."The poll results indicate that 50% of all Christian men and 20% of all Christian women are addicted to pornography," said Clay Jones, founder and President of Second Glance Ministries whose ministry objectives include providing people with information which will enable them to fully understand the impact of today's societal issues. 60% of the women who answered the survey admitted to having significant struggles with lust; 40% admitted to being involved in sexual sin in the past year; and 20% of the church-going female participants struggle with looking at pornography on an ongoing basis.
As we say here all the time, these are the folks who fixate on your sexual proclivities because they have sex on the brain to such a degree that it turns into a pathology.
SLDN's own Sharon Alexander will be appearing on FOX News Weekend Live tomorrow - Saturday - between 1:30 and 2pm. Sharon will be debating Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness about "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
We can't wait to hear what comes out of Elaine's claptrap this time!
Maybe Elaine will utter more quasi-sexual innuendo about homos "using the military as a battering ram to promote that broader agenda."
***
Speaking of Faux News, activist Keith Boykin took on Bill O'Reilly on The Factor the other night, discussing former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey. (Video here)
How desperate are the Republicans to hold on to Congress? Ask friend of the Blend Jay Lassiter of Lassiter Space and BlueJersey.
Astroturfing is a term for showing up at a blog or board as an ally and posting messages questioning your side's tactics or floating negative rumors -- pure 21st century Karl Rove, bush-league asshattery. This story is so big that the NYT has picked it up. Jay:
Anyway, campaign staffers from the republican side are posing as democrats to spam progressive blogs here in NJ. Their twisted logic is that the big media outlets will pick up the story that "liberals" are doubting their Senator on some B.S. trumped up "ethics" charges. The mastermind? The slur-meister himself, Karl Rove. The Republicans are so desperate to retain control of the Senate that they'll do anything to win. Yeah, I know. Stop the press!!
Who was busted? It was Jill Hazelbaker of the Kean campaign, who was trolling around on BlueJersey. Unfortunately she's not too bright, because folks were able to trace the IP of the poster to "tomkean.com." Even more amusing, after being busted the first time, she shows back up (I guess to ostensibly do damage control), and is immediately busted again by jmelli.
LOL, Hi Jill!
Seriously, what is wrong with you guys?
This is sad (0.00 / 0) IP Address: 70.90.20.85 This is a truly sad day for the bluejersey. Covering NJ like a rug? Maybe you'd have a shot if you focused on actual campaign issues. As an ardent democrat who used to enjoy reading this blog, I am frankly disapointed at the turn bluejersey has taken. You're wrong if you think our generation is only interested in personal attacks...and the personal attacks aren't even on the candidates, but their staff. A new low point guys. Good job. Keep up the great work.
by: blueforever06 @ Wed Sep 20, 2006 at 10:16:24 AM EDT
How is it that I can call you out on posting from Junior's campaign HQ and then... YOU KEEP DOING IT? Seriously, just stop it. It's laughable and embarrassing and a huge no-no in the world of the web. No one believes for a second that you're "an ardent democrat who used to enjoy reading this blog." It doesn't take an IP address to sniff out a concern troll from a mile away.
It looks really silly for your candidate that you're spending your time fighting with a blog. I mean, we're flattered and all, but you just keep making the joke funnier and funnier.
They can't run on their party's record, they can't run on ethics, they can't run on our military engagements, so this kind of BS is par for the course.
Play that tiny violin as you read "Corporate America Is Competing to Promote Homosexuality."
While the pro-family movement focused on doing battle against the homosexual lobby in Washington, D.C., and state capitals, "gay" activists won over corporations, largely through internal activism within each company. Kodak, a leading national sponsor of GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network) went heavily into homosexual advocacy after a top female executive declared her lesbianism to fellow execs. Kodak is among the 138 companies that received a 100% score on the "Corporate Equality Index" (read: Pro-Homosexuality Index) of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the nation’s leading "gay" lobby group.
The battle to restore corporate neutrality on the homosexual issue will be a long and tough one, but it must be fought. People of faith inside companies can refuse to participate in pro-homosexual, one-sided "tolerance" sessions that undercut their moral beliefs. Or at least, they can request that the pro-family perspective on the issue be represented in the name of diversity. And they must work closely with outside family advocates to fight against corporate grants to homosexual groups like HRC that have a well-earned reputation for radicalism and bigotry–e.g., supporting taxpayer-funded transsexual "sex-change" operations and demonizing religious people and groups opposed to homosexuality.
...The pendulum is swinging toward a politically correct corporate embrace of immoral and unhealthy sexual behavior, dressed up as an "orientation." It will swing back toward normalcy in the years ahead.
Wishful thinking, dear. No need to pack away the chaps just yet.
In other news, some unhinged man pled guilty to making e-threats against Porno Pete's former pad, the Illinois Family Institute. As much as I think these wingers are off their rockers, even politically dangerous, there's no reason to send messages threatening to "burn every one of your [g-d] damned churches down." Fundie arguments can easily be shot down without stooping to that. Let's put it this way -- I certainly wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that kind of BS. There are too many freaks out there.
***
WingNutDaily's article on the HRC Corporate Equality Index report is outrageously funny, stating "American corporations have acceded to the demands of homosexual activists." Take a look at the spin on the relative cellar-dwellers of the index:
Other companies given lower scores for their unwillingness to sign onto the "gay" agenda include Reebok, Northwest Airlines, The Men's Wearhouse, J.C. Penney, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nissan, Dun & Bradstreet, Gallup, Ben & Jerry's, Kroger, Progressive, Ball Corp., Cooper Tire, Dow Jones, Circuit City, Radio Shack and Toys 'R' Us.
The Army reports that it will enlist its 80,000th soldier this week, reaching its annual goal.
Of course the goal has been met; it is recruiting people with antisocial personality disorder, autism, as well as welcoming in folks convicted of aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats. (AP):
...the Army this year began allowing people as old as 42 to enter the service; the maximum age previously was 35.
The Army also has accepted a larger number of recruits whose score on a standardized aptitude test is at the lower end of the acceptable range, and it has granted waivers to permit the enlistment of people with criminal records that otherwise would disqualify them. The Army says it does not grant waivers if there is a pattern of criminal misconduct or for convictions of drug trafficking or any sexually violent crimes.
You have to have a pattern of the above to be rejected. That's reassuring, isn't it?
A former National Guard soldier from North Carolina is accused of bringing machine guns from Iraq to the United States and trying to sell them to a northwest Georgia gun dealer. Robert James Clymore of Fayetteville, North Carolina, was arraigned in federal court today on charges of unlawful importation, possession, transportation and transfer of machine guns.
U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Clymore obtained the guns while on active duty with his Army National Guard unit in Iraq.
The Commerce Department has lost more than 1,100 laptop computers since 2001, most of them assigned to the Census Bureau, officials said Thursday night.
The Census Bureau, the main collector of information about Americans, lost 672 computers. Of those, 246 contained some personal data, the department said in a statement. However, no data from any missing computer has been known to have been improperly used, the department said.
Yet. The level of incompetence throughout this administration boggles the mind.
Success again! Jasmyne reports that pressure from black LGBT bloggers deep-sixed a concert in L.A. by Buju Banton, a recording "artist" who has called for the death of gays in his lyrics.
Banton, who entertains his audiences by calling for gays to be shot in the head, have acid poured over them, and set them on fire, found out that this crap wasn't going to fly. Adam Manacker, the general manager of the Highland nightclub and restaurant, received a deluge of calls and emails of protest and cancelled the event, saying "We felt it was the right thing to do after doing some research on the matter."
Next on the list? Beenie Man -- who sings of "hanging lesbians with a long piece of rope" -- he has a concert scheduled on October 22 in Los Angeles.
Radio ad in Maryland accuses Dems of launching KKK, 'bamboozling' blacks
How pathetic. The Black Republican Freedom Fund, the political action arm of the National Black Republican Association (NBRA), has sponsored a radio ad so mind-blowingly stupid and inaccurate that U.S. Senate candidate Michael Steele turned on his brothers-in-arms and told them to pull the ad. (Raw Story):
The 60-second advertisement is shaped as a casual conversation between two African-American women, with one explaining to the other how Democrats have "bamboozled" blacks into believing that their party has done more for the civil rights movement than the Republican Party.
The character named "Tina" claims that Democrats "passed those Black Codes and Jim Crow laws," "started the Ku Klux Klan," and "released those vicious dogs and fire hoses on blacks."
According to the "Tina" character, "Democrats have talked the talk, but Republicans have walked the walk."
"Girl, it's time for us to do the walk," the women say together at the end. "Y'know it, girl."
Whenever you talk about these black Republican outfits, you have to wonder whether it's a shell org, with a few token negroes up front and the puppet strings are being jerked by The Man as necessary (look at the infamous Project 21, with its curiously pale "head" David Almasi).
The A.P. also notes that the NBRA "describes itself on its Web site as 'a resource for the black community on Republican ideals'" but "does not say how many members it has."
Last year, it was reported that half of the newly formed group's board of directors resigned, at the same time that the Bush Administration was taking heat for the federal response after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
Sounds like they are on a roll. From the sound of this, the only freedom going on The Black Republican Freedom Fund is the freedom from sanity.
The Steele campaign is gasping for air on this one.
Shakes Sis has much to say; Steve (who's quoted in the article) picks apart the ad, point by point.
"In the past week, Karl Rove has been promising Republican insiders an 'October surprise' to help win the November congressional elections," reports Ronald Kessler for Newsmax.
...A few weeks ago, another conservative publication, The American Spectator, reported that White House staffers had "been talking up the possibilities of an 'October Surprise' or two leading into the mid-term elections."
"They say the President feels confident he can still play a role in the election, that he intends to campaign hard for Republicans, and that on the policy front, there are a couple of issues that can be used as wedges along the way," according to a column written by "The Prowler."
What do you think the October surprise will be? Or do you think Rove is just blowing smoke?
Openly gay students Jessica Arvidson, Matt Hill Comer, Alex Nini and Stacey Booe tried to enlist in the U.S. Army this morning in an effort to challenge the 13-year-old "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy as part of a 30-city project called the Right to Serve campaign.
They weren't allowed to enlist and then took part in a sit-in along with several supporters inside the Army Recruiting Center on Merritt Drive in Greensboro.
UPDATE: Wingnut alert -- the doyenne of the anti-gay, anti-woman Center for Military Readiness, Elaine Donnelly, weighs in on the Right to Serve movement via Don Wildmon's "news" organ, AgapePress:
The New York Times reports that pro-homosexual activists are engaged in a renewed effort to lift the ban on homosexual conduct by publicizing the stories of potential homosexual recruits or former members of the service who are homosexual. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, explains what is happening. "[Young homosexuals are] going to recruiting offices ... saying they want to sign up, and [when they are told they cannot serve] they are creating media events all over the country and even internationally," says Donnelly. "They're going to about 30 states, according to some news reports."
..."I think the people involved here do not have the best interests of the military at heart," says Donnelly. "They never have. They are promoting an agenda to normalize homosexuality in America using the military as a battering ram to promote that broader agenda."
Again, a sad, completely unhinged man. "Former homosexual" and "Christian" activist James Hartline is STILL fixated on these photos of San Diego Pride (prior posts here and here). We're talking about pix of pols on floats, the usual people in funny outfits, and a couple of shots of lubricant and condoms on a display table are there for bible-beating shock value.
Today he's mad and threatening legal action against Councilman Scott Peters, who didn't want to waste the City Council time letting fundies display pictures of Pride. (The Hartline Report):
On July 25, 2006, it was Councilman Peters, along with lesbian Councilwoman Toni Atkins, who helped pass a city resolution declaring San Diego Gay Pride Week in the city. Peters and Atkins, along with Atkins' lesbian sex partner Jennifer LeSar, rode together in that parade. During a Sept 12th Council meeting, Hartline and a team of thirty Christians attempted to show photographs of the parade that Peters participated in, but Peters proceeded to censor many of the photos and even attempted to block Hartline from speaking to the council on the issue altogether.
...While taking the typical liberal position of anything goes, Peters has not been willing to extend that same liberty to Christian activist James Hartline or his team that appears before the San Diego City Council each month on issues of importance to San Diego's Christian Community. In fact, Peters may have violated the United States Constitution when he refused to allow Hartline and his group the right to present photographs of the San Diego Gay Pride. "When you deny one citizen the same rights and opportunities that you are affording others, then you are crossing the line into discrimination and constitutional violations," says Hartline.
...Hartline, for his part, is not accepting what Councilman Peters has done. The well known Christian activist refuses to allow this prejudicial and anti-christian councilman to take his rights away; or the rights of any other Christian in San Diego. Hartline has contacted an attorney with the American Family Association and asked him to investigate the actions of Couniclman Peters
Peters should have just taken a coffee break and just let Hartline bleat away and show the pictures. Now he'll just churn up the Wildmon AFA "news" machine.
Daddy Dobson's appearance in Pittsburgh to rail at the Republicans for failing to kiss his feet on every wingnut initiative -- and Democrats for being godless homo-loving heathens -- only managed to draw 3,000 in a venue that holds 17,000. There were about 150 protestors outside. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette):
Standing before an enormous American flag in Mellon Arena, conservative evangelical activist James Dobson told thousands of supporters he was deeply disappointed in the nation's Republican leadership, but that the nation's future depended on re-electing them.
...He accused the Republican House and Senate of "sitting on their hands" on key conservative social issues. He said they had squandered a growing public sentiment that abortion should be limited or banned.
One side note -- the article takes care to show that Dobson is connecting with some in the religious black community.
Three black women sitting near her said they had listened to his radio program since their grown children were babies. They bristled at the suggestion that Dr. Dobson's public-policy agenda was not attuned to the concerns of the black family.
"He is not a racist," said Louise Smith of the Hill District. She still listens to his children's radio drama, "Adventures in Odyssey," and said she was thrilled that it recently ran a segment on slavery and the Underground Railroad.
"The younger children do not know that story today,'' she said. "Of course, with Dr. Dobson, you get to listen to what is affecting the Christian family. He gives us the information to make a stand, especially in voting."
Firedoglake's Jane Hamsher appeared on Keith Olbermann's show last night -- Crooks and Liars has the video. They discuss the Bill Clinton "outreach session" with well-known members of blogosphere and the effect of blogs on the midterms and beyond. It's interesting.
I'll sign off for now on the lunch brouhaha with some observations (sorry for the long post), a few of which I've made over at other various blogs during the past week but haven't posted here at the coffeehouse (no time, isn't that pathetic?). Bear with me, and feel free to weigh in.
When you step back and put this Clinton/blogger lunch into perspective, the fallout from the discussion over why or how there weren't bloggers of color there turned into a terrible pissing contest overshadowing what could be a productive conversation on race and inclusion on the left.
The valid points made by others about 1) the problem of inclusion and how information about how that lunch invite list was handled, and 2) the fact that the invitees didn't choose to comment in their posts on the lunch about the "white-out" — got torched in the flames of very hot follow-up posts (see links to various reactions at the bottom of this entry).
What I have blogged about here many times before is that race is a third rail topic for white folks and POC, particularly in the progressive sphere. Whites are paranoid about discussing it for fear of getting their heads bitten off, POC are defensive because it can get tiring having to point out the obvious -- and then they shut down. The end result is the groups go into their corners and fail to communicate effectively. When an issue does explode publicly, as it did in this case, then it becomes emotional, not rational. This cycle is so predictable (in the real and virtual worlds), and it disappoints me each time.
I understand where Liza's emotion came from when that picture of a "blizzard" was posted -- it seemed like, as it did with the big boys ignoring blogger women, you see the same "oversights" occur over and over. Her approach — and the reaction to it — will likely result in silence in many corners again -- hands will be wrung, nothing much will happen, and eventually another flame war will ensue. I do hope, however, that I am wrong.
One big problem that spurred the flurry of agony was that the invited bloggers could have asked why there was so little diversity, or help to put the photo into context (by blogging about who was invited but couldn't attend/refused, etc.), but that unfortunately didn't happen. After the fact, I was emailed by one of the attendees that the lack of color at the lunch was discussed among them. The fact that it wasn't mentioned on any of those blogs said a lot, what exactly, I'm not sure. What it did leave was a vacuum that filled with tension and speculation. My two cents at the time was that it reflected either the "race as third rail" problem, or perhaps even more depressing, a collective opinion that discussing it publicly really didn't matter.
As a result of this dust up, subsequent inclusion of minorities at any sessions like this will appear to be tokenism. You can't roll back the clock to stop it from looking reactive rather than proactive. Minority bloggers don't want to be seen as the "chosen one." Been there, done that, for a good part of my life, thank you very much. I've been the "first" or "only" minority in so many professional and personal settings, and carrying the race anvil on one's back to "represent" is tiring.
What will be difficult for people coordinating these events who earnestly seek a diverse invitee list is whether they are inviting for color only, or for a particular informed perspective -- that requires work on their part. For instance -- I'm a citizen blogger who happens to be a middle-class black lesbian living in the South with a decent sized readership. Am I important to the dialogue as a blogger, a POC, a gay woman or all of the above? I'm not connected to any minority or gay advocacy group who may have people much more highly qualified to receive input on particular issues the organizer has interest in (poverty, HIV/AIDS prevention, etc.) than I could ever give input on in an official capacity.
Despite being a POC, I'd bet that a good number of religious black Dems, for instance, would feel that I in no way can speak for them because I'm gay (another issue Dems don't want to address in public). The same might be true of those who work with the urban poor.
What dialogues am I then seen as "qualified" to participate in on a panel or "event", by both the minority groups I inhabit and the dominant culture? Good question. Just having diversity without context may make for a good PR picture, but it may not be as productive as the planner would like.
***
Given my nature, I'm not a flamethrower when it comes to race, having been on the receiving end of irrational animus from both white folks and minorities (colorism lives!). I'll never black enough for some (the Acting White syndrome), and I'll certainly never be mistaken for white (though way back when I straightened my hair and I lived in NYC I was often mistaken as Puerto Rican, ha, ha).
In any case, I understand how complicated and frustrating talking about race can be when those shields come up on both sides. That's why I try to make the Blend a place where white folks can ask the questions that usually send minorities into defensive overdrive. If I can wade through Freeperland, I can weather a question about whether I can tan.
What this all reminds me of is the school lunchroom phenomenon. I remember at my HS (Stuyvesant, in NYC), kids of all colors mixed in the classroom, but at lunchtime many would self-segregate by race. Then you had people like me, with a rainbow of geek friends, who served as a multiculti table. Why we were different, I don't know.
I guess not much changes when we "grow up" (and I use that term loosely, considering the level of discourse this topic has generated elsewhere). Chris:
I have seen studies that strongly suggest that even online, people tend to read voices that they feel they can identify with. In other words, women will more frequently read blogs written by other women than will men, Latinos will more frequently read blogs written by other Latinos than will non-Latinos, etc. While it is certainly not the same level of segregation you would see in housing patterns, there is a tendency for people to group together online.
Thus the notion of colorblind blog surfer is a myth; the notion that the progressive blogosphere doesn't have a hierarchy and composition that needs some tinkering to become more representative of the Democratic party is a myth. What it requires is for a person to consciously step out of a comfort zone to seek out different perspectives.
As Terrance said:
Identity and experience inform perspective. Thus, regardless of the issue, having diversity at the table changes the discussion, by expanding the context through the wide and varied experiences of the people at the table. It can't help but do so. The less diverse the participants, the narrower the context of the discussion will be, as well as the possibile solutions discussed.
It's all, however, very complicated to try to remedy.
In the end a blog is a personal soapbox, and the Blend reflects my observations based on my experience inhabiting all of those "groups." That, ultimately, is the what I am an "expert" in. What impact my words have on all of you is what makes the words have added value -- or not -- out there in the blogosphere. Your feedback and participation are what I rely on to know where my thoughts fit in along the spectrum of many opinions. I learn, you learn, we all benefit.
As expected, the release of HRC's fifth annual Corporate Equality Index report, showing continued support for LGBT employees and consumers, has roused the wingnuts like clockwork (my earlier post is here). Witness the latest WND poll, titled "Cash is queen" (h/t Jeremy):
How does corporate support for the homosexual agenda impact your buying decisions?
I decided to surf over to the swamp to see how things were churning over this.
Legalize gay marriage and watch how these companies pull these benefits. You will see many gays then work to make gay marriage illegal as many don't want to get married and don't want to lose their benefits
leave policies?? What the heck? Ha! Something is really, really, really screwed up in our culture if companies are paying men to leave work so they can get breasts or slice off their manhood. Messed up to the nth degree.
official state position is that there is no discrimination. if you disagree, then you are invited to re-education camp where you can make Human Rights Campaign key chains as slave labor.
This is from the Human Rights Campaign. They are the rabid homosexual activists, they work with the lamnda legal group to push for the fiate by court order special rights for homosexuals. I would submit this can be gamed to be primarily Mass. and Calif. type corporations. The real issue is why stock holders don't take issue with their PROFITS financing homosexuals' recreation.
Company's bring in 'sociology' experts to help them adapt the latest developments in the field, these 'sociology' experts come from universities, these universities push insane sociology theories in their classrooms. These so-called 'sociology' experts then push these insane ideas on the corporations that hire them. It's a terrible thing.
This is one of the reasons why there needs to be some kind of regulation by the state for gay relationships. Regardless of what individual companies choose to do regarding their G & L employees and benefits in general, there is apt to be a greater legal mess in this area if there isn't some concrete licensing of people's cohabitation status, especially in the realm of benefits. I can't believe I am saying this as one who claims to have libertarian tendencies----better a few regulations than millions spent on lawsuits.
What proof is offered by beneficiaries to show they fit those categories? Is performance of perverted sexual acts in view of a corporate audience mandated or do you just state your sexual preference as a stand alone fact?
'Jap cars': more racism peeping out of the GOP's big tent
Representative John Kline is running for re-election in Minnesota's U.S. 2nd District, and his campaign is in a bit of hot "macaca" water of its own.
During a campaign appearance for Democratic-Farmer-Labor opponent Colleen Rowley by Rep. John Murtha, D-PA., Kline's District Director Mike Osskopp was captured on video outside the venue shouting at supporters who were arriving, chiding that they were driving "Jap cars." How refreshing to go so retro on us, Osskopp.
Inside Minnesota Politics posted a video by DFL activists who happened to be taping outside the meet and greet event, and they captured Osskopp's diatribe.
The Star Tribune learned about the video and reported the fallout. Look at the ridiculous "apology."
Witnesses said they heard Osskopp several times use the word, considered a disparaging term for Japanese. One Rowley supporter, Paul Bartlett, complained Monday to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, noting that Osskopp is a "high-level federal employee."
Osskopp, who rode his Harley-Davidson motorcycle to the event, apologized for the remark Tuesday. "I apologize if my words offended any Americans of Japanese descent, including my sister-in-law," Osskopp said. "I allowed my emotions to get the better of me and used a phrase commonly used in my youth, but which is now inappropriate and offensive."
"Commonly used" (as in during WWII) does not mitigate this BS; when was that term ever considered anything other than a slur? Good grief, what an ass. He gets bonus bigot points for insulting a relative when pumping out that slur. The next family holiday gathering should go swimmingly.
Is there just something in the GOP Kool-Aid that makes racist projectile word vomit occur out in public for these people? I mean we suspect that wingnuts really do believe that blacks can't swim, and that the country is overrun with swarthy immigrant terrorists who "drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night," but it boggles the mind that these fools are so carefree about uttering the ignorance and bigotry in front of crowds or with cameras rolling.
* Paul in SF sent this one in: anti-gay junk scientist Paul Cameron is skewered on The Daily Show, as he attempts to describe why Bleu Copas, a translator discharged from the Army under DADT, is unfit to serve. It's outrageous.
This video is hilarious, though how can anyone take Paul Cameron's work seriously when he says crap in the video like "a large proportion of male homosexuals enjoy drinking each other's urine."
* Tomorrow AM is the attempted enlistment and sit-in in Greensboro for Soulforce's Right to Serve Campaign. Openly gay youth will participate in a challenge to DADT at the Army recruiting office. As Matt Hill Comer, organizer of the local effort says, "These youth are willing to serve, but they are not willing to lie as a condition of their service."
* Focus on the Family's bogus ex-gay Love Won Out road show is holding a press conference on Sunday to "tune out the distractions being thrown at them by gay activists and give a fair hearing to the conference's message," according to professional "ex-gay" Melissa Fryrear. Interestingly, the press release specifically says "credentialed print and broadcast media only -- no bloggers" will get into the event. Daniel at Ex-Gay Watch is taking suggestions for questions to provide the media with to ask the Dobson bunch about Love Won Out.
* From the "how do they keep finding a public forum department": Jasmyne reports that virulently anti-gay performers Buju Banton and Beenie Man are set to perform in Los Angeles. Banton's lyrics call for calls for shooting gays in the head, pouring acid over them, and setting them on fire; Beenie Man's equally offensive, with a song that translates "hang lesbians with a long piece of rope." Find out more.
* Andy at Eleventh Avenue South has a news on a howler: Drag Queen Wants To Marry Michele Bachmann, the unhinged homobigot running for Congress in Minnesota's 6th District.
* Support an out gay candidate for the 14th district seat in the Kansas House of Representatives, Aunesty Janssen. A letter from a supporter who knows how difficult it is to be out and gay in the state that is the home of Fred Phelps. (thanks, Kathy and Boo):
She is running in a tough district, with no support from her political party. Whether they are scared of her, don't know what to do with her, or just think she's doomed, "they" are nowhere to be found. Aunesty is working hard-she is the mother of 4, runs a small business, and is working her district. She has the assistance of 2 campaign managers/strategists, both of whom have political experience. I am watching her wage a strong, smart campaign in a district where they rarely see much competition. Aunesty has been running hard and working hard-and had managed to keep her spirits up too. Until recently...
A recent flurry of emails that question not only her right to run for office, but her "moral fitness" as a parent and legislator, has Aunesty in need of a boost of the spirit-and of the pocketbook. She has a strategy to win her district and believes $10K can bring it home.
The email hate message that prompted me to write you ended with this line, written to Aunesty, who is past PTO president and mother of 4 whom the writer has never met: "I cannot provide a vote for you in the election for any elected office due to your lifestyle choice. I do not believe you are a good role model for children and you cannot represent the proper moral base the state needs."
Friends, it is only through having people like Aunesty run for office that we will ever reach a time when gay candidates can actually garner the support of their Parties and have their defense-rather than their silence-when they receive emails like this one. Let me just say that, in Kansas, we are not there yet. But, still Aunesty runs and runs hard!
***
Consider this an open thread -- blogwhore, chat and link away...
This past Sunday, activist Wayne Besen came to the NC mountains to attend a revival held by local "ex-gay" preacher, Tim Wilkins of Cross Ministries, based in Wake Forest. Invited by respected NC gay businessman Mitchell Gold to see Wilkins first-hand, Wayne got an eyeful and earful of that old time religion.
He was not disappointed; the usual misinformation was bleated to the crowd, but there was a surprising admission by Wilkins as well about his recurring homosexual temptations.
In his sermon, Wilkins repeatedly made the stunning acknowledgement that people do not choose to be gay. Instead, he erroneously blamed homosexuality on a wide array of possibilities including the standard pseudo-scientific canards of parental abuse and dysfunction. To his credit, Rev. Wilkins confessed that his "theories" could not be applied to all gay people.
Equally surprising was that Wilkins unwittingly admitted that he was not cured, but merely suppressing his sexuality. He tried to spin this message by reducing the deep, intrinsic identity of "sexual orientation" to a nagging "temptation." However, it was striking how after 30 years of ex-gay ministry and marriage, Wilkins was no more than a wink from a twink away from falling off the hetero wagon.
To drive home this point, he reiterated that he would not watch Brokeback Mountain because he feared that his resistance might melt like butter near a fire. I pointed out that as a gay man I have watched hundreds of heterosexual dramas and not once was enticed to become straight. Watching Pretty Woman, for instance, did not make me want to sleep with Julia Roberts. He had no answer for this.
Sunday was not the first time Wilkins expressed worry about falling off the wagon. Back in April, he said this:
A reporter from The Christian Post asked my thoughts about the movie and I obliged. My comments as a former homosexual were made from the reviews I had read-comments which generated numerous emails to me from individuals arguing that I could not make an intelligent comment on a movie I had not seen.
They suggested that my viewing the movie would be beneficial in responding to the reporter's questions. I told them and the reporter that my going to see Brokeback Mountain would be similar to asking a former alcoholic to go to a liquor store to buy his neighbor a toddy for the body.
You want to know a secret? I still find myself attracted to men occasionally. To those of you with the puzzled looks on your faces, let me say it a different way. I have found that God’s provision is not necessarily eradicating the same-sex attractions; His ways, which are not my ways, include strengthening the shoulder that bears the burden. And as Dr. S. M. Lockridge used to say “That’s my King!”
My god, Wilkins sounds like a man about to explode. Get him to NC Pride this month and see if he can pray the gay away in that environment.
Michelle Turner, the president of some outfit called the Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, has a very limited notion of what you heteros out there do in the bedroom. She's on board with the condom-use curriculum in the Montgomery County, Maryland school system's sex-ed program, but she has an objection to instruction on what she calls "homosexual acts."
I hate to break it to you Ms. Turner, but I don't think the gays invented these particular sex acts you're talking about. This AgapePress article is labeled with the warning "CAUTION...This story contains terms that some may find offensive."
"We're running into some concerns with the written part of the curriculum," Turner adds. "There still seems to be an interest on the part of the school system to introduce anal and oral sex."
According to Turner, liberal groups are still pushing for condom-based, homosexuality-affirming sex-ed in the classroom. For example, groups like the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and "Teach the Facts" want the county's new sex-education program to include discussion of anal and oral sex, she says. But if the changes advocated by those two groups are adopted, the citizens group leader contends the district may be in violation of the terms of last year's court-ordered settlement.
"It all depends on whether or not they are introducing homosexuality and homosexual acts and the homosexual lifestyle without telling students that it is possible to leave the lifestyle -- and that there are agencies and organizations that can assist with that," she says.
***
This reminds me of a true story that Kate told me a while back. She was attending a Rotary Club-like function in her role as an audiologist, and other health care professionals were giving a talk. One of the women was a Planned Parenthood representative who was talking about teens and sex and methods of protection against HIV/AIDS and birth control.
As one might imagine at a meeting like this held during a weekday, the audience was full of senior citizens, almost all men, who were listening attentively to the information, as the Planned Parenthood woman explained the phenomenon of many teens today defining only intercourse as "sex." The danger, she said, is that STDs can still be transmitted by having unprotected oral and anal sex.
One elderly man (Kate said he had to be in his 80s), sitting in the back was very interested in what the rep had to say; he stood up and said he had a question for the speaker.
She said, "Sure."
In a loud voice, he said "I'd like to know, what, exactly...is oral sex?"
Kate said the room was silent, and then everyone exploded.
The Planned Parenthood rep actually kept her composure and smiled and said to the gentleman -- "I'll be happy to explain that to you right after the presentation, sir."
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...the Blade kicked him to the curb. (Media Bistro, h/t Ablog):
Jeff in the good old butch Bulldog days. And today.
Following Executive Editor Chris Crain's departure from The Washington Blade, the paper chose Kevin Naff as his replacement this week. One of Naff's first decisions was to sever ties with columnist Jeff Gannon.
We spoke with Naff:
I made the decision...Basically, my concern is that he has a huge credibility problem, for obvious reasons, and if a member of my staff lied about their identity, lied about their name, lied to their editors, lied to their sources, I would fire them. I wouldn't publish them.
And this has nothing to do with his political beliefs. Our oped pages will always be open to members of the community of all political stripes. I will be reaching out to different conservative voices to get those folks inside the paper...Their views will be reflected in our pages, but I just think we can find better people to represent those views.
The homo-obsessed, anti-gay Michele Bachmann, the GOP candidate in Minnesota's 6th Congressional District race, is holding yet another fundraiser (Darth darkened the door earlier this year, as did Rove).
The Bachmann for Congress campaign issued a call challenge to all grassroots activists, volunteers, and campaign supporters. Simply make 180 total calls or register 12 people to vote between now and September 19, to have your picture taken with Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman at our Rally for Victory on September 20.
Boy, I'm so sorry I can't make it. Who wouldn't want to have this hanging on your celebrity wall...
Leading the Way These women are poised to be the next generation of leaders in their fields—whether it's sports, business, finance, politics or the arts. In their own words, they tell how they got where they are and where they hope to go next.
Failed author and gay rights ignoramus* Mary Cheney bloviates about her life on the campaign trail with Daddy Darth. She's on the list with:
• Danica Patrick • Queen Latifah • Karenna Gore Schiff • Marissa Mayer • Sarah Chang • Maria Celeste Arraras • Renee Reijo Pera • Gwen Sykes • Joyce Chang • Tracy Reese • Janna Levin • Ruth Simmons • Martina Navratilova • Ellen Futter • Meredith Vieira • Adele Hodges • Renetta McCann • Anne Stevens • Diane von Furstenberg
McGreevey opposed gay marriage to hide own homosexuality. He's just one of many closet cases, Dem and Republican, that we all know are out there, casting votes against marriage (or any gay civil rights measures) for fear of drawing attention to their own tortuous battle within.
"I did not want to be identified as being gay, and it was the safe place to be," McGreevey said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press. "I wanted to embrace the antagonist. I wanted to be against it. That's the absurdity."
It's not absurd, really -- it's dangerous. People who cannot think clearly about their own sexuality in this vein have no business deciding for those of us who have reconciled that truth what our rights should be.
That's the price we have been paying for the political closet, where politicians and lobbyists have personal demons that manifest themselves in virulently anti-gay voting records and advocacy and off-hours cruising. Look at former Virginia Congressman Ed Schrock from an earlier post.
This tortured closet case had no business being in Congress, given his 92% Christian Coalition rating, his co-sponsorship of the Federal Marriage Amendment and the fact that he was cruising for sex with men via the MegaMates/ MegaPhone Line, leaving recordings like this:
"Uh, hi, I weigh 200 pounds, I'm 6'4" (inaudible) blond hair....very muscular, very buffed up, uh, very tanned, uh, I just like to get together a guy from time to time, just to, just to play. I'd like him to be in very good shape, flat stomach, good chest, good arms, well hung, cut, uh, just get naked, play, and see what happens, nothing real heavy duty, but just, fun time, go down on him, he can go down on me, and just take it from there... hope to hear from you. Bye."
After Mike Rogers outed this bastard, was it any surprise that the Schrocking news resulted in Ed canceling his re-election bid without commenting why. After all, the man served the Virginia 2nd district, home to the headquarters of televangelist Pat Robertson, and said ridiculous statements like this about homos:
From the Virginian-Pilot, October 22, 2000: Schrock favors ending the Clinton administration's ''don't ask, don't tell'' policy on gays in the military. He supports asking enlistees whether they have had homosexual experiences in an effort to to try to keep gays from serving. ''You're in the showers with them, you're in the bunk room with them, you're in staterooms with them,'' Schrock said.
This is precisely the kind of behavior McGreevey is describing, only once out of the closet, the former NJ governor came out in favor of marriage equality because he has made peace with his orientation (after making a mess in his personal and professional life trying to hide it). We haven't heard any such public declarations from Schrock, who, as a socially conservative Republican is probably still sitting in his lonely, tortured closet.
That's where the social conservatives of the AmTaliban-focused GOP want gays to be. Hidden, full of shame. Back to the good old days.
On the one hand, I laud the Log Cabin Republicans for attempting to bring sanity to their party in terms of respect for LGBT citizens who believe in the principles of traditional conservatism. I may not agree with some of their political positions as Republicans, but it's healthy for both political parties to have to court a group for its votes. On the other hand, I question the sanity of the LCRs operating in an environment where they are constantly sh*t on by people in their own party who simply don't want them to exist. All of that work hasn't resulted in any open arms in the party welcoming openly gay pols, staffers, and lobbyists -- who are also politically out to the public. Take a look at this state platform:
We believe homosexual behavior is not normal and should not be established as an acceptable "alternative" lifestyle either in public education or in public policy. We do not believe public schools should be used to teach children that homosexual behavior is normal. We do not believe that taxpayers should fund benefit plans for unmarried partners. We oppose special treatment by law based on nothing other than homosexual behavior or identity. We support federal and state constitutional amendments to ensure that marriage is limited to the union of one man and one woman. We oppose attempts to legitimize homosexual relationships by placing such relationships on an equal footing with marriage. We oppose the adoption of children by same sex couples. (NCGOP Party Platform Article I, Section 3)
That's the difference between the Dems and Republicans. The latter has allowed fundamentalists to hijack the social agenda, and they know that they outnumber gay Republicans. They can write party platforms like the above and not bat an eye -- that's not bigotry to them. What I can't understand is how any LCRs can give money to that party under these circumstances -- they are contributing to people that work day and night to erode gay citizens' rights. A tax deduction is more valuable than their basic civil rights. That's pathological.
I will, however, say that for gay Dems to continue to give time, money and effort to their party is almost as pathological. This is a party that has taken this constituency for granted for some time now, always asking for patience to wait until they return to power for legislative change to occur. We've been down that road before (DOMA, DADT).
We're simply in a political closet of a different kind. The courage in the party to actually take a stand of any kind at the federal level regarding gay rights is sorely lacking, as the Dems in leadership court the religious zealot vote (like, say, appearing on Crazy Pat's 700 Club), or cozy up to the squawking fundie media darling of the day to prove that the party is in the mainstream. That's insanity. The religious vote does not equal religious fundamentalist social conservative whackjobs. If that is the mainstream, everyone is in deep sh*t.
Until the party gets its house in order and finds the ability to talk about gay rights without acting like they are choking on a bone, gay Dems should not be an automatic ATM, our votes cannot be taken for granted, we have to be willing to say the wallet is shut and we are willing to sit it out. Support should only be given to specific candidates and organizations actually working for positive change at the grassroots level, and to candidates who are up against strident, vocally anti-gay opponents. We also have a responsibility to hold purported advocacy groups (which have their own agendas for self-preservation and power acquisition), in check when they see them endorsing candidates who are not supportive of equality.
To be asked over and over to do all the heavy lifting to win over the public re: civil equality -- and wait for the polls sufficiently shift for politicians to "feel comfortable" coming out of the closet to support us is simply tiring. Not taking a position or avoiding the discussion is, by default, taking a position -- it allows the other side to define you.
***
You must read Mike Tidmus's take on McGreevey, or as he calls him, ex-Governor JimBenet McGreevey. LaBarbera takes a swipe at McGreevey's treatment of his wife and adultery, but he seems to have a selective memory when it comes to other celebrated "values" politicos. Mike:
Porno Pete, however, fails to note the overwhelming prevalence of celebrated Christian, Republican wife dumpers like former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. Newt paid a visit to his wife while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. With his two daughters in tow, and one Callista Bisek, a blonde, congressional aide 23 years his junior hiding out in the wings, Newt presented his bed-ridden wife with divorce papers. Married three times and typical of the sanctity of marriage set, Newt wasn’t what you’d call cooperative with his alimony payments.
Same sex buss on plane almost results in diverted flight
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Several of you mentioned this ridiculous crap -- with all the het mile-high fornication going on, somehow a homo kiss in the cabin on an American Airlines flight from Paris to NYC nearly resulted in the plane being diverted. Is this the new threat to Homeland Security? (New Yorker):
The purser asked the men to describe what they’d been doing, and she acknowledged that their behavior had not been inappropriate. Tsikhiseli then asked if the stewardess would have made the request if the kissers had been a man and a woman. Suddenly, Leisner said, the purser “became very rigid.” Contradicting what she’d told them before, she stiffly said, “Kissing is inappropriate behavior on an airplane.” She then said that she was busy with the meal service and promised to come back.
Half an hour later, the purser returned, this time saying that some passengers had complained about Tsikhiseli and Varnier’s behavior earlier. The men asked more questions. Who had complained? (She couldn’t say.) Could they have the stewardess’s name, or employee number? (No.) Would the purser arrange for an American Airlines representative to meet them upon landing at J.F.K.? (Not possible.) Finally, the purser said that if they didn’t drop the matter the flight would be diverted. After that, Leisner said, “everyone shut up for a while.”
If you read the entire article, it's unclear what American's policy is regarding passengers kissing during the event; everyone is confused and confrontational. Even after the episode, there are conflicting statements from AA staffers.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American, said that the stewardess’s injunction to the men was reasonable, and would have been made whether the couple was gay or straight. “Our passengers need to recognize that they are in an environment with all ages, backgrounds, creeds, and races. We have an obligation to make as many of them feel as comfortable as possible,” he said. (He added, “Our understanding is that the level of affection was more than a quick peck on the cheek.”) But a customer-service representative named Terri, reached last week on the telephone, offered the opinion that kissing on airplanes is indeed permissible. “Oh, yeah! Sure. I’ve seen couples who are on honeymoons,” she said. “They just don’t want you to go into the bathroom together.”
My comment: All I know is, I hope I'm not in any pix if I ever do get invited to such an event, because the boobie patrol will have way too much to deal with.
Jessica has decided to make lemons out of lemonade, or, to be more accurate, a T-shirt out of the gigantic boobie-hating dustup. BTW, 20% of the profits from T-shirt sales will go to Breast Cancer Action.
Poor Ann Althouse! Jessica Valenti looked discernibly female in a blogger group photo with Bill Clinton, and Ann is aghast, appalled, and dismayed!
Ode To Ann Althouse By Madeleine Begun Kane
Some bloggers are easily shocked When gal lefties don't look like they're jocks. Poor Ann can't abide When such women don't hide Their endowments beneath frumpy smocks.
These bills would allow some health care providers to refuse services (this is already true of abortion services in 46 states), because the proposed measures would allow refusal based on broad, undefined criteria such as "moral, ethical or conscientious grounds." Most have failed to pass, but it's clear that right-wing legislators are not meek about repeated attempts to control wombs and punish gays.
A dramatic example of this can be found in Virginia's 2006 House Bill 187 that would have prohibited all health care providers from assisting any unmarried woman with any form of assisted reproduction. While this bill did not pass, the fact that something this expansive was introduced and received public attention indicates the direction we can expect these bills to continue in.
In opposing these bills the solidarity between choice and LGBT organizations at the state-level has been rekindled. Moreover, by highlighting the potentially severe negative consequences of these bills many legislators have agreed, that as written, these measures are mean-spirited and potentially devastating and, to date, have not passed one.
I would imagine that Virginia's wingnut-filled legislature, if the marriage amendment passes, will feel empowered to move forward on measures like HB187 and even more expansive bills, once LGBT citizens are made even more legally vulnerable than they presently are.
***
On a brighter Virginia note, the coffers of the organization battling the amendment, The Commonwealth Coalition, has raised more than $315,000 during the months of July and August. In contrast, the bible beaters at Virginia4Marriage, only racked in about $155,000.
As far as the numbers go, 54% favor the amendment while 40% said they would vote against it, according to a recent Mason-Dixon poll. There's a lot of work to do.
A recently published photograph of Travolta showed him kissing his family's male nanny before flying to America on board his private jet, which sparked the rumours that he has homosexual leanings.
However, Martin insists that the smooch was harmless, and that Travolta's wife ,Kelly Preston was also on board the plane which ferried him and the nanny home from Ontario, Canada.
He said that his client's kissing another man was just a manner of customary greeting, and that Travolta kisses all those men and women whom he considers his close friends.
Andy asked a question that was on my mind as well:
Is it really proper in this day and age of sexual harassment lawsuits to kiss the help?
HRC's Corporate Equality Index: more companies get with the program
The fundies will most definitely come out, guns blazing, at this news, out of sheer frustration. While our government, which is supposed to represent us, drags its feet on civil equality and fairness, corporate America is the one venue where equality for LGBT citizens has been on a constant, positive trajectory.
Human Rights Campaign’s fifth annual Corporate Equality Index report is out, and a record number of the largest U.S. companies are actually competing to expand benefits and protections for LGBT employees and consumers, because they understand the importance of the constituency that it employs and markets to.
The growth is notable: 138 major U.S. companies earned HRC's highest rating of 100 percent, up from 101 in 2005. Over four years the overall growth is tenfold, despite constant pressure tactics from the AmTaliban forces such as Don Wildmon's American Family Association.
* 75 percent more companies than in 2005 prohibited discrimination against transgender employees in employment practices; * 64 percent more companies than in 2005 implemented at least one wellness benefit for transgender employees; * 35 percent more companies than in 2005 extended COBRA, vision, dental and dependent medical coverage to employees’ same-sex domestic partners; and * 14 percent more companies than in 2005 engaged in philanthropic or marketing activities directed toward the GLBT community.
Almost all of the companies rated — 436, or 98 percent — include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination polices.
...For example, last year Raytheon Co. was the only member of the aerospace industry to get a perfect score. This year, however, three of its competitors also earned 100 percent. Four other industries saw rapid growth in companies achieving the top score. A total of eight law firms, five pharmaceutical companies and five consulting houses all reached 100 percent for the first time in 2006. And, while in 2005 two major auto companies achieved the top rating, this year, that number doubled to four.
Just a few of the top 100: Adobe, Apple, Best Buy, American Express, Bristol-Myers, Chevron, BP, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, DaimlerChrysler, GM (gee, Don's been wasting all his time on Ford, which is also on the list), Kodak, Sears, Sprint, Wells Fargo, Whirlpool, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Northrup Grumman, ConEd. The list goes on and on. Soon there won't be anywhere the fundies can shop or do business, without supporting The Homosexual AgendaTM.
Guess who scored a zero, btw:
Three companies received a score of zero on the report. They are: oil giant ExxonMobil, grocery chain Meijer Inc. and high-tech consulting firm Perot Systems. None of these companies offer even the most minimal benefits or workplace protections to their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees.
Men, can you read this without holding your johnson? (No, that's not the Q of the day -- that's at the end).
First penis transplant reversed after two weeks. It was a successful operation from a medical standpoint. The organ was donated by the parents of their 22-year-old son, who was declared brain dead. However the patient -- and his wife -- requested that it be removed two weeks after the operation because of the psychological impact of this unusual transplant on them.
Both the man and his wife had requested the surgery. He had been unable to have intercourse or urinate properly since the accident that occurred 8 months before the surgery was performed.
Ten days after the operation, which had been approved by the hospital’s medical ethical committee, the recipient had been able to urinate. There had been no signs of the 10-centimeter (4-inch) organ being rejected by the recipient’s body. But Hu said more cases and longer observation are needed to determine whether sexual sensation and function can be restored.
“The patient finally decided to give up the treatment because of the wife’s psychological rejection, as well as the swollen shape of the transplanted penis” Hu added.
For discussion's sake, an honest question -- is this more or less psychologically traumatic than the world's first face transplant, which made headlines because of all the ethical issues raised by that operation? In either instance, why?
Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday he was 'deeply sorry' about the angry reaction sparked by his speech about Islam and holy war and said the text did not reflect his personal opinion. 'These (words) were in fact a quotation from a Medieval text which do not in any way express my personal thought,' Benedict told pilgrims in Castel Gandolfo. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
So he's sorry about his little contextual faux pas re: Islam, but is Papa Ratzi deeply sorry about facilitating the cover up of heinous crimes perpetrated by his priests in cases like this, in Pennsylvania:
Victims of priest sexual abuse came forward Friday with sometimes graphic accounts of molestation and rape, addressing hundreds of Roman Catholic priests in what some view as a small but hopeful step by the archdiocese to face its past.
...A woman named Grace talked about the abuse of her two sons - now adults - and the lingering trauma it inflicted on their entire family.
...Grace said the hands the priest used to consecrate the body and blood of Christ were "the same hands he used to violate my sons." Grace also read a letter from her older son, now in prison, describing how he dreaded seeing the priest's car pull up to their house. After taking the son to the priory and abusing him, the priest would bring him back home and have a drink at the kitchen table. "It was like he was celebrating what he did to me," the son said in the letter.
Or maybe Ratzi might be deeply sorry about this development if records are released, for good rea$on.
Former Priest Seeks Block Of Record Disclosure. A former Los Angeles priest accused of sexually abusing four people as children is asking an appeals court to block the release of his church personnel records.
Lynn Caffoe claims disclosure of the confidential files would violate his rights. Caffoe was suspended from the priesthood 15 years ago after being accused of molestation.
An attorney representing the four alleged victims predicted the files would show the church's continued protection of priests.
And out in Denver, where Rev. Timothy Evans is charged with molesting two young people:
Group warns priest's neighbors. The Loveland neighborhood of a Catholic priest charged with molesting two youths was blanketed with fliers Monday by a group of people who said they had been victims of sexual assaults.
"I don't want to see any other children raped," said Jeb Barrett, a leader of the Denver branch of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests.
...At the time of the assaults, Evans was assigned to Spirit of Christ Catholic Community in Arvada as a vicar, the indictment said. Evans is alleged to have fondled the boy while massaging him.
* The Davenport, IA Diocese, tapped out on insurance after paying out financial settlements to victims of its pedophile priests totalling approximately $10 million since 2004, is going to court over the remaining cases to protect its assets.
Attorney Craig Levien and several of his clients, however, claim the diocese is going to court now because its insurance options have run out and it is trying to shield assets.
"They are taking the position that the amount of the demands exceeds their assets, but I disagree," Levien said. “We believe some of the financial burden for resolving the pain that was caused by sexual misconduct of priests — and known by the diocese — can and should be borne by the diocese. To just use insurance money for these settlements is not being fully responsible for the wrong that was committed.�
KNBC-4 in Los Angeles recently featured a report on how to tell your children that you are gay. The reporter spoke to Aimee Wilson, 30, and Connie Miller, 45.
Miller, incidentally was raised in the Mennonite faith in a conservative Amish family. She married young, to a man in the community, and had four children. They later divorced. She described the approach of explaining her relationship with Wilson to her children. A snippet: A snippet:
WEBB EDGERTON, PSYCHOLOGIST: Take time and a quiet weekend where they can process. Take them out and to a place where if they scream and yell, it's OK. And let them do that.
MACK: Connie was also very conscious of not telling her children too much.
MILLER: Listen to your kids. They're going to be the best judge of how much information they want to know and what they don't want to know.
MACK: And when it came to introducing Aimee to her children, Connie was equally careful.
MILLER: You don't want to introduce just any other adult into a child's life. You have to know that this is someone that does have significant meaning.
MACK: What Connie made sure her kids knew was that, no matter what her sexual orientation, she was their mother forever.
OK. Seems very matter-of-fact, nothing particularly shocking or controversial. Guess I was wrong. Look at the apes*t cretins in Freeperland.
Remember this is The Base, the hardcore 30% Bush-stroking voters that Karl Rove and Ken Mehlman cherish, court and depend on for their victories. Welcome to Bush's America.
"Honey, I love you very much and wanted you more than anything in the world, but I'm a carpet muncher."
[Only had to go in two comments to get to bestiality!] Next, "How to tell your children you're into beastiality" and "How to tell your children you're a Democrat."
First, run for office as a Democrat and win... next, get caught doing something particularly corrupt and/or unsavory. Finally, play your get-out-of-jail-free card to the utter surprise and shock of your wife and kids.
Here's how: Hi, kiddies. I value my own sexual fulfillment more than I value your health and happiness, or the personal integrity involved in keeping my marital vows to your [choose one: mother/father/whatever]. Sh*t happens, and this is just the beginning of yours. I love you, though, just not enough to sacrifice anything for you. Efficient, accurate -- how hard is that?
If my mom dropped that on me after being married to my dad and raising me at 21. I would tell her I hope she realized that whatever perversion or brainwashing she got into or whatever "partner" she is listening to, better be dam well worth losing her only soon forever. I would never speak to her ever again!
First, you shouldn't have gotten married in the first place, you sick f*@#@. Second, wait until they are at least 18 to tell them. Third, live the rest of your life ashamed at your deception to your spouse all those years. Fourth, just because you are gay, doesn't give you any special license to break any other rules of decency. Fifth, now go whine in a corner by yourself about how straight people hate you. Disclaimer, I am not anti-gay, like most here, but I hate the incessant whining, and the way they often use their gayness as an excuse for doing something stupid or wrong.
Here's how: Kids, my sexuality is the most important part of my life; more important than you, faith - anything. I demand to be defined by my odd sexual proclivities and nothing else. What most people around the worlds consider personal, private and sacred - I want to shout aloud from the roof tops...
Start carrying an ...Equal Rights for Sodomites...sign.
This was the first mental illness IMO that created a political lobby to change their diagnosis in the Medical world.
Show thwm your AIDS report.
Tell it like it is: "I'm gay and I engage in homosexual sodomy"..
I don't care how they make this sound so normal. CHILDREN, ESPECIALLY TEENAGERS are not comfortable with homosexuality. They may pretend so as not to disappoint their parents, but they are not alright with it. If you are gay and you believe that your kids are going to be ok with it you are clueless and selfish.
[McGreevey gets evoked quite a few times in the thread.] You forgot the most important step: WRITE A BOOK documenting all the glorious details of your sleazy trysts.
You know what I absolutely hate??? Is when these reporters make it out to seem like gays are so much more in tune with their kids, therefore their kids are so much more well adjusted then our poor children. Give me a break, every gay couple I have ever seen with kids are off the hook. Usually one is very butch, which that in and of itself isn't right.
There was a time not so long ago when parents placed the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of their children ahead of their selfish hedonism.
I have said it here before, but I remember in the 70's when gays begged only for tolerance and acceptance. Whine, whine, whine. Once they got that, they started demanding equality and even to have their 'lifestyle' celebrated. They are disgusting.
Sure, devastate the kids. Hey - all their friends' parents are divorced, anyway, so they're halfway there to "understanding". It's like the kids have to pacify the adults here ("sure, Mom...it's OK...there, there..."). Parents - do your job and stop whining about your love life to your kids!! Go be a lesbo or a free agent or whatever's bothering you AFTER you've raised your kids!!
"Sorry, but I have made a DECISION, although not rooted in genetics, to live an abhorrent lifestyle of sinful sexual gratification with no care for you or your well being. I also don't care about the damage my sick lifestyle will have on those around me, nor the shame that it will bring to the family. I am just admitting that I am a self-serving sick bastard. I am rejecting the Bible, Jesus Christ, and God's standard. I don't know Jesus as my personal Savior, and thus freely accept eternity in Hell." How's that?
[Let's get down to their real solution -- homos should die.] The simple answer to these is the same as the answer to the original question: In your suicide note.
nice. thats how they should be told. dont lie. admit your completely self absorbed, willing to dissolve a marriage and engage in vile acts for the rest of your days.
10% of self-proclaimed 'straight' men in NYC are having gay sex
Monday, September 18, 2006
That's the 365gay story, citing a survey by the NYC Health Department.
Of that group 70% said they were married.
I'm sure there's a joke about one of our favorite AmTalibanners in there somewhere.
All kidding aside, this kind of behavior is dangerous, because you know the women these men are sleeping with probably have no idea what the guys are doing on the side, leaving them exposed to HIV/AIDS and other STDs.
Titled "Discordance between Sexual Behavior and Self-Reported Sexual Identity: A Population-Based Survey of New York City Men," the study appears in this week's edition of Annals of Internal Medicine.
Compared to men who identified themselves as gay, the "straight" men who had sex with other men were more likely to belong to a minority racial or ethnic group, be foreign-born, have a lower educational level, and live outside Manhattan Pathela and her colleagues report.
Most worrisome the group was less likely to have been tested for HIV infection during the previous year and less likely to have used a condom during the last sexual encounter than men who identified themselves as gay.
***
In NYC, there are efforts to address the black church and its problem with homophobia. Once such is an upcoming talk, "Sexuality, Faith, and the Black Church A Love Like Damien's Community Circle and Talk Back." The free event will be held tomorrow, September 20 from 7pm - 9pm at the Community Church of New York, 28 East 35th Street, 1st Floor.
The play, A Love Like Damien's, is the story of a young black gay man finds the strength to stand up to his church's homophobia. More information here, from playwright Andrea E. Davis.
GA Senator: the South could have won the Civil War if it had better intelligence
I'll just let that headline float out there, as is -- and I'm a Southerner.
That above sentiment was the wisdom emanating from the cracker lips of U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA). He and George Macaca Allen need to get together for a Confederacy Love-In. (Roll Call, via Raw Story):
Conflicting reports have emerged about what was said, one from a source to Roll Call's “Heard on the Hill” column, the other from a spokesperson for Chambliss.
Chambliss with the Chimperor.
According to Roll Call's source, Chambliss said, “We need better intelligence. If we had better intelligence in the Civil War we’d be quoting Jefferson Davis, not Lincoln.”
...During Thursday’s closed-door Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on trials, interrogation and detention of foreign terrorism suspects, Chambliss made an analogy between the current war on terror and the Civil War. He made the point that history would have been altered dramatically if only the South had had better intel.
Democratic sources expressed outrage that he compared the Civil War to the Bush administration’s war on terror. "It’s a little disgusting" to be equating the two, one Democratic source said, adding, "You can’t figure out whether he didn’t understand the Civil War, or the war on terror, or both."
Chambliss's spokesbot later clarified things by saying the senator actually said "If Gen. JEB Stuart had had better intelligence, we’d all be meeting in Richmond right now." OK, that's reassuring. It still sounds like he longs for Dixie.
"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state."
With that in mind, if the above passes on November 7, Wisconsin's amendment would outlaw basic legal protections provided for gay families. Fair Wisconsin points out that rights to hospital visits, medical decisions, shared pensions, or funeral arrangements for a partner are in jeopardy.
Here is FW's no-holds-barred ad featuring the story of Lynn and Jean and their adopted daugher Katy.
Background:
Katy was home for only nine months when Jean was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Lynn, a physical therapist, cut down her work hours in order to juggle caring for Jean and taking care of a new baby.
Lynn was not recognized as Jean's next of kin—as her family. Because they were legal strangers, they faced extra obstacles beyond those any family faces when a loved one is dying of cancer.
This meant Lynn had to worry about whether she would be able to see Jean in the hospital. There were moments during Jean’s most difficult days when it was not clear that Lynn would be able make critical, urgent medical decisions.
When it became clear that Jean was going to die, Lynn faced the prospect of losing the love of her life and having to raise Katy as a single mom. She was worried about the finances, knowing she had no legal recognition as a surviving spouse.
...Instead of focusing solely on sharing Jean’s final days, Lynn and Jean had to bring a lawyer into the hospital—and spend thousands of dollars—to try to provide for Katy’s future. They did what they could, but even with those basic measures, things were still harder than they had to be. For example, Lynn had no legal right to Jean’s pension, and anything Jean could pass on to Lynn would be taxed because they were legal strangers in the eyes of the law.
Even after Jean died, Lynn was refused the final medical report. In order to obtain it she had to have Jean's out-of-town relative sign for it.
Did you watch the ad? It kicked ass. When you see something like this, you have to ask an obvious question:
What will it take for people to understand how basic these rights are, and how it's time to fight for fairness?Gay families exist. This is not some hypothetical situation; the people affected in these states with amendments, all you elected officials out there, we are your constituents.
Democratic candidates for office and Beltway know-and-do-nothings -- you are going to have to take a position on what basic rights you feel LGBT citizens are entitled to in this country, period. Specifically what rights as an elected official, are you willing to fight for at the local, state and federal levels. We're tired of being ATMs, or having you whisper in our ears "we're with you, just be patient while I stroke this fundie over here to try and get their vote."
Get on the record, and let the chips fall where they may. It's not as though the GOP is going to leave the homo straw man in the closet.
It was safe in 2004 to punt and say marriage is between a man and a woman/I oppose a fed marriage amendment/leave it to the states. Now that the election is over, and the amendments are sailing through, partnership benefits are now being challenged, domestic violence cases are being tossed out (for unmarried straights and gays), adoption and fostering of children by gays and lesbians are under attack. The Right is using the amendment as a means to turn the clock back. And another election cycle approaches.
The battle for civil equality requires straight allies and politicians with spines, not people who have made it clear, in word and deed, that gays are on their own, and "I'm sorry, but it's just going to be too bad for this generation" -- that gay and lesbian taxpaying citizens will have to just "wait until hearts and minds are changed" and it's up to us to do all the heavy lifting.
In the meantime, the vote in Wisconsin is close. Hopefully the story of Lynn and Jean will educate and wake up voters -- potential straight allies -- to the fact that fairness does matter, even if their lives are not directly affected by this amendment.
I love my family. They're still living back in Idaho and most of them are what I call "country Christians". They go to churches that are small enough for everyone to know each other, they sing hymns and have potluck picnics, and they babysit each other's kids. They're not the kind of people who could ever support full abortion rights or full gay rights, yet they're not the kind of people who would ostracize anyone or feel the need to protest publicly at the Planned Parenthood or Pride Parade. Their theological philosophy is what I'd call the USA Today of theology: short paragraphs, pretty charts, your "Ten Commandments and Golden Rule" Christians who really don't put a whole lot of thought into the details. "God said it, I believe it, that settles it" is enough proof for them.
The "country Christians" are some of the nicest people you can meet and they do a lot of good for this country. They're the kind who will generously donate to food banks and toy drives, for instance. But they're also the kind who buy into "war on Christmas" rhetoric, too. All in all, decent salt-of-the-earth people who mean well, but have a faith-sized blind spot in their critical thinking -- a mostly benign condition except for its effect on voting.
My "country Christian" family knows I'm the atheist secular liberal skeptical progressive pothead leftist moonbat black sheep of the family, a prodigal son if there ever was one. My aunt, bless her heart, even tried engaging me in an e-mail conversation on religion. She gave up and commented that I was "far too clever" for her to be able to convince (too smart for religion, now there's a compliment!). I don't think she thought I knew Scripture as well as I do and she was flustered when I asked why God would send bears to kill 42 children who were teasing Elijah about his bald head, or why Job had to suffer because God and Satan made a cruel bet, or why God had Abraham almost sacrifice his son (the first ever episode of "Punk'd") to prove his loyalty -- isn't God omniscient? wouldn't He know if Abe was faking?
They know all this about me and they know it is impossible for me to control the impulse to refute and debunk this stuff. Yet they continue to forward to me various bits of Praise God Spam. Today my inbox processed this little bit of internet flotsam, the story of a premature baby girl and a damp-smelling deity:
...That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean section to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. 'I don't think she's going to make it'" he said, as kindly as he could. '"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one.'
...Because Danae's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw,' the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort - so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love. All they could do, as Danae struggled alone beneath the ultra-violet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.
...Today, five years later, Danae is a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life. She shows no signs, whatsoever, of any mental or physical impairments.
...Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, 'Yes, it smells like rain.' Danae closed her eyes and again asked, 'Do you smell that?' Once again, her mother replied, 'Yes, I think we're about to get wet, it smells like rain.' Still caught in the moment, Danae shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced, 'No, it smells like Him. It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest.'
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Danae then happily hopped down to play with the other children. Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along. During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Danae on His chest - and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.
You now have 1 of 2 choices. You can either pass this on and let other people catch the chills like you did or you can delete this and act like it didn't touch your heart like it did mine.
It worked! It worked! Praise God, I've seen the light and been welcomed into the bosom of Jesus! I'm saved! Whoo-hoo!
Oh. Wait. I think it was just indigestion. Never mind.
This heartwarming story began its Internet life around April 1998, after having appeared under its original title, "Heaven Scent," in Miracles in Our Midst, a 1997 compilation of inspirational tales. It's a "true" story in the sense that there is such a child, and the tale of her premature birth and subsequent battle for health was a real one.
What elevates this story above other true accounts of seriously ill children and direly premature babies who beat impossible odds to go on to live healthy lives is the comment Danae makes about rain and the pursuant interpretation that "God was holding Danae on His chest" during those first fragile months of her life. A leap has been made between a five-year-old's comment and the presumption that she could only have come by the knowledge behind it during her time as a newborn, when she was too tender to be held by her parents or other earth-bound caregivers. God may well smell like rain, [HERE'S THE IMPORTANT SCIENCY PART] but a child born three months prematurely lacks sufficiently developed olfactory senses to be able to detect it.
I know, I know, I should just accept this in the spirit it was given. I'm all for commuity and group hope and empathy, and this is just a way of saying "God is Good" and "I'm thinking of you" and "I love you". I'm glad the little girl made it and it is a heck of a story of survival.
But I cannot ignore the underlying theme of sentimentality over science, of religion over reason, especially in a world when Biblical creation accounts are masquerading as science, when scientists' unanimous warnings about the perils of serious climate change are whitewashed by an administration serving the petroleum industry, when a religious fringe lobbies to place the Ten Commandments in schoolhouses while few, if any, students can name the ten Amendments of the Bill of Rights, when China and India are kicking our butt in new engineering students, and when life-saving stem-cell research is quashed for fear of offending people who can't tell a zygote from "My Pet Goat".
I guess it just bugs me that people put so much faith in the idea that a five-year-old girl thinks God smells like a South Texas low pressure system that this tear jerker has floated around the internets since 1998, when the truly amazing story here involves a 24-week premature baby saved through some incredible neo-natal medical science. Rather than forwarding an e-mail praising God for this girl's life, why not praise the inventors of those incredible machines and the well-educated doctors whose skills actually did save this girl's life? After all, Who was it that kicked little Danae out of the womb 12 weeks early in the first place?
I have to hand it to him, self-loathing black homobigot Vernon Robinson (the "black Jesse Helms"), running against Brad Miller in NC-13, does know how to plant a buss on his mentor's forehead.
In this latest piece of filth, he pays homage to Helms's famous "White Hands" commercial used in his 1990 Senate run against then Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt (my post on that here).
The race was tight, with Gantt, a black man, ahead. Then the commercial ran -- a close up of a pair of flannel-shirtsleeved white hands crumpling a rejection letter, with an ominous voiceover explaining that a well-deserved job went to someone else because of affirmative action. This appealed to the blue collar, textile working folks in the rural areas, and Helms won handily.
Vern's twist is to make the pair of hands black this go-round, and to blame the rejection on the hiring of illegal immigrants, which, of course, is all Brad Miller's fault.
He's appealing to The Base, even as his black posterior would have been sitting at the back of the bus only a few decade ago because of the worldview of The Base. What a sick individual.
"When secular-minded Americans decide to have few, or no, children, they unwittingly give a strong evolutionary advantage to the other side of the culture divide. If 'Metros' don't start having more children, America's future is 'Retro.'" -- Phillip Longman, senior fellow at the New America Foundation, on statistics that show conservatives are breeding at a higher rate than liberals.
[UPDATE: added more info on fundie college Patrick Henry below.]
Just looking at the numbers tossed out in Vicki Haddock's SFGate article, Republicans' fertile future, you imagine masses of bible beaters shooting out of wombs, ready to pull the lever for God-fearing, forced birth, homo-hating, candidates around the country.
Some stats, from the 2004 General Social Survey, considered "a bible of data for social scientists" according to Haddock:
A randomly selected group of 100 liberals and 100 conservatives found that -- the liberals would have had 147 kids -- conservatives would have had 208
And that adds up to a fertility gap of 41 percent (adjusted for age and income, it's a 19% gap).
Now superimpose this on a map of the United States. The highest fertility rate is found in the most Republican state, Utah, home to the Mormon Church. The lowest fertility belongs to Vermont, a state liberal enough to be the first to sanction gay unions.
The states with the next highest fertility rates, according to the latest National Center for Health Statistics survey, are Arizona, Alaska and Texas, otherwise known as "red states." States with the next lowest fertility rates are Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, all "blue states."
Does this really matter? Does Red State parenthood ensure that the children turn out to be conservative. Apparently so - it's the strongest predictor of political affiliation.
Political scientists have long found that 4 out of 5 people with a party preference grow up to vote the way their parents voted. In fact, while many people experience a temporary rejection of their parents' politics in very early adulthood, virtually nothing is more predictive of your political ideology than that of your parents -- it's more of a determining factor than income, education or any other societal yardstick.
There are exceptions: While only 20 percent eschew their parents' ideology, they do, after all, add up to a lot of people. And despite ample instances of Republicans in Southern states being raised by parents who once identified as Democrats, those parents were actually conservative Democrats who became Reagan Democrats and ultimately migrated to the GOP. The party labels changed, but the political ideology remains consistent from generation to generation.
The article goes on to explain that one of the factors that inhibits liberals from having more children is that they tend to congregate in more urban, dense, expensive Blue enclaves, which out of practicality results in families being smaller. Another obvious factor is that religious conservatives believe in being fruitful and multiplying (look at the Duggars for an extreme case), so they are less likely to avail themselves of birth control, even if they are having sex at the same rate as liberals.
It's kind of funny to think about political balance of power in terms of sheer voter numbers (and the article is somewhat tongue in cheek), but the reality is that not only are these fundies shooting out kids, but the amount of the critical thinking skills overall in this country is clearly in steep decline, look no further than the hardcore 30% of people who can find nothing wrong with Dear Leader in poll after poll, or the 43% who still think Saddam and 9/11 are connected.
The last thing this country needs is for that number to rise.
***
One can only hope that this new flock of sheeple will eventually be so dumbed down and mesmerized by the idiot box that they will simply stay home and not vote.
I recently saw this frightening documentary on the Discovery/Times channel, God's Next Army, about Patrick Henry College ("the first college in America founded specifically for Christian home-schooled students"). If those folks represent the future conservative kids, our nation is f*cked. The whole purpose of the school is to train them to be lobbyists, office holders and fundie attorneys.
The students are highly trained in political debating techniques for which they win national trophies. The college is extremely well-connected in Washington, and students are propelled towards internships working for top politicians.
God's Next Army shows students taking their first step towards power, canvassing for a key Republican candidate. They visit a conservative lobbying company which is opposing the payment of compensation to people affected by asbestos, and is trying to repeal estate tax because 'the earth is the Lord's'.
Helped by the institution's friends-in-high-places, PHC has already provided the current White House administration with more interns than any other college in the USA, and more are in the pipeline – on the way to becoming 'key players in a Christian republic'.
Can The Rapture happen already? I'm tired of these people and ready for them to get the hell out of here and leave us all the flip alone.
The documentary Jesus Camp is in theaters now, and it's a good look at the evangelical camps for kids that are creating the AmTaliban of tomorrow.
How unhinged are they? Well, I would put bowing before a photo of George W. Bush as a deity as a sign that someone needs to fast-forward the Rapture to n-o-w.
Speaking in tongues, weeping for salvation, praying for an end to abortion and worshipping a picture of President Bush -- these are some of the activities at Pastor Becky Fischer's Bible camp in North Dakota, "Kids on Fire," subject of the provocative new documentary, "Jesus Camp."
"I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places," Fisher said. "Because, excuse me, we have the truth."
"A lot of people die for God," one camper said, "and they're not afraid."
"We're kinda being trained to be warriors," said another, "only in a funner way."
Back in April, Blender Joel, a Texas native who now lives in Brooklyn, got to see a screening of Jesus Camp at the Tribeca Film Fest. Here's his review.
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.
These folks are such zealots that I'm quite concerned about how far they'll take their activism. Who will be able to rein these folks in?
"This is an enormous youth movement," said Lauren Sandler, a secular, liberal feminist from New York City who spent months among the believers researching her new book, "Righteous."
Sandler says the evangelical youth movement will have a negative impact on the country's future, because even the most moderate young evangelicals are inflexible on issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
"It's an absolute, straight-up us-against-them," Sandler said. "It's, you're either with us or you're against us. … Not only are you a sinner, but you are working for the enemy -- the enemy being Satan."
Somehow, however, these news stories keep popping up -- and I can't quite figure out how to square them with the lessons I'm receiving from Dear Leader's man behind the podium.
A Hispanic family in south-central Kentucky are afraid to stay in their new home after finding a cross burning in their front yard and a sign that said "My country maybe, my neighborhood NO WAY!!!"
Nelson Espinoza, a native of El Salvador, said his family has stayed with relatives since they found the cross and the sign Sunday afternoon. He said he only bought the house in Rockfield two months ago. "They don't want me here," Espinoza said. "They say I can live in the United States, but I can't live in their neighborhood. I can't be a neighbor here."
Two men accused of burning a cross on a black man's front lawn pleaded guilty to a reduced misdemeanor charge of malicious injury to property in a deal sought by the victim. Nicholas J. Schmitt, 18, and Michael R. Simmons, 21, also pleaded guilty to a separate misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace.
The two fashioned a cross out of two Tiki torches on July 15 while drinking at a party and burned them on the lawn of Seann Robinson's home in Spirit Lake, Idaho. Such incidents are especially sensitive in this area just miles from Hayden Lake, once the home of the Aryan Nations group run by Richard Butler, who has since died.
''This brings back some really ugly periods of times in our history,'' Simpson said during Friday's court hearing. ''It brings back some ugly times in our community, our area.''
The charred remains of a 4-foot-high cross wrapped in cloth stood in a circle of blackened grass when Palm State Bank Vice President Robert Prentice arrived at work Monday morning.
...Frank A. Weaner, president and board chairman of the bank, called the sheriff's office. He considered the cross-burning incident a "serious threat." Weaner believes that the Ku Klux Klan is behind the burning. Since he began speaking out against their setting up a headquarters about a mile from the bank's main office at 1000 U.S. 19, he has received several threats from the klan, he said. One note read, "The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan are watching you" and "You could receive a visit from the klan."
A man from the First Coast is facing up to ten years in prison for burning a cross next to a home an African-American family had shown interest in buying. Neal Chapman Coombs, 50, pleaded guilty to a racially-motivated civil rights crime this week.
...A family of four inquired about a house for sale located at 9710 Crotty Avenue in Hastings back in January.
The parents were inside the house with the real estate agent. The couple's 15-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter were on the porch with the real estate agent's wife when they heard Coombs making derogatory comments toward them. They saw Coombs standing next to a six-foot wooden cross. The children told investigators Coombs squirted some flammable liquid on the cross and set it on fire, saying, "I don't want to see you around here again."
Wow. I've never heard of this gay purge history, but Lorraine Ahern of the Greensboro News-Record has a fascinating article up on a series of trials held in 1957 in Greensboro, NC that charged 32 men with "crimes against nature."
In the end, 24 were convicted and received sentences of 5 to 20 years; some ended up serving on highway chain gangs.
The now-obscure episode, which some longtime residents came to call "the purge," was the largest attempted roundup of homosexuals in Greensboro history and marked one of the most intense gay scares of the 1950s.
...Unlike sweeps of subsequent decades, involving raids on public parks and gay bars, Greensboro’s 1957 trials focused on private acts behind closed doors. The purpose, in the words of the police chief, was to "remove these individuals from society who would prey upon our youth," and to protect the town from what a presiding judge called "a menace."
A list was gathered of suspected homos based on interrogations of "suspects", and ,no surprise, socially or politically prominent men on that list were protected. This long article is really worth a read, because it's a snapshot in time of what it was like to be closeted in a small town during the dark days of the homophobic 1950s (of course this is the golden age of America that the bible beaters dream of returning to). This story could be from almost any city in the country at the time:
In one series of letters that police seized as evidence, a UNC-Chapel Hill student from High Point wrote to a male classmate in code. "Hilda Sara" stood for "homosexual." He closed his letters with "B.B.B." — "better be butch" — and assigned male friends female nicknames such as "Thelma" or "Mamie," a nod to America’s first lady in the Eisenhower years.
As campy and facetious as the letters sound today, an anthropologist who years later taught North Carolina’s first state-approved course on gender and homosexuality notes that there was reason for such intrigue.
In larger cities, beginning with Washington, the FBI had recruited local vice squads to conduct surveillance on suspected gays and enlisted postmasters to monitor mail for telltale material such as men’s "physique magazines."
Even in private conversation, people were discreet.
"If someone heard a man say, 'I went on a date with Betsy,’ that wouldn’t raise any suspicion," observed retired UNCG professor Thomas Fitzgerald. "People had to camouflage their lives. The '50s were abysmal."
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Times have changed in NC: Durham and Orange counties (as well as the city of Durham and towns of Chapel Hill and Carrboro) have provided domestic partner benefits for some time; Greensboro is about to move on it.
From time to time, I'll feature some races coming up in the Tar Heel State...for excellent coverage of candidates the place to go is BlueNC.
* Brad Miller, who represents of North Carolina's 13th District (that includes Alamance, Caswell, Granville, Guilford, Person, Rockingham, and Wake counties), is up against the absolutely twisted, unhinged homobigot Vernon "Twilight Zone" Robinson (aka "the black Jesse Helms"). Miller has a strong presence on DKos as a diarist, btw.
Brad supports repeal of DADT, voted against the Marriage Protection Act and is a sponsor of the Employee Non-Discrimination Act. Robinson attempted to "smear" Miller by saying Brad has a 0% rating from the Family Research Council and the American Family Association, and said "Vernon opposes Brad's plan to recruit thousands of foreign homosexuals to come to this country to be given American citizenship. Outrageous!"
* Larry Kissell (NC-08): He's on the Netroots Endorsed Candidates list (h/t BlueNC). From Larry's statement on real family values: "The hard working families of the 8th District and our nation deserve a commitment to education, economic opportunity, civil rights, personal freedoms and the safe, clean environment that we all want for our families." He's trying to unseat the horrible Robin Hayes, who made Washingtonian magazine's "Best & Worst of Congress" list, and it wasn't because he was the best. He won second place on the Spineless list re: CAFTA. Also, as BlueNC reported, Hayes is a fan of torture:
Back in March of this year, the US House of Representatives voted to spend another 80 billion dollars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The House had a separate vote on whether to add an amendment stipulating that none of that money could be spent on torture, and the amendment passed: 240 to 2.One of the two pro-torture Representatives was North Carolina's own Robin Hayes.
* Ed Ridpath (D-NC House District 37). District 37 is in Southern Wake County and includes the towns of Apex, Holly Springs, and Fuquay Varina. Ed has earned the endorsement of Equality NC PAC, Planned Parenthood and the North Carolina Association of Educators. He's up against one of the biggest wingnuts in the state, Paul "Skip" Stam, who is a co-sponsor of the state marriage amendment bill (which keeps dying, thankfully, in committee). To let you know how far to the right Stam is, he's one of the bigots that ensured this was in the NC GOP platform:
We believe homosexual behavior is not normal and should not be established as an acceptable "alternative" lifestyle either in public education or in public policy. We do not believe public schools should be used to teach children that homosexual behavior is normal. We do not believe that taxpayers should fund benefit plans for unmarried partners. We oppose special treatment by law based on nothing other than homosexual behavior or identity. We support federal and state constitutional amendments to ensure that marriage is limited to the union of one man and one woman. We oppose attempts to legitimize homosexual relationships by placing such relationships on an equal footing with marriage. We oppose the adoption of children by same sex couples.
* Julia Boseman (D- NC Senate District 9). The first openly gay state lawmaker in NC is endorsed by the Victory Fund. She's in a tough battle for re-election in a Republican district. Blowhard homo-hater and unhinged UNC-Wilmington prof Mike Adams who writes for Townhall.com, accused Boseman of engineering her opponent's homophobic campaigning against her in the last election. Her original GOP opponent this time around, Sherman Lee Criner, dropped out after child molestation allegations deep sixed his chances. He has since been replaced on the ballot by dentist Irvin "Al" Roseman.
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Feel free to mention and link to other folks running for office in your state (particularly Red states) that are battling a wingnut/bible beater -- and who have indicated they would work for positive change toward civil equality on several fronts.
Keith Boykin has a post up commenting on "Survivor: Cook Islands." I didn't watch it (I think the last Survivor I tuned into was the Australian one). He wasn't surprised when the first person to go was the black gay man.
I don't know what to think about this race-based team set up on the show. It's interesting, as a study in group behavior and how cultural stereotypes do or don't manifest themselves, but our culture still has so many damn problems around race, that the potential for reinforcing people's ignorance and creating further misunderstanding is there. Keith:
As a reality show veteran (Showtime's "American Candidate"), I'm well aware of the impact of race on these shows. On the same episode where I was voted off of "American Candidate," a Showtime call-in viewer survey indicated that only half of the viewers felt that America was ready for a black president. And that was on the "liberal" network that brought you "Soul Food" and "Queer As Folk." The producer of my show, R.J. Cutler, later went on to produce the controversial "Black.White" show on FX. But who's to blame when race rears its head on reality TV? Is TV creating the racial separation or is it simply putting up a mirror to show us who we really are?
Bush shortlist pick for VP blasts GOP on gay rights and Terri Schiavo
"Some people have asked me whether America is a Christian country. The answer must be no, for to call this a Christian country is to say that non-Christians are of some lesser order, not full fledged citizens of one nation."
"I think that the only purpose served by the campaign for the amendment is the humiliation of gay Americans, advocated by the Christian right and eagerly supported by its suitors in the Republican Party. In reality, it is gay bashing." -- Former Missouri senator and Episcopalian minister John Danforth, calling out the bigotry and hypocrisy of the Religious Right in his book, Faith and Politics.
John Byrne at Raw Story has a fantastic piece up on Danforth, who was shortlisted just behind Darth Cheney as the Chimp’s pick for Vice President. To have someone of this stature in the GOP come out and blast the admin and the bible beaters on gay rights, and pious hypocrite Bill Frist on the Schiavo case is a breath of fresh air.
Congressional Republicans face specific criticism. An attack on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) derides the Republican Senate leader for attempting to diagnose Schiavo without seeing the patient.
One views with a degree of pathos the role of William Frist, MD, graduate of Harvard Medical School and potential presidential candidate, who diagnosed a medical condition without examining the patient.
Bahahahahahahaha. Danforth said many of these remarks earlier this year in April when he spoke to the Log Cabin Republicans. That set off a series of implosions in Freeperland. They were in rare form at that time. Here's a little blast from the past.
Danforth was always wishy-washy on some things but he's become a full-fledged liberal, it seems.
Do the majority of Episcopals even believe in the Bible anymore!? 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.
Opposition to "homosexual marriage" wins over more Democrats and Independents to the Republican cause that any other issue. If we lose a few enemies from within as a result, that's a good thing.
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.
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 doesn't know what he's talking about. Anyone who gives a speech to the LCR is not a conservative.
If he is a real priest the Pope is Protestant. He is a politician first and foremost. You can tell by the B/S he spews.
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.
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.
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.
I don't know what rock he just crawled out from under but the whole reason this amendment is necessary is for the judges, not the people. In fact the amendment does precisely what Danforth says he favors: It returns the issue to state legislatures. If we are going to allow some states to redefine marriage and other states to not redefine it (an impossiblilty I think), then we are going to have to call these things by different names. That's why marriage is the word for the definition held throughout history, and "civil union" is the term for the new progressive definition. If states want that, then let their legislators who must be reelected by the people vote for it. Ultimately, the way our Constitution reads, there is no real way to allow one state to have it without forcing another state to recognize it. The DOMA supposedly protects other states. But it does nothing to protect us from the judges, who will overturn DOMA first chance they get.
Wonder if he thinks laws against having sex with animals are silly.
Is that really the reason or is it that some feel threatened by something they don't understand. No gay couple has ever been, isn't now and will never be a threat to my marriage. Those who feel threatened need to get a life.
We have more rules on what constitutes a new mattress than we have have on what constitutes one's gayness; I think we need to suspend the process until we have a definition.
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.
I'm sure many of you have seen this already, but it's Saturday night -- let's live a little. It was hilarious. All I can say to this poor soul is: Sister, I know how you feel. At least the f*cker wasn't a giant flying roach.
"This is the end of the road for now. We're sad it's not going to be on there, but we've decided not to challenge the court's decision anymore." -- Former Illinois Family Institute head Porno Pete LaBarbera on the final smackdown of his state marriage referendum effort
Pop the champagne corks for another humiliating defeat for the holy rolling morality patrol. Illinois is not ready to fall under the control of the fundamentalists -- the referendum will not be on the ballot and the Right has given up till 2008.
Peter says "hundreds of thousands of dollars" have been flushed down the crapper on fundie efforts for the referendum. (STL Today):
Proponents of the Protect Marriage Illinois initiative say they have given up and won't challenge a federal appeals court ruling last week that effectively scuttled their movement. The court's decision upheld a dismissal of a lawsuit this summer that alleged Illinois' election laws were overly burdensome and unfairly nixed a ballot question asking voters whether Illinois needs a constitutional amendment to permanently bar same-sex couples from tying the knot.
...The appellate decision was the third blow to the movement. Previously, the state Board of Elections threw out the referendum because, among other things, a sampling showed the petitions would likely have fewer than 260,000 valid signatures, short of the 283,000 required. The group had turned in some 347,000 initially.
..."They lost every step of the way," said Rick Garcia, political director for Equality Illinois, which spent some $150,000 itself fighting the referendum.
...It had largely been a push by the conservative activists in Illinois politics, receiving heavy support - including some $400,000 - from Jack Roeser, who heads the conservative advocacy group Family Taxpayers Network. Roeser and other ardent conservatives have been critical of mainstream Republicans for not joining the fight. "They weren't any help at all," Roeser said. "They've ran away from this thing."
Gee, I wonder why? Illinois pols are laughing at you all. State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, who is the GOP's candidate for governor, opposed the referendum and courts the gay vote. These homo-obsessed folks in that state have nowhere to go. Illinois is well on its way to becoming the "Massachusetts of the Midwest," according to Pete, so he better keep those chaps at the ready and a Steamworks membership card up to date for further "research."
"He has a dark mentality that comes from the darkness of the Middle Ages. It looks like an effort to revive the mentality of the Crusades." -- Salih Kapusuz, deputy leader of Turkey’s governing party on Ratzi's remarks citing a Medieval text that characterized some teachings of Mohammed as "evil and inhuman."
Hoo boy, he's riled up the homos, and now the Muslims. By the time this guy goes belly up, will he have offended just about everyone on the planet? (NYT):
Pope Benedict XVI drew rising anger on Friday over comments he made Tuesday about Islam, as Muslim leaders around the world accused him of dividing religions and demanded an apology.
...In Britain, Gaza, Iraq, Syria and Indonesia, Muslim leaders registered their protest. The Parliament in Pakistan passed a resolution against the pope’s statements, and the government later summoned the Vatican envoy to express official displeasure. In Lebanon, Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, the most senior Shiite cleric, demanded "a personal apology — not through his envoys."
And emotion spilled over in Turkey, which Benedict is scheduled to visit in November, as a top official in the Islamic-rooted ruling party said that the pope was “going down in history in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini."
Oh, the bible beaters will be up in arms over this:
The popular Christian-themed VeggieTales cartoons, which feature loveable talking vegetables Larry the Cucumber, Bob the Tomato, and other "veggies," are now being broadcast on Saturday mornings on NBC. Fans will notice some changes, however, as the network has insisted any biblical or evangelical messages in the animated shows be edited out.
According to an Associated Press report, VeggieTales creator and consultant Phil Vischer is, at NBC's insistence, retooling the popular cartoons for network television. The cartoon still presents Bible stories, he notes, but the network has said they cannot preach to kids or show Scriptures at the end of each episode, so "we have had to make some edits."
For example, Vischer recalls, in one VeggieTales episode a character states, "The Bible says God gave Samson his strength," and NBC "didn't have a problem with that. But then the character kind of turns to the camera and says, 'And God can give us strength, too.' And that's kind of where [NBC] said, 'Okay, now you're preaching.'"
I didn't have to wait long on fundie reaction. Right wing arbiter of good taste and high moral standards Brent Bozell, president of the Media Research Center just about had the vapors when he heard the news, bleating in his column:
But here is what should be news. The early word from producers is that NBC has grown increasingly fierce about editing something out of "Veggie Tales" -- those apparently unacceptable, insensitive references to God and the Bible.
So NBC has taken the very essence of "Veggie Tales" -- and ripped it out. It's like "Gunsmoke" without the guns, or "Monday Night Football" without the football.
Think about this corporate mindset. NBC is the network that hired a squad of lawyers to argue that dropping the F-bomb on the Golden Globe Awards isn't indecent for children, but invoking God is wholly unacceptable. Or, as one e-mailing friend marveled: "So, saying 'F--- you' is protected First Amendment speech on NBC but not 'God bless you.'"
...when it comes to religious programming -- programming that doesn't even mention Jesus Christ -- just watch the hypocrisy. Instead of telling viewers to just change the channel if they don't like it, or put in a V-chip for Bible verses, they demand to producers that all that outdated old-time religion has to be shredded before broadcast.
It's truly sad that this anti-religious hypocrisy would emerge. Today, no one in network TV fears what the children are watching -- unless it makes them think about God.
There has been quite a bit of a dust up over who was/wasn't invited to the Clinton blogger lunch in Harlem, particularly because, as Blender Miss Wild Thing noted, "it looked like a blizzard hit the room." See Terrance's, Liza's and Steve's takes on it -- and the comments. Terrance does a great job of describing the "blogging while brown" phenomenon.
Steve wasn't invited by Peter Daou, organizer of the lunch (and is employed by sHillary) but he would have declined anyway:
Peter Daou saved himself some work by not inviting me. I don't go to private sessions with politicans. That is not what Jen and I do here. I don't give private advice to politicians. Period. I work for the readers. Not for the Democratic Party or a candidate. I don't even raise money for them, I only let people know where I contribute.
He would have done well to invite Liza, she's a smart, funny woman with a lot of good ideas. Same with Pam. Why Pete overlooked them is beyond me, but it was a mistake he should rectify.
The inclusion of more women at these types of gatherings is a positive sign -- I knew that would come sooner than the appearance of minority bloggers. It's just that predictable.
As I said in my earlier post on this (and on the John Edwards dinner) the dearth of color that results when these blogger events are coordinated is not surprising (I was the only spot of color at the Edwards event). Many bloggers of color aren't first or even second string in terms of profile, and therefore aren't in the network of those in-the-know who organize events of this type.
That's not an excuse, of course, but an explanation. Oliver Willis, for one, was invited, according to Peter Daou (he emailed me about this), but couldn't make it. I don't know if there were other bloggers of color on the short list, or who they were. I really don't think the lack of color was intentional, as Peter has been an advocate of linking up to women and minority bloggers, including me. Nevertheless the picture speaks a thousand words.
Quite frankly, bloggers of color aren't always on the radar of the well-known bloggers either. Linking is powerful, and if it's concentrated among an inner circle of folks who all look the same, with few exceptions, it's going to be tough sledding to get in the mix. In many ways, the blogosphere is still about human nature, for better or worse. It just doesn't feel good when exclusionary behavior (intentional or unintentional) plays itself out in the virtual world, because people have fantasized that this would be one place that could be free of the crap. Sorry, folks. We're all a work in progress.
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Part-time vs. Full-time blogging
I think the larger issue is not whether that there's a digital divide because of race socioeconomic factors (that's a given). I've been noticing another type of divide that will have an unknown impact on bloggers and political influence -- the difference between full-time and part-time bloggers and proximity to power centers.
For those of us who have full-time jobs unrelated to politics, one can only devote so much time to blogging, let alone networking and building a profile and traveling to events like this. It presents an interesting challenge for pols who wish to inform or attempt to influence bloggers. In spite of not being able to blog full time, many part-time bloggers are becoming influential in their spheres, despite not being connected to a DC/NY political thinktank or entity -- and we're not dependent on ad revenue to survive. We survive and thrive by building a base of loyal readers who stumble upon our blogs, like what they see, and return and contribute their comments, ideas and strategy. We squeeze in posts between winks of sleep, before getting up to be a wage slave in the Bush economy.
What does all of this hubbub mean in terms of inclusion in the jousting match that is American politics when practicalities of life get in the way of a blogger with a decent following? For instance, on my day job I may have to deal with subbing for staff who are out of the office or database troubleshooting; what if I receive an invitation to meet a potential candidate for office who wants my ear because of the blog? The full-time job has to win out almost every time. I turn down plenty of blog-related conferences and writing/guest posting opportunities simply because I have no time.
I'm not bellyaching about the Clinton lunch for my own sake -- for all of the above life circumstances common to part-time bloggers I wouldn't have been able to go anyway. I was only able to attend the Edwards dinner because 1) it was about 5 miles from my house, 2) it was after work, 3) I was invited. [BTW, I must have been a late addition, because I received the invite so close to the dinner. A good number of the folks who attended are regulars at local blogger events, but even then there were some odd omissions -- Coturnix, Anton Zuicker for example.]
The other problem that many part-time political bloggers face is that we live outside the power nexus of DC/NY (as much as I love my state of NC, it's not the center of the political universe). Full time, A-List bloggers in convenient locations can leverage that advantage of availability and proximity to further raise their blog profiles and influence the political process.
If the stars align and I can schedule personal vacation time to get to an event, I still have to pay my own way (or drain my very modest Blogad account). I think I'm describing a good chunk of you out there who are citizens of the B, C, D lists of Blogistan, of any color or gender, if you were to be invited to a political event because of your blogging.
And so there's another reason why you ended up with that particular group in that Clinton lunch photo.
There are so many talented part-time blogging voices are out there with plenty of relevant things to say, and many also have a significant politically aware and active audience to boot. How you reach the free agents of the blogosphere is going to take work on the part of pols (or rather staffers). They'll need to do their homework when organizing these outreach sessions because it’s easy to step on a landmine or miss a golden opportunity to connect with the folks who can do them the most good in terms of spreading information (if the pols are able to present a vision worth advocating, of course).
However, pols also have to be prepared to catch the heat when bloggers don't line up with the message of the day. In the end, we're going to blog whether invited or not -- and what effect the smaller blogging fish in the pond might have on the political process is something that no one can yet predict.
Meanwhile, I'm just running this little virtual queer coffee house and fighting for my rights. Care for a cup of java?
This perv gives the phrase "skirt chaser" a whole new disgusting meaning.
A 77-year-old local man who reportedly admitted looking up women's skirts for 13 years, was arrested Monday in connection with an incident last month at a Wal-Mart SuperCenter in St. Lucie West.
Harry Tasker, of the 500 block of Southeast Anchor Lane, faces a video voyeurism charge.
Before the good old cell phone trick, this piece of filth used a mirror to violate women's privacy.
And, gee, the homos had nothing to do with it.
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Feel free to blogwhore, chat, and post links to interesting stuff...
Openly gay anchor Thomas Roberts: the AfterElton.com interview
When I was in Miami at the NLGJA convention, I attended the panel "Off Camera: The Challenges for LGBT TV Anchors," which featured Thomas Roberts, Anchor, CNN Headline News, and other anchors, including one of my local weekend anchors, Mike Dunston of WTVD. [See my post on the conference and that panel, Where are the lesbian anchorwomen?]
Roberts was engaging and open about the challenges of coming out in the newsroom, and how he's handled it. AfterElton.com has an excellent interview that you should check out, Life as an Openly Gay Journalist. A snippet:
Was he worried about the effect it [appearing on the panel] would have on his career? "I had some concerns, but not enough to stop me from doing it," Roberts said. "There was some trepidation… about making yourself vulnerable to a group of journalists with questions, to experience being on the other side, being in the hot seat, to come up with thoughtful, truthful answers in the way that I wanted…. It's the largest step I've taken to be more active in the organization, and to interact with other gay journalists….
...How would Roberts advise young lesbian and gay journalists struggling with how open to be about their sexual orientation? "For younger journalists, there are lots of factors to consider," he said. "There are all kinds of fears we accumulate through high school, college, even going back as far as grade school, that are carried into the adult years. That fear can really hold you back. It (coming out) has to be when people feel… they are ready for it. It's hard to live afraid…. Hopefully, everyone, gay or straight, journalists or doctors or otherwise, can overcome that obstacle, because it stands in the way of you being the best you can be, with your job, with your family, with everything, and not have to be afraid anymore."
A class act. Incidentally, just a couple of days following the conference, CNN announced that Roberts' 4-6 p.m. newscast was cancelled. A connection to his coming out is highly unlikely (that's covered in this interview) -- in the news biz, moves like that are usually in the works for some time. Roberts and Kathleen Kennedy, the article said, will remain at the cable news channel in as-yet-unspecified roles.
Also: * Queer Beacon's campaigning for Roberts to give him another time slot on CNN.
VA Rethug AG claims marriage amendment wouldn't affect partner benefits
This is laughable. Bob McDonnell, the Virginia attorney general, issues a one-page opinion stating he believes that the onerous amendment on the ballot in November would not affect private company domestic partner benefits, negate private legal agreements between gay couples or non-married opposite-sex couples.
Need I mention that he supports the marriage amendment and fundies asked him to submit the opinion? (365gay):
"The passage of the Marriage Amendment will not affect current legal rights and obligations of unmarried persons involving contracts, wills, advance medical directives, shared equity agreements, employer accident and sickness insurance policies or protection under domestic violence laws," McDonnell wrote.
McDonnell is a strong supporter of the amendment but his spokesperson said the opinion was based on legal research, not his personal views.
This is all about trying to convince uninformed voters who may be thinking of saying no to the amendment that there is a safety net of sorts for gays if it passes. In fact, this amendment would be as legally troublesome as Ohio's, and the fundies know it.
Governor Tim Kaine, who knows the gay exodus and impact on businesses is around the corner if it passes, is now speaking out against it. He's been trying to dance on the head of a pin on this (see prior Blend posts). A recent poll found 56% of voters are for the amendment, 38% opposed.
"The potential for unintended consequences is a very serious flaw," Kaine said, reminding reporters that the state already has legislation limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples.
Some of the state's top lawyers also disagree with the Attorney General. Last week 100 attorneys, including two former attorneys general, issued a statement saying they believe the measure could be used to terminate all rights of unmarried couples who have entered into contracts on such things as wills and child custody. They also said that the amendment could be used to exclude unmarried couples from the state's domestic violence laws.
"Shall Article I (the Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of Virginia be amended to state:
'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.
"This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of marriage.?"
There's a big longevity gap in the the U.S, according to PloS Medicine. And it's not tied strictly to income or geographical region, though there is a tie to race regardless of region for those with the lowest life expectancy. The one thing that this study points out is that the numbers counter general assumptions. (USA Today):
The following is a snapshot of the "eight Americas" and how life expectancy divides us:
1. 10.4 million Asians with a per capita income of $21,566 and an average life expectancy of 85.
2. 3.6 million whites in Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa, Montana and Nebraska, with a income of $17,758 and an average life expectancy of 79 .
3. 214 million middle Americans, with a per capita income of $24,640 and an average life expectancy of 78.
4. 16.6 million whites in Appalachia and the Mississippi Valley with an income of $16,390 and a life expectancy of 75.
5. 1 million Western Native Americans with a per capita income of $10,029 and life expectancy of 73.
6. 23.4 million black middle Americans with a per capita income of $15,412 and a life expectancy of 73.
7. 5.8 million southern low-income blacks with a per capita income of $10,463 and a life expectancy of 71.
8. 7.5 million high-risk urban blacks, living in counties with a homicide risk that tops the 95th percentile of U.S. counties, with a per capita income of $14,800 and a life expectancy of 71.
R. Neal at Facing South came across the same study and he notes which states are at the bottom of the pack:
This article also summarizes the results by state. Sadly, the bottom twelve come as no surprise:
23. North Carolina: 75.8 years 24. Georgia: 75.3 years 25. Arkansas: 75.2 years 25. Kentucky: 75.2 years 25. Oklahoma: 75.2 years 26. Tennessee: 75.1 years 26. West Virginia: 75.1 years 27. South Carolina: 74.8 years 28. Alabama: 74.4 years 29. Louisiana: 74.2 years 30. Mississippi: 73.6 years 31. Washington, D.C.: 72 years
In other data crunching news, some interesting facts and figures on single people released by the U.S. Census Bureau.
* 89.8 million: Number of unmarried and single Americans in 2005. This group comprised 41 percent of all U.S. residents age 18 and older. * 54 percent: Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who are women. * 60 percent: Percentage of unmarried and single Americans who have never been married. Another 25 percent are divorced and 15 percent are widowed. * 14.9 million: Number of unmarried and single Americans age 65 and older. These older Americans comprise 14 percent of all unmarried and single people. * 86: Number of unmarried men age 18 and older for every 100 unmarried women in the United States. * 55 million: Number of households maintained by unmarried men or women. These households comprise 49 percent of households nationwide. * 29.9 million: Number of people who live alone. These persons comprise 26 percent of all households, up from 17 percent in 1970.
The press release also includes information on unmarried couples and parents, but only counts those in opposite-sex relationships.
Education stats...
* 82 percent: Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older in 2004 who were high school graduates. * 23 percent: Percentage of unmarried people age 25 or older with a bachelor's degree or more education.
King Furious George sucks the forehead of gay-bashing US Representative Marilyn Musgrave, R-CO, after speaking at a fundraiser last November. (AFP/Mandel Ngan)
Ahhh...desperation in the air. Ms. Marriage Protection Amendment herself, Colorado's Marilyn Musgrave, had to pull a bottom-feeding ad after it was found to contain false allegations against challenger Angie Paccione.(9NEWS):
The attack ad, targeting her Democratic Party opponent, State Rep. Angie Paccione (D-Fort Collins) for her positions on illegal immigration, contained evidence which did not support the allegations.
Guy Short, Musgrave's Campaign Manager, said the allegations included in the commercial called "Welcome Mat" were accurate, but the citations graphically included in the ad were not.
The Paccione camp jumped all over that stumble in a press release.
Ever since Marilyn ran her first radio ad, she has been using bald-faced lies and distortions to attack Angie. This latest TV attack-ad is just more of the same. Even the revised ad that Musgrave ran later in the day contained statements that were “not fact” and were “false,” according to 9News. Here's the bottom line:
* Marilyn's voting record is terrible. * Marilyn will say anything to keep her job. * The only way Marilyn can win is to drag Angie down to Marilyn's level. * As Angie has been saying, "If Marilyn keeps lying about my record, I'll keep telling the truth about hers."
Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) doesn't believe that Hillary Clinton has the inside track on the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and says he would vigorously defend himself against new attacks by the Swift Boat team, according to an interview with The Examiner.
"I’m prepared to kick their ass from one end of America to the other," said Kerry, in a strong hint that he intends to run for president once again.
Nice to know the overseas AmTaliban are just as deranged
"Gays aren't welcome in our church, help us let New Zealand know."
"Gays are a cancer in our church, let's keep them out of leadership." -- Two bumper stickers sent out by New Zealand's Presbyterian Church to its membership
The Presbyterian Church in New Zealand is about to vote on whether to ban gay clergy, so some knob-end -- anonymously, mind you -- sent out nice bumper stickers to parishioners.
Yet another example of tolerant "Christians." (365gay):
No one has taken responsibility for producing or mailing them, but church leaders say they had to have come from someone with access to the names and home addresses of Assembly members.
In a letter to parishes nationwide, Presbyterian Church moderator the Rt Rev Garry Marquand condemned the action.
"[The stickers] seriously undermine the respect that we have sought to preserve in our discussions on this sensitive issue, and they are also contrary to the accepted processes of the Church."
Police and the New Zealand Human Rights Commission have been contacted, church officials say. But there is little either can do. Although gays are protected under the Human Rights Act, it only covers housing and employment.
"There are a number of pastors that said, 'Look, we don't get involved in politics, I'm not going to get involved in this issue, I just want to preach the gospel,'. When they realize their ability to preach the gospel may very well be at stake, they may reconsider their involvement." -- Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, sounding the homo terror alert as election day nears to mobilize religious voters
You know, this new tactic of "religious discrimination" is getting tired and boring already. No one is stopping the bible beaters from worshipping or spewing bigotry in their churches.
The public is beginning to draw the line and fundies are feeling the heat. The AmTaliban goons just want to be able to impose their small-minded beliefs -- and specific belief system -- on everyone else in the public sphere.
By expanding the discussion from marriage to religious expression, social conservatives say they will reconnect with religious voters and religious leaders who don't necessarily view same-sex unions as a threat.
...Perkins and others are building a case file of anecdotes where they say religious people have spoken out against gay marriage only to be punished. Perkins specifically cited the decision by Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich in June to fire his appointee to the Washington area transit board after the board member referred to homosexuals as "persons of sexual deviancy." The board member, Robert J. Smith, said he was expressing his personal beliefs as a Roman Catholic.
Boo hoo.
***
Speaking of fundie organizations, what's happened to the former haunt of Peter LaBarbera, the Illinois Family Institute? Blender Autumn noticed the entire site is down -- a little domain renewal problem?
Illinois Family Institute has been warning you for a long time that pro-homosexual forces in the state would be pushing hard to legalize counterfeit "marriage"--even as they disingenuously argue that a statewide marriage amendment is not necessary because "Illinois already has a marriage law on the books."
Well, now they have formally begun their dubious crusade to overturn that law: a coalition of pro-homosexual activist groups, including Equality Illinois, Lambda Legal, and the ACLU of Illinois, will soon be launching a statewide campaign under the name "Equal Marriage Illinois" project--a misguided rip-off of Protect Marriage Illinois.
Then he starts whining about the fact that the advertising agency Young & Rubicam has been providing pro bono creative work to the organization, and asks readers to call the agency "to give feedback" about its support for "counterfeit marriage."
Does he know how many homos work at ad agencies? They'll laugh him right off of the phone. Oh it gets even more humorous. He gets right back to his plea for support of a marriage amendment. Tee hee -- he completely failed to in his state effort to get anywhere on that front. He's worried about gays making Illinois the "Massachusetts of the Midwest."
The campaign is a statewide "public information and dialogue campaign focusing attention on the core issues of justice and family at the center of the marriage equality debate," according to Equality Illinois.
In other words, you're about to be hit with a slick PR campaign to radically twist the age-old definition of marriage, in the nice-sounding name of "equality." This latest move by the state's rich and powerful (yet tiny in numbers) homosexual lobby only proves our point: we MUST enact a Marriage Protection Amendment, as 20 states already have, and seven more likely will this fall.
Fundie legal group goes after NY State partner pension benefits
The fundies are like bad pennies -- they keep turning up -- and in this case, in states where they don't belong. These bible beater legal eagles want to tell New York that it cannot recognize same-sex marriages from Massachusetts and Canada regarding partner benefits.
The Alliance Defense Fund is citing July's ruling by NY courts that upheld New York's ban on same-sex marriage as reason for the state to ban pension benefits. *ssholes. (365gay):
In 2004, NY Attorney General Elliot Spitzer issued a legal opinion stating that the New York is obligated to recognize same-sex marriages performed in areas where same-sex marriages are legal.
New York State Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi followed that with a directive that the New York State Retirement System would respect legal out-of-state marriages between same-sex couples for the purposes of pension benefits.
Hevesi is the sole trustee of the retirement system - the biggest state plan in the country - which includes 334,000 retirees and 648,000 current employees.
The Alliance Defend Fund, an Arizona- based organization that regularly fights LGBT issues filed the suit in state Supreme Court in Albany County, N.Y.
Ho, hoe, 'ho. Blender Rob in Richmond passed along this bit of business. Foot-in-mouth, confederacy-lovin' Virginia Senator George "Macaca" Allen wants to rake in some buxxx with a Hoe Down featuring winger comic relief, Laura Ingraham.
The country shindig is coming up on Saturday, October 7th, in Maidens, Virginia. Hopefully that's outside any city limits in case any crosses are burned at the festivities.
You can sign up for the Hoe Down as:
* El Ranchero Grande - $10,000 Special Recognition at the Hoe Down 6 guests to the Hoe Down and Private Reception
* Ranch Boss - $5,000 Special Recognition at the Hoe Down 5 guests to the Hoe Down and Private Reception
* Cow Boss - $2,500 Special Recognition at the Hoe Down 4 guests to the Hoe Down and Private Reception
* Buckaroo - $1,000 2 guests to the Hoe Down and Private Reception
* Ranch Hand - $50 per ticket
Remember, this is the man who displayed a Confederate flag in his living room while campaigning for governor in 1993. He also kept a noose hanging on a ficus tree in his law office, according to an article in TNR. Allen's explanation was that it was "part of a Western memorabilia collection."
Last night a group of NC bloggers, mostly from the Triangle area and Greensboro, had a free-flowing, off-the-record discussion with former NC Senator and 2004 Dem V.P. candidate John Edwards about national and international political issues over dinner at B. Christopher's Restaurant in Chapel Hill. A good portion of the conversation during the evening also revolved around the use of the web to energize online and offline voter interest, organizing, and action.
Yes, I was there - I was invited (thanks, Ryan Montoya of Edwards' One America Committee, the former VP candidate's web presence, who coordinated the event).
Many of the bloggers at this event will also be attending the open-to-the-public ConvergeSouth in October.
***
In case you were wondering, given the earlier post about the Clinton blogger event, there was a dearth of color at the dinner last night as well. I guess one is better than zero, but I find this lack of color at political blogging events both curious and troubling -- what does that mean for political campaigns and organizing, if anything? What does it say about the political blogosphere itself? Is there any difference between the Left and the Right in representation?
I don't know, I'm just tossing questions out there as food for thought. It will be interesting to see the composition of the bloggers and bloggers-of-the-future at ConvergeSouth, which is not focused on political issues, its focus is on blogging how-to, technology, and building community.
Former Gov. Ann Richards, the witty and flamboyant Democrat who went from homemaker to national political celebrity, died Wednesday night after a battle with cancer, a family spokeswoman said. She was 73.
She died at home surrounded by her family, the spokeswoman said. Richards was found to have esophageal cancer in March and underwent chemotherapy treatments.
The silver-haired, silver-tongued Richards said she entered politics to help others — especially women and minorities who were often ignored by Texas' male-dominated establishment.
...In four years as governor, Richards championed what she called the "New Texas," appointing more women and more minorities to state posts than any of her predecessors.
She appointed the first black University of Texas regent; the first crime victim to join the state Criminal Justice Board; the first disabled person to serve on the human services board; and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers.
She lost the governorship to the Chimp in 1994, which began his incredible political ascendancy despite the meager skill set we've been subjected to as a country for the last six years. One can only do a "what if" -- had she whipped his ass and sent him home to Mommy.
"Ex-gay" advocate Nancy Heche has a new book that will serve as expensive fish wrap, The Truth Comes Out. Wow. This will end up in the remainder bin tout de suite. (365gay):
Nancy Heche, the mother of Anne Heche, is using a new memoir to promote the so-called ex-gay movement - discussing her marriage to a closeted gay man and her feelings when her actress daughter began dating Ellen DeGeneres.
There is little new in the book. Nancy Heche has been a "motivational speaker" for "ex-gay" conferences sponsored by Focus on the Family and other anti-gay groups for several years.
Husband Don Heche died of an AIDS related illness in 1983. "Don's death took us to the depths of despair. It was the savage, sickening end of our beautiful, perfect Christian family. What could be worse?" she writes.
She says she vowed never again to utter the word "homosexual," and told people Don died of cancer. And, while criticizing her husband's homosexuality she admits to having affairs herself with male co-workers.
Maybe they can pair that with Mary Cheney's tome for a bargain basement seller. One strange thing though -- why is Heche's book paired with the movie "Adam and Steve" on Amazon?
According to LA Weekly, it is "a twisted, tender comedy that would surely make 'John Waters cackle with glee'."
And you can thank The Dark Wraith for resurrecting it. We're not worthy.
Join the discussion in the forum. I love DW's take:
Feel free to use the permanent open forum to post links to articles, offer opinions, or just blow off a little steam about the stupidity of the neo-cons. The thread will sunset postings on a regular basis to keep the forum from overrunning the database. Disrespectful, vexatious, or otherwise flatulent trolls will be shot and then given a degrading wedgie. As my Kentucky ancestors would have said, "Ain't no season on varmint... ain't no bag limit, neither."
Soulforce's peaceful Right to Serve campaign sit-in campaign at military recruiting stations to protest "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is getting a lot of attention -- and has resulted in a few arrests. Three demonstrators in Shreveport, Louisiana were taken in (365gay):
Eddie Lopez and Rachel Powell, both Shreveport residents, entered the recruitment center in that city and attempted to enlist. When they said they are gay they were told that under the law they were rejected for service.
The pair exited the building, but a short time later, when the recruitment officer left to get a cellphone from his car they and the other demonstrators entered the building and staged a sit-in.
Police attempted to talk the protestors into leaving peaceably, saying that the group had made its point. All but Lopez, Powell and a third person, Raydra Hall - a local LGBT activist - left.
When they refused a second request to depart police arrested them for trespassing. The three were taken to a nearby police station, charged and then released on their own recognizance.
In Chicago about 20 people were denied entry by police to a military recruitment center downtown and staged a sit-in on the street in front of the building. The group includes the incumbent national president of PFLAG, John Cepak, and two officials from the mayor's office - the liaisons for the LGBT community and for veterans affairs.
One of the Chicago protesters, Rob Fojtik, contributed a piece to The Frontlines about the importance of being able to serve openly.
By refusing to let me go forward with the enlistment process, the military reminded me of our second-class status as gays in America. As disappointing and discouraging as it was to hear those words, especially in a time when soldiers are being sent back for multiple tours of duty because no one else wants to enlist, I still believe in our country and that one day soon "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" will be repealed.
Today, in Norman, Oklahoma, out lesbian Nichole Rawls will be attempt to enlist in the Army. Once she is rejected, supporters will stage the sit-in.
***
Here in the Tar Heel State, Matt Hill Comer is the organizer for Soulforce's Right to Serve Campaign - Greensboro. That sit-in will be held at the Recruiting Center (near the corner of High Point Road and Merritt Drive) at 9:30 AM on Thursday, September 21st, 2006.
You can register to participate, or make a donation to help cover the cost of the effort.
Ah, T, don't feel bad. You're on the A List in my book. I'd never get invited to anything re: the Big Dog, because, well, I think he may have a problem will all those sHillary posts. :)
"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation." -- Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne, on testing non-lethal weapons on citizens
Nice - what a psycho. Are you ready to be a guinea pig for Dear Leader? I couldn't believe the man was saying it publicly, but I guess we should consider this an improvement, considering past government "activities" such as the Tuskegee Experiment, or the Army's LSD mind control study (Project MK-ULTRA) or all sorts of other black ops research conducted on unsuspecting Americans. They might as well be up front about it.
Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.
Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns, said Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne.
..."(Because) if I hit somebody with a nonlethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."
Ah yes, the Homobomb. I blogged about that last year. The Pentagon was trying to come up with some inventive non-lethal ways to disarm enemy troops, and this one was rejected:
the development of an "aphrodisiac" chemical weapon that would make enemy soldiers sexually irresistible to each other. Provoking widespread homosexual behaviour among troops would cause a "distasteful but completely non-lethal" blow to morale, the proposal says.
Other ideas rejected: * chemical weapons that attract swarms of wasps or rats to troop positions. * a chemical that would give guerrillas "severe and lasting halitosis" to set them apart from civilians. * a weapon that would make skin unbearably sensitive to sunlight.
These proposals date back to 1994 and were from the US Air Force Wright Laboratory in Dayton, Ohio.
No one wants to succeed Sugar Lips as National Republican Senatorial Committee Chair. Ha ha ha. She's proven ineffective in this job and in her Senate role representing my state. Please, please, let the Dems find someone decent to unseat her in 2008. (Charlotte Observer):
The Salisbury Republican won't have to face N.C. voters herself until 2008. But, as chairwoman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), her political reputation will be on the ballot in states all across the country.
Dole's image has already taken a beating in the national media because she's raised less money than her Democratic counterpart -- Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. -- and because she failed to recruit electable candidates in states such as Florida and Vermont.
If the GOP loses the Senate in November, Dole will get more blame -- along with President Bush, whose anemic poll numbers made it hard for her to talk some first choices into running.
Jim DeMint: "Rooting for somebody else at this point." [Roll Call, 8/7/06]
...David Vitter: Put me down as a ‘no.' When asked recently about whether he would consider the job, Vitter said: "Not right now. Mostly because of the enormous travel." [Roll Call, 8/7/06]
John Ensign: Thanks but no thanks. "Ensign, who is in a re-election race that is tighter than he expected, said thanks but no thanks." [Las Vegas Review-Journal, 9/11/06]
Richard Burr: Not interested. "There's even been talk recently about drafting Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., to take the job. Not interested, said Burr spokeswoman Laura Caudell." [Charlotte Observer, 9/11/06]
Mel Martinez: I'm out. Martinez has indicated he is not interested in the position, according to Roll Call. [Roll Call, 8/7/06]
...And really, who can blame them for being reluctant?
"The 2008 cycle promises to be a brutal one since 21 Republican incumbents are up for re-election, and many believe control of the Senate will be up for grabs." [Roll Call, 8/7/06]
Said a GOP aide, "It would be a challenging time to oversee this job. It's hard to imagine next cycle would be ideal to claim a ton of victories, especially if you are trying to set yourself up for a bigger and better position in the future." [8/7/06, roll call]
...That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency cesarean section to deliver the couple's new daughter, Danae Lu Blessing. At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound and nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature. Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs. 'I don't think she's going to make it'" he said, as kindly as he could. '"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one.'
