You got that right, you have a mind like a seive. Your brain is empty.
Matter of fact, it is so empty, if you put a pea in your skull it would rattle around like a BB in a boxcar. You said it, gal, not me, but I sure do agree with you. A true blonde.
Brian ***
Tahlequah, OK PS How do you get that cush job, anyway?
Greta Van Sustern took a poll to show off a viewer who thought that she was stupid. Unfortunately, The poll did not go, shall we say, in her favor.
I can only reiterate what some people have stated on her blog: it was dumb to take the poll. The man's language did not show a great command of English, let alone any semblance of intellect. Even if the poll numbers had been reversed, it would still have shown that 23% didn't think she was too smart. She also allowed a simple-minded critic to rattle her to such an extent that she bothered to comment on it in her blog.
This blog has seldom battled with comments and never with anyone purely negative.
Poor Greta is now in a terrible quandary: should she say something about the poll? Will she be terribly silent, hoping that the FOX execs don't know about this? How will she proceed? She can't shoot back with any anger, but that would seem arrogant on her part.
Will she be able to keep her job at FOX? Of course, she will. Few businesses sponsor Glen Beck and he's stayed on. FOX must be hemorrhaging money at this point, though: who would want to buy air time on Greta's program knowing that her viewers, such as they are, think she's an idiot?
The Christian Right Has Ratcheted Up The Hate - Big Time!
The House voted to repeal Don't Ask Don't Tell on the day the 1000th US soldier was killed in Afghanistan, making the day bittersweet, in a sense, for the military: if ithe impending repeal had been sooner (or if it had not been enacted at all), would the addition of over 14,000 highly skilled servicemen have prevented that death?
According to some people, there will been MORE deaths caused by openly gay soldiers. The reasoning may be considered bizarre, but it clings to elements of the Christian Right like hate clings to violence.
There is no doubt that the months-long progress of the repeal has brought out the worst in people: situations like the pending legislation in Uganda demonstrated what the CR is capable of fomenting, and just days ago the Gay Blood Libel* was utilized to crush the repeal.
Hitler discovered that he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough to carry out his orders, but that homosexual soldiers basically had no limits.
- Bryan Fischer, American Family Association
A PERSONAL NOTE
I am not a true gay rights activist, I ashamed to say. Today's LGBT community has enough problems without including my insubstantial my rants as part of its cause. I wish to God I were one. I just can't work hard enough: in perspective I haven't accomplished nearly as much as so many who work night and day to help us gain respect, acceptance and security.
So this article is not coming from an activist, but from a person who is just adding his voice to the chorus.
When I first heard the term "gay agenda" I was dumbfounded. Even after years of being out, I had never heard the term before. I fancied myself as a well-read, urbane gay man, so I wondered how I had missed that one. Once, in about 1978, I saw a documentary titled "Gay Power, Gay Politics." Some today would have given it the term "mockumentary," but believe me, the producers thought too much of themselves for anything to be tongue-in-cheek. The title said one thing, but the content was just a make-shift polemic on men cruising in public areas. How they ever arrived at the title is anybody's guess. It also hinted at a "gay agenda," so I suppose the term may have stemmed from this specious piece. And because there were people who wanted to believe that gays were mindlessly promiscuous men with evil intentions, the "gay agenda" took hold and slowly, stealthfully, grew.
Thirty-two years of demonstrating our proverbial worth should have eaten away at that nonsense, but the "Gay Blood Libel" thrived, albeit in the most insanely homophobic pockets of America's Christendom. Why it thrived is rather obvious: there are people who need to hate ... anyone. People like Fred Phelps bask in infamy because their obsession gives them a kind of celebrity status. The means of its growth is a bit more complex: twisted reasoning backed up by specious "research" and half-truths marketed to create sensational reactions.
Perhaps the most outstanding attempt at the Gay Blood Libel is The Pink Swastika, by Scott Lively and Kevin Abrams (Veritas Aeterna Press, 2002, $39.95, paperback, 1st edition 1995). This book sets off alarms (unintended) even before perusing it:
1. It's self-published. There are some really wonderful self-published books in the mainstream book market, but there are also some truly dreadful books self-published simply because no reputable publisher would publish them.
2. The list price of $24.95 for a paperback book is outrageous. Only the most biased readers would pay it to add to their "collection."
3. Pink Swastika is virtually out of print: major retailers like Barnes & Noble can only obtain used copies at prices much higher than the "listed" price (as high as $39.95 - for "collectors"). Perhaps Lively utilizes a print-on-demand process, but that means he hasn't the funds to do a decent print run.
4. The endorsements include people like R.J. Rushdoony, the founder of Reconstructionism and the Council of National Policy:
5. The reviews of the book are so polarized that the category of "people who bought this book also bought" features titles such as The Pink Triangle: The Nazi War Against Homosexuals, by Richard Plant and Marx and Satan, by Richard Wormbrand.
From one review:
This book presents an excellent overview of the degenerate sexual practices that were at the heart of the NAZI ideology and the lives of its highest ranking members. Lively makes a fascinating tie that binds the origins of modern German militarism (from Fred.t Great to Hitler) to the murderous and pederastic society of ancient Sparta.
INCENDIARY RHETORIC AND PURPOSE-DRIVEN HATE
"...we were scrupulous in our documentation of homosexuals as the true inventors of Nazism and the guiding force behind many Nazi atrocities."
- Forward, The Pink Swastika, 4th Edition
The Pink Swastika has been in the news recently, because author Scott Lively,* now head of Abiding Truth Minitries has found venues to promote its ideals: Uganda and DADT. Lively was one of the instigators of the "Kill the gays" bill in Uganda during his speeches and presentations in Kampala last year. He is, of course, backpedaling about his influence since the bill gained international notoriety, and has promoted the bill only "in parts."
Another of Lively's organizations, Watchmen on the Wall, based in Riga, Latvia, caused concern for the LGBT community of Sacramento, California when it was determined that one gay man's death was due to the assault of some "Watchmen." The group continues to appear at gay events and celebrations with a menaciing presence.
The ever-imaginative Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association has also taken up the Gay Blood Libel standard:
Homosexuality gave us Adolph Hitler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and six million dead Jews. Gays in the military is an experiment that has been tried and found disastrously and tragically wanting. Maybe it's time for Congress to learn a lesson from history.
Of course, it's possible that both Scott Lively and Bryan Fischer were inspired by His Holiness, Pat Robertson:
Many of those people involved with Adolph Hitler were Satanists, many of them were homosexuals--the two things seem to go together.-- The 700 Club, 1/21/93
In the last several weeks, the venom of the (Christian) Right seems to have reached a new level beyond mere moral-mindedness. Maybe Andrew Sullivan was right when he wrote that the imminant repeal of DADT has made them desperate. Witness the latest:
- The FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCIL "report" on homosexuals in the military says that "gay rape" will increase if DADT is repealed. Unfortunately, if you look at their "findings," they'd have a hard time proving it.
- A punk rock ministry backed by Rep. MICHELE BACHMANN says that executing gays is MORAL. And its pastor, Bradlee Dean tells people that “On average, they [gays] molest 117 people before they’re found out." The group is called YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CANNOT HIDE. It has boasted about its presence at Republican events.
- Immediately after the news of DADT's probable repeal came out, the American Family Association's ONE NEWS NOW intentionally edited the AP script to include it's idea that
Congress has given in to pressure from gay activists and the White House ...
- The Family Research Council has declared its solidarity with WATCHMEN ON THE WALL. It will join 400 pastors to ostensibly "pray" and meet with Congressmen and Senators about continuing DADT.
Keith Olberman talked to Dan Savage regarding these new developments in the anti-gay movement (see below). Typically, Olberman takes the stand that these are "idiots." They are, of course, but discounting them could be deadly: it's evident that taking lives is not beyond them.
* The Blood Libel was a slander against Jews in Europe that lasted several hundred years: Jews killed Christian children to drink their blood during evil and sacrilegious rituals.
**Irony: Lively holds a Certificate in Human Rights from the International Institute of Human Rights. The tenets of the Institute are based on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which, according to Lively, do not apply to homosexuals because they are not human.
I knew, as did many people, that it would come to this: a mega-church preacher overtly calling for the death of gays. Who now says that what he said was wrong and that he was The MP4 was yanked from YouTube, but Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God) was able to save both his initial speech and the more "gentle" speech. You can compare them.
Fire up your printers and create some awesome posters.
Owens is in the midst of a nationwide speaking tour. Why don't we show him what we think of his "slip"? The schedule is posted here. The list goes into 2012 and covers at least 30 Baptist churches in the U.S. and Canada. Would it be fair to say that any of the Baptist churches espouse his views? Protests in each town should spark debate. Maybe his tour could be "shortened" by cancellations.
Here's a transcript of his short, but exceedingly vicious tirade:
In America we need to stop burnin’ flags and start burnin’ fags. It’s about time somebody said what needs to be said, it’s vile, it’s reprobate, and AIDS is a curse sent from God. It’s a curse sent from God. You say that “you shouldn’t say that” Well (indecipherable) it’s my turn. (prolonged cheering). We need hunt-a-homo week. We do! Straighten it up and put it on television. Put it on television. That’ll put em’ back in the closet. I’ll tell you somethin’ - those that are yellin’ ‘n screamin’ ‘n shoutin’ the reason they came out of the closet ‘cause there weren’t enough men on the other side of the closet to keep ‘em in! If you’d been a man, you wouldn’t have that problem. Ya know, we should take ‘em all out ‘n shoot ‘em with a scatter shotgun.
Written at 8:30PM:
Pastor Owens has been hit with a barrage of phone calls, emails, whatever. He's written an apology, recorded it and posted it on his website. It seems that he had delivered that sermon in about 1995 when he was "young."
I no longer preach like that and I purposely teach and train others to preach and behave properly as well. The hurtful words in that sermon tape were erased many years ago and somehow have resurfaced much to my disappointment and embarrassment. I realize I have disappointed many who have heard those words in that sermon. May I include my disappointment in myself. Once again, I offer my humble apology.
"I no longer preach like that." That remains to be seen. Last year Owens delivered his "Sodomy Sermon"and while it avoids the calls to kill, it's just as venomous. Listen to it on YouTube, it's divided into 7 parts. Listen to it and count all the buzz-attack words, faulty reasoning, and outright b.s. Listening to the sermon (Sodomy, Part Five) makes for a depiction of depraved and sinful people. According to Owens, most people who are gay are simply bored with normal sexual relations. (?!). The irony: it was recorded on Christmas Eve. Absolutely no good will towards men. None.
Defense of his words and actions rests almost entirely on his "youth" and "stupid(ity)" And he evidently thinks that some people will believe that, but a little research into his career shows us that he was PREACHING FOR TWENTY YEARS when his tirade was delivered.
Note to Pastor Jeff Owens:
Pastor Owens: Where were you in 1995? I know where I was: volunteering for the AIDS Emergency Fund in San Francisco. The epidemic was churning out victims at an alarming rate, but people were no longer dying in the streets. By that time it was known that AIDS could not be caused by casual contact, but people like you (TWENTY YEARS INTO YOUR MINISTRY) continued to stoke the fires of fear and hate with your "AIDS is a curse sent by God" mantra. A great many people were kicked out of their homes while they were sick and dying. Even when you were only abou 26 years old, And let's not forget that NINE YEARS INTO YOUR MINISTRY (1981), God gave you a fantastic opportunity to practice your belief in compassion...and you blew it.
OK ,so we have a pastor who said some despicable things 15 years ago and who is still demonizing gays and lesbians albeit with less overtly menacing rhetoric. He's apologized, but that apology looks very weak in the light of his present "Sodomy Sermons." But Wait - There's More!!
Jeremiah Daniel Owens pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault charges from an eight-count indictment handed up in October 2007 that charged him with sexual assault and sexual abuse against two girls, ages 15 and 13, and that stemmed from separate incidents earlier that year.
Owens had been had been convicted before of burglary, but with these particular crimes, he will be a registered sex offender.
According to a previous report, the mother of the 13-year-old, whose name will not be published to protect her identity, said her daughter met Owens at the Shenandoah Bible Baptist Church in Martinsburg where Owens’ father is the pastor.
... AND MORE!!!
Dr. Jeff Owens has written a children's booklet. The title, however is confusing: it's marketed as Character Lessons for Children although the book cover is pictured with the title Obedience Lessons For Children. Presumably, the title with "Obedience" is too strong, even to the pastor-father of a child molester.Owens' book is available for sale now.
Now Icing On Top: REAL homophobes love gay porn
One articlethat came out of the recent Rekers scandal pointed out that a study done of virulently homophobic men showed them to be aroused by gay porn. (!?) It left the door wide open to the possibility that "practicing homophobes" were really epic cases of gay men steeped in denial and self-loathing. Hmmm. So could Pastor Jeff be...
But he apologized! Remember the fracas that ensued when Jimmy Swaggart told his congregation:
"I've never seen a man in my life I wanted to marry." (shouts, applause) "And I'm gonna be blunt and plain, if one ever looks at me like that I'm gonna kill him and tell God he died." (laughter, applause) "In case anybody doesn't know, God calls it an abomnation (sic). It's an abomnation (sic)! It's an abomnation (sic)!" (applause) Swaggart later apologized and laughed it off as a joke.
A spokesperson of HRC at the time had this to say about Swaggart's apology and it applies to Pastor Jeff Owens as well:
"Apologies don't discourage violence - action does. We hope that he takes action. His language only encourages an environment where hate crimes occur."
A thirtyfour year ministry preaching against homosexuality. A twenty year history of telling people to kill homosexuals. An apology. A children's book on obedience. A son in jail for sexually molesting a 13-year-old girl. Owen's life is sick...and sad.
So many African countries are trying to emulate America that I'm sure there's an "Afro-Disney" in the works. At most, the attempts to be like America are very palpable:
A visitor to South Africa today can scarcely help but be struck by how American it seems. Yet few appreciate the long historical roots of the U.S. presence in South Africa, or the complex political and cultural conflicts to which it has given rise.
But in some countries, the "aping of America" goes only as far as the amount of money they receive. Or the amount of aid from American faith-based charities. And while we do not know approximately what Rick Warren's P.E.A.C.E. program in Uganda and Rwanda dishes out, it is enough to allow it and others like it to proselytize (excuse me) evangelize whole nations.
With the encouragement of people like Lou Engle, Tony Perkins, Rick Warren and a host of evangelizers Africa has shunned the virtues of compassion and tolerance: people are scouring the villages and towns for sinful gays to report on.. Many are practicing "corrective rape" on lesbians and now...
A court in Malawi yesterday convicted a gay couple of gross indecency and unnatural acts in a case that has highlighted the persecution of homosexuals in Africa and drawn international condemnation.
...Large crowds have jeered and pilloried the men on each occasion that they have been brought to court. At a previous court appearance Mr Chimbalanga, who was sick with malaria, was forced to return to the court room to mop up his vomit.
The Malawi Government insists that the men broke the law. Church leaders say that the West should not be allowed to use its financial power to force Malawi to accept homosexuality. Some analysts believe that the rows over homosexuality in Africa are really a proxy war in an American cultural dispute, with both evangelicals and gay rights groups in the US pouring money and support into the continent. (emphasis mine)
That last statement should be qualified because the amount of money to subsidize hatred against gays is staggering in comparison to amounts raised to save the lives of many Malawians. If the Mormon Church paid over $40 million to back California's Proposition 8, think of what they're willing to spend on a people who are ripe for conversion.
Talk of withholding financial aid to Malawi has begun in the U.S. and Europe (especially Britain), but there are some people who insist that "starving the people of Malawi into tolerance" is not the answer.
While [Dan] Savage and most of the civilized world is rightly outraged at the decision to imprison homosexuals, it doesn't mean we punish the rest of the country for the crimes of its government.
And Madonna jumped into the fray:
Today, Malawi took a giant step backward. The world is filled with pain and suffering; therefore, we must support our basic human right to love and be loved.
But is that "basic human right" restricted to heterosexuals simply because Africans feel obligated to legislate what the evangelizing American Christians tell them to legislate? Lou Engle lied when he stated that he did not agree with Uganda's "kill the gays" bill, then appeared in Uganda at a prayer rally praising the "courage" of the proposed law's authors. And as with many right-wing actions, you can tell they have influence when they choose NOT to do something; in this case, actively intervene. Rick Warren only stated his opposition to the Uganda bill after an enormous public outcry, and did nothing to intervene and talk to local religious leaders.
The Christian Right is tired of today's "culture wars" and views Africa as a new place entrench, regroup and plant the seeds of their (strictly) American Christianity in a land rife with the problems of 3rd world chaos, 3rd world poverty 3rd world disease and 3rd world gullibility. Today's uber-Christians come to Africa with stories of their own beleaguered land, a land in which they are "persecuted", a great land which has buckled under the yolk of hedonism and sin, a land that will not listen to their pleas to make that land holy and righteous.
So, is Africa really getting Americanized? Depends. Which America are you from?
Last year a gravely ill pregnant woman was admitted to St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix with heart failure. Doctors advised the woman that the pregnancy was literally killing her. She agreed to an abortion. One major problem: St. Joseph’s is a Catholic hospital.
Since the woman was too ill to be transferred to another hospital in time to save her life, Sister Margaret McBride, hospital administrator, approved the procedure. Yet when Bishop Thomas Olmsted received word that Sister McBride approved an abortion, he passed down the harshest penalty of the Catholic church, excommunicatio
Here is my comment on this atrocity:
Catholic Nun Excommunication Abortion
Posted by Daniel Vojir posting anonymously on May 20, 2010 at 7:41 PM
I saw this article and felt compelled to comment for personal reasons, so please bear with me.
I was born in St. Vincent's Infant Asylum and Maternity Hospital in Chicago. It was an orphanage and I was put up from birth immediately. So, I literally popped out of the womb into the arms of a nun.
I know I screamed "PUT ME BACK!!" but nobody listened to me. I was handled by nuns for the first 15 months of my life. I went through Catholic grade school with flying colors. Others were not so lucky. To say the nuns were harsh ... They were also very, very old and undereducated. They had bizarre quirks that they fostered in the extreme. They used kids (like me) to further their own political stance within the parish or with their mother superior. They worshiped the ground the priests walked on.
After my grade school incarceration, I then went from the frying pan into the fire: a college prep school taught by Dominican priests. No, I wasn't molested (I wasn't cute enough), but they certainly beat us into submission.
I am now a recovering Catholic.
Several years ago, I found out about the Duplessis Orphan scandal that rocked not only Canada but the rest of the world. I was struck dumb, for you see, my birth mother was French Canadian and I was born at the very height of the atrocious abuse. There but for the grace of God...
My point is this: the Catholic church wouldn't know a good nun from a bad one. The nun in question made the right decision, but if the situation were put forth in front of any of the nuns who handled me, I am positive that the pregnant woman would have been sacrificed.
Up until the 1980's the sadistic Magdalene Laundries operated with impunity. 'Wayward girls" were to be treated as worthless slaves: physically, emotionally and, yes, even sexually.
The present pope still believes in the subjugation of women.
Sister Mary McBride I salute you. I only wish you were around when I was growing up.
WASHINGTON — The announcement Tuesday by Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., that he will resign after acknowledging an affair with a female aide demonstrates the increasingly tough stance House leaders have taken on scandals in advance of November's high-stakes congressional elections, political observers say.
Hmmm. Let's wait and see which House leaders will be using the word "contempt" the most. After all, they might be next to resign. The greatest hypocrite is always the most vocal critic.
The article in today's Crooks and Liars is one of the most disturbing things I have read in a long time.
It's sad how conservatives have been influenced by FOX's "24" and adopted Jack Bauer's persona all for themselves. The torture scenes seem to have seeped into their consciousnesses and made them believe that this is how all good Americans should handle impossibly dangerous situations. ... Check out the [below] video ... It's torture porn.
The extent of the torture and violence of 24 ledthe dean of West Point, U.S. Army Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan, to visit the set of 24 last fall to:
...voice their concern that the show's central political premise--that the letter of American law must be sacrificed for the country's security--was having a toxic effect.
And now that "toxic effect" is taking hold in bold and almost unimaginable of ways.
Two former veterans of the Iraq war are running for congress. They both were fired from the military under charges of murder and torture of detainees. And they've both made the charges the centers of their campaigns.
The Daily Beast has labeled them Jack Bauer Republicans.
Last week, Ilario Pantano won the Republican nomination in North Carolina’s 7th District...
... In April 2004, Pantano killed two unarmed Iraqi detainees, twice unloading his gun into their bodies and firing between 50 and 60 shots in total. Afterward, he placed a sign over the corpses featuring the Marines' slogan “No Better Friend, No Worse Enemy” as a message to the local population.
His excuse was "self defense." Two unarmed men. 60 bullets. Self defense. Sidetrack: In the musical Chicago, one of the women on Murderers' Row explains her case: "I was carving up the chicken for dinner minding my own business when in comes my husband Wilber in a jealous rage. 'You been screwin' the milkman?' He was crazy. 'You been screwin' the milkman?!' And then that's when he ran into my knife. He ran into my knifeten times!" (The Cell Block Tango).
Sorry, but the analogy was too good to pass up. 60 bullets can't be any part of a defense. It's just as ridiculous as someone running into a knife ten times. Both are the definition of overkill. And the sign only demonstrated his intense hatred for the people.
While Pantano says that he doesn't want his campaign to dwell in the past, the same cannot be said for retired Lt. Col. Allen West, running in Florida’s 22nd District to replace Democratic Rep. Ron Klein.
West was forced to retire from the Army and fined $5,000 after he admitted to apprehending an Iraqi policeman he suspected of planning an ambush, watching as his troops beat him, and then firing a gunshot by the Iraqi’s head in order to scare him into divulging information. West said the decision saved lives by preventing an ambush. But no plot was ever discovered and the policeman in question later told The New York Times that he had no knowledge of any attacks.
"... I made the decision where I sacrificed my military career for the lives of my men, ...I will sacrifice every ounce of me to be your next congressman."
Of course, Sarah Palin has endorsed West on her Facebook page claiming he served "with distinction." But she also pointed out (unwittingly) the scary part of his campaign: his popularity has garnered twice as much in campaign donations than the cash raised by Democratic Florida Congressman Klein.
The Rabid Right is becoming bold enough to promote military sadists to congressional seats. How far will they go next? Will these two actually win their respective elections? Watch this video posted by Crooks and Liars and ask yourself whether or not you want a "Jack Bauer Republican" to represent you in Congress.
Warning: it's not for the squeamish.
Then watch this newscast about 24 and its influence.
Right Wing Watch has this to say about Lou Engle's upcoming prayer rally in Sacramento:
On the tenth anniversary of that event, Engle is bringing The Call back to California as he seeks to build a "wall of intercession for the battle for marriage, as well as the battle for the sanctity of life" and unleash a "great, great Jesus movement" that will "literally be a wall that holds back darkness in our nation":
There is a kind of musical instrument known as a ratchet that perfectly describes Lou Engle's voice:
(wikipedia) A ratchet, also called a noisemaker (or, when used in Judaism, a gragger (etymologically from Yiddish: גראַגער) or ra'ashan (Hebrew: רעשן)), is an orchestral musical instrument played by percussionists. Operating on the principle of the ratchet device, a gearwheel and a stiff board is mounted on a handle, which can be freely rotated. The handle is held and the whole mechanism is swung around, the momentum causing the board to click against the gearwheel, making a clicking and rattling noise. Alternatively, smaller ratchets are sometimes held still or mounted and the handle turned rapidly by the player.
In Judaism, the gragger (or noisemaker) is used for the holiday of Purim. The gragger is used every time Haman's name is mentioned during the reading of the Megillah.
So Lou Engle really does have ties to Judaism!
Seriously, if you've ever heard this guy speaking from a stage, you would only hope that what he has isn't contagious and that includes his brand of holiness. Regardless of what he releases to the press, Engle hates gays to the point that he would rather kill them all than convert them, let alone tolerate them. Most evangelicals cover their loathing with a thin veneer of "love and concern" but not Lou. He's a Reconstructionist through and through and that raspy voice will bore into the brains of his audience (yes, even the ones who do have brains) and declare thatYOU MUST BE CHRISTIAN in order to be considered worthy of God's love.
The proselytizing of the Christian Right has gotten out of hand. It is beyond preaching, beyond evangelizing, beyond moralizing.
BLANTYRE, Malawi (AP) — A judge convicted a gay couple in Malawi Tuesday of unnatural acts and gross indecency after a trial that drew worldwide condemnation of this southern African country's colonial-era laws on homosexuality.
Blantyre Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa said the sentencing will take place on Thursday. The couple could be imprisoned for up to 14 years.
This should have been in the commerce section of the news. After all, homophobia is an export of the U.S.'s Christian Right. The latest cargo unloaded by Lou Engle in his recent visit to Uganda may be proof that uber-Christians are still taking to heart Rick Warren's motto: "Whatever It Takes."
Right, Left, Middle and Just Plain Awful pundits are still burning the midnight oil as I write this. And I'm no exception. After all, we're still smarting from the bizarre fracas that was Carrie Prejean. This situation, however, is much more serious.
The reaction to Ms. Rima Fakih being crowned Miss USA is more like hysteria - on both sides. Ditto the reaction to Miss Oklahoma's remarks before being chosen as second runner-up. So which side is louder, more vicious, more vulgar?
While the Left got in a few uncouth remarks, I'm forced to say that the ultra-Christofascist Right takes the prize in the remarks of one Debbie Schlussel. Forget Fox News' comments about Miss Oklahoma's losing answer, Schlussel has the real scoop on Rima because she's has ties to Islamic terrorism all over the place! Schlussle intimates that she and she alone has uncovered so much about Fakih that she (Schlussel) should be considered a hero.
An unhappy crowd booed Miss USA judge Oscar Nunez when he asked Miss Oklahoma Morgan Elizabeth Woolard a question about Arizona’s immigration law on Sunday night’s pageant.
"I'm a huge believer in states' rights. I think that's what's so wonderful about America," Woolard said. "So I think it's perfectly fine for Arizona to create that law."
Think Progress:
– Fox News’s Gretchen Carlson complained that Woolard’s “informed opinion” may have cost her the crown, and said that Fakih may have won because we live in a “PC society.” [5/17/10]
The level of anger is just so plainly disproportionate to the matter at hand as to be self-implicating. These people aren't worried about terrorism -- they're offended by the idea of Muslims being integrated into the most mundane and banal aspects of American society. -- A. Serwer
Michelle Malkin is savvy enough to mostly cloak her freak-out behind horror over Fakih's politics (although she can't resist a dig at those "identity politics" people), while other conservative bloggers just go ahead and call her a terrorist. Professional Islamophobe Daniel Pipescombs the internet for other instances in which Muslim women have won beauty contests, and concludes there's some kind of "an odd form of affirmative action" going on. Because how could anyone choose a Muslim over a "real American" in a beauty contest?
Rep. Mark Souder (R-IN) had an affair with a part-time staffer named Tracy Jackson, Fox is reporting. Jackson played the role of interviewer for a Souder Web video show on the issues of the day -- including one on the value of abstinence.
The fact that it was reported by Fox News is ridiculous enough, I guess. When you're so stupid in your hypocrisy that even Fox has to show it... Anyway, stay tuned.
Below the thunders of the upper deep;
Far far beneath in the abysmal sea,
His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep
The Kraken sleepeth: faintest sunlights flee
About his shadowy sides; above him swell
Huge sponges of millennial growth and height;
And far away into the sickly light,
From many a wondrous grot and secret cell
- from The Kraken, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
OK, I got the idea for the title from Jon Stewart's take on the Right's reaction to the nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. Watch it below. He is, as always, spot on. Any fan of fantasy and science-fiction films is familiar with The Kraken, a mythical beast of the sea sometimes physically depicted as a giant squid. The Right takes Kagan's nomination as an attack, directly hitting its "left" flank in the culture war.
But the Right seems confused in its counterattack: lesbian? no experience? anti-military? Harriet Miers? Intelligence? As Stewart put it: "She's a recordless entity with no paper trail."
The comparisons to Harriet Miers are, of course, ridiculous: Miers committed THE public relations suicide of the decade when she said of George Bush, "He's the most brilliant man I have ever met." So much for judgment. She also received her law degree at Pat Robertson's Regent University, so you could pretty well determine the direction of her stances, especially concerning gay rights. Anyway, after her fifteen minutes, she was put back in her cage for two years, during which she was constantly pressured by Johua Bolton to resign. She now works for the Dallas law firm known as Locke Lord Bissell Lamp, Liddell.
Any comparisons come from desperate Right wingnuts or people who get their news from Fox.
We Fear What We Don't Know
The Judicial Crisis Network is just coming out with an ad requesting that the Obama administration make every effort to make all of Kagan's records (and thoughts) from the Clinton administration public. They are obviously scared of what they don't know. That's understandable. What's not understandable is taking a "pre-emptive strike" stance by unleashing a video that calls into account her limited experience and her stance against military recruitment on college campuses. The latter is akin to a tempest in a teapot. Her knowledge of the Constitution and American law are never questioned.Neither are her presentations to the Supreme Court as Solicitor General.
The Intelligent Lesbian
The moment I saw a picture of Elena Kagan, I thought "Well, this will be interesting." Afterwards, I was struck by her impressive background and realize that Tony Perkins had a right to be afraid of her: she might become the most intelligent of the justices. Say what? An intelligent President picking an intelligent SCOTUS justice? Horrors!! OMG! She's a shorter, stouter Rachel Maddow! What will become of us!
So with the looming passage of ENDA, the Christian Right has come forth in battle armed with the question of moral fitness: Elena Kagan is gay and she'll swing the Supreme Court towards acceptance of gay marriage and gay rights in general. It makes no difference that Kagan has already been quoted as saying she does not believe that the Constitution supports gay marriage, but the mere possibility that she might be gay makes her totally unfit in their eyes. And any position that she has taken is skewed toward the far left:
"As the Harvard Law School Dean, Elena Kagan tried to bar the military from recruiting on her law school's campus during the height of the Iraq War based on her opposition to the federal law restricting homosexuals in the military.
"...Ms. Kagan's incredibly hostile view of the military suggests she is out of touch with mainstream sensibilities and obedience to the rule of law. President Obama promised a nominee committed to the 'rule of law,' but, instead, he appears to have nominated a hard-left activist to the Supreme Court.
... [They want] an activist on the bench, a crusader, and knows that a homosexual judge will tilt the playing field on behalf of the legalization and social endorsement of sexually aberrant behavior.
The day a homosexual is elevated to the bench, the end will have come for the principle of sexual normalcy, the rule of law and the supremacy of the Constitution. That's too big a price to pay.
So left, center-left, center, center-right? Like a chess player who can't make up his mind, the Right is all around the board with Kagan. The problem the Right has is that some of their clan support Kagan's nomination: she has been sympathetic to the woes of big business. The Court might find itself in the position of deciding regulation or deregulation of businesses like British Petroleum, so the fate of the environment can rest in Kagan's decisions.
And then there's Pat Buchanan's take on the nomination: not enough African-Americans on SCOTUS and too many Jews:
If Kagan is confirmed, Jews, who represent less than 2 percent of the U.S. population, will have 33 percent of the Supreme Court seats.
So there we have the Right's precise, well-informed, analysis of Elena Kagan's nomination to SCOTUS: she's a too-intelligent, military-hating, allegedly lesbian Jew who never saw the inside of a courtroom.
But on his CNN program, Anderson Cooper 360, taught me a valuable lesson: good journalism concentrates on the truly important things. At times, those things may seem frivolous, even salacious, but they are important for people to know.
As I watched his fervor in relating what the city of Nashville was going through and the determination of its people to immediately help one another to recuperate and rebuild, I realized that he was doing what he believed should be done: tell the rest of us about the whole story no matter how horrendous or tragic, mawkish or even numbing it may seem. By now, everyone knows that Cooper loves being in the middle of the conflict or disaster: his coverage of Haiti continues even though some news sources have dropped it all together. Cooper's coverage, however, does not go for the sensational, but instead earnestly attempts the real.
I covered the George Rekers scandal from the moment I read Wayne Besen's account. Wayne's report came immediately after the Miami New Times piece (within one hour, actually) and I submitted mine to OpEdNews within the next several hours. I looked anxiously for any other news sources. Over a period of 24 hours, I found only Joe Jervis (Joe.My.God), Alvin McEwen (Huffington Post), and Stephen Colbert. The Miami New Times gave updates, followed immediately by first-hand interviews by Joe Jervis. I waited another 12 hours and discovered Jay Leno, Craig Ferguson, Rachel Maddow, and Joy Behar along with continuing updates by Besen and Jervis upon which I wrote another piece and submitted it to OpEdNews. However, I was getting frustrated. I must have googled "George Alan Rekers" a thousand times in 24 hours, almost always coming up with nothing (yes, there was a small interview with the gay online magazine, Unzipped, but it wasn't publicized very well) Then I found out that Rekers' rentboy, Julien, acquiesed to an interview on Anderson Cooper 360.
I was definitely anxious to see how the scandal and the rentboy would be treated. I was not let down: the story was told in a very straightforward manner, Julien was treated with respect and Cooper's ending included the formal statement by the Family Research Council. Yes, it was fair and balanced (ahem).
Watching CNN's other stories impacted me in a way I had not expected: Cooper and CNN gave as much time and attention to Rekers' story as they did to the looming epidemic in Haiti and the murder of UVA student Yardley Love. And while the reporting was done in several different styles (Julien's interview was with CNN's Randi Kaye), each report was given its own impetus ... and its own stature among the rest. The message was clear: this was an IMPORTANT story and people should know about it. The focus was not placed entirely on Julien. That would have been too tempting for any other newscast; instead, the focus was on Rekers and his hypocrisy.
And here I thought that only a few investigators and late-night comics considered it newsworthy.
Of course, other people (namely people like Tony Perkins and James Dobson) will put down CNN and Cooper because they consider anyone placing them in a bad light (or under a microscope) to be "anti-Christian." Janet Porter will point out that it's another reason why America's Christian community should have "dominion" over the media. Lou Engles will try to blame Julien and all gays. And Pat Robertson will say, well, ah, something stupid.
Joe Jervis thought that CNN's coverage of the scandal (including Lucien's interview) was a disappointment and that Rachel Maddow's comments rocked. I liked both: Cooper 's job was to present the news while Maddow's job was to analyze the news and comment on it.
Inmany case, the story is now "world class" thanks to sound investigative reporting. BTW, FOX "News" has not covered it. Go ahead and google it. Go to Fox's website and search. Unless it has done something between the time that I'm writing and the time you're reading, I'll venture a guess that you will find ... nothing.
It doesn't matter, really. You know that FOX will end it with their (now) ubiquitous, but lame piece of political philosophy: "Blame Obama."
Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.
Mark Twain
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