Obama, Breitbart and Video Tapes

The thought of oh-so-sinister Obama putting a hit out on poor Andrew Breitbart has been too compelling for the conspiracy theorists. Now they have "revealing" tapes of Obama during his Harvard years to prove just how sinister and radical he really is. 


How will Obama react? With aplomb. Which will get the Right even angrier. 

I'm A Believer: Davey Jones Was A Better Human Being Than Andrew Breibart

There is nothing in Davey Jones' wikipedia entry that says he was a liberal in politics. But I think that he had an entertainer's heart and that says a lot. 


Andrew Breitbart's entry only shows that he was rabid in his attacks on liberals and frequently edited videos and statements in order to make people look more sinister than they really were (Shirley Sherrod). 


I don't think he was a nice person. 


Both Davey Jones and Andrew Breitbart died on on the same day.


Davey Jones will be misssed.

Kissing Will Make Babies...But Only In Utah!

The abstinance-only crowd is having a field day in Utah. Good for upright religionists. Bad for normal teenagers.


"You know all about those things, don't you? We don't have to tell you, do we?" My parents assumed that I informed about sex through the usual teenage osmosis. Needless to say, I had all the misconceptions you could think of as well as all of the guilt associated with daring to think about the subject.


In an age of more sexually transmitted diseases than ever before, and questions about sexual orientation up the wazoo, comprehensive sex education is absolutely necessary.


Tell that to Utah.

A bill passed by Republicans in the Utah House of Representatives would effectively ban comprehensive education about human sexuality, forcing schools to teach abstinence or nothing at all...The bill forbids advocating for "the use of contraceptive methods or devices," sex outside marriage or homosexuality. It also restricts teaching about sexual intercourse or erotic behavior.
Public and charter schools would have the option of developing an abstinence-only curriculum or skipping the discussion of sexuality altogether.

Taking a cue from presidential candidate Rick's Santorum's stance on all things sexual, Utah is indeed looking backward to the good ole days of "don't ask, don't tell." Not in the military, but in the classroom: if students doesn't ask about sex, then the teacher certainly won't tell them.


Back To The Playground


It's a known fact that when you tell teenagers not to do something they will do it. They have no fear of the "great unknown." That is what makes them foolhardy and courageous at the same time. They also feel that they are invincible and immune to things like HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases. In fact, the "virginity pledge" touted by most of the Christian Right resulted in more unprotected sex and greater risk of infection and pregnancy.* 

And abstinence only programs have been the country's biggest (and most expensive) joke on the American tax payer: the ineffective programs cost $208 million in 2008 (up 300% from 2000 - the result of George Bush's faith-based prerogatives. Yet Rick Santorum and his anti-contraception group would have us believe that they do: on Jan. 25th, Santorum knocked the Obama administration for defunding abstinence only programs stating that "He [Obama] wants people to live in poverty." He did not properly relay how he came to this skewed reasoning. 

So now it may be back to the playground for Utah kids in terms of sex education:
"We’ve been culturally watered down to think we have to teach about sex, about having sex and how to get away with it, which is intellectually dishonest," Wright said in defense of the bill. "Why don’t we just be honest with them upfront that sex outside marriage is devastating?" [Utah state representative William Wright]

Devastating? So are STDs and unwanted pregnancies. Someone should tell Rep Bill Wright, the originator of the Bill, that there is a difference between being "intellectually honest" and intellectually deficient: and he is definitely the latter.

*In recent studies, the "virginity pledge" was found to have no effect whatsoever on teens and their sexual habits. Most teens have taken the "pledge" to appease their parents, and have had sex at the approximately same age and with the same number of sex partners. However, these studies also point out that teens taking the pledge were less likely to use any protection or contraception.   

Retaliating Through Satire And Blasphemy: All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay

Rick Santorum thought he had it bad when the neologism of his name* wound up on Google - and stayed #1 for years. Now a website called All Dead Mormons Are Now Gay offers to "convert" deceased Mormons and make them "gay." 


The site is a take-off on the practice of Mormons "baptizing" deceased relatives who may not have been Mormon. 


Most of the LGBT community have had a long standing contempt for the Mormon Church, especially since the Church's involvement in California's Proposition 8: $40 million and a bevy of out-of-state volunteers against one community could fuel just a tad of animosity. Stories of Mormon "gulags" for teens and drives for "reparative therapy" don't help much either.  


Blasphemous Retaliation


The days-old site which has garnered 17,000 "likes" on facebook has drawn the ire of Mormons and even some from the Christian Right for its blasphemy: ironic, since the same tactic for salvation drew the ire of Jewish communities after it was discovered that Mormons were declaring baptisms on certain members of the Holocaust ... namely Anne Frank. 


The site brings into question: what is satire and what is just plain blasphemy? Mockery of religious practices is nothing new: early Christians mocked each other's sects and which gospels they adhered to: the Carpocracians' gatherings were thought to be orgies and the later Cathars were considered pacifist weirdos - the first hippies. "Bishop" Eddie Long was said to mock Judaism when he was wrapped in the Torah and paraded around his congregation as "king." Mormons themselves have had to endure taunts about "magic underwear."  


It could be argued, however, that presidential hopeful Mitt Romny's Mormonism - during an election year - put the spotlight on the Church and nothing is sacred. 


But is outright blasphemy and mockery the way to go during an election year? You might ask Dan Savage, the man who created Santorum's neologism. 

"It's still out there and it is an insanely dirty joke," Savage told the Star-Telegram. "It is crude. It is vile, as are Santorum's comments about gay people."

And crude comments stick. That's the point. They stick more than the niceties and civilities do. That's the way of the world, folks. In other words, Santorum the righteous "Jesus" candidate may come and go, while Santorum the neologism is here to stay.

Laughing At Sacred Cows

In 1870, Joshua Abraham "Emperor" Norton I of San Francisco told the City that he would dress up as the pope and walk 7 miles to neighboring Colma to inter his beloved dog Lazarus. 10,000 people showed up for the funeral out of respect for the City's "Emperor" and to have a good laugh at the expense of sacred cows. 

Some might argue that America's religion often laughs at its own sacred cows too much for any other blasphemy to be taken seriously. When the Catholic Church came out with an I-phone application to confess your sins, people couldn't believe that the Church was denigrating a holy sacrament. The app was removed.

So will mockery of the self righteous and their churches continue during this election year?  Only insofar as the laughter continues. 

*"Santorum - that frothy mix of lube and fecal matter as a by-product of anal sex."

Vaughn Walker Redux? Unmarried Activist Circuit Court Judge Declares DOMA Unconstitutional!

A U.S. District Court judge lives in San Francisco. He is apparently single and he is 67 years old. And even though he was appointed by George Bush, his decisions have been to the left of center.


Especially the last one.

BREAKING: BUSH APPOINTEE FINDS DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL | Moments ago, Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protection clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski. Golinski, represented by Lambda Legal, “was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.” White was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2002. The decision represents a serious setback for House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), whose Bipartisan Legal Advisory Group (BLAG) defended DOMA after the Obama administration announced it would no longer defend the law.

So far, no source on the net has revealed any heterosexual tendencies: in all of his bios, there is no mention of a wife or family. Check out VoteSmart, wikipedia, judgepedia, and the website for the United States District Court  Northern California, Northern District California: no family whatsoever. There is no statement by White as to his sexual orientation either.


Of course, whether or not White is gay, speculation will run high and the Court of Christian Right Opinion will be delivering its verdict and accusations of conflict of interest will fly for sure. However, the old saw of  'activist judges" is bound to see a lot of action as well. Why? Because Hon. Jeffrey White was a Bush appointee! 


"Activist Judges!!"


One could argue that it was Dick Cheney who ushered in today's era of "activist judges" when he bemoaned the fate of Massachusetts in 2004:
"In Massachusetts we had the Massachusetts Supreme Court direct the state of -- the Legislature of Massachusetts to modify their constitution to allow gay marriage."
Since then,courts supportive of gay rights have been termed "activist" and the toll has became ubiquitous to such support. Iowa Supreme Court justices learned that the hard way when they unanimously voted to uphold a ruling of Polk County District Court granting gay couples the right to marry: three of the justices were voted out of office in 2010. 


Retired District Court Judge Vaughn Walker declared California's infamous Prop 8 to be unconstitutional. 


Brouhaha ensued even before it was learned that Walker was gay and in a long-term relationship. 


And, of course, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals became "activist" once they upheld Walker's ruling and declared that his sexual orientation had nothing to do with his ability to decide on the case. 


Watch Mark Fiore's warning against activist judges below. While it's satirical, the attitude it conveys is chilling.


The Election Year War On The Courts

Last December, presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich stated Courts “are forcing us into a constitutional crisis because of their arrogant overreach." He also created a firestorm when he stated that he thought some judges should be rounded up and arrested. And another aspirant to the presidency, Rick Santorum, said "They [the courts] have become in effect most powerful of the three (branches of government), and they should be the least."

Ron Paul: "For judges who see themselves as social activists, their vision of justice is more important than the letter of the law they are sworn to interpret and uphold."

Mitt Romney has come under fire for perhaps being the least vocal about "activist" judges: some people suspect him of liberal chicanery when it comes to appointments.
Judge Jeffrey S. White


The judge in question is no stranger to controversy about his decisions: e.g in revoking USDA approval Of Monsanto's Genetically Modified Sugar Beets, and in ordering a thorough review of the program's affects on other foods, White caused a stir among farmers and the likes of Monsanto Corporation. In other words, it was not exactly what George Bush would have done. And in 2005, White allowed four municipalities and various environmental groups to go ahead with a lawsuit against federal agencies, saying that government involvement in certain overseas projects contributed to global warming. Again, he didn't look like a Bush appointment, that's for sure. 


So is Jeffrey S. White a closeted gay liberal judicial activist? Should it matter? The Right may scream "YES!", while the rest of the country may not care. 


Ahh, the election year.

BREAKING!! U.S. Disctrict Court Declared DOMA Unconstitutional!

Prejudice, we are beginning to understand, rises not from malice or hostile animus alone.  It may result as well from insensitivity caused by simple want of careful, rational reflection or from some instinctive mechanism to guard against people who appear to be different in some respects from ourselves.

Board of Trustees of University of Alabama v. Garrett, 531 U.S. 356, 374-75 (2001) (Kennedy,J., concurring)

BREAKING: BUSH APPOINTEE FINDS DOMA UNCONSTITUTIONAL | Moments ago, Judge Jeffery White of the District Court for the Northern District of California ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) violates the Constitution’s equal protections clause in a case brought by Karen Golinski. Golinski, represented by Lambda Legal, “was denied spousal health benefits by her employer, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.” White was appointed to the court by President George W. Bush in 2002. Read the full opinion here. (HT: GinnyLaRoe)

The entire decision is HERE. And it's worth reading!

Hooking Up With Studboi1: Top Border Cop, Romney Campaigner And Congressional Candidate In Scandal Of Epic Hypocrisy!... And We Love It!

In terms of hypocrisy, it doesn't get any sleazier than this. And sometimes lurid, yellow journalism has its uses.

"If what [Babeu's attorney] says is correct [about Jose's being illegal], either the sheriff had a long relationship with someone he knew was undocumented, while all the time being Mr. Bluster about the border and using it for political gain," or he threatened to deport someone he just broke up with, Merritt says. [Phoenix News-Times' interview with Nancy-Jo Merritt, Phoenix immigration attorney]

In the Arizona border patrol controversies of recent years, no one has stood out more than Paul Babeu. Even Joe Arpaio couldn't eclipse him in visibility and bravado: John McCain stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, FOX News profiled him and his activities, and Babeau's political aspirations looked bright.

HUFFPOST, 2-18:


Republican Congressional candidate Paul Babeu, currently serving as a sheriff in Arizona, stepped down on Saturday from his position as the co-chair for the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in the state, after an explosive allegation from a Mexican man, who claims to be his ex-boyfriend, that Babeu threatened him with deportation to Mexico.
In other words, the hypocritical sh*t has hit the proverbial fan: the reason he threatened the ex-boyfriend with deportation is because the ex refused to sign a document silencing their affair. The Phoenix New Times reported all the salacious (and vicious) details revealed through hook-up sites, emails and phone texts in a five-page long article sure to become fodder for election year pundits ...like me.

For in dealing with hypocrisy, you can't be hypocritical. And this story is too horrifically hypocritical for me to pass up. I have to make the most of it. Sounds snarky, I know, but that's the way it is. Exposing hypocrisy is like that.


Paul Babeu And His Right Wing 
Political Dream Machine


At the age of 18, Paul  Babeu was elected to city council for North Adams, MA. He then went on to become commissioner for Bekeley County, MA. (1992 - age 23). In 1996, Babeu ran for Massachusetts State Senate as a nominee from the GOP, but lost. He subsequently lost two bids for Mayor of North Adams.


All the losses, however, were with extremely narrow margins, so Babeu's political drive was not quelled.


After joining the Massachusetts National Guard, Babeu rose in ranks to become major in the Arizona National Guard, serving in Iraq, then was deployed as a Commander in Jump Start and the United States Border Patrol.  In 2002, he became a patrolman in Chandler, Arizona, receiving two life saving medals and becoming the Police Association President. In 2008, he became the first Republican sheriff elected in Pinal County history (founded 1875).


As sheriff, Babeu's activities couldn't be more exemplary ... or anti-immigrant: while reducing emergency response time 40% and being awarded nearly $7 million in grants, Babeu "reorganized" the sheriff's department and became the leading voice in Senator John McCain's "10-point Border Security Plan." And,

In late 2010, Babeu was asked by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to investigate allegations of wrongdoing in his own department. This 6 month long detailed search led to the termination of Arpaio’s top two deputies.^{[21] (wikipedia)}

In October, 2011, Paul Babeu announced a run for U.S. Congress (newly-redistricted 4th Congessional Arizona Seat)

OK, Now The Sex Stuff

In an era of facebook, twitter and internet hook-ups, sexual exposure has become common. When we got the goods on Rep.Anthony Weiner and "Bishop" Eddie Long, we realized that, in a sense, supermarket tabloids had jumped onto our homepages. And we embraced them with a renewed vigor for the salacious. Why? Because reading about hypocrisy is fun while being infuriated: laughing at the high-minded while telling ourselves that we're not THAT bad is a sinful pleasure. We feel somehow mitigated in our realization that people on the "A-List" can become sleazeballs on the "A-Hole List". 


Now guess which list Babeu is on. 

According to Babeu's ex-lover, Jose (last name withheld because of the ongoing litigation), they met in 2009. Jose then worked on Babeu's campaign websites, facebook and twitter accounts while in a supposedly monogamous relationship. Later, in 2011, Jose discovered a profile of Babeu's on Adam4Adam a gay hook-up site. He confronted Babeu about it and was told that it was an old profile.


But after the request to have Babeu remove the profile, it was still up and active. Jose then decided to do some undercover work on his boyfriend and posed anonymously on the same site. 

"I will suck you off as much as needed."

"Dude, I can't send naked pics over e-mail . . . just can't for my job . . . you can have me in person and what ever else you want." Babeu made a point about his work as sheriff.

Jose showed up for a meeting, and the pair broke up, whereupon an eerie kind of harassment ensued: Jose changed his address several times, with Babeu giving hints that he knew where he was all along (e.g. a Christmas card). Jose then posted comments in sites and editorials intimating that Babeu was not what he seemed. Babeu answered back: "And you say you have loved me? Papi . . . this is no good."

The phone text messages produced by Jose number in the hundreds. The pics on Babeu's Adam4Adam profile have since been erased, some including a full erection.

For the record, Jose states that he is legal and not undocumented, hence the threats of deportation by Babeu's lawyer ring hollow.


Within hours of Jose's incriminating evidence coming to light, Babeu "came out" but stated that his candidacy for Congress remained in tact, while his personal life was just that: personal ...and private.


In Summation To The Jury


Political aspirations. Right wing political cronies and media coverage. Illegal immigration. Threats of deportation. Gay sex. Gay hook-up sites. Infidelity. Pornographic internet photos. The court of public opinion will be at this scandal from all sides: the Right (esp. the Christian Right) will focus on Babeu's sexual orientation and use of hook-up sites; the Left will focus on Babeu being a Republican and his anti-immigration stance; the LGBT community will focus on Babeu's hypocrisy and his closeted machinations. Stand-up comedians will joke about border sheriffs. Pundits and bloggers like me will keep tabs, looking for developments and nuances to highlight Babeu's hypocrisy.


There have been parallels to this scandal: Rep. Mark Foley and Congressional pages, NJ Governor James McGreevey and his infidelity. However, they were but slight blips compared to this earthquake on the Richter scale. Why? Simply because the hypocrisy is so blatantly wrong and so compellingly raw.

In fact, there may be only one entity to be truly sorry for in this story: The National Inquirer. It didn't break the story.