Lost Youth

Media Overkill and Short Shrift on Real Issues

Last night I was complaining about the irresponsibility of the news media in its obsessive focus on comments by Jeremiah Wright while the country is meanwhile going to Hell in a hand basket. In today's New York Times, Bob Herbert states in a focused manner the point I sought to make last evening. Hopefully, some of the biggest blow hards among the talking heads will take heed of this column. If they do, perhaps more of us will be able to stomach watchng the evening news. Right now, I cannot stand shows I once liked. Here are some highlights:

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We’ve allowed the entire political process in what is perhaps the most important election in the U.S. since World War II to become thoroughly warped by the histrionics of a loony preacher from the South Side of Chicago. There’s something wrong with us.

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Race is like pornography in the United States — the dirty stories and dirty pictures that everyone professes to hate but no one can resist. But I suspect that even porn addicts get their fill sometimes.

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The challenge for the working press right now is to see if we can force ourselves past the overwhelming temptations of Wright and race and focus in a sustained way on some other important matters, like the cratering economy, metastasizing energy costs, the dismal state of public education, the nation’s crumbling infrastructure or the damage being done to the American soul by the endless war in Iraq.

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A highly decorated Army ranger named David McDowell, a 30-year-old father of two from Ramona, Calif., was killed in Afghanistan this week. As I read his obituary, I noticed that he had been deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq seven times. What does that tell us about our shared wartime sacrifices? I’d like to hear a lot less about Reverend Wright and a lot more about why the U.S. can’t close the deal in Afghanistan and hardly even seems interested in extricating our G.I.’s from Iraq.

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Another issue: Economists were exhaling Friday because we only lost 20,000 jobs in April. After all, we lost 81,000 in March. Nevermind that we need to be creating millions of jobs if we’re ever going to get our economic house in order. With credit cards maxed out, real estate prices falling and enormous amounts of home equity already drained, a good job is the only legitimate way to put real money into the hands of cash-strapped families.

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Most of the electorate understands that the U.S. is in sorry shape, which is why more than 80 percent of poll respondents say we’re on the wrong track. The Rev. Jeremiah Wright has nothing to do with any of that. The idea that his nonsense may shape the outcome of this election is both tragic and absurd.

Christianist Lies About ENDA

I subscribe to Right Wing Watch, which is put out by People For the American Way and highlights some of the worse hate speaech and most disingenuous lies that the Christianists put out. The most recent e-mail alert included information on the comments by a panel of wingnut haters at Coral Ridge Ministries (which has major failing when it comes to honesty) that included Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, Mat Staver of Liberty Counsel, Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund and Gary DeMar of American Vision. Anyone of these indivuals is dishomest by themselves. Collectively, they are even worse as in this instance where they are once again whining that Christians are being persecuted by the mean "militant gay activists." In the process here's what these Kool-Aid drinkers say about ENDA:

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Mat Staver: In every totalitarian regime in world history, one of the first things it always sought to do was to suppress Christianity. That's what happened in the former Soviet Union.

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Tony Perkins: You will see that multiplied immensely if the congress is successful in passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and the Hate Crimes legislation. I mean, it'll be discrimination on steroids - as they come after churches who refuse to hire homosexuals in their church office, in their schools, in their day-cares, or Christian business. And what it gives the radical homosexuals, those who are pushing this agenda, not all the homosexuals are out there trying to shove this down peoples throats.

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he ACLU and the homosexual activists, who are into coercing unwilling people to do things, and to silence them, and all of that. There is an authoritarianism to that, that they are in total denial about, and they masquerade it, and then say that we're the fascists, and I just find that very offensive, and totally inaccurate.

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There is one small problem, however with these rantings which are intended to stir up "mom and pop" employers and church goers: ENDA has exemptions for churches and buinesses with less than 15 employees. Thus, once again these self-agrandizing Christians are LYING. In fact, here's the language from the legislation pending in Congress:

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(4) EMPLOYER- The term `employer' means--(A) a person engaged in an industry affecting commerce (as defined in section (701)(h) of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. 2000e(h)) who has 15 or more employees

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SEC. 6. EXEMPTION FOR RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS. This Act shall not apply to a religious organization.

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Unfortunately, this kind of knowing, deliberate lying is the norm rather than the exception for these individuals and their respective organizations. As I have asked many times in the past, why do these frauds think they are exempt from the Commandment against bearing false witness and lying? Worse yet, why doesn't the mainstream media have the balls to expose them for the liars that they are?

Saturday Male Beauty

Saturday Ramblings

For a change I did nothing much today other than mindless activities - mowed the grass, went to the beach in the Ocean View area of Norfolk (pictured above) since there were no waves for surfing in Virginia Beach, grocery shopping and a review of online news. Tomorrow I am driving to Richmond with my youngest daughter to retrieve the balance of her things from her dorm for summer break (she brought home as much as would fit in her car so hopefully we need pick up only her refrigerator and some boxes). It will give us some time together in the car to talk and just enjoy being with each other.

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Yesterday, I spoke with my older daughter and she's awaiting confirmation that she has a full time job in August with the Virginia Beach School system. She has been working as a long term substitute and once the school year is over will once again be the head coach for our former neighborhood pool swim team, one of the largest and best in the summer swim league which includes 24 teams, split into four divisions based on the strength of the teams. Alanton-Baycliff is one of the few teams (perhaps one of two) that has always managed to remain in the top tier division. Last summer she had well over 200 swimmers on her team.

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Nothing on the local romantic front. At times I don't think Mr. Right exists - or if he does he's on the other side of the country or world somewhere. Which is the next closest thing to not existing. I know that some readers think I have unrealistic standards, but after a long straight marriage, a failed long distance gay relationship and a failed monogamous gay relationship that ended last summer, I really, really do not want to just settle for someone. Just as I tell my business clients that sometimes no deal is better than a bad deal, no relationship is better than one that is dysfunctional and emotionally draining. Luckily, my roommates provide companionship since I do not like living alone. And if I have admirer(s) out their, show yourself since I am a bit obtuse when it comes to picking up signals that guys are interested in me. :)

The Media's Role in Divisive Politics

I am sitting at home with MSNBC on with Dan Abrams and sadly the progaram is another shrill and shallow piece trying to make much of Jeremiah Wright's stupid remarks rather that look at the REAL issues that should be under discussion in this campaign cycle: soaring foreclosure rates, families unable to make ends meet, many millions without health insurance, a never ending disaster in Iraq, etc., etc. One has to wonder whether the talking heads are simply lazy, or are they more concerned about generating sensationalism rather than having a critical discourse on the issues that truly impact the nation's future. Personally, most of the talking heads are little better than self-importance cheap whores, frequently hired more for looks, family ties, and other criteria that have nothing to do with intelligence or competency. Tonight's story is basically aimed at ginning up racial disharmony. I find it disgusting and sadly cynical. Which brings me to something my friend Billy at Kenya Worm wrote as he contemplates moving back home to South Africa (a country that is now in some ways far more progressive than the USA). These are the words that struck me:

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The reason why I put this down as an 'opener' to my post is that, if I were one of the narrow minded 'biggots' that came out of Apartheid SA, I would have missed out on so much in my life. I would not have made some great 'local' friends here in Kenya, I would not have had dinner last night with a friend from Vietnam, I would not have met such a diverse and colourful group of people in my remarkable life. It's remarkable not because I've made such an impression on the world, but because the world has made such a remarkable impression on me! How can we truly say that we are better or worse than anybody else, or base our judgements of people on something other than their personality? And then, base this judgement of their personality on their background as well. The old saying about having to walk in somebody Else's shoes before you make up your mind is remarkably true...

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Would that some of us in the USA could learn these concepts. Dan Abrams, I mean you.

APA "Ex-gay" Symposium Canceled

I had previously posted about an ill advised (at least in my view) plan to have a symposium on "ex-gay" therapy at the APA's upcoming annual convention. Christianist ex-gay therapy quacks like Warren Throckmorton who suck monies from parents trying to "cure" their children had been pushing for the symposium. No doubt they planned to somehow twist the fact that the symposium had been held to lend legitimacy to fraudulent 's ex-gay "ministries." Fortunately, the symposium has been cancelled and this propaganda tool has been taken awy from Throckmorton, et al. Here are highlights from today's Washington Blade:

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A controversial symposium that was supposed to look at the relationship between religion and homosexuality has been canceled. The symposium, put together by some American Psychiatric Association members, caused consternation among some psychiatrists and gays, who argued that holding a dialogue with hostile figures would legitimize homophobic views. The forum was titled “Homosexuality and Therapy: the Religious Dimension” and was supposed to take place Monday in Washington.

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Warren Throckmorton, a counselor known for helping patients in efforts to alter homosexual behavior, was slated to speak at the event. The Grove City, Pa.,-based counselor said he was disappointed that the forum was no longer scheduled.

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The event caused some discontent among other APA psychiatrists. Jack Drescher, a gay New York City-based psychiatrist and former chair of the APA committee on gay issues, said association members organizing the forum did not appear to understand “how conversion therapists and their supporters on the religious right use these appearances as a public relations event to try and legitimize what they do.”

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Controversy surrounding the event had prompted a gay religious figure who was scheduled to speak to cancel his appearance. Rev. Gene Robinson, the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop by the Episcopal Church, said he canceled his plans to attend because he came to believe that making an appearance would validate the concept that sexual orientation can be changed.

More Friday Male Beauty

Conservatives Urge Congress To Maintain Gays In Military Ban

Living in an area that is home of the largest naval base in the world, not to mention numerous other military posts (the Army, Navy and Airforce all have bases in Hampton Roads, and there are plenty of Marines as well), the drivel putout by Elaine Donnelly and company would be farcical if it did not harm real people. Go to ANY gay club in the area and you will see many dedicated gay military personnel who are honorably and diligently serving their country - misbeguided as it may be under the cretinous Chimperator - and causing NO problems with unit morale. Indeed, the biggest source of harm to morale in this region is the rediculous "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy foisted on us by Slick Willie (as Hillary stood silently by and did nothing for the gays she claims to support). Truth be told, DADT's sole true purpose in my view is to stigmatize gays and lesbians in an effort to maintain a mindset that gays are somehow less worthy and/or love our counrty less. Someone truly needs to tell Ms. Donnelly to take an icicle and shove it up her frigid Christianist ass. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com on the Christianist manufactured controversy:

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(Washington) A conservative lobby group is urging Congress to reject legislation that would repeal "Don't Ask, Don' Tell", the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military. The Military Readiness Enhancement Act which would repeal the decade old DADT has bipartisan support and hearings are expected to be held this year. Americans For The Military, part of the conservative Center for Military Readiness, is circulating a petition online to pressure members of Congress to maintain the ban.

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"Forcing a sexual agenda on the armed forces would hurt discipline and moral ... As an American I ask that you uphold this law to help to protect and preserve our military." In an online video, Center President Elaine Donnelly called for an "online army to support the troops".

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Last week the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee released data showing that the Army and the Marine Corp, under pressure to increase their numbers, have sharply raised the number of recruits who have felony convictions. (story) The information, released Monday by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, shows that the number of soldiers admitted to the Army with felony records jumped from 249 in 2006 to 511 in 2007. And the number of Marines with felonies rose from 208 to 350.

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Meanwhile, under DADT two people every day are dropped from the military for being gay. In the 10 years that DADT has been in force more than 10,000 personnel have been discharged as a result of thed policy, including 800 with skills deemed 'mission critical,' such as pilots, combat engineers, and linguists.

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Last month, Lawrence J. Korb,former Assistant Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, told a joint hearing of the House Armed Services Air and Land Forces Subcommittee and the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee to "get rid of outmoded social restrictions," such as DADT. Last year former Secretary of Defense William Cohen and retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili also called for the ban to be repealed.

After Scandal, Students are Leaving Oral Roberts University

Between students looking to transfer out and a reduced number of applications, Oral Roberts University could see as much as a 13% drop in enrollment come fall as the fallout continues from the financial and sex allegation scandal involving Richard Roberts and his wife (who has been alleged to have a predeliction for under age boys). Personally, I cannot attending a university based on a kooky Christianist agenda, but I am sure some of the students attended with either good intentions or as a result of parental pressure. Now, they are rightfull concerned about the marketability of their diplomas in the wake of the scandal. It's unfortunate for these students that the Roberts were unsrupulous frauds who used the university to enrich themselves. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot's AP coverage of the story:

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TULSA, Okla. (AP) -- As Oral Roberts University prepares to hand out diplomas to its Class of 2008, Anna Siebring, a junior, will be mailing out applications to transfer to another school. Siebring, a government major, is among many students having second thoughts about staying at Oral Roberts after six months of scandal at the evangelical Christian university. She and others fear the furor will reduce the value of any degree they earn there. Some graduates worry that they will have to try twice as hard to market themselves to potential employers after Saturday's commencement.

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Two university employees who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation said they have been told a much higher figure: around 400. That would amount to a startling drop of almost 13 percent. Oral Roberts spokesman Jeremy Burton said the decline has less to do with students leaving and more to do with fewer new ones enrolling.

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Administrators are urging patience from professors and students. Last week, Fagin conceded it would take "a while to turn a big ship." Similarly, Green said it will take years to make necessary overhauls and begin rebuilding trust. He has already dissolved the old board of regents and established a new set of bylaws.

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But that doesn't appear enough for sophomore Andrew Saah, who has already been accepted at the University of Maryland as a transfer student and is thinking about making the jump. He said Oral Roberts needs to change its culture to give more voice to its students.

Friday Male Beauty

Ex-Iraq Commander: Bush Administration Guilty of Goss Incompetence

Tell us something that we don't already know! Nonetheless, it is telling that Lt. General Ricardo Sanchez, the former Commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, in a new memoir provides new stark details of the misdoings at high levels of the Chimperator's regime in the first year of the Iraq War. His assessment of the Chimperator's invented war:

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"Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars were unnecessarily spent, and worse yet, too many of our most precious military resource, our American soldiers, were unnecessarily wounded, maimed, and killed as a result. In my mind, this action by the Bush administration amounts to gross incompetence and dereliction of duty."

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Exerpts from the book can be found at Time.com. Naturally, Rumsfeld who was one of the master minds of the disaster tried to claim ignorance as shown by this statement:
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"Mr. Secretary, when V Corps ramped up for the war, our entire focus was at the tactical level. The staff had neither the experience nor training to operate at the strategic level, much less as a joint/combined headquarters. All of CFLCC's generals, whom we called the Dream Team, left the country in a mass exodus. The transfer of authority was totally inadequate, because CENTCOM's focus was only on departing the theater and handing off the mission. There was no focus on postconflict operations. None! In their minds, the war was over and they were leaving. Everybody was executing these orders, and the services knew all about it." Starting to get a little worked up, I paused a moment, and then looked Rumsfeld straight in the eye. "Sir, I cannot believe that you didn't know I was being left in charge in Iraq."

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One can only hope that some day Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the others that lead the USA into this venture based on lies and false propaganda will be held accountable for the death and destruction that they have wrought on others.

Appalachian Trail - Update 5/2/08

My son e-mailed me last evening and he is now in Virginia - in the town of Damascus, population 981 as of the last census. At this point he has covered the 446 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Georgia, Tennessee and North Carolina. Now he has 544 miles to go to traverse Virginia, which has the longest segment of the Trail of any state. He plans on spending the day in Damascus, which caters to through hikers and other nature lovers, and hopefully will upload additional pictures before continuing northward. He is making amazing time and I am very proud of him.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Sydney's Lord Mayor Says Jesus Wouldn't Approve of Cardinal Pell

It is always nice to know that others have the correct measure of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. Among such people are Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia. In a recent interview Moore had some pretty direct and accurate comments about Cardinal George Pell, the Vatican's leading anti-gay mouth piece in Australia. Here are some highlights from Live News:
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Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore has unloaded on the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell, suggesting that Jesus would not approve of him. When asked about Cardinal Pell’s attitude towards gay people the Lord Mayor didn't pull her punches.“Christ was a radical. He despised the Establishment and the Pharisees. He threw the money-changers out of the temple,” she said.“I liken certain church officials today to the Pharisees that Christ took exception to.”

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What is interesting is that Moore herself is Catholic.

Former DNC Head Switches from Clinton to Obama

Hopefully more super delegates will, Like former DNC Chair, Joseph J. Andrew, wake up to what Hillary Clinton is doing to the Democratic Party and back Obama to put an end to Hillary Clinton's Karl Rove like tactics. She is tearing the Party apart and the only winner is John McCain. Her "do and say anything to win" conduct has proven that she is NOT the candidate the Party should have as its standard bearer. Particularly since Obama still does better against McCain in polls even after all of Hillary's brutal and destructive tactics. The following are highlights from Joseph J. Andrew's explanation of why he changed his backing on Huffington Post:

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Today I am announcing my support for Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States of America. I am changing my support from Senator Clinton to Senator Obama, and calling for my fellow Democrats across my home State of Indiana, and my fellow super delegates across the nation, to heal the rift in our Party and unite behind Barack Obama.

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I believe that Bill Clinton will be remembered as one of our nation's great Presidents, and Senator Clinton as one of our nation's great public servants. But as much as I respect and admire them both, it is clear that a vote for Hillary Clinton is a vote to continue this process, and a vote to continue this process is a vote that assists John McCain. I ask Hoosiers to come together and vote for Barack Obama to be our next President.

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I ask the leaders of our Party to come together after this Tuesday's primary to heal wounds and unite us around a single nominee. While I was hopeful that a long, contested primary season would invigorate our Party, the polls show that the tone and temperature of the race is now hurting us. John McCain, without doing much of anything, is now competitive against both of our remaining candidates. We are doing his work for him and distracting Americans from the issues that really affect all of our lives.

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We need to be talking about fixing the economy, not whose acquaintances once said what to whom. We need to be talking about stopping the attacks in Iraq, not stopping the attacks in Indiana. We need to be talking about policy, not politics.

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We need a candidate who will re-invigorate the economy and keep good jobs here in America. We need a candidate who will end the war in Iraq. We need a candidate who will provide health coverage for our 45 million uninsured neighbors. We need a candidate who will end our addiction to high-priced foreign oil by investing in renewable energy here at home. That candidate is Barack Obama.

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Many will ask, why now? . . . The simple answer is that while the timing is hard for me personally, it is best for America. We simply cannot wait any longer, nor can we let this race fall any lower and still hope to win in November. June or July may be too late. The time to act is now.

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My endorsement of Senator Obama will not be welcome news to my friends and family at the Clinton campaign. If the campaign's surrogates called Governor Bill Richardson, a respected former member of President Clinton's cabinet, a "Judas" for endorsing Senator Obama, we can all imagine how they will treat somebody like me. They are the best practitioners of the old politics, so they will no doubt call me a traitor, an opportunist and a hypocrite. I will be branded as disloyal, power-hungry, but most importantly, they will use the exact words that Republicans used to attack me when I was defending President Clinton. When they use the same attacks made on me when I was defending them, they prove the callow hypocrisy of the old politics first perfected by Republicans.

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We must reject the notion that we have to beat the Republicans at their own game -- or even that the game has to be played at all. It is so easy for all of us involved -- candidates, campaigns and the media -- to focus on the process and the horse race that we forget why we got into it in the first place. Barack Obama has had the courage to talk about real issues, real problems and real people. Let's pause for a second in the midst of the cacophony of the campaign circus and listen.

Thursday Male Beauty

North Carolina Attorney General Investigating Robo-calls to Black Voters

As I posted yesterday, mysterious robo-calls have been sent out in North Carolina in advance of the primary next week that appear to have an intent of suppressing black voter turn out which would boost the Obama campaign. These calls have been traced to an organization called Women's Voices, Women Vote which been involved in questionable, if not illegal activities in other, states including Virginia, and which seems to have ties to the Clinton campaign. Now the North Carolina Attorney General's office is investigating the matter and has issued a statement, which reads in part as follows:

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On Wednesday, Cooper and his consumer protection team demanded that the organization Women’s Voices Women Vote stop breaking state law with prerecorded calls to North Carolina residents. The organization said Wednesday the calls would stop. The robo-calls told residents that they would be receiving a voter registration form in the mail that they needed to sign. But the deadline to register by mail has passed, and some call recipients already were registered, causing confusion. “Regardless of the motivation, the robo-calls violated the law and they needed to stop,” Cooper said.

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What makes the calls al the more suspicious is that there are let us say "interesting" ties to the Hillary Clinton campaign. Here are highlights of what Facing South, which first broke the story, has now discovered:

In our earlier investigation revealing the outfit behind the misleading and illegal robo-calls made to North Carolina voters just days before a critical primary election, we reported that questions have been raised about the connections between that group -- the D.C.-based nonprofit Women's Voices Women Vote -- and the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign.

But one of the most striking connections between WVWV and the Clinton campaign -- and one particularly relevant to a story involving what appear to be voter suppression efforts right before an election -- was pointed out to us by a reader. He notes that the firm in charge of voter outreach for WVWV is MSHC Partners, whose president is Hal Malchow. Sourcewatch.org reports that Malchow was a member of WVWV's leadership team.At the same time, MSHC also does direct mail and outreach for the Hillary Clinton campaign. In fact, the campaign owes MSHC $807,000, according to Politico.com.

Do we really want another dishonest and lying president after 8 years of the Chiperator? If not, I suggest you do not vote for Hillary Clinton.

Hillary's Serious Gay Problem (Updated)

It seems more and more people and blogs are waking up to the fact that Hillary Clinton - despite all her self-serving claims to the contrary and occasional appearance at a pride event - is no true friend of the LGBT community. Except when she wants money, of course. Hence why the LGBT community is invisible on her campaign web site and why she struggles to even say the word "gay" even when doing a pre-arranged interview with a gay media outlet. Now Daily Kos has piled on further with an updated look at Hillary's "gay problem" - and it is rather scathing. It is nice to see others coming to the hold the view of Hillary that I have long held. She is a cynical opportunist who cares nothing for the LGBT community when push comes to shove. Here are some Daily Kos highlights:

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In Hillary Clinton's disturbing attempt to rebrand herself as a Bible-totin', gun-slinging Annie Oakley, complete with right-wing talking points, I guess it's not surprising that gays would end up with the short end of the stick in Camp Clinton these days. Hillary has given lip service to supporting GLBT rights, but her actions over the past few months - not to mention the past few decades - have shown that Hillary is not only trying to distance herself from the gay community and GLBT issues but has done her best to use anti-gay sentiment to her advantage. There's a disturbing pattern at work here, folks, that should outrage any true Democrat who cares about equality.

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As a gay man who has fought hard for GLBT rights my entire life, I am frankly a bit mystified by the conventional wisdom I have heard over that past few months that the GLBT community is more strongly behind Hillary than Obama. I have not seen any hard numbers to back up that claim, and I certainly have not seen that play out in my own life. Most of the gay folks I know can't stand Hillary.) And Hillary's conduct in this campaign certainly give me cause for concern.

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Setting aside the fact that Bill Clinton's presidency brought us two of the worst pieces of anti-gay federal legislation this country has ever seen: Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act - with nary a peep of protest from Hillary - Hillary's own actions during this campaign should give pause to anyone who cares about GLBT rights.

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Even in front of a gay-friendly audience, Hillary seems afraid to use the word "gay" (and you can forget about using the word "lesbian.") Exactly why is Hillary afraid of any video footage floating around that shows her uttering the word "gay"??? Inquiring minds want to know. Out-and-proud Pam Spauding over at Pam's House Blend . . . noted that Hillary is clearly trying to use anti-gay tactics to win over the Bubba vote: "Take the homo money and run, as it were."

More Wednesday Male Beauty

My Standards on "Outing"

The Gay Species has taken me to task for having double standards and not endorsing the outing of two gay students at Hollis F. Price Middle College High in Memphis, Tennessee, by the school principal. His charge is based on my support of the efforts of Mike Rogers at Blog Active in exposing closeted Republicans with anti-gay voting records and closeted clergy who preach against gays and engender anti-gay hate and discrimination.. For the record, I want to make it clear why I believe there ARE two (2) different standards depending upon the circumstances/actions of the person(s) being outed and why this view is not "hypocritical:"

The first standard - which might be called the private individual standard - applies to closeted gays who mind their own business and take no public stands and take no actions that support or further an anti-gay agenda. Individuals in this category have every right to keep their personal life private. At this point in my life, I now favor as many people as possible being "out" and living their lives openly. However, since it took me 37 years in the closet and 5 years of therapy to recover from my childhood religious indoctrination to get to this point, I cannot demand that individuals who are doing no harm to the LGBT community be outed against their will. This is the standard that I believe applies to the two high school boys at Hollis F. Price Middle College High.

The second standard applies to closeted individuals consisting of (1) elected officials and their staffers who actively support and work for the passage of anti-gay legislation that harms or reduces the legal rights of other LGBT indviduals and/or (2) clergy who preach anti-gay rhetoric and engender animosity aginst LGBT individuals. In my view, these individuals - who are meddling in and interferring with the personal lives of other gays - have forfeited the right claim that their personal lives are off limits. If they want to intrude into my life and impair my legal rights, then they need to be exposed for the hypocrite phonies that they are. By their own anti-gay jihad they have given up the right to keep their own gay sexual conduct private.

A case in point is former Congressman Ed Schrock of Virginia's 2nd District who had one of the most anti-gay voting records in Congress yet who was soliciting gay sex via Mega Phone in the greater Norfolk area. I knew Ed Schrock personally and even warned him - and later the entire Virginia Beach delegation to the Virginia General Assembly - that the GOP war on gays would result in someone outing Schrock. The warning fell on deaf ears and someone whose identity I have never learned subsequently furnished the audiotapes to Mike Rogers that ended Schrock's career.

In Schrock's case, I feel sorry for his family, particularly his wife who is a gracious woman, but as to Ed personally, he brought the disaster on himself due to his hypocrisy. He knew the risks, actively sought out gay trysts, and did not care, all the while voting for legislation that harmed members of the LGBT community or which denigrated their legal rights as citizens. Former pastor Ted Haggart is another example of someone who preached an anti-gay message, yet sought out gay sex on the sly. The situation of these two men is nothing analogous to the boys outed by their school principal

Wednesday Male Beauty

Possible Clinton Ties to North Carolina "Ro-bo Calls" Targeting Blacks

With North Carolina leaning strongly towards Barack Obama in the upcoming primary, it is distressing to learn that "ro-bo calls" and bogus voter registration packets targeting blacks are being used to disseminate misleading information with an apparent goal of surpressing the black vote. The obvious beneficiary of such an effort which migh reduce the number of blacks voting in the upcoming primary is Hillary Clinton who is proving more and more that she will say and do anything to win no matter how low and disgusting. At the rate she is going, the Chimperator will look principled before it's all over. Who cares if she destroys the Democratic Party - not Hillary. It's all about Hillary and Slick Willie. Facing South has a story that exposes the operatives behind the calls and their possible ties to Hillary Clinton. Do we really want another unsrupulous president after Bush? I don't. Here are some story highlights:

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Who's behind the mysterious "robo-calls" that have spread misleading voter information and sown confusion and frustration among North Carolina residents over the last week?Facing South has confirmed the source of the calls, and the mastermind is Women's Voices Women Vote, a D.C.-based nonprofit which aims to boost voting among "unmarried women voters."What's more, Facing South has learned that the firestorm Women's Voices has ignited in North Carolina isn't the group's first brush with controversy. Women's Voices' questionable tactics have spawned thousands of voter complaints in at least 11 states and brought harsh condemnation from some election officials for their secrecy, misleading nature and likely violations of election law.

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First, a quick recap: As we covered yesterday, N.C. residents have reported receiving peculiar automated calls from someone claiming to be "Lamont Williams." The caller says that a "voter registration packet" is coming in the mail, and the recipient can sign it and mail it back to be registered to vote. No other information is provided.

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The call is deceptive because the deadline has already passed for mail-in registrations for North Carolina's May 6 primary. Also, many who have received the calls -- like Kevin Farmer in Durham, who made a tape of the call that is available here -- are already registered. The call's suggestion that they're not registered has caused widespread confusion and drawn hundreds of complaints, including many from African-American voters who received the calls.

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The calls have been denounced by the N.C. State Board of Elections, as well as by voter advocacy groups including Democracy North Carolina, which called them "another in a long line of deceptive practices used in North Carolina and elsewhere that particularly target African-American voters." Yesterday, I placed a call to the Virginia State Police, which had investigated similar suspicious robo-calls before that Virginia's primaries last February. Their investigation concluded that the source of the calls was Women's Voices Women Vote.

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Some have also questioned the ties between Women's Voices operatives and Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton. Gardner, for example, contributed $2,500 to Clinton's HILLPAC on May 4, 2006, and in March 2005 she donated a total of $4,200 to Clinton, according to The Center for Responsive Politics' OpenSecrets.org. She has not contributed to the Obama campaign, according to the database. Women's Voices Executive Director Joe Goode worked for Bill Clinton's election campaign in 1992 as a pollster; the group's website says he was intimately involved in "development and implementation of all polling and focus groups done for the presidential primary and general election campaigns" for Clinton. Women's Voices board member John Podesta, former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, donated $2,300 to Hillary Clinton on April 19, 2007, according to OpenSecrets.org. Podesta also donated $1,000 to Barack Obama in July 2004, but that was well before Obama announced his candidacy for president.

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Democracy North Carolina's Bob Hall tells Facing South . . . At this moment, our first priority is to stop the robo-calls and prevent the chaos and potential disenfranchisement caused by this group sending 276,000 packets of registration forms into North Carolina a few days before a heated primary election. We need their immediate cooperation."

The Christian Taliban

While much attention has been given to the Chimperator's disastrous foreign policies, particularly the Iraq War that was sold to the American people based on deliberate, calculated lies, too little attention gets focus on the insidious damage that the Bush/Cheney regime has had domestically, especially in the area of replacing true experts with religious nut cases - those who I and others call the "Christian Taliban" - who care nothing for true science or medical knowledge. It is ironic that the USA took military action in Afghanistan to stop Islamic fundamentalist yet at the same time equally fanatical religious kooks were infiltrating the U.S. government. Israel News has a great article that itemizes the damage Bush/Cheney and their Christianist allies have done domestically. It is a shame that the U.S. mainstream media lacks the courage to expose what this corrupt, anti-knowledge regime has done to the country. I urge readers to read the entire article - it is a strong indictment against allowing one extreme religious view and politics to merge. Here are some story highlights:

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During the Taliban rule of Afghanistan the world got a good look at what happens when religious zealots gain control of a government. Television images of women being beaten, forced to wear burkas, and banned from schools and the workplace helped build strong public support for the President's decision to invade Afghanistan in the wake of 9/11. But even as President George W. Bush denounced the brutal Islamic fundamentalist regime in Kabul, he was quietly laying the foundations for his own fundamentalist regime at home. For the first time far right Christian fundamentalists had one of their own in the White House and the opportunity to begin rolling back decades of health and family planning programs they saw as un-Christian, if not downright sinful.

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Since 2001 dozens of far-right Christian fundamentalists have been quietly installed in key positions within the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federal Drug Administration and on commissions and advisory committees where they have made serious progress. Three years later this administration has established one of the most rigid sexual health agendas in the Western world.

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Information became a prime target of the Christian Taliban. President Bush says he respects "good science," when making public policy. But, the crux of the matter apparently hinges on the definition of "good," especially when it comes to family-planning issues. When good science clashes with Biblical fundamentalist beliefs in this administration, science loses every time.

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Early in 2001 Bush's Christian Taliban began scrubbing federal information sources of offending materials. The censorship campaign prompted Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) to send a letter to o HHS Secretary Thompson demanding an explanation for the removal of information from the HHS Web site of scientific findings by the National Cancer Institute that, contrary to anti-choice propaganda, abortions do not increase the risk of breast cancer. Thompson never responded but the "cleansing" continued.

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Good science was disappearing from government publications and Web sites at such a pace that the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report in early 2004 documenting and condemning the Bush administration. So, even as the Bush administration denounced and battled Islamic religious zealotry abroad it was and is nurturing a fundamentalist Christian version here at home, much to the delight of radical right-wing Christians.

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What is remarkable is that this was accomplished without significant public outcry. The reason is that America's Christian Taliban are more public relations savvy than their Islamic counterparts. No American women are being forced to cover up, beaten for appearing in public wearing make up, or barred from the workplace. The changes being made are more subtle and less visibly shocking. They are incremental, technical, administrative -- but far-reaching.

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We need to reconnect with a fundamental ingredient of America's strength: the separation of church and state. That wall of separation has for over two centuries spared Americans ftom the kind of religious strife witnessed in Bosnia, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Afghanistan. Mixing religious dogma and public policy always creates an explosive compound -- and it always blows.

Final Tuesday Male Beauty

Australia Readying Matching Rights for Gay Couples

While it seems to have its share of Christianists, Australia is on the move to join modern, progressive nations that grant equal rights to all citizens. Meanwhile, the USA falls further and further behind the mainstream of modern democracies with the Chimperator's regime still at the helm. While the planned legislation will not grant Australian gays equal marriage rights, it will remove inequalities in 100 areas of the law. It certainly beats the status of gays here in backwards Virginia. Here are some highlights from coverage by the Sydney Morning Herald:

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THE long battle by gay and lesbian partners for the same legal and financial rights as de facto heterosexual couples is about to end, with the Rudd Government planning to remove inequalities in 100 areas of the law. The federal Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, will announce today that the necessary legislation will be introduced when Parliament resumes next month for the winter sittings.

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The measures do not amount to gay marriage; they afford gay couples the same treatment as heterosexual de facto couples in areas such as tax, superannuation sharing and social security. The issue came to a head last year when the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission found discrimination existed in 58 areas of financial and work-related laws.

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Upon Labor winning government, Mr McClelland instituted his own review of Commonwealth laws which found inequities in 100 areas, many more than uncovered by the commission's report. Mr McClelland said all would be redressed. As well as tax, superannuation and social security, other areas to be reformed include health, aged care, veterans' entitlements, workers' compensation, employment and entitlements.

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"They will make a practical difference to the everyday lives of a group of our fellow Australians who have suffered discriminations under Commonwealth laws for far too long." All the changes would be operational by the middle of next year; most will begin as soon as legislation is passed. The Australian Democrats have long supported the reforms and there will be no problem with the laws passing the Senate before July 1. Mr McClelland said children of gay couples would not be disadvantaged by the changes.

Principal Outs Gay Student Couple

In yet another example of a public school administrator who needs to be fired, 365gay.com is reporting that the principal at Hollis F. Price Middle College High in Memphis, Tennessee outed one or more gay couples in her quest to impose her religious beliefs on all students (contact information is set out below). Previously, the principal had stated that she wanted the names of all student couples, “hetero and homo,” because she wanted to monitor them personally to prevent students from engaging in public displays of affection. These are not deadbeat students. In fact, on it's web site, Hollis F. Price Middle College High states "We believe that every member of our learning community has value and worth and has the right to be respected" (apparently unless you are gay) and describes itself as follows:

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Hollis F. Price Middle College High is for students who may be underrepresented in a traditional setting, but have the academic potential and are willing to accept the challenges of a rigorous high school and college curriculum. Students will have full academic schedules consisting of high school and college courses. It is a “school of opportunities” for students who would like to take advantage of a dual enrollment program in a small nurturing academic environment. Financial and other barriers to college are removed.

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Here are highlights from 365gay.com's coverage:

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(Memphis, Tennessee) A public high school principal who posted the names of two boys on a list of students believed to be couples, revealing their relationship to their parents as well as other students and teachers, violated the students’ constitutional right to freedom of association, the American Civil Liberties Union charged Tuesday.

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The two students now represented by the ACLU, Andrew and Nicholas (who have asked that their last names not be revealed), were two A students who had been seeing each other for a short time and were attempting to keep their relationship quiet and private. Although the boys had never been observed by any school staff engaging in any sort of display of affection, the principal called Nicholas’s mother Nichole. According to Nichole, the principal said things like “Did you know your son is gay?” repeatedly and went on to say that she didn’t like gay people and wouldn’t tolerate homosexuality at her school. Both students say they’ve had to deal with verbal harassment from both teachers and students since word got out around the school about their principal’s actions.

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“We never bothered anyone or did a single thing at school that broke any of the rules,” said Nicholas, a junior and honor student. “Every day I feel like they’re still punishing me, and I’m worried that this is going to hurt my chances to get into a good college.”*

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“The principal’s outing of these two students to their families, classmates, and teachers is unacceptable. Its only purpose was to intimidate not only these students but all gay students at Hollis Price,” said Hedy Weinberg, Executive Director at the ACLU of Tennessee. “Educators should be focused on educating their students and not on harassing them because of their sexual orientation or the people with whom they associate.”

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For those readers inclined to let the principal what they think of her bigotry, contact information is as follows: Phone: 901.435.1765; Fax: 901.435.1779; e-mail: beasleyd@mcsk12.net

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The Interim Superintendant for the Memphis School syaytem can be reached here: Dan Ward 2597 Avery, Room 214, Memphis, TN 38112; Phone: (901) 416-5300; Fax: (901) 416-5578; e-mail: superintendentward@mcsk12.net

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Gene Robinson: 'It is a sin to treat me this way'

In sharp contrast to the insufferable Cardinal Egan who I discussed in a prior post, there is Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson who has never enabled sexual predators or covered up their crimes against minors but whose homosexuality has split the Anglican Church. It certainly makes one question the values and priorities of "Godly Christians" in both churches that Egan continues to have Kool-Aid drinkers kissing his wide ass while Robinson continues to catch Hell from many directions and receives threats of physical violence aginst him - naturally from good Christians. In the UK's Daily Telegraph, Robinson recently shared his views and feelings on the treatment he has received. I applaud his motives, especially his feeling that he has an obligation to provide a role model for the younger generations of gays. Having watched the movie, For the Bible Tells Me So, Robinson has an amazing witness that more alleged Christians need to know about. Here are some interview highlights (note the reference to Archbishop Peter Akinola who may have been involved in the massacre of hundreds of Muslims):

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The storm is set to intensify in July when the world's Anglican bishops meet for their once-a-decade gathering at Lambeth Palace and debate what to do about the "problem" of Bishop Robinson. However, when the host, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, sent out invitations to the Lambeth Conference, Gene Robinson's was the one name missing from the list. It was, Robinson believes, an "unstrategic" attempt to appease the conservative Anglican primates from Africa, Asia and Latin America, led by Archbishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria, who have described the installation of a gay bishop as the work of Satan.

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Robinson is in London to promote his new book, In The Eye of the Storm. It is a spiritual memoir aimed, he says, at showing that he is more than "a one issue guy". The last of its five sections, however, sets a course for the Lambeth Conference and beyond. It is, in one way, Robinson having his say, even though he's not going to be at the event itself. He won't, as many Anglicans seem to hope, be allowing the whole issue to go away. It is in this refusal to be silent that I finally begin to see in this otherwise gentle and genial prelate that flash of steely resolve that drives all implacable dissenters forward.

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Jesus never says anything about homosexuality," he says, the light tone in his nasal voice suddenly darkening, "but he says a lot about treating every person with dignity and respect. All the biblical appeals for a particular attitude to homosexuality can never quote Jesus." What, though, of Old Testament condemnations of "men who lay with men"? "The Church isn't the same yesterday, today and tomorrow," he says. "Only God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The Church has always been changing. The Holy Spirit is leading us into truth. And I believe we have learnt that about people of colour, about women, about those who are disabled and now about lesbian and gay people."

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"Occasionally I don't like the probing and the questioning. But I put up with it because I grew up in a time when there were no role models. "To be gay and lesbian was to be a failure. The good gay people killed themselves. And the others were drug addicts and bums. There was no possibility for a life of integrity or respect. So I feel called to be as open as I can be about my life so that young lesbians and gay men will understand that they can have wonderful relationships, be mothers and fathers and make a real distinction for themselves in their careers. I owe it to those who come after me."

Cardinal Hypocrisy

The hypocrisy and self-importance of members of the Roman Catholic Church hierarcy is nearly insufferable at times. A case in point is Cardinal Egan of New York, who made a public statement that former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani should not have received holy communion during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI because Mr. Giuliani supports abortion rights. While I am not a fan of Mr. Giuliani, the hypocrisy of Egan who has anything but clean hands in the Church's sex abuse scandal is over the top. In fact, a case can be made that if Egan had any integrity and decency (which in my view he doesn't), he should have resigned from high Church office many years ago. Not only was Egan one of Cardinal Law's lieutenants in Boston, but he had his own dirty laundry as Bishop of Bridgeport, Connecticut. Arguably but for statute of limitations obstacles, Egan should have faced criminal prosecution himself. The man truly has no shame and is morally bankrupt, like most of the Church hierarchy. Here's what Egan said about Giuliani per today's New York Times:

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Cardinal Egan, head of the Archdiocese of New York, said in a statement that he and Mr. Giuliani had reached “an understanding” when he became archbishop in 2000 that Mr. Giuliani “was not to receive the eucharist because of his well-known support of abortion.” “I deeply regret that Mr. Giuliani received the eucharist during the papal visit here in New York,” the cardinal said. He said he would like to meet with Mr. Giuliani “to insist that he abide by our understanding” about not receiving communion.

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Now here is what SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has previously reported on the sanctimonious Cardinal Egan back in 2002:

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NEW YORK, May 10 -- Cardinal Edward Egan of New York testified five years ago that he encouraged a priest to continue working and offered to write him a letter of recommendation even though he knew the priest was an admitted sexual abuser. Egan, who was bishop of the Bridgeport (Conn.) Diocese at the time, also testified that diocesan priests were "self-employed" and not the bishop's responsibility. And he said that he would not summarily suspend a priest, even in the face of shocking allegations of sexual abuse.

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Egan gave his videotaped testimony -- a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Post -- in a 1997 lawsuit brought against the diocese by Frank Martinelli. Martinelli testified then that a priest named Laurence Brett had sexually assaulted him three times as a teenager in 1962 and 1963, including biting him during oral sex. The lawsuit ended with a secret monetary settlement.

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Martinelli's attorney asked Egan if he would suspend any priest who was discovered to have sexually assaulted a minor. "I would have to know the complete circumstances," Egan replied. The lawyer then laid out a hypothetical case with a fact pattern identical to the Martinelli case. (By this time, Egan was aware of church files showing that Brett had admitted assaulting Martinelli.)

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What if this priest was a teacher, the lawyer asked, and sexually assaulted a student and bit the student's penis? "That would be sufficient cause [for suspension], I'm sure, in many bishops' minds," Egan responded. Would it be sufficient cause in your mind? "I would have to know all of the details," Egan replied. "The suggestion is so strange I would want to know more about it."

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Egan has never directly acknowledged any missteps in Bridgeport or elsewhere. In a recent pastoral letter, he wrote that he "consistently sought and acted upon the best independent advice available to me from medical experts."

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The problem with Egan's claim of reliance on the advice of medical experts is that there is evidence that he and other members of the upper hierarchy MIS-LEAD the medical experts. Lies going in, bad advice coming out. Here are some highlights from a 2002 New York Times article:

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In an article yesterday in The Hartford Courant, Dr. Harold I. Schwartz, chief of psychiatry at the Institute of Living, a Hartford mental hospital that has treated scores of priests, said that church officials apparently withheld information about priests referred for treatment after allegations of sexual abuse, including information about earlier complaints of sex abuse. In the article, Dr. Schwartz also said that medical evaluations ''were misconstrued in order to return priests to ministry.'' Dr. Schwartz referred inquiries yesterday to Lee Monroe, a spokeswoman for the Institute of Living, who said that Dr. Schwartz and other institute officials were standing by remarks in The Courant.

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Questions about Cardinal Egan's handling of sexual abuse cases while he was bishop of Bridgeport from 1988 to 2000 arose after The Courant published excerpts of numerous previously sealed court documents related to lawsuits brought against eight priests who were accused of sexual abuse. The documents suggested that Cardinal Egan allowed several priests who were repeatedly accused of abusing minors to continue working and indicated that the cases were never referred to law enforcement officials.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Hillary Clinton's Silence Condones Gay Bashing

I will be most candid - I do not like Hillary Clinton or her sleazy husband and I am liking her less and less with every passing day. Her latest insult to the LGBT community - besides her near inability to utter the words "gay" or "lesbian" without choking - is her silence as North Carolina Governor Easley maked a disparaging remarks using the word "pansy." A number of bloggers have taken Hillary to task on this, but perhaps the most biting comments I have seen so far are from John Aravosis at America Blog who had this to say about Hillary's increasing phony and cynical campaign stunts. Those in the LGBT community who continue to blindly - and in my view foolishly - support Hillary need to get their heads out of the sand and wake up to the fact that LGBT voters mean absolutely nothing to her except a source of much needed funds and possible votes. It's all about her and Bill and their sense of entitlement to whatever they want. Here are highlights from John's comments:

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Pansy? Standing next to Clinton, her top surrogate in North Carolina actually used the word "pansy" this morning.

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After touring a bio-manufacturing training center, Gov. Easley, First Lady of North Carolina Mary Easley and Clinton held a ceremony at NC State University. The Governor formally expressed his support saying that there was "nothing I love more than a strong powerful woman." Easley concluded his remarks saying Clinton -- "makes Rocky Balboa look like a pansy".

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In case anyone has been living under a rock, pansy is slang for "fag." Pan·sy:

a. Used as a disparaging term for a man or boy who is considered effeminate.

b. Used as a disparaging term for a homosexual man.

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Now why would Hillary embrace gay-bashing to help her campaign? Well, putting aside the Clintons' history of embracing gay-bashing when it suited them, take a look at what Ben Smith wrote this morning:

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Easley is a meaningful ally in the culture war she's waging against Senator Barack Obama, as she seeks to cast him as a hopelessly unelectable liberal elitist...

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Oh, so Hillary has launched a "culture war" against Obama. And what are the three elements of the culture wars? God, guns, and gays. Hillary already pulled the God and gun card on Obama in Pennsylvania, where she couldn't even say when she last went to church, and then claimed she was a hunter after a lifetime as one of America's top gun control advocates. And now she's gay-bashing. And actually, she started subtly gay-bashing a while back. Remember all of her "San Francisco" references? Then there was her top aides calling Obama supporters "latte sippers who only care about "feelings" (i.e., they're a bit effeminate and effete). (Then again, look who's advising her.)

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It's ironic. Hillary is afraid to use the word "gay," and gets visibly uncomfortable when answering questions about gay issues. But using slurs for "fag"" doesn't bother her in the least. Hillary and her people will say anything to get elected.

Tornado Strikes Nearby

Thank you to those of you who called or sent messages inquiring about my safety after hearing of the tornado strike in Suffolk, Virginia, which is located about 25 miles to the west of downtown Norfolk and is considered a part of the metropolitan area. I am fine and Norfolk saw little damage and only experienced heavy rains. Suffolk was not so lucky - as the photo above indicates - and at the moment we are waiting to hear whether a home we did a closing on yesterday afternoon suffered damage or not. Unofficial reports are that the house was not damaged.

UPDATE: 145 homes in Suffolk have been condemned and many others have damage. This truly is not a normal event in this area.

More Monday Male Beauty

Russian Gays to Stage ‘Day of Silence’

It is amazing how something that began as a class project at my Alma Mater, the University of Virginia, has grown. Not only was the National Day of Silence last week observed by many in the USA, but now the concept is being utilized in Russia. In response to the government banning a gay pride parade on May Day, members of the LGBT community in St. Petersburg plan a day of silence to bring attention to the plight of gays in Russia. Moreover, Russia is a member of the Council of Europe and a signatory to the European Convention of Human Rights, which obligates Russia to observe the rights to peaceful assembly and demonstrations. Thus, A complaint has been filed in the European Court in Strasbourg. UK Gay News has some coverage on the "Day of Silence" that can be found here. Here are some highlights:

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ST. PETERSBURG, April 26,2007 – Gay men and women in St. Petersburg will be marking the first-ever Russian Day of Silence on Saturday May 3 with a rally on Malaya Konyushennaya Street. Participants at the rally, which is sub-titled “Sometimes to be heard you have to be silent” will have their mouths taped as they hand-out flyers and other promotional material to passers-by without comment, a spokesperson for the organisers said.

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The Day of Silence in Russia is an action targeted at the general population and intended to draw people’s attention to the problems of silencing hate crimes, discrimination, and intolerance. “It is an opportunity to demonstrate that these problems concern not "other" people somewhere else, but us directly – our families, our loved ones, our friends,” the spokesperson said.

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“These issues are no less relevant to modern Russia than they are to the Western nations. In recent years, the number of hate crimes based on ethnicity or religion has been growing. Next month’s Russian Day of Silence will be dedicated to the problems of discrimination and intolerance towards LGBT, as well as ethnic, religious, and other minorities.

Monday Male Beauty

Dedicated to Don Wildmon and AFA - a lying homophobe and fraudulent organization

How Democracy and Freedom Are Lost

I was watching part of the Star Wars saga last night and there was a scene where the Senate of the Republic votes extraordinary powers to the Chancellor and a comment is made by one of the characters on how democracy dies to the sound of applause. At the time the movie was released there was some commentary that the scene was George Lucas's comment on the Chimperator's regime. If it was, it was an accurate statement as one of Andrew Sullivan's posts today underscored in my opinion. Since 9/11, so much freedom has been lost in this country and the moral standing of the USA has been destroyed and discredited by a regime that lies - pretty much to everyone, both citizens and foreign governments - and now approves torture and conduct that place former Nazis on trial for war crimes. Yet far too many Americans seem to have noticed or, worse yet even cared. It is a very, very sad state of affairs. I am both ashamed of my country and sad that this regime has reduced it so low. Here are some highlights from Andrew's post:

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The manner in which free societies lose their moral compass is always incremental. Step by step by step, certain core values are whittled away. There is rarely a moment at which a government stands up, and asks its people if they wish to abandon such "quaint" notions as the Geneva Conventions, the rule of law, humane interrogation or habeas corpus. These things are abandoned incrementally or secretly, slice by slice, euphemism by euphemism, the chronology always clearer in retrospect than at the time. And each incremental step is always portrayed as a small but essential temporary sacrifice for the sake of security in a time of great and imminent peril.

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We now know, moreover, the following undisputed facts: the president of the United States and his closest advisers devised, orchestrated and monitored interrogation methods banned by the Geneva Conventions at Guantanamo Bay and subsequently in every theater of combat; these techniques were used not only in the extra-legal no-man's land of Guantanamo Bay but also at the prison at Abu Ghraib where photographic evidence of many of the actual techniques explicitly authorized by the president - stress positions, hoods, mock-executions, etc. - was incontrovertible.

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We have also discovered that the president is still insisting that he has the power to violate Geneva at will on a case-by-case basis, rendering the rule of law moot and the Constitution toothless. . . . We no longer have torture as an extreme last resort in the face of a ticking time-bomb; we have authorized it simply "to prevent a threatened terrorist attack." That means any time anywhere by anyone authorized by the government after 9/11, no? And if a foreign government were to use such a standard? What do we say then?

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We also know that the torture and interrogation camp at Guantanamo Bay has become for many of its inmates the functional equivalent of a lunatic asylum. It is not very hard to see why. If you were not crazy before you got there, it will not take long for the abuse and isolation and total hopelessness of the place to get into your head. No one locked up in these conditions has been tried or convicted of anything. . . . These things are continuing for all we know. This is what the United States has become. To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.