Final Saturday Male Beauty

The Real Cost of Abstinence-Only Sex Education

In light of John McSenile's selection of Christianist high priestess, Alaska Governor Sarah Plain, as his running mate, a new column in the New York Times is most timely. Since Palin and the Kool-Aid drinking base of the Republican Party believe in abstinence-only education - which is in keeping with their mindset of believing that merely not mentioning something will make it go away - it is important to look at the true cost of these religion based programs in terms of their ineffectiveness not to mention the millions of dollars being wasted. The statistics are appalling (click the chart above for a larger copy) and truly make all Americans look like a bunch of moronic idiots. This sad statistics are yet one more product of the failed Bush/Cheney regime which has put religious views before science time and time again. It is truly time that rational adults retake control of this country and banish the religious zealots back to the wilderness. Here are some column high lights:
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Sarah Palin has a pregnant teenager. And, she’s not alone. According to a report published in 2007, there are more than 400,000 other American girls in the same predicament. In fact, a 2001 Unicef report said that the United States teenage birthrate was higher than any other member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The U.S. tied Hungary for the most abortions. This was in spite of the fact that girls in the U.S. were not the most sexually active. Denmark held that title. But, its teenage birthrate was one-sixth of ours, and its teenage abortion rate was half of ours.

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If there is a shame here, it’s a national shame — a failure of our puritanical society to accept and deal with the facts. Teenagers have sex. How often and how safely depends on how much knowledge and support they have. Crossing our fingers that they won’t cross the line is not an intelligent strategy.

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Parents don’t like it either. According to a 2004 survey sponsored by NPR, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, 65 percent of parents of high school students said that federal money “should be used to fund more comprehensive sex education programs that include information on how to obtain and use condoms and other contraceptives.”

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We need to take some bold steps beyond the borders of our moralizing and discomfort and create a sex education infrastructure that actually acknowledges reality and protects our children from unwanted pregnancies, or worse.

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“International evidence suggests that high-quality sex and relationship education that puts sex in its proper context, that starts early enough to make a difference and that gives youngsters the confidence and ability to make well-informed decisions helps young people delay their first sexual experience and leads to lower teenage pregnancy levels.”

Delicate Sensibilities - Update

Last month I did a post about how this blog - especially the male beauty photos - offends the delicate sensibilities of some members of the Equality Virginia Legends Gala Committee and Hampton Roads Business OutReach. No doubt, the last male beauty photo post will leave them with the vapors. While it was tedious, I have now deleted several dozen posts that directly promoted HRBOR and/or the 2008 Legends Gala. I will never again promote either organization directly on this blog. However, some posts remain that mention them since the posts talk about my personal activities, including attendance at events, etc. This is after all a PERSONAL blog where I talk about my life and views.

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To me the ultimate irony of situation is that the Legends Gala's purpose (in addition to raising money for EV) is to honor LGBT and LGBT friendly citizens of the Hampton Roads community who have done the right thing or refused to deny who they are even though doing so ran against the sensibilities of significant anti-gay elements in the area. I can only assume that the complaining individuals have not fully over come the self-loathing inculcated into them by the very bigots the honorees of the event have refused to bow down to. I make no apologies about who I am or my sexual orientation. I am way past being fearful of what haters, bigots and fundamental religious fanatics think about me.

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I intend to remain involved in HRBOR - God knows this area needs something to make the business community more progressive - and will complete my duties vis-a-vis the 2008 Legends Gala. After the event in November, however, I am leaning towards washing my hands of the future Legends Galas. Why work to put on an event when host committee members lack the guts of the honorees being honored. It's just a bit too much hypocrisy for me to stomach.

More Saturday Male Beauty

Today's GOP: Running From Reality

As a former Republican (and now ardent Democrat, as are all the members of my extended family who have likewise fled the GOP), I am disgusted with what the Party has become and how patently dishonest the Party has become. The first principle of the Party seems to be that of NEVER TELL THE TRUTH and like naughty children pretend someone else created the mess and is responsible for discovered misdeeds. The ultimate question in the November elections is whether or not enough Americans are stupid - yes, I said stupid - enough to buy the bull shit being spun by the GOP. Listening to MSNBC as I am blogging, I am near nauseated by the GOP talking heads making statements they know are down right untrue. They claim to be the Party of God, yet constantly disregard the Commandment against lying and bearing false witness. Bob Herbert at the New York Times has a column today that looks at this phenomenon. Here are some highlights:

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If there was one pre-eminent characteristic of the Republican convention this week, it was the quality of deception. Words completely lost their meaning. Reality was turned upside down. From the faux populist gibberish mouthed by speaker after speaker, you would never have known that the Republicans have been in power over the past several years and used that titanic power to lead the country to its present sorry state.

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If there were any good ideas at this convention of mostly rich and mostly right-wing delegates about how to haul the country out of this mess that the G.O.P. has gotten it into, they were kept well hidden. Perhaps they were tucked away behind the more prominently displayed creationism and “just-say-no to global warming” documents.

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It stretches the mind almost to the breaking point to think of John McCain as an agent of substantive change. He once believed that Phil Gramm was the most qualified person in the United States to be president. And he now believes that Sarah Palin is the most qualified to be vice president. That is not the fault of Mr. Gramm or Ms. Palin. But it sure tells us a lot about the judgment of John McCain.

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For most voters, the No. 1 issue in this campaign is the financial struggle facing working families that are trying to cope with job losses, declining wages, the high cost of health care, home foreclosures, bankruptcies and the like. To a great extent these problems are the result of national policies, forged under Republican rule, that overwhelmingly favored the interests of the very wealthy over working people.

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Senator McCain’s economic guru through all of this was Mr. Gramm, a former Republican senator from Texas and chairman of the banking committee. . . . Phil Gramm was one of the lead architects of the breathtakingly irresponsible policies (No more restraints! No more regulation!) that led to the subprime mortgage meltdown and the current credit disaster.

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To Senator McCain’s great embarrassment, Mr. Gramm dismissed the economic downturn as a “mental recession” and complained that the U.S. had become a “nation of whiners.” That may have been a political no-no, but it was an accurate expression of the slavish devotion of the G.O.P. to the rich and powerful among us, and of the party’s contempt for the interests of working families and the poor. Senator McCain, it should be noted, fully shared Mr. Gramm’s anti-regulatory zeal.

Love, Friendship and the Voting Booth

The Washington Blade has a column which, while aimed at the November elections in the USA, in its larger principles is applicable to every elections worldwide. Namely, LGBT citizens need to get the message across to friends and family that merely being accepting of us in our personal lives (not to diminish the importance of this acceptance) is NOT enough. To be truly gay friendly needs to carry over to the voting booth and ballot box. Politicians and political parties like John McCain and today's Republican Party need to feel the multiplied negative impact of their anti-gay agenda that LGBT citizens and their friends/family members voting as a block can deliver. If friends and loved ones truly want the LGBT friend or loved one happy, they need to STOP voting for those who seek to harm us or keep us second class citizens. Here are some column highlights:

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IT IS HARD to imagine an election more important to the future of our community than the one we face in November. That is why we must do all that we can to prevent our families and friends from voting for candidates who oppose our equality. They must be made to understand that how they vote affects our lives in the most fundamental ways possible; that when they vote for homophobes, they damage our shared bonds of love, trust and friendship.

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While they may be unaware of their candidates’ positions on these most basic human rights issues and are supporting them for completely unrelated reasons, they are nevertheless complicit in a political struggle that seeks to deny us our full equality. Those who see themselves as our friends and yet vote for opponents of our equality need to understand that friends treat each other with respect and dignity, and as equals. They need to know this is not an act of friendship and certainly not one of love. The same is true for family members.

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Friends tell me about their Bush/McCain-supporting Republican parents, but go on to say how accepting they are of them. When I ask how that is possible, how loving parents could support someone who wants to hurt their child, I get a blank look or a glib comment about how “that’s just the way they are.” It isn’t the way they are — they just don’t know any better and it is our job to teach them.

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Sometimes I hear (and sadly, this often comes from gay people) “they aren’t single issue voters and consider many issues when deciding how to vote.” What does it say about our sense of self worth when we accept from our parents the explanation that taxes are more important than our dignity, safety and equality? Why are we are so reluctant to challenge them when their behavior so adversely affects our lives? Ending our silence is the only way to educate the people we cherish most that our equality is important and that it requires respect. Love and friendship demand nothing less.

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If we fail to put a friend in the White House, if we fail to elect a more gay-friendly Congress, if we allow the far right to select the next Supreme Court justices, our long battle for equality will be stalled for decades. This threat is horrifyingly real.

Saturday Male Beauty

Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message

Gloria Steinem had a op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times that looks at why women should NOT be duped into voting for the McSenile/Palin ticket. If I were an intelligent woman, I suspect that I'd feel insulted and outraged that the Republican Party/John McSenile believe that I'm so stupid that I will be influenced by Palin's gender rather than what her positions are on important issues. The basic message of the Christianist element of the GOP is that women are expected to be at home, barefoot, pregnant and subservient to men - unless they are out bashing gays and working to impose Christianist religious beliefs on all citizens (think Beverly LaHaye, Phyllis Schlafly, and in Virginia, The Family Foundation's Victoria Cobb, who do not practice what they preach to other women). As the father of two highly intelligent and talented daughters I am all for women having equality with men. I am NOT for the Christo-fascist idea of women's rights. Here are highlights from Steinem's column:

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Here's the good news: Women have become so politically powerful that even the anti-feminist right wing -- the folks with a headlock on the Republican Party -- are trying to appease the gender gap with a first-ever female vice president.

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But here is even better news: It won't work. This isn't the first time a boss has picked an unqualified woman just because she agrees with him and opposes everything most other women want and need. Feminism has never been about getting a job for one woman. It's about making life more fair for women everywhere.

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Selecting Sarah Palin, who was touted all summer by Rush Limbaugh, is no way to attract most women, including die-hard Clinton supporters. Palin shares nothing but a chromosome with Clinton. Her down-home, divisive and deceptive speech did nothing to cosmeticize a Republican convention that has more than twice as many male delegates as female, a presidential candidate who is owned and operated by the right wing and a platform that opposes pretty much everything Clinton's candidacy stood for -- and that Barack Obama's still does. To vote in protest for McCain/Palin would be like saying, "Somebody stole my shoes, so I'll amputate my legs."

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This is not to beat up on Palin. I defend her right to be wrong, even on issues that matter most to me. . . . McCain is following the Bush administration habit, as in the Justice Department, of putting a job candidate's views on "God, guns and gays" ahead of competence. The difference is that McCain is filling a job one 72-year-old heartbeat away from the presidency.

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So let's be clear: The culprit is John McCain. He may have chosen Palin out of change-envy, or a belief that women can't tell the difference between form and content, but the main motive was to please right-wing ideologues; . . . Palin's value to those patriarchs is clear: She opposes just about every issue that women support by a majority or plurality. She believes that creationism should be taught in public schools but disbelieves global warming; she opposes gun control but supports government control of women's wombs; she opposes stem cell research but approves "abstinence-only" programs.

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So far, the major new McCain supporter that Palin has attracted is James Dobson of Focus on the Family. Of course, for Dobson, "women are merely waiting for their husbands to assume leadership," so he may be voting for Palin's husband. . . . A loss in November could cause the centrist majority of Republicans to take back their party, which was the first to support the Equal Rights Amendment and should be the last to want to invite government into the wombs of women.

Hanna Update

UPDATE: So far so good - the only excitement at my house has been a power surge that apparently "fried" one of my air-conditioning window units not withstanding a surge protector and temporarily knocked out my Internet access. Unlike 20,000+ customers, I at least still have power.

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As the metro radar image at left shows, the rains have arrived from Tropical Storm Hanna and the winds are likewise building. Looking at the Virginia Beach surf cams on Surfline (it takes the cam a few moments to go live), the ocean is a mass of white water and what surfers often describe as a "washing machine." Virginia Beach will receive the strongest winds at Oceanfront and Norfolk's main worry will be flooding as Hanna passes directly by later in the day around high tide.

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The worse rain should arrive in a few hours. Between high tide and the surge of water pushed into the mouth of Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads harbor (which backs up the city storm drains), the rain water will have nowhere to go. Parts of Ghent may look like a lake before the day is out. Given the predicted level of the storm surge, my boyfriend's beautiful home should be fine. He had very extensive damage when Hurricane Isabel pass through in September, 2003.

Final Friday Male Beauty

Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae Take Over Looms

UPDATED: As Joe Sudbuy at America Blog notes, the plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in essense constitutes a nationalization of the the secondary mortgage market and isn't it interesting that the plan was announce one day after the last day of the Republican Convention. Or am I too cynical? Here's what Joe said:

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Who would have guessed that Bush was such a fan of euro-socialism? Technically they are saying the two are in "conservatorship" and not "receivership" though as usual, this is mostly parsing to help prevent Bush being associated with the word "nationalize." What an amazing coincidence of timing we saw last night as Bush stepped in after the GOP convention was finished and the weekend was starting for most Americans. It should come as no surprise that McCain and Palin avoided any talk of the economy, because that might be of interest to Americans (and the world, I might add) as we work through the second half of the trillion dollar plus credit crisis. . . . Americans have been on a thirty-plus year decline in real purchasing power and sooner or later, that has to be addressed. It is not sustainable to live on credit as individuals or as a country.

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Both the New York Times and Washington Post are reporting that the federal government is about to take over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and place them in conservatorship status. In short, the federal government is being forced to use taxpayer dollars to clean up the mess crated by the Bush/Cheney economic policies which John McCain is poised to continue. Before it is over, the cost of these takeovers to taxpayers will be immense. Losses to investors, including mutual funds and pension funds will likewise be huge. It is mind numbing to me that given the utter disaster the U.S. economy is turning into that anyone rational would be supporting the McCain/Palin ticket. Oh, but I forget - the Christianist base of the GOP is patently NOT rational.

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It is very important to remember that the insanely bad loans that helped launch the real estate market melt down were made back PRIOR TO the Democrats' takeover of control of Congress in January, 2007. Thus, try as they might to blame the debacle on Congress or the Democrats, the Republicans and Bush/Cheney/McCain own this disaster. Worse yet, McCain still doesn't get it in terms of what is happening in the economy or to regular Americans. Why would he when Cindy McCain can wear a $300,000 outfit and jewels for a single evening. Here are some highlights for the New York Times:

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WASHINGTON — Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.

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The plan, which would place the companies into a conservatorship, was outlined in separate meetings with the chief executives at the office of the companies’ new regulator. The executives were told that, under the plan, they and their boards would be replaced and shareholders would be virtually wiped out, but that the companies would be able to continue functioning with the government generally standing behind their debt, people briefed on the discussions said.

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It is not possible to calculate the cost of any government bailout, but the huge potential liabilities of the companies could cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars and make any rescue among the largest in the nation’s history. Under a conservatorship, the common and preferred shares of Fannie and Freddie would be reduced to little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee could be paid by taxpayers. A conservatorship would operate much like a pre-packaged bankruptcy, similar to what smaller companies use to clean up their books and then emerge with stronger balance sheets.

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In issuing their quarterly financial statements last month, the two companies reported huge losses and predicted that home prices would fall more than previously projected. The debt securities the companies issue to finance their operations are widely owned by mutual funds, pension funds, foreign governments and big companies.

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After stock markets closed on Friday, the shares of Fannie and Freddie plummeted. Fannie was trading around $5.50, down from $70 a year ago. Freddie was trading at about $4, down from about $65 a year ago. With Fannie and Freddie guaranteeing about $5 trillion in mortgage-backed securities, and a big share of those securities held by central banks and investors around the world, Mr. Paulson appears to have decided that the stakes are too high to take any chances.

The Ongoing Epidemic of Gay Teen Suicide

Victoria Brownworth has a very moving and thought provoking - and lengthy - article on 365gay.com about gay suicide, particularly gay teen suicide. As I have said before, I hold hate-filled social conservatives and Christianists in this country, including the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church and Southern Baptist Convention, responsible as the moving forces driving gay teens to suicide literally on a daily basis. All because these religious fanatics are so bigoted and fearful of independent thought and recognition of medical and mental health advances that they cannot tolerate those who are different. Worse yet, in my opinion, they frankly do not give a damn about the lives destroy or the amount of misery and suffering they inflict. To be blunt, I find these folks nothing short of evil. Yes, I concede that this is a highly emotional topic for me because (as long time readers know) I lost a friend to suicide and a former boyfriend's brother killed himself because they could not deal with being gay. Even closer to home, I had my own nearly successful brush with suicide. So much misery, so much suffering, so many needlessly lost lives - and all of it unnecessary. Here are some highlights from 365gay.com:

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Eastern Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute in Philadelphia – EPPI - used to be the place where teenagers who attempted suicide ended up. . . . For a time it seemed like every lesbian who ever attended my all-girl’s high school ended up attempting suicide and taking a short trip to EPPI because of it.

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Lesbian and gay teens today needn’t feel the hopelessness or fear that the LGBT youth of my generation felt. Or do they? The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services puts the annual rate of suicide in the U.S. at between 35,000 and 40,000 per year. Of than number, almost 20 percent are teenagers between the ages of 12 and 18. According to HHS, suicide is the second leading cause of death among teenagers in the U.S.

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Psychological autopsies – that is, examination of a person’s psychological state in the time leading up to their death – show an alarming 30 percent of LGBT youth among these dead teens. And psychologists believe that number, too, may also be much higher than actually noted in the statistics, as queer teens are most likely to have the true cause of their death and their sexual identity hidden by family members.

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Yet if even the most basic numbers on LGBT teen suicide are accurate, the statistics are stunning and their ramifications shocking. LGBT teens are considering suicide at an alarming rate, attempting it more often than their heterosexual peers and are, sadly, succeeding in those attempts more and more often.

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Many LGBT teens who feel suicide is their only option have inevitably been bullied to death. . . .New forms of bullying – online and in public forums like MySpace and Facebook – have meant that there are no safe peer-group places for LGBT teens who are feeling threatened.

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Lisa Allen* was 16-years-old and a student at Central High School when she tried to kill herself. “Now, of course, I see I was lucky,” she admits. “I wanted to die then, but I am glad I didn’t now. But if Toni hadn’t found me, I wouldn’t have made it.” Lisa Allen is indeed one of the lucky ones. Bobby Griffith was not so lucky.

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Mary Griffith’s grief and remorse after her son’s suicide – he did a back-flip off an overpass into the path of an 18-wheeler and was killed instantly – led her to talk about her experience and her son’s tragic death. In *Prayers for Bobby: A Mother’s Coming to Terms with the Suicide of Her Gay Son,* Griffith talks at length about how her religious beliefs and those she inculcated into Bobby led inexorably to such self-hatred that suicide seemed the only answer to him.

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Penn State University psychologist Anthony D’Augelli studied hundreds of gay and lesbian teens in 14 cities, including Philadelphia. He says their rate of suicide attempts is more than double the average of heterosexual teens. In an interview, D’Augelli said, “In the studies we’ve done, the numbers get up to 30 percent, 40 percent.” That means LGBT teens are between 30 and 40 percent more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual peers.

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That’s how Belinda Cummings* felt – as if she could not go on. And didn’t want to. . . . I couldn’t be going to church and feeling like I could overcome it all and then the minute I was at school and seeing other girls–and especially the ones I had crushes on–I felt all messed up again. It was just too much. I have to say, when I cut my wrists open that day and the blood started to spurt out, I felt like I had done the right thing.”

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What’s more, conservative and anti-gay groups have focused attention on teens, denying that any teen has a true gay identity. Traditional Values Coalition charged on its disturbing website that the “claims” of high rates of LGBT teen suicide are “bogus” and nothing more than “recruitment techniques” to force schools to address homosexuality in the classroom.

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Like the two girls in the article and surely Bobby Griffin, the day I swallowed a bottle of powerful pills, I just wanted it all to stop. I truly was not thinking beyond that - just make the pain stop. That's all I wanted. Today, I am very happy that my suicide attempt failed. It would have harmed my children immensely and I would never have known the level of peace and self-acceptance I have now achieved. Nor would I have met my wonderful current boyfriend. Here are some resources:

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If you know someone who is feeling suicidal, or an LGBT teen who needs to talk, contact any of these queer or queer-friendly venues for teens.

Suicide Prevention Hotline:1-800-273-TALK

Teen Health and Wellness (800) 237-9932.

www.TheTrevorProject.org

www.teenwire.com

www.youth-guard.org

More Friday Male Beauty

Palin Affair Story a "Vicious Lie" or Not?

While I do not typically consider the National Inquirer to be a legitimat news source, it seems that something a little strange may be going on in connection with the rumor that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner who subsequently was a divorce from his wife. John McSenile's campaign has vigorously denied the rumor and has reprotedly threatened the National Inquirer with a lawsuit. Why then did Sarah Palin's alleged lover just file an unsuccessful emergency motion to have his divorce papers sealed? One theory is that Sarah might be named in the court proceedings. Another is that the court files might show some other attempt to use political influence for personal matters. The Barracuda surely seems to have a lot of soap opera about her. Personally, after the way the wingnuts have embraced her, nothing would be more fun that to have her expolde all over them as a fraud and one who is not so good about living up to "family values.." The Court case index can be found here. Here are highlights what the Sydney Morning Herald reported about camp McSenile's threats:
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The McCain campaign has vigorously denied a report in the National Enquirer magazine that the Republican's vice-presidential pick, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has had an extramarital affair with her husband's business partner.
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The story, which appeared just hours before Mrs Palin was due to address the Republican convention, was branded "scurrilous" by the chief strategist, Steve Schmidt. He said it was totally untrue.
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Here's a portion of the Case Index from the Court's records:

Tropical Storm/Hurricane Watch Ahead of Hanna Extends Over Norfolk Area

UPDATED from the Virginian Pilot as of 5:28 PM:

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The first bands of the storm dropped heavy rain in Hatteras late this morning and then in Nags Head and Hampton Roads this afternoon. Hanna is expected to produce 2 to 4 inches of rain and coastal storm surge flooding is predicted to be 3 to 5 feet above normal tide levels.

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One of the aspects of living on the Southeast coast is the annual ritual of dealing with hurricane and tropical storm threats. The main wild cards are (1) the forecasters never seem to know for sure where the storm tract will actually go and (2) the forecasts of storm strength often prove wrong. Some years back, Hurricane Bonnie was supposed to weaken, etc., and as the newscasters were talking about it weaken, the winds outside were doing the exact opposite. The positive side of Bonnie was that we had world class surf for the East Coast Surfing Championships that year even though much of Oceanfront had no power. Similarly, Hurricane Isabel in 2003 was supposed to be weakening when in fact it did the opposite and the storm caused extensive flooding and tree damage. My boyfriend ended up with two feet of water in his house which backs up to a tidal creek.

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So far Hanna doesn't look too bad, but I prepared if need be to go by the b/f's house and carry stuff upstairs, etc. (since he's out of town). My oldest daughter lives near Oceanfront in Virginia Beach and could well end up staying at her mother's place which is on high ground although surrounded by tall trees. My neighbor has an enormous tree which, were it to fall on one of the adjacent houses would likely do massive damage. The real signal to locals that things might get rough is when the Navy sends the fleet out from the Naval Base since ships run a much smaller risk of damage at sea as opposed to at dock. For now, the fleet remains on standby. Despite it all, I love living near the ocean and Chesapeake Bay.

Dishonest Exodus International Opens "Ministry" for Lesbians

Not content to disseminate false claims and information against gay males, Exodus International is opening a "ministry" for lesbians so that they can "embrace their faith and God-given femininity." As long as the Christianists and the GOP continue their jihads against LGBT citizens, one can experts that Exodus and other wingnut funded organizations will continue to trot out and market their bogus "cure" programs because maintaining the choice myth is essential to their goal of denying LGBT citizens full equality under the civil laws. All these programs will do for those unfortunate or self-hating enough to enroll in them is to screw them up even more emotionally and psychologically, but the "ex-gays" for pay at Exodus care nothing for the harm they do to others. Here is how Exodus describes this fraudulent endeavor:

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Heading up this new initiative is Yvette Schneider, a former policy analyst for Family Research Council, who has several years of ministry experience on college campuses and in churches. Yvette's life as a lesbian was radically transformed in 1992 when she experienced the love and grace of Jesus Christ. She has worked with several ministries to help women affected by lesbianism.

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Schneider hopes to communicate biblical, compassionate truth to women who feel overlooked by society and are often afraid to seek help from the church. She plans to provide practical help and resources by writing curriculum for girls dealing with gender confusion, speaking at women's conferences and helping other organizations better meet the needs of women affected by lesbianism.

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After I stop gagging, all I can think is that Schneider is either getting paid very well and/or she wants to have others hate themselves as much as she must hate herself. Here's what Ex-Gay Watch has to say about Schneider:

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As well as her association with the notorious LaBarbera, Schneider has worked with Eagle Forum, Family Research Council and Matt Barber’s Concerned Women for America. Not a good omen for an organization that claimed last year they were leaving politics behind.

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In summary, what does Schneider’s appointment mean? On inspection, it appears Exodus has appointed to a major role in its organization a woman with a track record of ultra-conservative political activism (despite Exodus’s claim to be a non-political group), who pushes a hard line on orientation change (despite Exodus’s deliberate attempt to steer away from such rhetoric, at least in public)

Friday Male Beauty

France Seeks UN Decriminalisation of Homosexuality

Given the rampant homophobia in the developing countries and the harsh anti-gay mind set of many Muslim nations, I do not know how far France's proposal will get, but it is heartening to see a country finally trying to bring the issue of anti-gay brutality directly in the open. Being gay is bad enough in most of the USA much less what gays face in some other countries where discovery can mean death. Britain likewise supports the ban on criminalizing gays. The USA? Missing in action as usual. No doubt the Christianists controlling the Republican Party will use this as one more reason to rail against the United Nations. Here are some highlights from Pink News:

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The French minister of human rights and foreign affairs has confirmed that she will appeal at the United Nations for the universal decriminalisation of homosexuality. Rama Yade also said that the EU wanted to take the lead in stopping violence against women worldwide.

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Earlier this year it was reported that the French initiative on decrminalisation will take the form of a solemn declaration from UN states, rather than a vote in the UN on the matter. However, Ms Yade said yesterday that France will submit a draft declaration at the UN General Assembly in December. The British government already advocates universal decriminalisation.

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More than 80 countries outlaw same-sex relations in all circumstances. The maximum punishments range from a few years jail to life imprisonment. In nine countries, or regions of countries, the mandatory punishment for homosexuality is death by execution.

Final Thursday Male Beauty

New South Wales Catholic Church Sex Case Deepens

I posted earlier about Rev. Thomas Doyle's thoughts on what the Vatican could/should do to address the never enduing flood of sexual abuse cases that have enveloped the Church worldwide. A story out of New South Wales shows that Doyle's recommendations have not and I suspect will never be implemented. They cut directly against the behavior that the Church has exhibited time and time again. Here are some story highlights from The Australian:

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THE former Catholic priest accused of involvement in an alleged child sex ring at a New South Wales school left Hurstville police station last night after 60 fresh charges were laid involving eight more of his former pupils. The young men came forward after their former chaplain and teacher, Brian Spillane, 65, was arrested in May and charged with sexually assaulting five students. Bathurst's St Stanislaus College has been at the centre of a police investigation by Strike Force Heador into claims of sexual abuse by Mr Spillane and two other former staff members over 20 years ago.

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Mr Spillane joined the school, which has both boarding and day students and is run by the Vincentians Fathers order, in the 1970s. He left for a time and returned in the mid-1980s, when he was school chaplain for a number of years. He left the school in the early 1990s. It is alleged the abuse happened during late-night charismatic prayer sessions which involved chanting.

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Last month, Mr Spillane appeared at Bathurst Local Court on 33 charges relating to sexual assault and acts of gross indecency on five former students when they were juveniles aged between 10 and 18.

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Police have also spoken to a former St Stanislaus teacher, Stephen Joseph Wade, who served 15 months in jail for a sex attack on a then Year 7 student in 1986.

Fire and Brimstone

A church in Columbus, Ohio, is displaying a sign which no doubt would be well received by Sarah Palin and her fellow churchgoers as aell as a good percentage of the attendees of the Republican Party Convention. Especially now that the GOP has become an unofficial religion based party. The sign was posted in reaction to Katy Perry's pop song lyrics "I kissed a girl and I liked it" which flirts with same-sex attraction. To me, the sign is illustrative of the Christianist mind set on display in St. Paul at the GOP Convention: condemn those who are different and subconsciously endorse the concept that these "others" can be mistreated with impunity. It's hardly the message of the Gospels, but it is the core of the Christianist religious beliefs. Here are some highlights from the Columbus Dispatch:

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I kissed a girl and I liked it. Those lyrics have made Katy Perry's pop song a big hit on the radio.
But when a local church put the song lyrics on its marquee -- followed by the words then I went to hell -- some people got angry. People driving by Havens Corners Church in Blacklick yesterday morning noticed the sign, aimed to warn people about what the church says is the sin of homosexuality.

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[Rev. Dave Allison] said "We meant that as a loving warning to teens. … The Scriptures tell us that you should not do what the song tells you to do. The Scriptures are not ambiguous on this issue."

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Lynne Bowman, director of Equality Ohio, a gay and transgender advocacy group, said every church has a right to its beliefs. Havens Corners has made it clear to everyone who drives by that it is not a welcoming place that accepts all people, she said. She noted that the church's vision, stated on its Web site, is to grow in membership. "Obviously they're making a statement as to how they don't want to do that," she said.

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She said Equality Ohio has identified at least 300 churches in Ohio that welcome gay people looking for a church home. "That sign just tells them where they cannot go to find the love and faith in Christ," she said.

Introduce Yourself

I have now introduced a number of my regular readers on this Blog (around a dozen or more I suspect). Since the last time I made such an introduction, readership has increased by nearly 30,000 readers and I now have had visitors from 155 countries. I would love for some more of you to tell me about yourselves and allow me to introduce you to my other readers. Photos are nice, but not a requirement. For any one so disposed, my e-mail address is: michaelinnorfolk@gmail.com

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As mentioned before on other occasions, I regularly received notes and messages from other readers who, due to their circumstances cannot or do not wish to be featured in a post. For those of you who do not want to be featured, as I have said before, I would nonetheless love to hear from you either via comment or e-mail.

More Thursday Male Beauty

And Who's the Elitist??

Vanity Fair has a brief column that shows the ridiculousness of John McShame trying to paint Obama as an elitist. Obviously, he and his campaign think all voters are morons. Here is what Vanity Fair reports:

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One of the persistent memes in the Republican line of attack against Barack Obama is the notion that he is an elitist, whereas the G.O.P. represent real working Americans like Levi “F-in’ Redneck” Johnston. It caught our attention, then, when First Lady Laura Bush and would-be First Lady Cindy McCain took the stage Tuesday night wearing some rather fancy designer clothes. So we asked our fashion department to price out their outfits.

In a More Diverse America, A Mostly White Convention

In my first post of the day I stated that the Republican Party has become a Christianist controlled and racist party that is largely lily white. A story in today's Washington Post supports this premise and confirms that the GOP convention has very few non-white attendees. I hope minorities of all types wake up to this reality. The GOP cares only about white evangelical Christians and only gives lip service to diversity and a "big tent" in the hope of suckering others to vote them into power. With whites projected to be a minority in not too many decades, the make up of today's GOP should be troubling to many. What I find amazing is that the GOP doesn't get it that it's the party's policies and intolerance that drives people away, and not just minorities. Hopefully, they will continue to "not get it" and will lose elections big time. Here are some story highlights:

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ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 3 -- Organizers conceived of this convention as a means to inspire, but some African American Republicans have found the Xcel Energy Center depressing this week. Everywhere they look, they see evidence of what they consider one of their party's biggest shortcomings. As the country rapidly diversifies, Republicans are presenting a convention that is almost entirely white.

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Only 36 of the 2,380 delegates seated on the convention floor are black, the lowest number since the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies began tracking diversity at political conventions 40 years ago. Each night, the overwhelmingly white audience watches a series of white politicians step to the lectern -- a visual reminder that no black Republican has served as a governor, U.S. senator or U.S. House member in the past six years.

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The lack of diversity is out of sync with the demographic changes in the United States. The Census Bureau reported last month that racial and ethnic minorities will make up a majority of the country's population by 2042 -- almost a decade earlier than what the bureau predicted just four years ago. Two-thirds of Americans are non-Hispanic whites, 12.4 percent are black and 14.8 percent are Hispanic, according to 2006 census numbers.

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24 state delegations at the Xcel Energy Center have no black members. . . . The minority void in St. Paul is amplified for Republicans who watched Obama deliver his acceptance speech in Denver last week. Blacks made up 25 percent of the delegates at Invesco Field, and black musicians Stevie Wonder and John Legend performed before Obama stepped to the lectern. Vendors inside the stadium sold T-shirts with slogans in Spanish. Martin Luther King's son delivered a brief introductory speech.

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"Have you ever heard that saying -- about how the definition of insanity is doing something over and over again and expecting a different result? Well, what we've done with minorities has become a form of political insanity."

Thursday Male Beauty

The Pope’s Visits: A Reflection On Waiting

SNAP Canada sent me a statement written by Rev. Thomas Doyle who twenty years ago warned the nation's Roman Catholic bishops about the church's looming sexual abuse nightmare. Since then, he has become a hero to the victims, speaking out on their behalf and helping them in legal cases in recent years. In doing so, Father Doyle also became a thorn in the side of the church hierarchy and was quietly removed from his job as an Air Force chaplain in a clash with his archbishop over pastoral issues. As one of the foremost experts on the sex abuse scandal, Doyle's reflections are most insightful, Here are his thoughts on the recent Papal visits to the USA and Australia (they are long but worth reading and directly on point):

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This past Monday I testified at a trial. The diocese had ample notice that the abuser-priest was a danger to minors. The former bishop of the diocese being sued had received this priest from another diocese and that diocese in turn had received him from his home diocese. In the first diocese the bishop kicked him out after he had sexually assaulted boys in three out of the four parishes to which he had been assigned. He found a new bishop who took him in. In that diocese he sexually assaulted boys in each of the four parishes to which he had been assigned. That bishop gave him his walking papers and he ended up in the last diocese. There he sexually assaulted boys in the first two parishes to which he was assigned and was sent to a third. That’s where he assaulted the plaintiff in the case. The bishop knew all of this but, to use his own words, he was willing “to take the risk.” Sounds like a slam dunk doesn’t it? It gets better. This is the third trial for this diocese. They have already lost in two. They are about 20 more projected for victims of the same priest.

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The trials are a nightmare for the victims and their families. They are expensive as well. The lawyers who represent the diocese get paid one way or the other. The lawyers for the victims are on contingency. The church lawyers’ fees come from the donations of the people. If the jury gives a big award, some people will get bent out of shape and complain about how much the payments to the victims cost the diocese. They really ought to complain about the payments to the lawyers which are totally unnecessary.

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I learned during a break that the little guy in the black outfit sitting at the corner of the defense table was the bishop. I also learned that neither he nor any of his predecessors had ever reached out to any of the victims. Throughout the day as I sat on the stand and answered questions I looked at the victim on my left and the bishop on my right. What was wrong with that picture? Simple! The bishop was in the wrong place. He should have been sitting next to the victim offering support, sympathy, kindness and hope. Instead he was on the other side, probably worrying that the testimony was not making his diocese look too good.

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At one point the diocesan lawyer made a big deal out of the fees that I am supposed to receive as an expert witness. He left out the part that an expert has to take fees or he isn’t an expert. He didn’t seem too interested when I responded to a question from the plaintiff attorney in which I shared that I have given away most of the fees I have ever received. Do lawyers who represent the Church work for nothing? Hardly!

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So…what does all of this have to do with the pope? Plenty! Benedict XVI made a big splash in the U.S. and in Australia with all of his remarks about clergy sex abuse and with the personal encounters he had with a small group of victims in each country. A lot of people announced that the Pope, the Vatican and the hierarchy have finally “gotten it.” After all, Pope John Paul II not only did nothing, but in the few statements he made he tried to shift the blame to anyone and anything from where it ought to be.

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Not so with Benedict. First, he fired the notorious Marcel Maciel Degollado, the founder of the cult-like outfit called the Legion of Christ. Then he came to the US and said he was ashamed at the way things had gone. He also said similar things in Australia. He may feel personally ashamed and scandalized but that doesn’t mean a thing unless he does something and thus far he has done nothing. That’s where this trial comes in. In spite of the pope’s appearance of compassion it has not rubbed off on the bishops. The trial I was at should have been stopped before it started. The bishop should have picked up on the pope’s words and shown concern for the victims instead of himself and his bureaucracy and his diocese’s money.

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The pope should have taken action but he didn’t. The major fallacy with the hierarchy and the pope is that they think that their words always make things happen. They think that a statement or a gesture or even a liturgy such as a healing Mass, are all they have to do. Even thinking in that way is a gross insult to those hurt by the church. People are sick to death of the highly nuanced statements that keep coming out of the public relations departments of the Church because they are not only empty. They are dishonest and an insult to the intelligence and integrity of decent and honest men and women.

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The pope could have:

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1. Issued an order to all bishops to stop all legal actions and start treating the victims with care and compassion instead of treating them like the enemy.

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2. Ordered the bishops to stop building cathedrals and monuments to themselves and use the funds for programs to help victims and their families.

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3. Invited a few hundred victims to the Vatican at his expense to meet with him and the other Vatican big shots so as to find out first hand just how horrendous this whole nightmare has been.

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4. Publicly fired some of the more notorious cardinals starting with Cardinals George, Egan, Mahony, Pell and Levada. Once the top guys are gone then start on the next level, namely the bishops.

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5. Stopped persecuting theologians and scholars who are trying to figure out some of the blatant contradictions on Church teaching and practice, starting with celibacy and the whole bizarre theology of human sexuality.

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6. Sent sizeable personal donations to SNAP, NAPSAC and ROAD TO RECOVERY.

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I think we all know that all of the above have no chance of happening. Perhaps the most realistic thing we can hope for is an awakening by isolated bishops here and there. We can also continue to hope that lay Catholics, who persist in looking at the hierarchical system through rose-colored glasses, will start to grow up, get past their denial and see reality for what it is.

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The recent popes and the hierarchy have enabled the most horrendous spiritual and emotional destruction of vulnerable people in a thousand years. Thus far they are doing precious little to make it right. Those who continue to bow and scrape at the medieval ecclesiastical court are not faithful Catholics but enablers of evil.

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The heresy here is that the pope and the bishops seem to have no real clue that the plunder of the bodies and souls of the vulnerable…..boys, girls, men and women is evil that is perpetrated by clerics and religious men and women whose lives are supposed to combat evil rather than cause it.

Sarah Palin: Underwhelming and a Liar

The boyfriend and I watched most of Sarah Palin's speech last night and, to be fully candid, I don't know where all the GOP representations that she's a fabulous speaker came from. Her delivery was so-so and the substance was certainly lacking when not downright untruthful. Not as bad as the Chimperator, but close in my view. I found the snide remarks made by both Palin and Rudy about "community organizing" little less than non-subtle racist comments. But then, the GOP has become a Christianist/racist party plain and simple. Finally, she made me so nauseated that we turned off the last few minutes. Yahoo News has a good article that looks at Palin's less than honest statements. Of course, Palin was not the only liar of the evening. Here are some highlights:

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In some cases, the reproach and the praise stretched the truth. Some examples:

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PALIN: "I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending ... and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress. I told the Congress 'thanks but no thanks' for that Bridge to Nowhere."

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THE FACTS: As mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million. In her two years as governor, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. While Palin notes she rejected plans to build a $398 million bridge from Ketchikan to an island with 50 residents and an airport, that opposition came only after the plan was ridiculed nationally as a "bridge to nowhere."

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PALIN: "The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes, raise payroll taxes, raise investment income taxes, raise the death tax, raise business taxes, and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars."

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THE FACTS: The Tax Policy Center, a think tank run jointly by the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute, concluded that Obama's plan would increase after-tax income for middle-income taxpayers by about 5 percent by 2012, or nearly $2,200 annually. McCain's plan, which cuts taxes across all income levels, would raise after tax-income for middle-income taxpayers by 3 percent, the center concluded. Obama would provide $80 billion in tax breaks, mainly for poor workers and the elderly, including tripling the Earned Income Tax Credit for minimum-wage workers and higher credits for larger families. He also would raise income taxes, capital gains and dividend taxes on the wealthiest. He would raise payroll taxes on taxpayers with incomes above $250,000, and he would raise corporate taxes. Small businesses that make more than $250,000 a year would see taxes rise.

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MCCAIN: "She's been governor of our largest state, in charge of 20 percent of America's energy supply ... She's responsible for 20 percent of the nation's energy supply. I'm entertained by the comparison and I hope we can keep making that comparison that running a political campaign is somehow comparable to being the executive of the largest state in America," he said in an interview with ABC News' Charles Gibson.

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THE FACTS: McCain's phrasing exaggerates both claims. Palin is governor of a state that ranks second nationally in crude oil production, but she's no more "responsible" for that resource than President Bush was when he was governor of Texas, another oil-producing state. In fact, her primary power is the ability to tax oil, which she did in concert with the Alaska Legislature. And where McCain called Alaska the largest state in America, he could as easily have called it the 47th largest state — by population.

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FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOV. MITT ROMNEY: "We need change, all right — change from a liberal Washington to a conservative Washington! We have a prescription for every American who wants change in Washington — throw out the big-government liberals, and elect John McCain and Sarah Palin."

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THE FACTS: A Back-to-the-Future moment. George W. Bush, a conservative Republican, has been president for nearly eight years. And until last year, Republicans controlled Congress. Only since January 2007 have Democrats have been in charge of the House and Senate.