More Saturday Male Beauty

Knights of Columbus - An Enemy to Families

As regular readers know, I was raised Catholic and was even a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus until I left the Church and the Knights in disgust over the sex abuse scandal and utter moral bankruptcy displayed by the Church hierarchy from the Pope on down and the leadership of the Knights of Columbus who kept their noses firmly up the asses of the despicable bishops, cardinals and Popes who had enabled and/or covered up the sex abuse scandal (some, like Bishop Daily, a former Supreme Chaplin for the Knights had even threatened and intimidated victims and their families to remain silent).

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Now, the Knights of Columbus are further betraying the purpose for which the Order was founded in 1882, by donating $1,250,000 in support of Proposition 8, which would amend the California Constitution to ban same-sex marriage. If passed, Proposition 8 will potentially severely harm many families headed by same sex couples. When Fr. Michael J. McGivney founded the Knights in 1882, his driving motivation was to protect immigrant families from financial harm if a member died. The goal was to insure through the Knights' insurance program that the surviving spouse and children would be assisted financially and not find themselves destitute or lacking in assistance. I cannot help but believe that Fr. McGivney - who was willing to buck the system of his day - would be anything less that horrified that the organization he founded is actively supporting an initiative which would deprive surviving spouses and children of insurance and medical care benefits and put countless children in gay households at risk.

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Given the failure of the Knights to repudiate the misdeeds of the Church hierarchy and demand accountability and now this attack on gay families, I am truly ashamed that I was ever a member of this wrong headed organization.

The Distorted Standards of the GOP

One of my sisters and brother-in-laws sent me an e-mail of something he came across that neatly sums up the distorted mindset that is now mainstream with in today's Republican Party where truth, honor, and integrity have no meaning whatsoever. Years ago when I was an active republican, I truly though the Party respected truth and integrity, but not anymore. Only those living in some alternative universe, fanatical Christianists, and/or who are totally self-centered seem able to find a place in today's GOP. Here's what my brother-in-law sent me:

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I'm a little confused. Perhaps I need to watch a little more Real Time with Bill Maher on HBO. Let me see if I have this straight....

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If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different, not a real American." Grow up in Alaska eating moose burgers, a quintessential American story.

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If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim. Name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a maverick.

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Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable. Attend 5 different small colleges before finaly managing to graduate, you're well grounded.

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If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the firstblack president of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drivethat registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district withover 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representinga state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.

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If you first got your passport at age 42 and if your total resume is: beauty queen, local weather girl, 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 6,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

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If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters in Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian. If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a real Christian.

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If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society. If, as mayor, your police department charges women for their rape kits and you consider banning books from the local library, and as governor,you believe abortion should be banned, even in cases of rape, and you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

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If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's. If you're husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and was until recently a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family values represent America's.

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As I had said over and over, to belong to today's Republican Party, its a requirement that you be totally detached from objective reality and have had a lobotomy.

Saturday Male Beauty

Historic Landmark Revisited

Yesterday evening the boyfriend and I went to a wonderful reception put on by one of his friends for her elderly parents at The Chamberlain in Hampton, Virginia. The Chamberlain was a grand hotel for many decades (and the only civilian structure on historic Fort Monroe - pictured below - which juts out into the mouth of Hampton Roads harbor) but had fallen on hard times as high end vacationers tended to prefer ocean front resorts and more exotic destinations. Fortunately, the Chamberlain was saved and now offers high end apartments for senior citizens in a truly elegant and magnificent setting with nearly a 360 degree view of water vistas. The reception was in the solarium on the top floor which can be seen at left. The sunset from the large roof top patio was absolutely incredible and we had a great time.

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For the history buffs, here are some interesting facts about Fort Monro which will soon cease to be an active military installation via Wikipedia:

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Fort Monre was completed in 1834 and was named in honor of U.S. President James Monroe. Throughout the American Civil War (1861-1865), although most of Virginia became part of the Confederate States of America, Fort Monroe remained in Union hands. Completely surrounded by a moat, the six-sided stone fort is the only one of its kind left in the United States that is still an active Army post. Fort Monroe is one of several posts selected to be closed by September 2011. Many of its functions are being transferred to nearby Fort Eustis (which itself was named for Fort Monroe's first commander, General Abraham Eustis, a noted artillery expert). Several re-use plans for Fort Monroe after it is decommissioned are currently under development in the Hampton community.

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Fort Monroe has become a popular historical site. The Casemate Museum, opened in 1951, depicts the history of Fort Monroe and Old Point Comfort, with special emphasis on the Civil War period. It offers a view of Confederate President Jefferson Davis' prison cell. Also shown are the quarters occupied by 1st Lt. Robert E. Lee in 1831-34, and the quarters where President Abraham Lincoln was a guest in May, 1862.

Fruits of Deregulation: Ten Years' Wiped Out

Thanks Chimpy and John "We Need More Deregulation" McCain! NOTE: Click on image to enlarge chart.

William F. Buckley’s Son Says He Is Voting For Obama

Writing on a blog named the Daily Beast, Christopher Buckley, son of William F. Buckley who founded the National Review talks about why he is going to vote for Obama and equally important his analysis of the decline of the John McCain and the Republican Party. Quite a few would be gay activist such as myself - John Aravosis at America Blog is another that comes to mind - once were Republicans in the days when the Party stood for fiscal responsibility, individual rights and freedoms, education and knowledge, and limited government - and before the Party had been co-oped by the worse elements of the Christian Right. In short, the GOP has become a party that has no place for thinking, rational individuals who still cherish the concept of separation of church and state. I suspect that McCain/Palin will cause many more to join our ranks as former Republicans. Here are some highlights from Christopher Buckley's comments:

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Let me be the latest conservative/libertarian/whatever to leap onto the Barack Obama bandwagon. It’s a good thing my dear old mum and pup are no longer alive. They’d cut off my allowance. Or would they? . . . . Dear Pup once said to me sighfully after a right-winger who fancied himself a WFB protégé had said something transcendently and provocatively cretinous, “You know, I’ve spent my entire life time separating the Right from the kooks.” Well, the dear man did his best.

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John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-1994, “We came to Washington to change it, and Washington changed us.” This campaign has changed John McCain. It has made him inauthentic. A once-first class temperament has become irascible and snarly; his positions change, and lack coherence; he makes unrealistic promises, such as balancing the federal budget “by the end of my first term.” Who, really, believes that? Then there was the self-dramatizing and feckless suspension of his campaign over the financial crisis. His ninth-inning attack ads are mean-spirited and pointless. And finally, not to belabor it, there was the Palin nomination. What on earth can he have been thinking?

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I’ve read Obama’s books, and they are first-rate. He is that rara avis, the politician who writes his own books. Imagine. He is also a lefty. I am not. I am a small-government conservative who clings tenaciously and old-fashionedly to the idea that one ought to have balanced budgets. On abortion, gay marriage, et al, I’m libertarian. I believe with my sage and epigrammatic friend P.J. O’Rourke that a government big enough to give you everything you want is also big enough to take it all away.

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Obama has in him—I think, despite his sometimes airy-fairy “We are the people we have been waiting for” silly rhetoric—the potential to be a good, perhaps even great leader. He is, it seems clear enough, what the historical moment seems to be calling for. So, I wish him all the best. We are all in this together. Necessity is the mother of bipartisanship. And so, for the first time in my life, I’ll be pulling the Democratic lever in November. As the saying goes, God save the United States of America.

More Friday Male Beauty

Connecticut Supreme Court Rules for Gay Marriage

In yet another case where a state supreme court must consider the meaning of full civil equality under the law, the Connecticut Supreme ruled today that civil unions are discriminatory against gay and lesbian couples. It appears that the state legislature is poised to also pass legislation in favor of full marriage equality for gays. If one remembers that we are talking about the CIVIL laws, it should be a no brainer that this is the only possible result if one is applying the state constitution to provide equal CIVIL rights. Of course, this simple reasoning and logic is beyond the mental capabilities of Christianists who cannot separate their religious fanaticism from civil government and civil laws. Needless to say, the will be spittle flying and teeth gnashing among the demented Christianist crowd. The Court's decision can be found here. Here are some highlights from the Hartford Courant:

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The Supreme Court released its historic ruling at 11:30 a.m. Citing the equal protection clause of the state constitution, the justices ruled that civil unions were discriminatory and that the state's "understanding of marriage must yield to a more contemporary appreciation of the rights entitled to constitutional protection."

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"Interpreting our state constitutional provisions in accordance with firmly established equal protection principles leads inevitably to the conclusion that gay persons are entitled to marry the otherwise qualified same sex partner of their choice," the majority wrote. "To decide otherwise would require us to apply one set of constitutional principles to gay persons and another to all others."

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The [lunatic] opposition will now turn its sights to the November election, when voters will be asked whether the state should convene a constitutional convention. "Connecticut voters will have one opportunity on Nov. 4 to reassert their right to self government.

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The court's ruling today will likely be the final judicial judgment in the case because it it based on the state constitution, rather then the U.S. constitution. But the often emotional, contentious debate over gay marriage is far from over.

McCain Disdains Honor

John McCain may once have been an honorable man, but not anymore. Moreover, assuming for the moment that he was once honorable, at this point one has to wonder how someone once honorable could allow them self to descend to such dishonorable depths as to pander to racial bigotry and everything vile and hateful. Palin's efforts to incite hate and even potential violence on the other hand are no surprise. The Christianists whine a lot about "family values" and their "deeply held Christian beliefs," but ultimately, it is ALL ABOUT them and anyone who differs with them on religion, politics, and their superiority is an enemy to be crushed and destroyed. Moreover, an examination of the leading Christianist organizations reveals that they are lily white organizations and lip service is given to blacks and minorities only when these organizations seek to dupe members of minorities - black pastors is a prime example - into aiding and abetting the Christianists' agenda. Hence the veiled racial bigotry is actually something to be expected. In short, they are one ugly and hate-filled group and McCain has sold his soul to them. Here are Andrew Sullivan's thoughts on these disgusting developments:

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There was always going to be a point of revolt and panic for a core group of Americans who believe that Obama simply cannot be president - because he's black or liberal or young or relatively new. This is that point. As the polls suggest a strong victory, the Hannity-Limbaugh-Steyn-O'Reilly base are going into shock and extreme rage. McCain and Palin have decided to stoke this rage, to foment it, to encourage paranoid notions that somehow Obama is a "secret" terrorist or Islamist or foreigner. These are base emotions in both sense of the word.

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But they are also very very dangerous. This is a moment of maximal physical danger for the young Democratic nominee. And McCain is playing with fire. If he really wants to put country first, he will attack Obama on his policies - not on these inflammatory, personal, creepy grounds. This is getting close to the atmosphere stoked by the Israeli far right before the assassination of Rabin. For God's sake, McCain, stop it. For once in this campaign, put your country first.

Friday Male Beauty

Economic Moment of Truth

As the world wide stock market bloodbath continues unabated - the overseas exchanges plunged overnight - it seems that those who promised swift action in the Chimperator's administration are still sitting on their hands instead of acting. Paul Krugman looks at this problem in his column today in the New York Times. The bottom line is that either swift, meaningful action is taken or things will continue to get worse. What is so frightening is that we are at the mercy of an administration that has done virtually nothing right - be it the disastrous Katrina response, an ill advised war motivated by hubris, and much more - for most of the last eight years - a very, very frightening prospect indeed.Perhaps much worse. Here are some highlights:

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Last month, when the U.S. Treasury Department allowed Lehman Brothers to fail, I wrote that Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, was playing financial Russian roulette. Sure enough, there was a bullet in that chamber: Lehman’s failure caused the world financial crisis, already severe, to get much, much worse.

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The consequences of Lehman’s fall were apparent within days, yet key policy players have largely wasted the past four weeks. Now they’ve reached a moment of truth: They’d better do something soon — in fact, they’d better announce a coordinated rescue plan this weekend — or the world economy may well experience its worst slump since the Great Depression.

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Let’s talk about where we are right now. The current crisis started with a burst housing bubble, which led to widespread mortgage defaults, and hence to large losses at many financial institutions. That initial shock was compounded by secondary effects, as lack of capital forced banks to pull back, leading to further declines in the prices of assets, leading to more losses, and so on — a vicious circle of “deleveraging.” Pervasive loss of trust in banks, including on the part of other banks, reinforced the vicious circle.

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The response to this downward spiral on the part of the world’s two great monetary powers — the United States, on one side, and the 15 nations that use the euro, on the other — has been woefully inadequate. . . . What he [Treasurery Secretary Paulson] should have proposed instead, many economists agree, was direct injection of capital into financial firms: The U.S. government would provide financial institutions with the capital they need to do business, thereby halting the downward spiral, in return for partial ownership. When Congress modified the Paulson plan, it introduced provisions that made such a capital injection possible, but not mandatory. And until two days ago, Mr. Paulson remained resolutely opposed to doing the right thing.

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What should be done? The United States and Europe should just say “Yes, prime minister.” The British plan isn’t perfect, but there’s widespread agreement among economists that it offers by far the best available template for a broader rescue effort. And the time to act is now. You may think that things can’t get any worse — but they can, and if nothing is done in the next few days, they will.

Final Thursday Male Beauty

Father Geoff Farrow - Read His Blog

On Monday I did a post that can be found here about Roman Catholic priest, Geoff Farrow, who publicly spoke out against California Proposition 8 and in the process outed himself. While Father Farrow is still waiting to bear the consequences of his actions, he has begun a blog to explain his reasons for acting as he did. I have immense respect for Father Farrow's courage in doing what is right and speaking out against bigotry and discrimination. Should the Church expell Father Farrow, it will be the Church and not Father Farrow that is the loser. Here are some highlights from the blog:

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I received a FAX from the bishop’s office on the 30th of June. It was the bishop’s pastoral letter for the month of July. This single FAX threw my whole summer, and in fact, my whole life into a turmoil. Recently, I was speaking with some of our parishioners who advocate for the ordination of women. In the course of our conversation, a question arose which has haunted me: “At what point do you cease to be an agent for healing and growth and become an accomplice of injustice?” By asking all of the pastors of the Diocese of Fresno to promote Catholics to vote “Yes” on Proposition 8, the bishop has placed me in a moral predicament.

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In his “Pastoral,” the bishop states: “Marriage is much more than simply two persons loving each other. Marriage is naturally, socially, and biologically, directed to bringing forth life.”Actually, there are TWO ends to marriage: 1) Unitive and 2) Procreative.

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The unitive end of marriage is simply a union of love and life. The Procreative end is, of course, to create new life. It is important to understand that the unitive end of marriage is sufficient for a valid marriage. The Church sanctions, and considers a sacrament, the marriage of elderly heterosexual couples who are biologically incapable of reproduction. So, if two people of different genders who are incapable of reproduction can enter into a valid marriage, then why is that two people of the same gender, who are incapable of reproduction, cannot enter into a valid marriage.

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In 1973, as a result of a greater understanding of human psychology, the American Psychological Association declassified homosexuality as a mental illness. . . . These new insights have occurred as a result of the birth and development of the science of psychology and understanding of brain development in the 19th and 20th centuries. The California Supreme Court cited and quoted an amicus brief filed by the APA in the Court’s opinion issued on May 15, 2008 that struck down California’s ban on same sex marriage. Specifically, the court relied on the APA’s brief in concluding that the very nature of sexual orientation is related to the gender of partners to whom one is attracted, so that prohibiting same sex marriage discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, rather than just imposing disparate burdens on gay people.

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In directing the faithful to vote “Yes” on Proposition 8, the California Bishops are not merely entering the political arena, they are ignoring the advances and insights of neurology, psychology and the very statements made by the Church itself that homosexuality is innate (i.e. orientation). In doing this, they are making a statement which has a direct, and damaging, effect on some of the people who may be sitting in the pews next to you today.

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In effect, the bishops are asking gay and lesbian people to live their lives alone. Why? Who does this benefit? How exactly is society helped by singling out a minority and excluding them from the union of love and life, which is marriage? How is marriage protected by intimidating gay and lesbian people into loveless and lonely lives? What is accomplished by this? Worse still, is to intimidate a gay or lesbian person into a heterosexual marriage, which is doomed from its inception, and makes two victims instead of one by this hurtful “theology.”

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If your son or daughter is gay/lesbian let them know that you love them unconditionally. Let them know that you are not ashamed or embarrassed by them. Guide them as you would your other children to finding true and abiding love. Let them know that marriage is a union of love and life and is possible for them too.

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I know these words of truth will cost me dearly. But to withhold them, would be far more costly and I would become an accomplice to a moral evil that strips gay and lesbian people not only of their civil rights but of their human dignity as well. Jesus said, “The truth will set you free.” He didn't promise that it would be easy or without personal cost to speak that truth.

Homophobia Continues to Take Lives

Yesterday I did a post recalling the 10th anniversary of Matthew Shepard's brutal beating in Laramie, Wyoming. One would think more people would have learned from Shepard's death, but such is not the case. Discrimination, harassment and other aspects of homophobia continue on a daily basis and continue to claim lives of young gays everyday. Two examples come from opposite sides of the world. The first comes from South Korea where a 23 year old actor (pictured at left) killed himself in apparent despair over the demise of his career following publicly acknowledging his sexual orientation. Here are highlights from The Korea Times:
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Actor Kim Ji-who was found dead in his house in an apparent suicide, police said Wednesday, the fourth suicide by an entertainer in just one month. Songpa Police Station confirmed the 23-year-old hung himself at his home in Jamsil, southern Seoul, Monday. Police said his suicide reflects public prejudice toward gay people and their difficulty in succeeding in the entertainment industry.
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Following the announcement of his sexual orientation, Kim's management agency did not renew his contract and many TV programs and fashion shows cancelled his appearances. His blog was bombarded with numerous messages denouncing his sexual orientation. ``He underwent many professional and personal difficulties following his coming-out,'' Kim's mother said during police questioning. Hong Seok-chun, Kim's aide and also homosexual, said, ``Like me, he suffered from numerous discriminations against him.'' Born in 1985, Kim made his debut as a fashion model last year and appeared in some soap operas this year.
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The second example comes from the UK where a 18 year old boy (pictured above right) likewise hanged himself as a result of incessant anonymous and abusive phone calls about his sexuality. As I do frequently, I have to wonder how people can be so vicious and cruel. Then I think of ignorance, intolerance, religious bigotry, and those who only feel good about themselves when destroying someone else. Here are highlights from the Manchester Evening News:
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A TEENAGER killed himself after a string of anonymous and abusive phone calls about his sexuality. The calls began after Lee Simpson revealed in a letter to his family and friends that he was gay.Months later the 18-year-old student was found hanged at home in Blackley.His father, John Simpson, 50, believes that the calls taunting Lee plagued him and he could no longer cope with the harassment.
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Lee was very open about his sexuality. It didn't bother me and it didn't bother anyone who knew him but it's not like that in the outside world.""It happened just before he died," said Mr Simpson. "I never expected him to do what he did but those calls definitely didn't help him. I think they pushed him over the edge.

The Fruits of GOP Economic Policies

More Thursday Male Beauty

Grim Forecast for Afghanistan; Stocks Plummet Further

One Heck of a job Chimpy and John McSenile! The two of them and the GOP mantra of no regulation has basically wiped out years of investments and retirement savings for millions of Americans and to top it all off, things in Afghanistan are sliding into the toilet too. It is seriously time for the USA to get some leadership that has some connect with reality. According to McSenile/Palin just recently in debate statements (even if Palin can't name the U.S. general in charge), things were progressing just peachy keen in Afghanistan. Increasing the GOP seems to be inhabiting some alternate universe where the only things that truly matter are abortion and gay rights, both of which they believe should be stamped out. Back in the real world, the New York Times is carrying two stories that deal with the fruits of incompetent GOP rule. The first looks at the further dive of the stock market and the other is a report on the worsening situation in Afghanistan. Here are some highlights on the stock market situation:

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The Dow Jones industrial average lost 678.91 points, or 7.3 percent, on the day, while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index ended down 7.6 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was down 5.47 percent. And the reasons, by now, are a familiar litany — concerns about the credit markets, a slowdown in consumer spending, worries about the economy as a whole and the financial sector in particular.

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Thursday’s decline came despite a coordinated effort by central banks around the world this week to lower crucial benchmark lending rates. “There was no specific story about today; right now we are in a freefall of fear and people are using any opportunity to sell,” said Richard Sparks, senior equities analyst at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. He said the falls were driven by pessimism that the series of actions unveiled by governments around the world were still not enough to end the financial crisis.

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Turning to Afghanistan, the news is bleak and things seem to be going from bad to worse, in part because the Chimperator focused on needlessly invading Iraq rather than dealing with the Taliban threat once and for all. Now we are paying the price for the Chimperators hubristic stupidity. Here are highlights:

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WASHINGTON -- With security and economic conditions in Afghanistan already in dire straits, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Thursday that the situation there would probably only worsen next year. “The trends across the board are not going in the right direction,” the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, told reporters. “And I would anticipate next year would be a tougher year.”

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Admiral Mullen said Afghanistan was likely to continue what a new intelligence assessment calls “a downward spiral” barring rapid, major improvements to curb Afghanistan’s booming heroin trade, bolster district and tribal leaders to offset a weak central government in Kabul, breathe life into a flagging economy, and stem the flow of militants who are carrying out increasingly sophisticated attacks from safe havens in Pakistan.

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The admiral has issued stern warnings before about the deteriorating security and stability in Afghanistan. Last month, he told Congress, ”I’m not convinced we’re winning it in Afghanistan.” But he quickly added, ”I am convinced we can.” In Thursday’s breakfast session with reporters, he seemed slightly less hopeful that the negative trends could be reversed anytime soon.

Gay is a choice?

Is being gay a choice? It is according to demented wingnut and VP candidate Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin and the disingenuous frauds of the ex-gay "ministries." On the other hand, talk to any reputable, legitimate medical/mental health expert and, of course, the answer to the question is unqualified "No." Sadly, telling the truth is not a strong point with the Christianist set when it gets in the way of their delusion religious agenda and desire to turn the USA into a theocracy. Yesterday's Los Angeles Times has a good op-ed column by Nathaniel Frank, senior research fellow at the Palm Center, that takes the Christianists to task and not only refutes the "choice myth" but also argues why it should be irrelevant to civil legal rights. Frank also correctly makes the argument that religion is NOT innate and is itself a choice. Thus, in my view, if one employs the Christinaists anti-gay argument, employment protection and similar laws affording protections based on religion need to be repealed. Here are some highlights:

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Calling homosexuality a choice is the time-tested way politicians signal their belief that it is the wrong choice. Which is why Palin's comments prompted predictable anger from gay rights advocates. . . . But insisting that homosexuality is wholly involuntary does little to defend gays and lesbians from social disapproval. After all, the subtext of the "choice" debate is that opposing gay rights is only appropriate if gays select their sexuality, since it is unfair to punish someone for something one does not control.

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It is past time to retire the question of whether being gay is a choice -- not because it's been settled but because it never made sense in the first place. Indeed, when it comes to other aspects of our identity and behavior, we generally don't dwell on the question of choice. To ask whether a practicing Catholic or a professional dancer has "chosen" to be a Catholic or a dancer seems bizarre.

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Yet too many Americans continue to view sexual orientation as just that. At the same time, they cast other spheres of identity -- particularly religion -- as matters of unchosen conviction and deep principle. In fact, the parallels between sexual orientation and religious faith may be more marked than their differences. Religious Americans often speak of a surge of emotion from deep within them, of hearing a calling from something outside of themselves and of following the dictates of their conscience. Likewise, gays and lesbians frequently describe same-sex attractions as an undeniable force or a deep-seated feeling that they must respect if they are to be true to themselves.

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Why not champion a homosexual's right to honor erotic, romantic and emotional callings in the same way, so long as doing so doesn't harm others? The concept of choice should be no more -- and no less -- applied to sexual orientation than to our religious, political or vocational identities. . . . . If Palin's gay friend is like other gays and lesbians, her sexual orientation is neither a choice to be tolerated nor a sentence to be served. It's an expression of her freedom to be herself, a freedom that, as Palin said in the debate, "is always just one generation away from extinction."

Thursday Male Beauty

It's Urgent that Youth Get Out And Vote

By all indications the youngest generation of voters is surging to Obama. My fear - as happened in 2004 - is that many will not in fact go to the polls and vote. If anyone has a stake in this presidential election it's the youngest generation which will have to live with the damage done by a McCain/Palin regime far longer than us older folks. One would think that given the fiasco the Chimperator's regime has been, the younger voters would realize that getting out and actually voting is crucial to saving the country from further disaster. I encourage everyone to remind their children and progressive younger friends that they MUST get out and vote to avert the disaster of a McCain/Palin regime. Here are some highlights from Reuters story that looks at this issue:

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CHICAGO (Reuters) - Young Americans could turn out in record numbers in the November presidential election and all signs are that Democrat Barack Obama stands to benefit. Coming of age during the presidency of Democrat Bill Clinton, Americans born between 1979 and 1990 -- labeled the "millennial generation" -- may shed a collective reputation as apathetic slackers when it comes to casting a ballot.

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More than half the 44 million eligible U.S. voters aged 18 to 29 are expected to vote on November 4, analysts say, a turnout rate that still lags their elders but would narrow a shrinking gap. If young voter turnout exceeds 50 percent, it would be only the third time since the voting age was lowered to 18 in 1972. "They're registering in record numbers. They sense the capacity they have to effect change in this country," said former Iowa Democratic Gov. Tom Vilsack.

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A USA Today/MTV/Gallup poll published this week said that 61 percent of voters under age 30 favored Obama compared to 32 percent backing Republican John McCain -- which the poll said was the most lopsided ratio of any age group. In contrast to older voters, young people interviewed by Reuters were open to the idea of electing the nation's first black president.

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Voter registrations are up, but turnout remains a question that analysts say appears to be shifting. "The young are a demographic that people think are unreliable or are not going to come out to vote," said Erica Williams of the Center for American Progress, a think tank. "The Iowa caucuses showed that, incredibly, that's not going to be the case. Young voters are not just engaged because of all the hoopla and excitement. They've stayed consistently engaged since that first primary," she said.

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Young voters also have their own perspective on issues important to the electorate as a whole, Williams said. They worry about how the current economic crisis will affect their school and job prospects, and are aware that the burden of fighting U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan falls on soldiers drawn from their age group. "I think the country is at a pretty serious turning point," said Peter Kersten, 26, who plans to vote for Obama.

The Book Banning Mindset

There has been a fair amount of coverage of Sarah Palin's efforts to ban books from the public library in Wasilla, Alaska, a town that is minute in the grand scheme of things. However, Palin's attempts - which seem to have in fact occurred despite her denials - reflect one aspect of the nationwide Christianist anti-gay jihad: the desire to drive gays from public view and back into the closet with no care or regard for the damage done to gays or their families. If we disappear from public view, the thinking goes, then somehow we will cease to exist.

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The concept is bullshit, of course, but then again most of what the Christianists expose is intentionally false and mean spirited (or worse). When the efforts to drive gays from public view, the Christianist fall back position is to depict us as perverted sinners who wilfully make the choice to be gay. 365gay.com has an interview with, Rev. Howard Bess, the author of one of the books Palin sought to ban. Here are some of Rev. Bess' insights on Bible Spice Palin and other story highlights:

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Rev. Howard Bess is not gay. He was not raised by gay parents and does not have gay children. Bess did not grow up with a gay family next door and his best friend was not gay. Rev. Bess might not have had a horse in the GLBT rights race but that did not stop him from becoming a trailblazer for the issue in the American Baptist church and Christian faith at large.

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Rev. Bess has recently enjoyed some time in the spotlight thanks to vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s attempt to ban his book, Pastor, I Am Gay, from the Wasilla Public Library. . . . In fact, for a long time the only places you could by the book in Mat-Su were a barber shop and beauty salon. The book was also available at the Wasilla Public Library, a ‘problem’ Paling infamously sought to solve. Wasilla’s librarian stood up to Mayor Palin’s rash and uninformed demands. The librarian was then fired by Palin only to be reinstated after the community objected loudly to the dismissal.

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Pastor, I Am Gay is not an obscene book by any stretch. It is the open and honest story of how Rev. Bess came to the conclusion that GLBT folk are just as blessed as everyone else and deserve to be fully included in the life and traditions of the church.

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Rev. Bess is happy to talk about Pastor, I Am Gay, but he matter-of-factly states that “the book has run its course.” Rev. Bess is most concerned that people learn about the beliefs of Sarah Palin and that her election would be “bad, bad news for the gay population.” Bess describes Palin as a religious duelist, someone who sees everything as good vs. evil. Bess says that Palin and the churches she attends are “as anti-gay as they come.” He even described Palin, to Salon.com, as “… Jerry Falwell with a pretty face.”

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Rev. Bess has struggled for years to promoted gay equality and worries that the election of Sarah Palin could erode much of the work he has done. Bess has also expressed frustration and confusion toward members of the GLBT community who continue to support the McCain/Palin ticket. He states he was astounded by the Log Cabin Republican’s endorsement of the pair and that they obviously have little understanding of Sarah Palin and her beliefs. Bess summarized his feelings towards Sarah Palin while talking to Salon.com, “this person’s election would be a disaster for the country and the world.”

Final Wednesday Male beauty

The True Face/Mindset of Today's GOP

UPDATED: Blogger Interrupted has some video footage from a McCain/Palin rally in Strongsville, Ohio, that is truly scary in terms of revealing the nuttiness of the McCain/Palin supporters who seem to have lost any tether they might have had to reality. Please go to the site and watch the video which the cameraman describes as follows:

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It’s no wonder that the slightest incitement from Sarah Palin or John McCain will turn one of their rallies into a lynch mob. Just talk to the folks who attend. My camera was rolling for literally seconds before people happily said to me, on camera, that Barack Obama is a terrorist. If I hadn’t spent most of my time at the event inside, waiting for the candidates to show up, I could have gotten dozens of these people on tape. . . . I’ve been doing blog video for a while, and presidential rallies a lot longer. And this is the most strange, ignorant, uninformed, angry, up-to-no-good, and gullible group of people I’ve ever seen at a political rally. Ever.

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Increasingly, the members/supporters of today's GOP are showing their true faces and the picture is anything but pretty. If anything, it underscores the need to politically defeat a party and party platform that increasingly has as it hallmarks hate, bigotry and ignorance. In fact, if these forces are not defeated on November 4, 2008, I truly despair for the future of this country. A few examples demonstrate my point. The first, example comes from Media Matters and involves Chris Baker, a broadcaster who, during the October 7 broadcast of his Minneapolis radio show, promoted an Internet video featuring the Rev. James David Manning of ATLAH World Missionary Church in Harlem making derogatory remarks about Sen. Barack Obama's mother. Here are highlights of the disgusting remarks:

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Manning repeatedly refers to Obama's mother, Ann Dunham, as "trash," saying: "The difference between Obama's mama and Bristol Palin is that Obama's mama was trash. I mean, she was dirt. She was a bag of trash sitting on the sidewalk waiting there in Honolulu on one of those streets for the garbage truck to come by and pick her up and take her to the dump." Manning later said: "[M]y mama told me back in the '50s and the '60s, the only kind of white women that would take up with a black man back in the '50s and the '60s was a trashy white woman. . . . the kind of woman that Obama's mama was."

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Pretty disgusting in my opinion. But then there's the example of Wade Williams (pictured above) down in Louisiana who was arrested this morning on a felony terrorizing charge after allegedly calling the Registrar of Voters and warning that he would come to the state office and empty his shotgun unless he got his registration card. Williams told a state official "about needing to vote to 'keep the nigger out of office." Here are more details from The Smoking Gun:

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Though the document does not name the candidate to which Williams is so violently opposed, it seems likely he was referring to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. After being arrested at his Monroe home, Williams was booked into the Ouachita Correctional Center, where the below mug shot was snapped. En route to the jail, he "continued his 'tirade' about niggers and also stated that he had a shotgun, but had it hidden at his residence," reported Lt. Michael Judd.

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In addition to bigotry, what is equally frightening is the GOP's increasing revelry in ignorance and disregard for knowledge and objective facts. Belatedly, even conservative columnist David Brooks of the New York Times has awoken to the horror that today's GOP has become. The Huffington Post has coverage of an interview Brooks had with The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg at New York's Le Cirque restaurant to unveil that magazine's redesign. Here are some highlights of Brooks' comments:

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[Sarah Palin] represents a fatal cancer to the Republican party. When I first started in journalism, I worked at the National Review for Bill Buckley. And Buckley famously said he'd rather be ruled by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone book than by the Harvard faculty. But he didn't think those were the only two options. He thought it was important to have people on the conservative side who celebrated ideas, who celebrated learning. And his whole life was based on that, and that was also true for a lot of the other conservatives in the Reagan era. Reagan had an immense faith in the power of ideas. But there has been a counter, more populist tradition, which is not only to scorn liberal ideas but to scorn ideas entirely. And I'm afraid that Sarah Palin has those prejudices. I think President Bush has those prejudices.

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I truly hope that American voters will realize the importance of blunting the GOP's assault on decency andknowledge and vote to reject McCain/Palin and other GOP Neanderthals at the polls.

Straight Spouse Network Supports National Coming Out Day

Having been previously married for many years, I know all too well the ordeal involved in coming out to one's spouse and family. I also have observed the sense of being cheated that a straight spouse feels at learning that their marriage, while not a sham, was not and never could be what they had hoped and dreamed for. Often, the straight spouse feels that they have been the victim of the gay spouse. This feeling is understandable even if not accurate. On my part, I never had any intention of hurting my ex-wife or causing her unhappiness. With the benefit of hindsight, I believe both spouses are the victims: victims of a homophobic society and a majority religious tradition that forces people like me to try ever so hard to conform and be what they are not. The so-called "ex-gay" programs increase the likelihood of gays trying to be straight and in the process causing hurt and turmoil to the straigth spouse. Sadly, the "ex-gay" programs care nothing about the innocent straight spouses placed in untenable marriages, the sole focus being to maintain the bogus "choice myth." Thus, it is noteworthy that the Straight Spouse Network has come out SUPPORTING National Coming Out Day. Here are highlights from PR Newswire:

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The Human Rights Campaign has declared October 11th as National Coming Out Day. On this day, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community -- and those who love them -- will celebrate the opportunity for them to live openly. A new voice (from what many might think is an unlikely source) has joined in support of this basic human right: the voice of straight spouses -- men and women who have been or are married to LGBT people.

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Why are straight spouses supporting National Coming Out Day? "Many concerns of a straight spouse relate to anti-gay and anti-trans attitudes and behaviors in communities across the country," says Kathy Callori, Executive Director of the Straight Spouse Network. "They, and their children too, are often stigmatized or isolated in social or religious groups. They also fear their LGBT partners will lose their jobs or community status if they come out publicly."

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To end the practice of closeting in marriage, straight spouses have added a heartfelt pitch to Coming Out Day 2008: "Let LGBT persons come out as equals -- a human right." For the same reason, SSN [Straight Spouse Network] as an organization supports same-gender marital unions.

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It is estimated that up to two million gay, lesbian, or bisexual individuals have married or will marry. In addition, an unknown number of transgender persons marry. When they come out, their spouses feel ignored, betrayed, and sexually rejected. Most family members and friends, even professionals and clergy, do not understand their pain or minimize their concerns. Each straight wife or husband must heal the wounds caused by the unexpected disclosure while undergoing their own identity crisis in isolation.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Christian Boot Camp Claims to Cure Gays

One of the big pushes of the Christianist organizations in the USA is to export their anti-gay agenda to Europe where society in general is far more gay accepting. One of the forms of snake oil being used in this effort is to export bogus programs like Focus on the Family's "Love Won Out" and programs put on by Exodus International. Typically, at these events the only "ex-gays" that can be produced by these potentially harmful programs are the salaried "ex-gays for pay" who make their livelihood by deluding themselves and pretending they are now straight. They point to their wives who have bought into the delusion and their children as proof they are "cured." Believe me, being married and having children means absolutely nothing in terms of your true sexual orientation. I've been there and done that and it's a fraud on all concerned.

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In light of the Christianists' effort to export their hate and disinformation abroad, including to the United Kingdom, it is interesting that the London Times did a story on one of the bogus "cure" programs put on by Exodus International. Unlike the typical news coverage, the Times story looks in much more depth at the negatives of the "ex-gay" programs. Would that journalists in the USA had the balls to take on these quacks. Here are some highlights:

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Welcome to ex-gay boot camp. The belief that homosexuality can be overcome has been fuelling controversy in the US for decades. Although research supporting SSA therapy has been discredited, “ex-gay” ministries are expanding worldwide, even in the UK, where a discreet network practises SSA therapy under the umbrella of “Christian counselling”.

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The first full day requires us to pick our classes. I sign up for “Journey Through Lesbianism”, a workshop addressing possible factors contributing to the development of lesbianism. These include, apparently, “unhealthy relationships with family members and peers, abuse, shame and self-hatred”. Loneliness, the media, and being deprived of affection as a baby in a hospital incubator will later be added to the list.

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Some of my classmates are veteran Exodus followers attending the annual conference for a “willpower top-up”, like recovering alcoholics going to AA meetings; others are boot camp virgins. Everyone has paid $600 (£340) for the privilege. . . . Each evening, a roll-call of “former homosexuals” hold up their husbands and wives like kitemarks of their newfound heterosexuality. We are told repeatedly that marriage is evidence of healing. Stereotypes are the ex-gay currency, and the heterosexual ideal is practically ringed by a white picket fence.

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It could be comical were it not for the teenager shaking in the corner, and the man sobbing as he prayed. Excusing herself from a session, Michelle goes to her room and cries. “I don't think I want to willpower right through it,” she confides before going to sleep. “Where's the change in that?” Later I find her surfing the website of the protesters who have been picketing the campus. They are led by Wayne Besen, an ex-gay-camp-attendee-turned-campaigner (an ex-ex-gay, so to speak).

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At one last seminar, “Smooth Transitions: Life after the Conference”, Joe, a Latino man from Miami, speaks proudly of leaving his boyfriend and changing his friends, his address, his job and his gym after leaving his first conference. “It's about doing what's uncomfortable,” he tells the class, describing how he forced himself to watch baseball with macho sportsmen at parties, and to wear looser shorts when walking his chihuahua.

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[T]hey believe that you're born with your religion and choose your sexuality, when that is the opposite of the truth.” One ex-gay leader who has come to the same conclusion is Jeremy Marks. A mild-mannered 56-year-old from Surrey, he pioneered one of the first ex-gay networks in the UK. But after ten years, the attempted suicide of a former resident led him to question the value of SSA therapy. He found that, rather than helping people, it led to depression and dysfunctional behaviour. “They stopped going to church, stopped going to work,” he recalls. “The only ones who appeared to be doing well were those who accepted that they were gay and got on with their lives.”

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Marks is now openly gay and runs Courage, a support group for gay Christians. “Really, what the ex-gay movement is all about is salving the conscience of the Christian leaders who don't like to be accused of homophobia,” he says. “That way they can say ‘we don't hate gays - look how we are welcoming them'.”

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Packing her suitcase, Michelle feels that she has found an answer. “To focus on sex is missing the point,” she says. “It's not about gay or straight. It's about holiness and my relationship with Christ.” She wants to marry but admits that she may never be attracted to men. “Then it means I've been called to singleness.” And lifelong celibacy? “I'm surrendering to God's way.” And she leaves, ready to face a new life in which love and sex are reduced to the sound of elevator music.