No Gays in the Military, But White Supremacists Okay

The recent murder of Boatswain’s Mate Seaman August Provost continues to be an example of the military stonewalling on the release of information since Provot's murder may inadvertently lead to other questions that the military doesn't want to talk about: while it is busy expelling qualified gays, the military has been allowing its ranks to be filled with white supremacists, gang members and felons. As the Navy Times is reporting, at least one member of Congress is angered by the Navy's stonewalling:

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Officials have not identified the suspect, who remained at the Camp Pendleton brig following a confinement hearing Wednesday, said Brian O’Rourke, a spokesman for Navy Region-Southwest in San Diego. No charges had been filed as of Thursday, O’Rourke said, adding that it may be several days before that could take place.

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Navy officials said they don’t believe the shooting was gang- or terror-related. They also continued to dispute rumors that Provost was killed because he was gay, despite contentions raised by several relatives and gay advocacy groups who claim the sailor had been harassed at the unit because he was open about his homosexuality.

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Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., has asked Navy and Marine Corps officials for additional investigations into Provost’s death. Provost “made the selfless and courageous decision to serve his country, regardless of his sexual orientation; he should be treated with honor and respect,” Filner wrote in letters to Defense Secretary Robert Gates; Marine Commandant Gen. James Conway; Col. Nicholas F. Marano, who is Camp Pendleton’s base commander; and Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who chairs the House Armed Services Committee.

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Filner said he was frustrated with a lack of information from the Navy and the Marine Corps, particularly over the suspicion that Provost’s sexuality might be connected to his death, which would raise questions about consequences of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. "They don't want that discussion to take place," he said.

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Meanwhile, Daily Kos has been reporting about the types of undesirables that have been admitted into the armed services even as witch hunts for gay and lesbian service members continue. Here are some highlights:

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In 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC)--a watchdog group that tracks hate groups in American--informed Donald Rumsfled that "thousands" of active duty troops appeared to be affiliated with hate groups in violation of military policy. The problem was acknowledged by some military commanders, recruiters, and the FBI, but nothing was done.

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In a recent article in the military publication Stars and Stripes, writer Kevin Baron discusses the issue:

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Military personnel must reject participation in organizations that espouse supremacist causes," the rule states. "Active participation, such as publicly demonstrating or rallying, fund raising, recruiting and training members, organizing or leading such organizations, or otherwise engaging in activities in relation to such organizations ... that are viewed by command to be detrimental to the good order, discipline, or mission accomplishment of the unit, is incompatible with Military Service, and is, therefore, prohibited." But military officials gave conflicting answers this week when asked how policies governing racist behavior are being enforced.

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The Army spokesman then referred Stripes to the Army’s Criminal Investigation Command for more information. But that office refused to comment on Army policy on hate groups, saying that the issue of extremists infiltrating the ranks was "an Army-wide issue" that should be addressed at the service command level. Conversely, no one in the military seems to be confused about how to apply "Don't Ask Don't Tell," as any of the 619 enlisted men and women kicked out of the military last year for being homosexual can tell you.

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The SPLC describes Newsaxon.com, where several soldiers have profiles, as a community site for white supremacists. Here is a quote from one active duty soldier with a profile under "WhitePride85" at the site: I have been in the Army for over 5 years now ... I am a SSGT ... I have been in Iraq and Kuwait ... I love and will do anything to keep our master race marching. I have been a skinhead forever.

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In 2006, the SPLC documented the neo-Nazi activities of Matt Buschbacher, who became a Navy SEAL: In 1999, he was the head of the [World Church of the Creator] Cincinnati chapter when Chicago member Benjamin Smith went on a three-day, two-state shooting spree that targeted Jews, Asians and blacks. Smith killed two people and wounded nine before committing suicide as police closed in.

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Buschbacher joined the navy in October 2001. In August 2002, while an active duty SEAL, "Buschbacher attended the National Alliance's invitation-only "leadership conference" at the neo-Nazi group's West Virginia compound." What's clear is that for years after becoming a SEAL, he violated military regulations without repercussions by staying active in the neo-Nazi movement.

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Truth be told, in my opinion, DADT remains in place while racists and felons and other undesirables are recruited for one simple reason: many senior military commanders are racists and homophobes themselves. No one wants to admit the extent of the problem because then it would track right up to the highest echelons of the armed forces and people like Admiral Mike Mullen.

Saturday Male Beauty

Endless Palin/Republican Party Insanity

Between Sarah "Bible Spice" Palin and the can't keep in in their pants family values GOP elected officials, today's Republican Party has become the gift that just keeps on giving in terms of daily insanity and hypocrisy, thus providing endless opportunity for commentary. As for, Bible Spice, it seems one her more insane moves -and they are nearly countless in number - was to bad mouth and piss off Levi Johnson, the father or her out of wedlock grandchild. Levi seems poised to do a tell all book that one can only contemplate would be bad news for Palin. Moreover, Johnson seems to surprisingly have Palin's number as noted here from The Mudflats:

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To the surprise of many, Levi Johnston has more than once proved to be the most level-headed person in the room when it comes to many of the trials and tribulations of Sarah Palin and her daughter Bristol. So it’s interesting to hear what he has to say. Remember that Levi says he was living with the Palin family from early December through mid-January. They say he wasn’t. He says he had all his stuff there and slept there. They say he wasn’t living there. He says, yeah…whatever.

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Levi decided to pipe up today and give us the reason he thinks she qui….”stepped down.” According to his attorney Rex Butler, people want to know the real reason, so Levi decided to give his take. So, what does Levi think is the real reason for the resignation? Money. He claims he heard the governor several times say how nice it would be to take advantage of the lucrative deals that were being offered, including a reality show and a book. “I think the big deal was the book. That was millions of dollars,” said Johnston,

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Alaska Dispatch has some other interesting and entertaining analysis of Bible Spice whom the GOP base continue to embrace no matter how crazy she acts - which in and of itself speaks volumes about what has happened to a party that once seemed to value and embrace logic and intelligence. Fortunately, I do not see any way that Palin can ever make herself into a viable national candidate again - she is simply too brainless and hurts herself every time she opens her mouth. Too many Americans have figured out that she is a whack job and is over her head even as mayor of Wasilla. Here are a few highlights from Alaska Dispatch:

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It has been almost a week since Sarah Palin rocked the news cycle by announcing her intention to quit her job as Governor of Alaska. Since then, pundits from Karl Rove on the right to Mark Shields on the left have offered diverse answers to the two questions that every Alaskan has been asking every other Alaskan: Is Sarah Palin really the Whack Job that Tina Fey made her out to be? If she's not, then What Could the Woman Have been Thinking?

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After watching the Friday news conference, Washington Post columnist Michael Gerson said that he thought Sarah "seemed more like a spoiled celebrity than a serious public official." What Gerson got wrong is that Sarah is a spoiled celebrity. But it's not entirely her fault that she's spoiled. Because the media attention that has swirled around Alaska's governor-girl for the past ten months has altered the brain chemistry of a narcissistic personality that somewhere way back along the line was damaged decades previous.

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An Australian friend of mine has theorized that Sarah's odd behavior suggests that she has been afflicted since childhood with Reactive Attachment Disorder, a rare psychological condition that is described in volume four of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Disorders. Many of the symptoms do seem to fit: superficially engaging and charming, lacks cause and effect thinking, inappropriately demanding, engages in lying, lacks a conscience, has poor impulse control, has abnormal speech patterns, etc.

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The Chimperator was a mindless idiot while in office, but Bible Spice manages to make him look fairly stable in comparison.

Wedding At The Founders Inn

UPDATED: I will do another post on the great wedding event. One of the highlights of the event was the boyfriend' unintended fashion statement: he forgot to pack his tux pants and had to wear kacki shorts at the ceremony. Later he borrowed pants and had a more relaxed time at the reception.

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So far the weekend has been busy - last night the boyfriend and I hosted the rehearsal dinner for the wedding of a friend's daughter who is like family to the boyfriend. The bride and groom are remarkable people and met in Liberia, Africa where both are involved in peace keeping work - she as a civilian contractor and he as career military. We had 50 guests at our house from all over the country and some from overseas. The wedding is this evening in the formal garden of the Founders Inn in Virginia Beach next door to Pat Robertson's Christian Broadcasting Network. The Inn (pictured above) was originally developed by Robertson but is now under different management that allows alcohol - the lack of alcohol was killing the restaurants at the Inn financially. Moreover, the bride insisted that the Inn write into her contract that the numerous gay and lesbian couples who will be attending the wedding/reception can dance together. :)

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The gardens behind the Inn are beautiful and have a gorgeous fountain that will be the backdrop for the couple as they take their vows. Naturally, the boyfriend is doing the entire wedding party's hair and we will be attending the reception and spending the night after the festivities. I must admit that the Inn is beautiful, but seeing the CBN broadcast towers next door, one does almost expect to hear some Twighlight Zone like music wafting through the air. It should be an interesting evening as the gays invade the Inn. I will report tomorrow on the experience.

Friday Male Beauty

LGBT Organizations Rebuffed in Prop 8 Suit

In an interesting turn, the American Foundation for Equal Rights - which is backing the Olson-Boies legal team in Perry v. Schwarzenegger which is challenging Proposition 8 and seeking to put the question of marriage equality before the United States Supreme Court - has told a number of LGBT rights organizations who typically see themselves as the arbiters of the struggle for LGBT equality to basically get lost. As you will recall, when the lawsuit was filed by Olson-Boies, Lambda Legal and these others organizations issued a warning that "ill-timed lawsuits could set the fight for marriage back.

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My experience has been that typically these organizations do little for the cause of everyday LGBT citizens even as they constantly solicit donations to "fight for equality." Lambda Legal has provided some limited assistance on occasion in respect to transgender issues and the ACLU's LGBT unit recently assisted in some legal brief writing. I'm sad to say that HRC has been largely worthless to date whenever contacted for support or assistance. The result is that LGBT citizens seeking legal help are largely left to their own devices and may find themselves hard put to even find an attorney who will take their case. Difficulty finding gay friendly legal counsel can be a problem here in the Hampton Roads area and is an extreme problem in more reactionary parts of the state.

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In any event, in the Perry case the American Foundation for Equal Rights sent a letter out to these often self-aggrandizing organizations and told them DO NOT try to intervene in the case. A copy of the letter can be found on Towleroad here. Here are some of the highlights:

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"On behalf of the plaintiffs and our board, donors and supporters, I am writing to ask that you not intervene in Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

"Given our willingness to collaborate with you, and your efforts to undercut this case, we were surprised and disappointed when we became aware of your desire to intervene.
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"You have unrelentingly and unequivocally acted to undermine this case even before it was filed. In light of that, it is inconceivable that you would zealously and effectively litigate this case if you were successful in intervening. Therefore, we will vigorously oppose any motion to intervene."

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Ouch!! Sometimes the truth hurts, but I am pleased that these organizations have been called out. They do not have a monopoly on deciding strategy and dictating how the rest of us are to work to gain full equality for LGBT Americans under the civil laws. As Andy Towle notes, they may now realize that they missed the boat on this lawsuit or are out to sabotage the work of a rival organization:

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It would appear Lambda Legal, National Center for Lesbian Rights and the ACLU LGBT Project are either realizing the case might actually be successful and therefore want to ride its coattails for credit and relevancy, or—depending on your capacity for cynicism—are intentionally dragging down a suit from a rival group working for the same cause.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Study Finds Gay Brains Resemble Those of Opposite Sex

As anyone who is gay will readily admit - except for those who allow religious brainwashing and fear to smother them in self-hate - sexual orientation is not a choice no matter what the Christianists and professional Christians claim. All legitimate medical and mental health associations accept this fact and despite their claims, the "ex-gay ministries" have no statistical data to back up their conversion claims. Indeed, all they have are ex-gays for pay like John Paulk or Michael Johnston who routinely seem to get themselves caught acting anything but "cured.

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"Now, yet another study - this time out of Sweden - appears to again confirm that sexual orientation has a biological basis. Which means that either God f*cked up in creating gays, or we are the way God intended us to be. And, if God is infallible as the Christianists claim, then they ought to embrace gays as God's purpose based creation. No doubt, our enemies will pretend this new study does not exist and continue their campaign of disingenuous lies. Here are some highlights about the new study via Pink News:

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Swedish scientists have suggested that brains of gay people may share similar physical attributes to those of the opposite sex. . . . In this study, Ivanka Savic and Per Lindström, of the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, say they believe the brains of heterosexual men and lesbians are slightly asymmetric, with the right hemisphere larger than the left. However, the brains of gay men and straight women were found to be symmetrical.

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The study, which analysed the brains of 90 subjects through MRI and PET scans, also found that in connectivity of the amygdala (which is used for emotional learning), lesbians resemble straight men, and gay men resemble straight women.

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Last year, another study found that the brains of gay men and women have structural and functional differences from those of their straight counterparts. . . . They found that lesbians have a "male-like" proportion and distribution of grey matter in their brain when compared with heterosexual women.

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How one's brain is structured would seem to be anything but a "choice" to most rational people. But then, the anti-science and anti-knowledge Christianists are not what I'd call rational people under any definition of rational.

Marriage Equality

Our Christianist enemies are constantly depicting gays and same sex marriage as a "threat to the family" even as so-called family values Republicans desecrate their marital vows through affairs and/or serial marriages. Personally, it seems that the Christianists and professional Christians could better use their time working to clean up the heterosexual marriage debacle before they worry about "protecting marriage" from the gays. I'd even go so far as to venture that many gays place a far higher value on marriage than straights since we are deprived the right in most states. One example of this is the recent marriage of fellow blogger Jeremy Hooper of Good As You who I had the privilege of getting to know at the LGBT Blogger Summit last December.

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Jeremy and his partner, Andrew, were married in Connecticut and Jeremy has a wonderful series of photos and video clips on his blog here from the wedding and their honeymoon. I truly wish opponents of same sex marriage would take the time to open their minds and look at the love and emotion so visible in the scenes from Jeremy and Andrew's wedding. No one is harmed. No families are damaged. As Jeremy notes, their wedding represents:

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A celebration of two boys' right to love, peace, and equality. . . No religious freedoms were harmed in the making of these videos. . . . And we take it all home to NYC, where our marriage earns full state-level recognition.

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Congratulations Jeremy and Andrew!!

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I actually know a number of other married gay couples who have traveled to other states or countries to get married. In every case, they seem to place a far higher value on their relationships and marriages than many, many straights who sometimes enter into marriage almost without thinking or without taking the matter seriously enough. The irony is that in states like Virginia marriage is denied to those who truly want it yet given freely to those who take it for granted.

Thursday Male Beauty

Virginia Blog and Roanoke Times Slam Tim Kaine

I have done post concerning the pathetic lack of legal protections available to LGBT Virginians. The Canons of Judicial Conduct which bar judges from being biased against litigants based on their sexual orientation are routinely ignored by far too many judges and not enforced by the Judicial Review Commission. In terms of employment non-discrimination protections, there are none other than Tim Kaine's apparently meaningless Executive Order 1 (2006) that claims to protect state employees. In terms of marriage, we have no rights whatsoever due to an amendment to the Virginia Constitution. In short, we are not even second class citizens here in Virginia. Here is Not Larry Sabato's take on Tim Kaine and Executive Order 1 (2006):

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"A former state employee says he was fired because his boss found out he was gay. When he filed suit, the Circuit Court of the city of Martinsville said that an executive order signed by Gov. Tim Kaine prohibiting such discrimination against state employees provides no legal protection for him."

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This is remarkable on a few different levels. Tim Kaine is head of the executive branch of the state government. Every agency head reports to him. If an employee was fired for being gay, why did Kaine not call the head of that agency into his office and tell them to reinstate the employee or they would be fired? Instead he allows them to defy his executive order- and does nothing about it?

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More importantly- how is someone so indifferent to this kind of absurdity serving as head of the DNC? Does Kaine have any basic beliefs that guide the way he governs? How can he fight to repeal things like DADT if he can't even stop state employees in the Virginia from being fired for being gay?

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The Roanoke Times likewise finds anti-gay employment discrimination ridiculous and calls for legislation to cure this appalling situation:

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Through his spokesman, Kaine said the executive order would remain in effect, but as an internal policy. Workers who are fired or discriminated against because of their sexual orientation can seek redress through the state's personnel procedures, said spokesman Gordon Hickey.

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That's less than adequate. The decision by the Martinsville court should be a convincing sign to the General Assembly that protection against such discrimination must be written into Virginia's code. Only a law will offer genuine confidence to Virginia's gay employees that they won't face irrational threats to their employment based on their sexual orientation.

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Like President Obama, Tim Kaine makes pro-gay statements, but his follow through is largely nonexistent.

"Voices of Honor" Tour to Repeal DADT

The Human Rights Campaign is partnering with Servicemembers United to launch "Voices of Honor: A Generation Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," a national tour highlights the discriminatory law that hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers fighting overseas at risk. Leading the parallel charge in Congress for the repeal of DADT is Rep. Patrick Murphy (D-PA), a former West Point professor and Iraq War vet, the lead sponsor of the repeal legislation . I watched Murphy last night on Rachel Madow's show and he is amazing and has a level of enthusiasm I wish we saw in more of our elected officials in Congress who care more about not being perceived as "rocking the boat" than doing what is right (Glenn Nye, I mean folks like you). Here are highlights from Murphy's statement about the launch of this effort:

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Our president, President Barack Obama, has stated that If Congress can get a bill to his desk repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell, he will sign it into law. It is now our job, and my job specifically, to quarterback this through the Congress of the United States to do just that. I can not tell you today how long it's gonna take. All I can tell ya is that paratroopers don't quit, and paratroopers get the job done. To remove honorable, talented and committed Americans from serving in our military is contrary to the values that our military holds dear."

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"Voices of Honor" will make stops in Philadelphia; Trenton; Virginia Beach; Phoenix; Kansas City, MO; Orlando and Tampa and will feature former Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American soldier injured in Iraq, among others. CNN points out that some of those involved were chosen because they're straight, as outreach to other straight soldiers. It will be interesting to see what coverage, if any, the tour receives from the Hampton Roads MSM media.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Will We See Health Care Reform?

The Republican Party and their lobbyist friends from the health care and pharmaceutical industries are bad mouthing public option health care reform and as is typical lauding the USA for having the best health care in the world - assuming, of course that one is wealthy and has access to Rolls Royce insurance plans. Sadly, most of us do not fall into that category and over 45 million Americans have no health care coverage whatsoever. Meanwhile, the Democrats are acting spineless and may likely screw up the opportunity to make the systemic change that is needed.

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I am passionate about health care reform because health care costs are a major burden on small businesses and families as I know well from experience. Personally, my financial difficulties began when one of my children had bacterial meningitis. Even though we had "good coverage" and Anthem paid out benefits in the six figures, due to co-pays, stop loss and policy limits, our savings were wiped out and it took years to pay off the last of the hospital and doctor bills. My child had a miracle recovery and I'd expend the money again, but in the supposedly most advanced county in the world, citizens should not have to be destroyed financially just to secure needed health care.

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Countering the lies and misstatements of the opponents of systemic health care reform are a number of columns and articles. One is a column by economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times which argues that the public option IS financially possible and notes that France - which is constantly derided by members of the GOP base - has a health care system that covers everyone, offers excellent care and costs barely more than half as much per person as the U.S. system.

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The Congressional Budget Office has looked at the future of American health insurance, and it works. . . . last week the budget office scored the full proposed legislation from the Senate committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP). And the news — which got far less play in the media than the downbeat earlier analysis — was very, very good. Yes, we can reform health care.

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Let me start by pointing out something serious health economists have known all along: on general principles, universal health insurance should be eminently affordable. After all, every other advanced country offers universal coverage, while spending much less on health care than we do. For example, the French health care system covers everyone, offers excellent care and costs barely more than half as much per person as our system.

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And even if we didn’t have this international evidence to reassure us, a look at the U.S. numbers makes it clear that insuring the uninsured shouldn’t cost all that much, for two reasons. First, the uninsured are disproportionately young adults, whose medical costs tend to be relatively low. The big spending is mainly on the elderly, who are already covered by Medicare.

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Second, even now the uninsured receive a considerable (though inadequate) amount of “uncompensated” care, whose costs are passed on to the rest of the population. So the net cost of giving the uninsured explicit coverage is substantially less than it might seem.

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And those who prefer not to buy insurance from the private sector would be able to choose a public plan instead. This would, among other things, bring some real competition to the health insurance market, which is currently a collection of local monopolies and cartels.

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The only question now is whether a combination of persuasion from President Obama, pressure from health reform activists and, one hopes, senators’ own consciences will get the centrists on board — or at least get them to vote for cloture, so that diehard opponents of reform can’t block it with a filibuster.

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This is a historic opportunity — arguably the best opportunity since 1947, when the A.M.A. killed Harry Truman’s health-care dreams. We’re right on the cusp. All it takes is a few more senators, and HELP will be on the way.

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Everyone needs to call their Senators and Congressmen/women and demand that the vote for health care reform.

Massachusetts Challenges Federal DOMA

As the Boston Globe and a number of blogs are reporting, the state of Massachusetts, acting through state Attorney General Martha Coakley (pictured at left) has filed suit in federal court challenging the constitutionality of the Federal Defense of Marriage Act ("DOMA") for its discriminatory impact against against legally married citizens of Massachusetts. As Massachusetts rightly argues, the U. S. Constitution grants equality to all citizens and DOMA amounts to unconstitutional discrimination. I'd go even further and also state that DOMA is an unconstitutional act of discrimination based on religion as well. In fact, in the final analysis when all the other disingenuous arguments are stripped away, ALL of the anti-gay statutes and state constitutional amendments should be struck down as unconstitutional religious based discrimination. Here are highlights from the Boston Globe article:

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Massachusetts, the first state in the nation to legalize gay marriage, has become the first to challenge the constitutionality of a federal law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman, saying Congress intruded into a matter that should be left to individual states.

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"Our familes, our communities, and even our economy have seen the many important benefits that have come from recognizing equal marriage rights and, frankly, no downside," Attorney General Martha Coakley said this afternoon at a news conference announcing the lawsuit. "However, we have also seen how many of our married residents and their families are being hurt by a discriminatory, unprecedented, and, we believe, unconstitutional law."

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The suit filed in US District Court in Boston claims that the Congress, in enacting the DOMA, "overstepped its authority, undermined states' efforts to recognize marriages between same-sex couples, and codified an animus towards gay and lesbian people."

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The lawsuit argues that the DOMA, which was enacted in 1996, precludes same-sex spouses in Massachusetts from a wide range of protections, including federal income tax credits, employment and retirement benefits, health insurance coverage, and Social Security payments. The defendants named in the lawsuit include the US Department of Health and Human Services, the US Department of Veterans Affairs, and the United States itself.

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The lawsuit questions the constitutionality of Section 3 of the law, which defines the word "marriage" for the purpose of federal law as "a legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife." . . . The suit alleges that the law violates the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, which reserves to the states all powers except those granted to the federal government. It also alleges that the law violates Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution, which limits the power of Congress to attach conditions to the receipt of federal funds.

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Coakley noted that the suit is focused on the impact of Section 3 of the DOMA in Massachusetts. Coakley also noted she backs the repeal of the DOMA. "I think everybody would agree that times have changed since 1996," she said.

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Hopefully, the courts will see the merits of the lawsuit and strike down DOMA. I can already hear the disingenuous whining, shrieking and dishonest blathering of the Christianists should Massachusetts be successful in its lawsuit.

Wednesday Male Beauty

McDonnell at 49% and Deeds at 43%

Speaking of Democrat apathy, an early poll in Virginia shows ALL of the top three Democrat candidates trailing their GOP opponents. Yes, it is still early in the campaign, but given Obama's carrying of Virginia by a several hundred thousand vote margin and Mark Warner's huge victory in the U.S. Senate race, this poll ought to be sending off alarm bells and screaming sirens. Bob McDonnell (at left) is a long time puppet of Pat Robertson and water carrier for James Dobson's Virginia affiliate, The Family Foundation, yet he is being allowed to market himself as a "moderate" with to date little or no opposition.

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I believe the race will tighten up markedly - Deeds lost to McDonnell in 2005 by only a few hundred votes for the Attorney General slot - and if history repeats itself, the LGBT vote alone could decide who is the next governor of Virginia. However, neither the Democrats at the national level nor Governor Tim Kaine have given LGBT Virginians any reason to trust their promises of support. Obama and Congressional Democrats have delivered almost nothing. As for Kaine, he signed Executive Order 1 (2006) which allegedly gave employment protections to gay state employees. When a Circuit Court recently said that the Executive Order was basically worthless, Kaine's glib response was that it would be enforced at the executive level. Truth be told, however, Kaine did NOTHING in that case to support his own executive order and its enforcement by his subordinates was nothing less than a joke. The Democrats need to seriously wake up. Here are some highlights from the Richmond Times-Dispatch:

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The latest survey by Public Policy Polling shows Republican Bob McDonnell has the support of 49 percent of those polled, and Democrat R. Creigh Deeds has 43 percent, in the race for governor. The result follows polling right after the June 9 Democratic primary that showed Deeds, a state senator from Bath County, with an edge over McDonnell.

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The new poll also shows Republican Bill Bolling apparently ahead of Democrat Jody Wagner, Virginia's former secretary of finance, 46 percent to 40 percent in the race for lieutenant governor. State Sen. Ken Cuccinelli, R-Fairfax, has 45 percent versus 38 percent for Del. Stephen C. Shannon, D-Fairfax, in the race for attorney general.

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According to Public Policy, McDonnell has picked up more support among independent voters and holds a 54-33 advantage over Deeds in that category. . . . the survey suggests that there is little interest in the race among black voters, or young voters, whom pollsters expect to turn out in lower numbers than last year. The pollster noted that at the same juncture in 2005, Republican Jerry W. Kilgore had a 6-point lead over Democrat Timothy M. Kaine in the race for governor.

Obama's Missing Foot Soldiers

Harold Meyerson has a column in the Washington Post that looks at the Obama administration's apparent failure to mobilize its grass roots supporters via the Internet as it did during the campaign. Since I - and I suspect many other LGBT Americans - have unsubscribed from Obama's Organizing for America in disgust over the non-progress on LGBT issues such as DADT, DOMA and ENDA, I do not know personal knowledge of what is being disseminated. Personally, I believe that Obama's failure to forcefully push for change and use the presidency as a "bully pulpit" has greatly dampened spirits and left many disappointed and not just within the LGBT community. With Virginia elections coming in the fall, I hope the sense of malaise doesn't give a boost to the ultra far right GOP slate lead by Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell who is working hard to cast himself as a moderate when he is in fact anything but. Here are some column highlights:

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If you measure the Obama administration's campaign for health-care reform by its ability to win crucial support from major institutions, things are going swimmingly. . . . But if you measure the administration's campaign by the degree of street heat on legislators to enact a universal plan, the results look far less rosy.

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The problem begins with the administration's inability -- or disinclination -- to use its greatest political asset, the list of 13 million supporters that the Obama presidential campaign amassed last year. In 2008, that list was the wonder of the political world, enabling Barack Obama to run the best-funded campaign in history and to activate more volunteers than any candidate ever had.

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This year, however, the administration has asked far less of that list and received, not surprisingly, far less in return. . . . . "What made the presidential campaign so potent were clear goals and a strategy that made sense to people," says Marshall Ganz, one of liberal America's foremost organizing geniuses (who led training sessions for Obama campaign staffers and volunteers last year). Such goals and strategies are hard to discern today, and the participation of Obama volunteers has declined accordingly.

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the administration's willingness to limit the potential of its army of supporters and the progressive groups' unwillingness to try to create a movement (say, for single-payer health care) that goes beyond the administration's goals have all but ensured that legislators will feel no major pressure for systemic change as Congress crafts national policy.

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Are Obama and the Congressional Democrats throwing away the mandate for change that voters so clearly wanted? It would seem so and much of the problem stems from Obama's desire to play nice with Republicans who hate him rather than work to enact legislation desired by those who supported him.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Saddam Hussein's Rule 'Better' for Gay Iraqis

In yet another story that is a sad testimony on the American occupation of Iraq, the BBC is running a story that looks at the fact that for gay Iraqis, life was far better under Saddam's secular dictatorship than under the puppet government put in place by the Chimperator and Emperor Palpatine Cheney. Indeed, freedom of religion appears to have decreased as Islamic fundamentalists have been unleashed to spread religious based hate and intolerance across the country - providing a glimpse of what Christianist rule would look like in the USA if the Christian Right are not defeated politically. And Bush and Cheney are proud of their "accomplishments"? Here are some story highlights:

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There has been so much news of death and destruction from Iraq that the position of sexual minorities is rarely touched on in the mainstream media. But stories of torture and murder of gay Iraqis, particularly men, have been emerging in the gay press for several years.

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Some say the violence has intensified in the past few months. Others say killings run into the hundreds and have been going on since 2003.

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What is clear, and confirmed by separate evidence from various human rights groups, is that some gay men have been subjected to appalling violent abuse. One young Iraqi, Amil (not his real name) recalled the death of a friend: "They found out he was gay and they killed him and they chopped him like a lamb, it was awful."

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Another man (who wished to remain anonymous) revealed to Scott Long from the New York-based Human Rights Watch, how his partner was kidnapped and killed. . . . "We found his body the next day dumped in the garbage, his throat cut out, his genitals cut off."

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All the LGBT Iraqis interviewed for Gay Life After Saddam maintained that life was easier for them when Saddam Hussein was in power, from 1979 to 2003. Some spoke fondly of an underground gay culture that flourished before the war in Baghdad.

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I am left again pondering whether or not the world might not be better off without religion all together when I read stories such as this one.

The Oldest Known Bible

I have a very hard time understanding fundamentalists and Christianists who maintain - largely out of fear it seems - that the Bible is the so-called inerrant "Word of God." Any student of history knows that the Bible of today is very different from the original texts and indeed, no one will likely ever know its original contents. Rather, what we have in today's text is the result of translation related revisions, misinterpretations and out right deliberate changes made to fit the agenda of church fathers over the centuries. This reality is now all the more self-evident with the availability of the Codex Sinaiticus, the world’s oldest known Bible, online. Here is how the website describes the Codex Sinaiticus:

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Codex Sinaiticus, a manuscript of the Christian Bible written in the middle of the fourth century, contains the earliest complete copy of the Christian New Testament. The hand-written text is in Greek. The New Testament appears in the original vernacular language (koine) and the Old Testament in the version, known as the Septuagint, that was adopted by early Greek-speaking Christians. In the Codex, the text of both the Septuagint and the New Testament has been heavily annotated by a series of early correctors.

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And what can be learned from this anciet document? Quite a bit that will be most unsettling to the professional Christian set and far right Christian extremists. As BBC News reports this document shows many, many differences from the modern Bible (including the King James version, commissioned by King James I of England - who had numerous male lovers - as part of an effort to come up with a text that would lessen the religious infighting withhin the country. Here are some story highlights:

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For those who believe the Bible is the inerrant, unaltered word of God, there will be some very uncomfortable questions to answer. It shows there have been thousands of alterations to today's bible.

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The Codex, probably the oldest Bible we have, also has books which are missing from the Authorised Version that most Christians are familiar with today - and it does not have crucial verses relating to the Resurrection.

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Firstly, the Codex contains two extra books in the New Testament. One is the little-known Shepherd of Hermas, written in Rome in the 2nd Century - the other, the Epistle of Barnabas. This goes out of its way to claim that it was the Jews, not the Romans, who killed Jesus, and is full of anti-Semitic kindling ready to be lit. "His blood be upon us," Barnabas has the Jews cry.

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The Codex - and other early manuscripts - omit some mentions of ascension of Jesus into heaven, and key references to the Resurrection, which the Archbishop of Canterbury has said is essential for Christian belief. Other differences concern how Jesus behaved. In one passage of the Codex, Jesus is said to be "angry" as he healed a leper, whereas the modern text records him as healing with "compassion".

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Also missing is the story of the woman taken in adultery and about to be stoned - until Jesus rebuked the Pharisees (a Jewish sect), inviting anyone without sin to cast the first stone. Nor are there words of forgiveness from the cross. Jesus does not say "Father forgive them for they know not what they do".

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"It should be regarded as a living text, something constantly changing as generation and generation tries to understand the mind of God," says David Parker, a Christian working on digitising the Codex. Others may take it as more evidence that the Bible is the word of man, not God.

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Thus, those who vehemently condemn LGBT individuals and dny us equality citing as justification the "inerrant word of God" do so based on a document that I suspect will increasingly be proved over time to have been written and revised largely by men over the centuries to support certain societal norms of the time and based on tribal bigotry, nationalism, quests for power, and medical and scientific ignorance. Yes, I support the general Gospel message of loving God and loving one's neighbor. Beyond that, however, I believe that it is increasingly risky to act and persecute others based on words in the modern day Bible that may never have existed in the original version.

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H/T Bob Felton.

Tuesday Male Beauty

I Need Convincing

John Aravosis has a post from one of his readers that largely sums up my feelings and emotions to date on Barack Obama and his administration. It's one of disappointment and borderline despair that after being promised change and fooled into believing that Obama actually gave a damn about LGBT Americans - as opposed to merely our money and votes - the real story is that we were suckered and nothing is going to change as we were promised. All in all it is very disheartening and among the activists that I know the level of frustration and unhappiness seems to be growing by leaps and bounds. In truth, if I had a realistic way to leave the USA, I would seriously consider it. Here are some highlights from the America Blog post:

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Recently my partner and I have been growing more and more despondent over the current state of the nation and the direction it is going. We both feel that our votes for Barack Obama, votes we were proud to cast for the very first American of African decent to run for president, were in vain.

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It is almost like what we fought for was not a new progressive century but a return to politics from the 80s and 90s. Gay rights, corporate welfare, lobbyists, universal health care, smart drug law, support for the middle class and their jobs and all the other progressive issues seem to not even be on the table anymore or have been so castrated that they no longer resemble the change we were promised. This is not what my time, effort and money were supposed to do.

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I'm sitting here looking at information I just received from the Danish Consulate stating that I, as well as my partner, qualify for working in and possibly gaining citizenship in Denmark. Please John, Chris, Joe and the others, convince us to stay. Convince us to fight. Convince us that this nation is worth living in now that all of our hopes have been shattered. We love America, we feel great pride for our nation sometimes, but not enough to justify staying here when there are other nations that have gotten the issues so right while we get them so wrong.

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I continue to hope that I will be proven wrong on the apparent false promises of the Obama administration and the Congressional Democrats, yet I remain pessimistic.

Professional Christian Liars

There are those who accuse me of being "too angry" in my treatment of the professional Christian set or the bitter old men in dresses at the Vatican. I will concede that I DO have anger at times for the simple reason that these individuals and organizations knowingly ignore legitimate medical and mental health knowledge on sexual orientation and purposely work to make life a living hell for LGBT citizens. Worse yet, often their true motivation is power and/or money. Two of Jeremy Hooper's recent posts at Good as You illustrate the types of deliberate lies that make my blood boil. The first example involves the efforts of Candi Cushman at Focus on the Family who works diligently every day to spread anti-gay propaganda. Here's how Jeremy describes Ms. Cushman's efforts:

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When it comes to anti-gay advocacy, this writer reserves a special ring of detestation for those who militantly push for yet another generation to be brought up in a homo-hostile world. Because since we all know that acceptance could be an easy, natural instinct if not for the outside intervention of biased guardian, it's particularly disheartening to see those who've chosen to narrowly focus their form of discrimination on those impressionable children who WANT to love and WANT to peacefully accept. And it's absolutely disgusting for me, . . .

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With an unrighteous goal of seizing Anita Bryant's tried and true tired and untrue "gays recruit children" mantra and applying it to modern day, Candi spends her days toiling away at Focus on the Family's Colorado Springs headquarters, devising new and unique ways to mask a very simple idea (namely: "we simply don't care for gay people, so we don't want kids thinking such kinds of humans are okay") behind overwrought language (namely: "we want to protect children"). When there arises a program that's meant to curb school bullying, Candi jumps in to convince folks that it is the "agenda" and not the harassment that is truly unsavory.

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Of course all the legitimate science confirms that no one is "recruited" to have a particular sexual orientation not to mention that one cannot change their homosexuality. The truth simply doesn't matter to folks like Ms. Cushman. Another example of the Christianist dishonesty comes from Family Research Council which regaularly fabricates its own "evidence" and "data" or totally distorts the real facts in order to support its viciously anti-gay agenda. Here's Jeremy's take on that issue:

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Wanna see Family Research Council spinjob in action? Well here, check this out. This is what FRC has to say about a new poll covering New Hampshire governor John Lynch: After Gov. John Lynch (D-N.H.) betrayed voters and signed a same-sex "marriage" bill into law, some pundits suggested that the issue didn't carry the same political risk that it once did. According to a new poll, they couldn't be more wrong. In the aftermath of Lynch's marriage flip-flop, his approval ratings have plummeted.

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[T]he governor, . . . still maintains a 63% approval rating. Now of course that, the key point, is never mentioned by FRC. Instead, they focus solely on his disapproval and unfavorable ratings, which even among Republicans are only at a minority 43% and 42% respectively. And then the big whopper, which is highlighted in the very link to which FRC directs its readers: Same-sex marriage actually had little to no effect on this new poll! The vast majority say it had no effect on their views.

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But yet the FRC writers editorialize that "any politicians who cross voters on marriage do so at their own peril "??! They present same-sex marriage as the key issue? And they, long supporters of the most dreadfully unpopular president in American history, are chastising a governor who still maintains a fairly healthy, bipartisan favorable rating?!

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The truth is that these folks are pathological liars and care nothing whatsoever for the truth. Sadly, the MSM never has the balls to take them on and challenge their lies and instead simply gives them a platform to spew untruths. Exposing liars is not anti-religion and I wish the MSM would wake up to that reality.