More Saturday Male Beauty

LGBT Suicides: Aiyisha Hassan, Age 20

I had not previously seen this story about a 20 year old lesbian (pictured at right) who took her own life earlier in the month. There is no evidence that bullying was a factor, but one cannot help but wonder whether or not all of the propaganda put out by the anti-gay forces played some role. Personally, I believe every member of the LGBT community suffers to one extent or another as a result of the prevailing homophobia in society. The Christianists can disclaim responsibility all they want, but they are the moving force behind the ongoing denigration of LGBT individuals and the principal supporters of anti-gay legislation. One would have to be unconscious not to feel the societal effects of the non-stop attacks coming from NOM, FRC, FOTF, and other organizations that use anti-gay propaganda as one of the largest fund raising tools. Here are highlights from SF Weekly:
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The rash of young gays and lesbians committing suicide has now struck the country's LGBT capital here in the Bay Area: Aiyisha Hassan, a 20-year-old Marin County native who identified as lesbian, killed herself on October 4. Hassan was a former student at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
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According to news reports, Hassan was a part of the university's LGBT student group:
Lauren Morris, 21, a senior at Howard, who lived in the same building as Hassan from 2008-2009, said she introduced Hassan to [the LGBT student group] and added that friends have reported Hassan's suicide was related to her struggles with her sexuality." ''She was having a lot of trouble with a lot of different things,'' Morris says, ''but mainly her sexual identity and just trying to express that.''
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The Rev. Hassan told the Metro Weekly in Washington, D.C. that his daughter, who identified as lesbian, was not the victim of anti-gay bullying.

Chamber of Commerce Groups Leaving the U. S. Chamber of Commerce

Given the U. S. Chamber of Commerce's activism in opposing progressive legislation and support for far right politicians (not to mention its apparent illegal use of foreign funds in U.S. campaigns), a growing number of local and regional chambers are dropping the affiliations with the national group. Think Progress has a story on this growing trend which includes the coverage of the Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce's unhappiness with the national organization. Locally, the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce leaves much to be desired - it seems to be over populated with the old guard and backed Taliban Bob McDonnell for governor last year. And in terms of diversity, based on its leadership it apparently doesn't grasp that LGBT businesses exist and/or ought to be promoted. Here are highlights from Think Progress an the growing defections from the national organization:
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The Greater Mystic Chamber of Commerce in southern Connecticut is currently in discussions about whether to break from the ‘U.S.’ Chamber over disagreements about the national Chamber’s involvement in politics. Chamber Executive Director Tricia Cunningham said her organization, which currently pays dues to the national Chamber, has disagreements over the U.S. Chamber’s use of millions of corporate dollars this election season to lobby and advertise on national issues.
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Tony Sheridan, president and chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut, said his organization broke off its relationship with the U.S. Chamber last year. Sheridan said plainly, “My issue with the national chamber is their willingness to take a very narrow slice of a piece of complicated legislation – and it’s generally the most negative spin they’re taking, like health care, when we all know that the health-care system is broken – and claim that the sky is falling, instead of using the money to educate people.
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Last week, the Greater Hudson Chamber of Commerce in New Hampshire announced it is leaving the U.S. Chamber because it does not want to be associated with the national Chamber’s political ads in favor of Republican candidates. And in Virginia, the local Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce has refused to endorse the political attack ads that the national Chamber is running in its area to defeat Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA).
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The U.S. Chamber also attempts to present itself as an organization the represents mom and pop local businesses. In reality, as the New York Times noted this week, it is funded mostly by a small number of large multi-national corporations. . . . in 2008, the Chamber received the bulk of its donations from only 45 companies, including firms like Goldman Sachs, Edward Jones, Alpha Technologies, Chevron Texaco and Aegon.
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According to the New York Times, other big donors include Dow Chemical ($1.7 million), Prudential Financial ($2 million), News Corporation ($1 million).

LGBT Leaders Unite to Support Patrick Murphy

Pennsylvania Congressman Patrick Murphy is in a challenging re-election campaign and he needs the support of all of this blog's readers in his district. Patrick has been a strong straight ally in the fight to end the legislated religious based bigotry known as Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Would that the LGBT community had more members of Congress - not to mention the White House - with Patrick Murphy's courage on our issues. Again, he has been in the forefront on DADT in particular. I and many of my blogger friends don't agree with Gay, Inc. (think HRC), but we all agree that Patrick Murphy needs to be re-elected. Please give him your vote on November 2, 2010. The following video demonstrates this unusual level of agreement:

Saturday Male Beauty

Gold's Gym Gives Money to Karl Rove Political Organization

I believe that the LGBT community needs to use its considerable purchasing power to punish companies who support anti-gay politicians. A new boycott target has emerged in the form of Gold's Gym - the chain's parent company's CEO has donated $2 million to Karl Rove's toxic "American Crossroads." Less anyone forget, Rove was the architect of Chimperator Bush's anti-gay rhetoric and also encouraged Christianists to get anti-gay initiatives on the ballot in 2004 to bring out the wingnut vote to re-elect the Chimperator. I hope members of the LGBT community will avoid Gold's like the plague and that those who expiring memberships will find a new gym that doesn't endorse anti-gay bigots like Karl Rove. Here are highlights from The Advocate:
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Robert Rowling, the CEO of the company that owns Gold's Gym, has donated more than $2 million to American Crossroads, Karl Rove's organization that works to elect anti-gay politicians, according to website Change.org.
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Among the candidates supported by American Crossroads are Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, who received a 0% rating from the Human Rights Campaign and Nevada GOP Senate candidate Sharron Angle, who endorsed a statement that said there was no evidence to suggest homosexuality was biological and that scientists who argue otherwise are flawed.
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Change.org suggests signing a petition to encourage Gold's Gym to stop supporting anti-gay politicians, which can be done by clicking here.

Lillian McEwen Breaks Her Silence: Justice Clarence Thomas Obsessed with Pornography

As readers have probably figured out, I am no fan of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who, in my opinion, should never have been appointed to the Supreme Court because of his lack of competence and his inability to separate his own claimed religious views from his rulings. Likewise, I find his wife's blatant political activities and financial benefits from anonymous political action donors bordering on shocking - especially given the tradition of judicial spouses avoiding anything that smacks of political partisanship much less things that give the appearance of impropriety. (Two of my former law partners are federal judges, so I know first hand what normal judicial spouse conduct looks like).

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Apparently, Virginia Thomas like many on the far right sees herself as exempt from the rules that govern others. Recently, she even had the audacity to call Anita Hill and ask that Hill bury the hatchet by apologizing to Thomas' husband. Well, now that brazen behavior seems to be biting both Thomas in the ass. Because of Thomas' behavior, Lilian McEwen, a woman well acquainted with Clarence Thomas has loudly said what she was afraid to say 19 years ago about Thomas. In effect, she substantiates Hill's testimony and confirms that Clarence Thomas is a very seamy and warped man. Pay backs can surely be Hell. If Thomas had any integrity, he'd resign from the Court. But, of course he doesn't and will not. Here are highlights from the Washington Post:
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When Anita Hill accused Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his explosive 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing, Thomas vehemently denied the allegations and his handlers cited his steady relationship with another woman in an effort to deflect Hill's allegations. Lillian McEwen was that woman.
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She was never asked to testify, as then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.), who headed the committee, limited witnesses to women who had a "professional relationship" with Thomas.
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Now, she says that Thomas often said inappropriate things about women he met at work -- and that she could have added her voice to the others, but didn't. . . . . She did not want to do anything to harm her career, she added. Plus, she realized, "I don't look good in this."
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News broke that the justice's wife, Virginia Thomas, left a voice mail on Hill's office phone at Brandeis University, seeking an apology -- a request that Hill declined in a statement. After that, McEwen changed her mind and decided to talk about her relationship with Thomas.
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To McEwen, Hill's allegations that Thomas had pressed her for dates and made lurid sexual references rang familiar. . . . . He was obsessed with porn," she said of Thomas, who is now 63. "He would talk about what he had seen in magazines and films, if there was something worth noting."
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According to McEwen, Thomas would also tell her about women he encountered at work. He was partial to women with large breasts, she said. In an instance at work, Thomas was so impressed that he asked one woman her bra size, McEwen recalled him telling her.
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[S]he says, "I know Clarence would not be happy with me." "I have no hostility toward him," McEwen said. "It is just that he has manufactured a different reality over time. That's the problem that he has."

Scott Rigell Suggests Racist Virginia Beach GOP Chair Was Victim of Conspiracy

Christianist/Tea Party subscribing GOP congressional candidate Scott Rigell has strangely suggested that David Bartholomew, the GOP Party chair in Virginia Beach who resigned after being linked to an incredibly bigoted and racist e-mail, was a victim of a conspiracy. A conspiracy apparently aimed at Rigell. The logic - or lack there of - is bizarre, but then far right zealots like Rigell (who is running a stealth campaign modeled on Bob McDonnell's last year) typically live in some alternate universe. Bartholomew, not some secret cabal, sent out the horrid e-mail and when caught provided an utterly lame and unbelievable excuse. That a former GOP party chair had also forwarded another racist e-mail must likewise be to Rigell's thinking part of a conspiracy as well. Here are highlights from Blue Virginia:
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Scott Rigell, who the other day condemned (now former) Virginia Beach Republican Committee chair David Bartholomew for forwarding a racist email. Now, in response to a woman's question about why he let this happen to a "wonderful leader" like Bartholomew, and why this came up now, here's the bizarre, conspiratorial part of Rigell's response (after once again, correctly, stating that with leadership comes responsibility and accountability):
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Now, why it came out the way it came out and when it came out? You understand that. And you know what, the full fabric of our community understands that as well, because I've been in touch with our friends in all parts of our community...they're not fooled by this.
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Yep, it's all a ploy to drive votes from Rigell according to Rigell. While I'm not a strong fan of Democrat incumbent Glenn Nye, Glenn is neither a racist nor a homophobe like Rigell and he certainly is the better man to represent the area in Congress.

American Public: Religion and Churches Responsible for Gay Suicides

I have long been arguing that anti-gay Christianists have blood on their hands for the inflated level of gay teen suicides - and I suspect many unreported suicides of older LGBT individuals as well. Now a new survey by the Public Religion Research Institute indicates that two thirds (2/3) of the American public agree with this premise and lay blame on churches and denominations that demonize gays and homosexuality. Not surprisingly, some of the most vocal anti-gay Christianists - e.g., Maggie Gallagher and the modern day Pharisees at Focus on the Family - are shrieking and whining that they are being unfairly blamed. Interestingly enough, Catholics were the most likely to condemn their church's treatment of gays notwithstanding the Nazi Pope's efforts to blame gays for all kinds of ills and his branding of gays as "inherently disordered." Of course, what people need to do is start voting with their feet and leaving the churches and denominations that continue to peddle anti-gay hatred even thought they are on notice of the deadly consequences it brings. As for LGBT activists, we need to keep tying the death toll around the necks of the Christianists where it properly belongs. Here are highlights from CNN on the survey findings:
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Two out of three Americans believe gay people commit suicide at least partly because of messages coming out of churches and other places of worship, a survey released Thursday found. More than four out of 10 Americans say the message coming out of churches about gay people is negative, and about the same number say those messages contribute "a lot" to negative perceptions of gay and lesbian people.
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Catholics were the most critical of their own churches' messages on homosexuality, while white evangelical Christians gave their churches the highest grades, the survey found.
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Only five out of 100 people gave churches generally an A for their handling of "the issue of homosexuality" in the Public Religion Research Institute survey, while 28 percent said their own church handled it well. One in three people said that messages from places of worship contribute "a lot" to higher rates of suicide among gay and lesbian youth.
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The disingenuousness of the Christianists trying to duck responsibility for the consequences of their constant message of hate is shocking, but not surprising from a group who is typically lying if their lips are moving. America Blog Gay has a great take down of Maggie Gallagher's utter bullshit excuses as to why she bears no responsibility for the recent wave of teen deaths. Here are some highlights:
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Gallagher’s formulation of the argument makes it sound ridiculous. Of course she and her ilk are not directly responsible for the spate of gay suicides, but most gay-rights folk aren’t arguing that -- it’s a straw man. The real charge is that anti-gay rhetoric in politics has a trickle-down effect that reinforces the type of anti-gay attitudes that make life tough for gay teens.
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Opponents of marriage equality -- or of gays serving in the military, for that matter -- like to pretend that their “principled” opposition to gay rights is not borne of the sort of prejudice that makes bullies beat up on gay kids. . . . . But this is what makes anti-gay activists like her so pernicious: They lend prejudice an air of respectability.
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The broader point is that opposition to marriage equality is deeply rooted in prejudice. This prejudice manifests itself in various ways -- in bullying, hateful online comments, and yes, in political opposition to gay rights. While Gallagher is not barging into schools bullying gay kids, she is reinforcing the type of prejudice that leads others to do so.
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At the end of the op-ed, Gallagher says that "each of these kids is a child of God,” and says they need “real help.” But apparently even children of God don’t deserve to be free of bullying in schools.
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Personally, I continue to believe that there's a special place reserved in Hell for Gallagher and her fellow hate-filled Christianists.

Friday Male Beauty

John Roberts’s America - The Buying of Elections

An op-ed in the New York Times looks at the unsettling tidal wave of money - some likely from overseas via the U.S. Chamber of Commerce which is only too happy to sell out American citizens - that has engulfed the political landscape. The reality is that democracy is increasingly for sale to the highest bidder - even if the public doesn't get to know who that bidder might be. The Citizens United decision of the Roberts Court has truly made politics more corrupted by money and some opportunists like Virginia Thomas, Justice Clarence Thomas' wife, no longer even try to appear impartial. With an unknown salary paid by unknown donors, Ms. Thomas has thumbed her nose at the long practice of federal judges and their wives avoiding political activities that give the appearance of impropriety, if not open bias. It's no coincidence that Thomas sided with the majority and opened the flood gates that are now enriching his wife and himself. Here are some column highlights:
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Colorado is ground zero for what’s happening in John Roberts’s America, competing for the dubious distinction of being the top state in the nation for spending by shadowy outside groups telling people how to vote.
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This gusher is courtesy of the 5-to-4 Supreme Court decision in January that allowed unlimited campaign spending by corporations and unions. That was the ruling, which will go down in infamy, where the court said that corporations had the same free speech rights as ordinary citizens.
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The illogic of that logic was always apparent. But now it’s overwhelming, and omnipresent. Your average voter can dash off a letter to the editor, or fire up a blog, or put up a yard sign — a nice fantasy of citizen democracy. Your corporate equal can spend $23 million (the outsider amount spent so far in Colorado) to bludgeon the electorate. And, with loopholes in the tax system, they can do it while making it virtually impossible to know who they are.
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Races in Colorado, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Washington state are being determined on K Street, by insurance, banking and oil industry groups hiding behind innocuous titles like Americans for Prosperity (right-wing billionaire David Koch) and Americans for Job Security (insurance giants), and by public employee unions.
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The court missed the reality of what would happen once the floodgates were opened to the deepest pockets of the biggest players. They turned back a century of fine-tuning the democracy, dating to Teddy Roosevelt’s 1907 curbs, through the Tillman Act, against Gilded Age dominance of elections. They focused on a fantasy.
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Here was the court’s prediction: “The appearance of influence or access will not cause the electorate to lose faith in our democracy.” Really? Perhaps the top complaint this year about the barrage of outside attack ads is that nobody knows who is behind them, which promotes the exact opposite of what the Roberts court predicted.
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As ugly as 2010 has been, the next election cycle, for president in 2012, will bring us a John Roberts’s America that will make this year look like a town hall meeting from a Rockwell painting.

More Disingenuousness Lies from Obama

I think I need a vomit bag. The Liar-in-Chief, the man who is doing all he can to retain DADT in the courts and who has thrown LGBT Americans under the bus repeatedly (and I would argue backed it up a couple of times to run us over again) has recorded a message in the "It Get's Better" project. It truly is enough to make one want to vomit. More words that are 180 degrees the opposite of the man's actions. I can only assume that the Liar-in-Chief must be really worried about the LGBT voter turn out or that he's ticked that Hillary one upped him by wearing purple this past Wednesday. What else could have made him stoop to this sleazy ploy other than an effort to dupe our community to voting for his lame fellow Democrats? Mr. Obama, your actions tell us what you really think about the LGBT community and gay teens. Andy Towle sums up the situation nicely:
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President Obama, as long as the actions of your administration continue to tell LGBT people that they are less than equal citizens, that they do not deserve to marry the person that they love, that they do not deserve to serve openly in the U.S. military, that they can still be fired from jobs because of who they are, how can you promise these kids that "it gets better?"
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Every day that DADT and DOMA remain the law of the land gay teens are given a powerful message that it doesn't get better. Indeed, each set back of the end of DADT may well be the straw that puts some member of the LGBT community over the edge where they give up on hope for the change Obama promised but has totally failed to deliver. NOTE: I have NOT put the video of the Liar-in-Chief in this post because I do not want to give the bastard a platform for his lies.

Local Cutie, Erik Odom Lands Role in Twilight Series

A local guy from Norfolk, Erik Odom, has landed the role of the nomadic vampire Peter in "Breaking Dawn," part of the Twilight movie series. It's nice to see a young person's dreams come true and this role obviously could open some important doors. I'll even overlook the fact that Odom went to Virginia Tech, UVA's arch rival. I will confess that I like Twilight and pretty much everything else in the vampire vein be it :True Blood" or Ann Rice's "Vampire Chronicles." Here are highlights from the Virginian Pilot:
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A few days ago, Maury High graduate Erik Odom was delivering gourmet foods for an outfit called Yummy in the Hollywood Hills. A good day included a $50 tip.
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Now, Odom, 24, is one of the newest cast members of the wildly popular "Twilight " movies. The former Norfolk resident landed the role of the nomadic vampire Peter in "Breaking Dawn," the two-part treatment that will complete the big-screen adaptation of the best-selling vampire novels.
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Odom graduated from Maury in 2004 and was captain of the cross-country team. He spent four years at Virginia Tech, where he earned a degree in exercise science and nutrition.
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Odom won the role at an open audition. He met Thursday with a potential agent, one of many who have shown up in the past several days. "Suddenly," he's getting offers from everywhere," his father said. "Whereas, there was nothing a few weeks ago."

Final Thursday Male Beauty

New Guidance on DADT: Discharges to Require Higher Approval

Given the recent yo-yo like events involving DADT , the bigots at DOD and within the senior ranks of the fossilized U.S. military are acting in some ways as if they have whiplash. Long term, however, despite that actions and betrayals of the Obama administration, DOD does seem to realize that history (or is it changing voter demographics?) is NOT on their side. Perhaps seeing the long term hand writing on the wall DOD has announced that it is issuing new regulations on the application and administration of the religious based discriminatory policy known as DADT. Metro Weekly has coverage - here are some highlights:
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Discharges under the military's ''Don't Ask, Don't Tell'' policy will now take the approval of the service branch secretary, and only in consultation with the defense department general counsel and the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, according to a pair of memoranda issued by senior military leadership today.
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Until further notice, pursuant to a memorandum from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and a follow-up memorandum from Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Clifford Stanley, no service member can be discharged under DADT without the ''personal approval of the secretary of the military department concerned, and only in coordination with me and the General Counsel of the Department of Defense.''
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We are clearly in a legally uncertain territory.''. . . .When asked if the ''coordination'' required would allow Johnson or Stanley to effectively ''veto'' the decision of a service secretary, the lawyer said that that is not the case. He said that the purpose of the change was ''to ensure greater uniformity and care in the enforcement of the law.'' He also noted it was ''not a substantive change in the decision making'' involved in the enforcement of DADT.
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Until such time as DADT is repealed and thrown n the trash heap of history, the USA and the U. S. Constitution's promise of equality and religious freedom for all will be nothing less than an complete farce and as phony as the myths supported by the old Soviet Union. Comrade Obama has - in my view - about as much reliability for veracity as Leonid Brezhnev and the old Soviet Politburo.

Dan Choi: I Won’t Vote for Obama

I suspect that Dan Choi's statement that he will not vote for Barack Obama in the future is resonating with many in the LGBT community. Indeed, give the manner in which Obama. a/k/a Liar -in-Chief, has alienated many elements of the Democratic Party base, I'm sure Obama is praying that the GOP nominates a true far right nutcase for its presidential candidate. Personally, I am 100% in agreement with Dan Choi - who I have had the privilege to speak with one on one in the past - and I believe that the lies and betrayals of the Obama administration have passed the point where anyone who hasn't had a lobotomy or hasn't been diagnosed as insane can in good conscience support him. Time and time again when given a choice, Obama has thrown LGBT citizens under the bus and sided with the gay haters like Rick Warren, and similar Christianists. Here are highlights from The Advocate:
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This week’s back-and-forth on the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy has made an angry man out of Lt. Dan Choi, who said Thursday on CNN that President Obama has lost his vote.
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“I have a message for Valerie Jarrett and all those politicians in the White House. You have lost my trust, and I am not going to vote for Barack Obama after what he did yesterday,” Choi said.

KKK Grand Wizard David Duke Defends The "Whiteness" Of The Tea Party Movement

I have long maintained that the Tea Party, in addition to be an arm of the theocratic Christianist movement, is strongly racist in its agenda. It's one of the reasons that the recent racism eruption in the Virginia Beach GOP is noteworthy since GOP candidate Scott Rigell has signed onto the Tea Party agenda. Not to mention that he's a Pat Robertson Kool-Aid drinking Christofascist. Now, David Duke - yes, that David Duke who has held the position of Imperial Wizard of the Klu Klux Klan - has come out in defense of the Tea Party and its "whiteness." Truth be told, anyone who is not white, straight, conservative Christian is not welcome in the USA as envisioned by the Tea Party. For LGBT Americans the only consolation is that we are but one of many minority groups hated and loathed by the Tea Party crowd. Joe By God has these highlights:
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Former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and white supremacist David Duke thinks it's ridiculous to criticize the Tea Party for being so white. Completely unrelated (yeah, right) is today's report from the NAACP that ties the Tea Party to several white nationalist groups. According to Duke, Zionists are trying to wrestle the Tea Party away from its rightful white founders. . . . Let's hope he [Duke] gets his wish and the national media ties this Grand Wizard around their necks.
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This video displays Duke's disingenuous bullshit:
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Thursday Male Beauty

Reactions to DADT Stay Continue - All Are Anti-Obama

I have already vented a small amount of my anger at the Liar-in-Chief's resurrection of DADT via a 9th Circuit Court of Appeals stay of the injunction entered in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States. I am hardly the only one infuriated by Obama's non-stop betrayals of LGBT Americans. When it comes to LGBT issues, if Obama's lips are moving, it's a pretty good bet that he's lying - again. GetEQUAL plans demonstrations at the Liar-in-Chief's appearance today at the University of Washington in Washington State. Frankly, given Obama's constant betrayals, I believe that wherever and whenever possible LGBT protesters need to greet him and cause as much disturbance and embarrassment as possible. Here are details on the protest:
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WHAT: Protest of President Obama to demand that he show leadership and end Don't Ask Don't Tell
WHEN: Thursday, October 21, 2010 from 10am - 12:30pm (PST)
WHERE: University of Washington Hec Edmundson Pavilion, in the plaza just outside the Pavilion
WHO: GetEQUAL and local Washigton state activists
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Robin McGehee, co-founder and director of GetEQUAL, issued the following statement on last evening's temporary stay granted by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals against the temporary injunction on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" entered by Judge Phillips:
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This temporary stay, sought by President Obama's Department of Justice, bring the military's discriminatory 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law back from the dead. It is a travesty that after numerous attempts, President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder will go down in history as the Administration that breathed life back into 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell.' The lives and careers of openly gay and lesbian servicemembers are now back in the crosshairs of our government and a renewed commitment to discrimination falls squarely in the hands of this White House
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Other reactions to Obama's latest treachery are as follows:
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Log Cabin Republicans: "Today the President Obama and his attorneys have prolonged the injustice that is 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' at the expense of the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian servicemembers," said R. Clarke Cooper, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. "For over eight days the armed forces have not only survived but thrived without the burden of this failed policy. It is disappointing the Obama administration has forced the military into a see-saw of 'on-again, off-again' enforcement of a law which remains an unnecessary distraction for military commanders and their subordinates."
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"While we are disappointed with the court's ruling granting a temporary administrative stay, we view the decision as nothing more than a minor setback," said Dan Woods, White & Case partner who is representing Log Cabin Republicans in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America. "We didn't come this far to quit now, and we expect that once the Ninth Circuit has received and considered full briefing on the government's application for a stay, it will deny that application, and the district court's injunction, which it entered after hearing all the evidence in the case, will remain in place until the appeal is finally decided."
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The Palm Center: In a filing to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today, government lawyers reiterated unsubstantiated assertions that last week's suspension of "don't ask, don't tell" is harming the military. According to government lawyers, "implementing an immediate change to this longstanding statutory policy without providing proper training and guidance would be disruptive to military commanders and to servicemembers as they carry out their mission and military responsibilities, especially in active combat." Defense Secretary Robert Gates first articulated this claim when he said last week that the suspension of the ban would "have enormous consequences for our troops."

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Palm Center scholars respectfully request that the Pentagon document any evidence of any negative consequence that has resulted from the past 200 hours during which gays and lesbians have been allowed to serve openly.
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Aaron Belkin, Director of the Palm Center: "The RAND Corporation found seventeen years ago that the best path to allowing open gay service would be to swiftly end the policy and make a clear statement to all branches of the military. The more the courts and politicians treat ending 'don't ask, don't tell' as a vast upheaval of existing policy requiring months of preparation, the further they deviate from the course that has been shown to be best for our service members."
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ACLU: James Esseks, Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project: "We are disappointed that the appeals court has allowed this unconstitutional and discriminatory policy to continue for even one more day, despite the district court's order to stop enforcement. 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' has compromised the effectiveness of our military for far too long. We urge the DOJ to drop its efforts to appeal, and to let stand Judge Phillips' order banning the policy."
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No statement has been issued by Obama's BFF Rick Warren, but no doubt Warren applauds the action of the 9th Circuit. I'm sure Elaine Donnelly and Tony Perkins are rejoicing as well. It's sad that Obama now apparently seems more concerned in pleasing the Christofascists rather than those who put him in office. I will never respect the man again. Indeed, we I to meet the man, it would be an effort for me to remain civil.

Virginia Again Gains Negative News Coverage Over Flawed Textbook

UPDATE: The negative national publicity apparently is causing Virginia to belatedly look at its flawed textbook approval process. Years ago I served on the standards of learning committee for social studies/history and it drove me crazy that non-historians and non-history majors had input on subjects on which they knew nothing. Some things have not changed. The Virginian Pilot has more coverage here.
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The folks in Richmond - i.e., Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell, Ken "Kookinelli" Cuccinelli and their appointees - just do not seem to be to keep Virginia out of the news. Once again the state is being depicted as backward and racist in its worship and rewriting of of the history of the Civil War. These guys are the veritable gang that can't shoot straight. Now, the media is having a field day over a 4th grade history text book, Our Virginia, by a non-historian that would have readers believe that there were thousands of black soldiers that fought for the Confederacy. It's not true, but when do the Christianists and far right elements ever worry about actual facts and accurate history. To them, school curriculum is to be warped and shaped into propaganda vehicles to push their own causes and distorted beliefs. In this case, the myth being pushed is that the Civil War was not principally over slavery and that even blacks supported the slave owning society. Among media outlets covering the revisionist history story are the Washington Post, the Virginian Pilot and Salon - and none of the coverage is positive. Here are highlights from the Post which launched the coverage:
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In its short lesson on the roles that whites, African Americans and Indians played in the Civil War, "Our Virginia" says, "Thousands of Southern blacks fought in the Confederate ranks, including two black battalions under the command of Stonewall Jackson."
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Historians from across the country, however, said the sentence about Confederate soldiers was wrong or, at the least, overdrawn. They expressed concerns not only over its accuracy but over the implications of publishing an assertion so closely linked to revisionist Confederate history.
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"It's more than just an arcane, off-the-wall problem," said David Blight, a professor at Yale University. "This isn't just about the legitimacy of the Confederacy, it's about the legitimacy of the emancipation itself."
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Pulitzer Prize-winning historian James McPherson of Princeton University said, "These Confederate heritage groups have been making this claim for years as a way of purging their cause of its association with slavery."
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The book also survived the Education Department's vetting and was ruled "accurate and unbiased" by a committee of content specialists and teachers. Five Ponds Press has published 14 books that are used in the Virginia public school system, all of them written by Masoff.
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As a history major, I have to shudder and wonder about what types of loonies are being appointed to the State Board of Education by Taliban Bob. No doubt all of the vetting of appointees has been turned over to the Christofascsists and closet racists at The Family Foundation.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Maggie Gallagher Tries to Dodge Her Responsibility for Gay Teen Suicides

First the Washington Post gave op-ed space to gay-hating, racist, Klu Klux Klan loving Tony Perkins of Family Research Council, now the New York Post (admittedly a far more conservative publication) has given op-ed space to Maggie Gallagher, a parasite ranking in money from her anti-gay bigotry, so that she can try to deny any shred of responsibility for the recent wave of gay teen suicides which is still continuing. Never mind that Ms. Gallagher and her fellow hate mongers describe LGBT citizens and legal recognition of our relationships as a threat to civilization. Oh, and never mind that she and her minions accuse us gays of preying on children. Or that she and her Christianist allies describe us as disease ridden, and seek to keep us third class citizens under the civil laws forever. According to Ms. Gallagher such hate and bigotry and her own foul contribution to and promotion of it simply can't possibly have any connection to creating an atmosphere in which gay youth would see suicide as their best option. Dan Aykroyd used to address Jane Curtin as "Jane you ignorant slut" on SNL. The same salutation applies to Ms. Gallagher except the phrase should be modified to read "Maggie, you lying, abhorrent ignorant slut." Here's a brief sampling of Ms. Gallagher's disingenuous and insincere lies:
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Do I have blood on my hands? Major gay-rights groups are saying so. Each of us who opposes gay mar riage, they say, is responsible for the terrible and tragic suicides of gay teens that recently hit the news.
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San Francisco just filed a brief in the Prop 8 case, saying 7 million Californians who voted to protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman are responsible for high rates of suicide among gay people.
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Evan Wolfson, one of the leading architects of the gay marriage movement, calls me out personally: "National Organization for Marriage Chairman Maggie Gallagher is among those who, with reckless disregard, attacks LGBT youth."
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Apparently, either we all agree that gay marriage is good or gay children will die. It's a horrific charge to levy in response to some pretty horrifying stories. Will gay marriage really reduce or prevent gay teen suicide? I felt a moral obligation to find out.
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Forced sex, childhood sexual abuse, dating violence, early unwed pregnancy, substance abuse -- could these be a more important factor in the increased suicide risk of LGBT high schoolers than anything people like me ever said?
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The deeper you look, the more you see kids who are generally unprotected in horrifying ways that make it hard to believe -- if you are really focusing on these kids' well-being -- that gay marriage is the answer.
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Note, that according to Maggie Gallagher, everyone and everything other that the hate she peddles - and utilizes to enrich herself - is the cause of gay teen suicides. The woman is beyond foul and, if there is a Hell, she's no doubt has a reserved space with her name on it.

Obama Throws LGBT Americans Under the Bus AGAIN - 9th Circuit Stays DADT Injunction

With a supposed "friend" and "fierce advocate like Barack Obama, a/k/a the Liar-in-Chief on this blog, who needs an enemy. The Liar-in-Chief claims to support the repeal of DADT - not that one would know it from his actions. Other than insincere and disingenuous lip service, the Liar-in-Chief has (1) done everything possible to maintain the religious based discriminatory policy against LGBT Americans and (2) brown nosed Republican Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and the fossils in the senior military brass that it's amazing he hasn't suffocated. Now, Obama's DOJ has secured a stay from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals that blocks Judge Virginia Phillips' injunction that bars the discharge of LGBT service members under DADT. That's right, thanks to our "fierce advocate," anti-gay discrimination is once again the law of the land in terms of the U. S. military. Seriously, any one in the LGBT community who believes anything this president says has either been living under a rock or drinking some of the Christianist style Kool-Aid. Talking Points Memo has this:
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The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has lifted the injunction imposed by a district court that prevented the Pentagon from enforcing Don't Ask Don't Tell. This keeps the status quo in place while the case is on appeal.
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The one page order reads simply:
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This court has received appellant's emergency motion to stay the district court's October 12, 2010 order pending appeal. The order is stayed temporarily in order to provide this court with an opportunity to consider fully the issues presented. Appellee may file an opposition to the motion for a stay pending appeal by October 25, 2010. To expedite consideration of the motion, no reply shall be filed.

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I truly hope that the 9th Circuit lifts its temporary stay. Meanwhile, the words contempt and disgust best describe my feeling toward the Liar-in-Chief. I increasingly hope his is a one term president and that history views him as a failed president. He has certainly utterly betrayed millions who elected him. As readers know, I do not readily countenance liars.

Another Gay University Student Dead by Suicide - Meanwhile Gene Robinson Goes on Offensive Against Anti-Gay Churches

Sadly, the wave of gay teen suicides seems to be continuing. The Michigan Messenger is reporting that the body of 19-year-old Corey Jackson (shown at left), a student at Oakland University, was found in a wooded area of the campus. The local police and the medical examiner’s office have advised that the young gay man hung himself. So far bullying does not seem to have been a factor. But candidly, living in much of the USA as an LGBT citizen is in and of itself a constant case of being subjected to bullying: by many churches, the U.S. government - think DADT which has been at least temporarily reinstated at the request of the Liar-in-Chief, DOMA and other laws that are daily reminders of inferior status - local governments and of course much of the media. While some religious denominations are becoming more LGBT accepting, their silence in challenging the hate emanating from other denominations is deafening. Here are highlights from this latest suicide:
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The suicide happened Tuesday night, as activists across the nation were preparing for a Facebook driven day of activism to counter a wave of suicides of young gay people across the country that have been tied to bullying. Wednesday was dubbed Spirit Day by the Facebook plans, and was designed to draw attention to the suicides by encouraging people to wear purple. Police say there is no indication bullying was a factor in Jackson’s suicide.
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And while bullying may not be a factor, Melissa Pope, director of the university’s Gender and Sexuality Center said the issue points to larger, hidden epidemic of suicides among LGBT youth.
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We must look beyond the term “bullying” to the overall treatment of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community to begin to grasp the long-standing epidemic of suicide among our LGBT youth.
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While the national press has picked up this issue over the last two months, we have been losing high numbers of LGBT youth to suicide for decades. In recent years, we’ve labeled the cause as bullying. But the root cause goes deeper – it goes to the very core of our society that discriminates against the LGBT community on all levels, including the denial of basic human rights that are supposed to belong to every person.
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Ms. Pope is 100% on point in her remarks and the reality is that one force motivates all of the anti-gay bigotry faced by so many of us on a daily basis: RELIGIOUS BASED BIGOTRY. While the ELCA, the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ and others are gay accepting. But out of professional courtesy or whatever one might call it, they fail to loudly and openly condemn the modern day Pharisee elements of Christianity. At least until today when Bishop Gene Robinson went expressly after the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormon Church and the Southern Baptist Convention. Christs as reported in the Bible (for what that's worth) did not hold back in condemning the Pharisees. Would that more real followers of Christ would emulate Bishop Robinson:

Wednesday Male Beauty

Has Obama Abandoned Young Voters?

The British publication, the Economist, raises the question of whether or not Obama, a/k/a the Liar-in-Chief, has decided to jettison younger voters. The case is made in part based upon Obama's ongoing efforts to retain DADT even as he lies through his teeth and does all in his power to claim he's against DADT. It seems younger voters care more about actions than insincere statements. The issue of the likely legalization of marijuana in California will also provide a wedge since the feds under Obama are saying that they will continue to prosecute marijuana use even if California decriminalizes possession for personal use. To me, it's all symptomatic of the fact that progressives and the youth vote all got suckered by team Obama. Instead of electing a leader, we elected a follower. Likewise, we elected someone who puts his own religious views over the U. S. Constitution. Given that the GOP is going out of its way to alienate younger voters, one has to wonder whether these newer voters will simply give up on politics. Here are some highlights:
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IN A letter to ex-DEA chiefs, Attorney-General Eric Holder said the Obama Department of Justice stands in stout opposition to efforts in California to legalise marijuana use and will continue to prosecute the drug war in the Golden State no matter the outcome of the upcoming vote on California's Proposition 19, . . .
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The politics of pot legalisation must be tricky for the Obama administration. . . . Earlier this week, Mr Obama looked to stoke the sputtering embers of his fresh-faced supporters' formerly flaming political infatuation at a "Town Hall" media event staged at George Washington University in Washington, DC. But far from basking in the warmth of the students' once fawning admiration, the kids put him on his heels. The New York Times reports: President Obama was put on the defensive on issues including the economy, gay rights and race relations during a televised town-hall-style forum on Thursday that captured the disillusionment taking root among younger voters who were a significant force in his election.
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Defending status-quo policy on gays in the military or the drug war is bound to alienate many of Mr Obama's most enthusiastic young supporters. . . . . The stances that would help Mr Obama consolidate support among especially young or especially liberal voters also risk scaring off older voters and capricious independents, and it's clear which tack the White House is taking. Either way, he may be in trouble.
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Were the Republicans to nominate a sane and rational presidential candidate in 2012, Obama could well be toast. Probably the only thing that may save him is the unlikelihood of a moderate and rational GOP nominee give the GOP base's continued movement to the world of the untethered and insane.

The GOP's and Tea Party's Embrace of Ignorance

Once being intelligent was something that one would strive for and before making public statements or entering into a debate one would try to read up on the issues. Not anymore in today's GOP and its Tea Party offshoot. Indeed, the dumber and more ignorant one is, the more the GOP base and the disaffected loons in the Tea Party are likely to swear allegiance and give out adulation. This rejection of knowledge and objective facts is indeed frightening, but perhaps not surprising since the GOP has become more and more a sectarian party dominated by conservative Christians, Catholics and Mormons who cling to 12th century knowledge and do everything short of advocating that the world is flat and that the sun orbits the earth. WTF happened to the once intellectual leaning party known for the educated country club Republican? Maureen Dowd has a column in the New York Times that looks at this scary phenomenon which shows no signs of abating. As the rest of the world moves into the 21st century, American seems Hell bent to return to the Middle Ages intellectually. Here are some highlights:
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Palin, has made ignorance fashionable.

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You struggle to name Supreme Court cases, newspapers you read and even founding fathers you admire? No problem. You endorse a candidate for the Pennsylvania Senate seat who is the nominee in West Virginia? Oh, well.
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At least you’re not one of those “spineless” elites with an Ivy League education, like President Obama, who can’t feel anything. It’s news to Christine O’Donnell that the Constitution guarantees separation of church and state. It’s news to Joe Miller, whose guards handcuffed a journalist, and to Carl Paladino, who threatened The New York Post’s Fred Dicker, that the First Amendment exists, even in Tea Party Land. Michele Bachmann calls Smoot-Hawley Hoot-Smalley.
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Sharron Angle sank to new lows of obliviousness when she told a classroom of Hispanic kids in Las Vegas: “Some of you look a little more Asian to me.”
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On Saturday, at a G.O.P. rally in Anaheim, Calif., Palin mockingly noted that you won’t find her invoking Mao or Saul Alinsky. She says she believes in American exceptionalism. But when it comes to the people running the country, exceptionalism is suspect; leaders should be — as Palin, O’Donnell and Angle keep saying — just like you.
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In Marilyn[Monroe]'s America, there were aspirations. The studios tackled literary novels rather than one-liners like “He’s Just Not That Into You” and navel-gazing drivel like “Eat Pray Love.” Walt Disney’s “Fantasia” paired cartoon characters with famous composers. Even Bugs Bunny did Wagner.
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But in Sarah’s America, we’ve refudiated all that.

Young Adults Are Walking Away From Church

I have said numerous times that the toxic anti-gay bigotry, latent racism and general un-Christian behavior of conservative and evangelical Christians is driving younger adults away from organized religion entirely. Now, Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard University, and David E. Campbell, a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame, have a piece in the Los Angeles Times that documents how it is in large part the Christianists themselves and their toxic far right politics that are fueling the exodus. And candidly, I do not blame these younger adults whatsoever for their choice to leave churches that seem to only market hatred of others and act in a manner that makes the Pharisees of the Bible seem down right loving in comparison. The irony, of course, is that it is the professional Christians like the late Jerry Falwell and "family values" organizations that are hastening Christianity's decline - even as they try to blame their handiwork on others or on secular humanism. Here are some highlights:
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The most rapidly growing religious category today is composed of those Americans who say they have no religious affiliation. While middle-aged and older Americans continue to embrace organized religion, rapidly increasing numbers of young people are rejecting it.
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As recently as 1990, all but 7% of Americans claimed a religious affiliation, a figure that had held constant for decades. Today, 17% of Americans say they have no religion, and these new "nones" are very heavily concentrated among Americans who have come of age since 1990. Between 25% and 30% of twentysomethings today say they have no religious affiliation — roughly four times higher than in any previous generation.
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So, why this sudden jump in youthful disaffection from organized religion? The surprising answer, according to a mounting body of evidence, is politics. Very few of these new "nones" actually call themselves atheists, and many have rather conventional beliefs about God and theology. But they have been alienated from organized religion by its increasingly conservative politics.
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[A]fter 1980, both churchgoing progressives and secular conservatives became rarer and rarer. Some Americans brought their religion and their politics into alignment by adjusting their political views to their religious faith. But, surprisingly, more of them adjusted their religion to fit their politics.
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Throughout the 1990s and into the new century, the increasingly prominent association between religion and conservative politics provoked a backlash among moderates and progressives, many of whom had previously considered themselves religious. The fraction of Americans who agreed "strongly" that religious leaders should not try to influence government decisions nearly doubled from 22% in 1991 to 38% in 2008, and the fraction who insisted that religious leaders should not try to influence how people vote rose to 45% from 30%. This backlash was especially forceful among youth coming of age in the 1990s and just forming their views about religion.
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[A] majority of the Millennial generation was liberal on most social issues, and above all, on homosexuality. The fraction of twentysomethings who said that homosexual relations were "always" or "almost always" wrong plummeted from about 75% in 1990 to about 40% in 2008. (Ironically, in polling, Millennials are actually more uneasy about abortion than their parents.)
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Just as this generation moved to the left on most social issues — above all, homosexuality — many prominent religious leaders moved to the right, using the issue of same-sex marriage to mobilize electoral support for conservative Republicans. In the short run, this tactic worked to increase GOP turnout, but the subsequent backlash undermined sympathy for religion among many young moderates and progressives. Increasingly, young people saw religion as intolerant, hypocritical, judgmental and homophobic. If being religious entailed political conservatism, they concluded, religion was not for them.
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[H]abits formed in early adulthood tend to harden over time. So if more than one-quarter of today's young people are setting off in adult life with no religious identification, compared with about one-20th of previous generations, the prospects for religious observance in the coming decades are substantially diminished.
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Evangelical Protestantism, which saw dramatic growth in the 1970s and 1980s, has been hit hard by this more recent development. From the early 1970s to the late 1980s the fraction of Americans age 18 to 29 who identified with evangelical Protestantism rose to 25% from 20%, but since 1990, that fraction has fallen back to about 17%. Meanwhile, the proportion of young Americans who have no religious affiliation at all rose from just over 10% as late as 1990 to its current proportion of about 27%.
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Continuing to sound the trumpet for conservative social policy on issues such as homosexuality may or may not be the right thing to do from a theological point of view, but it is likely to mean saving fewer souls.
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Based on my own children and their friends, I believe that these findings ARE on target. Yes, their generation continues to hold religious and spiritual beliefs. But they do so without affiliation with any institutional church and they shun the message of Falwell, Robertson, Benedict XVI, Dobson, Perkins, et al, who they regard as the antithesis of what Christians should be.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Curing 'Homosexualism' In Belgrade - The Christian Right's Next "Expert"?

Radio Free Europe has a story on the anti-gay batshitery being disseminated by a charlatan, non-medical doctor named Mirojlub Petrovic (pictured at right) in Belgrade, Serbia, who claims he can "cure" homosexuality. This whack job also believes that gays should be given the choice of "changing" or receiving the death penalty. I can only presume that in short order the folks at Liberty University and Liberty Counsel, not to mention Alliance Defense Fund, NOM, et al, will soon be wanting to trot out Mr. Petrovic as an expert witness in court cases and fraudulent anti-gay propaganda pieces. Who knows, perhaps the Vatican will retain him as an "expert" as well. The insanity of these homophobes is truly off the charts. It never ceases to dismay me that to these individuals we gays - and I suspect others - are not even viewed as human. Oh, and did I mention that Petrovic believes in theocracy as opposed to democracy? Here are some highlights:
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Petrovic is not a doctor, however, as has been reported in Serbian and some foreign media. He has a bachelor's of science certificate from an American outfit calling itself the International Institute of Original Medicine, which offers students the chance to become a "Certified Medical Missionary in Original Medicine."
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How does Petrovic and his team ("me and my friends," as he describes them) claim to cure homosexuality? Quite simply: Patients must cut out junk food from their diet, "drink a lot of water," "reject anything that is diarrhetic, alcohol, caffeine," engage in "physical activity," "rest [at] appropriate times." Plus, one "must think about good things." Oh, and receive regular enemas.
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In Petrovic's eyes, he isn't just curing gays of an affliction; he's saving them from a possible death sentence. Though he acknowledges that "you cannot execute homosexuals" at this point, he supports a system that would ultimately give gays a choice: change your behavior or face the death penalty.

It didn't take long for me to uncover something about Petrovic that has yet to be reported: he is an acknowledged theocrat who desires a political system in which a king would dispense divinely inspired justice.

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Given Petrovic's views, I guess we can expect to find him on the faculty of Regent University or Liberty University any day now.

Judge Phillips Rules Against Obama Department of Justice DADT Stay Request

Once again a federal judge has exhibited a better understanding of the U.S. Constitution than the Liar-in-Chief (a/k/a Barack Obama). Moreover, she saw through the disingenuous bullshit argued by the DOJ in its application that the injunction against DADT discharges be stayed pending an appeal to the Ninth Circuit. To put it succinctly, Phillips found that the DOJ had not offered credible proof to justify a stay of the injunction. Obama and DOJ are now faced with seeking a stay from the Ninth Circuit - something Obama will surely do since he's done everything possible to date keep LGBT Americans second or third class citizens. Here are highlights from Phillips' ruling:
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"A stay is not a matter of right, even if irreparable injury might otherwise result," and the propriety of issuing a stay depends on the circumstances of the particular case. Nken, 129 S. Ct. at 1760-61. The decision to grant or deny a stay is committed to the trial court's sound discretion. Id. at 1761.
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Turning to the circumstances present here, the Court first notes Defendants had an opportunity to, but did not, present any of the evidence or arguments now advanced before the injunction issued. When the Court issued its Memorandum Opinion on September 9, 2010, it set out a briefing schedule regarding the form of the injunction. Although Defendants objected to the issuance of the injunction and its scope, they provided no evidence regarding the alleged disruption or need to revise "dozens of policies and regulations," as described in the Declaration of Clifford L. Stanley ("Stanley Declaration"), Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. (See Stanley Decl. ¶¶ 22-26, 35-36.)
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Furthermore, to the extent Defendants now submit evidence in the form of the Stanley Declaration, that evidence is conclusory and unpersuasive. It is belied by the uncontroverted evidence presented at trial regarding the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Act's effect on military readiness and unit cohesion. . . . The injunction would not impede the Defendants' stated goals of amending policies and regulations and developing education and training programs.
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[T]o the extent Defendants now argue that stopping discharge under the Act will harm military readiness and unit cohesion, they had the chance to introduce evidence to that effect at trial. Defendants did not do so. The evidence they belatedly present now does not meet their burden to obtain a stay.
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Finally, the Court must consider whether a stay would serve the public interest. . . . the evidence at trial showed that the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Act harms military readiness and unit cohesion, and irreparably injures servicemembers by violating their fundamental rights. The public has an interest in military readiness, unit cohesion, and the preservation of fundamental constitutional rights. While Defendants' interests in preventing the status quo and enforcing its laws are important, these interests are outweighed by the compelling public interest of safeguarding fundamental constitutional rights.
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The complete order entered today can be found here.