Saturday Male Beauty

Right-Wing Domestic Terrorists Are Our Big Blind Spot

I have noted a number of times that it is my belief that the Christianists and other elements of the political far right, whether intentionally or not, create an atmosphere and mindset that justifies violence and terrorism - at least in the minds of the mentally unstable. The recent tragedy in Norway is a case in point where Anders Breivik found countless messages of support for his warped and deadly views all across the conservative blogosphere. Indeed, the U.S. far right's aversion to rational gun control even set thew stage so that Breivik could buy the automatic ammunition that was illegal in Norway. A piece at Crooks and Liars looks at the continued failure in the USA to take far right terrorism seriously. Worse yet, the media continues to treat those who have hate and division as their principal stock in trade with kid gloves. One only need to observe the unchallenged deference given to mouth pieces of hate groups like Tony Perkins by the mainstream media for but one illustration of the problem. Here are some highlights from the article:

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[Y]ou have to wonder when the media will wake up and realize that their operative paradigm for understanding terrorism is broken. As we observed this morning about the attacks: It's also a sobering reminder that, while we've been obsessing nationally over the supposed threat of Islamist radicals -- embodied by Peter King's haplessly myopic hearings on domestic terrorism -- the reality remains that right-wing extremist terrorism remains the most potent domestic-terrorism threat in America as well.
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Indeed, the number of violent domestic-terrorism incidents has been steadily rising for the past two years, but the threat has gone largely ignored. Indeed, the Obama administration has kowtowed to right-wing complaints by gutting our own government's intelligence-gathering capacities in this area.
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Charles Pierce has a piece in this month's Esquire describing how, indeed, "the truth is, the overwhelming majority of our terrorism has always been homegrown. And it is times like these — times of anger and disaffection — when we turn on ourselves, and kill" (and he gives our work a nice shout-out, too):
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At the beginning of this year, not long after they'd found the bomb on the bench in Spokane, a journalist named David Neiwert put together a list of nearly thirty acts of right-wing political violence that had taken place, or had been foiled, in the United States since the summer of 2008 — or roughly since Barack Obama's presidency began to be seen as a genuine possibility. The list began with Jim David Adkisson, who killed two people in a Unitarian church in Tennessee because he was angry at how "liberals" were "destroying America." It included two episodes in April 2009, one in Pittsburgh and one in Florida, in which men who were sure that Barack Obama's government was coming for their guns opened fire on law-enforcement officers who had come to investigate them on other matters.
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Some of the crimes on the list were briefly sensational — Scott Roeder's murder of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, or Joseph Andrew Stack's flying his small plane into a building in Austin in protest of the Internal Revenue Service, or the incoherent array of violent crimes committed by the "Sovereign Citizens Movement." But most of them barely made the national radar at all.
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The list of right wing terrorist incidents can be found here. The cited Esquire piece is also informative and frightening. Together, the list and the Esquire article demonstrate that Breivik has plenty of company in the far right fringe that seems consumed with hatred of immigrants, minorities, liberals, and the government in general. The bigger question is when will the USA see an attack on the magnitude of what struck Norway a little over a week ago. Fore more on hate groups, the Southern Poverty Law Center has this site which notes as follows:
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The Southern Poverty Law Center counted 1,002 active hate groups in the United States in 2010. Only organizations and their chapters known to be active during 2010 are included. All hate groups have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.

Is Eric Cantor the New Herbert Hoover?

Speaking of lunatics and demagogues, one toxic player in the debt ceiling fiasco in Washington, D.C., is Virginia's Eric Cantor - believe me, he's a major embarrassment to rational, thinking Virginians. In his quest for power and shameless pandering to the worse elements of the GOP, Cantor is willing to betray the country and destroy the nation's economy. All to satisfy his own hubris and misplaced vision of himself in history. As Richard Cohen points out in a column in yesterday's Washington Post, the irony is that Cantor may well be making himself a place in history where he'll be looked at by posterity as a moron who ruined the lives of many. Here are some column excerpts:
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By happy coincidence, the name “Cantor” has exactly the same number of letters as “Hoover.” This means that the various ways the name of Herbert Hoover was once used to blame the 31st president for the Great Depression can now be revived for Eric Cantor. Thus, instead of “Hoovervilles,” those encampments of the homeless and unemployed (one was situated in New York’s Central Park), we will have Cantorvilles. And instead of “Hoover Blankets,” as newspapers used to cover the shivering homeless, we will have “Cantor Blankets.” Instead of the term “Hoover Flags,” for pockets turned inside out to signify a total lack of money, let’s run “Cantor Flags” up the flagpole and see if anyone salutes.
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This is Cantor’s big chance to become a historical figure — or a punching bag. He and his fellow (very) conservative Republicans stand on the brink of doing in their era what Hoover did in his. They could, just as Hoover did, stick to their ideological guns and let the economy go down the drain. They will be pure. We will be broke.
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They could insist on a balanced budget at precisely the time when economic conditions require deficit spending. On paper, everything will look good. In reality, the economy will tank. They could continue to extoll the wholly exaggerated virtues of small business and tailor tax cuts for them, and the budget would suffer and few jobs would be created. They could sink the bond market, rattle investors both domestic and foreign, make states suffer on less federal aid, weaken the dollar and convince Martians that they don’t want to come here. But they would, as did Hoover, take solace in adhering to an ideology that was proved disastrously wrong in the last century. No reason, it seems, not to do it all over again.
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This makes him the perfect and suitable choice — the No. 2 Republican in the House, after all — to become the face and the name of the coming economic debacle

The Tea Fragger Party

Kathleen Parker - on of a dwindling number of sane conservatives - has a column in the Washington Post under the title I used on this post that looks at the destruction of the Republican Party (and the nation) by those who would claim to save it. Looking at the GOP today compared to the party that I once spent many years working within my continued reaction is WTF happened. Although I know what happened. It can be described by a few words. One word is "Christianists" and the others are "Tea Party." Under those twin banners, rationality and logic have been jettisoned and ignorance and extremism have become the order of the day. My always dignified and intellectual maternal grandfather would be utterly aghast at the level of batshitery that passes for intelligent thought and debate within the GOP. If the grown ups don't retake the GOP soon, the best hope for the country is that the party dies a quick death. Here are some highlights from Parker's all too on target column:

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Fragging: “To intentionally kill or wound (one’s superior officer, etc.), esp. with a hand grenade.” Take names. Remember them. The behavior of certain Republicans who call themselves Tea Party conservatives makes them the most destructive posse of misguided “patriots” we’ve seen in recent memory.
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If the nation defaults on its financial obligations, the blame belongs to the Tea Party Republicans who fragged their own leader, John Boehner. They had victory in their hands and couldn’t bring themselves to support his debt-ceiling plan, which, if not perfect, was more than anyone could have imagined just a few months ago.
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These people wouldn’t recognize a hot fudge sundae if the cherry started talking to them. The tick-tock of the debt-ceiling debate is too long for this space, but the bottom line is that the Tea Party got too full of itself with help from certain characters whose names you’ll want to remember when things go south. They include, among others, media personalities who need no further recognition; a handful of media-created “leaders,” including Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips and Tea Party Patriots co-founders Jenny Beth Martin and Mark Meckler (both Phillips and Martin declared bankruptcy, yet they’re advising Tea Party Republicans on debt?); . . . and elected leaders such as Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, head of the Republican Study Committee, and South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who grandstand and make political assertions and promises that are sheer fantasy.
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South Carolina’s contingent was so troubled that members repaired to the chapel Thursday to pray and emerged promising to vote no. Why? Not because Jesus told them to but because they’re scared to death that DeMint will “primary” them — find someone in their own party to challenge them. Where did they get an idea like that? Look no further than Sarah Palin’s Facebook page, . . . .
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Unfortunately for the country, which is poised to lose its place as the world’s most-trusted treasury and suffer economic repercussions we can ill afford, the stakes in this political game are too high to be in the hands of Tea Partyers who mistakenly think they have a mandate.
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Hubris is no one’s friend, and irony is a nag. The Tea Partyers who wanted to oust Barack Obama have greatly enhanced his chances for reelection by undermining their own leader and damaging the country in the process. The debt ceiling may have been raised and the crisis averted by the time this column appears, but that event should not erase the memory of what transpired. The Tea Party was a movement that changed the conversation in Washington, but it has steeped too long and has become toxic.

Quote of the Day - Andrew Sullivan on Today's GOP

Andrew Sullivan has two comments on his blog here and here that in my view totally sum up today's Republican Party. Here's the first:
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Bruce Bartlett thinks negotiating with today's Republicans requires the skills once needed to negotiate with the Soviets. I think he's being too tough on the Soviets. They were mainly rational.
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The second comment is this:
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Until everyone realizes this madness [Christianism] is at the heart of today's Republican party, we are in danger.
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The rampant irrationality and elevation of misplaced - or by some feigned - religiosity over logic and common sense is increasingly terrifying. The rest of the world must be looking at the USA and thinking that the nation is going insane.

Americans Split 50% For to 46% Against New York Marriage Law

Click image to enlarge

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that Americans split 50 to 46 percent over whether New York's the state’s law legalizing such unions is a positive or negative outcome. The good news is that the views of younger citizens is decidedly in favor of marriage equality which means as elderly Bible beaters die off, the polling will only get better. Also, a majority of independents support marriage equality - something that should cause increasing angst among those in the GOP who regularly prostitute themselves to the Christianists. Here are some highlights from the Washington Post:
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As New York gears up for its second weekend of same-sex nuptials, a Washington Post-ABC News poll finds Americans split 50 to 46 percent over whether the state’s law legalizing such unions is a positive or negative outcome. Reactions to the new legislation — like support for legalizing gay marriage in general — range tremendously across generational, political and religious lines.
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Americans have grown increasingly accepting of same-sex marriage over the past decade, according to surveys by The Post and ABC, Gallup, the Pew Research Center and others. The public opposed legalizing gay and lesbian unions by a 58 to 36 percent margin in 2006, but the new Post-ABC poll finds a slight majority — 51 percent — saying such marriages should be legal.
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The age gap is one of the brightest dividing lines on gay marriage and on the New York law in particular. Adults under age 30 welcome the new law by a roughly 2 to 1 margin. But six in 10 seniors give it a negative assessment, compared with one in three who take a positive view.
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Republicans broadly reject the law by a 2 to 1 margin, but alignment with the tea party movement complicates political calculations concerning the issue. More than seven in 10 Republicans who support the tea party movement view the New York law as a negative development. But that slides to just 45 percent of non-tea party Republicans who reject the law, while half react positively.
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Beyond the political divisions over the New York law, religious differences cut just as sharply among white Protestants. More than seven in 10 white evangelical Protestants call the new law a negative development, but white non-evangelical Protestants take the opposite view by a 63 to 34 percent margin.
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Catholics overall are more closely aligned with mainline Protestants in their views of the gay marriage law — 58 percent see it as a positive development. Religious observance plays a role, too. Catholics who attend Mass weekly split evenly, 48 to 48 percent, on the law, but less observant Catholics welcome it by a more than a 2 to 1 margin, 66 to 31 percent.
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The poll confirms what I have believed for some time: the Tea Party is largely synonymous with the Christianists and similarly an obstacle to progress.

Friday Male Beauty

Norway Shooter Purchased Ammo From USA Suppliers

I have long been an advocate of rational gun control in this country. While gun control would not guarantee that guns did not get into the wrong hands, it would certainly reduce the insanely high number of guns in circulation and would hopefully make it difficult to secure automatic weapons. Those who want to hunt for sport - if one can describe killing living things sport - surely have no need for automatic weaponry. Now, it turns out that Norway's mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik purchased his ammo for his automatic weapons from suppliers in the USA. Why? Because Norway very wisely limits automatic clips for rifles to three bullets. Not so her in the land of God and gun nuts. Politico has coverage that shows that the lax laws of the USA helped Breivik commit his deadly carnage. What's really frightening is that all the would be Breiviks have the same easy access to weapons they should not be able to possess. Here are highlights from Politico:
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The Norwegian man who allegedly killed dozens at a kids summer camp claims he legally bought high-capacity ammunition clips by mail from the United States, prompting Capitol Hill’s leading gun-control advocate to say on Thursday that America should be ashamed such purchases aren’t against the law.
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Anders Behring Breivik wrote in a 1,500-page manifesto that he bought 10 30-round ammunition clips for his .223 caliber rifle from an undisclosed, small U.S. supplier, which had acquired the clips from other suppliers. Norway forbids the sale of clips for hunting rifles that hold more than three bullets, according to Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.
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The Norwegian press has written extensively about how Breivik legally acquired his weapons and ammunition, but the mail-order purchase of his ammo from the United States has received little attention in the English-language press.
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The sale or transfer of high-capacity gun clips containing more than 10 bullets were illegal in the United States under the 1994 assault weapons ban, but the legislation expired in 2004. After Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was critically shot and six others killed during the January shootings outside a Tucson supermarket, Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation to restrict magazines to their pre-2004 level. She said the legislation now has 109 Democratic co-sponsors. It is highly unlikely to come to a vote, let alone pass, in the GOP-controlled House.
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McCarthy said eliminating high-capacity clips like those used in the Norway and Arizona shootings should be a matter of moral outrage. “I don’t understand why people can’t have common sense,” she said. “Large magazines do not need to be part of it. The large manufacturers, they should even take a moral point of view in not selling them to ordinary citizens through the gun stores. The police and military can still use them.But I just morally think they should not look to sell them to the average citizen.”
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And Dennis Henigan, the acting president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the world is endangered by American gun laws. “It now appears that not even Norwegian children at a youth camp are safe from the battlefield firepower so easily available in America,” he said. “Large-capacity assault clips are instruments of mass killing, yet federal law leaves them completely unregulated.”

John McCain Slams Conservatives for Lying

I once admired John McCain before he went of the deep end, prostituted himself to the Christianists, and picked the delusional Sarah Palin as his VP running mate. However, the other day we had a glimpse of the old John McCain when he took Republicans to task on the U.S. Senate floor and called them liars, said they were living in a fantasy land, and called them hobbits (insulting hobbits with the last remark). Would that more conservatives had the courage to call it like it is - and don't even get me started on the mainstream media which continues to parrot GOP lies rather than analyze the facts and expose the lies and untruths that now make up the main GOP talking points. One of the biggest calamities this country has suffered is the loss of a mainstream media that will report the facts as opposed to simply replay the demagoguery of the far right. There are some highlights from the Washington Post on McCain's denunciation of the current GOP lies:
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So the debt limit debate has come to this: John McCain, who you may recall was the GOP’s 2008 standard bearer, is now openly accusing conservatives of actively misleading America with their completely unrealistic demands, which he labeled “deceiving” and “bizarro.”
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There are Republicans in both the House and Senate who are still pushing for another vote on the balanced budget amendment, even though “cut cap and balance,” which contains such an amendment, has already failed in the Senate. . . . . To such conservatives, McCain offered a simple answer: You’re in fantasy-land, and you’re doing your constituents a disservice by perpetuating the falsehood that such a thing can ever happen.
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Tellingly, McCain cited today’s Wall Street Journal editoral excoriating conservative opponents of the Boehner plan as out of touch with reality for thinking they can do better. McCain’s angry tirade on the Senate floor today perfectly captures the rising frustration, anger and panic of more responsible Republicans and GOP establishment figures as they come to terms with the true depths of the delusion that is now afflicting some on the right — and the danger it is now posing to our economy and country.

The Republican Plan to Kill the Economy

This Toles cartoon aptly describes what the GOP apparently hopes to achieve with its manufactured crisis over the debt ceiling - a renewed recession/economic depression where in the GOP's irrational dreams it will be embraced as the savior and Obama will be swept from office. Should the U.S. default next week, one can only hope that most Americans will know where the true blame lies and it is the GOP that will be swept out of office. True, there will be many ignorant cretins in the GOP base that will be too stupid or untethered from objective reality to connect the dots, but I hope and pray the majority will see the truth. The far right worries about America's decline, yet they are the ones driving the decline in so many ways.

LGBT Center of Hampton Roads Officially Opens Tonight

It has been a long time dream of many in the local LGBT community to have a community center for members of the LGBT community - both to provide meeting space for organizations and to offer programs to address different community issues. Now, through grants from the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Advocates for Youth the dream has become a reality. The new LGBT Center of Hampton Roads is housed in a former warehouse just outside of the Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk which for years has been an LGBT favorite because of the relatively open mindedness of the residents and the areas many shops and restaurants. Like many revitalized urban neighborhoods, the LGBT community played a large role in making Ghent what it is today. Unfortunately, due to a previously scheduled commitment - i.e., the party we are hosting at our house, the boyfriend and I will miss the grand opening gala. The Virginian Pilot looks at the Center's opening. Here are a few highlights:

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For years, Hampton Roads' lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community gathered in homes, bars and, sometimes, no place at all. Various groups had brainstormed plans for an LGBT center, but a lack of organization meant the ideas never came to fruition, said Stacie Walls-Beegle, executive director of Access AIDS Care.
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Now, through the work of Walls-Beegle's organization and the help of two grants, the LGBT Center of Hampton Roads has become a reality. . . . The LGBT center has been providing services since June, but the grand opening will be held tonight.
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The center has two large rooms for meetings and social events and two smaller rooms for counseling services, available for those in the LGBT community and those who are HIV-positive. Depending on income and eligibility, some counseling services might be free, Walls-Beegle said.
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Larry Sauger of Norfolk said the center will be especially important for LGBT youths. Sauger, 44, said this kind of resource did not exist when he was growing up. "For me as a young gay person, there was nothing," Sauger said. "There was no place for me to turn. I like going in there now and seeing all of the younger people who don't want to hang out the bars but can still socialize."
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Walls-Beegle said her group already has received calls from other clubs and organizations wanting to host meetings at the center, and the founding of the facility has helped the community restart a chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
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Those needing more information can go to the Center's website here.

More Thursday Male Beauty

Michele Bachman BFF Bradlee Dean Sues NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper

Michele Bachmann BFF and "preacher" friend Bradlee Dean - a certifiable lunatic, in my opinion who has definitely blimped out big time compared to his younger and cuter days - has filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper. Apparently, the in my view mentally challenged Dean has taken offense with news coverage that has stated that Dean supports the execution of gays. His case is based on the equivalent of a debate over the number of angels that can stand in the tip of a needle. Dean is on record as lauding Islamic extremists who apply Islamic law to execute gays, but somehow in Dean's small and simple mind, lauding those who execute gays isn't the same as supporting the execution of gays. Both MSNBC and the Minnesota Independent are standing by their stories and blowing off Deans possibly attention getting lawsuit. The down side of the lawsuit, of course, is that it will underscore the unsavory elements of Bachmann's religious extremist supporters. It's one thing to be a Bible beater and something far different to be an extremist endorsing murder and violence, especially in the wake of the horrors in Norway a week ago. Fellow Bilerico contributor, Jillian Weiss looks at this batshitery from the untethered Dean. Here are highlights:
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Bradlee Dean, the controversial heavy metal minister of the anti-gay organization "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International," filed a lawsuit yesterday in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The suit alleges defamation and false light invasion of privacy against NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent Newspaper and its reporter, Andy Birkey. The suit seeks $50 million in damages.
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According to the suit, Dean is upset about this article from May, 2010 in the Minnesota Independent:GOP-Linked Punk Rock Ministries Says Executing Gays Is 'Moral'. The article quotes Dean as saying the following on his radio show:
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Muslims are calling for the executions of homosexuals in America." This just shows you they themselves are upholding the laws that are even in the Bible of the Judeo-Christian God, but they seem to be more moral than even the American Christians do, because these people are livid about enforcing their laws. They know homosexuality is an abomination.
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If America won't enforce the laws, God will raise up a foreign enemy to do just that, that is what you are seeing in America."
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The bottom line is this... they [homosexuals] play the victim when they are, in fact, the predator. On average, they molest 117 people before they're found out. How many kids have been destroyed, how many adults have been destroyed because of crimes against nature?"
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In the lawsuit, Dean does not deny making these statements, but says he told the Independent's reporter that he does not advocate execution of gays. He also says Rachel Maddow repeated the Independent's allegations. Although he admits that she noted that Dean had said that he doesn't advocate execution of gays, the lawsuit says that she was insufficiently sincere in making this disclaimer.
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The rambling complaint also alleges that the defendants, by broadcasting Dean's statements, "sought to significntly harm the 'big political prize' which they loathe, Christian conservative presidential candidate Michele Bachmann, who they sought to link to Plaintiffs. Congresswoman Michelle Backmann [sic] is regularly and maliciously disparaged, defamed and held in a false light on many other NBC and MSNBC cable shows, including but not limited to the broadcasts of television hosts Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, and Lawrence O'Donnell. In sum, by destroying Plaintiffs, Defendants Maddow, MSNBC and NBC sought to destroy Bachmann, a Christian conservative presidential candidate who they despise and hate for her religious and political beliefs."
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Dean's lawsuit has a very tough row to hoe. If Dean is, as he seems to be, a public figure by virtue of his relentless public relations campaign to tout his anti-gay ministry and his success in his attempts to achieve media coverage, then the law will require him not only to prove negligence by NBC, MSNBC, Rachel Maddow, The Minnesota Independent and its reporter, but also "actual malice," meaning that they knew the statements to be false and defamatory and intended to harm him. Since the evidence seems to point to the fact that Dean did, in fact, say what he is alleged to have said on his radio program, and he did not deny it in his suit, then he cannot prove an essential element of his claims -- that the media coverage was false.
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I would imagine that the Bachmann camp is livid over this lawsuit. It's just not what she needs right now, to be lumped together with a rabid anti-gay publicity hound who is claiming that everyone is out to get him because he is "Michelle Backmann's" number one fan.
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In my view, Bradlee Dean has long been in need of a serious mental health intervention. But, then, the same is true for Michele Bachmann and her husband "Marcia" Bachmann.

How the GOP and Right Wing Front Groups Engineered the Nation's Deficit Crisis

I've been watching MSNBC while assisting the boyfriend in preparing food for a cocktail party we are hosting tomorrow night (it started out as something "small and intimate" for a friend's birthday and we now have 24 people coming) and listening to coverage on the manufactured debt ceiling crisis. It's clearly put me in a foul mood and has made me want to scream over the lies the GOP continues to tell as to who is really responsible for run away spend - hint: it's not Obama. Earlier today my friend Lowell at Blue Virginia had a post that reviewed comments made by on Hardball by former policy advisor to Ronald Reagan, and former Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary under George H. W. Bush, Bruce Bartlett. Bartlett's statements cut the Teaparty loonies and GOP off at the knee caps - not that the mainstream media will trumpet these facts to the general public as it should. Here are highlights from Lowell's piece:

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Bruce Bartlett utterly demolishes every single major Teapublican't talking point. For instance:
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"When Bush took office, we had a debt of about $6 trillion. The projections from the CBO were that we were going to run a $6 trillion surplus. By this point, if we had done nothing, we would have paid off the debt, but we added about $3 trillion of tax cuts..."
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"The Republicans keep saying the tax cuts are the key to prosperity. The 2000s are evidence that that is not true. We had booming economies in the 1980s and '90s. If we went back to those taxes, we would be better off."
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"Ronald Reagan raised the capital gains rate, and now it's only 15%, and of course the wealthier you are, the more of your income comes from capital gains."
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"[Republicans] go around saying they did not lose any revenue [from tax cuts]. A number of prominent officials, Mitch McConnell included, have said this. It's just mathematically ridiculous."
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"The Obama plan, the Affordable Health Care Act was essentially the same thing as the Reps themselves...The Heritage Foundation, much more recently than that, proposed an individual mandate"
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And finally, the coup de grace from this former top Reagan/Bush official: *"Yeah, I think a good chunk of the Republican caucus is either stupid, crazy, ignorant or craven cowards, who are desperately afraid of the tea party people, and rightly so."
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If that's not enough to make your blood boil, Think Progress has a piece on the far right front groups (who have co-opted Justin Bieber's image) that have aided and abetted the GOP in lying to the public and putting the financial well being of most Americans - i.e., the non-wealthy - on the line with the potential default game of chicken. Here are some highlights:
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Since the end of the Bush presidency, shadowy right-wing groups, many of them formed for this very purpose, have primed the public with a sophisticated public relations campaign to shift the national discourse to a focus on debt reduction. Many of these groups do not appear partisan, and have figured out ways around registering their activity with the Federal Elections Commission (so the true extent to their ad-buying is rarely recorded):
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– Founded in 2010 by former Bush admin flak Gretchen Hamel, the group Public Notice has quietly pumped millions into advertising about debt reduction: Public Notice sponsored at least $3 million on a debt ad called “Shovel” that falsely claims the spending doesn’t create jobs, an undisclosed amount for online ads promoting a highly produced web series on the evils of government spending, a debt pledge that features pop singer Justin Bieber, and what is believed to be another multimillion dollar ad buy recently for a commercial, appearing like a PSA, that warns that government spending is akin to cocaine addiction. To warp elite opinion, the group sponsored billboard ads at Reagan National Airport and on buses and bus shelters near Capitol Hill. Although Hamel does not reveal her donors, she is connected closely with the Koch network of billionaire and investors. Last year at a right-wing donor conference attended by top hedge fund manager Steve Schwarzman and Charles Koch, Hamel gave a presentation on “Framing the Debate on Spending.”
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– Retired investor Pete Peterson has dedicated $1 billion of his personal wealth to reducing government spending; much of that money has gone to a multifaceted marketing campaign: The Peterson Institute has spent $1 million underwriting a movie about the debt, at least $1,010,232 developing a children’s debt sports game that also directs users to a Econ4U, a front group created by infamous lobbyist Rick Berman, and millions more for a TV ad campaign called “Hugh Jidette,” an MTV-U cable television series that misleadingly conflates personal debt with the national debt, a newspaper partnered with the Washington Post, and even a program at Columbia University to develop a national debt-related K-12 curriculum.
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– Corporate astroturf lobbyist Rick Berman has spent large amounts orchestrating a scare-mongering campaign over the national debt. Along with his connections to the Peterson network mentioned above, Berman has set up a campaign called “Defeat the Debt” to push the public into believing the national debt is the country’s top priority. He has run ads on television, purchased billboards throughout the Washington D.C. metro area, and aggressively marketed his campaign to Capitol Hill staffers. Last year, Berman purchased an ad during the Super Bowl — spending approximately $3 million — that showed schoolchildren pledging allegiance “to America’s debt, and to the Chinese government that lends us money.”
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– A network of other right-wing groups have used a series of public relations gimmicks — like barnstorming bus tours filled with highly paid GOP operatives posing as Tea Party activists — to orchestrate an astroturf effort to build support for cutting spending over creating jobs. Groups like Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Tax Reform sponsored a group called Spending Revolt that toured the country organizing debt-related rallies with Republican candidates last year. The group, which has organized events with the Ohio Coal Association, gained countless local press hits appearing as a genuine citizens groups, despite the fact its sponsors are corporate lobbyists.
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The incredible resources the right has amassed for its debt campaign are unmatched by progressives. Moreover, at a time when solving the unemployment crisis should be our national priority, only the very wealthy and privileged have the money to direct national ad campaigns of any real impact. In an era of unlimited corporate money in politics, the unemployed and the Middle Class have a quickly disappearing voice in public life.
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I again find myself at a point where I'd be pushing to leave the USA in a heart beat but for the boyfriend's salon and his aging parents. With two of my children in Washington State, British Columbia is looking better and better.

NARTH Can No Longer Can Provide Continuing Education in California

One small victory that was lost in all the news on the Norway terror attack and the debt limit debacle in Washington is the development in California that means that the witch doctor like folks at The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality ("NARTH") - a Christianist created and funded faux research center - will no longer be able to provide continuing education to licensed therapists. Actually, NARTH should have been deleted as an education provider long before now, but better late than ever. Anything that undermines NARTH's credibility and cash flow is a victory for LGBT citizens and those who believe in real science. Given NARTH's recent embarrassments - e.g., George Rekers (pictured at right) and his rent boy and Arthur Abba Goldberg's exposure as a convicted felon for a multi-billion dollar bond scam - this will hopefully be one more nail in NARTH's coffin. Here are highlights from the San Francisco Chronicle on this development:
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The National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality can no longer provide continuing education to therapists in this state. NARTH, which claims that homosexuals can be "converted" to heterosexuality through various forms of therapy, had been an approved continuing education provider since 1998. But as of mid-July, the group has been taken off the California Board for Behavioral Science's list of such providers.
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The American Psychological Association issued a report in 2009 discrediting the idea that homosexuals could become straight via such so-called "conversion" or "reparative" therapy. The APA even suggested such counseling could be psychologically harmful. That's not the reason NARTH lost its approval though -- they're off the list due to delinquent fees.
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As it stands now, the BBS can't reject a continuing education provider due to its philosophy or even the validity of its scientific claims, executive officer Kim Madsen says, and "that's been a challenge." Instead, as long as the provider "meets the requirements as set forth in current law, we have to accept them."
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At its September meeting, however, the BBS will be reviewing those laws and requirements and having a discusssion about what Madsen describes as "long-identified deficiencies in the continuing education model."

Here in Alameda, a group called "Alameda Concerned Parents," which fought Alameda Unified School District's adoption of anti-gay bullying lessons in elementary schools, supported NARTH's positions. ACP appears to have taken down its website sometime in the last few months.

Faces of the Norway Victims

While the hate merchants of the right for the most part continue to endeavor to disclaim any responsibility for the role that they and those like them played in setting the stage for last week's deadly rampage in Norway, it is worth taking a look at the victims of Breivik's hate inspired shooting spree and bombing. The youngest victim so far identified on the BBC's website is 14 year old Sharidyn Svebakk-Boehn (above left).

The BBC is updating the article as more victims are identified and photos made available. I have include photos of two other victims - Margrethe Boeyum Kloeven and Diderik Aamodt Olsen - both under age 20. I urge readers to visit the article and witness the consequences of hate sppech - hate speech often delivered to enrich the hate merchants and/or their organizations.

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Yes, Breivik detonated the bomb and pulled the trigger, but others set the stage that helped convince him that he was acting in a necessary manner. Hate speech and constant screeds against other be they liberal, Muslim or LGBT has consequences. The Maggie Gallaghers, Tony Perkins, Ruben Diazs, Don Wildmons, and anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hate merchants such as Rep. Peter King need to be confronted with the fruits of their vile work.

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Words do not begin to convey my disgust for people who denigrate others for profit and to stroke their own very sick and warped psyches that require that others be inferior so that these individuals can feel self-congratulatory. It is sickening.

Thursday Male Beauty

Show Down Between GOP Realists and the GOP Insane

Like many Americans, the stunts and insanity of the GOP over the course of the week so far has cost me thousands of dollars in declines in my investments - something I take very personally and will be sharing with Scott Rigell and Eric Cantor - along with my mantra of vote for anyone other than a Republican. One can only hope that there are a few realists in the GOP who can grasp the potential horrific financial consequences of a U.S. default on its debt. Obviously, that description excludes Michele Bachmann and the Kool-Aid drinking GOP freshmen put into office by the ignorance embracing, fact denying Tea Party. Why the know nothing crowd in the Tea Party cannot grasp that those of them with 401(k)'s and investments will be paying a huge price in lost equity, not to mention paying more as interest rates jump upwards is beyond disconcerting. The Washington Post looks at this battle between the near insane in the GOP and the very few grown ups left within the party. Here are highlights:
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The run-up to the vote expected Thursday on House Speaker John A. Boehner’s proposal to provide a short-term increase in the national debt limit is quickly turning into a time of clarity for the chamber’s Republicans. If GOP leaders are unable to muster enough support to get the plan out of the House, the only measure left would be a Democratic proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), and voting with Reid is not a concession many House Republicans are willing to make.
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“There’s only three choices,” said Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-Ohio), a close Boehner ally. “One is to vote for Senator Reid’s plan. One is to default. And one choice is the Boehner bill. It should be pretty self-evident what the best choice is to someone who’s a Republican.”
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Increasingly, the vote on Boehner’s proposal is shaping up not as a test of wills between moderates and conservatives, but as a faceoff between political purists who scorn the bill and realists who prefer it to the alternative.
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But it is not an easy sale for a party that won back control of the House last year on promises to vote without regard to political consequences.
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House leaders expressed cautious optimism Wednesday that they were convincing members that the plan advanced by Boehner (R-Ohio) is the best that Republicans can hope to get. It would avert a government default, take a bite out of the deficit and require Congress to adopt $1.8 trillion in additional cuts before the debt ceiling could be raised again next year.
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Freshman Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.), whose district in Staten Island and Brooklyn is home to many Wall Street professionals, said he decided Wednesday that he will vote for the bill after he was convinced that its failure would hand Democrats control of the debate.
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The House proposal was panned at a small rally held at the Capitol by the Tea Party Express and the American Grassroots Coalition. The GOP that rode tea party energy and activism is hoping that some of it members can look past that relationship. “Some people are new here and this is part of the learning curve,” LaTourette said. “At times you have to say ‘no’ to people you represent who are yelling at you, if you’ve reached the conclusion that it’s in the best interests of the country.”
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Let's hope that the GOP for once puts the good of the country ahead of prostituting itself to extremists who are untethered from objective reality (which sadly, is most of the GOP base).

"Connecting the Dots" Between Norway Shooter and Christianist/Anti-Muslim Websites

Most of the far right and falsely described "family values" organizations continue to play the victim card and/or deny that the vitriol spewed on their websites and propaganda pieces they disseminate daily had any relationship to the horrific carnage in Norway last Friday. However, as a CNN piece is reporting, Anders Behring Breivik was a prolific blogger and visitor to online sites that reaffirmed his anti-Muslim, Christianity under siege worldview. Words DO matter and these sites, like it or not, helped fuel the mindset that led to so much bloodshed. One cannot daily put out hatred that's the equivalent of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater and then disclaim any responsibility for the consequences. Hopefully, as even more details become known about Breivik's sick world view, the ties to the Christianist/anti-Muslim haters will become even more obvious. Here are highlights from the CNN piece:
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Breivik's taste in online conversation shows a compulsive interest in websites that see the modern world in terms of a "clash of civilizations," where Christian values are supposedly under siege in the face of an Islamic onslaught.
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The blogs and websites Breivik enthused about were pro-American and pro-Israel, extremely hostile to Islam and despairing that the European political elite would ever see the error of its liberal multicultural outlook. One such site is Gates of Vienna, whose banner reads: "At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war."
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Breivik regularly applauded a writer who goes by the name of Fjordman on the site, . . . . Breivik also praised Fjordman's book, "Defeating Eurabia," describing it as "the perfect Christmas gift for family and friends." The book contends that Europe is being overrun by Muslims -- and that its governing class is complicit in this surrender.
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Other websites and blogs he followed include Jihad Watch, Brussels Journal, TheReligionofPeace and Atlas Shrugs. ReligionofPeace describes Islam as a "rigid political and cultural system with a mandate to conquer and govern the lives of others via necessary force."
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Breivik points to a piece written by Pamela Geller in Atlas Shrugs in July 2009. "The Muslims have taken to rampaging, destroying and setting alight the streets of France. The media has abetted the fifth column with cowardly silence," she writes.
Geller has been prominent in opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
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But to her long-time adversary Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic magazine, Geller and others of like mind clearly influenced Breivik: "Free speech means free speech. But she should be aware now that violent people look to her for guidance, and she should write with that in mind."

Italy Rejects Anti-Homophobia Bill

Italy apparently wants to tell the world that its not welcoming to LGBT individuals and supports anti-gay religious bigotry. Why so? Because the lower house of the Italian Parliament rejected a bill that would have protected lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans individuals from discrimination. I'm an advocate of boycotting countries that are not welcoming to LGBT people. Unfortunately, it's too late to change travel plans for a western Mediterranean cruise the boyfriend and I will be taking in October which has ports of call in Italy. However, I do plan to make sure we spend as little as possible in Italy and focus our purchases in Spain and France rather than Italy. For those unhappy with the support of bigotry in Italy, let the Italian tourism bureau hear about your displeasure (I have already done so). You can submit your comments here. Pink News has details on the vote. Here are highlights:
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Italy’s parliament has rejected a bill to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people from discrimination. The Chamber of Deputies voted yesterday 293 votes to 250 not to approve the legislation. Gay rights campaigners have called on the European Union to step in.
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Italy already bans discrimination on the grounds of race, religion, ethnicity and nationality but campaigners say rising numbers of homophobic and transphobic attacks means LGBT people need more protection.
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Nicola Duckworth of Amnesty International said: “In addition to passing the right laws, authorities and politicians should set the example. “They should promote equality and non-discrimination and refrain from and condemn derogatory and discriminatory remarks that foster a climate of intolerance.”
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Italy also bars gay couples from marrying or adopting children. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is on record for opposing gay rights, although gay campaigners claim his alleged affairs with minors make him a hypocrite. Last year, the Italian leader brushed off criticism, saying: “It’s better to be passionate about beautiful women than to be gay.”
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If I wanted to have absolutely no non-discrimination protections, I could stay right here in the backwater known as Virginia.

More Wednesday Male Beauty

Pollsters For Both Parties See "Dramatic" Shift Toward Same-Sex Marriage

More bad news for the Christofascist and professional Christian set: pollsters for both the Republicans and the Democrats find that the shift towards acceptance of same sex marriage is increasing and that the speed in the changing attitudes is accelerating. Hence, self-enriching cows like Maggie Gallagher and professional Christians like Tony Perkins are increasingly fighting a losing rear guard action. Politico looks at this likely good news for the LGBT community which translates into bad news for homophobes and their political whores in the GOP. Here are some highlights:

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In a new polling memo intended to shape politicians' decisions on the question of same-sex marriage, the top pollsters for Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama jointly argue that support for same-sex marriage is increasingly safe political ground and will in future years begin to "dominate" the political landscape.
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The pollsters, Republican Jan van Lohuizen and Democrat Joel Benenson, argue in their memo, which can be read in full here, that support for same-sex marriage is increasing at an accelerating rate and that the shift is driven by a politically crucial group, independents. They are expected to unveil the memo, which was commissioned by the group Freedom to Marry and shared exclusively with POLITICO, at a press conference at the National Press Club today.
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The new memo, based on public polling, makes the case that support for same-sex marriage has "accelerated dramatically in the last 2 years" and that the future almost surely belongs to supporters of same-sex marriage.
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The pollsters conclude that the issue is changing fast: "It is clear that the public is in the process of rethinking its position on the issue, with all political groups — Democrats, Independents as well as Republicans — and all age groups more likely to support marriage for same-sex couples," they write.
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They also note a factor that has been increasingly clear to observers of state legislative fights on the subject: Momentum and public interest appear to be shifting in the direction of supporters of same-sex marriage.
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And they make the case for a kind of demographic inevitability that's at the core of the argument gay rights activists have been making with increasing conviction to political leaders. "Support strongly correlates with age," Benenson and van Lohuizen write. "As Americans currently under the age of 40 make up a greater percentage of the electorate, their views will come to dominate."

Columbia Supreme Court: Congress Has 2 Years to Enact Gay Marriage bill

In yet another embarrassing example of the sad fact that the United States no longer is the leader in religious freedom and equal protection of its citizens, the Supreme Court of Columbia - viewed, I'm sure as a banana republic drug haven by most Republicans - has directed the Columbia Congress to either enact same sex marriage within the next two (2) years or else the Court will intervene. Here in the USA, special deference to and the enshrining of Christianist religious beliefs in the civil laws still reigns supreme in a majority of states - a form of religious based bigotry that has been nationalized through the federal defense of Marriage Act. Here are highlights from Columbia Reports:
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Colombia's Supreme Court called on legislators Tuesday to pass gay marriage legislation within two years. The court ruled that homosexual partners currently lack certain rights afforded to heterosexual partners and instructed Congress to pass a remedy through "comprehensive, systematic, and orderly legislation" by June 20, 2013 to address the imbalance. If Congress does not pass legislation in that time, homosexual couples will be permitted to go before a notary or a court to have their partnership recognized.
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Colombian congressmen appear to remain split on the issue. Juan Manuel Corzo, the conservative chairman of the Senate said that "the constitution is clear in arguing that marriage is between a man and a woman, not same-sex."
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However, Rafael Prado, the director of the Liberal Party, responded to the ruling by saying, "the church is the church, but political decisions and rights are issues that we in politics have an obligation to address. We defend those rights and it is clear that same-sex couples should have equal (rights)."

Wednesday Male Beauty