Knights of Columbus Continue Anti-Gay Efforts

Contributing $1,250,000 to the effort in California to take away marriage rights of gays apparently isn't enough gay bashing for the Knights of Columbus who disingenuously utilize the phrase "in service to all" in their website header. The sad reality is that the Knights have become increasingly the unquestioning lapdogs of the corrupt and morally bankrupt Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, with their noses so far up the bishops' and Pope's asses that it's a wonder they do not suffocate. Now the Phoenix Business Journal is reporting that the K of C has contributed $100,000 to anti-gay marriage Proposition 102 in Arizona. As for demanding a housecleaning of the bishops and cardinals who facilitated and/or covered up the Church's sexual abuse scandal? Not a peep. Just more servile ass kissing. Here are some story highlights:

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The Knights of Columbus has given $100,000 to support a state ballot measure banning gay marriage. The New Haven, Conn.-based Catholic group donated the money to Yesformarriage.com, a campaign committee that backs Proposition 102, which would add a ban on gay marriages to the Arizona Constitution. . . . Some of the money has gone into television ads and English and Spanish billboards around the Phoenix area.

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The Knights of Columbus made its donation Oct. 15, according to the Arizona Secretary of State’s office. The group also is supporting a similar measure in California, where courts have struck down gay marriage laws this year.

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Arizona voters shot down a gay marriage ban in 2006. It also would have prohibited governments and state universities from offering domestic partner benefits to all unmarried couples. Prop. 102 only deals with the definition of marriage.

Thoughts of Love Lost

Music wise, I like an assortment of types of music from some country (e.g., I love Patsy Cline), to dance club CD's, to classical. It pretty much depends on where I am and what I am doing. Going through some old boxes recently, I found some old cassettes I had forgotten about. One has a series of songs by Rodney Crowell. One song on the cassette always makes me think back about those I have loved romantically and lost - either because I was in the closet and never professed my love and missed what might have been. Or even in the case of my ex-wife, some of the genuinely good times we had even though our relationship was doomed to fail (and turn ugly in the divorce). Here the words to this song called "After All This Time":

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There were trains

And we out-run 'em

There were songs

And we out-sung 'em

There were brighter days never ending

There was time

And we were burnin'

There were rhymes

And we were learnin'

There was all the love two hearts could hold

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And after all this time
You're always on my mind
Hey I could never let it end'
Cause my heart takes so long to mend
The dream that keeps your hopes alive
The lonely nights you hold inside
And after all this time
You're always on my mind
I still want you
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There was rain
That we outlasted
There was pain
But we got past it
There were last goodbyes still left unspoken
There were ways I should have thrilled you
There were days I could have killed you
You're the only love my life has known
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And after all this time
You're always on my mind
Hey I could never let you go
A broken heart that heals so slow
Could never beat for someone new
While you're alive and I am too
And after all this time
You're always on my mind
I still miss you
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And I could never let it in'
Cause my heart takes so long to mend
The dream that keeps your hopes alive
The lonely nights you hold inside
And after all this time
You're always on my mind
I still want you
Hey after all this time
You're always on my mind
I still love you

Final Tuesday Male Beauty

Philly Talk Show Host, Michael A. Smerconish Voting for Obama

It seems the list of thinking Republicans jumping off the sinking McCain/Palin ticket just keeps on growing. In fact, it is becoming difficult to keep track of all the defections. In Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia radio market's premier talk show host, Michael A. Smerconish, announced that he is endorsing Barack Obama. Who is he? He's certainly not a liberal or a Democrat. His blog describes him in part as follows:

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Michael Smerconish is the Philadelphia radio market's premier talk show host. He is heard daily from 5 - 9 a.m. on CBS Radio's The Big Talker 1210 AM, WPHT. . . . Smerconish has often been a guest fill-in host for Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly Radio Factor airing nationwide on the Westwood One Radio Network, and he has often been a guest fill-in host for Glenn Beck on the Glenn Beck Program airing on CNN Headline News. . . . He is the author of three books and he writes separate, weekly columns for both the Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer.

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What is interesting is the analysis that Smerconish lays out as to why he has decied to vote for a Democrat for the first time since he became a registered Republican. Here are highlights from his column (I recommend that you read his full column):

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I've decided. My conclusion comes after reading the candidates' memoirs and campaign platforms, attending both party conventions, interviewing both men multiple times, and watching all primary and general-election debates.

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John McCain is an honorable man who has served his country well. But he will not get my vote. For the first time since registering as a Republican 28 years ago, I'm voting for a Democrat for president. I may have been an appointee in the George H.W. Bush administration, and master of ceremonies for George W. Bush in 2004, but last Saturday I stood amid the crowd at an Obama event in North Philadelphia. Five considerations have moved me:

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Terrorism. The candidates disagree as to where to prosecute the war against Islamic fundamentalists. Barack Obama is correct in saying the front line in that battle is not Iraq, it's the Afghan-Pakistan border. . . .

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Economy. We face economic problems that are incomprehensible to most Americans, certainly they are to me. This is a time to covet intellect, and that begins at the top. Jack Bogle, the legendary founder of the Vanguard Group, told me recently that McCain's assertion that the fundamentals of the economy were "strong" was the "stupidest statement of 2008."

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VP. . . . With two wars and a crumbling economy, Palin is too big of a risk to be a heartbeat away from a presidency held by a 72-year-old man who has battled melanoma. Advantage Joe Biden.

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Opportunity. In a speech delivered on Father's Day, Obama lamented that too many fathers are missing from the lives of too many children and mothers. Look no further than Philadelphia for proof that the nation has a fatherhood problem at the root of its firearms crisis.

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Hope. Wednesday morning will come and an Obama presidency holds the greatest chance for unifying us here at home and restoring our prestige around the globe.

McCain's Black Relatives Are Supporting Obama

What with his campaign hopefully about to take a fatal nose dive (with Sarah Barracuda leading the way), I could almost feel sorry for John McCain. I said almost. Instead I am finding some degree of amusement in the fact that with all his other troubles, McCain now finds that he has his own racial issue of sorts cropping up. Some of his black relatives tracing back to the days the McCains were slave owners and slave traders have gone public about (i) his distance from them - haughtiness even - and (ii) their intent to vote for Barack Obama rather than their relative. Obviously, the white supremacist elements in the GOP being stirred up by Bible Spice Palin will likely NOT be too happy to learn that McCain has black relatives, much less that they are apparently "uppity" and not supporting the GOP ticket. Here are some highlights from the South Florida Times:

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In the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Mississippi, where the ancestors of Sen. John McCain owned enslaved Africans on a plantation, black, white and mixed-race family members unite every two years for their Coming Home Reunion, on the land where the plantation operated.

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They are either descendants of the McCain family slaves, or of children the McCains fathered with their slaves. White and black members of the McCain family have met on the plantation several times over the last 15 years, but one invited guest has been conspicuously absent: Sen. John Sidney McCain.

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Why he hasn’t come is anybody’s guess,” said Charles McCain Jr., 60, a distant cousin of John McCain who is black. “I think the best I can come up with, is that he doesn’t have time, or he has just distanced himself, or it doesn’t mean that much to him.” Other relatives are not as generous. Lillie McCain, 56, another distant cousin of John McCain who is black, said the Republican presidential nominee is trying to hide his past, and refuses to accept the family’s history.“After hearing him in 2000 claim his family never owned slaves, I sent him an email,” she recalled. “I told him no matter how much he denies it, it will not make it untrue, and he should accept this and embrace it.” She said the senator never responded to her email.

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[S]everal of John McCain’s black and white relatives are supporting his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama. “I am absolutely supporting Obama, and it’s not because he’s black. It’s because he is the best person at this time in our history,” said Lillie McCain, a professor of psychology at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan.“

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We simply need to look at the economy, and McCain’s campaign does not take us there,” said Joyce McCain, Lillie’s sister, a retired engineering manager with General Motors who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan. “He is my cousin, but we are in dire times right now and people are hurting. Sen. Obama is clearly the best choice to be president.’’

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The reunion’s website, teocfamilyreunion.ning.com, (My Note: if you have a Ning account you can log in) has pictures, postings and other information about the family gatherings. While Sen. McCain’s brother, Joe, and many of his other white relatives attend the reunions, family members say Sen. McCain has never acknowledged them, or even responded to their invitations. After the reporter sent questions in writing, and made repeated follow-up phone calls, neither Sen. McCain nor anyone else from the campaign responded.

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Based on information obtained by the South Florida Times, the senator has numerous black and mixed-raced relatives who were born on, or in, the area of the McCain plantation. The mixed races in the family can be traced back to the rural Teoc community of Carroll County, Miss., where his family owned slaves. Sen. John McCain’s great, great grandfather, William Alexander McCain (1812-1863), fought for the Confederacy and owned a 2,000-acre plantation named Waverly in Teoc. The family dealt in the slave trade, and, according to official records, held at least 52 slaves on the family’s plantation. The enslaved Africans were likely used as servants, for labor, and for breeding more slaves.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Sarah Palin's Growing Radioactivity

From the time she was first nominated and her extremist religious views began to seep out, I was hoping that in time Sarah Palin might become the equivalent of a toxic radioactive stew with moderate and independent voters who do not embrace a lunatic Christianist view of the world and/or confuse the constitutional rule of law with the Bible. A new NBC poll suggests that the American public is increasingly coming to recognize just how irresponsibly John McCain acted when he selected Palin as his VP running mate. (Personally, I still suspect that James Dobson and others of the extreme Kool-Aid drinking element of the GOP forced her on McCain). One can only hope that Palin will continue to drag the GOP down with her and - if the party is lucky - the realization will set in that the GOP must jettison the Christianists if it wants to be a mainstream party in the future as opposed to a religion based party shunned by the majority of Americans who want a secular government as opposed a Christian version of the Taliban. Here are some highlights form MSNBC:

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WASHINGTON - With voters’ increased confidence in his ability to serve as commander in chief, as well as a majority who now believe he would do a good job as president, Barack Obama has opened up his biggest advantage over John McCain in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

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Obama’s current lead is also fueled by his strength among independent voters (topping McCain 49 to 37 percent), suburban voters (53 to 41), Catholics (50 to 44) and white women (49 to 45). . . . . “Obama’s beginning to meet a threshold of acceptance among voters.”

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That doesn’t appear to be the case with McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin. Fifty-five percent of respondents say she’s not qualified to serve as president if the need arises, up five points from the previous poll. In addition, for the first time, more voters have a negative opinion of her than a positive one. In the survey, 47 percent view her negatively, versus 38 percent who see her in a positive light.

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Now, Palin’s qualifications to be president rank as voters’ top concern about McCain’s candidacy - ahead of continuing President Bush’s policies, enacting economic policies that only benefit the rich and keeping too high of a troop presence in Iraq. . . . Hart argues that voters have turned against Palin. The negative opinions of her have “reflected badly on McCain and essentially hurt the ticket dramatically.”

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But what the poll shows is that McCain — with 14 days until Election Day — has lost ground with independent and swing voters, Hart says. “If you don’t win the middle in America, you don’t win the election.”

Delhi High Court: Homosexuality is Not a Disease

The court battle in India over the repeal of Section 377 which criminalizes gay sex has been interesting to follow since the Court continues to rebuff the government's attempts and arguments to retain the penal code provision based on religious and non-legal justifications. Since the Court role is to adjudicate civil legal matters - not religious doctrine or beliefs - the Court is doing its job. Would that the government would do its job and cease acting as a de facto representative for religious factions. Here are some highlights from the Times of India:

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NEW DELHI: Irritated by the government's contradictory and unscientific stand on the issue of homosexuality, the Delhi High Court on Monday told the government that the homosexual trait in a human being cannot be termed as a "disease" and objected to the contention that if legalised, homosexuality would bring "devastation" to society. "Show us one report which says that it is a disease. A WHO [World Health Organization] paper says that it is not a disease but you are describing it as a disease."

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The Court was hearing a bunch of petitions filed by gay rights activists seeking decriminalisation of gay sex among consenting adults which, at present, is an offence. Section 377 of Indian Penal Code provides a punishment upto life imprisonment for indulging in gay sex. Continuing with its opposition the government described homosexuality as "a most indecent behaviour" in society, pointing out that homosexuals comprise just 0.3% of the population and the interest of rest 99.7% population "cannot be compromised" just to accommodate their rights.

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The Court, however, instructed him to "stick" to legal issues involved in the case and not raise political ones. Earlier, gay rights activists had contended that the government, by not decriminalising homosexuality, was infringing upon their fundamental right to equality on grounds of morality.

Tuesday Male Beauty

Rise and [Hopefully] Fall of the GOP

As a former Republican, at times I shake my head in disbelief at what a horrible organization the Republican Party has become. It is incredibly divisive and hate-driven, increasingly dismisses the value of anyone who isn't white, straight, intellectually ignorant, evangelical Christian, and anti-minorities. Amazingly, all the while it deludes itself by claiming to be the Party of "family values" and decency. I definitely do not know what dictionary these folks are using to achieve this result based on the actual conduct of the Party's members from McCain spokesmen/women down to the rank and file types at Sarah Palin's increasingly nasty rallies which look more and more like blood lusting lynch mobs. Richard Cohen in today's Washington Post is equally appalled. Here are some highlights from today's column:

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It is hard to avoid the conclusion that Bush and now John McCain have constructed a mean, grumpy, exclusive, narrow-minded and altogether retrograde Republican Party. It has the sharp scent of the old Barry Goldwater GOP -- the angry one of 1964 and not the one perfumed by nostalgia -- that is home, by design or mere dumb luck, to those who think that Obama is "The Madrassian Candidate."

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[T]he GOP, under Rove and his disciples in the McCain campaign, has not only driven out ethnic and racial minorities but a vast bloc of voters who, quite bluntly, want nothing to do with Sarah Palin. For moderates everywhere, she remains the single best reason to vote against McCain. But the GOP's tropism toward its furiously angry base, its tolerance and currying of anti-immigrant sentiment, its flattering of the ignorant on matters of undisputed scientific consensus -- evolution, for instance -- and, from the mouth of Palin, its celebration of drab provincialism, have sharpened the division between red and blue. Red is the color of yesterday.

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I know, the blues are not all virtuous. . . . . Still, a Democrat can remain a Democrat -- or at least vote as one -- without compromising basic intellectual or cultural values. That, though, is not what Colin Powell was saying Sunday about his own party.

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In the end, [Colin] Powell was determined not to be one of the GOP's useful idiots. Those moderates willing to overlook the choice of Palin, those capable of staying in a party where, soon enough, she could be an important or dominant force, retain the intellectual nimbleness that enabled them to persist in championing a war fought for duplicitous reasons and extol cultural values they do not for a minute share. Powell walked away from that, and others will follow -- the second time that a senator from Arizona has led the GOP into the political wilderness.