How the GOP Scams the Tea Party

A friend had this image on Facebook that I could not pass up.  It sums up perfectly how the GOP is using the hate and prejudices of the Tea Party and the Christianists crowd to benefit the wealthy while screwing over the party's wingnut supporters.  Sadly, they are too stupid and or bigoted to figure out that they are being used. 

Wednesday Male Beauty

Catholic Bishop Resigns Over Church's Refusal to Address "Serious Trouble"

While I commend Australian Catholic bishop Pat Power's honesty and integrity, his departure only solidifies the powers of dishonesty, reaction and anti-modernity that are the hallmarks the Catholic Church hierarchy.  On the other hand, had he not resigned, the Nazi Pope would likely have forced him from office because he was speaking the truth.  God forbid that a bishop openly describe the cancer within the hierarchy and priesthood. Or that a bishop openly talk about how out of touch the Church leadership is with the laity.  A piece in The Age looks at the situation.  Here are highlights:

AUSTRALIA'S last openly progressive Catholic bishop, Canberra's Pat Power, has resigned, citing the Vatican's inability to listen and the twin crises of clergy sex abuse and the shortage of priests as the most vexing issues facing the church.

Bishop Power, 70, was not due to retire for five years, but will step down on June 30. With Toowoomba bishop Bill Morris sacked by the Pope last year, Bishop Power was the last Australian bishop prepared to challenge the Vatican publicly.

He called sexual abuse ''a terrible stain on the church'', and said the Vatican habit of secrecy had provided conditions for sex abuse and many other forms of abuse to thrive.

He said it was essential for the Vatican leadership to be aware of the real issues touching the lives of the faithful. ''Sadly, I don't think they have a good grasp of that reality and when things are tough, as they are now, there can be a temptation to bunker down.''

Bishop Power called the sex abuse crisis the gravest faced by the church since the 16th century Protestant Reformation, needing not just a focus on abusers but a total systemic reform of church structures. This had to be much more than ''tinkering around the edges'' and must address the authoritarian nature of the church, the participation of women, clergy celibacy and teaching on sexuality. The leadership must hear the voices of the faithful, he said.Leading progressive commentator and former priest Paul Collins said the resignation took the Australian church ''further into serious trouble'', not least because it was increasingly hard to find experienced priests prepared to become bishops.

''All this goes back to the total failure of leadership and the failure to tackle controversial issues. I'd say a third to half the bishops agree with Pat, but are not prepared to speak out,'' Dr Collins said.

Romney Exposed for Anti-LGBT Bigorty While in Massachusetts

New information out of Massachusetts indicates that Mitt Romney's anti-gay bigotry isn't something new and that, if anything, his claims to being gay friendly when he ran for the U.S. Senate were just more of his typical lies. It seems that in reality, Romney could not even stand to see the terms "transgender" and "bisexual" in print and went on to kill a state anti-bullying guide for Massachusetts public schools.  It's in keeping with the GOP's desire to keep LGBT citizens inferior under the law and ideally invisible.  The Boston Globe looks at Romney's action and the lie he used to cover up his real  anti-gay motivation.Andrew Sullivan rightly notes "And we all know what Mitt would have done to them in high school" referring to Romney's assault of a fellow high school student years ago who was perceived to be gay.  Here are highlights from the Boston Globe:

Former governor Mitt Romney’s administration in 2006 blocked publication of a state antibullying guide for Massachusetts public schools because officials objected to use of the terms “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ in passages about protecting certain students from harassment, according to state records and interviews with current and former state officials.

Romney aides said publicly at the time that publication of the guide had been delayed because it was a lengthy document that required further review. But an e-mail authored in May of that year by a high-ranking Department of Public Health official - and obtained last week by the Globe through a public records request - reflected a different reason.

“Because this is using the terms ‘bisexual’ and ‘transgendered,’ DPH’s name may not be used in this publication,’’ wrote the official, Alda Rego-Weathers, then the deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Rego-Weathers said in the e-mail that she had been consulting with Romney’s office on the issue.

Stifling the guide’s publication was among steps that Romney and his aides took during his last year in office to distance the Republican governor from state programs designed to specifically support gays, lesbians, and bisexual and transgender people. His critics said it was part of an effort to court social conservatives as he prepared for his first campaign for president in 2008.

“Romney put his own political interests ahead of the safety of vulnerable youth,’’ said Don Gorton, a gay-rights advocate and author of the 120-page antibullying report, which was not printed and distributed until after Romney left office.

About 10,000 copies of the 120-page “Guide to Bullying Prevention’’ were ultimately published in 2008, during Democrat Deval Patrick’s first term in office. It contains advice for school administrators and teachers on how to curb bullying, cyberbullying, and hazing. A two-page section describes how gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender youth are frequent targets of bullying, and it offers contact information to find help.

The 2006 e-mail objecting to the “bisexual’’ and “transgender’’ language offers some of the clearest evidence of how some of Romney’s actions in office aligned with the goals of socially conservative activists, a key constituency in Republican presidential primary elections.

Many of the nation’s largest conservative, evangelical, and profamily organizations-such as the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, and Concerned Women for America - have opposed suicide prevention and anti-bullying programs intended to protect gay teens
In July 2006, Romney vetoed a $158,000 budget line item that was earmarked for counseling violence victims in the “LGBT community.’’ The appropriation was intended to prevent sexual violence and rape, and also for suicide prevention.The move to block the bullying report immediately followed Romney’s threat to shut down the Gay and Lesbian Youth Commission.

The question of Romney’s sensitivity to antigay bullying was raised anew recently after the Washington Post published an account of Romney’s days in prep school in 1965 when Romney allegedly held a fellow student down against his will and, along with classmates and to the cheers of others, forcibly cut off his long, bleached-blond hair. The student was gay, although not openly, and it was unclear to some whether Romney knew the boy’s sexual orientation at the time. Romney said he could not recall the incident . . . . 

Let's face reality: Romney is a bully, a liar, a bigot and a flaming asshole.  And, if elected, he'll be a puppet of the Christofascist hate merchants.  The nation does not need this type of "leadership."

Leaders of Richmond's Largest Law Firms Back Thorne-Begland Judgeship

Having just received a humiliating rebuke - or that's how anyone rational would see it - in his lunatic U.S. Senate nomination bid, Bob Marshall now has the power players in the Richmond legal community pushing the City's Circuit Court judges to do what the General Assembly would not: appoint an openly gay man to the bench.   In the legal world, these are not just local league firms.  No, they are large international law firms with hundreds of attorneys with credentials of the type Marshall could only dream about.  One can only hope that this may be the beginning of large powerful Virginia based law firms and corporations sending a message to the Virginia General Assembly - and the Virginia GOP in particular - that the crazy religious based extremism needs to cease.  It's bad for business and is making Virginia less competitive in the world economy.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post: 

Leaders of Richmond’s five largest law firms are urging the city’s Circuit Court judges to do what the General Assembly would not: appoint an openly gay man to the bench.  The General Assembly in May blocked the appointment of Tracy Thorne-Begland, a veteran Richmond prosecutor, to a relatively low-level District Court judgeship. 

“He’s a bright guy, he’s fair-minded; people that deal with the commonwealth’s attorney’s office think he’s a real leader there,” said former Virginia attorney general Richard Cullen, one of five lawyers who sent a letter to circuit judges Tuesday on Thorne-Begland’s behalf. “I think it’s fair to say we want this to be based on the merits. And based on the merits, Tracy will be an outstanding judge. Nobody disagrees with that.”

The letter was very brief: “We understand that the Court is considering appointing Tracy Thorne-Begland to the District Court for the City of Richmond. We believe he would be an outstanding jurist and support his appointment.”

Along with Cullen, who is chairman of McGuireWoods, it was signed by James V. Meath, chairman of Williams Mullen and a former president of the Virginia Bar Association; Thurston R. Moore, chairman emeritus of Hunton & Williams; John S. West, managing partner of Troutman Sanders’s Richmond office; and Thomas M. Wolf of LeClairRyan, former governor Timothy M. Kaine’s onetime law partner.

Opposition to Thorne-Begland’s appointment was led by the Family Foundation of Virginia and Del. Robert G. Marshall (R-Prince William). 

University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said the letter could help. “Having the pillars of the legal establishment strongly urge the Richmond circuit judges to appoint [Thorne-Begland] because he is highly qualified is valuable,” he said via e-mail. Tobias added that what’s up in the air is whether the General Assembly would appoint Thorne-Begland permanently after having an opportunity to assess him during an interim term.

But Marshall, who ran in Tuesday’s primary for U.S. Senate but was defeated by George Allen, was not swayed.  “This is the Republican establishment that can’t take a message,” he said. “This is unbelievable arrogance. We went through this process, the House of Delegates said ‘no,’ we have the authority to do that. We found him wanting in judicial temperament. If they don’t like the outcome, they should run for delegate.”

Perhaps what these firms need to do is find a good candidate to challenge Marshall in 2013 and bankroll Marshall's opponent and get Marshall out of the General Assembly.  He's an embarrassment to Virginia not to mention common decency.   These forms also need to be more aggressive in sending a message to the larger Virginia GOP that religious extremism needs to end.

More Tuesday Male Beauty

Priest Defies Pope: Catholics Should Vote Against Minnesota Anti-Gay Amendment

Given the Vatican's crackdown on American nuns who actually put the Gospel message in action and who use the intelligence that God gave them, one can only wonder how soon it will be before Minnesota priest Father Bob Pierson is forced from the priesthood.  You see, Pierson not only had the moral integrity to stand up to the Vatican's anti-gay jihad but used Pope Benedict XVI's own writes from many years ago to justify his stance.  In a nutshell, one's conscience trumps the dictates of the Vatican.  Hopefully, more and more American Catholics are waking up to this fact.  Here are highlights from Raw Story:

An openly gay priest on Sunday urged Catholics to go against the Pope’s wishes and vote “no” a November ballot measure that would enshrine Minnesota’s same sex marriage ban in the state’s Constitution.

Father Bob Pierson argued that Paragraph 1782 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church allows Catholics to make their own decisions in cases where their conscience is not in agreement with the church’s doctrine.
The priest recalled that a “young theologian” named Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope, used to teach that people should follow their own inner voice.

“Our Holy Father taught in 1967 that we must obey our own conscience, even if it puts us at odds with the Pope,” Pierson told the crowd of about 200 Catholics at an event in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina. “I doubt that he knew that he was going to be Pope when he said that.”

“As Catholics we must follow our own conscience in making decisions such as how to vote,” he continued. “My conscience tells me to vote no on the amendment because I have yet to hear a convincing reason why we need such an amendment to our state constitution. In fact, I believe the church does not have the right to force its moral teaching on others outside the fold.”

Too many of us have been thought to think of God in terms of God’s judgement, rather than God’s tremendous love and mercy,” Pierson explained. “I believe this amendment violates an important principle in Catholic teaching, and that as Catholics, we can vote no.”

As I said, I suspect the bitter old men in Rome must be having fits over Pierson's well argued case.  I love the way he states that the Church does not have the right to force its views on all citizens.  That surely counts as heresy at the Vatican. 

It's Not Just Jeb Bush - Good Bye to the GOP

I noted just the other day how Jeb Bush - perhaps the most intelligent and rational member of the Bush family - had some very unkind but wholly true things to say about the Republican Party and its descent into a party of lunacy and irresponsibility.  As David Frum - another rare commodity: a sane conservative - takes up the issue and notes that the Palmetto Queen, Lindsay Graham, has finally grown a spine and come out against the GOP demagoguery on never, ever raising taxes.  In fact, this piece at Yahoo News lays out some of Graham's belated resistance to his party's insanity:

As a conservative Republican, Lindsey Graham has never had a problem promising not to raise taxes. Like almost every other Republican member of Congress, he has signed the anti-tax pledge put forth by Grover Norquist's group Americans for Tax Reform.  But now Graham says the debt crisis is so severe that the tax pledge — which says no tax loopholes can be eliminated unless every dollar raised by closing loopholes goes to tax cuts -- has got to go.

"When you eliminate a deduction, it's okay with me to use some of that money to get us out of debt. That's where I disagree with the pledge," said Graham.

Graham said eliminating some deductions should free up money to lower tax rates — but also to pay down U.S. debt.  "I just think that makes a lot of sense. And if I'm willing to do that as a Republican, I've crossed a rubicon," said Graham.

This puts Graham at odds with his party's leadership. Just last August, when the eight Republican presidential candidates were asked if they would reject a deal with $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in revenue, all eight said they would walk away. But Graham is now raising his hand for increased revenues — he says he could support a plan that included $4 in spending cuts for every $1 in increased tax revenue.

"We're so far in debt, that if you don't give up some ideological ground, the country sinks," said Graham.

Obviously, if he keeps it up, Graham will find himself subject to a primary challenge unless he  decides to leave the GOP like one Delaware GOP official has decided to do.   Here are highlights from David Frum's coverage of this departure that was described as necessary to "maintain personal integrity"  (needless to say, truth and integrity are mutually exclusive with most of the GOP and its Christianist overlords):

Michael Stafford, a former official of the Delaware Republican Party, explains his decision to reaffiliate as an independent:

From the moment the Tea Party emerged on the scene, I had a premonition that I would eventually have to leave the GOP. But my mind conjured innumerable reasons for delay- for putting off the day of reckoning in the desperate hope that some game-changing miracle would occur, such as a victory by Governor Jon Huntsman in the Republican presidential primary.

But no miracle happened. Among all the difficult truths I’ve had to face, perhaps none has been harder than the realization that I, and those dissidents like me, are unrepresentative outliers far removed from, and largely unable to influence, the main currents of opinion within the GOP.

Ultimately, leaving the GOP was necessary in order to maintain my own integrity. Leaving is also a public act of personal protest. I am under no illusions about its broader significance- it will have no impact on the trajectory of the political narrative in this nation. But that does not make it futile. On the contrary, as the shadows lengthen, such minor individual acts of defiance and dissent are more critical now than ever before.

I myself reached a similar decision well over a decade ago.  I knew that I could not stop the insanity and religious extremism that was becoming the hallmark of the GOP.  And I knew I could not be true to myself - not to mention morality and decency - if I remained.  Thus, like Stafford, I left the GOP.  As did almost my entire extended family.

How Corporations are Profiting from Gay Pride

I guess the "One Million Bitches" and Family Research Council, et al,  will soon be launching boycotts against U. S. News & World Reports.  Why?  Because the magazine is carrying an article that makes the case that supporting gay pride events is good business - something stockholders and business owners need to worry about since they cannot simply shake down simpletons and religious extremists for dollars like the professional Christian set.   The article notes "Sponsoring Pride sends out a message about a corporation's values. It can also pull in lots of new customers (and money)."  This reality is still lost on many Hampton Roads based businesses, but through HRBOR and Out in the Park, hopefully the message will start to sink in more quickly.  Here are some article highlights:

Bud Light commercials often fall into the traditional beer commercial stereotype: Gorgeous women and the bumbling men trying to win them over (beers in hand, of course). The brand plays up its heterosexual side in other ways, as well, like teaming up with Playboy for Super Bowl promotions.

To people not familiar with the gay scene, it may therefore come as a surprise that Bud Light is a major sponsor of several Gay Pride festivals taking place across the U.S. in June, LGBT Pride Month, —look no further than Bud Light's Bud Boyz model contest at Chicago's Pride festival this month.

In fact, a number of the nation's most recognizable brands are behind all of the concerts, parades, and rainbow flags. Though gay rights remain divisive in America, and only a slim fragment of the population identifies as lesbian, gay, or bisexual—around 3.5 percent, by one recent estimate—the decision to promote gay rights is simply good business sense.

[C]ompanies likely see dollar signs when they see packed streets at the local Gay Pride parade. "A larger festival is a better investment for a national company."

Absolut Vodka, Zipcar, Google, Coca-Cola, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Whole Foods, and Walgreen's are just a few of the companies lending their support to large pride festivals this year. The people attending the festival tend to take notice and patronize those companies.

Sponsoring pride can mean not only new business but repeat customers. "[LGBT consumers] are much more likely to be loyal to a company that markets directly to them," says Drayer.

Sponsoring Pride "most certainly" has drawn customers to Wells Fargo, says Mark Ng, LGBT segment manager at Wells Fargo. "Consumers are just as interested in a company's values as they are with our company's products and services."

And pulling back on support can mean losing the business of the festival itself, says Toms: "The bank we bank with right now pulled back as a sponsor this year. We're going to transfer our accounts to a new bank. We support businesses who support our community."

As the nation as a whole slowly comes to accept same-sex relationships, some companies are coming out of the closet as well, making their views on embracing same-sex couples increasingly prominent. JCPenney recently featured two gay dads in a Fathers' Day advertisement. One new Gap ad features two men inside a t-shirt together. Starbucks recently inspired a boycott from the National Organization for Marriage, an anti-gay-marriage group, when it supported legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in Washington.

While the travel and alcohol industries were among the first to target the gay community, some industries are dragging their feet . . . . .  along with the U.S. population, companies are increasingly willing to put their messages out there, he adds. "The reality is, the majority of Americans do support same-sex marriage," he says.

Yep, the spittle will be flying in the halls of the offices of  AFA and FRC.  Meanwhile, since its strong statement in Washington State in support of marriage equality, I've made a point to spend more at Starbucks.  I also plan on going by JC Penney and buying some summer clothes and household products.  

George "Macaca" Allen Trounces Kool-Aid Drinking Challengers in GOP Primary

I was pleased with the results of today's GOP primary for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Jim Webb.  And it's not because I'm a fan of my former law school classmate George Felix Allen - although believe it or not he was actually sort of cute many years ago in a bubba kind of way.  And it's not because I haven't known George for a long time - in fact, I met my former wife while in law school at a party co-hosted by Allen who was certainly living up to his party boy image (I'm sure the Christoifascists at The Family Foundation would have been shocked).   No, I'll be supporting his Democrat opponent Tim Kaine in the run up to the November election.

No, I'm please with the results because they are a powerful rebuke to the Kool-Aid drinking crazies who were his opponents: Tea Party nut job, Jamie Radtke, Slideshow "Sodomy is Not A Right" Del. Bob Marshall, and professional Christian and gay-hater E. J. Jackson.  That Bob Marshall couldn't even break the 10% mark demonstrates that outside of Marshall's home district (where his constituents must be drinking severely tainted water), he's too crazy even for today's theocratic and insane Virginia GOP.  As for Jackson, his candidacy was always a joke - apparently he still hasn't figured out that he's merely used as a prop to make the Virginia GOP and The Family Foundation look less white supremacist leaning than they are in fact.   Here's a vote tally with 88% of precincts reporting:

 Candidate                     Vote %

Allen  . . . . . . . . . . . 146,015   65%

Radtke . . . . . . . .. .   52,340    23%

Marshall . . . . . . . . . .15,115     7%

Jackson . . . . . . . . . . .10,783   5%

And Tim Kaine wasted no time in going on the offensive against Allen who rubber stamped every spending bill laid before him by Chimperator Bush and Emperor Palpatine Cheney and who voted for the Iraq War debacle.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

Kaine quickly made clear how he would attack Allen in their head-to-head matchup.  “Voters already had the chance to experience George Allen’s vision during his last term in the Senate, which turned record surpluses into massive deficits, added trillions to our debt, and put opportunity for a select few ahead of opportunity for all our businesses and families,” Kaine said in a statement Tuesday night. “George Allen’s approach helped create our economic mess; Virginians can’t afford six more years.”

For Allen, the race represents a chance at redemption after his dramatic reelection loss to Webb in 2006. Allen appeared to have that contest well in hand — and was already mulling a run for president in 2008 — when he referred to an Indian-American volunteer for the Webb campaign as “macaca,” an ethnic slur in some cultures.

For Kaine, the contest marks a return to state politics following a detour to serve as President Obama’s Democratic National Committee chairman. Rising from the Richmond City Council to become the city’s mayor, then lieutenant governor and governor, Kaine sought to craft a reputation as a moderate willing to work with both sides of the aisle, in the mold of his longtime friend, Sen. Mark Warner (D).

Neither Virginia nor America needs George Allen back in the U.S. Senate.  Hopefully a majority of Virginians will recognize this fact and keep Allen in retirement.