Sunday, May 30, 2010

Greetings from London

Taking  some  much needed  personal  time,  and  spending the long Memorial Day weekend here in London with Eric.  Interestingly enough the  BP Oil spill  may actually be a bigger story here than it is in the States.

The Ipad  came out here yesterday. lines around  the Apple Store in Regent Street  stretched  around the block, I fought the impulse to scream  "NEVER BUY THE FIRST VERSION OF ANYTHING APPLE MAKES!!!"   Sex in the City 2  opened here  on  Thursday night,  people  camped out in Leicester Square  days before hand  to catch a glimpse of  Sara JP and her  cohorts  as they arrived for the premiere.  I  fought the impulse to scream "IT'S A MOVIE ABOUT AGING HOOKERS!"  On the political front here,  a  Gay  Liberal Democrat who was  named  to head the  Treasury  here in the UK  had to resign  when it   it  was revealed he  had been claiming  reimbursement for rent paid on a flat  that was in a building  that  was owned by his long term partner, to the tune of  $57,000.00  - ouch.



So it's  "not for personal gain"  when you  bilk the taxpayers  for  forty thousand  pounds but give  that money to your  boyfriend....  Nice,  wish Eric  and I could figure out  a scheme  like that.

Oh well,  Back to  the US  next week.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Rachael Maddow's take on the Rand Paul interview...

(via Crooks & Liars)

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, has  slightly different take on  what happened when Rand Paul appeared on her show earlier this week.   She thinks  rather than being  inarticulate,  Dr. Paul may  have inadvertantly revealed  what  is in fact,  the common thinking among the "Tea Party" / Libertarian wing of  the GOP.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Why Rand Paul is in BIG TROUBLE...

As has been reported  all over the media  today.  Kentucky Republican Senate Candidate and  "Tea Party" favorite  Rand Paul  (Son of  Texas Congressman Ron Paul)  had quite the media day  yesterday.   Looking back on it  I would not be surprised  if Paul  was feeling a bit like  the old Bugs Bunny quote,  "bet you wish you'd stood in bed."

The first stop  was National Public Radio, where he expressed his view that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the  Americans With Disabilities  Act  were  examples of  government  "overreach"  that  would be  better  handled  at  a local level.    Well  that  bit of  audio went viral  soon afterwards, and  later that day  Paul found himself  on  Rachel Maddow's  show over on  MSNBC where he was asked to clarify his position.    Things did not go well...



The problem with the interview wasn't  so much his position,  I  don't think that Rand Paul believes segregated lunch counters are ok, but the problem was his complete inability to articulate that.

Watching him was truly a train wreck in slow motion. And Maddow kept trying to throw him life-lines. She actually is something of a fan, Paul announced his candidacy on her show. Now instead of being able to clearly explain what he really MEANT, he is blaming  Maddow for asking the questions.  It's like Sarah Palin calling Katie Couric the "gotcha media" for asking "what do you read?"

There was a moment when he HAD the answer.  When he touched briefly on the issue of Hate Speech laws. But then he lost it in a bizarre twister board answer that he was unable to untangle himself from.

Rather than simply saying - Segregated Lunch Counters are wrong and stupid,  and  his concerns were really about Government trying to regulate how people FEEL and not just  how they ACT, instead Paul did this bizarre tango were he tried repeatedly to tie the Civil Rights Act's desegregation provisions to Gun rights.   What he MEANT was a hypothetical examination about the implications of Government trying to legislate how people feel. What America HEARD was "If you let Blacks sit at lunch counters then you have to let Whites bring guns into the restaurant."

What made it worse  was,  he came across as  a man who seemed unable to say clearly that segregation and discrimination by a private business is wrong.  Instead he talked about being against "any discrimination by Government", and unfortunately left the impression (false though it may be)  that  he has a complete lack of understanding of WHY the Civil Rights Act was passed in the first place.

Then  to finish off  the day Paul  appeared on  "The  O'Reilley Factor" over on  FOX News, where he stated his  support for  the complete elimination of  a Woman's right to choose, banning  abortions  in  all cases, including rape, incest, and  threats to the life of the Mother . 



Politics is perception and right now Rand Paul has a HUGE perception problem .  The Libertarian movement has made great strides to be taken as a viable alternative to the GOP's evangelical christo-facist tunnel vision. But Rand Paul's  performances yesterday  make him look like a Lyndon LaRouche looney.

The problem here is Paul didn't understand where he was. This was not a intellectual exercise,  these interviews were  campaign appearances. Ones that may have doomed his candidacy

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Bill Maher's "New Rules" May 14th 2010

The Teabaggers "want their country back."   I want my country forward....  Brilliant.

Revisiting the "Republican Revolution" Class of 1994

Rachel Maddow  takes us on a stroll down  "GOP Amnesia Lane..." and leafs  through  Newt Gingrich's  yearbook,  to see how  the class that brought us  "The Contract With America" , has  fared...  Enjoy.


Elisabeth Hasselback - Marriage Equality Activist?!?

Yeah,  apparently  in between spouting Fox News talking points  on most  issues.  Hasselback has a clear  concise  and very well reasoned take  on the  debate over Marriage  Equality....  Who knew?

 (via Good As You)

Andrew Sullivan Weighs in on George Rekers...

I have been wondering when  Sullivan was going to  opine  on  this particular saga.   He had previously expressed his concern  over the  "outing" of  Rekers  male escort companion, but not  on the  broader implications of the  the whole sad sordid  situation.   I also reacently  read about  Rekers'  torture of  "Kraig",  the 4 year old boy  who George Rekers  would eventually drive  to  attempt suicide, and  had been wondering  what  Sullivan's thoughts on that were... 

(via The Daily Dish )
 -------------------------------------
What Rekers Represents

Andrew Sullivan
19 May 2010 10:27 am

I have not dwelled on the Rekers scandal, because the man is a human wreck. But the wreck is instructive. Sometimes I wonder how much of the most aggressively anti-gay campaigning is done by closeted and tortured gay men, who seek to extirpate from others something they could not banish from themselves. The list of the closeted gay-baiters is long. From Roy Cohn and J Edgar Hoover all the way to Larry Craig and George Rekers. I have no doubt that the primary anti-gay forces in the Vatican are gay themselves, and working out their tortured psyches by demonizing others more honest and principled than they are.

These are men terrified by their own inherent orientation, who equate it with emasculation, and end up, in some cases, raping children and in others, merely abusing them, to keep their own demons at bay. This is one exercize that Rekers imposed on a child who was acting effeminately:

In 1974, Rekers, a leading thinker in the so-called ex-gay movement, was presented with a 4-year-old "effeminate boy" named Kraig, whose parents had enrolled him in the program. Rekers put Kraig in a "play-observation room" with his mother, who was equipped with a listening device. When the boy played with girly toys, the doctors instructed her to avert her eyes from the child.

According to a 2001 account in Brain, Child Magazine, "On one such occasion, his distress was such that he began to scream, but his mother just looked away. His anxiety increased, and he did whatever he could to get her to respond to him... Kraig became so hysterical, and his mother so uncomfortable, that one of the clinicians had to enter and take Kraig, screaming, from the room."

Rekers's research team continued the experiment in the family's home. Kraig received red chips for feminine behavior and blue chips for masculine behavior.   The blue chips could be cashed in for candy or television time. The red chips earned him a "swat" or spanking from his father. Researchers periodically entered the family's home to ensure proper implementation of the reward-punishment system.  After two years, the boy supposedly manned up. Over the decades, Rekers, who ran countless similar experiments, held Kraig up as "the poster boy for behavioral treatment of boyhood effeminacy."

At age 18, shamed by his childhood diagnosis and treatment, Rekers's poster boy attempted suicide, according to Gender Shock, a book by journalist Phyllis Burke.

This kind of stuff kills people. And it's based on a lie. It's time we took a stand against tortured gay men abusing children to vent their own demons. In saying that, by the Wieseltier rule, I am dangerously propagating anti-gay tropes. But when the tropes are true in some cases, they are simply true.
----------------------------------------

I would  take issue with Sullivan on one point;  Rekers is not  a  "human wreck",  he is a twisted  sadistic self loathing , EVIL man.   His escapades with  Gay male escorts  make it clear  Rekers had no  intermal  moral debate over  his sick double life.   His personal war against  LGBT Americans  waged from the deep dark depths  of his own personal closet was done for one  reason.  It made him feel good.  

To  call  Rekers a  "human wreck"  is  giving  him too much credit.   There is nothing human about  him.  George Rekers is just a wreck.

Great Post on Immigration Equality...

Citizen Non-Citizen  (via Joe My God)


The NYCLU sends this today:
The NYCLU, in collaboration with the LGBT Community Center and the Office of Congressman Jerrold Nadler, looks at discrimination against LGBT families in our immigration system and the ongoing efforts to reform the system in Congress through the Uniting American Families Act and comprehensive immigration reform. Citizen/Non-Citizen highlights the heart wrenching story of Britta and Carla, a married same-sex binational couple living in New York City fighting to stay together in the United States. To find out more about the NYCLUs work in support of comprehensive immigration reform and to take action, visit our site.
 

Senator Barbara Boxer's okay by me...

senator@boxer.senate.gov
Mon, May 17, 2010 at 8:55 AM
To: dpfabie@****.com

Dear Mr. Fabie:

Thank you for meeting with me regarding the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA). I appreciated hearing from you, and I share your strong support for this bill.

I am proud to be an original co-sponsor of the UAFA, which Senator Patrick Leahy introduced in the Senate as S.424 on February 12, 2009. This bill would amend immigration law to extend the same benefits to permanent partners as are currently afforded legally married couples under the Immigration and Naturalization Act. Americans in same-sex relationships would thereby be able to sponsor their partners for legal residency in the United States.

As you know, only opposite-sex couples are currently afforded the ability to sponsor their partners for immigration visas. This discriminatory practice has torn apart many binational families and denied American citizens equal opportunity under the law. The UAFA would correct this by adding "or permanent partner" to sections of the Immigration and Naturalization Act that apply to legally married couples.

Again, thank you for sharing your perspective with me. Be assured that I am committed to a fair and just immigration policy, and that I will continue to fight for equal rights for all Americans.

Barbara Boxer
United States Senator

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Very Cool Global Warming Ad...

I am not going  to  argue with anyone on "is global warming/climate change real",  It's like trying to argue about gravity.  If you don't think climate change is at least  partially caused by  Humans  you are either an apologist for pollution or an idiot...     Anyway...at least the debate  is producing  some cool  ads...

Seriously?? Another "Family Values Conservative" bites the dust..

How much do you want to bet that  the  GOP is thanking their lucky stars that THIS time the affair was with a woman...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Via MSNBC)

Saying he "sinned against God, my wife and my family by having a mutual relationship with a part-time member of my staff," Rep. Mark Souder, R-3rd IN, said Tuesday he will resign from Congress. Souder, who won re-nomination to run for a ninth term, said he won't be a candidate in the fall. "I believe it is the best decision for my family, the people of northeast Indiana and our country," he said in a statement. Souder is the latest politician whose political career crumbled under rumors and admissions of extramarital affairs. "In the poisonous environment of Washington, D.C., any personal failing is seized upon, often twisted, for political gain," he said. "I am resigning rather than to put my family through that painful, drawn-out process.




Clearly the best bit is the guy makes a video touting abstainence WITH his  mistress...  Wow. 

Daniel Radcliffe Speaks Out for the Trevor Project

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Iceland's Geological Middle Finger to the Rest of the World...

Great time-lapse (hat tip to Andrew Sullivan)


Iceland, Eyjafjallajökull - May 1st and 2nd, 2010 from Sean Stiegemeier on Vimeo.

Quote of the Day - Frank Rich in the NYT

"Thanks to Rekers’s clownish public exposure, we now know that his professional judgments are windows into his cracked psyche, not gay people’s. But there is nothing funny about the destruction his writings and public activities have sown. His fringe views have not remained on the fringe. His excursions into public policy have had real and damaging consequences on a large swath of Americans.

"The crusade he represents is, thankfully, on its last legs. American attitudes about homosexuality continue to change very fast. In the past month, as square a cultural venue as Archie comic books has announced the addition of a gay character, the country singer Chely Wright has come out as a lesbian, and Laura Bush has told Larry King that she endorses the 'same' rights for all committed couples and believes same-sex marriage “will come.” All of this news has been greeted by most Americans with shrugs, as it should be." - New York Times columnist Frank Rich, in a delicious evisceration of Dr. George Rekers.

Brilliant Column from the Miami Herald...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Hmm... I wonder if The White House reads my blog...

Seems I am not the only one using the  "car metaphor"  to  talk about  the GOP these days...

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Now one of the more awful things you will read this week....

(from the Associated Press)

Girl Was Punished for Having 2 Moms
Published: May 7, 2010

Jenna Bissell says she sat in her fifth-grade class for hours with a gash on her face, dried blood between her loosened permanent teeth, cut lips and a swollen nose.  She had tripped on the playground.


But Bissell says her teacher never asked about her injuries or sent her to the nurse. Her parents were never called. And Bissell believes she was treated this way because her parents are lesbians.

"I think it started because my moms are gay," Bissell said Friday.

Bissell's parents are preparing to bring a civil rights suit against Rio Rancho Public Schools, where Bissell attended Martin Luther King Jr. Elementary School. The family has since moved her to another school, where they say she is earning A's and B's and making friends.

Officials at Rio Rancho Public Schools said they could not comment on specifics of the case, but said discriminating against a student because of the makeup of her family would violate district policy.

"We're very diligent about making sure we respect all students," said Tonna Burgos, executive director of Student Services for RRPS.

Shannon Peterson, one of Bissell's mothers, said she called the school after Bissell came home injured on Feb. 26. She said she talked to Bissell's teacher, asking why she hadn't been notified and why the girl went without treatment.

Peterson said she asked, "Is this because she has two moms?" and that the teacher replied with a raised voice that yes, this was the reason and that Peterson should take her children to another school.

District spokeswoman Kim Vesely said any teacher who discriminated against a student would be disciplined. Bissell's former teacher is still teaching and Vesely would not say whether she has been disciplined, citing personnel privacy. Vesely also said "there are differing versions of what occurred," but declined to give the district's version.

Peterson said there was a pattern of tension between Bissell and her teacher, including over an assignment in which students were asked to write a book about themselves. On one page, they were asked to write about something they did over the summer, and Bissell said she wrote about her parents' wedding in Iowa, where gay marriage is legal.

"She threw out the whole page about where my moms got married and how beautiful it was," Bissell said, referring to the teacher. "She said, 'This is gross, this is horrible, you need to write about something else.'"

Peterson said they kept Bissell in the class until the injury occurred, hoping the situation would improve. "We try to teach her that there's going to be people like this all through life, and you're going to have to live with it and try to stick it out," Peterson said.

Bissell's family initially sought money from the school district for the girl's medical expenses, but the claim was rejected by the district's liability insurance. They have now notified the district that they plan to sue for negligence and violation of Bissell's civil rights.  The family's attorney, Chris Foster, said he is preparing a civil complaint that will be filed next week.

"We don't send our kids to school in New Mexico to get hurt and to learn hatred and intolerance," Foster said. He said his suit will aim to show a pattern of harassment.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Video: The coolest scene you'll see all week. (via Good As You)

Ok,  I realize that what I am about to confess may be an actual crime,  under the laws of the City of San Francisco but.... umm.... I really have never watched "Glee".

Clearly that  has been a huge mistake on my part,  and one  that  will soon be  remedied.

Wow.

Video: The coolest scene you'll see all week -

Monday, May 10, 2010

Rachel Maddow on the Rekers Scandal...

Thank you Rachel.  You are  (as usual)  brilliant.


Thursday, May 06, 2010

The Rekers Scandal - What's the Big Deal Anyway?

The past few days have been interesting.   My blogging  about the scandal surrounding  Evangelical Anti-Gay "researcher", and  male escort patron George Rekers,  has prompted some interesting emails  asking me  why I am so focused on this story.    A number of  more centrist bloggers have even posted  their thoughts  about how the  "two sides" in this  debate  should  try to  seek common ground and forge a new dialogue  between  Evangelical Conservatives and  the LGBT Community.  

Reverend Patrick S. Cheng, PhD, is an Out theology professor and  writer  who posted his thoughts today on  the Huffington Post, in an OpEd entitled Evangelicals and Gays: Why Can't We All Just Get Along?

This this isn't about  "getting along"   or  "loving the sinner  and hating the sin".   This is about   Evangelical Conservatives who want to take their hatred of LGBT Americans, pretend it is actual science and then turn that hatred into civil law. 

I am sorry Dr. Cheng,  these people  do not want to "get along",  they want  to harm,  marginalize, discriminate against,  and in some cases  even round up and kill Gays and  Lesbians.   The clear connections between American Conservative Evangelicals and the  proposed "Kill the Gays"  law in Uganda serves only to emphasize  the point.



Then we come to this week's  bit of news.   That  a prominent  Evangelical has been caught leading a double life.  Where by day  he was someone who made his name and reputation on the notion that  being Gay or Lesbian is  an illness, that  can be religiously  treated  and cured.  And by night,  (and on vacations) hires Gay Male Escorts.




The reason this is "such a big deal" is this; George Reker is not just ANY disgraced  Evangelical hypocrite.  Reker  is/was  THE anti gay  Evangelical. 

He  along with James "focus on the funding" Dobson  co-founded  the Family Research Council,  and is a leading  researcher for NARTH.  (National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality )  NARTH routinely puts out  "studies"  that claim, among other things,  that  children adopted by same sex couples are more prone to suicide.  That being Gay or Lesbian is a mental disorder.   None of  their studies stand up to even basic fact checking,  and  NARTH has had to admit  that  their studies are not  based on actual science.

The good folks over  at  Truths Wins Out  have done their homework on NARTH:

The National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH) is a self described “non-profit, educational organization dedicated to affirming a complementary, male-female model of gender and sexuality”www.narth.com  NARTH explains in their mission statement “clients have the right to claim a gay identity, or to diminish their homosexuality and to develop their heterosexual potential.”

They claim to attain this through years of reparative therapy, (also used interchangeably with the terms conversion therapy and sexual brokenness) a practice the American Psychiatric Association says can “lead to depression, anxiety and self destructive behavior, and may reinforce self hatred.”

That is why this is  a really really really big deal.  George Rekers  has  spent his career advocating  for  reparative or "conversion therapy".  A discredited practice that has done untold damage to countless people who are conned into thinking they are "sick"  an  this abusive voodoo masquerading  as science will "cure" them.



George Rekers and  those like him are directly responsible for the  DEATHS of  untold numbers of  LGBT  Americans who out despair from their  inability to  "pray the Gay away",  committed  suicide. 
In 2007  the American Psychological Association (APA)  adopted an updated resolution saying there is no evidence to support the notion that sexual orientation can be changed, and that gay conversion therapy can cause depression and suicide attempts.  




The APA went on to issue  a 138-page report, as  a strong rebuke of the claims of organizations like NARTH and Exodus International that sexual orientation can be changed by religious-based "reparative therapy".   

Now we find out  that one of the world's leading proponents of this stuff,   George Rekers, is in fact, a closeted homosexual.  A man who while secretly having sex with men,  is guilty of inflicting emotional, psychological, spiritual and physical  torture on who-knows  how many Gay and Lesbian Americans.

Now Rekers  is claiming HE is the victim, because his escapades with an 20-year old  Gay male escort  are out in the open.  His former supporters  at  the Family Research Council  have been quick to condemn  people like me,  asking where is  our  "compassion" for someone who is  "struggling with sin."   That's funny,   I haven't seen any compassion for  Gays and Lesbians  coming out of  the FRC when they spew the most vile and contemptible lies about LGBT Americans.  Lies like;  Gaining access to children has been a long-term goal of the homosexual movement." —"Homosexual Behavior and Pedophilia," FRC publication, July 1999.

This is why the  fall of  George Rekers  IS a big deal.   It exposes  the bigotry of  the Conservative Evangelical moment in the United States for exactly what it is.    The self-hatred of  bitter closet cases.  Too scared to live their lives honestly,  so they spend those lives  trying to harm those people that have the courage they lack.

Erasable Staff at the University of South Carolina

(via Box Turtle Bulletin)


Now you see him...


And  now... you  don't!

















Hmm..   Apparently, as long as George Rekers was a anti-gay bigot, spouting completely discredited voodoo about "repartative therapy", then he was welcome at the University of South Carolina, But now that he is known to actually be Gay,,, well, can't have THAT now can we?

The Colbert Report on George Rekers... Brilliant

(via JoeMyGod )


The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Alpha Dog of the Week - George Rekers
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical HumorFox News

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Monday, May 03, 2010

Why This Fall's Congressional Elections Matter...

I was having dinner with a good friend of mine the other night and he asked me to explain why this fall's midterm elections where "such a big deal" Here's what I told him...

Imagine about nine and half years ago, you lent your car to this guy. Now you didn't know this guy all that well, but you knew his Parents, and you liked them, so you figured it would be ok if he used your car for a while.

Then for the next 8 years this guy and a bunch of his friends, drove your car into the ground. They ignored rules of safe driving, ignored all the warning lights including "CHECK ENGINE NOW"! They never changed the oil, They drove the car into places the car was never meant or designed to go. They wore the tire tread down to practically nothing, and in 2008 were about to literally drive the car off a cliff in some bizarre game of "chicken", and the only thing that prevented THAT was you taking the car back, and the keys away from these guys.

So for the last year and a half or so, you have been working with a new mechanic who has been diligently working on the car, slowly repairing the massive amount of damage.  At every step this mechanic takes the time to explain exactly what the problem is and  what it will cost to fix it.

At the same time he is also smoothing things over with all of your other neighbors who have been really annoyed with you for allowing your car to be recklessly driven all over town for eight years.

On top of that, you just found out the reason that in 2008 those  guys were trying to drive the car off a cliff,  was because some of their other friends had placed huge BETS on how much damage crashing the car would cause.

Now that same bunch of drunk joy riders, who nearly totaled your car two years ago, show up and say you should hire THEM to fix the car. And their idea of fixing it, is to rip out all the safety features on the car. Take out the seat belts, remove the airbags, the shocks, the brakes, the turn signals and the mirrors. Their reason being , all those safety features were infringing on the car's "Freedom" to run.

Then they get  some of their loudest  and craziest  friends  to show up outside the garage,  and protest against the fact that the car is even being fixed at all.

So that in a nutshell IS the choice this November. Do you let the Mechanic who saved the car from the junk heap keep working on fixing it, or let the same bunch of drunk driving idiots double down on everything they did to wreck the car.

My friend looked thoughtfully out the window of the resturant and then said, "Why doesn't anyone in the Democratic Party explain it that clearly?"

That, is a really good question.... I wish I knew the answer.