"I believe if two people want to commit to each other, God bless 'em," Jeanne Phillips (AKA Dear Abby) told The Associated Press. "That is the highest form of commitment, for heaven's sake."
She goes on to say, "If gay Americans are not allowed to get married and have all the benefits that American citizens are entitled to by the Bill of Rights, they should get one hell of a tax break. That is my opinion."
Read the whole article on Gay.com here.
General Wesley Clark states President Bush's bad leadership inspired him to write his new book.
The annual Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is now available for download. Read it here.
The results? 195 companies received a perfect score -- a 41% increase from 2007. 15 of these companies appeared in the CEI for the first time.
Wal-mart slipped from 65% last year to 40% in 2008. Why? In response to conservative critics, Wal-mart no longer supports GLBT organizations. Their new stance is to not to "support or oppose highly controversial issues." Read more about Wal-mart's GLBT policies here.
The worst:
As most of us know, Congress has been having hearings about the recent toxic toy recalls. They've summoned Toys "R" Us and Mattel, which makes sense: Toys "R" Us sells 18% of the toys in the United States and Mattel is one of the largest toy distibutors in the U.S. (notice I said "distributor" and not "manufacturer." Like most companies these days, Mattel can't afford to manufacture their own toys cheap enough to sell to Wal-mart; so they outsource to Chinese factories, who outsource to other factories, etc.)
Why wasn't Wal-mart asked to be a part of the toxic toys hearings? They sell more toys in the U.S. than Toys "R" Us does; in fact, they almost sell twice as many toys. Wal-mart sells 30% of the countries toys vs. 18% at Toys "R" Us. So why wasn't Wal-mart a part of the hearings? One word: lobbying.
Read more about Wal-mart & the Congressional Safety hearings here.
Curious about the relationship between China and Wal-mart? Read more here.
The Promotion of Failure in the Bush Administration.
In a speech by President Bush on August 28, 2007, the president clues us in on his plans to invade Iran:
We meet today at a critical time for our country. America is engaged in a great
ideological struggle — fighting Islamic extremists across the globe. Today I
want to talk to you and to the American people about a key aspect of the
struggle: the fight for the future of the Middle East. I’m going to explain why
defeating the extremists in this troubled region is essential to our nation’s
security….
The other strain of radicalism in the Middle East is Shia extremism, supported and embodied by the regime that sits in Tehran. Iran has long been a source of trouble in the region. It is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. Iran backs Hezbollah who are trying to undermine the democratic government of Lebanon. Iran funds terrorist groups like Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which murder the innocent, and target Israel, and destabilize the Palestinian territories.
Iran is sending arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan, which could be used to attack American and NATO troops. Iran has arrested visiting American scholars who have committed no crimes and pose no threat to their regime. And Iran’s active pursuit of technology that could lead to nuclear weapons threatens to put a region already known for instability and violence under the shadow of a nuclear holocaust.
Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere. And that is why the United States is rallying friends and allies around the world to isolate the regime, to impose economic sanctions. We will confront this danger before it is too late.
Shia extremists, backed by Iran, are training Iraqis to carry out attacks on our
forces and the Iraqi people. Members of the Qods Force of Iran’s Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps are supplying extremist groups with funding and
weapons, including sophisticated IEDs. And with the assistance of Hezbollah,
they’ve provided training for these violent forces inside of Iraq. Recently,
coalition forces seized 240-millimeter rockets that had been manufactured in
Iran this year and that had been provided to Iraqi extremist groups by Iranian
agents. The attacks on our bases and our troops by Iranian-supplied munitions
have increased in the last few months — despite pledges by Iran to help
stabilize the security situation in Iraq.
Some say Iran’s leaders are not aware of what members of their own regime are doing. Others say Iran’s leaders are actively seeking to provoke the West. Either way, they cannot escape responsibility for aiding attacks against coalition forces and the murder of innocent Iraqis. The Iranian regime must halt these actions. And until it does, I will take actions necessary to protect our troops. I have authorized our military commanders in Iraq to confront Tehran’s murderous activities.
Raw Story does a great job of showing how Fox News tries to connect the Democrats to Bin Laden.
Read the full article here.
Make sure you check out the video clips at the bottom of the article.
The gove-nator, Arnold Scwarzenegger, is set to veto the gay marriage bill that passed the California Senate 22-15. This is the second time in two years the actor-turned-politician has denied the citizens of the second-largest gay population in the nation the rights to marry.
Read the disappointment here.
Did you miss the HRC Logo Democratic Debates (like I did)? Watch the synopsis above to catch the highlights.
And stay tuned for the update on the Republican candidates responses to their invites... I'm sure they'll say yes soon...
So, what happened between 1994 and 2003 that made invading Iraq a good idea, Mr. Cheney? It seems all of the negative outcomes of invading Iraq in 1994 are exactly what happened when your administration invaded Iraq in 2003. Did your interest in oil increase?
I came across this poll on About.com regarding gay marriage, and of course I had to vote.
In the article accompanying the poll, there is a great paragraph that I must quote:
If the Christian Right were to be believed, legalized gay marriage might usher in the Apocalypse, but then again the Christian Right so often uses apocalyptic terms it's difficult to take them very seriously. Similarly grave forecasts were made about ending slavery, desegregation, interracial marriage, letting women vote, etc. Somehow, the Earth has managed to keep spinning and the sun hasn't exploded. Why imagine that gay marriage is any different?
Fox News is setting up the "facts" to support an invasion into Iran? They do that kind of stuff? Please make note of the similarities between the "facts" they are touting for Iran vs. the "facts" they used for Iraq... you know, the ones that were proven false.
Click here to sign the open letter asking the other networks not to follow Fox News down the same path they did for the Iraqi War.
National coming out day is October 11, 2007.
This falls on the 20th anniversary of the 1987 Gay and Lesbian March on Washington and the unfurling of the AIDS Quilt on the National Mall. National Coming Out day began on October 11th of the following year as a way of continuing the spirit openness, honesty, and visibility that the march and the AIDS Quilt presentation inspired.
Do your part to keep the spirit alive.
Talk About It.
Check out this clip from the movie "No End in Sight" a well-made film chronicling the current administrations policies in Iraq.
Go to the movie's website here.
Ten Reasons Gay Marriage is Un-American
1. Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, and air conditioning.
2. Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.
3. Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.
4. Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn’t changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can’t marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.
5. Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britany Spears’ 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.
6. Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn’t be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren’t full yet, and the world needs more children.
7. Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.
8. Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That’s why we have only one religion in America.
9. Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That’s why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.
10. Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven’t adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans.
The Daily Show discusses the recent $660 million "award" to those 508 persons who were abused by priests in the Los Angeles area.
Over half of the money came from insurance companies... which means the church had sexual abuse insurance...
But the church was not aware of any of this before it all came out in public... yeah, right.
Michael Moore has mentioned his next movie may be about gay rights. (article here)
“If you believe in equality, if you believe in standing up for the rights of all, especially for people most affected by bigotry and discrimination, then you have no choice but to be present and accounted for when it comes to standing up for gays and lesbians in our society.”
Yup, "Republican" and "sex scandal" are wed yet again... and this time, it's even one of those evil same-sex marriages.
You heard me correct; Florida state Representative Bob Allen (R) was charged last week for offering to perform oral sex on a male undercover officer for $20. (article here) Did I mention he is co-chair of John McCain's campaign in Florida?
Which is worse in the eyes of the right wing: performing an act of sodomy or being a prostitute? I'm guessing the combination of the two is grounds for being shot in the face by Dick Cheney.
What: A 90 minute Presidential candidate forum on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender issues
When: 8pm CST on August 9, 2007
Where: Los Angeles, CA (aired on LOGO television channel)
Who: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.; Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn.; former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C.; Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio; and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill
Read the HRC press releases here.
Comedic truth as only South Park can do.
If you've seen this whole episode entitled "Mystery of the Urinal Deuce," you already know the complete South Park version of this: the government created the 9/11 conspiracy websites to make it look like they have complete control over the US; this video clip is just a pawn in their chess game to make us believe in their power.
Or is it?
Ever wonder if you're a Liberal or a Libertarian? Do you have any idea what a Libertarian is?
Take a quick political quiz and find out what political group agrees most with you. After your results, you can read up on your political group, as well as the other ones.
Take the quiz here courtesy of theadvocates.org.
Who can say it better than our friends at Brave New Films?
Click here to sign the petition asking Home Depot to stop advertising on Fox News.
psssst.... Do Something!
Yes, Senate Watergate Committee minority counsel Fred Thompson asked that historical question which revealed a taping system in the White House, but he wasn't the one who originally got the information out of presidential aide Alexander Butterfield; another Republican staffer, Don Sanders, was the one who scored the info.
In fact, when Fred found out about the taping system, he leaked the information to the White House so they were "...fully aware of what was to be disclosed so that [they] could take appropriate action." You see, Fred was a huge supporter of Nixon at the beginning of the Watergate scandal. And Fred was a former campaign manager of Senator Howard Baker (R-TN), the ranking Republican member of the Senate Watergate Committee.
So why did he let out the information about the taping system? He thought it would prove Nixon's innocence. Not until he heard the tapes did he realize how wrong he was about Nixon.
And now, this series of events is being spun as "...gained national attention for leading the line of inquiry that revealed the audio-taping system in the White House Oval Office" by his website.
Oh, did I mention that Thompson urged a pardon for Scooter Libby? Didn't he learn about scandal the first time around?
Read the whole story from Boston.com here.
Bush discusses the evils of the "federalization of health care."
Regarding medical liability:
"It makes no sense to have a legal system that punishes good medicine."Ummm... doesn't malpractice punish BAD medicine?
April 26, 1999
Former President George H. W. Bush comments on those who expose the name of our sources.
I guess this no longer applies...
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann comments on the Scooter Libby Pardon (let's call it what it is, ok?):
I accuse you, Mr. Bush, of lying this country into war.
I accuse you of fabricating in the minds of your own people, a false implied link between Saddam Hussein and 9/11.
I accuse you of firing the generals who told you that the plans for Iraq were disastrously insufficient.
I accuse you of causing in Iraq the needless deaths of 3,586 of our brothers and sons, and sisters and daughters, and friends and neighbors.
I accuse you of subverting the Constitution, not in some misguided but sincerely-motivated struggle to combat terrorists, but to stifle dissent.
I accuse you of fomenting fear among your own people, of creating the very terror you claim to have fought.
I accuse you of exploiting that unreasoning fear, the natural fear of your own people who just want to live their lives in peace, as a political tool to slander your critics and libel your opponents.
I accuse you of handing part of this Republic over to a Vice President who is without conscience, and letting him run roughshod over it.
And I accuse you now, Mr. Bush, of giving, through that Vice President, carte blanche to Mr. Libby, to help defame Ambassador Joseph Wilson by any means necessary, to lie to Grand Juries and Special Counsel and before a court, in order to protect the mechanisms and particulars of that defamation, with your guarantee that Libby would never see prison, and, in so doing, as Ambassador Wilson himself phrased it here last night, of becoming an accessory… to the obstruction of justice.
Edge Magazine reports on progress of a possible cure for HIV:
In a breakthrough that could potentially lead to a cure for HIV infection, scientists have discovered a way to remove the virus from infected cells, a study released Thursday said.Read the full article here.
The scientists engineered an enzyme which attacks the DNA of the HIV virus and cuts it out of the infected cell, according to the study published in Science magazine.
The enzyme is still far from being ready to use as a treatment, the authors warned, but it offers a glimmer of hope for the more than 40 million people infected worldwide.
Our friends at thetaskforce.org have posted a document showing the stance of all 2008 Presidential election candidates on Gay Rights.
Who supports same-sex marriage? Mike Gravel (D-AK) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH).
Who does NOT oppose the Federal Marriage Amendment? Fred Thompson (R-TN), Mitt Romney (R-MA), Mike Huckabee (R-AR), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Duncan Hunter (R-CA) and Tom Tancredo (R-CO).
See all of the candidates' stances in detail here.
Wal-mart pulled the plug on donations to gay-friendly organizations due to a threatened boycott by Conservative Christian groups. (article here)
Not that I want the evil Wal-mart empire linked to homosexuality, but you have to admit it could solve the nation's Wal-mart problems. Think about it. Most of Wal-mart's "followers" are in the southern states; most of the Conservative Christian groups are in the southern states. There could be a huge drop in Wal-mart's sales (and thus profits) if a right-wing boycott is put into place.
So, how can we create the sodomy-discount store connection?
Have the Pride parade run through the Wal-mart cosmetic section? No, there are too many toothless distractions to keep the parade on route.
Create a fake news story about Sam Walton's gay affair with a young Strom Thurmond? INGENIOUS! Someone get Katie Couric on the phone... she'll do anything for a ratings boost right now.
StopCorporateAbuse.org has announced the results for the Corporate Hall of Shame 2007.
This year's "Winners" are:
MSNBC's Keith Olbermann's Worst people in the world for June 27, 2007:
Worse: News Corp head Keith Rupert Murdoch for allowing the Chinese government censorship abilities on the My Space China website in order to get his foot in the door in China.
Worser: Keith Rupert Murdoch for using Trent Lott (among others) to have Congress not pass a bill stating no one corporation could own more than 35% of the nation's TV stations. The Republicans lobbied and changed the percentage to 39%... the percentage of national TV stations Murdoch owned at the time. And guess who's memoir Murdoch's HarperCollins Publishers just published: Trent Lott's.
Worst: Bill O'Reilly of Fix News... er... Fox Noise for saying Fox News "takes a more traditional stance on news than NBC news." True if traditional means false and right-winged.
On Guiliani's South Carolina campaign chairman (and the state's Treasurer) getting busted for cocaine to "share with other people, not to sell":
"First of all, why is drug stuff always metric? And secondly, not to sell but to share? And you call yourself a Republican? That is not Capitalism, my friend; that is Welfare."
Does the hair on your head grow in a counter-clockwise pattern? You're gay.
Is your index finger longer than or the same size as your ring finger? Gay.
Are the fingerprints on your thumb and pinkie finger of your left hand dense? Gay, Gay, Gay.
Are you left-handed or ambidextrous? Yep, Big Homo
Don't believe me? Read the facts here.
The Washington Post has created a four-part must-read series on Vice President (and President of the Senate) Dick Cheney.
Part One (6/24/07): Working in the Background
1 in 6 hate crimes is motivated by the victim's sexual orientation. The Matthew Shepard act can help stop this. This act was passed in the House of Representatives, and is now up for vote in the senate.
Our friends at the Human Rights Campaign have created a video and a quick way to e-mail your senators to let them know you support the Matthew Shepard Act. Check out the video here.
Please take a moment to tell your senators to support the Matthew Shepard Act. (link here)
In the past 14 years, over 11,000 service members have been discharged from the military for being homosexual.
One of these service members was Stephen Benjamin. He is one of the few servicemen who speaks Arabic, yet there is no place for him in today's military.
Our friends at Brave New Foundation have created a video telling Stephen's story. (video here) They have also created a petition you can sign and have sent to your members of Congress. Even if you don't have time to watch the video, check out the petition here.
You can read Stephen Benjamin's oped piece from the New York Times here.
Haven't we come far enough as people to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell?" The following countries allow homosexuals to actively serve in their military:
The Vatican has issued Ten Commandments for drivers. Yes, you heard me correct. Ten Commandments for drivers. Can someone please find something for the Pope to do?
1. You shall not kill.
2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm.
3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events.
4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents.
5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.
6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so.
7. Support the families of accident victims.
8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness.
9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party.
10. Feel responsible toward others.
Every once in a while, I find a blog so funny I have to promote it. Today, it's "Jesus' General." The premise of the blog is this: make fun of the right wing conservatives by acting as if you were one.
This posting from Friday, June 14th is hilarious. Here's a snippet:
As if the typical Liberal isn’t crude enough there does seem to be a lot more flaunting of sin and deprivation during a full moon. Aren’t most “Gay Prides” held during a full moon?
What about abortions? Why, I bet that if research studies were conducted we would discover that more little innocent babies are executed during a full moon than any other time.
Libido and promiscuity seems to rise during a full moon. What say you, Slutty Liberal girls and Homosexuals? Do you go into hunt mode and look for more indiscriminate sexual partners than usual?
E-mail scandals -- the new Watergate.
In March 2007, White House spokesperson Dana Perino said only a "handful of officials" had Republican National Committee (RNC) e-mail accounts. In later statements, her estimate rose to "50 over the course of the administration." Actually, the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has learned from the RNC (after two subpoenas were issued) that at least 88 White House officials had RNC e-mail accounts.
What's the issue? These e-mail accounts were used for government business, such as communicating with federal agencies about federal appointments. This is a violation of the Presidential Records Act of 1978.
Why would people use their RNC account instead of their official .gov account? As Susan Ralston, Karl Rove's former executive assistant, said in an e-mail to Todd Boulanger, one of Jack Abramoff's associates, "I now have an RNC blackberry which you can use to e-mail me at anytime. No security issues like my WH e-mail." In other words, there's no official paper trail. Plus, the RNC e-mails can be easily destroyed without the White House's involvement or knowledge. In fact, only records for 37 of the 88 accounts are available, and the 37 aren't complete.
Sounds like a scandal, huh? Read the official Committee findings here.
Gay Rights
BBC News reported WTC building 7 collapsed 23 minuted before it actually did.
What does this mean? The collapse of WTC7 was planned? The BBC gets the news fed to them? The Bush administration can't even get its act together to blow up a building on time? Yes... and much more.
Here's the BBC's official response to these allegations. (article here)
The BBC's sister channel, News 24, also reported this story early, proven by a timestamp on the broadcast. (article here)
A "Gay Bomb?" WTF?
I'm speechless. Read the article yourself. (article here)
Is this real?
I recently came across a very interesting site called JFK Murder Solved. Yeah, yeah... another conspiracy theory website.
What really caught my eye is the connection they draw to George H. W. Bush and the Kennedy assassination. The site also gives little-known facts about Preston Bush, George H. W. Bush's father, and his connections to Eisenhower and Nixon as well as many other interesting connections that make you think.
Check out the site and form your own opinions. (website here) Share your opinions with me in the "Comments" section.
"They can try to have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to determine who serves in my government." -George W. BushIn a comment reminiscent of a defiant two-year old, President Bush shows his true colors; he's going to do whatever he wants. Everyone look surprised.
On May 10, 2007, the McGovern amendment was voted on by the House of Representatives. This topic of this amendment was to redeploy U.S. troops and contractors OUT of Iraq. Unfortunately, this bill failed; 171 were in favor and 255 opposed.
How could this happen with a Democratic majority in the House? 59 Democrats voted against pulling the troops out of Iraq. Why?
There one question I can answer is Who. Here is a listing of the 59 Democratic Representatives that voted against pulling out the troops. (article here) Our friends at Democrats.com are calling for these incumbents to be challenged in the 2008 primaries.
Read the list of who voted against pulling out the troops in Iraq, and take a look at the candidates Democrats.com are endorsing in the 2008 primaries.
Remember, if 43 of these 59 Democrats had voted to pass the McGovern Amendment, the troops could be coming home.
"Mission Accomplished."
Who could forget May 1, 2003 when Bush appeared in a green flight suit on the USS Abraham Lincoln with that "Mission Accomplished" banner above him and stated the Iraqi war was coming to an end? (article here)
Today marks the 1,500th day since that photo opportunity. To honor that great day in American history, I would like to share a video from our friends at Robert Greenwald's website Tell Us the Mission.
The video is a poem called "King George (Mission Accomplished.)" (video here) (words to poem here)
On the bottom of Tell Us the Mission's homepage, there is also a petition to the US Congress asking that the US Flag Code be amended to fly flags at half-staff for one day whenever an American service member dies at war. This idea came from an op-ed piece of an American soldier serving in Afghanistan. Take a minute to think about how often the US flag would have been flying at half-staff for the past 1,500 days.
Makes me want to ask "WHAT mission was accomplished?"
Gay Rights:
The following link is a video from May 2007 of Elisabeth Hasselbeck in an interview with Will Wikle (from "Big Brother" and Logo's "Roundtrip Ticket") discussing Gay Rights.
I find it very interesting how Elisabeth, in true Elisabeth form, never really answers the questions in a way that would give the religious right a reason to go after her...
Check out the video: Elisabeth's "View"
"In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way."
-Franklin D. Roosevelt
"Loose Change" is an independent documentary about 9/11/01 that questions the government's involvement in the WTC and Pentagon attacks. For those of you who automatically dismiss this theory, I encourage you to watch the first 8 minutes of the documentary, and do your own research (and no, "research" coming from Fox News doesn't count).
The facts given at the beginning of "Loose Change" 2nd edition are very interesting. Here are a few of the facts with my comments in italics:
Someone recently sent this story to me, and it made me laugh. This sums up how I think of the religious right:
A man was being tailgated by a stressed out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow, just in front of him. He did the right thing by stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.
The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer. The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, finger printed, photographed, and placed in a holding cell. After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.
He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake. You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you and cussing a blue streak at him. I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do' bumper sticker, the 'Choose Life' License plate holder, the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper Sticker, And the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk, Naturally, I assumed you had stolen the car.'
Here it is: the beginning of an era. I have decided to create a blog to share my favorite things: humor, politics, TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) info, and whatever else suits my fancy. Isn' t about time the Gay, Metaphysical, TCM student/activist/smartass had a voice worth hearing?? Move over Jesse Jackson! Kinda gives a new meaning to "Rainbow Push," huh?
My goal? To educate, communicate, and offer a sarcastic point of view on everything from politics to television.
