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Wayne Besen
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It is absolutely disgraceful how Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is trying to undermine the state's lofty reputation for science. According to The New York Times, the Republican is against creating embryos specifically for medical stem cell research and seeks to outlaw the practice, which many scientists believe is their best hope for curing terrible diseases. If Romney's savaging of science gets adopted (unlikely) this could force many of Massachusetts' top egg heads to flee to California for friendlier Ivory Towers that support such research.
This politically calculated crusade is really about "Medieval Mit's" ambition to become president and appeal to social conservatives in the South. (Because we all know he was elected with a mandate to turn Mass. into the next Alabama) This self-centered political grandstanding at the expense of his constituents represents how Romney has placed self-interest above state interests.
Fortunately, Democrats are standing up to such embarrassing backwardness in the Bay State. According to the Times, Senate President Robert E. Travaglini introduced a bill to allow embryonic stem cell research.
"I believe it is time to send a very strong message to the nation's medical research community that they are indeed welcome here," said Travaglini. "I am disappointed that the governor has chosen to send the opposite message. Rather than endorsing stem cell research, he is raising fears and unfounded doubts."
Stem cell research is viewed by many scientists as the best hope to cure diseases such as multiple sclerosis, diabetes and many others. I guess Medieval Mit is the latest example of a "Compassionate Conservative".
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A alleged tawdry Internet pimp, who had somehow obtained press passes to the White House to ask President Bush puff questions, today resigned from his web-site (Talon-News.com). By day "Jeff Gannon" posed as a legitimate, conservative news reporter. By night he dropped the pose and the pseudonym (his real name is Jim Guckert)and reportedly owned various homosexual Web sites, including HotMilitaryStud.com, MilitaryEscorts.com and MilitaryEscortsM4M.com.(He sounds real conservative!) Gannon was also given a classified CIA memo that named agent Valerie Plame.
"The issue here is whether someone with connections to male prostitution was given unfettered access to the White House and copies of internal CIA documents. For a family values administration, that's pretty creepy," Aravosis told the Daily News.
We can only imagine what the true extent is of the Bush administration's manipulation of the media.
Social conservatives are making a strong push to lure African-Americans by exploiting the same-sex marriage issue. According to the Los Angeles Times, white preacher Lou Sheldon hosted a right wing meeting of 70 black religious leaders in L.A.
Unbelievably, Sheldon played an anti-gay video featuring disgraced Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. Remember, Lott recently got into hot water for publicly pining over Strom Thurmond not winning the presidency as a Dixiecrat. This revival of white rednecks preaching to black rubes is part of a series of such events across the nation. It certainly goes to show that bigotry can be color blind.
The brilliant columnist, Leonard Pitts, Jr., skewered these duped dimwits and took these preachers to task for aligning themselves with traditionally hostile foes. According to Pitts:
Let me point out something that ought to be obvious: Social conservatism has never been a friend to black people....Once upon a time, those folks called themselves Southern Democrats. These days, they are Republican religious conservatives. Not that it matters. What's important is the simple fact that the traditional values position on matters of specific importance to African Americans has never once been validated by history. Whether the issue was slavery, segregation, lynching, voting rights or housing discrimination, social conservatives have always taken a position that history later judged to be ignorant and flat-out wrong. They have a similarly abysmal track record with regard to women's rights and anti-Semitism.Which leaves me at a loss to understand why any African American possessed of a functioning brain would give this atavistic bunch the time of day.
I couldn't have said it better myself! Furthermore, if this unholy alliance actually takes root and ensures a GOP majority, there will be terrible consequences, as abysmal economic and social policies decimate the poor and middle class. The African-American preachers that helped to bring about these detrimental changes, simply to satisfy their hatred of gay people, should be held accountable. If the GOP guts the New Deal, these political preachers will be first in line for the blame.
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Ellen Goodman wrote an excellent column about intolerance at the U.S. Department of Education. The DOE recently pulled an episode of "Postcards From Buster" because it contained a scene where Buster the Bunny met a family with same-sex parents in Vermont. According to Goodman:
Here is a small geography lesson for the Department of Education. Vermont with its civil unions is a part of the American landscape. The bunny is animated but the families are not. For the three kids of the two mommies who were the stars of the segment, this is not a lifestyle but a life, not propaganda but reality.
As Goodman later points out, the DOE funneled $240,000 to "journalist" Armstrong Williams - truly a tool of his trade - to spout off right wing educational concepts. Is it only a matter of time before the DOE under Margaret Spellings directs schools to teach that dinosaur bones were put on earth by God to test our faith? Will flat earth lessons be next? Stay tuned...
George W. Bush may be cutting money for 150 programs, yet, he somehow managed to squeeze $1.4 million out of his budget to infuse more right wing faith and family into our holidays. Call it a miracle!
In April, the administration will launch the "Holiday Renaming Project". I obtained a secret memo detailing the new holiday names proposed by Bush. All exclusive quotes in parenthesis are from the President:
OLD: Christmas
NEW: Christmore
OLD: Father's Day
NEW: Higher Father's Day ("Heck, I don't even consult with dad on war with Iraq")
OLD: Mardi Gras
NEW: Moral Gras
OLD: Rosh Hashanah
NEW:Rush is on-a
OLD: Fourth of July
NEW: Four Jews Lied (Mel Gibson said so.)
OLD: Halloween
NEW: Holyween
OLD: Flag Day
NEW: Patriotic Banner Day ("Flag", is just too close to "fag" and sends the wrong message to kids)
OLD: Martin Luther King Day
NEW: Martin Luther Day (Monarchs have no place in a free country)
OLD: Ramadan
NEW: Rapturedan
OLD: National Boss Day
NEW: Dick Cheney Day
OLD: All Saints Day
NEW: Every Day!
OLD: Valentines Day
NEW: Love Is For One Man/One Woman Day
OLD: Thanksgiving
NEW: Katherine Harris Day
OLD: Good Friday
NEW: God Friday (And God Mon., Tue. Wed. and Thurs., too!)
OLD: Presidents Day
NEW: See Dick Cheney Day
P.S. If you haven't figured out this is a satire, you probably voted for Bush. I'd also love to see what other people come up with for holiday names.
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According to a new story in BruneiDirect.Com, a German zoo has imported four female penguins from Sweden in an effort to tempt its gay penguins to go straight. I know Swedes can be really hot, but I doubt this will work.
The four Swedish females were dispatched to the Bremerhaven Zoo in Bremen after it was found that three of the zoo's five penguin pairs were homosexual.
Apparently, these dumbass zoo-keepers know nothing about how the "ex-gay" ministries actually work. Before they send in the sexy Swedes, they must first have the gay penguins read the Bible, play ice hockey and blame their fathers.
I haven't written much about the Democratic Party since Election Day, because I never aspired to be an obituary writer. But up from the Democratic dead floats the political poltergeist Howard Dean, who has risen to the helm of the graveyard known as the Democratic National Committee. As one of the foremost critics of Howard Dean during his ill-fated presidential campaign, it might surprise some people to know I applaud his resurrection as good for Democrats, gay people and America.
Can you believe that THIS QUEEN is the international leader of the"ex-gay" ministries???
Alan Chambers may be as masculine as Clay Aiken's bikini underwear. Nonetheless, he is the executive director of "ex-gay" sham group Exodus International. Amazingly, the group has acting classes to help straight wannabes butch up. With Chambers leading these "he-man" exercises, is it any wonder Exodus has such an astronomical failure rate? Although Exodus claims sexual orientation is a choice, Alan's own picture is supreme evidence that genetics help determine sexuality. Even after years of prayer, acting classes and therapy, his picture shows the unsatisfying results. Even more pathetic, Chambers is the best example of a "reformed homosexual" the religious right can find.
What really irritates me is how Exodus sent out a press release on May 2, 2000, condemning a hilarious Will & Grace episode for showing an ex-gay who wasn't exactly a paragon of masculinity. According to the press release:
The meeting is presented as a comical sham from the start. For example, Jack meets an ex-gay man and woman who are now married to each other. The man is extremely effeminate and the wife is a "butch"-appearing woman.
Michael Haley, a staffer at Focus on the Family, also denied in the press release that ex-gay leaders regularly fail to live up to the macho image they falsely portray to the public.
"The portrayal of the pink-shirted effeminate husband with his masculine-looking wife as former homosexuals featured at the meeting was a very deliberate attempt to discredit the ex-gay movement."
There is certainly nothing wrong with effeminate men and drag queens. They are an integral part of the GLBT community and outstanding leaders in the fight for equality. We should celebrate all people for who they are.
What I have a problem with is Exodus and Focus on the Family promoting masculinity programs while having habitually swishy spokespersons. This is simply incongruous with their stated mission and speaks to their chronic failure.
Finally, Exodus should apologize to the producers of Will & Grace. In reality, their main spokesperson, Alan Chambers, is twice the queen as the actor Exodus complained about on the sit-com.
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During the 2004 presidential campaign, George W. Bush barnstormed the barns in rural red states to talk about the importance of moral values. He deftly used the issue of same-sex marriage to scare farmers in states like Mississippi, Arkansas and Georgia - as if gay people were going to leave San Francisco and invade the cotton fields.
This was a classic bait and switch. Bush tricked countless farmers into focusing on gay newlyweds cornholing, so they wouldn't focus on Bush's sinister and secret plan for their corn. The New York Times reported on Sunday that Bush will introduce sharp cuts in farm subsidies to help reduce the deficit.
Agriculture Department officials said Mr. Bush's proposals would cut federal payments to farmers by $587 million, or about 5-percent, next year and would save $5.7 billion in the coming decade.
So basically, Bush is sticking it to his "rural base" by cutting farm subsidies in order to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. Look, I greatly respect farmers - primarily because I like to eat and they grow lot's of food. However, most of these folks went for the scarecrow of gay marriage, and now they are simply eating crow.
Quite frankly, I don't want to hear these farmers whine one bit. They overwhelmingly supported Bush and elected useless Republican hacks like Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) If they had supported Democrats they would not find themselves in this dire position. I'm glad they voted their "moral values", because I'm sure Bush will be praying for them when they lose their farm house and up in the poor house. For the next 4 years, our red state farmers will be singing the Bush blues.
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