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Wayne Besen
PO Box 25491
Brooklyn, NY 11202
(Pope Should Stop Blaming Gays For Church's Moral Failures)
A CNN report said that the Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington agreed to pay $120 million because priests kept molesting little boys. According to the report, this is the nation's largest settlement in the scandal that has brought the church to its knees, in a manner of speaking. This disgusting revalation is just the tip of the perverted iceberg.
Last year, the Orange County, California Diocese agreed to a settlement that would pay $100 million to 87 victims.
In 2003 the Boston Archdiocese, where the scandal broke, settled with 552 victims for $85 million.
Dioceses in Tucson, Portland, Oregon, and Spokane -- have filed bankruptcy claims because of abuse allegations.
It is appalling that the new Pope hasn't come here on his hands and knees to beg forgiveness. Instead, the Church has elected to attack gay people to deflect attention from its egregious sins.
As far as I'm concerned, the Catholic Church has no moral authority to tell anyone how to live, after covering up such disgusting crimes. What the church needs to clean up its sordid act are openly gay priests and women. Only when such mentally and spiritually healthy and clean people arrive, will the epidemic of abuse finally stop.
For all the church's gay bashing, I find it interesting that not one gay bar has been sued for its patrons molesting children. Obviously, the Pope can't say the same thing about his churches in America.
According to USA Today, the U.S. is now forcing AIDS groups to sign a "No Ho" pledge saying that they oppose prostitution and sex trafficking if they want federal funds.
"It's ideological blackmail. It's like a loyalty oath," Paul Zeitz of the Global AIDS Alliance told USA Today. "No one endorses prostitution and sex-trafficking. We cannot stop AIDS if we lose the trust of people most at risk of HIV infection and undermine effective, lifesaving programs."
First, it is obvious to thinking people that these AIDS groups are not for prostitution. Second, the rich, prep school daddies boy, spoiled brats that populate the Bush Administration act as if prostitution is just one more bad career choice for women who don't want to work at real jobs. They don't seem to understand that most women get trapped in the world's oldest profession because of desperation. See, unlike Bush, their daddies weren't President. They did not get into great schools with bad grades, nor did they get to booze up until the age of 40 while Daddy got them sweet business deals that would ultimately fail.
No, most of these unfortunate women are in the awful position of selling their bodies for basic survival. If Bush really cared about these women, he would help pay for job training, healthcare, child day care and education grants to give them a real opportunity to succeed.
Instead, he makes AIDS groups sign absurd, puritancial pledges designed to future margnalize these outcasts. Bush and his cronies really don't get how difficult it is to make it as a single women with children in a developing country. Instead of giving people a hand, Bush & Friends are more likely to offer a kick in the teeth. This new pledge is a disgrace and an embarrassment for America. It is sad that Bush's America only offers her compassion with the cruelest strings attached.
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(Judge Pryor Wields Gavel Like A Sledge Hammer Against GLBT Equality)
A lot of good the "compromise" did ending the GOP threat of the so-called "nuclear option" in the Seante. It not only is allowing the confirmation of virulently anti-gay judges, but the Republicans still plan to nuke the Democrats during the upcoming battle over naming a new Supreme Court justice.
Today's sickening Senate confirmation of former Alabama Attorney General William H. Pryor Jr. to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, highlights how the Democrats (and the gay community) got screwed on the compromise. Pryor has one of the most hateful records in the history of the bench, wielding his gavel against the GLBT Community like a sledge hammer. Take a look at his record, as compiled by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force:
In his capacity as deputy attorney general of Alabama, Pryor co-authored an amicus brief supporting Colorado's anti-gayballot initiative in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Romer v. Evans.
As Alabama attorney general, Pryor wrote an amicus brief defending Texas' anti-gay sodomy law in the U.S. Supreme Court case of Lawrence v. Texas. Pryor sought to deny gay people equal protection under the law, including upholding the imprisonment of gay men and lesbians for expressing their human sexuality in the privacy of their own homes.
While temporarily sitting on the Eleventh Circuit via a recess appointment by President George W. Bush, Pryor cast the deciding vote upholding Florida's ban on adoption by gay men andlesbians.
Pryor calls the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade as "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history."
My friends, get ready to have the courts filled with Pryor clones, unless the Democrats get tough and fight back. Of course, the Democrats will remain weak and nearly useless as long as our GLBT organizations continue to laud failed deals like the awful Seante "compromise" as a victory. While they say the nuclear option was temporarily averted, it certainly doesn't feel like it. After all, the GLBT community is suffering radioactive effects from the deal's terrible fallout.
In a study of identical and non-identical twins published on Wednesday, 14 percent of women said they always had an orgasm during intercourse. However, 34 percent always reached orgasm while masturbating.
Apparently, there are a lot of straight men who are not up to the task. Many of their girlfriends can only orgasm through masturbation. I would bet that most of the men failing in the sack are repressed conservatives who were home schooled and did not have sex-ed courses. If this is not a case study for the importance of sex-ed, I don't know what is.
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The George W. Bush Justice Department has just declared war on all families who fight to keep their children away from the addictive habit of smoking. This supposedly anti-drug president, clearly has no problem with aiding producers of one of the most lethal drugs in America.
According to The New York Times the Justice Departmenthas has decided to seek $10 billion for a stop-smoking program in its lawsuit against the country's largest cigarette companies, in lieu of the $130 billion suggested by one of its expert witnesses. Once again, experts are brushed aside for sleazy political favors.
"It reeks of an administration whose heart isn't really in this case," said Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey, at a news conference with other Democrats who suggested that Justice Department officials with ties to the tobacco industry might have grown uncomfortable with a large financial demand as part of the government's case against the companies.
According to The Times, the payments would cover a smoking cessation program. The $130 million figure was based on a recommendation from Dr. Michael C. Fiore, an lead expert on the harm caused by tobacco, who claimed a nationwide program that has a telephone hotline, treatment and counseling, as well as funds for advertising would cost $5.2 billion a year for 25 years.
"Why, in the middle of a lawsuit, would you give up, which is exactly what this administration has done?" said Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois. "Was it because of the power of the tobacco lobby? Was it their close connection with people within the administration? Was it the fact that they'd never had the stomach to tackle this special interest group in Washington?" He added, "I think it's all of the above."
The Times article also said Rep. Henry Waxman,D-Calif., released a letter asking for an investigation into whether improper political considerations had led to the change in request and what role might have been played by Associate Attorney General Robert D. McCallum Jr., a former classmate of President Bush at Yale and partner in an Atlanta law firm that represented one of the defendants in the case, R. J. Reynolds.
This whole scam stinks worse than a smoky nightclub full of slobbering lushes at 3 AM. It is time to smoke out who is behind this tawdry giveaway to Big Tobacco at the expense of America's children. Once again, in Bush's America, Big Business wins over the health of families.
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It is not surprising that The Illinois Family Institute's Peter LaBarbera has once more inserted himself into a gay leather extravaganza. For more than a decade, he has enthusiastically attended such events to either complain or conduct "research" for the right. In my book, Anything But Straight, Wade Richards, once an ex-gay (he's now ex-ex) who worked with LaBarbera, said he had a bizarre backroom with piles of gay porno mags and leather costumes so he could go undercover at these events.
"Peter was very intense," said Richards in Anything But Straight (Pg. 77). "The office freaked me out. I had never seen so much gay pornography in my whole life...It was crazy...[there were] thousands [of gay magazines] - all kinds...[He said they were] for research...I had no clue what fisting was until I met Peter LaBarbera...It was a crazy experience."
And this clown says that openly gay people are a threat to children? It seems Mr. LaBarbera protests a bit too much. If I were his wife (Thank God I'm not) I'd be a little suspicious that my husband collected mountains of gay porno mags kept going back to events that featured gay S&M. If he keeps entering such places, maybe he secretly wants to enter this arena?
LaBarbera's latest target is International Mr. Leather which drew 10,000 leather-clad men to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend. He is desperately trying to link Kraft Foods to the event because they support the Gay Games. However, we all know that that the Gay Games is about first-class competition, and Kraft is about food. Like the American Family Association's failed boycotts against Disney and Ford, LaBarbera's crusade against Kraft is also doomed to fail.
In typical Nazi propaganda fashion, LaBarbera called for the arrest of the leatherman and used the most outrageous photo he could find on his web-site in a sleazy effort to scare church-goers
(Political Porn: LaBarbera's 'Money Shot') in Middle America. It is ironic, but most Americans see outrageous pictures of leather events only through the right wing media. This likely makes LaBarbera one of the largest providers of seedy gay porn for fundamentalist Christian audiences. No doubt, he does his job well, as there is hardly a gay leather event he seems to miss.
Interestingly, I have yet to see LaBarbera attend and publicize a heterosexual S&M gathering. To be sure, there are hundreds of swingers clubs and leather events for straight people. Indeed, the heterosexual leather/swingers scene dwarfs that of the gay community (that's because there are more straight people, if you haven't noticed). Yet, LaBarbera seems to have no interest in these events. His choice of venues is, for sure, very odd.
Here is the funniest line of his article:
"That's right: here in the Land of Lincoln, homosexual men roamed the streets and halls of the Hyatt Regency chained to their male 'master' partners, being led around like dogs wherever they went."
From what we are learning about Lincoln, it would be no surprise, if he were alive, that he might be attending the event. To tell you the truth, leather isn't my scene and holds no interest for me. Therefore, I mind my own business and usually stay away. Peter LaBarbera should heed my advice and avoid leather events if it is not his scene. Or, maybe he keeps showing up, because it is.
Gay men in Washington and beyond should begin taking cameras into gay bars to photograph Ken Mehlman, Chairman of the Republican Party, who is alleged to be gay. If Mehlman is the closet case activists, such as Mike Rogers, say he is, then he is a disgrace to humanity and the ultimate turncoat "Uncle Mary" - the gay version of an Uncle Tom.
This is the first time I have ever urged the gay community to aggressively out someone. However, if Mehlman is gay, he has no place in the very gay community he has trashed. Not in our bars. Not on our Internet cruising websites (a favorite hangout for depraved GOP closet cases - Just ask sleazy Spokane Mayor Jim West) Indeed, his very power has derived from virulent gay bashing and his career has risen in direct proportion to anti-gay political rhetoric. He has made his living, by ensuring gay teens continue dying through suicides prompted by a hateful climate in some intolerant parts of America.
During the 2004 election, Mehlman helped craft the GOP's sleazy strategy to use anti-marriage Amendments to help Bush win. This alleged Uncle Mary also allowed the Republican National Committee to use heinously homophobic ads to get "Values Voters" to the polls.
On Sunday, Mehlman defended the Bush Administration's awful anti-gay record on NBC's Meet the Press. Worse, he pretended not to know whether homosexuality is a choice. While being gay is not a choice, some mentally disturbed gay people do choose to help a gay-hating party retain power. Take a look at the Meet the Press transcript to see what a traitor sounds like.
It is almost painful to watch the stilted Mehlman mouth his malarkey on television. His plastic persona is scripted and soulless and inescapably insincere. He looks like a man with secrets who is uncomfortable in his own skin. Or perhaps, it is that he may be most comfortable touching another man's skin, which would not be conducive to climbing the career ladder in the GOP.
It escapes me to understand how someone like Mehlman (He refuses to say if he is gay, which is unheard of for a GOP honcho) looks in the mirror or sleeps at night. I have come to the conclusion that the continuation and perpetuation of anti-gay bias is a direct result of self-loathing homosexuals. They are our worst enemy because their self-hatred is what drives them to extraordinary lengths to gay bash. The time for being nice is over. Each and every sociopath hypocrite who uses homophobia to selfishly advance his or her career should be exposed. Am I the only one who is fed up with protecting their dysfunctional and dangerous closets?
MEET THE PRESS
MR. TIM RUSSERT: Will the president continue to push for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage?
MR. KEN MEHLMAN: The president strongly believes that marriage in this country ought to be between a man and a woman. He also believes it is something that ought to be decided by the people. He doesn't believe that judges ought to impose their will on the people. And because there have been a number of judicial decisions, most recently in Nebraska, that have made that decision for the people. He believes that a constitutional amendment is appropriate so the people can weigh in. It's something that's before the United States Senate. It's one of their agenda items they intend to move on this year, and I think we can expect to see them do that.
MR. RUSSERT: You've been trying to broaden the base of the Republican Party and yet Log Cabin Republicans, gay Republicans, issued this statement in the course of last year's election: "...it is impossible to overstate the depth of anger and disappointment caused by the President's support for an anti-family Constitutional Amendment. This amendment would not only ban gay marriage, it would also jeopardize civil unions and domestic partnerships. ... Some will accuse us of being disloyal. However, it was actually the White House who was disloyal to the 1,000,000 gay and lesbian Americans who supported him four years ago in 2000. Log Cabin's decision was made in response to the White House's strategic political decision to pursue a re-election strategy catered to the radical right. ... Using gays and lesbians as wedge issues in an election year is unacceptable to Log Cabin..."
MR. MEHLMAN: I would respectfully disagree with their statement on that. I think this is an issue in which there's some disagreement. The fact is if you look at the exit polls about 23 percent of gays and lesbians voted for this president, so lot of folks disagreed with what the Log Cabin Republicans said. I'm glad they're supporting the president's position on Social Security. But I think that fundamentally for the president and for millions of Americans, this is an issue of principle. Who should decide on a critical question of how we define marriage in this country? Should it be decided by an activist court or by the people? We believe the people should make this decision.
MR. RUSSERT: Do you believe homosexuality is a choice?
MR. MEHLMAN: I don't know the answer to that question. I don't think it matters to the fundamental question here because at bottom, this president believes in non-discrimination. He believes in equal treatment. He believes in respect for all. He also believes, separate and apart from that question, that the fundamental question of marriage ought to be defined in the way it's been defined for more than 200 years of our nation's history, which is by the people's representative at the state legislatures.
MR. RUSSERT: But the Log Cabin Republicans will say if you're born gay, it's a biological determination, not a matter of choice.
MR. MEHLMAN: And that's--that may be, but the fact is that's irrelevant to question of the public definition of marriage. They're two totally different issues.
On Sunday, Gov. Rick Perry took the unusual step of signing two awful bills at a church, the Calvary Christian Academy. In a failed attempt to avoid breaching the separation of church and state, Perry signed an anti-gay bill and a anti-choice bill in the church's gymnasium instead of the chapel. He also included "House Jew" Rabbi David Stone of the Beth Yeshua Messianic Jewish Congregation in Fort Worth, to offer the veneer of pluralism. It is amazing how the right finds "ex-gays", or Alan Keyes types or House Jews like Rabbi Stone to carry their water. How sick, sad, and tragic. The New York Times wrote about the sickening event:
He [Rick Perry] also said he was putting his signature - although it was not required - on a measure that places a proposed constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages before Texas voters on Nov. 8. "Activist judges have used the bench to advance a narrow agenda," the governor said, adding that the measure defining marriage as a sacred bond between a man and a woman "places it beyond the reach of activist judges."
The Family Research Council's Tony Perkins was at the event, as well as the American Family Association's Don Wildmon. It is clear that in Texas, under Perry, the Church is the state. Would someone in Texas please have the guts to start a petition drive to impeach the clown. He has clearly breached his oath of office, as well as failed to deliver education. The tax exempt status of Calvary Christian Academy also needs to be revoked. I'm sure there are many taxpayers that don't want to subsidize their hateful agenda.
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( Nancy Heche, A Mother With Unique Family Values)
It turns out that Focus on the Family has been right all along, but in a way the group had not anticipated. This week marks the world's first documented success stories showing sexual orientation can be changed. But in a twist of sweet irony, the subjects did not go from gay to straight, but from heterosexual to homosexual. Let me explain.
