Saturday, February 04, 2006
A teenager accused of going on a rampage at a
Massachusetts gay bar with a hatchet and a gun was in a Missouri hospital Saturday after two shootings in northern Arkansas that resulted in the death of a police officer and a woman accompanying the wounded teen, state police said.
Jacob D. Robida, 18, was transported to a hospital at Springfield, Mo., after an exchange of gunfire with police in Norfork, according to state police spokesman Bill Sadler.
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Neal Boortz sums up my sentiment on the marauding Muslims going nuts over cartoons in Europe. The reason the radical Muslims are always so angry is because they lack the very freedom they are protesting.
Muslim outrage huh. OK ... let's do a little historical review. Just some lowlights:** Muslims fly commercial airliners into buildings in New York City. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslim officials block the exit where school girls are trying to escape a burning building because their faces were exposed. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims cut off the heads of three teenaged girls on their way to school in Indonesia. A Christian school. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims murder teachers trying to teach Muslim children in Iraq. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims murder over 80 tourists with car bombs outside cafes and hotels in Egypt. No Muslim outrage.
** A Muslim attacks a missionary children's school in India. Kills six. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims slaughter hundreds of children and teachers in Beslan, Russia. Muslims shoot children in the back. No Muslim outrage.
Let's go way back. Muslims kidnap and kill athletes at the Munich Summer Olympics. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims fire rocket-propelled grenades into schools full of children in Israel. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims murder more than 50 commuters in attacks on London subways and busses. Over 700 are injured. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims massacre dozens of innocents at a Passover Seder. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims murder innocent vacationers in Bali. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslim newspapers publish anti-Semitic cartoons. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims are involved, on one side or the other, in almost every one of the 125+ shooting wars around the world. No Muslim outrage.
** Muslims beat the charred bodies of Western civilians with their shoes, then hang them from a bridge. No Muslim outrage.
** Newspapers in Denmark and Norway publish cartoons depicting Mohammed. Muslims are outraged.
It is time we stop making excuses for the violent behavior of radical Islamists. They belong to a brand of Islam that is a danger to the world. Let us hope that moderate Muslims take control and bring the Middle East into the modern world. Once this happens, we won't see absurd protests over cartoons of Mohammed.
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Friday, February 03, 2006
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John Paulk was the king of the "ex-gay" ministries. He had appeared on Good Morning America, Oprah and 60 Minutes, telling his bizarre tale of "change." He was also on the cover of Newsweek with his "ex-lesbian" wife Anne, under the headline "GAY FOR LIFE?" Later, he went to work for Focus on the Family, running their "ex-gay" Love Won Out anti-gay road show.
All this ended, after I
photographed Paulk in a homosexual saloon in Washington. Paulk and his wife moved to Portland. Ore., never to be heard from again....
UNTIL NOW.
It turns out Paulk has embarked upon yet another transformation. But this time, he is baking more than bullshit. America's most famous failed ex-gay is now a personal chef in Portland and a graduate of Western Culinary Institute. He has opened an oh-so-gay catering business, with an oh-so-queer name -
MEZZALUNA.
You, go girl!
According to his book, "Not Afraid To Change" his new career may keep him in the closet for a very long time. In his tome, he claimed that becoming fat helped make him straight.
"My weight started to increase, and I found little desire to keep on a strict diet in order to stay fashionably slim. My very appearance was changing; I was looking less and less gay. And I was perfectly happy about it."
Interestingly, his attraction to the spotlight has not changed. He was featured in a
newspaper article about catering Super Bowl events.
Chef John Paulk, owner of Mezzaluna Personal Chef Service in Portland, offers a catered Super Bowl party package that's packed with portable foods, from deep-fried ravioli to bar cookies. "Flavored popcorns are fun, too. I make a basil-Parmesan popcorn, put it in different bowls, and spread them around the room," he says.
Look Out! When Paulk offers his "party package" that could mean a number of things. Finally, basil-Parmesan popcorn? Yeah, right, he's straight.
I wish Mr. Paulk the best of luck with his exciting new career and hope he cooks up dishes, better than he dished out lies. Now, the question on everybody's mind: Does he cater gay weddings?
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(Jeff Soref)
Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean has abolished the Democratic Party’s constituent outreach desks, including the post of director of lesbian and gay outreach. According to
Southern Voice, gay Democratic Party activist and fundraiser Jeff Soref of New York City said he resigned from the DNC and from his position as chair of the gay caucus in August largely because of Dean’s decision to eliminate the gay outreach desk. "
It took us many years to win that position, have it funded and make it effective," Soref said.
Soref said he told Dean "it was not credible" to simply assume that combining all constituent groups into one program without a specific gay coordinator or director would be effective because it would likely result in less attention to the specific concerns of gay Democrats.
"I thought this system could lead to us being re-marginalized by the party," Soref said in an e-mail message. "I have seen or heard nothing since that makes me feel that is not happening," he said.
Donald Hitchcock, a friend of mine, is director of the DNC's Gay & Lesbian Leadership Council, which raises money for the party from gay donors.
We will closely be watching this controversy, to see how it affects GLBT outreach in this crucial mid-term election year.
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Police are seeking a man in connection with a gun and
hatchet attack at a gay bar in New Bedford, south of Boston. Three people were wounded in what authorities said they suspect were hate crimes. Authorities described suspect Jacob D. Robida, 18, of New Bedford as violent, armed and dangerous, and suicidal. He is wanted on suspicion of three counts of attempted murder and hate crimes, police said. Police said Robida has dark hair, is about 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 200 pounds.
He is believed to be driving a 1999 green Pontiac Grand Am with Massachusetts plate number 85EC58. For those who haven't heard, Robida entered Puzzles Lounge and asked if it was a gay bar. When he heard that it was, the fiend took out a hatchet and attacked bar patrons. Then he pulled a gun. One bar patron suffered deep cuts on his head and was shot in the face, and two others were shot in the back and chest, authorities said.
This hate crime reminds me of a story I
posted earlier today where fundie groups were outraged because openly gay actor Chad Allen was cast in a Christian movie. One Web log, nossobrii.blogspot.com, written by Kevin T. Bauder, president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, stated in a Jan. 13 entry:
"Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to fire bomb these men's houses. But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy."
As you can see, these hate-filled moralists create a climate where unstable people, such as Robida, feel it is okay to attack homosexuals. Once the lives of a minority are devalued, twisted people can justify their sick fantasies.
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In September, the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten
published cartoons that depicted Mohammed as a terrorist. This all-too-predictably sent the always-angry Muslim world into a swivet. Other European newspapers also published the cartoons this week in solidarity with the Danish paper, which is under attack. To show my support for the Danish newspaper, I published one of the cartoons above.
Protests against European newspapers' publication of the cartoons gained momentum across the Islamic world as Pakistani schoolchildren burned French and Danish flags and Muslim presidents denounced the drawings. In another day of confrontation between the largely secular nations of Europe and the fundamentalist Muslim countries, Islamic activists threatened more widespread protests and boycotts of European businesses. In other words, the Muslims are bullying Europe into giving up free speech. Um, I don't think so.
I don't know about you, but I am so fed up with radical Islam and its extremism, violence and attacks on freedom. Every time something annoys them, they burn flags, scream and hold their breath until they get their way. Sorry, but in the West, we can print whatever the hell we want. This is why we are rich, successful and stable. In the West, we can disagree without blowing people up and throwing stones. In the West, we don't treat women like pets. In the West, we love and value our liberty (except George W. Bush).
The truth is, these Islamic temper tantrums only occur because we allow them to. They can threaten us and whine and carry-on ONLY because of our free speech laws. With out these laws, the Muslim rioters in France, for instance, simply would have been shot. After all, that is how they handle dissent in Iran, Egypt and Syria.
The radical Islamists are like the 90-pound weakling at the gym, flexing his muscles and threatening the steroidal body builders. At some point, the weakling is going to go to far, and get a weight dropped on his head. The newspapers in Europe should tell the Islamists to shove it. Newspapers in the United States should also publish these cartoons. The biggest mistake we can make is to be intimidated by these bullies. Countries such as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia might be able to suppress their own citizens - but those of us in the West are not subject to their barbaric laws.
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U.S. Sen. Jay Rockefeller on Thursday
complained about a "wall the White House has constructed" around its domestic surveillance program and said Democrats will press their attacks on the president's authorization of the program.
The Democrats need to keep hammering away. This issue is simply too important and is at the heart of our diminishing freedom and liberty.
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Republicans voted to make
Rep. John Boehner , R-Ohio, the permanent replacement for Delay as House Leader.
- Boehner is a sponsor of the federal marriage amendment which would ban same-sex marriage under the Constitution.
- He has repeatedly voted against the Local Law Enforcement Enhancement Act which would add sexual orientaion to groups protected under federal hate crime law.
- He also has voted against non-discrimination legislation that would prohibit employment bias based on sexual orientation and endorsed a bill that would allow the federal government to strip school libraries of books with gay themes.
- In addition Boehner voted to bar same-sex couples in the District of Columbia from adopting children.
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Congressman Barney Frank
blasted Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for her role in the rejection of two international LGBT civil rights groups by a United Nations body.
"I was deeply troubled to learn that the U.S. Government, presumably at your direction, sided with some of the most undemocratic, anti-human rights regimes in the world in voting against consultative status for two international organizations, solely on the grounds that they represent gay and lesbian people," Frank said in a letter to Rice. "I had hoped for better from you."
The United States voted with some of the world's most savage regimes, including Iran, Zimbabwe, China, Cameroon and Columbia to turn down the request. Certainly makes me proud of my country...
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Thursday, February 02, 2006
New Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito split with the
court's conservatives Wednesday night, refusing to let Missouri execute a death-row inmate contesting lethal injection. Alito, handling his first case, sided with inmate Michael Taylor, who had won a stay from an appeals court earlier in the evening. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas supported lifting the stay, but Alito joined the remaining five members in turning down Missouri's last-minute request to allow a midnight execution.
Is Alito the new David Souter?
Okay, that is wishful thinking. But at least the guy surprised America and showed that he can think for himself -on one issue. Unfortunately, Scalia and Thomas have probably locked him in a dungeon until he repents and swears to play on "the team."
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(Chad Allen)
The evangelical film company Every Tribe Entertainment hired openly gay actor Chad Allen to star in the film "End of the Spear." The film relates the true story of five American missionaries who were killed in 1956 by an indigenous tribe in Ecuador. The missionaries' families ultimately converted the tribe to Christianity, and forgave and befriended the killers.
Well, as one might guess, the Neo-Puritans are apoplectic - some even threatening violence. One Web log, nossobrii.blogspot .com, written by Kevin T. Bauder, president of Central Baptist Seminary in Minneapolis, stated in a Jan. 13 entry:
"Granted, we must not overreact. And it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men's houses. But what they have done is no mistake. It is a calculated strategy."
According to the
New York Times, Greg Clifford, chief operating officer of Every Tribe, said the company, based in Oklahoma, had alerted the F.B.I. there about the Web log.
The opposition to the film is led by Rev. Jason Janz, who upbraided the filmmakers for casting Allen. More than 100 pastors of churches across the country signed a letter drafted by Janz and addressed to Every Tribe expressing their dismay in the casting of Allen.Some evangelicals have even boycotted the film.
Well, there you have it folks. The far right's true agenda is excluding gay people from society. They are even willing to discriminate against an actor who willingly participated in a Christian film, that would have only glamorized their cause.
As for Allen, I wish him the best. I met him once in Chicago and he was an incredibly nice man. He also is an excellent spokesperson for gay issues and we are lucky to have him.
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Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and there were a
few boos at the groundhog's prediction of six more weeks of winter. Personally, I think they should have brought in The Donald to fire him. There's got to be a more cooperative critter out there who will end this awful season. (although it has been rather nice this year)
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Brokeback Mountain received eight nominations, including best movie, best director for Ang Lee, and best supporting actor for Ledger's on-screen lover, Jake Gyllenhaal. This has left anti-gay
activists angry and bitter.
"It's a sad day for American when a small group of very determined activists are dominating the awards ceremony," said Janice Crouse, the senior fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, a think tank associated with the Concerned Women for America.
These right wing groups know that Brokeback Mountain threatens their misinformation campaign and their fundraising though fear. They are terrified that Americans will no longer be ignorant of homosexuality and fall for their propaganda.
All I can do is laugh at these backwards people and state the obvious: The success of Brokback Mountain must be God's will.
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Just hours ahead of an
emergency meeting of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, a U.S. official says a "troubling" briefing in Vienna has revealed new information that Iran might be pursuing
atomic weapons.
I don't know about you, but I've about run out of patience with Iran. Under no circumstances can this dangerous nation possess nuclear weapons. I hope war can be avoided, but if the choice is between allowing the radical Islamist nation to have WMD or war - I vote for war.
This, of course, would be a terrible option. Not only would innocent people die, but the people of Iran also want to live in a free, normal country. However, the recent hard line of the nation's maniacal rulers inch us ever closer to a military showdown.
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Wednesday, February 01, 2006
A twisted crew of Colombian drug dealers turned purebred puppies into cuddly
drug couriers by surgically implanting them with packets of liquid heroin, federal authorities said Wednesday.
Ten puppies, including Labrador retrievers, were rescued during a 2004 raid on a farm in Colombia, the Drug Enforcement Administration said while announcing recent arrests in the two-year investigation.
A local veterinarian had stitched a total of 3 kilograms of heroin into the bellies of six pups. Three of the doggies later died from infection after the drugs were removed.
There is nothing worse than animal abusers. Put these thugs in the joint!
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(Cindy Sheehan)Cindy Sheehan, the anti-war protester whose son was killed in Iraq
was arrested and booted out of the House Chamber for the State of the Union address. She was ostensibly removed for wearing an antiwar T-shirt. A police spokeswoman said Ms. Sheehan was charged with unlawful conduct, a misdemeanor.
"I don't want to live in a country that prohibits any person, whether he/she has paid the ultimate price for that country, from wearing, saying, writing, or telephoning any negative statements about the government," Sheehan wrote on her blog.
Sheehan was invited by Representative Lynn Woolsey of California, who insisted she was not trying to make Mr. Bush uncomfortable. "I didn't see this as a political statement at all," Ms. Woolsey said.
Yeah, right. There was nothing political about it.
In a twist to the drama, Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Fla.,
was removed from the gallery because she was wearing a T-shirt that read, "Support the Troops - Defending Our Freedom."
She was sitting about six rows from Laura Bush and asked to leave. She argued with police in the hallway outside the House chamber.
"They said I was protesting," she told the St. Petersburg Times. "I said, "Read my shirt, it is not a protest.' They said, "We consider that a protest.' I said, "Then you are an idiot."'
Typical, arrogant conservative, who believes in free speech, as long is it her's. It is obvious by her reaction that Young thinks she is above the law. It was wonderful that this jerk was put in her place. She clearly lacks the dignity and class to attend such a function.
Here is the deal. Both women deserved to be removed from the State of the Union. It was downright tacky for them to wear T-shirts to this formal event. Imagine if the annual address degenerated into a T-shirt slogan fest, with pet messages on the shirts of lawmakers?
Nevertheless, taking Sheehan out in handcuffs was unacceptable and disrespectful of a woman who lost her son. This is not a radical person who was a threat to anyone in the chamber. Treating her like a common criminal was obnoxious and offensive. However, while I agree with her message, her presence at the even was enough. It would have been more effective if she had worn a black dress to signify a mourning mother.
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Tuesday, January 31, 2006
(Weekly Column)
Coretta Scott King was a wonderful soul of love and empathy who will be mourned by millions of people. She was the King who was a queen, because she understood her husband's "dream" was much greater than achieving liberty for one narrow slice of the population.
"For many years now, I have been an outspoken supporter of civil and human rights for gay and lesbian people,"
Coretta Scott King said at the 25th anniversary luncheon for Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund. "Many of these courageous men and women were fighting for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and I salute their contributions."
King has left a legacy that lives on today through a nascent movement of prominent African Americans who are coming together to support the gay community. Earlier this month, black civil rights leaders held a national summit in an Atlanta Baptist church to discuss how to overcome anti-gay prejudice often fomented by homophobic pastors.
At the conference, Rev. Al Sharpton wisely pointed out that the overwhelmingly white and historically anti-black religious right was using anti-gay prejudice to divide the African American vote.
"In 2004, the religious right was concerned about re-electing George W. Bush," said Sharpton at First Iconium Baptist Church. "They couldn't come to black churches to talk about the war, about health care, about poverty. So they did what they always do and reached for the bigotry against gay and lesbian people."
Indeed, immediately following the 2004 presidential election, social conservatives made a strong push to lure African-Americans by exploiting the same-sex marriage issue. According to the Los Angles Times, Rev. Lou Sheldon hosted a right wing meeting of 70 black religious leaders in Los Angeles.
Unbelievably, Sheldon played an anti-gay video featuring disgraced Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. Remember, Lott had to step down as Senate Majority Leader after he publicly pined over Strom Thurmond not winning the presidency as a Dixiecrat. Fortunately, African-American columnist
Leonard Pitts put Sheldon's power grab in perspective.
"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...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," wrote Pitts.
The disastrous response from President Bush following Hurricane Katrina put a temporary end to this unholy alliance. Rapper Kanye West summed up the sentiment felt by many people when he said on live television, "George Bush doesn't care about black people."
Still, many African American church leaders are outspoken against gay and lesbian rights.
** Rev. Ken Hutcherson, pastor of Antioch Bible Church in the Seattle suburb of Redmond, made news by urging conservatives to buy Microsoft stock, and then dump it to punish the company for supporting a successful measure in Washington State that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation.
** African American preacher
Talbert W. Swann II published an intolerant book "Closing the Closet: Testimonies from Deliverance from Homosexuality," that features stories from 23 "ex-gays."
** Washington, DC minister
Rev. Willie F. Wilson, immorally double-crossed black gay activist Keith Boykin, by banning him from the Millions More Movement rally, right as he was about to take the stage and deliver an inclusive address. Wilson is a creepy minister who has written about an "epidemic" of lesbianism among young black girls.
The good news is that this opposition has led to heterosexual African Americans, such as Sharpton and West, openly speaking out against homophobia. It has helped motivate people, such as basketball star
Cheryl Swoops, to come out of the closet.
"I mean, you have Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell, but you don't have your well-known gay African-American who's come out, not to my knowledge," Swoopes said, citing this as a major reason for revealing her sexual orientation.
Outspoken hatemongering has also led to the emergence of the National Black Justice Coalition, a group created to fend off attacks and introduce black gay people to the African American community. The group features powerful and persuasive leaders, such as Donna Payne and Keith Boykin, who are educating people and standing up to the extreme right.
No one group owns the dream that Martin Luther King Jr. so eloquently articulated. Coretta Scott King was a kindred spirit of her late-husband who left a legacy of unity that will help stop those of all races who thrive on sowing the seeds of division and disunity.
"I still hear people say that I should not be talking about the rights of lesbian and gay people," King said in 1998. "But I hasten to remind them that Martin Luther King Jr. said, 'Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.' I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."
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No, we are not inviting a diciple of the late Jeffrey Dahmer to dinner. A faggot, apparently, is an English dish originally made of pig's liver and offal. Faggots are now made from pork liver and pork and fans have published the
Good Faggot Guide.
I certainly hope I get honorable mention!
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The Senate today
easily confirmed Samuel A. Alito Jr. as an associate justice of the Supreme Court, making the conservative jurist a probable swing vote on a number of major issues, including abortion rights. The vote was 58 to 42.
One Republican voted against Alito - Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. The only Democrats to vote for Alito were Sens. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Tim Johnson of South Dakota and Ben Nelson of Nebraska.
Folks, there is no silver lining here. If the glass is half-full, it is filled with cyanide. Alito is a movement conservative. This means he does not believe in serving the American people, but his patrons that brought him to power. The only good that may come of this is now people will see that it is dangerous to elect conservatives. They are very committed to their cause, no matter how it brings down America. I predict if Roe V. Wade is overturned, there will be a huge backlash against the GOP.
This is what leading gay rights groups have to say:
HRC: "It's deeply disappointing that the Supreme Court hastaking a dangerous turn away from fairness for gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender Americans. With extremism taking the place of moderation in the Court, it's time to let fairness take the place of extremism in Congress."
Lambda: "With this confirmation, the Supreme Court likely will shift to the right and become a less welcoming forum for many kinds of civil rights claims. However, it is important for us to remember that the court still contains a majority of justices who ruled in favor of liberty and equality for gay people in Lambda Legal's two recent Supreme Court successes that are the foundation for much of our community's progress --Lawrence v. Texas and Romer v. Evans -- and those cases remain the law of the land.
(Dont they seem a tad cheery considering they are screwed?) Stonewall Democrats: "We are disappointed in the confirmation of Judge Alito to the United States Supreme Court. This nomination was made by the White House with the advance consultation of anti-family advocates who seek to use our courts to discriminate against same-sex families. The evasive answers given by Judge Alito to the Senate Judiciary Committee failed to address concerns of privacy and equal treatment under the law, and did little to counter the claims by radical groups that Judge Alito would serve their interests after confirmation." NGLTF: "The confirmation of Justice Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court seat of Sandra Day O'Connor is a devastating blow to individual rights, civil liberties and equal justice under law in America. (Now, this is the proper tone on this awful day of mourning)
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Activist Mike Rogers has
threatened to out an ultra- conservative Senator who voted for the confirmation of Sam Alito. Apparently, this phony politician is cruising the filthy bathrooms at Union Station in Washington looking for sex in the can. Now, I think we can come to a bipartisan agreement that this is not very conservative behavior. In a letter to the closet case Rogers wrote:
"Tomorrow you will be faced with a vote that may have the longest after effects of any other you have cast in your Senate career. Tomorrow you will decide if your political position is worth more than doing what is right for others like you. For others like you, Mr. Senator, who engage in oral sex with other men. (Although, Mr. Senator, most of us don't do in the bathrooms of Union Station!) Your fake marriage, by the way, will NOT protect you from the truth being told on this blog."
This isn't a gay issue, but a matter of exposing hypocrisy. The last thing the Senate needs is another dishonest politician who has no greater moral purpose than advancing his career on the backs of others.
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Monday, January 30, 2006
Ever wonder how a nutjob, yes-man like Samuel Alito rose to a Supreme Court nomination?
The New York Times explains that it was the result of a scheme by conservatives to infiltrate the judicial system. The goal was to set America back to the 18th Century, before America fully embraced individual rights and to re-create an imperial presidency.
The goals of conservatives are truly anathema to a free and prosperous nation. Before they ruin America, they should ask themselves a tough question: If the judicial system worked so well in the 18th Century, why did America move away from it?
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In eight concise paragraphs, two moderate and two conservative House Republicans put into writing last week what they say many of their colleagues
quietly fear: the GOP's plunging poll numbers, rising public support for a Congress controlled by Democrats and the increasing belief among voters that the Republican Party is corrupt.
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