Saturday, June 02, 2007
In an
outrageous attempt to justify his transparent Peeping Tom routine, "Porno Pete"
LaBarbera had the unmitigated gall to compare himself to Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and Mother Teresa.
I hate to break it to you Pete, but you are no Mother Teresa or Simon Wiesenthal. Your despoiled name - usually whispered in polite company - should never be uttered in the same breath - no less the same sentence - as these two heroes.
How disgraceful, that Porno Pete thinks slinking around with a bottle of discount poppers and zipper-mouthed masks in the wee hours of the night, in the name of "research," compares to busting Nazi fugitives or feeding orphans. His delusional commentary just goes to show how divorced he is from reality.
Interestingly, Porno Pete never tries to explain why he only focuses on risque gay activity, while ignoring similar heterosexual practices. He'll repeatedly go to bathhouses or gay leather parties, but never to a straight swingers club or a motorcycle gang sex party - where there will also be plenty of leather. Based on his "career" path, it appears as though Pete prefers the company of burly men and is seemingly allergic to women.
Pete does not seem to understand that having a job dedicated to unfairly making gay people look bad is raw hate of the most ignoble kind. He is clearly consumed by a raging, if not peculiar, fire within, that can't easily be explained away on his vanity blog. Fortunately, there are therapists well-trained to resolve such inner-turmoil.
Additionally, Porno Pete failed to address why he keeps returning to the same leather parties, year-after-year-after-year-after-year. He's had the same exhausting shtick since the early 90's. It was a stretch to call his gig an expose in 1992. In 2007, it's called a tired rerun.
In another time-warp flashback, Porno Pete smeared me and another activist as "comrades" - implying that we are somehow Communists. Good Lord, even right wing Republicans stopped labeling people
Communists fifteen years ago. It seems
LaBarbera's rhetoric -
like his career - is stuck in the distant past.
Finally, my addressing Porno Pete's fascination with gay S&M is not hate, as he vacuously claims, but a kind, helping hand. Pete, if you need a good shrink, just contact me. No condemnation, no judgement - just a friendly, good-faith attempt to turn your spiritually vacant and psychologically tormented life around. I'm here to help you and your unlucky wife - who must feel a bit abandoned as you leave her in the country house while you prance off to Chicago's
Steamworks bathhouse - yet, again.
Pete, it is time to get out of the sauna mist and go home to the missus. As they say in recovery programs, the first step is admitting you have a problem.
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Friday, June 01, 2007
Holsinger's Founding of A Church That Tries To 'Cure' Gay People Makes Him Unfit To Serve As Nation's Top DoctorWASHINGTON - Truth Wins Out announced its strong and committed opposition today to President George W. Bush's nomination for U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. James W. Holsinger, after it was revealed that he started a church in Lexington, Kentucky that has a ministry to "cure" gay people.
"Holsinger is an ideologue whose medical views on gay and lesbian people resemble sorcery more than sound science," said
Truth Wins Out's Executive Director Wayne Besen. "The last thing America needed was another deplorable nominee who isn't up to the job, but this is exactly what Bush delivered."
Holsinger's nomination will go before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, chaired by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) Presidential candidates Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) sit on this committee.
"It is clear that James Holsinger is to medicine what Alberto Gonzales is to justice," said TWO's Besen. "It will be interesting to see where the presidential candidates stand on this troubling nomination."
According to the Lexington Herald-Leader, Holsinger started Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington. The pastor, Rev. David Calhoun, said that the church has an "ex-gay" ministry.
"We see that as an issue not of orientation but a lifestyle," Calhon said. "We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle."
Holsinger also served on the Judicial Council for the United Methodist Church where he opposed a decision to allow a lesbian to be an associate pastor. He was even so extreme that he endorsed a pastor who tried to prohibit an openly gay man from joining the church.
Truth Wins OUT is a non-profit organization that counters right wing propaganda, exposes the "ex-gay" myth and educates America about gay life. For more information, visit www.TruthWinsOut.org.
- 30 -
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"Porno Pete" LaBarbera is at it again. He's leaving his family behind in the countryside so he can go "undercover" and supposedly expose the naughty gay leathermen. His latest S&M romp was at the International
Mr. Leather convention at the Palmer House Hilton. Having been to these events more often that Mr. Leather himself, I can hardly figure out what new and revealing information Porno Pete found this time. Having taken the same pictures and read the same pamphlets in the past, this excursion has little to do with news value and everything to do with Porno Pete's penchant for voyeurism.
What an existential emptiness this poor man has. He is either a closet case leather aficionado who can't accept himself, or he is so consumed with hate that he has dedicated his life to smearing a minority - in the name of God. Peter would use the love of Jesus as his cover - but this false mask is as obvious as the leather masks he wastes countless rolls of film photographing. Perhaps, Porno Pete gets off on showing Midwestern church ladies gay porn - to see the look of shock on their beet red fundamentalist faces. One can almost hear him snickering and moaning as he breathlessly writes (with his free left hand) on his vanity blog:
WARNING: *** NOT FOR CHILDREN ***
Graphic photos below with offensive depictions of real-life homosexual depravities
After failing at the Illinois Family Institute, I can't imagine Porno Pete is making much money dressing in leather assless chaps (or whatever peculiar item of dress he concocts in his presumed dungeon) and peddling his extremely tired routine. Hasn't he been doing the same hapless gig since the early 90's? His poor wife must be beside herself, as he goes "undercover," yet again, instead of getting a real job.
Porno Pete would have more credibility if also shined a light on straight swingers clubs and other hetero smut dens. But his bizarre, creepy addiction to anything homosexual - particularly if it involves leather - makes his act a thin cover for anti-gay bias. Or, a way to allow him to live in the gay leather community, without having the balls to proclaim his homosexuality. Either way, it is a soulless, Godless existence that seeks to bring others down, but really reflects most poorly on Porno Pete.
The Religious Right has laughed this clown out of Washington and Springfield - and it is only a matter of time before he has to give up his act as anti-gay prig and find a job in a suburban burger joint as Assistant Manager of Fries. And, if his past job performance is any indication, the fries would be cold and soggy.
One day, Porno Pete will wake up and realize that he is a national joke and a punch line. Until that horrifying day of reckoning comes, Peter will visit the tubs or leather balls in the name of research. I wish he'd just get off our backs - but he won't - because he'd much rather just get off on his orgiastic, voyeuristic, sodomistic, sadomasochistic fixation.
While Peter may have reported on some odd things over the years, he is by far the biggest freak at any of these eccentric events. The tragic part is, everyone knows this but him. Sorry, Pete, but someone has the break the news to you.
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Thursday, May 31, 2007
(Sen. Sloth, Lazily Drops His Droopy Hat Into The Ring)
No one really gave a damn about Fred Thompson until recently, when Americans got a firsthand look at the sorry crop of Republicans running for president. The parade of hypocrites, losers, liars and flip-floppers alarmed GOP polsters. So, they searched high and low, even scraping the bottom of the barrel, to come up with a viable candidate.
Out of the woodwork stumbled the habitually lazy Fred Thompson, who the Republicans dusted off and are desperately trying to cast as Ronald Reagan. Even for an actor like Thompson, that is one role that is quite a stretch. I mean, sure, he is a TV personality, but he basically was undistinguished in Washington and made no footprint in the Senate.
Even Thompson's fame is so-so. It isn't like Tom Hanks or Julia Roberts entered the race - actors with universal name recognition. Sen. Sloth has an okay following, but his entry into the race is overstated and overrated. I'd call him a flash in the pan, but his attention span is so short, he'll probably flame out before he flashes.
The one to watch out for is
Newt Gingrich. He's a master politician and can best articulate the conservative message. Plus, he's mean enough to play hardball in a tough race. His weakness is his divorces and dumping his first wife while she had cancer in the hospital.
Fortunately for Newt, the family values of the other sleazy Republican candidates are so pathetic, that he has competition for "biggest wrecking ball to the traditional family." In a way, the morally challenged competition inoculates him from well-deserved criticism.
Newt might end up as trouble. But, don't trouble yourself worrying about the sluggish and over-hyped Thompson. He's good on the little screen, but no threat on the Big Stage of presidential politics.
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(Hey Sam, Would You Get Off The Debate Stage Already?) Apparently, Sen. Sam Brownback's already wheezing presidential joke of a bid must have taken a hit during the first GOP presidential debate, when he raised his hand when asked, 'who does not believe in evolution.' While his answer may have drawn cheers in perennially backwards Kansas, it probably made him look like a Stone Ager on the campaign trail. Actually, for a a man to make such an absurd statement in modern times, makes him unfit to be President. America only became a world leader because we invested heavily in science and education. Having someone like Brownback as president would send a message to the rest of the world that we are a declining power populated by morons. (Bush has already gotten the ball rolling here)
Well, Brownback likely got so much blowback from his flashback to the Stone Age, that he was compelled to write
an op-ed in today's New York Times, to soften his message. He failed.
The sophistry in Brownback's op-ed may have been enough to fool Republican rubes in Topeka, but they were hardly satisfying to any thinking person who graduated sixth grade biology.
After wasting several paragraphs blowing incomprehensible and irrational smoke designed to make him look reasonable, Brownback states:
"...we can say with conviction that we know with certainty at least part of the outcome. Man was not an accident and reflects an image and likeness unique in the created order. Those aspects of evolutionary theory compatible with this truth are a welcome addition to human knowledge. Aspects of these theories that undermine this truth, however, should be firmly rejected as an atheistic theology posing as science."
Did you get that? Sammy welcomes all science that agrees with his religious beliefs, while rejecting all science that is not compatible with what he arbitrarily calls "truth." And then, this knuckle-dragger politically smears any scientist who dares to do his or her job as pushing "atheistic theology." That may be a way to win elections to a Kansas school board, but it won't help Brownback's uninspiring, underperforming failed campaign. Sammy has a better chance of being Raptured by 2008, than stepping foot in the White House (The annual Easter Egg hunt doesn't count)
The thing about science, is that we must welcome it, even if it challenges our ancient superstitions or faith. It is dangerous and pollutes the intellectual atmosphere when a smarmy, right wing politician (who seems a little slow) decides what science should reject or accept.
Can Brownback just go away already and stop taking up room on the presidential debate stage so we have more time to hear serious candidates who are actually somewhat presidential?
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Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Pro-gay rights attitudes have reached high points this year, according to a new poll, with more Americans expressing tolerance.
Today, 57 percent of the American public believes homosexuality should be sanctioned as an acceptable alternative lifestyle – the highest the Gallup Poll has recorded since 1982. Also indicating higher tolerance, 59 percent of Americans believe homosexual relations should be legal.
The Gallup Poll has recorded a general increase over the past 20 years of those who believe homosexual relations should be legal. The statistic reached an all-time high in May 2003 at 60 percent but then fell to 50 percent in July of that year and has remained level through 2005. A June 2003 Supreme Court decision that struck down a Texas law banning homosexual sodomy appeared to have produced a backlash of public opposition to gay rights, the Gallup report noted. The leveled trend began rising again last year with 56 percent saying homosexual relations should be legal and today, the statistic is nearly at the record 60 percent mark.
Revealing a long-term increase in pro-gay rights attitudes, 46 percent (up from 27 percent in 1996) believe same-sex couples should be recognized by the law as valid with the same rights as traditional marriages. And the percentage of those who say they should not be recognized by the law as valid fell from 68 percent in 1996 to 53 percent today.
On the question of morality, Americans were found to be nearly evenly divided. Since 2001, the percentage of those who say homosexual relations are morally acceptable has increased from 40 percent to 47 percent. And for the first time in the 21st century, less than the majority of Americans say homosexual relations are morally wrong (49 percent). Last year, 51 percent said such relations are morally wrong.
At the same time, the majority of Americans say sex between an unmarried man and woman (59 percent), divorce (65 percent), and having a baby outside or marriage (54 percent) is morally acceptable.
As debates continue over the origin or cause of homosexuality, the Gallup Poll found that an increasing percentage of Americans believe homosexuality is something a person is born with. The poll showed 42 percent express such a view compared to 13 percent in 1977. And the percentage of Americans who believe homosexuality is due to factors such as upbringing and environment fell from 56 percent in 1977 to 35 percent today.
Among those who believe homosexuals are born that way, 78 percent say homosexuality should be considered an acceptable lifestyle. In contrast, among those who believe homosexuality is caused by upbringing or environmental factors, only 30 percent say it should be acceptable.
Gallup's results support other surveys that indicate more open and accepting attitudes among today's young adults. A recent Pew survey found 58 percent of 18-25-year-olds say homosexuality should be accepted.
The Gallup Poll found younger Americans aged 18-34 years old (75 percent) are more likely to express the same view than older Americans aged 55 years and older (45 percent). Women (61 percent) are also more likely than men (53 percent) to say homosexuality should be an acceptable alternative lifestyle, the poll further found.
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- Right Said Fred Singer, Richard Fairbrass (left) -
(Weekly Column)The first sign that Russia's march toward freedom was on a downward spiral came on June 16, 2001, when George W. Bush said of Russian President Vladimir Putin, "I looked the man in the eye. I found him to be very straight forward and trustworthy and we had a very good dialogue. I was able to get a sense of his soul."
It turns out that Bush's judgment on Putin was only eclipsed by his decision that fateful summer to add "My Pet Goat" to his reading list at the exclusion of a memorandum titled, "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."
Sixteen years after the collapse of communism and only seven years after Putin's coming to power, Russia is headed in the wrong direction. Putin's crooked authoritarianism threatens to set off a new Cold War and erase the hard-won era of peace. Indeed,
Alexei Bayer, a guest columnist in the
St. Petersburg Times, said Putin's rule is noted for its "endemic corruption, rollback of democracy, blatant confiscation of private property and murky political murders."
The Committee to Protect Journalists described Russia as one of the 10 countries that had seen the greatest decline in
media freedoms during the past several years. Since Putin came to power, at least thirteen journalists have been whacked, turning Russia into a
"Soprano-state."In any dictator's playbook, the way to justify grotesque abuses of power and gain legitimacy is to wrap oneself in the flag and claim to be the great defender of traditional morality. Thus, it is perfectly logical that gay pride marchers were met with deplorable state-sanctioned (or at least supported) violence last week in Moscow.
A rule of thumb is that the less freedom a nation offers, the more a regime cracks down on its gay population. The more liberty enjoyed by gay citizens, the more freedom shared by the general citizenry. With Putin's regressive Russia having little to offer other than fiery nationalism, it should be no surprise that flag waving hooligans confronted the brave gay men and women that stood up for their civil rights.
The chaotic scene at the unauthorized Moscow rally was an appalling example of naked right wing brutality. The peaceful marchers were met by neo-fascists and loving churchgoers who hurled insults, Bible verses and eggs. Several of the demonstrators were slugged on film, while the police sat by idly. When they finally did get off their totalitarian asses, it was to arrest the innocent gay rights advocates, while the attackers were allowed to waltz off into the sunset.
Many of those arrested (and punched) were foreigners who came to support Russia's oppressed gay community. The contingent included British singer Richard Fairbrass, of the band Right Said Fred and London activist Peter Tatchell. Also arrested were German Green Party MP, Volker Beck, and a European Parliament deputy from Italy, Marco Cappato.
Watching the gay rights activists get beaten boiled my blood. In essence, an estimated one hundred violent anti-gay punks were intimidating an entire population of gay Russians with the message: Stay in the closet or face violence. I'm traditionally for peaceful protests, but we can't forget that
Stonewall included fighting back. A part of me thinks we should show up next year in larger numbers with the idea that we are going to finally put our overpriced gym memberships to good use.
Of course, my retributive thoughts are tempered with the realization that after Stonewall, the rebelling drag queens were not iced with polonium-210, like former KGB agent
Alexander Litvinenko. Nor, were they gunned down in cold-blood like journalist
Anna Politkovskaya. A Russian Stonewall might very well end up as a row of headstones, in remembrance of dead activists.
The blame for this melee rests at the feet of Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who had banned the march and previously called such demonstrations "satanic," as well as Putin who has increasingly turned his nation into a KGB-style police state. While it is easy to pigeonhole this brawl as a fight over gay rights, it has much broader implications and is indicative of future relations between Russia and the West. On one side of the divide rests civilization that respects basic human rights. On the other, an emerging bellicose monstrosity that is a witches brew of past Soviet repression, combined with a new taste for unrestrained greed fueled by oil wealth.
Until the gay pride flag flies proudly in the shadow of the Kremlin, relations between Moscow and the West will remain shadowy. In the modern world, we simply don't find free countries that brutalize their gay citizens. If Moscow wants to go the way of Zimbabwe or Iran, their gay populace will suffer, but so will all Russians who will lose their membership in the economically and culturally advantageous world of civilized nations.
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