Santorum Watch - No Pink Balls Edition

March 29th, 2012

This kind of thing that makes me wonder how many casual, throwaway exercises in fearful hatred are being missed when the press is not around.

Via the HRC website:

"At a campaign event at a bowling alley in Wisconsin today, GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum told a boy who reached for a pink bowling ball: "You're not gonna use the pink ball. We're not gonna let you do that. Not on camera." Santorum went on to say "Friends don’t let friends use pink balls." The comments were tweeted by Reuters reporter Sam Youngman." (EMPHASIS MINE)

It has come to this. The GOP base is flirting with nominating a man so virulently homophobic that he would order someone else's child not to use a pink bowling ball.

So much for small government.

Iowa For Marriage Equality

Feb 28th, 2012

In Iowa, where the opponents of marriage equality managed to recall three of the state's Supreme Court justices for affirming the right of gays and lesbians to marry in 2010, comes this news:

"A majority of Iowans oppose passage of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, a new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows.

The poll found that 38 percent favor a legislative initiative to pass a constitutional amendment, while 56 percent are against. Six percent aren’t sure."

The numbers show a slight rise in support from a similar poll conducted not long after the successful conservative attack on the judiciary. Again, the importance of center-left voter turnout is demonstrated.

It's Gets Better... And Worse...

Feb 9th, 2012

The better...

In response to the vile campaign urging JC Penney to drop Ellen DeGeneres as a spokesperson simply because she is gay, an effort which even Bill O'Reilly likened to McCarthyism, CEO Ron Johnson has made a statement affirming the company's loyalty to her:

"We stand squarely behind Ellen as our spokesperson and that’s a great thing, because she shares the same values that we do in our company. Our company was founded 110 years ago on The Golden Rule, which is about treating people fair and square, just like if you treated yourself. And we think Ellen represents the values of our company and the values that we share."


The worse...

Rick Santorum reacted to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals striking down the odious Prop 8 by comparing them to "the Soviet Union." Seriously.

Perry Watch - About That Anti-LGBT Ad... Pushback Edition, cont...

Dec 9th, 2011

Hilarious.

Perry Watch - About That Anti-LGBT Ad - "like" Button Edition

Dec 9th, 2011

Yeah, once again, Sullivan noticed this first:

"The Perry campaign forgot to turn off YouTube "likes" and "dislikes" on its new ad condoning the persecution of gays abroad."

The numbers, as of 5:00pm CST 12/09/2011 are as follows:

Now, I know it's not very Christian of me, but, Mr. Perry? Go fuck yourself.

Perry Watch - About That Anti-LGBT Ad... Pushback Edition

Dec 9th, 2011

Yes. We were more than a little disturbed by GOP Presidential wannabe Rick Perry's assault on basic Christian decency. We weren't alone. From Funny or Die.

Jesus Responds to Rick Perry's "Strong" Ad from DC Pierson      

Perry Watch - About That Anti-LGBT Ad

Dec 9th, 2011

Everyone is talking about the drippingly hateful and openly Dominionist shocker that is Rick Perry's latest campaign ad. Feel free to click the link, I refuse to post it on our page. The first thing Perry wants us all to know is that he's "not ashamed to call himself a Christian." Gee, Rick, neither am I. I'm glad we cleared that up.

Sullivan is furious:

"Can someone tell me, outside a few hostile enclaves on the intolerant left, where in America people feel pressured not to call themselves Christians? What you have here is classic - and imagined - victimology."

In the ad, Perry accuses President Obama of waging a "war on religion." Questioned by Wolf Blitzer about the arch salvo, Perry demonstrates a view of faith in the public square that would send the Founders into a full-on freak out. Not only does he double down on every bit of his venom, he seems to argue that that it's un-Constitutional not to fund activist religious organizations from the public purse.

Tweet Of The Year Nominee

Dec 7th, 2011

And one helluva catch

The corresponding links are HERE and HERE

From The Mouths Of Babes

Dec 5th, 2011

"My mommy is gay but she doesn't need any fixing."

So said a little eight year old boy named Elijah to Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn) yesterday.

It is likely that many anti-LGBT "conservatives" will fret about a "child being used for politics." To all such detractors, here's what the observer who shot the video reported:

"I was standing in line with Elijah and his mom. His mom was going to say something to her, but she got nervous and told me she wanted to leave. We were about to step out of the line but Elijah cried out, "Nooo!" He grabbed onto her coat and pulled her back in the line, saying he wanted to talk to her.

When we got up to Michele, he got a little stage fright. His mom just didn't want him to not say it because he was afraid, because she knew he would regret it if he didn't. I used to do ballet as a child, and before performances, I'd want to no do it-- my mom pushed me to perform. Afterwards, I'd run to her and tell her how happy I was. How is this any different? If we were shown a video of a child before a school play, or a recital, being pushed to perform and not give into stage fright, would we get the same reaction? My gut says no."

Perhaps a young child should not have to be a part of the conversation, but he is. To those "conservatives" who have a problem with this; I recommend you go look in a mirror and stare at the person who made Elijah's participation necessary.

No More "Gay Apparel"?

Dec 5th, 2011

One Michigan school recently substituted the word "bright" in place of "gay" in the 500 year old traditional, "Deck The Halls." No, we are not making this up. Apparently, parents convinced the school to reconsider. Still, with all the swirling propaganda (bullshit) about a "War on Christmas" coming from "conservative" circles, we thought it was worth mentioning.

Quote Of The Day - Bats**t Crazy Edition

Oct 5th, 2011

And we all thought his "terrorist" "anchor babies" pronouncements were nuts...

"This may be something nice he’s throwing out for gay folks that are living together so he can tell them actually you’re better off not getting married, because there’s a marriage penalty here…


If you’re the head of a single household, you have an exemptions at $225,000. All other cases $200,000. So it really penalizes married individuals…But if you want to get divorced it is good news for you…the good news if you’re thinking about divorce is you can actually get divorced and have $75,000 to $100,000 higher exception. And you can even live together! This is the president’s proposal — live together and you get a higher exception than if you’re married. Now of course the founders — they all understood marriage to be between a man and a woman."

-- Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) warning us all that the proposed American Jobs Act is actually a conspiracy to degrade and despoil traditional moral values.

ThinkProgress has video HERE if you don't believe me.

Worth 1,000 Words - Westboro Church Edition

Sept 30th, 2011

Yup

Voting To Ban Rights

Sept 30th, 2011

The report below by Rachel Maddow is chilling. One more time, I'd like to harp on the "disappointed" 2008 Obama voters who stayed away from the polls in droves last year. If they still think there is no difference between the parties, they are simply, flat-out insane. The assault on marriage equality is but a part of the result of liberal non-participation. Face it. If we had solid Democratic majorities in most of the states where basic rights, which we have taken for granted for decades, are under siege, this would not be happening.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Really, Really, Really Reluctant Hat Tip

Sept 14th, 2011

It seems like I tip my hat in this matter every few months or so to Megyn Kelly. She definitely earned this one. Dr. Keith Ablow, anti-LGBT zealot and fellow Fox personality, was arguing his case for a boycott of Dancing With The Stars over Chaz Bono's participation. His position? Young viewers could suddenly turn into, well, Chaz Bono. After doing everything in her power to remain gracious, Kelly had finally had enough of his nonsense. The money quotes:

"How many kids turned gay from watching Will and Grace?"

"There’s so much hate for gays, and lesbians, and transgender people, the thing is, Doc, you seem to be adding to the hate."

Killing King

Sept 2nd, 2011

Apparently, it's still hard to convict a suspect who planned a murder, told six people he wanted to do it and did it in front multiple witnesses in broad daylight. At least, it's hard when the victim was an openly gay 8th grader.
via AP:

"At the outset, prosecutors presented it as a slam-dunk case of murder: Brandon McInerney, driven by homophobic rage, shot a gay classmate in the back of the head during a school class.

But ultimately, after an eight-week trial and six days of deliberations, jurors could not decide if the slaying was murder or manslaughter.

A judge declared a mistrial Thursday after jurors failed to reach a unanimous decision on the degree of Brandon McInerney's guilt for killing 15-year-old Larry King."

As has been reported by multiple sources, six witnesses heard the Brandon McInerney threaten the victim. He brought a loaded .22 handgun to his school. He fired the gun twice in the back of the victims head. After the murder, Brandon McInerney told a psychologist that in the days leading up to it, "All I could think about was I wanted to kill him."

To call this anything other than premeditated, first-degree murder is insane. On that note, cue the jury:

"One juror, who identified himself only as juror no. 10, told The Associated Press that several members of the panel thought McInerney should never have been tried as an adult.

"I don't think so," the juror said, when asked if the district attorney should have pursued an adult prosecution. "He was 14. Just trying to get in the head of a 14 year old (is hard.)"

Nonsense. Getting into the mind of this killer is not that difficult. His history of abuse at the hands of his parents is not a mitigating factor. Allegations of unwanted advances by the victim are not mitigating factors either. Brandon McInerney was obsessed with white supremacist and Nazi ideology. He was gripped with hatred for homosexuals. He wanted to kill the homosexual he knew. And he did.

Now, unless the DA refiles charges, Brandon McInerney is getting away with murder. 

Here You Go, Dishonest Coward

August 6th, 2011
by F. Grey Parker

Dana Loesch

In the heady days which followed the Christianist assault on a gathering of youngsters at a youth-in-government Summer camp in Norway, there was a staggering movement by America's rightist Islamophobes to deflect blame.

Any potential blame. So many ugly and misguided articles were published that it was simply stunning.

Nothing, however, was as convoluted as a piece which Dana Loesch posted over at Andy's Joint.

You see, it wasn't enough for Dana to join the right wing chorus of those saying the killer "was not really a Christian." It wasn't enough for Dana to deny that venomous right wing pronouncements might actually have had a real world impact on a warped mind. It wasn't even enough for her to simply get behind all the circled wagons amongst her fellow rightists and make self-serving claims of "censorship" and conservative "victimhood" to avoid a discussion about the power of rhetoric.

It's NOT Getting Better Everywhere

July 21st, 2011

As the slow but steady progress towards full equality for the LGBT community continues here in our own country, another African nation has increased its open oppression. It is time for all western nations to offer asylum to those whose very lives may in danger due to their orientation.

From The Independent:

"In a new burst of African homophobia, a government minister in Ghana has drawn support after calling on the country's intelligence services to track down and arrest all gays and lesbians.

Wyoming Doesn't Want You... Or You... Or You...

Jan 24th, 2011

When The Daily Beast rated Wyoming as "the least tolerant state" last week I checked out what they had to say. Their methodology, however detailed, still ultimately relied on a narrow set of metrics. Ironically, last year they were also rated the "best run state” by 24/7 Wall St using very different criteria.

I am more inclined to side with the former rather than the latter in light of this afternoon's events. The Star-Tribune reports today:

"The Wyoming House passed legislation Monday to stop recognition of out-of-state gay marriages and civil unions.

House Bill 74 now heads to the Senate, where its chances for passage appear good.

State Rep. Owen Petersen, R-Mountain View, the bill's sponsor, said the legislation is needed to resolve a conflict in Wyoming law, which defines marriage as a contract "between a male and a female person" but also recognizes any valid marriage performed outside the state. Other supporters have said the bill will help to hold back government intrusion into Wyoming traditions and culture.

Opponents said the bill is unnecessary, violates the rights of gays and lesbians to marry, and would create havoc for legally married out-of-state gay couples traveling in Wyoming." Emphasis mine

Following the DB rating so closely, the timing of the Wyoming state legislature's actions is amazing. Equally stunning is the implication that something being left to “the states” just isn't good enough for these Tea Party driven folks. So much for that meme.

One last observation: It's also wildly stupid. The second highest source of revenue for Wyoming is tourism. Hmmm.

"We both want to stay in the same room."

"Screw you."

"That's my partner in the back of that ambulance. I want to ride along." 

"Screw you." 

"That's my partner who just went from the emergency room to surgery! What's going on?!" 

"Screw you." 

Why risk this? After the 40 year journey since Stonewall, does any LGBT couple really want to chance so much as even passing through this state? 

From where I sit, just outside Chicago, there are an awful lot of ways to get to San Francisco, L.A., Portland or Seattle and vice-versa that don't go through Wyoming. Plan accordingly.

Crazy Is On The Bus, part 2

Jan 4th, 2011

by F. Grey Parker
Part 1 is available here.

Washington, D.C.

Hey, Washington! Crazy is still on the bus. The Crazy Bus is still on it's way and it is getting awfully gol-darned close. As a matter of fact, it's pulling into town today. This is going to be quite the hoedown.


Never before have I seen so many rabble-rousing yahoos trumpeting their love for the U.S. Constitution while planning a full frontal assault upon it. The good times are rolling in and everyone better hold onto their hats!