The Skinny on Political and LGBT News
So does this mean that Christianity is just a cult?
One characteristic of cults is that they strongly believe they alone are right in their beliefs and everyone else is wrong. Thus they reject the central truths of the Bible that Christians have held in common for almost 2,000 years and substitute their own beliefs for the clear teaching of Scripture.
via BILLY GRAHAM: Cults can’t take God’s place – Kansas City Star.
Between Sarah Palin and Sam Wurzelbacher A.K.A. Joe-the-Plumber, A.K.A. Joe-the-War Correspondent and now A.K.A. Joe-the-GOP Adviser, these people won’t give up the spotlight. It’s been well over 4 months since these jokers’ 15 minutes of fame were up but they just won’t go away, and I admit that’s partially the fault of the blogosphere and the Corporate Media who can’t seem to stop reporting on these two attention whores.
When GOP congressional aides gather Tuesday morning for a meeting of the Conservative Working Group, Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher – more commonly known as Joe the Plumber — will be their featured guest. This group is an organization of conservative Capitol Hill staffers who meet regularly to chart GOP strategy for the week.
Wurzelbacher, who became a household name during the presidential election, will be focusing his talk on the proposed stimulus package. He’s apparently not a fan of the economic rescue package, according to members of the group.
If nothing else, GOP aides are using the appearance to get staffers to attend the 9 a.m meeting.
“In case you weren’t planning to attend CWG tomorrow morning, you might want to reconsider because Joe the Plumber will be joining us!” Kimberly Wallner, an aide to South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, wrote in a message to her e-mail list this afternoon.
I wonder if the Republicans are ever going to make a stink about his failure to pay back taxes or even apologize for not doing so? I mean, fair is fair right?
Joe the Plumber advises GOP-ers – Alex Isenstadt – Politico.com.
Oh. My. Goodness!
Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Exodus 20:16
(paraphrased by InterstateQ!) Pastor Ric’s News & Views: Marriage Part 1
…what do you really believe about gay marriage? Let me just lay it out for you, my members. My views have not changed in 30 years. I’ve been accused of equating gay partnerships with incest and pedophilia. I believe no such thing. You’ve never heard me in 30 years talk like that.
I’ve in no way ever taught that homosexuality is the same as a forced relationship between an adult and child or between siblings. I’ve never taught that in 30 years. I understand why people think that because of a recent BeliefNet interview. In that interview I named several other relationships such as living together, a man with multiple wives, a brother and a sister relationship, adults with children or common-law relationships. I don’t think any of them should be called marriage. There should only be one definition: one man, one woman.
But, Rick, didn’t you say in that BeliefNet interview:
WARREN: The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?
WARREN: Oh, I do! For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman.
See, Rick, we have this thing called The Internet which allows us to look up what you said in the past. If you did not say these things then there might not be a controversy. Now you have the gall to attack us: AmericaBlog
Merry Christmas from Rick Warren! You’re all hateful, evil, and not even Christian!
Barack Obama’s good buddy Rick Warren recorded a video yesterday, talking about the outcry over his being chosen to given the invocation at Obama’s swearing in. And it’s a doozie. Warren’s big mouth, and apparent ego, is pretty much guaranteeing that this controversy will continue all the way up until the inauguration and beyond.
In the new video, Warren accuses gays of “hate speech,” of launching “hateful attacks” against him, and he then says that gay and lesbian Americans have “Christ-ophobia,” a clear effort to mock the term “homophobia.” He goes on to explain that gays are “afraid of any Christian,” suggesting that gay and lesbian Americans – gay and lesbian Obama voters – are not Christians. He then goes on to call gays criticizing him “evil.” All this from a man who compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia, and who explicitly bans “unrepentant gays” from his church membership.
Now we find out that you haven’t really had a change in heart of welcoming gays and lesbians but you’d rather clarify with more condemning language. What can Barack Obama do to mitigate this situation? Nothing at this point. Either he rescinds his invitation to Pastor Warren and faces the ire of the evangelical community or he keeps Warren and alienates his base supporters.
I’ve been scratching my head for several days now, trying to figure out why practically every news story about Rick Warren explains that he’s not anti-gay, and in fact quite progressive and moderate, because he’s worked on AIDS in Africa. Well, bully for him. But there are two problems there:
1. I’m not African; and
2. AIDS in Africa is a predominantly heterosexual disease.
Ross, subbing for Andrew Sullivan, just doesn’t seem to get why the “partial-birth abortion ban” and SCOTUS’ affirming stance is such a problem.
I guess I don’t think of laws banning prostitution, or even laws banning drugs, primarily as public health regulations – I think of them as morals legislation, outlawing practices that the majority considers sufficiently offensive to human dignity to deserve an outright ban. And in this context, I don’t see why killing one’s unborn offspring, even if the offspring isn’t a legal person and the crime therefore isn’t the same as murder, shouldn’t be something that the state has an interest in regulating on moral grounds. (We have laws against animal cruelty, for instance, even though animals aren’t legal “persons.”)
This, incidentally, is why so many conservatives hated on Lawrence v. Texas – not because it did away with sodomy laws, but because Anthony Kennedy’s majority opinion seemed to hint that any and all morals legislation was effectively unconstitutional. That was the substance of Scalia’s dissent, which warned that laws against everything from prostitution to obscenity would be threatened by the decision. For now, though, that threat hasn’t been fulfilled – and as long as morals legislation in general is still safe from Supreme Court override, there’s no reason a state or Congress shoudn’t be able to restrict abortion (in a post-Roe world, that is) even without claiming legal personhood for the fetus.
No that’s not what it’s about. Most on our side of the fence of this issue see the human element that is at stake here. There are many circumstances at which a woman might want to or need to have a private relationship with her doctor and discuss such a “late term abortion”, as it’s more aptly called. This law makes no exception for the health of the woman. Circumstances where the fetus has a terminal illness and is likely going to die anyways either in the womb or shortly after the womb. Also circumstances where carrying the baby to full term could endanger the life of the mother or cause such permanent damage to the woman that she will never have the ability to have children again in her lifetime.
Abortion is never an easy decision for a woman to make! In most cases it is a mother’s decision to determine what is best for her and her child unborn or not. The government has no business making decisions like this for her. Conservatives want smaller government but at the same time want to regulate what happens inside of a woman’s body and in her own bedroom. RU486, or “Plan B” as it’s called is just one of many examples of this.
When it comes to public health issues the government has an interest in maintaining the lives of all currently born and future generations of its citizens which is why mandated HPV vaccinations are so important. Just like we were able to erradicate small pox and polio to almost complete non-existence, we should work to do the same with other diseases, especially ones that have been shown to cause cervical cancer.
In general most conservatives only see what is “moral” in their Leave it to Beaver fantasies of American life. What is reality and what is practical takes a back seat to fantasyland visions of 1950’s television sitcoms. The SCOTUS decision is just a step in the direction towards such a fantasyland, one where women find it necessary to get “back alley abortions” or travel to neigboring countries with the fear of jail to terminate an unwanted pregnancy to avoid the anguish of carrying to term her rapists baby. Ahh yes, the good ‘ole days.
My my, after yesterday’s ‘revealing’ (and now removed) look into the minds of “Porno” Peter LaBarbera and Sonja “Rim-job” Dalton, I find their fascination with leather-bondage and kids is just a little too much. Their website really should be censored because it’s just so full of smut! I wonder of “The Internets” filter that AFA provides (probably their only good idea) blocks their friends’ websites?
In an article where the Christian Civic League of Maine try to link one man’s extracurricular activities with his professional volunteer activities, completely ignoring the fact that the leather bondage fetish is also part of the heterosexual community, the Fundies have had to dig deep through the tubes of the Internets to ”research” and find the “dirt” on the man they decry, going through many bottles of lube and tissues, no doubt.
(Re-)Pete LaBarbera re-publishes the article in it’s entirety.
From our very fine friends at Christian Civic League of Maine: Is this the kind of man you would care to have invited to perform at your son’s elementary or junior high school? In the homosexual activist social sphere, Lew Alessio is considered not just normal, but laudable. Meet their “Homosexual of the Year”…
From Lew Knows Leather, by Mike Hein, published Mar 21, 2007, by Christian Civic League of Maine:
New York’s “New American Leathermen”, 2001 Homosexual activist Lewis (Lew) Alessio of Greene, Maine was recently announced by EqualityMaine to be the 2007 recipient of the Cameron Duncan Award. The annual award is the radical homosexual lobbying group’s ‘homosexual of the year’ award. The award was presented to Alessio at EqualityMaine’s 23rd Annual Awards Banquet on March 10 at the Holiday Inn by the Bay in Portland.
The EqualityMaine press release spoke of Alessio as a homosexual demonstrating “extraordinary accomplishment, commitment, and service within the AIDS community” and “an outstanding leader in Maine’s gay community.” Lew Alessio is better known in the central Maine community as being the leader of a homosexual men’s social club called “ Just Guys.” The “Just Guys” motto from their website is “… the new men’s social group for men who have sex with men.” The group meets at MaineGeneral Heath’s Green Street location, located immediately adjacent to the Green Street United Methodist Church in Augusta.
New York Leathermen Contestants Less well known is Alessio’s recent past, where he competed, and was named 1st runner up, in a homosexual leather bondage fetishist contest in 2001 in New York City. Alessio placed 1st Runner Up in the homosexual leather bondage “New American Leatherman 2001″ according to the homosexual leather bondage fetish website Leatherweb.com. Later that same year, Alessio “married” his homosexual partner, Jim Shaffer.
Besides being a leather bondage fetishist and leader of a homosexual sex men-only social club, Alessio is also self-employed as part of the theater troupe “Actors Theater of Maine.” The State of Maine Arts directory website states the theater group charges $500 per performance and caters primarily to children, from pre-kindergarden to 8th grade. Alessio’s ‘Actors Theater of Maine’ troupe stages plays that “all use students in the performances along with the professional casts. [The performances] are accompanied by extensive teaching materials,” according to the Maine government website.
From what I gather from the article…The Christianist Civic League and Porno Pete are trying to defame a man who does a lot of good things for his community and for children by revealing what he does in his private life. Like always they attack the messenger and not the message.
The problem is, what this man does in his off time, when he’s not saving the world, is really only his business. In no way does what this reflect on the GOOD the man has done in his community with fighting the AIDS epidemic and for what he does for a living entertaining kids. Using the bolded scare tactic “[The performances] are accompanied by extensive teaching materials,” means absolutely nothing. The CCL is insinuating that the man hands out instructions on how to be a leather daddy. This simply is not true. The teaching materials are directly related to acting and interacting with one another in a play or improv situation. I hardly doubt the kids are going to tie eachother up and pull out whips afterwards!
My advice to the CCL and Porno Pete, keep your salad-tossing, leather-bondage with kids fantasies to yourselves and stop trying to paint the whole of the gay community with a narrow brush and only one color! Check out what people on your side of the fence do too in their off time. You shouldn’t be shocked.
After Wednesday’s announcement by Rep. Meehan (D-MA) of the re-introduction of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (MREA), It was expected that Elaine Donnelly, of the Center for Military Readiness (CMR), would have something to say. In an article titled “Zogby Poll Spins Push For Gays in the Military,” Elaine attacks the Zogby Poll from 2006 that shows the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy doesn’t work.
Using classic P.R. strategy, the Zogby news release highlighted the meaningless “comfort” question, “Are you comfortable interacting with gay people?” Of those responding, 73% said they were. But this is an innocuous question, about as relevant to the controversy as an inquiry about daytime talk shows: “Would you rather watch Ellen DeGeneres’ show or Rosie O’Donnell on The View?”
The key question asked of survey respondents was, “Do you agree or disagree with allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military?”
On that question, 26% of respondents agreed, but 37% disagreed. The poll also found that 32% of respondents were “Neutral,” and only 5% said they were “Not sure.”
The 26% of respondents who want the law repealed cannot compete with the combined 69% of people who are opposed or neutral on repeal. This is hardly a mandate for radical change.
Lets start with the first paragraph. Comparing the opinions of individuals of whether or not they feel comfortable interacting with gays and lesbians to if they like a campy, dancing, lesbian who interviews celebrities and kids to a loud, opinionated, lesbian who gossips with three other women for an hour a day, is like comparing the tastes of individuals who can stomach Hawaiian pizza or not to those who choose between Domino’s or Pizza Hut commercials. We can interact with people like we can eat Hawaiian pizza. We can only view Ellen or The View.
The question was not a direct question but it’s no less meaningful. To ask whether or not our armed forces felt comfortable interacting or more aptly put, serving alongside, with gay people, is the premise behind the MREA and the push to repeal this less-than honorable policy. 78 percent is a large portion. Why? Because, people in the military aren’t stupid. They know they already DO serve alongside gay and lesbian service members.
While it’s true that the direct question gave very mixed results but just because you lump 37 percent who agree with the current policy with 32 percent who, frankly, just don’t care either way. Insomuch as I can add the neutral 32 percent to the 26 percent and say that 58 percent of respondents who are in support or are neutral to repeal of the policy soundly defeat the 37 percent who prefer the status quo. This is hardly a mandate for keeping this ridiculous law.
The rest gets better… Read the rest of this entry »
Concerned Women for America released this statement yesterday.
Regarding the Endorsement of Candidates 2/20/2007
Recently, there have been several articles in the press reporting on Maxine Sieleman’s support for Senator John McCain for president. These articles have mentioned that Mrs. Sieleman founded the Iowa chapter of Concerned Women for America (CWA). CWA wanted to take this opportunity to clarify that Mrs. Sieleman was acting in an individual capacity when she endorsed Senator McCain and was not acting on behalf of CWA or its Iowa chapter. CWA does not support or oppose candidates for political office. CWA’s state director for Iowa is Tamara Scott.
Mrs. Beverly LaHaye is the founder of CWA national.
Ok so why in August of 2006 did CWA make this press release?
CWALAC of PA endorses re-election of Senator Rick Santorum 8/29/2006
Click here for a .pdf copy of this release.
August 24, 2006 For Immediate Release
Concerned Women for America of Pennsylvania Legislative Action Committee endorses Rick Santorum for U.S. Senate
Zelienople- – Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee of Pennsylvania considers it an honor to endorse Senator Rick Santorum for re-election to the U.S. Senate.
Beverly LaHaye, founder and chairman of Concerned Women Political Action Committee (CWPAC), states, “If the United States Senate falls into the hands of Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, you and I can forget about another pro-life justice on the Supreme Court and overturning Roe v. Wade. And we can forget about any other meaningful pro-life, pro-family measures ever seeing a vote. Even pro-abortion Senators like Barbara Boxer have come out in favor of Bob Casey, JR., saying ‘to dislodge Santorum is a pro-choice win!!!”
Hmm, well we see that not only is CWA irresponsible with other’s information, they aren’t even responsible enough to check to see if they’ve made endorsements before.
Porno Pete responds to Jeremy over at G-A-Y.
“It’s a mistake, obviously. We had nothing to do with it, and don’t know how it happened. –pl”
Allow this writer to sayto be the first one to say *cough*”bullsh*t”*cough*
h/t, Good-As-You
After yesterday’s post about the obvious MO of their organization we learn from Dr. Kevin Kaatz of Kevin’s Space that AFT is listed as a gay-rights organization to maintain tax-exempt status.
Excuse me, but gay-rights? Aww Petey you’re soo nice. Oh? Wait a minute! You’re against equal rights. Stop pretending and just be honest with who you really are. We are honest about you!
I see on a couple of websites that Americans for Truth is attacking a 16 year old for writing about the truth that sits behind the Americans for Truth. Well, I’ve just done a bit of background checking about this group and found out some interesting things.
I didn’t realize that the actual name for Americans for Truth is Americans for Truth about Homosexuality. I suppose that is what AFTAH stands for, but why don’t they put their full title in their website? I think when this group is mentioned the full legal title should be used. What also really made me angry is that when I looked this organization up in GuideStar (a source of information about non-profit organizations), their ‘National Taxonomy of Exempt Entities,’ code is R26–Lesbian/Gay Rights. These NTEE codes are used to help people search for non-profit organizations. And get this–this code of R26 is used for “R20 Civil Rights, Advocacy for Specific Groups”! So Americans for Truth about Homosexuality claim to be a civil rights group for lesbians and gays!
The section for R26 is reserved for: “Organizations that support the passage and enforcement of laws and other social measures that protect and promote the rights and interests of individuals who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered.***Update–I’ve received emails from both Guidestar and Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy. A Guidestar service representative said “The codes are selected by either the organizations themselves or by the IRS.” The CNP thanked me for bringing it to their attention, but no response as to what they can/might do about changing that code. I’ll try digging around in the IRS website to see who I might email about this. As far as I can tell, the IRS attaches these codes. But as it stands, the Americans For Truth About Homosexuality is listed, as a non-profit organization, along side the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, as a group that defends gay and lesbian rights.
We’ll wait for the IRS to say “No! Bad Porno Pete! Bad! Go get in your ‘crate’”
Americans For Truth (AH?) have a fairly prominent theme or modus operandi for how they get their “truth” out to readers. It’s a fairly simple one. “Don’t refute the message. Attack the messenger !”
Instead of simply refuting the arguments against them, they attack the very people who express their point of view. While holding the bible in their hands to boost the credibility of AFT, they use personal attacks to insult the sincerity of those making the opposing view points.
If one were to go to their page today or any day really but starting with the post at the bottom ”An Open Letter … ” dated January 5th, 2007 and work our way up to the top to “NEA’s Anti-Bullying Statement …” dated January 10th, one can see this trend of “blame the messenger” very clearly. I’m going to analyze the stories on the page today and then let you, the reader follow along in the preceding days to see how they handle this.
The first post we’ll analyze is “An Open Letter to Peter LaBarbera.” This was written by a person who comments on and reads Pams House Blend. It was an open letter addressed to Peter LaBarbera in which he states as a gay man who has come to Christ he can’t understand why AFT instead of helping people come to Christ as is commanded in the Bible and helping those that are truly needy, they only pick on a small minority of the population and work as hard as is possible to condemn in every way possible. Read the rest of this entry »
Yes on this particularly murky rainy day in Washington DC, the Swamps of the Freepi seem murkier, slimier, and ultimately more dangerous as the nasty claws and teeth gnash and gnarl at their prey.
Today’s victim subject is Barney Frank(D, MA) via hotair: (emphasis mine)
There’s no other way around it: When you accuse someone of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing” in any way, shape or form, you are accusing them of genocide.
Genocide. Let that word work its way around your mind for an moment. Genocide is the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group. Think about that. And then watch the most grotesque public statement made by any elected official in the United States in the last 100 years.
No, I’m not kidding or reaching for the hyperbole. Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) in the video below accuses the Bush administration of perpetrating “ethnic cleansing by hurricane” in Louisana after Katrina, in order to make Louisiana more Republican. The video and audio quality aren’t good, but the words are there. Listen a couple of times if you have to.
More after the jump including freepentary (sort of like dissentary) Read the rest of this entry »
