| christian grantham | |||
| Christian Grantham was a student activist in the late 90s and later was a consultant to domestic policy forums for the Clinton Administration as well as events for HRC and GLAAD. | |||
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latest posts
March 31, 2005
Check out this post on DailyKos by Democracy For Virginia's Maura Keaney on our opponent for the 13th District. Keaney does yet another excellent job summing up who we are up against this November.
Now that Marshall has been in office since 1992 (and is so accepted as an incumbent that he didn't even have a Democratic challenger in 2003), he is not as worried about moderating his views. Oh, he still tries to pass himself off as a reasonable person, but his recent legislation reveals his extremism.Of course, Marshall's not stepping up to introduce extreme legislation in pursuit of the American Life League's goals to ban all abortions in all circumstances, ban use of emergency contraception, and, in fact, ban all artificial contraception at all as ALL espouses, but he has let his extremism slip through in bills such as HB1807, which essentially would have made it a felony to for a mom to provide birth control to a teenage daughter who had been raped. This bill, luckily, failed. But many of Marshall's others have succeeded.
[The Rise and Fall (With Your Help) of An Extreme Theocon in VA - DailyKos - 03-30-05]
Special thanks to Beaverhausen for spreading the word about Team Roemmelt's campaign for Virginia's 13th District.
Bruce Roemmelt is running against the number one homophobe in the Virginia House of Delegates. His opponent Delegate Robert Marshall is a man who submitted four floor amendments to try to retain a law that prohibited private companies from offering health insurance to the life partners of their gay employees. (No other state has such a prohibition.)
[Action Alert! - Beaverhausen - 03-31-05]
Disclosure: I work like a dog for Elect Roemmelt
filed under: Elect Roemmelt
March 31, 2005
Keep the Schindlers and Schiavos in your thoughts today.
QUESTION: Should spouses have the right to honor each other's medical wishes through marriage when those wishes aren't written down?
QUESTION: Should judges that upheld existing marriage laws be imprisoned by the Republican controlled Congress, as threatened by Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) on March 23?
filed under:
March 31, 2005
Even one of the most conservative jurists on the federal bench has had it with the Republican Party's disgraceful threats of imprisonment against the judiciary, attack on Michael Schiavo's marital rights, and a continued assault on the balance of power by their radical evangelical base.
Birch authored opinions upholding Alabama's right to ban the sale of sex toys and Florida's ability to prohibit adoptions by gay couples. Both rulings drew the ire of liberal activists and the elation of traditional and social conservatives.Yet, in Wednesday's 11th Circuit Court of Appeals decision to deny a rehearing to Schiavo's parents, Birch went out of his way to castigate Bush and Congress for acting "in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for governance of a free people our Constitution."
Birch said he couldn't countenance Congress' attempt to "rob" federal courts of the discretion they're given in the Constitution. Noting that it had become popular among "some members of society, including some members of Congress," to denounce "activist judges," or those who substitute their personal opinions for constitutional imperatives, Birch said lawmakers embarked on their own form of unconstitutional activism.
[Conservative judge slaps Congress, Bush over case - Grand Forks Herald - 03-31-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 31, 2005
From comments, a suggestion for a semi-open thread about the
Human Rights Campaign.
filed under:
March 30, 2005
Besides stirring up a hornet's nest here, I'm working on the campaign to elect Bruce Roemmelt to the Virginia House of Delegates for the 13th District. Bruce is a 30 year retired fire fighter, a veteran and an educator running against one of our commonwealth's most radical Republicans, 12 year incumbent Bob Marshall. I wish he had a website I could link to, but the best I could find was this.
At any rate, we are one day away from our goal of raising $30,000 before our first filing with the commonwealth. I hope each and everyone of you who read this blog across the country will join us and help send a signal across our commonwealth that divisive politics is unacceptable and isn't getting the people's business accomplished. Over the next few months, I invite you to follow the daily saga as I blog it to the best of my ability. I don't know much about computers, but from what I gather the Internets now flies through the air!
Here is a post from Bruce's Blog. Please consider giving, even if it's $10 or $20. Every amount counts when we are only $1,100 away!
Amazing! Over a month ago, we challenged Team Roemmelt, a small core group of supporters, with an ambitious goal to raise $30,000 by April 1. As of this afternoon, we are about $1,100 from making it. Thank you for making that happen and for joining Team Roemmelt!Most of our donations are $10, $20 and $50 donations from people across the district and around the commonwealth eager for change and results for the 13th District. Some people stepped up in a big way with large contributions of both time and money. You joined our campaign, you gave, and most importantly you've told your friends to join Team Roemmelt. We can do this. This is how we're going to win in November.
But we aren't there yet.
We're 1 day from our first filing with the commonwealth, and we need your help. If you have joined our campaign by following the three steps to victory, tell one more friend tonight to visit our website and become a part of our campaign for the 13th District. Tell your friends how your contribution helped get us get $1,100 away from reaching our goal, and ask them to give whatever they can. This is just the beginning of a long road to a November victory. Join us, and watch the ladder as we tally the results throughout the day tomorrow!
[One Day Left - We Can Do It! - Bruce2005 - 03-30-05]
disclosure: I work like a dog for Elect Roemmelt.
filed under: Elect Roemmelt
March 30, 2005
Mary Cheney is writing a book, presumably about life as a political target. I hope Mary explains what part of "family values" the Republican Party hoped to portray in this 2004 Republican National Convention Cheney family photo where both her and her partner were hidden backstage from public view.
Let's be honest. It wasn't Democrats that forced Mary and her partner to be excluded from posing with her own family at the 2004 Republican National Convention. It was the party's radical evangelical base and the party's divisive platform that targeted Mary Cheney and continues to divide gays and lesbians from our families, our churches and our country.
I hope Mary talks about how it feels to see her party target her by pandering to its demonizing evangelical base while targeting the United States Constitution with disgraceful discriminatory amendments.
I hope Mary talks about the values the Republican Party ought to aspire to and challenges those radical voices whose divisive agenda is strangling the Republican Party.
Vice President Cheney's youngest daughter loathed being a gay GOP "poster girl" or known as his "lesbian daughter" in last year's presidential race.But, with a memoir coming out next year, it can't hurt.
Mary Cheney, 35, on Tuesday signed with Bush strategist Mary Matalin's conservative imprint at Simon & Schuster to pen a book on being "a political target for the other side," she said in a statement.
Besides memories of working on her dad's campaigns since age 8, the former Coors executive will finally respond to Democratic nominee John Kerry, who raised her homosexuality.
"She never wanted to be the poster girl ... for gay issues," Matalin said. "She doesn't exist to be the lesbian daughter of the vice president."
[Cheney's gay daughter to write book on being `political target' - Journal Gazette - 03-30-05]
filed under: Media
March 29, 2005
Gay activist Michael Rogers, of Blogactive.com, continues to target critics in an ongoing saga of an online jihad within the blogosphere.
This time the target was LimeShurbet.com, a blog whose site was taken down overnight by the site's commercial service provider. According to sources, LimeShurbert had taken GayPatriot's "WANTED: GAY TERRORISTS" post and created his own "wanted poster" targeting Michael Rogers and John Aravosis (Americablog). Rogers alerted the service provider which then shut the site down.
Here is a message from LimeShurbet.com's blog author, Robert Shurbet:
I will be back, content intact one way or another. Michael Rogers has tried to silence a voice of dissent. He will fail.
UPDATE 3:16PM - Robert Shurbert posted the following on Haloscan:
Show your support for GayPatriot by placing the "WANTED" banner from my sidebar on your blog.GayPatriot deserves to have his voice heard! All gay conservatives have a voice that needs to be heard too! The gay community is not a "liberals only" club any more than the Republican party is for "straights only." It is high-time gay conservatives and those that support them speak out against the terrorist tactics employed by Michael Rogers!
Don't let Michael Rogers silence a voice of opposition. He can try to silence one - he cannot silence many.
[Robert - Haloscan - 03.29.05 - 1:29 pm]
UPDATE 10:32PM - Robert Shurbet's "WANTED: GAY TERRORIST" poster featuring Michael Rogers of Blogactive.com is making the rounds by many free speech advocates. These are just a few sites that have posted the poster.
This was sent to Robert Shurbet from Hosting Matters.
Content cannot be defamation by definition unless it can be shown that the content is inherently and deliberately untrue. In your particular case, a simple google of “michael rogers gay” brought me to an article by The Independent (UK) about the very bullet points you have listed in the graphic, with quotes from him related to that subject. Further searches reveal other stories by regular journalistic outlets as well, with and without quotes. Suggesting people email him to voice their opinion of his actions is also not an actionable offense, since a look at his own site has links for email to the addresses you have listed - since he is inviting contact via email, and lists available addresses, your posting of them poses no violation of any of our policies or of any statutes. It is your opinion that his actions are as you describe them, and people are free to agree or disagree as they see fit, and post their own opinions, if they’d like to do so. In addition, there is nothing in your graphic that urges any violence against anyone - it reads, in fact, more like the sort of online boycott calls that go around from time to time. Therefore, we would take no action related to complaints by the individual about this item on your page other than to suggest he take it up with you.Regards,
Abuse Investigations
Hosting Matters, Inc.
http://www.hostingmatters.com
[Hosting DOES Matter - Lime Shurbet - 03-29-05]
filed under: Free Speech
, Media
March 29, 2005
Only Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay would call the House Ethics Committee partisan. Republicans and Democrats on the committee voted unanimously to admonish him several times for lapses in ethics and judgment. Now he is the target of multiple investigations into corruption.
A liberal advocacy group has called a Wednesday press conference to unveil its new anti-Tom-DeLay advertisement. The Campaign for America's Future said the new ad, which will run in DeLay's home district, will urge Congress to "wash its hands" of the House majority leader.The ad accuses DeLay of using the "personal tragedy of Terri Schiavo to divert attention from corruption charges against him," the group said.
DeLay, a Texas Republican, says the corruption allegations against him are baseless, and he has accused congressional Democrats and their allies of using the House Ethics Committee "as a partisan tool for partisan ends."
[Political Ad Targets Tom DeLay - CNSnews - 03-29-05]
While Tom DeLay was busy leading his party's use of Terri Schiavo as a lifeless shield, threatening the judiciary with prison and attacking the "sacred institution of marriage," the rest of America saw an act of political desperation. Let's hope the Republican Party has finally had enough of this man misrepresenting the party's better senses.
IT seems most people, no matter their political affiliation or even the intensity of their religious convictions, think that Terri Schiavo should not have a feeding tube reinserted and that President Bush, Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Republicans in Congress shouldn't have intervened in the matter. That's what a variety of polls are telling us, anyway.Has the public finally lost patience with the socially conservative convictions of the present-day Republican Party? Has the GOP become so moralistic that the American people simply can't take it any longer?
[Too Public A Death - NY POST - 03-29-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 28, 2005
GayPatriot, the anonymous gay Republican blogger, has officially signed off. In a statement, no explanation was given. With GayPatriot's permission, I am now able to recount the real story.
On Friday, GayPatriot posted "WANTED: GAY TERRORISTS" in which he identified gay activists and bloggers John Aravosis (Americablog) and Michael Rogers (BlogActive) as terrorists.
Wanted for crimes against the gay community. Wanted for repeatedly conducting outing witch hunts against gays who do not believe in radical liberal anti-American ideals. For repeated violations of privacy of gay Americans. For conducting systematic civil liberties attacks on gay Americans.WANTED! Let's do something about these gay terrorists who have infected our community with their hatred and self-loathing bigotry of gay Americans who wish to live their lives in peace.
[WANTED: GAY TERRORISTS - GayPatriot - 03-25-05]
As many of you know, Rogers is the host and agent of a widely publicized "outing campaign" at BlogActive.com targeting closeted gay Republicans. One of the most notable results of this campaign was the dramatic retirement of a Republican Virginia Congressman, Ed Schrock. The most recent outing was that of Ken Mehlman, the new chairman of the Republican National Committee. Whatever you believe about the practice, it is difficult to ignore the political impact the campaign has had over the past year.
According to GayPatriot, who is also a client of mine, Michael Rogers called GayPatriot's place of employment on Friday immediately following the post above and spoke to GayPatriot's secretary and boss. GayPatriot had no idea Rogers would go to such measures and shared with me that both he and his secretary were very upset by the calls but that his boss was understanding.
Later on that day, Rogers personally called me and recounted much of the same account, adding that he had also called the police and is working with the authorities on the matter. Rogers expressed feeling threatened by the post and compared it to posts by anti-abortionists who posted the names of doctors performing them.
Rogers also said he asked GayPatriot to remove the post and replace it with a post about non-violence or he would launch a national boycott of GayPatriot's corporate employer and pursue any and all avenues necessary to protect himself. By the time Rogers had called, GayPatriot had already made the decision to remove the post and also remove GayPatriot from the blogosphere.
GayPatriot was silenced.
GayPatriotWest, a co-writer on the blog, will continue to bring a voice to conservative gay Republicans. While I personally have the opposite political ideology, I value healthy debate and the precious right of free speech in America. I am proud of serving a diversity of opinions online. I also understand that free speech isn't free of consequences. I am also sad to see this unfold.
As someone who has been the victim of passionate protests and death threats for public advocacy, I try not to question people's sense of concern for their safety. Rogers has every right to involve authorities in the matter and let them determine whether Rogers is in any danger. But I do question Rogers' choice to go beyond the work of authorities to ensure his safety by calling GayPatriot's place of employment.
If Rogers is genuinely concerned for his safety, any lawyer or authority investigating the matter would have advised him not to have called an alleged perpetrator's place of employment. That action alone shows the exact opposite of fear for safety. Rogers is not shy about calling offices, as the Washington Blade's Chris Crain noted the other day.
As the Blade reported last August, those on Capitol Hill in Rogers' crosshairs say they and their offices were subjected to as many as 20 phone calls a day, badgering office staff with details about closeted gays working there. Blade staffers are no strangers to these multiple, harassing phone calls. That's certainly not journalism, and it's not even activism. It's borderline stalking; and it ought to stop.
[GOP chief admits to being closeted - Washington Blade - 03-24-05]
Crain, the editor of the Window Media gay newspaper empire, is at the center of a controversy over allegedly thwarting his paper's reporting on recent outings of prominent gay Republicans.
Current and former staff members of the nation’s largest gay newspaper chain say the company’s top editor thwarted efforts to run a story reporting now-Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman was gay, RAW STORY has learned. The editor denies killing the story.These staffers assert that the part-owner and chief editor for the company’s five newspapers including The Washington Blade, Chris Crain, refused to print an article regarding the sexual orientation of the then-campaign manager for President Bush’s reelection campaign.
[Staff: Editor of Washington gay paper thwarted story outing RNC chair Mehlman; Editor asserts he was offered Schrock tapes - RawStory - 03-25-05]
GayPatriot formed specifically in response to Rogers and his website and became a venue for criticism of outing Republicans. GayPatriot is currently in counsel with attorneys over this entire matter.
filed under: Free Speech
, Media
March 27, 2005
The Republican House Majority Leader knows a thing or two about acts of barbarism. He and his family erred on the side of death when they pulled the plug on their 65 year old father. It's a decision made by hundreds of families without cameras, judges and politicians every day in America.
But when it comes to your family's lawful right to make these private and difficult life decisions, Republicans and their chosen leader in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tom DeLay, would rather play God.
And DeLay is among the strongest advocates of keeping the woman, who doctors say has been in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years, connected to her feeding tube. DeLay has denounced Schiavo's husband, as well as judges, for committing what he calls "an act of barbarism" in removing the tube.In 1988, however, there was no such fiery rhetoric as the congressman quietly joined the sad family consensus to let his father die.
"There was no point to even really talking about it," Maxine DeLay, the congressman's 81-year-old widowed mother, recalled in an interview last week. "There was no way [Charles] wanted to live like that. Tom knew — we all knew — his father wouldn't have wanted to live that way."
[DeLay's Own Tragic Crossroads - L.A. Times - 03-27-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
, Scandal
March 27, 2005
Anti-Marriage Republicans
"It certainly resonates with us," said Buckel, director of marriage-related activities for Lambda Legal. "If folks look at this situation and see that a spouse is struggling to carry out the wishes of his loved one, imagine what folks face when they don't even have access to the spousal relationship because they can't get married."'Sanctity of Marriage' At all Costs
[For gays, it happens all the time - Newsday - 03-27-05]
Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman said Wednesday that domestic-violence charges cannot be filed against unmarried people because of the state's recently enacted definition of marriage. Friedman reduced a felony domestic-violence charge to a misdemeanor assault charge.Virginia Is For LoversFriedman said the ruling applies specifically to the case, but advocates said they believe its impact will be felt statewide because appeals likely will reach the Ohio Supreme Court.
[Domestic-violence rulings unsettling - Cincinatti Enquirer - 03-27-05]
In effect, the legislation, pushed by a coalition of business and gay-rights organizations, permits an insurer and employer to decide who would be covered under a group accident and sickness insurance policy.It "provides a long-overdue option to Virginia businesses," Gov. Mark R. Warner said in a statement yesterday. "It allows private employers to extend group accident and sickness coverage to any class of persons agreed upon by the insurer and the group policyholder."
[Health coverage for gay couples set - Richmond Times Dispatch - 03-26-05]
filed under: Sunday Read
March 26, 2005
When agendas collide: In the same exit polls the Republican Party is fond of using lately to suggest increased support among black and women voters, most of those voting for President Bush cited "moral issues" over the economy, the war in Iraq and terrorism as their top issue.
Now Republicans that would prefer taking care of the American people's business are finding out who is really in control of their party as their radical evangelical base lurches against the balance of power with arrogant threats against the judiciary and the rule of law.
Is it any wonder that the man at the center of Congress's egregious breach of trust with the American people is a man who was unanimously admonished by Democrats and Republicans for problems with ethics and currently at the center of multiple investigations? House Majority Leader Tom DeLay has a vision for the Republican Party: take it down in a conflagration of moral indignation.
It is time for Tom DeLay to step down.
A week after their unprecedented intervention in the Terri Schiavo case, Republican congressional leaders find themselves in a moral and political thicket, having advanced the cause as a right-to-life issue -- only to confront polls showing that the public does not see it that way."How deep is this Congress going to reach into the personal lives of each and every one of us?" asked Rep. Christopher Shays (Conn.), one of only five Republicans in the House to vote against the Schiavo bill.
Republican lawmakers and others engaged in the debate say an internal party dispute over the Schiavo case has ruptured, at least temporarily, the uneasy alliance between economic and social conservatives that twice helped President Bush get elected.
[Schiavo Case Tests Priorities Of GOP - Washington Post - 03-26-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 25, 2005
I'm not sure who to feel more sorry for: the Schiavo family or the Republican Party and their radical evangelical base. Both seem to be fighting for my sympathies over Terri Schiavo. The sacred institution of marriage provided Michael Schiavo the right to honor his wife's medical wishes, and now Republican evangelicals are bemoaning the tyranny of this sacred institution and the Republicans in control who refuse to do anything about it.
Should I send flowers to the Schiavo family, or to Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay?
Terri's husband, Michael, made a very tough decision to honor his wife's medical wishes. This tragedy happens every day in America. Like the 19 judges who reviewed Terri's case and upheld the law, I trust Michael knows what Terri wanted better than Governor Jeb Bush, Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and President George Bush.
Terri's wishes and the law protecting her wishes are of absolutely no consequence to grandstanding anti-abortion rights advocate Terry Randall, speaking for the Schiavo family, and the Republican Party pandering to their radical evangelical base. They don't care what the law says or what Terri wants. All they care about is using this poor woman and her family to threaten the judiciary with prison in an ongoing assault on America's democratic balance of power.
Anti-Marriage Evangelicals
The latest threats of prison for judges are just one aspect of the new lows to which the Republican Party has stooped in pushing a misguided "moral agenda" that is neither moral nor legal and that actively seeks to strip American families of basic legal protections. Here are some other lows.
President Bush's approval rating has fallen to 45%, the lowest point of his presidency, according to a new USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll.The finding, in a poll of 1,001 adults Monday through Wednesday, is a dip from 52% in a poll taken last week. Bush's previous lowest rating, 46%, was recorded last May.
The White House declined to comment. Republican National Committee spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said that Bush is taking on “tough issues, whether it's to reform Social Security, promoting the spread of democracy or making a renewed pitch to Congress to pass comprehensive energy reform.”
Independent political analysts said the drop may reflect opposition to the White House and Congress intervening in the Terri Schiavo matter.
[Bush approval slips to 45%, lowest of his presidency - USAToday - 03-25-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 23, 2005
Outrageous. Congressman Patrick McHenry (R-NC) pledged to ask the House Government Reform Committee to throw Florida judges in prison for upholding the law in the case of Terri Schiavo. In an arrogant assault on the Judicial branch of government, McHenry said he will ask Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA) to seek the charge of "contempt of Congress" for Florida judges in the case.
But you'll have to wait until their two week vacation is over and Terri Schiavo is dead.
Republicans didn't like the fact that the "sacred institution of marriage" protected Michael's right to honor his wife Terri's medical wishes. President George Bush passed a law as Texas Governor that protected that very right. Now that federal courts upheld the "sacred institution of marriage," the Republican controlled Congress is threatening the judiciary with prison.
SCARBOROUGH: Tell me something Patrick. All you all, I mean, you all subpoenaed Terri, you all subpoenaed her husband. The judge ignored you. Are you going to find him in contempt of Congress?MCHENRY: Well here's an issue. I said this Friday night that I think that judge in Florida should be held in contempt of Congress Because...
SCARBOUROUGH: Will it happen?
MCHENRY: ...he stepped in, he stepped in, and thwarted the will of Congress, and furthermore, we passed a law that specifically , uh, is worded for this case yet those judges aren't even talking about original intent from Congress. What we have here is an out of control...
SCARBOUROUGH: Will it happen, though?
MCHENRY: ...judiciary.
SCARBOUROUGH: I want to know is he going to be held in contempt of Congress. Yes or no.
MCHENRY: Well, I'm going to talk to Chairman Tom Davis about this and make sure on the Government Reform Committee that we bring this up when we get back into session.
[Scarborough Country - MSNBC - 03-23-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 23, 2005
Charting PlanetOut's decline over the past few months to today's dramatic drop. The stock (LGBT - NASDAQ) is trading pennies from it's 52 week low. What's going on at the nation's only publicly traded LGBT company?
Also read: GAY.com Unleashes Controversial Ad Campaign
filed under: Media
March 23, 2005
In siding with Mrs. Schiavo's parents, who have been in a prolonged battle with her husband about removing the feeding tube that has kept her alive for 15 years, Mr. Bush ran counter to a measure he signed into law in Texas in 1999.The state law says that in cases in which a patient has not signed a directive about life-prolonging care, the patient's spouse -- unless there is a court-appointed guardian -- makes the call. The patient's parents are listed third, behind "reasonably available adult children" and ahead of "the patient's nearest living relative."
[Bush signed caregiver bill favoring spouse - Washington Times - 03-22-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 22, 2005
I think it's great the Diocese of San Diego has apologized for his outrageous refusal to hold a funeral for a man because of the Diocese's distaste for his "lifestyle." My hope is the Catholic Church will consider treating the living as kindly as they do the dead.
The head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego apologized yesterday to the family of gay nightclub owner John McCusker, less than a week after denying McCusker a Catholic funeral because of his "business activities," according to a statement released by McCusker's family. In a stunning twist to a controversy that has created an uproar in San Diego's gay and Catholic communities, Bishop Robert Brom also promised to preside at a Mass in memory of McCusker at he Immaculata Catholic Church at the University of San Diego, according to the statement.McCusker, 31, died March 13 while vacationing in Mammoth.
In the statement released by McCusker's family, Brom said, "I deeply regret that denying a Catholic funeral for John McCusker at the Immaculata has resulted in his unjust condemnation, and I apologize to the family for the anguish this has caused them. To help rectify this situation, insofar as it can be, I will preside at a Mass for the family, in memory of John, at the Immaculata. In consideration for the family, I will not be available for any further public statements on this matter."
[Catholic leader vows to hold Mass in memory of gay nightclub owner - Union Tribune - 03-22-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 22, 2005
QUESTION: If Republicans don't like the fact that the sacred institution of marriage grants spouses the right to make medical decisions for each other, why are they not busy changing the law to save hundreds of Terri Schiavos languishing in similar fates?
ANSWER: The cameras aren't rolling on anyone else.
A federal judge in Tampa early this morning denied a request from the parents of Terri Schiavo to reinsert a feeding tube into the brain damaged woman.U.S. District Judge James Whittemore, noting that he "appreciates the gravity of the consequences" of his action, found that Schiavo's "life and liberty interests" had been protected by Florida courts, news services reported. "Even under these difficult and time-strained circumstances, however, and not withstanding Congress's expressed interest in the welfare of Terri Schiavo," he wrote, "this court is constrained to apply the law to the issues before it."
[Judge Refuses to Intervene on Schiavo Case - Washington Post - 03-22-05]
QUESTION: Where is the Republican controlled Congress for the next two weeks starting today while Terri Schiavo is dying?
ANSWER: On vacation. Two days of dealing with this at the very last minute was enough.
filed under: Moral Majority
March 21, 2005
Why won't Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, Republican Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Republican President George W. Bush come down from their pious high horses and take Michael Schiavo up on his offer to visit he and his wife?
The answer is simple and revealing.
Terri Schiavo has been made into nothing more than a cause for Republicans and their evangelical base's spiritually bankrupt political agenda. Republicans have said they no longer trust the marriage laws of every state that allow spouses to make medical decisions for one another. Republicans have said they reject the courts that upheld the law and reaffirmed these "sacred" marital rights. Republicans have said Terri Schiavo's wishes are best determined by a federal judge.
Angered by the latest political developments in Washington, Michael Schiavo said Saturday that it isn't just the Florida governor who should visit his wife to learn about the case.Jeb Bush's brother, President Bush, should visit Terri Schiavo, too, he said.
"Come down, President Bush," Schiavo said in a telephone interview. "Come talk to me. Meet my wife. Talk to my wife and see if you get an answer. Ask her to lift her arm to shake your hand. She won't do it."
She won't, Schiavo said, because she can't.
He made a similar offer to the governor last week, saying lawmakers interferring in his wife's life know nothing about the case. So far, Gov. Bush hasn't responded to the offer.
[Schiavo: 'Come down, President Bush' - St Petersberg Times - 03-20-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 21, 2005
Oh, those good old days when we used to just murder loud-mouthed gays!
Bill O'Reilly on the March 15 edition of Westwood One's The Radio Factor:O'REILLY: You know, the Founding Fathers didn't write anything into the Constitution about gay marriage. Because back then, if you were gay, they hung you.
So -- you couldn't get married 'cause they put you in the rack. You know, if you were runnin' around wearing a chartreuse hat, you were in lots of trouble. So, we didn't even have to worry about these people gettin' married because if they come out of their closet in the log cabin -- somebody'll shoot them in the head. So, there really wasn't an issue back in the Founding Fathers.
[Fox News hosts muse about gay rights - Media Matters - 03-17-05]
filed under: Media
March 20, 2005
Playing Politics with Life
An unsigned one-page memo, distributed to Republican senators, said the debate over Schiavo would appeal to the party's base, or core, supporters. The memo singled out Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who is up for reelection next year and is potentially vulnerable in a state President Bush won last year."This is an important moral issue and the pro-life base will be excited that the Senate is debating this important issue," said the memo, which was reported by ABC News and later given to The Washington Post. "This is a great political issue, because Senator Nelson of Florida has already refused to become a cosponsor and this is a tough issue for Democrats."
[Congress Steps In on Schiavo Case - Washington Post - 03-20-05]
Denise Fairchild was artificially inseminated in 1997. She raised her son with her lesbian partner Therese Leach until the couple split in 2001. Now Fairchild wants to deny her former partner visitation rights, and she's citing Ohio's new constitutional ban on gay marriage. Since they were never legally married under Ohio law, Fairchild claims, Leach does not have the rights of a former spouse. Leach's attorney argues that the amendment doesn't apply to parent-child relationships. "I'm using a piece of legislation that will deny me rights later in life," Fairchild says. "But before I am a lesbian and a member of the gay community, I am his mother."
[Gay-Marriage Bans: The Boomerang Effect - TIME - 03-28-05]
filed under: Sunday Read
March 19, 2005
Poll after poll says Republicans are out of step with a majority of Americans who believe the government has no buisness intruding on the rights granted spouses through the sacred institution of marriage on medical decisions.
FOXnews Dynamic Poll
1. If a patient has been in what doctors call a “persistent vegetative” or a coma-like state with no higher brain activity for a significant amount of time, who do you think should make the decision whether the patient should be kept alive or not?1. The person’s parents or other family members 31%
2. The person’s spouse 50%
3. The government 2%
4. (The person’s doctor) 4%
5. (Not sure) 13%
[Majority Would Remove Schiavo's Feeding Tube - FOXnews - 06-14-04]
FOXnews Dynamic Poll
As Terri Schiavo's (search) parents continue their fight to extend her life, a FOX News poll finds a majority of Americans agree with a Florida judge's ruling that her feeding tube can be removed. Additionally, in the same situation, most would not want to be kept alive artificially.Nearly six in ten Americans (59 percent) say that as Schiavo's guardian they would remove her feeding tube, while 24 percent would keep the tube inserted and 17 percent are uncertain which action they would take. These numbers remain virtually unchanged from a previous FOX poll in which 61 percent of Americans said they would remove the tube and 22 percent said they would not, with 17 percent unsure (October 2003).
[3/4/05 FOX Poll: Right-to-Die: Who Should Decide? - FOXnews - 03-04-05]
ABC/Washington Post
But others, including Democrats and outside congressional scholars, said Republicans had overstepped their authority and could risk political backlash. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted March 10-13, an overwhelming majority of the 1,001 adults polled — 87 percent — said they would not want to be kept alive if they were in Schiavo's condition.
[GOP maneuver in Schiavo case stirs controversy - Seattle Times - 03-19-05]
Survey USA
When a married person is on life support, and that patient's family can not agree on whether life support should be continued or whether life support should be stopped, who do you think should have the final say in the matter? The patient's parents? The patient's spouse? Or someone else?1. Parents 24%
2. Spouse 60%
3. Someone Else 9%
4. Not Sure 7%
[Survey USA Survey: Terri Schiavo Case - WJXX - 03-17-05]
Despite this, why is Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other right-wing conservatives seeking to intrude on the marriage rights of Michael and Terri Schiavo? The answer is clear: Republicans want to use Terri Schiavo's life as a cheap pawn in vulgar pandering to the Republican Party's evangelical base.
ABC News obtained talking points circulated among Senate Republicans explaining why they should vote to intervene in the Schiavo case. Among them, that it is an important moral issue and the "pro-life base will be excited," and that it is a "great political issue — this is a tough issue for Democrats."
[DeLay Says He's Not Giving Up Schiavo Fight - ABCNews - 03-19-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 19, 2005
Of course Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay won't give up on Terri Schiavo. Issueing a subpeona for her lifeless body to be displayed before the United States Congress is just his latest desperate attempt to suck the oxygen out of increasing media focus on multiple investigations into his ethically admonished felonious activities. Who else among Congressional Republican leadership needs a dying woman's body as a foil to take the heat for the party's ethical lapses more than the Republican Party's chosen House leader?
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said that he and other Republican members of Congress would continue to work through the weekend to come up with a bill to force doctors to reinsert Terri Schiavo's feeding tube.After a heated legal and political battle, the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube was removed Friday afternoon, despite a last-ditch effort by Congress to prevent it.
On Friday, House Republicans took the extraordinary step of subpoenaing Terri Schiavo to testify before a Congressional committee, but a Florida judge refused that order. Then late Friday, a House committee filed an emergency request with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking justices to reinsert Schiavo's feeding tube while the committee files appeals.
The Supreme Court denied that appeal without comment, and in a statement issued Saturday, DeLay called the court's decision a "moral and legal tragedy."
[DeLay Says He's Not Giving Up Schiavo Fight - ABCNews - 03-19-05]
Terri Schiavo and her husband's right within what Tom DeLay calls the "sacred institution of marriage" is of no consequence when a scurrilous politician like DeLay needs cover. The arrogance with which the Republican controlled Congress is handling this deeply personal issue is a clear sign of the entire party's disdain for the law, the judicial system sworn to uphold it, and the democratic balance of power.
filed under: Moral Majority
, Scandal
March 19, 2005
From the perspective of the religious right, Republicans were busy fiddling on the Hill with major league baseball players and grandstanding over steroids while Terri Schiavo approached the day of reckoning.
Observe the strangle-hold radical evangelicals increasingly have on the Republican Party, thanks to the party's relentless pandering in 2004. It wasn't until their party's evangelical base swarmed Republican offices on the Hill last week with threats over Schiavo that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and other Republican leaders stopped dealing with the nation's real priorities. And what a convenient distraction from the debate over President Bush's disgraceful budget proposals and the wholesale auction of America to the highest corporate bidder.
The ever wacky will of the Republican Party's fanatical religious base continues to set aside the nation's priorities for a circus side show. The American people can expect much more to come from the Republican controlled Congress. According to the same 2004 exit polls the Republican Party continues to use to suggest an increase of support from black voters, the highest percentage of voters for President Bush cited "moral issues" over the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq as their top priority. The Republican Party continues to deliver.
Republican Mandate
The demands of the Republican Party's evangelical base are now grinding our nation's Republican controlled Congress to a halt with demands the federal government intrude in "the most sacred institution and building block of this nation," the private life decisions between a husband and wife. On Monday, precious little of the American people's business will be done as Congress is high-jacked and obstructed by the agenda of the Republican Party's evangelical base.
Republican Schism
Thanks to the party's incessant pandering to the right, Terri Schiavo's case has now become a pivotal moment for the party's base. If the Republican controlled House of Representatives, Republican controlled Senate and Republican controlled White House won't stand for life, who will lead the party's wandering base from the wilderness in 2008? The Republican Party's base will never forget how the Republican controlled federal government let Terri Schiavo die.
filed under: Moral Majority
March 19, 2005
A recent study of 12,000 adolescents shows young boys who took "abstinence pledges" were four times more likely to engage in anal sex.
The Republican Party's evangelical base, desparate to justify their faith at the expense of children, doesn't want to hear the facts about "abstinence-only" sex education. In the midst of proposed cuts in his 2006 budget, President Bush has proposed increasing funding for abstinence by $39 million to $206 million. Another $64 million will be added over the next two years. Now, that's a mandate.
The latest study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health, found that teens pledging virginity until marriage are more likely to have oral and anal sex than other teens who have not had intercourse. That behavior, however, "puts you at risk," said Hannah Brueckner, assistant professor of sociology at Yale and one of the study's authors.Among virgins, boys who have pledged abstinence were four times more likely to have had anal sex, according to the study. Overall, pledgers were six times more likely to have oral sex than teens who have remained abstinent but not as part of a pledge.
The pledging group was also less likely to use condoms during their first sexual experience or get tested for STDs, the researchers found.
[Study: Abstinence Pledgers May Risk STDs - AP - 03-18-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 18, 2005
Leave it to the gays and their shameful agenda to demand funeral rites. What's next, funerals for adulterers?
In a statement released Thursday, Rodrigo Valdivia, chancellor for the Diocese of San Diego, said that no parish in the diocese would hold the funeral because McCusker had owned two gay nightclubs."The facts regarding the business activity of John McCusker were not known by church officials when arrangements were requested for his funeral," the statement said. "When these facts became known the bishop of San Diego concluded that to avoid public scandal Mr. McCusker can't be granted a funeral in a Catholic church or chapel in the Diocese of San Diego."
[Calif. Gay Man Denied Catholic Funeral - 365gay.com - 03-18-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 18, 2005
Starting today, those damn Democrats are starving Terri Schiavo to death. If God didn't want us to selfishly defy his will for years on end in vegetative states, he wouldn't have invented feeding tubes, machined food pumps and health insurance.
Liberals continue to arrogantly believe these miracle machines were their ideas. Yeah, and Al Gore invented the Internets!
The fact is, these wonders in technology were manufactured in fluffy clouds to keep angels like Terri around to remind us how precious life is. We need reminders because our value for life isn't strong enough without forcing Terri to live vegetatively on machines as the living reminder our agenda is sorely missing.
It's just wrong to push the off buttons which were clearly invented by Satan, his evil "activist judge" helpers and the one world government! What a very sad day for our life-affirming agenda... oh, and Terri.
Democrats are more united, largely opposing government involvement."I think one of the few things that makes this terrible situation worse is for politicians to get involved," said Jim Davis, congressman from Tampa who is seeking the Democratic nomination for governor.
"I believe very strongly in the will of God, and I don't think government should interfere," said state Democratic Party Chairman Scott Maddox, who is considering the race. "The politicians in Tallahassee shouldn't make that decision."
[Schiavo debate has GOP juggling issues of 'sanctity of life', less government - Sun Sentinel - 03-18-05]
Note: My family has had to make this very difficult decision for my brother, who ultimately passed away in the 1980s. It's a difficult enough decision for a family to make without the government taking away the rights of the family to make these decisions themselves. None of us would take that decision back for Joshua. I strongly believe people who try to take away lawful rights or insert the government into such deeply personal decisions for their own selfish agendas ultimately mock and trivialize life in the a manner satirically presented here.
UPDATE 5:21PM ET: If you need an example of the truely selfish nature of those seeking to intercede on the wishes of Michael and Terri Schiavo, take a look at conservative writer Peggy Noonan's vulgar blathering imploring Republicans to not think about what's best for Terri, but what's best for their careers.
So let me write a sentence I never thought I'd write: Politicians, please, think of yourselves! Move to help Terri Schiavo, and no one will be mad at you, and you'll keep a human being alive. Do nothing and you reap bitterness and help someone die.
['Don't Kick It' - Opinion Journal - 03-18-05]
Still more, Republicans have now stooped to new lows, pandering to their radical evangelical base by issuing a subpeona for Terri Schiavo's lifeless body to be displayed before the United States Congress. This outrageous grandstanding is just the latest example of vulgar misuse of power by the Republican controlled Congress and the White House.
Committees in the Republican-controlled Congress issued subpoenas for Schiavo, her husband, and her caregivers demanding that they appear at hearings in the coming weeks.But the judge presiding over the case refused a request from House attorneys to delay the removal, which he had previously ordered to take place at noon CST.
Michael Schaivo's attorney, George Felos, called the congressional subpoeans "nothing short of thuggery."
"It was odious, it was shocking, it was disgusting and i think all Americans should be very alarmed about that," he said at a news conference.
[Brain-damaged woman's feeding tube removed despite protests - Houston Chronicle - 03-18-05]
also read: CONGRESS SUBPOENAS A HUMAN VEGETABLE--THE SCHIAVO CASE
filed under: Moral Majority
March 18, 2005
Now come's True Images, a Bible with filthy liberal sex talk scrawled across the word of God, cloaking the liberal's attempt to sexualize our children.
Oral Sex:
"The story is that she had oral sex with a guy friend of ours last week. Just for fun. They're not dating, although they've always flirted with each other a lot. Emma took one look at my face this morning, and she knew I knew."The Root Of All Lesbians:
Says Trish: "All my friends are wondering if this guy or that guy likes them. I don't like any guys right now. Instead, I wonder if I have a crush on Sierra. She's one of my best friends."Trish goes on to explain that her uncle tried to rape her when she was 12 and that ever since, "I haven't wanted any guy to touch me – not even my dad."
[Teen girls' Bible talks of oral sex, lesbianism - WorldNetDaily - 03-18-05]
Thank goodness Mrs. McDonald didn't let her 20 year old virgin daughter read this dirty liberal Bible.
"Having seven daughters myself, I am deeply grieved that parents would encourage their young daughters to read such graphic narratives. I would not give this 'Bible' to my 20-year-old virgin daughter to read – much less a 13-year-old. Why should she have images of oral sex, lesbianism and rape in her mind?"
[Teen girls' Bible talks of oral sex, lesbianism - WorldNetDaily - 03-18-05]
filed under: Moral Majority
March 17, 2005
Amid ballooning deficits, irresponsible tax cuts and deep cuts in funding in his 2006 budget, Bush proposes dramatically increasing spending on unproven abstinence-only sex education.
Reports commissioned by the Texas Department of State Health Services on abstinence only education in 29 Texas schools showed an increase in sexual activity among teens exposed to abstinence materials. Another report showed 80% of the materials used contained "false, misleading or distorted information."
But what do these people care about science and facts? The Bible is very clear on the subject of fornication and keeping kids in the dark about life-saving discoveries after the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The Bible is also clear on how spending more tax dollars can help failed parents convince the rest of us to save it for marriage.
In the past five years, President Bush has more than doubled funding for such programs, which teach that abstinence from sexual activity until marriage is the only sure way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other health problems.In his fiscal year 2006 budget unveiled last month which drastically slashed spending on hundreds of other social programs, Bush proposed increasing funding for abstinence by $39 million to $206 million, rising to $270 million by 2008.
Yet critics say there is no evidence these programs have any effect on reducing teen-age sexual activity and often offer misleading or outrightly false information about reproductive health that increases the risks of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.
"Bush may be sincere but he is also pandering to his political base and paying more attention to the ideology than the facts," said Michael McGee, vice president for education for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, which calls abstinence-only education