Friday, April 23, 2010
Archie Comics Gets Gay Friend
It's about as mainstream as you can get. Archie Comics is introducing a gay character into their newsprint world. The character's name is Kevin and of all people to confide his sexual orientation to, he picks Jughead. I am sure hilarity will ensue. (irony intended)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Stuck in DFW and Hating Delta Airlines Already
Gosh sometimes I outsmart myself...well often I outsmart myself. I am on my way to Florida for Beyond Leather and I had reservations on American Airlines. Well, and here is where the outsmart part comes in, I heard from a friend who is a flight attendant on American that a strike was imminent, as in any day now.
So I swallowed the cancellation fee and re-booked on Delta, even though they don't have direct flights. What the heck? A connection in Memphis should be easy! WRONG!
The airlines neglected to tell me that the original flight was being delayed by an hour, which means no connection in Memphis. So I am here at the airport, bags checked and arrive at the gate to see the changed time. Now I call Delta and speak with someone in India. He tells me in broken English I can get a connecting flight at 3:40 out of Memphis....through Atlanta, getting me into Ft. Lauderdale at 9:00pm instead of 3:00pm.
We shall see if my bags make it. If not I will be doing three workshops without any materials or gear and all my leather in in the baggage. I am praying they don't lose it!
God I hate flying!
So I swallowed the cancellation fee and re-booked on Delta, even though they don't have direct flights. What the heck? A connection in Memphis should be easy! WRONG!
The airlines neglected to tell me that the original flight was being delayed by an hour, which means no connection in Memphis. So I am here at the airport, bags checked and arrive at the gate to see the changed time. Now I call Delta and speak with someone in India. He tells me in broken English I can get a connecting flight at 3:40 out of Memphis....through Atlanta, getting me into Ft. Lauderdale at 9:00pm instead of 3:00pm.
We shall see if my bags make it. If not I will be doing three workshops without any materials or gear and all my leather in in the baggage. I am praying they don't lose it!
God I hate flying!
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
More Killer Heathers! Another Teen Hate Attack on Gay Teen
If the story about the attack last fall in Trafalgar Square, London was not frightening enough, here comes news from Kentucky. Three teenage girls tried to push a fourth girl over a cliff. They are charged with attempted murder and kidnapping.
Why would they do something so horrible? The victim was perceived as being a lesbian. I guess we shouldn't expect anything more from Flat Lick Falls, Kentucky, but the whole blond high school girls plotting to murder another student reeks of a Hollywood plot. Too bad it's real.
Why would they do something so horrible? The victim was perceived as being a lesbian. I guess we shouldn't expect anything more from Flat Lick Falls, Kentucky, but the whole blond high school girls plotting to murder another student reeks of a Hollywood plot. Too bad it's real.
Portrait of a Bigot - Florida Politician Clay Yarborough
Just in general, do you believe Muslims should be able to hold any public office in Florida?Yarborough, city councilperson in Jacksonville, has attempted to block a Muslim and an openly gay woman form the city's Human Rights Commission. Talk about wanting to stack the deck!
“I don’t know.”
Do you think homosexuals should be able to hold a public office in Florida
“I would prefer they did not.”
Jon Stewart - Full Gospel Throwdown
I swear Jon Stewart is getting better and better! Last night he took on Fox News again and with full gospel backup! If he doesn't get an Emmy for this one, I'll be amazed.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Bernie Goldberg Fires Back | ||||
| ||||
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words - But I Don't Speak Russian
"Clockwork Orange" Killers On Trial For Murder of Gay Man
It sounds like something of a cross between the ultra-violent movie "A Clockwork Orange" and "Heathers". Ian Baynham, a gay man was in Trafalgar Square when he was attacked by a drunken boy and two blond haired teenage girls. The three began by shouting epithets at him, according to his partner Phillip Brown who witnessed the scene.
One of the girls began shouting "fucking faggot" and Mr. Baynham slapped her. At that point all hell broke loose. The 19 year old boy punched Baynham who fell to the ground hitting his head. Then the two 18 year old girls, Ruby Thomas and Rachel Burke, began kicking him in the face and head and stomping on his stomach.
Baynham who was already in a seizure from the head injury when they began kicking him, never regained consciousness. The brutality of the attack caught spectators by surprise. His partner tried to intervene and was assaulted by the girls as well.
This bloody murder should not fade from the media, dismissed as another example of drunken kids. It is a hate crime pure and simple, and I would expect the UK to prosecute it to the fullest extent.
The fact that these three teenagers felt secure enough to not only shout insults but murder a man in cold blood shows how dangerous the atmosphere is for LGBT people in the UK. Sadly things are not much better here.
One of the girls began shouting "fucking faggot" and Mr. Baynham slapped her. At that point all hell broke loose. The 19 year old boy punched Baynham who fell to the ground hitting his head. Then the two 18 year old girls, Ruby Thomas and Rachel Burke, began kicking him in the face and head and stomping on his stomach.
Baynham who was already in a seizure from the head injury when they began kicking him, never regained consciousness. The brutality of the attack caught spectators by surprise. His partner tried to intervene and was assaulted by the girls as well.
This bloody murder should not fade from the media, dismissed as another example of drunken kids. It is a hate crime pure and simple, and I would expect the UK to prosecute it to the fullest extent.
The fact that these three teenagers felt secure enough to not only shout insults but murder a man in cold blood shows how dangerous the atmosphere is for LGBT people in the UK. Sadly things are not much better here.
Monday, April 19, 2010
Duke College Republicans "Out" Their Own Chairman
This one falls under the "duh" file in my book. Justin Robinette a Junior at Duke University was booted from his position as head of the Duke’s College Republicans because he is gay. That action also served to out him as well and he is upset.
In an interview in the Daily Tar Heel he said, “Comments were made directly to me and my executive board before and after the meeting concerning my sexual orientation, calling me a supporter of the faggot center, calling me ironic, calling me disgusting...."
Well I wouldn't call it ironic, I'd call it expected from a political party who openly states it is against LGBT rights. What was Robinette thinking?
Like the Log Cabin Republicans, this guy is suffering from the delusion that the GOP can be changed. It cannot and if anything it is becoming more and more hard line. Though I feel sorry for this guy who had his position taken away from him, perhaps it will be a wake up call to him and a chance to reexamine his political allegiances.
In an interview in the Daily Tar Heel he said, “Comments were made directly to me and my executive board before and after the meeting concerning my sexual orientation, calling me a supporter of the faggot center, calling me ironic, calling me disgusting...."
Well I wouldn't call it ironic, I'd call it expected from a political party who openly states it is against LGBT rights. What was Robinette thinking?
Like the Log Cabin Republicans, this guy is suffering from the delusion that the GOP can be changed. It cannot and if anything it is becoming more and more hard line. Though I feel sorry for this guy who had his position taken away from him, perhaps it will be a wake up call to him and a chance to reexamine his political allegiances.
Sarah Palin, Even Less Intelligent That I Thought!
Moose killer and ex-half term Governor of Alaska has made some silly statements in the past. It is just too easy to ridicule her or dismiss her as merely today's fad. What I find harder to dismiss is her blatant misstating of fact. That would be a kind way of saying lying!
Ms. Palin has been telling her adoring fans that America was founded on the principal that religion and the state should be one. She conveniently forgets Thomas Jefferson, (that guy who was recently written out of Texas history textbooks), who coined the phrase "separation of church and state". She also forgets the little cornerstone of the Bill of Rights. For those who suffer the ignorance of Ms Palin and believe it to be true, here is that passage verbatum:
For the record, Washington was a diest. There are numerous web sites that dispute this but their source material is flawed. This quote by Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York was published in 1831 and is quoted in The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, (pp. 27).
Ms. Palin has been telling her adoring fans that America was founded on the principal that religion and the state should be one. She conveniently forgets Thomas Jefferson, (that guy who was recently written out of Texas history textbooks), who coined the phrase "separation of church and state". She also forgets the little cornerstone of the Bill of Rights. For those who suffer the ignorance of Ms Palin and believe it to be true, here is that passage verbatum:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."From her remarks at a recent evangelical women's conference she denies this fact categorically. Here are Ms. Palin's words:
"I beg you, Women of Joy, to bring light and be involved, loving America and praying for her. Really, it is our solemn duty. Praying for true spiritual awakening to overcome deterioration. That is where God wants us to be. Lest anyone try to convince you that God should be separated from the state, our Founding Fathers, they were believers. And George Washington, he saw faith in God as basic to life."So where does she get this stuff? She makes it up from thin air with no remorse or conscience, and that is the worst kind of villain, a pathological liar.
For the record, Washington was a diest. There are numerous web sites that dispute this but their source material is flawed. This quote by Reverend Bird Wilson, an Episcopal minister in Albany, New York was published in 1831 and is quoted in The Religious Beliefs of Our Presidents, (pp. 27).
"I have diligently perused every line that Washington ever gave to the public, and I do not find one expression in which he pledges, himself as a believer in Christianity. I think anyone who will candidly do as I have done, will come to the conclusion that he was a Deist and nothing more."Bird was told this fact by Reverend Doctor James Abercrombie, rector of the church Washington had attended with his wife. Though he attended that church he never took communion and many believe he went to please Martha.
Tapping Into America's Dirty Secret
The South has never stopped fighting the Civil War, or as my friend from Mississippi calls it "the War of Northern Aggression". That is seriously how it was taught in his school!
That war rages not just in the South but across the country, but it's just hidden. I firmly believe there is a great percentage of the Tea Baggers who though they would deny it are just tapping into that hidden war. It is not about succession. It is about racism.
Just look at the demographics of that whole manufactured movement, it's 99% white for starters. Heck, that's even whiter than the GOP! And listen to the anger they vent at their events. You will hear more than one racial epithet with quite a few "fags" and "homos" tossed in for variety.
This is the rage that people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have tapped into. They want to "take our country back". From who? The country elected the government, we are still a Democracy so who are they wanting to take it back from? Well it all boils down to the fact that there is a black man in the White House.
That sticks in their craw worse than any ideological issue. Oh they rant about health care, but when you ask them for specifics, they can only reply with the lies that have been spread. Then their anger turns to their real problem, President Obama. They have been raised in a world of white privilege and that has ended and they don't like it!
Just look at the outrageously racist posters they carry and their inflammatory if misspelled signs. These folks are holding metaphoric torches and pitchforks and they might as well be chanting slogans from the Ku Klux Klan. If you showed them pictures of themselves they would be embarrassed, but in the heat of the moment they have let their inner racist out to rant.
What Fox News and Palin and the others are doing is very dangerous. They are playing with fire, and they have no idea how or if they can control it. It's time to turn down the burner and stop feeding the flames. Some in the Republican Party have already realized this and are distancing themselves from the Tea Baggers, but it may be too little too late. The GOP is cracking at the seams, and their lock-step mentality may have worked when they were the party in power but now it is just making them look obstructionist and worse.
If the GOP get co-opted by the Tea Baggers, the true conservatives will stay away, not wanting to be identified with the radical elements of that bunch. It's good news for Democrats if they can start behaving like a unified party, but hey, they are Democrats!
The whole thing is potential bad news for the rest of us. With luck it will fizzle out and fade into history's dustbin. On the other hand, a small group of racists managed to control a whole continent for a while, and all they had to do was tap into the racial hatred of Jews. Maybe Palin and Fox will start down that road next?
That war rages not just in the South but across the country, but it's just hidden. I firmly believe there is a great percentage of the Tea Baggers who though they would deny it are just tapping into that hidden war. It is not about succession. It is about racism.
Just look at the demographics of that whole manufactured movement, it's 99% white for starters. Heck, that's even whiter than the GOP! And listen to the anger they vent at their events. You will hear more than one racial epithet with quite a few "fags" and "homos" tossed in for variety.
This is the rage that people like Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have tapped into. They want to "take our country back". From who? The country elected the government, we are still a Democracy so who are they wanting to take it back from? Well it all boils down to the fact that there is a black man in the White House.
That sticks in their craw worse than any ideological issue. Oh they rant about health care, but when you ask them for specifics, they can only reply with the lies that have been spread. Then their anger turns to their real problem, President Obama. They have been raised in a world of white privilege and that has ended and they don't like it!
Just look at the outrageously racist posters they carry and their inflammatory if misspelled signs. These folks are holding metaphoric torches and pitchforks and they might as well be chanting slogans from the Ku Klux Klan. If you showed them pictures of themselves they would be embarrassed, but in the heat of the moment they have let their inner racist out to rant.
What Fox News and Palin and the others are doing is very dangerous. They are playing with fire, and they have no idea how or if they can control it. It's time to turn down the burner and stop feeding the flames. Some in the Republican Party have already realized this and are distancing themselves from the Tea Baggers, but it may be too little too late. The GOP is cracking at the seams, and their lock-step mentality may have worked when they were the party in power but now it is just making them look obstructionist and worse.
If the GOP get co-opted by the Tea Baggers, the true conservatives will stay away, not wanting to be identified with the radical elements of that bunch. It's good news for Democrats if they can start behaving like a unified party, but hey, they are Democrats!
The whole thing is potential bad news for the rest of us. With luck it will fizzle out and fade into history's dustbin. On the other hand, a small group of racists managed to control a whole continent for a while, and all they had to do was tap into the racial hatred of Jews. Maybe Palin and Fox will start down that road next?
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