Scott Lively is coming to the Inland Empire.

Scott Lively is going to be in Temecula next week at the invitation of the Murrietta Temecula Republican Assembly. They were going to hold their meeting at the Temeku Hills Country Club, but had to change venues due to threats of protests. When I find out where they WILL be, I will blog the time/location. I will be there.

If you are not familiar with Lively, let me just tell you that there is a very helpful and thorough description of his bullshit at the Southern Poverty Law Center website ( http://www.splcenter.org/ ). I'll provide a few hilights here.

Scott Lively is the author of a book called The Pink Swastika, in which he revises the history of the holocaust to say that gays were the motivating force behind the Shoah.

Scott Lively is the leader of the Abiding Truth ministries, and the California chapter of the American Family Association (remember Don Wildmon?).

Scott Lively attacked a lesbian woman in 1992 while she was filming a documentary. He dragged her by the hair. She sued him for damages and won.

Scott Lively is the founder of the hate group The Watchmen on the Walls, which he founded in Latvia during his missionary work in that country. The Christian evangelical group is radically anti-gay and active here in California and other West Coast areas where there is a large Russian immigrant community. Several young men affiliated with this group are responsible for the murder of a Sacramento area gay man.

Scott Lively just recently returned from Uganda where he completed a speaking tour in which he taught about "the gay agenda" in this country where homophobia is so rampant that it is a crime punishable by imprisonment. He was acutely aware of international criticism of his visit.

I’m writing from Kampala, Uganda where I am teaching about the “gay” agenda in churches, schools colleges, community groups and in Parliament. My visit here is being treated as an international crisis by the “gay” activists and their media toadies, who are spinning lies in their usual manner, but the Ugandan response has been resoundingly positive.

So he offered his "positive" suggestion to the people of Uganda.

... the law against homosexuality should be liberalized to give arrestees the choice of therapy instead of imprisonment

So compassionate.




UPDATE:
The MTRA most likely held the speaking event at a private home in an undisclosed location. This group should be ashamed for bringing this bigot and holocaust revisionist to Temecula. Apparently, the republican party has nothing left except for their hatred of LGBT people to rally around now that they have failed so resoundingly.

My local TV news vs. The "Church of $cientology"

The official "Blog Against Theocracy" week doesn't start until April 10 (hat tip to the godlessliberalhomo), but my work against theocracy is pretty much ongoing. There are a few stories that just can't wait, like this fun one about Scientology, for example. This is pretty awesome. KESQ, a TV station in Palm Springs, has done a multi-part expose of the CO$. The best part about this is the fact that the "church" headquarters is just half an hour away from Palm Springs. The videos don't embed, so I'll forgive you for going to this link.

http://www.kesq.com/Global/category.asp?C=162474

Don't forget that not only is it a UFO cult, but the CO$ also donated to Yes-on-8. So... fuck them and their mind-controlling ways.

Happy César Chávez Day!

Here's a great video about the great Mexican-American civil rights hero and union organizer!


A funny thing happened on the facebooks today. I mentioned in an update that I have to work on this holiday, and that I'm blasting my music in my laboratory to make up for it, and a facebook friend left a comment that he doesn't consider César Chávez day a real holiday. ??!!! As a Mexican-American and someone who deeply cares about, and has marched for civil rights, I was obviously offended. I wonder if he would have made the comment if I were darker skinned or had a hispanic surname. You gay readers are all too familiar with the feeling of being slighted by some homophobe who doesn't know you are gay. Maybe he meant no offense, but I removed his comment because it was offensive to people who care about what César Chávez stood for. Then I linked to the above video so that others can see what this great man was all about! The Santana music is pretty great too.
Si, se puede!

More AIG Tontería

For those of you unfamiliar with the consumerist.com website, go visit it right now. Do it. I'll forgive you for leaving my site momentarily, even if you don't come back for a while. It's really that great of a site.

Recently, consumerist has had AIG in it's cross-hairs (and who hasn't, really? Their antics is the stuff history books of the future will remind us in chilling detail that you can't screw all the tax-payers all of the time). NOW AIG is suing the US govt (i.e. you and I) using our money, to get back HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS it says was denied them through tax breaks, specifically through the use of "foreign entities" (read: "cayman island tax shelters").

Earlier this week (perhaps, predictably), AIG issued a memo to it's employees on how to avoid having your ass righteously kicked.
(click here for corporate comedy)




This locura all reminds me of a recent documentary called "The Corporation." Occasionally they re-play it on the Link channel. Several years ago, people may have dismissed this as commie propanda. Here's the trailer.

Too soon for this evil Dick.

Cheney is on with John King this morning. My love affair with John King is over. Every time he'd plug his show, I'd ask myself whether I could subject myself to this aging, smirking, failure of a former VP who tried and mostly succeeded in advancing the ultra right-wing agenda.

I got in a little late, but pretty much get the whole gist of the dick's message of depeption.

On Iraq: We did pretty much what we set out to do. (What? Help your contractor friends bilk taxpayers out of billions)

On Iran: "you've got to find ways to avoid Iran having nuclear" weapons. (More pro-war propaganda. This worked remarkably in Iraq, apparently)

On Obama's pick for dealing with North Korea: Obama is going to listen to whomever he wants (i.e. not Cheney). Cheney wouldn't have picked him. (Your puppet called N. Korea part of an "axis of evil." Face it Dick, diplomacy ain't your thing)

On not being able to capture Osama bin Laden: We were able to capture the number 3. (FAIL)

On Obama's rejection of torture: Those programs were essential to making USA safe. The interrogation practices were legal. Obama's programs are making America less safe. (I've almost forgotten what it was like under this a-hole. It's fucking TORTURE!)

On torture: "Enhanced interrogation" helped us gather intelligence. (No euphemism will change the fact that it is torture and that it neither helps America nor is better at gathering intelligence than having "intelligence" in the field)

On the closure of Guantanamo: Obama is losing focus on preventing further attacks. (Just like you are trying to distract us from the fact that it is an off-shore detention facility that exists solely to avoid affording prisoners of war constitutional protections)

On Scooter Libby: Scooter Libby was unjustly prosecuted. (Scooter Libby got away with treason)

(The dick's writing a book. My guess for title: Spreading Evil in 8 Easy Years.

On Rush Limbaugh: "Rush is a good friend. I love him." (I have NO comment on this bromance)

On future plans: No immediate plans to run for office; none to retire.

This man is living on borrowed time after 3 (?) heart attacks. Just call it a day, dick. Wev'e got a lot of cleaning up to do.

Paul Rudd is Hot...

in a very dorky way that appeals to me. I've loved him since seeing him in The Object of My Affection. I really want to see his new movie. I know he pushes the envelope of the straight guy squirm-inducing quasi-gay physical comedy. I think that he does it in a way that is funny but not homophobic. Maybe he is acting out the repressed homosex fantasies of straight guys who aren't necessarily Kinsey 1's. And he's HOT.

The Decision is Coming. Where will YOU be?

On the day that the California Supreme Court will decide either to:

a. Uphold prop 8 completely, thereby completely stomping on the ability of LGBT people to realize full rights of citizenship.

b. Uphold prop 8, but permit existing marriages (such as mine) to be valid, thereby creating a special class of LGBT people who have the rights that their gay and lesbian brethren are denied.

c. Overturn this travesty of justice.

WHERE WILL YOU BE?!
I will be helping to organize either peaceful demonstrations or celebrations in Palm Springs. Get involved now. Numbers matter. Let others see who we are, gay, straight, queer, bi, transgendered, whatever!!! We all matter and deserve the same rights to marry the ones we love.

http://www.dayofdecision.com/
http://meetinthemiddle4equality.com/

Doonesbury brilliance

Will he or won't he?

Here is our litmus test. Obama is faced with having to decide whether to support benefits to federal employees' same sex partners or whether to uphold the so-called traditional definition of spouse (and the one that's defined by the DOMA).
We've been so dissapointed lately for obvious reasons.
It looks promising!

FTA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/13/us/politics/13benefits.html?_r=1&hp

Ben LaBolt, a White House spokesman, said: “While the president opposes gay marriage, he supports legislative repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. He believes this country must realize its founding promise of equality by treating all its citizens with dignity and respect.”

FDIC-Congress Failure during which years??? Guess.

So the FDIC did not collect ANY premiums from banks to cover the federal safety net that insures accounts. You know- that little FDIC label that our banks tout that proclaim our money's safety? Well, 95% of US banks apparently did not pay into the fund for a decade. Why not, you may ask. Well, CONGRESS said they DIDN'T HAVE TO. In which decade did this occur? The 1920s, you might think. Government was pretty stupid back then. Um, no.

1996-2006. That's right- the years that the Repugs controlled congress.
FTA:
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/03/11/now_needy_fdic_collected_little_in_premiums/?page=full?ref=fp1

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits up to $250,000, tried for years to get congressional authority to collect the premiums in case of a looming crisis. But Congress believed that the fund was so well-capitalized - and that bank failures were so infrequent - that there was no need to collect the premiums for a decade, according to banking officials and analysts.

Pitchfork, anyone?

Europe Debates Castration for Sex Offenders

There's an excellent article in NY Times regarding the use of castration for violent and repeat sex offenders. This debate has been the subject of many arguments among me and my friends. I am pro-castration in the case of violent offenders. I'm sorry, but reproductive rights end right there, in my opinion. I'm open to hear other opinions, though.


Here's one offender's argument:
“I can finally live knowing that I am no harm to anybody,” he said during an interview at a McDonald’s here, as children played loudly nearby. “I am living a productive life. I want to tell people that there is help.”

And more evidence in support:
A Danish study of 900 castrated sex offenders in the 1960s suggested the rate of repeat offenses dropped after surgical castration to 2.3 percent from 80 percent.

And an argument in opposition:
But human rights groups say that such studies are inconclusive because they rely on self-reporting by sex offenders. Other psychiatric experts argue that sexual pathology is in the brain and cannot be cured by surgery.

FTA:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/world/europe/11castrate.html?pagewanted=1

Ky. Federal Appeals Court in Separation of Church and State Case

This will be one to follow.

I'll just quote the article:
http://www.au.org/site/News2?abbr=pr&page=NewsArticle&id=10343&security=1002&news_iv_ctrl=1241

"Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union on Wednesday, March 11, will urge a federal appeals court to uphold the right of taxpayers to challenge public funding of a Baptist childcare agency that proselytizes youngsters in its care and discriminates against gay employees who do not share its belief that homosexuality is sinful.

The lawsuit, Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes For Children, Inc., asserts that Kentucky Baptist Homes has no right to accept state and federal funding while imposing religious dogma on the children in its programs and that the Homes’ religion-based anti-gay employment policy violates civil rights laws."

One of their employees was fired because she disclosed the fact that she is a lesbian. It fills me with DISGUST that this is in a home for children, some of whom may be LGBT, and all of whom will most definitely suffer under this kind of bigotry either directly, or by being indoctrinated with hate.

Clive Owen perfection

... it's so unfair.

CNBC's Cramer Admiting Market Manipulation

From Huff-Po
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/11/jim-cramer-shorting-stock_n_173824.html

Here's Jon Stewart's newest target implicating himself in dubious trading by admiting that he manipulated markets by selling his investments short and creating a false impression that a stock is down. This activity is nothing short of ILLEGAL, and a violation of SEC guidelines. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, please! The husband agrees and he's in finance)
Bottom line (and this is a direct Jon Stewart quote): fuck you, Cramer

Christian Taliban Protest of Day of Silence

The efftards at "Americans for Truth about Homosexuality" have issued a statement calling for parents to encourage their children to WALKOUT OR STAY HOME FROM SCHOOL to protest the national Day of Silence.

While I've always been an advocate for the very opposite of remaining silent regarding treatment of LGBT youth (I won't be silent on priniple), these new Christocrat antics are pushing my buttons.

From the website:

http://americansfortruth.com/news/aftah-joins-april-17-walkout-of-pro-homosexuality-student-day-of-silence.html#more-2621

"Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) is part of a national coalition of pro-family organizations urging parents to call their children out of school on April 17. This is the day designated for this year’s Day of Silence when students and/or teachers will purposely remain silent during instructional time to protest so-called discrimination and gain sympathy for students who identify as homosexual or transgender."

Man, I feel sorry for their gay and lesbian family members. It's a fucking tragedy that these people still act this way in 2009.

"I hope this lasts forever"

That's a quote from the great Kathy Griffin from when she was describing how Brooke Shields' mother ruined her wedding by getting drunk and spouting drunken nonsense. That's pretty much how I feel about the bickering and in-fighting within the republican party.

I know you've all seen Rush's bullshit, homophobic, oxycontin-fueled tirade at CPAC this week. I won't make you watch it again. Instead, I will show you some of the genius of subtle provocateurs like DL Hughley, who are calling Rush the "new leader" of the republicans. It gets their shit all riled.