Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Monday, November 23, 2009

Mark Sanford charged with 37 ethics violations. Where the heck are the tea partiers!

The situation with my state's governor, Mark Sanford, continues to get more interesting:

The S.C. Ethics Commission has charged S.C. Gov. Mark Sanford with 37 counts of breaking state ethics laws. The commission filed its charges last week but only released them Monday.

Those charges allege that, in 18 instances, Sanford authorized, approved or allowed the purchase of business-class airfare so that he could travel to and within the continents of Europe, Asia and South America.

Four of the flights cited involved a 2008 state Commerce Department trip to Brazil that Sanford extended to Argentina so that the married, two-term Republican governor could see his Argentine lover.

. . . The charges also allege that on 10 occasions Sanford took money from his campaign account and spent it in violation of state ethics law.

Sanford took a total of $2,940.68 from his campaign account and spent it improperly, the commission alleges.

Sanford may actually remain governor even after all of this. I certainly wouldn't be surprised if he did. But he won't come out of it smelling like a rose..

If anything, the situation with Sanford just proves the basic emptiness of the tea party movement.

If the teabaggers are all about being upset over government waste, then why haven't any of them in South Carolina said a word about this controversy which has been brewing for several months?

Oh wait. Mark Sanford isn't Barack Obama.

Now I get it.

Is James Dobson threatening to leave the country and other Monday midday news briefs

The Manhattan Martyrdom Declaration: Dobson Vows To Leave America - Bye!!!!!

How many fundie parents passed out when Adam Lambert did this on the American Music Awards? - Adam! You naughty boy! Grip the head, never mess up the hair!

Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell Hearing To Be Delayed Indefinitely - This ain't good!

Nurses apologize to woman who couldn't visit dying partner - A little too late but I suppose it's nice. It reminds me of the ending of the miniseries Three Sovereigns for Sarah when the court ruled that Sarah and her sisters (victims of the Salem Witchcraft Trials) were unjustly accused of being witches. The court gave her three sovereigns - one for her and one for each of her sisters who had been hanged. A lot good that did!

GOP candidate for Mass. gov. picks gay running mate - This ought to make things VERY INTERESTING. I can hear Brian Camenker's head explode.

Family Research Council caught falsely accusing Congresswoman of religious bigotry

A story that seems to be under the headlights but very appropriate involves how the Family Research Council got caught inaccurately accusing a Congresswoman of being a religious bigot.

The entire story is here in Faith In Public Life:

. . . the Family Research Council sent out a press release with the headline "FRC Calls On President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Senator Reid to Repudiate Diana DeGette's Religious Bigotry," which stated

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins today called on President Obama and Congressional leaders to repudiate comments made by U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) to The Hill's Michael O'Brien that "religiously-affiliated groups...should be shut out of the process" in the health care debate because of their support for the Stupak/Pitts amendment. She told The Hill, "Last I heard, we had separation of church and state in this country," she said. "I've got to say that I think the Catholic bishops and all of the other groups shouldn't have input."

Faith in Public Life refutes this:

1) ) Congresswoman DeGette's remarks didn't come from an interview with The Hill's Michael O'Brien. Rather, they came from O'Brien's report about DeGette's appearance on ABC News's "Top Line" broadcast today.

2) In that Top Line appearance, Congresswoman DeGette said religious groups should have input in the debate.

The webpage Tracking American Evangelicals adds more context to FRC's deception by juxtaposing the organization's truncation of Congresswoman DeGette's comments to what she actually said:

Congresswoman DeGette's comments - “I gotta tell you, last I heard we had separation of church and state. I don’t think the Catholic bishops are in charge of writing our healthcare bill. I think that they are one of many groups that we should listen to, but in the end they should be concerned that 36 million more people in this country will get healthcare. Many of them are their parishioners.”

Racist image conjures up unfair resentment

An interesting situation is brewing in Philadelphia regarding this "lovely" image to the right.

It was given to a middle school algebra class on a math worksheet to illustrate an assignment question.

The image itself is hideous. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the there is only one black student in the algebra class. And to make the situation worse, the student was teased by another student who asked was the man in the image his father.

Of course the black student's mother is livid over the entire situation.

But the real story to me is reading some of the ignorant comments left on a message board. Apparently some folks got angry because the mother dared to complain and dared to call the NAACP:

Signer of Manhattan Declaration wanted to jail gays and lesbians

By now we have all heard about the Manhattan Declaration put out by various religious right figures and groups urging, among other things, non-cooperation with laws that in any way recognize same sex couples.

It has been condemned in many circles and for good reason.

Wayne Besen of Truthwinsout.org said the following:

“This is a disturbing call for anarchy from a group of radical clerics and activists who believe they don’t have play by the same rules as other taxpaying Americans."

And according to the blog Instaputz, there is another reason to not only oppose this document but also raise the alarm about it.

Some of the names those signing the declaration aren't a surprise. They are the usual folks who oppose lgbt equality - Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Maggie Gallagher, Gary Bauer, etc.

But here is a name which you may not be familiar with:

Rev. Peter J. Akinola
Primate, Anglican Church of Nigeria (Abika, Nigeria)

Akinola is the Anglican Primate of the Church of Nigeria. He is also Bishop of Abuja (Nigeria's capital) and Archbishop of Province III, which covers the northern and central parts of the country.

According to Instaputz, he supported a 2006 Nigerian anti-gay bill which:

called for five years imprisonment for anyone who "performs, witnesses, aids, or abets" a same-sex marriage, and anyone who engaged in public advocacy or associations supporting the rights of lesbian and gay people.

Know your lgbt history - Boys Beware

Two videos - Transgender Day of Remembrance and protecting our young allies with a little help from the Daily Show

Transgender Day of Remembrance - It's about all of us:

Now for another video. This one is from the Daily Show in which Jon Stewart nails our issues with his usual excellent degree of clarity with a little help from pro wrestling legend Mick Foley:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Gaywatch - Peter Vadala & William Phillips

www.thedailyshow.com

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