Friday midday news briefs
Getting to the Roots of Hate Crime - An excellent article courtesy of Huffington Post.
Yea, Tony? That figure's honest? See nothing false about the witness you've borne? Interesting - Gasp! You mean the Family Research Council is actually misrepresenting a poll on gay marriage in New York? And in other "shocking" news, the sky tends to be blue on bright and sunny days
Gates says axing DADT 'complex' - Some folks may disagree but I don't. I remember what happened during the Clinton years. Let's proceed slowly but not stop the progress.
Ex-McCain aide to call for gay marriage support - Uh oh. I can just see the headlines courtesy of One News Now.
Laurie Higgins Endorses the Bullying of Gay Kids - Why am I not surprised.
Anderson Cooper’s Vulgar ‘Tea-Bagging’ Joke Epitomizes Media’s Hatred of Conservatives- And now some comedy courtesy of our friend Peter LaBarbera. Apparently lgbts had something to do with the mocking of teabaggers. We just got our fingers in everything (Don't you dare make a joke out of that.)
Friday, April 17, 2009
The Day of Silence will be successful
Today is when thousands of high school students will show their support for their lgbt classmates via the Day of Silence.
I personally wish this idea had been around when I was in high school. Back then (the 80s is such a long time ago) just a rumor that a person was gay would elicit an automatic beatdown.
Some may argue that things may be pretty much the same, but I would have to disagree. The level of support that our lgbt children are receiving now is much better than it was when I was a child.
And of course the usual cast of characters are opposing the Day of Silence. In fact, pro-Paul Cameron group Illinois Family Institute is leading a charge to tells parents to keep their children out of schools during this day.
No doubt this plan will fail like the so-called Day of Truth these groups have been trying to push in direct opposite to Day of Silence.
Not that it will stop them from distributing a "we were successful" press release which I'm sure they worked on the same day they decided to announce the walk out.
Liberty Counsel and One News Now has even gotten into the act with a phony news article listing the supposed times that people have been threatened over opposing or not participating in the Day of Silence.
The article is a bunch of substantiated anecdotes and whinings put together by folks who fail to realize that they are losing this fight.
No matter though because this day is not about them.
It's about our children - the next generation of Americans. According to the Day of Silence webpage:
In 2008, hundreds of thousands of students from more than 8,000 K-12 schools, colleges and universities organized Day of Silence events. These numbers make the Day of Silence one of the largest student-led actions in the United States.
I feel confident that the level of participation this year will exceed that.
Slowly but sure we are winning this war.
Today is when thousands of high school students will show their support for their lgbt classmates via the Day of Silence.
I personally wish this idea had been around when I was in high school. Back then (the 80s is such a long time ago) just a rumor that a person was gay would elicit an automatic beatdown.
Some may argue that things may be pretty much the same, but I would have to disagree. The level of support that our lgbt children are receiving now is much better than it was when I was a child.
And of course the usual cast of characters are opposing the Day of Silence. In fact, pro-Paul Cameron group Illinois Family Institute is leading a charge to tells parents to keep their children out of schools during this day.
No doubt this plan will fail like the so-called Day of Truth these groups have been trying to push in direct opposite to Day of Silence.
Not that it will stop them from distributing a "we were successful" press release which I'm sure they worked on the same day they decided to announce the walk out.
Liberty Counsel and One News Now has even gotten into the act with a phony news article listing the supposed times that people have been threatened over opposing or not participating in the Day of Silence.
The article is a bunch of substantiated anecdotes and whinings put together by folks who fail to realize that they are losing this fight.
No matter though because this day is not about them.
It's about our children - the next generation of Americans. According to the Day of Silence webpage:
In 2008, hundreds of thousands of students from more than 8,000 K-12 schools, colleges and universities organized Day of Silence events. These numbers make the Day of Silence one of the largest student-led actions in the United States.
I feel confident that the level of participation this year will exceed that.
Slowly but sure we are winning this war.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Thursday evening news briefs
Washington state passes DP rights - Good news out of Washington.
ACLU asks schools to stop blocking gay Web sites - The next time you hear the religious right talk about computer blockers to "shield" children from pornographic sites, keep this article in mind. The devil is always in the details.
NY Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Calls 'Emergency Summit' on Gay Marriage - New York Governor David Patterson makes heads spin.
Why Read It Yourself When You Can Take The Right's Word For It? - Witness how the religious right go apeshit over a report from the Department of Homeland Security. Right Wing Watch breaks down how they lie.
Gathering Storm Spoof - Oh come on. One more won't hurt.
Washington state passes DP rights - Good news out of Washington.
ACLU asks schools to stop blocking gay Web sites - The next time you hear the religious right talk about computer blockers to "shield" children from pornographic sites, keep this article in mind. The devil is always in the details.
NY Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. Calls 'Emergency Summit' on Gay Marriage - New York Governor David Patterson makes heads spin.
Why Read It Yourself When You Can Take The Right's Word For It? - Witness how the religious right go apeshit over a report from the Department of Homeland Security. Right Wing Watch breaks down how they lie.
Gathering Storm Spoof - Oh come on. One more won't hurt.
The Illinois Family Institute and Paul Cameron again
The Illinois Family Institute continues to throw humorous tantrums about being designated as an official hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
IFI was given this designation because it apparently uses the discredited work of Paul Cameron.
In the latest screed on Opposing Views, IFI member Laurie Higgins talks about a conversation she had with Mark Potok of the SPLC over this designation:
Mr. Potok stated in his voice message that we, IFI, "publish and promote the work of a man named Paul Cameron." This grossly misrepresents the nature of our involvement with Cameron's work. It suggests that we regularly or continually publish and promote the work of Cameron, when, by Potok and Beirich's own admission, we published only one brief article.
More troubling yet, this one article contained no statements remotely like those that Mr. Potok articulated in his voice message: "gay men are, something like, 20 times more likely to molest children" or that "they're so sickly and, ya know, sorta do such terrible things."
Mr. Potok then digs himself in even deeper when he says on tape that it is the SPLC's view that "the Illinois Family Institute promotes these (emphasis mine) complete falsehoods." "These" is a demonstrative pronoun referring back to the statements he just made. The problem is that he is suggesting that IFI promotes falsehoods that the SPLC's own evidence proves we did not promote. The SPLC's own evidence is the one three-year-old article that did not include any references to "child molestation," or "sickly homosexuals sorta doing terrible things." Mr. Potok was either stunningly careless with his rhetoric or deliberately manipulative.
I also explained to Mr. Potok that the one article from three years ago contained no hate rhetoric, and that it alone cannot possibly justify labeling IFI a hate group. I told him that simply quoting a source once does not mean that an organization supports or endorses everything that a source says or does.
The point is not a specific article by Cameron. The point is that his research tactics are extremely suspect. And while the article may not have had "hate rhetoric" per se, it creates an inaccuracy about lgbts - that we have a short life span.
This inaccuracy is no different than distorting FBI crime statistics to claim that African-Americans on the whole are a violent people.
Regardless of what Higgins says, when an organization cites a source, the organization is supporting that source. The organization is saying that the source is credible.
And an organization that cites Paul Cameron is saying that he is a credible source for information despite the fact that he has been rebuked and censored by several different groups including Exodus International (yeah, I can't believe it either), the American Psychological Association, and the American Sociological Association.
What Higgins is trying to do is have it both ways.
If she and the IFI really care about the SPLC's designation (as well as truth and accuracy), they would take steps to remove the material from IFI's webpage, or at least investigate the claims about Cameron - which, by the way, the group has said it would do.
When you are two-faced, it's best not to speak out of both your mouths. You reveal your duplicity.
And yet, this is the group that is helping to sponsor the Day of Silence Walk out in defense of "Christian values."
Who knew Christian values included lying and evasion?
The Illinois Family Institute continues to throw humorous tantrums about being designated as an official hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
IFI was given this designation because it apparently uses the discredited work of Paul Cameron.
In the latest screed on Opposing Views, IFI member Laurie Higgins talks about a conversation she had with Mark Potok of the SPLC over this designation:
Mr. Potok stated in his voice message that we, IFI, "publish and promote the work of a man named Paul Cameron." This grossly misrepresents the nature of our involvement with Cameron's work. It suggests that we regularly or continually publish and promote the work of Cameron, when, by Potok and Beirich's own admission, we published only one brief article.
More troubling yet, this one article contained no statements remotely like those that Mr. Potok articulated in his voice message: "gay men are, something like, 20 times more likely to molest children" or that "they're so sickly and, ya know, sorta do such terrible things."
Mr. Potok then digs himself in even deeper when he says on tape that it is the SPLC's view that "the Illinois Family Institute promotes these (emphasis mine) complete falsehoods." "These" is a demonstrative pronoun referring back to the statements he just made. The problem is that he is suggesting that IFI promotes falsehoods that the SPLC's own evidence proves we did not promote. The SPLC's own evidence is the one three-year-old article that did not include any references to "child molestation," or "sickly homosexuals sorta doing terrible things." Mr. Potok was either stunningly careless with his rhetoric or deliberately manipulative.
I also explained to Mr. Potok that the one article from three years ago contained no hate rhetoric, and that it alone cannot possibly justify labeling IFI a hate group. I told him that simply quoting a source once does not mean that an organization supports or endorses everything that a source says or does.
The point is not a specific article by Cameron. The point is that his research tactics are extremely suspect. And while the article may not have had "hate rhetoric" per se, it creates an inaccuracy about lgbts - that we have a short life span.
This inaccuracy is no different than distorting FBI crime statistics to claim that African-Americans on the whole are a violent people.
Regardless of what Higgins says, when an organization cites a source, the organization is supporting that source. The organization is saying that the source is credible.
And an organization that cites Paul Cameron is saying that he is a credible source for information despite the fact that he has been rebuked and censored by several different groups including Exodus International (yeah, I can't believe it either), the American Psychological Association, and the American Sociological Association.
What Higgins is trying to do is have it both ways.
If she and the IFI really care about the SPLC's designation (as well as truth and accuracy), they would take steps to remove the material from IFI's webpage, or at least investigate the claims about Cameron - which, by the way, the group has said it would do.
When you are two-faced, it's best not to speak out of both your mouths. You reveal your duplicity.
And yet, this is the group that is helping to sponsor the Day of Silence Walk out in defense of "Christian values."
Who knew Christian values included lying and evasion?
Illinois Family Institute doesn't have a clue
The Illinois Family Institute, the organization spearheading the supposed Day of Silence walkout, got into trouble recently over an anti- Day of Silence video.
With the way things are going with religious right groups and videos (i.e. NOM), one would think that they wouldn't have pushed it.
But they did and got tremendously embarrassed. The video was originally removed because of a few errors on the part of IFI.
From Box Turtle Bulletin:
JoeMyGod seems to have some of the details leading up to its withdrawal. The IFI originally listed a Baptist Church in Glendale, Arizona as a producer of the video. In fact, the video referenced that church’s DareToStand.org web site. But that church denied having anything to do with the clip. They have posted a note, which reads:
Please note: The Illinois Family Institute posted an article on its site April 15, entitled Dare to Stand regarding a video produced by a church in Illinois. Because the radio ministry of Northwest Valley Baptist Church coincidently [sic] bears the name Dare to Stand, we were mistakenly connected with it.
Neither Dare to Stand radio nor Northwest Valley Baptist Church is in any way involved with the development of this video or with the web site connected with it (www.dare2stand.com). Our website is www.daretostand.org. Please contact the Illinois Family Institute at www.illinoisfamily.org for more information.
The IFI’s web page was then changed to identify the video’s creator as Grace Gospel Center in Bensonville, Illinois. And then sometime after that, the video and the web page both vanished into thin air.
JoeMyGod has kept up with the situation, including the fact that the video is back up.
It's full of outrageous images, including child being threatened by a teacher because he opens a Bible in class. Of course the semantics about the "evils of the tolerance crowd" are played to the hilt. And while the Day of Silence isn't mentioned by name, negative inferences to it are throughout.
The video has the same problem that the NOM video had - it's too intense and in your face with its inaccuracies. Most likely, it will do more to galvanize support for the Day of Silence than against it.
This is becoming a standard mode of behavior - those who are against us are consistently cutting their own throats due to their stridency.
And personally, I'm all for it.
For more about Day of Silence, go here.
The Illinois Family Institute, the organization spearheading the supposed Day of Silence walkout, got into trouble recently over an anti- Day of Silence video.
With the way things are going with religious right groups and videos (i.e. NOM), one would think that they wouldn't have pushed it.
But they did and got tremendously embarrassed. The video was originally removed because of a few errors on the part of IFI.
From Box Turtle Bulletin:
JoeMyGod seems to have some of the details leading up to its withdrawal. The IFI originally listed a Baptist Church in Glendale, Arizona as a producer of the video. In fact, the video referenced that church’s DareToStand.org web site. But that church denied having anything to do with the clip. They have posted a note, which reads:
Please note: The Illinois Family Institute posted an article on its site April 15, entitled Dare to Stand regarding a video produced by a church in Illinois. Because the radio ministry of Northwest Valley Baptist Church coincidently [sic] bears the name Dare to Stand, we were mistakenly connected with it.
Neither Dare to Stand radio nor Northwest Valley Baptist Church is in any way involved with the development of this video or with the web site connected with it (www.dare2stand.com). Our website is www.daretostand.org. Please contact the Illinois Family Institute at www.illinoisfamily.org for more information.
The IFI’s web page was then changed to identify the video’s creator as Grace Gospel Center in Bensonville, Illinois. And then sometime after that, the video and the web page both vanished into thin air.
JoeMyGod has kept up with the situation, including the fact that the video is back up.
It's full of outrageous images, including child being threatened by a teacher because he opens a Bible in class. Of course the semantics about the "evils of the tolerance crowd" are played to the hilt. And while the Day of Silence isn't mentioned by name, negative inferences to it are throughout.
The video has the same problem that the NOM video had - it's too intense and in your face with its inaccuracies. Most likely, it will do more to galvanize support for the Day of Silence than against it.
This is becoming a standard mode of behavior - those who are against us are consistently cutting their own throats due to their stridency.
And personally, I'm all for it.
For more about Day of Silence, go here.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
From The Vancouver Sun - Tea Parties a HUGE FLOP
Read it first before Michelle Malkin and company accuse the Vancouver Sun of being in on the "Obama Conspiracy." I had to pinch myself when I read this article because I haven't seen any real journalism for so long with this being the age of pundits and soundbites.
Fox News-driven "tea parties" fail to ignite popular uprising among U.S. conservatives
A reportedly corporate-financed grassroots" anti-tax movement, paid for, planned and promoted by right wing think tanks, corporate lobbyists and Fox News Channel, has failed to bring about the "popular uprising" against the Obama administration its creators had hoped for.
The day of "tea parties" were pushed by Republican operatives and partisan advocacy groups such as FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group helmed by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Organizers sought to encourage protest over the Obama government's tax and stimulus policies by asking people to wave tea bags, but the national event brought about only a few hundred "tea-baggers" in most parts of the U.S., despite relentless promotion by Fox News TV hosts.
Participants had hoped to rally hundreds of thousands of people to begin a grassroots movement that would force Obama to change government policy. But the turn-out was far from what was hoped for, with most rallies looking decidedly on the small side, especially compared to the 2006 immigrants rights rallies or the 2004 pro-choice march on Washington, both of which attracted millions.
More here - you will get a kick about the part regarding the woman who fell in the river when trying to dump tea bags. Okay, maybe not because she is 68-years-old. I'm glad she was saved.
Read it first before Michelle Malkin and company accuse the Vancouver Sun of being in on the "Obama Conspiracy." I had to pinch myself when I read this article because I haven't seen any real journalism for so long with this being the age of pundits and soundbites.
Fox News-driven "tea parties" fail to ignite popular uprising among U.S. conservatives
A reportedly corporate-financed grassroots" anti-tax movement, paid for, planned and promoted by right wing think tanks, corporate lobbyists and Fox News Channel, has failed to bring about the "popular uprising" against the Obama administration its creators had hoped for.
The day of "tea parties" were pushed by Republican operatives and partisan advocacy groups such as FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group helmed by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Organizers sought to encourage protest over the Obama government's tax and stimulus policies by asking people to wave tea bags, but the national event brought about only a few hundred "tea-baggers" in most parts of the U.S., despite relentless promotion by Fox News TV hosts.
Participants had hoped to rally hundreds of thousands of people to begin a grassroots movement that would force Obama to change government policy. But the turn-out was far from what was hoped for, with most rallies looking decidedly on the small side, especially compared to the 2006 immigrants rights rallies or the 2004 pro-choice march on Washington, both of which attracted millions.
More here - you will get a kick about the part regarding the woman who fell in the river when trying to dump tea bags. Okay, maybe not because she is 68-years-old. I'm glad she was saved.
Teabagger calls President Obama a fascist (but doesn't know why he thinks Obama is a fascist)
I didn't catch Columbia, SC's teabagging event like I said I wouldn't. One more reason besides the two I mentioned was that I was afraid that I would have been the only black person there - and one black amongst a big group of whites on an area where the Confederate Flag hangs and where there also exists a statue celebrating the life of an open racist (Ben Tillman) is not necessarily where I want to be.
I'm not saying that the folks there would have been automatically racist or anything like that. I just hate awkward juxtapositions.
Anyway, if you carry anything away from this interesting moment in American history, let it be this video courtesy of Daily Kos.
It's perfect representation of the teabaggers:
I've said it once and I will say it again - sheep looks much better on a dinner plate than they do being led on a leash by Fox News and the rest of the right. No offense to you vegetarians.
By the way, check out that link at Daily Kos for more teabagging fun.
I didn't catch Columbia, SC's teabagging event like I said I wouldn't. One more reason besides the two I mentioned was that I was afraid that I would have been the only black person there - and one black amongst a big group of whites on an area where the Confederate Flag hangs and where there also exists a statue celebrating the life of an open racist (Ben Tillman) is not necessarily where I want to be.
I'm not saying that the folks there would have been automatically racist or anything like that. I just hate awkward juxtapositions.
Anyway, if you carry anything away from this interesting moment in American history, let it be this video courtesy of Daily Kos.
It's perfect representation of the teabaggers:
I've said it once and I will say it again - sheep looks much better on a dinner plate than they do being led on a leash by Fox News and the rest of the right. No offense to you vegetarians.
By the way, check out that link at Daily Kos for more teabagging fun.
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