War Presidents

Huffington Post has photos and video of Barack Obama in Iraq on a congressional visit; face it, it's also a pre-presidential audition.

So far, nobody's been killed in droves, as they were immediately after John McCain visited a few years ago. John will have you believe that's because things are going great it in Iraq, which means soldiers should stay there, for years. decades. And then bomb Iran. And then Syria, and whatever other countries are on the New World Order's list, and in McCain's Manchurian Candidate ticking time bomb of a brain.

Oh, and while relic McCain says gays should still not serve openly in the military, or at all, 75% of the nation thinks differently.

Public attitudes about gays in the military have shifted dramatically since President Clinton unveiled what became his administration's "don't ask, don't tell" policy 15 years ago today.

Seventy-five percent of Americans in a new Washington Post-ABC News poll said gay people who are open about their sexual orientation should be allowed to serve in the U.S. military, up from 62 percent in early 2001 and 44 percent in 1993.

Majorities of Democrats, Republicans and independents alike now believe it is acceptable for openly gay people to serve in the U.S. armed forces. Shortly after he took office in 1993, Clinton faced strong resistance to his campaign pledge to lift the military's ban on allowing gay people to enlist. At that time, 67 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of conservatives opposed the idea. A majority of independents, 56 percent, and 45 percent of Democrats also opposed changing the policy.

Today, Americans have become more supportive of allowing openly gay men and women to serve in the armed forces. Support from Republicans has doubled over the past 15 years, from 32 to 64 percent. More than eight in 10 Democrats and more than three-quarters of independents now support the idea, as did nearly two-thirds of self-described conservatives.

Changing attitudes on the issue parallel broader swings in public views about homosexuality. In their recent review of 20 years of polling data, the Pew Research Center reported "a major shift away from highly negative attitudes toward gays and support for punitive actions against gays." In the 2007 Pew data, for example, 28 percent said local school boards should have the right to fire teachers known to be gay; that was down sharply from the 51 percent who said so in 1987.

Let's see how it takes before Cramps McAint flipflops on this one, too.
That is, if he bothers to read "the googles" and see the news.

'04 Dead in Ohio

Ohio Attorney Files to Lift Stay on '04 Election Case, Cites Allegations, Evidence of Massive Fraud by a Number of GOP Operatives

At a press conference this morning in Columbus, Ohio, Cliff Arnebeck, lead attorney for the plaintiffs in the case of King Lincoln Bronzeville v. Blackwell, announced that he is filing a motion to "lift the stay in the case [and] proceed with targeted discovery in order to help protect the integrity of the 2008 election."

Arnebeck will also "be providing copies of document hold notices to the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform and the U.S. Justice Department for Karl Rove emails from the White House."

This case has the potential to put some of the most powerful people in the country in jail, according to Arnebeck, as he was joined by a well-respected, life-long Republican computer security expert who charged that the red flags seen during Ohio's 2004 Presidential Election would have been cause for "a fraud investigation in a bank, but it doesn't when it comes to our vote."

"This entire system is being programmed in secret by programmers who have no oversight by anybody," the expert charged, as Arnebeck detailed allegations of complicity by a number of powerful GOP operatives and companies who had unique access both to the election results as reported in 2004, as well as to U.S. House and Senate computer networks even today.

The presser was attended by some of the corporate-controlled media, including the head of the Ohio AP bureau, the Columbus Dispatch, and IndyMedia. Listening in by phone were ABC News, our friends from RAW STORY, and I, your humble blogger. I recorded the presser, so I have no links for the quotes in this post, but I transcribed them word-for-word and can vouch for their accuracy.

One of the more delightful and interesting quotes comes from Arnebeck, concerning what he expects to discover as the stay is lifted: "[W]e anticipate Mr. Rove will be identified as having engaged in a corrupt, ongoing pattern of corrupt activities specifically affecting the situation here in Ohio."

Map of sudden election changes in Ohio in 04

Previous article on Ohio Election fraud in 2004

Not Diebold, but Traid, did it:

December 15, 2004

As part of the Democratic staff's investigation into irregularities in the 2004 election and following up on a lead provided to me by Green Party Presidential Candidate, David Cobb, I have learned that Sherole Eaton, a Deputy Director of Board of Elections in Hocking County, Ohio, has first hand knowledge of inappropriate and likely illegal election tampering in the Ohio presidential election in violation of federal and state law.

Friends & Associates

My hunky Cyclizen book cover model Patricio is on the flyer for the Trannyshack Kiss-off Party next month. You must go see the end of a drag era.

* My former OutWeek editor Mike Signorile has a popular radio show. Recently, a caller implied that dead pig bigot Jesse Helms was a crossdresser.

* Elizabeth Dole might make a better drag king than an eloquent politicians. The old Rethuglican hag wants to rename an AIDS funding bill after alleged ugly drag queen Jesse Helms. Rethugs sure have a bitter appreciation of irony. JoeMyGod rails on appropriately.

UPDATE: HIV Travel Ban Lifted as AIDS funding bill is approved. Dole's cynical attempt to name it after gay-hater and barrier to AIDS prevention funding -pig bigot Jesse Helms- fails.

* Prop 8 backers (the "we hate gay marriage 4ever cabal) hate each other so much that they're splitting up!

* Back when I was writing my much-read 8-part series on the California AIDS Rides, PR firm Bragman, Nyman & Cafarelli basically obstructed, colluded and prevented me from getting any quotes from AIDS Ride flacks, including the elusive Dan Pallotta.

Well, the CAR is dead of its own bloated corruption, replaced by AIDS rides organized from within nonprofits.

But Howard Bragman, who's gay, of its PR firm continues to occasionally hype ...questionable clients, like Al Reynolds, Star Jones' allegedly not-gay ex-hubbie.

Oh, and ousted Grey's Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington is another of his clients. He's the one who allegedly called costar T.R. Knight a faggot, etc.

Outsports has a buttkissing piece on Bragman somewhere on their cluttered site. Yada yada. I'm bored.

(Gay) Straight Squawk

"Mr. McCain, who with his wife, Cindy, has an adopted daughter, said flatly that he opposed allowing gay couples to adopt. “I think that we’ve proven that both parents are important in the success of a family so, no, I don’t believe in gay adoption,” he said." - New York Times

Nope, he prefers his gay parents to be adulterous hypocrites, like Alabama Attorney General Troy King, his AL. campign head, who was just caught screwing his boy toy by his wife. Although the McCain camign said nothing about King's scandal, they eliminated all referenes to King on his website the day it hit the news. Here's an old quote:

"Troy is an outstanding public servant and passionate advocate for the rule of law. Both of these men are dedicated to the principles of limited government and traditional values that we share. I'm proud to have Republican leaders and dedicated public servants like Spencer Bachus and Troy King leading my campaign to victory in Alabama."

And McCain used to adore Bob Allen, his former Florida campign manager, who was arrested for soliciting sex in a toilet.


McCain is an admitted internet "illiterate" despite his reps claiming he "surfs the net."

McCain said he doesn’t “expect to set up my own blog.” He appears to be unaware that his own campaign has a couple of blogs. McCain may want to check those out on “a google.”

Well, Google adultery and McCain and you'll discover that he "agressively courted" and applied for marriage to Cindy while he was still married to his first wife.

I'm (not) Lovin' It

So now that rightwing fundies are against processed meat sandwich conglomo McDonald's, we gaybos are supposed to support the largest producer of fat nonnutritious junk food to ever induce heart disease by mere proximity?

So sayeth the witty (and, hey lookit the byline pic, he's cute, too!) Mark Morford of SF Chronicle.

Did you know the AFA recently boycotted McDonald's? That's right, this once semi-powerful tub of right-wing brain-caulk recently declared a comestible fatwa against America's foremost purveyor of toxic foodstuffs because, apparently, some high-ranking McD's VP just joined the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which, to the AFA, somehow translates directly into free pink condoms and mind-controlling rainbow flags in every toxic God-fearing Happy Meal.

Did you read about that? No? Of course you didn't. Here is why: No one cared. Well, that's not quite true. McDonald's sort of cared, just enough to write up a nice letter of response to Wildmon stating, in essence, that the AFA is a bunch of troglodytic knuckle-draggers with the sociosexual awareness of a fungal spore, and they should crawl away right now before God spanks them even harder with the 2x4 of total irrelevance.

I might be exaggerating. What they actually said was: Thank you, AFA, for your hateful consideration, but we support our employees' right to join whichever socially responsible and positive groups they like. And thusly did McD's flick the AFA away like a tick from a dog. Isn't that amazing?

Morfy's point is that the AFA and other shrieking fundy bunglers are now irrelevant in the boycott realm.

That's fine, but don't expect me to bike up to the drive-thru and order a dozen Big Macs. Didn't that other cute straight dude and social critic Morgan Spurlock prove that it's a nasty, fatty, kill-ya diet?

Okay, maybe one Big Mac. Maybe just a cheeseburger, as a symbolic show of support. Or, okay, fries, too.

King of Queens

"I often hear the argument that homosexuals who live together create a loving, caring family environment, perhaps an environment which is even superior to that which can be provided by a heterosexual couple. In this day of rampant decadence, many homosexuals would mislead society into believing that three men, an armadillo and a house plant create a functional family."

-- Alabama Attorney General Troy King, before being freshly outed in a gay sex scandal. He just resigned abruptly.

more, much more:

Sex Toys for Roy King

Rumorsphere on closet case King

Repub. Gay Sex Scandal Looming

Larry Craig Has Competition


Last year, King led Alabama's National Day of Prayer. Praise Jeebus.

Instigators

In which we explore the difference between public performance as political act, civil disobedience, horrendous prank, or banal hypocritical ritual:

Marion Librarian
At a July 7th town hall meeting in Denver, 61-year-old Carol Kreck brought a "McCain=Bush" sign with her to the event, an attempt to point out the many perceived similarities between McCain and current President George W. Bush.

She was promptly ejected at the 'request of the secret service.' She was also ticketed for trespassing. The astute Kreck points out, "Why would Republicans who voted for Bush find it offensive that a sign says 'Bush equals McCain' or 'McCain equals Bush?' Why is that offensive?"

Wrap It Up
Peter Staley recounts the historic 1991 TAG demo/art/propaganda event of covering Jesse Helms' house with a giant condom. Those were the days!

Flagging Behind
North Carolina employee refuses to fly a U.S. flag at half-mast for dead pig bigot Jesse Helms; quits.

Cagey Mismatch
Sasha Baron Cohen stages a fake cage match that becomes a homoerotic smoochfest, with hundreds of hicks hurling insults and beer cups.

Now, which of these events are/were political theatre, justified actions, or just plain pranks?

Pride and (Buda)pests

Neo-Nazis disrupted the Budapest Pride parade this weekend, pelting marchers with stones and eggs and hurling fire bombs at police. Police were forced to use water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters.

Right-wing extremists hurled stones and eggs at a Gay Pride procession in the Hungarian capital on Saturday before clashing with police called in to protect the marchers. Police arrested more than 40 of the assailants, who threw firebombs at the officers and set alight a police minibus. At least five persons were injured, two of them policemen.

A jazz concert due to be held at the end of the rally was cancelled for security reasons. Politician Gabor Horn, a leading member of the liberal Association of Free Democrats (SZDSZ), said he was spat upon, slapped and doused with beer by neo-Nazis.

It was the worst violence during the 12 years the Gay Pride parade has taken place in Budapest.

Hundreds of of extremists gathered along the route taken by the 1,500 marchers to give vent to their anger at gays and lesbians. In the days leading up to the parade, calls were made on Neo-Nazi internet forums for violence to be used against the "unnatural perverts."

The police used tear gas and a water cannon to clear the route for the marchers to leave. The police escorted the marchers to a metro station at Hősök tere, simultaneously dispersing the mob there.

Last week, two gay venues were attacked with petrol bombs. Four petrol bombs were thrown into sauna called Magnum.

Last year, Hungarian police were criticised by Amnesty International for an apparent lack of action when similar violence occurred.

Last week 60 far-right extremists were arrested in Sofia following Bulgaria's first gay rights parade. Brno in the Czech Republic also saw violence at their gay rights celebrations last week.

Next year will see civil partnerships being introduced in 2009.

More at Pink News.

Dead, ya know

Fireworks and fog, a perfect combination for me. July 4 obscured the patriotic jingoistic pyrotechnical ritual in favor of a cool chilly evening of bursts and flares.

Oh, and pig bigot Gollum lookalike Jess Helms died.

Here's a Guardian UK obit, which gets a bit snide, but exposes Helms posthumously as the devious and monotonously obdurate bigot he truly was.

In domestic politics he denounced the 1964 Civil Rights Act as "the single most dangerous piece of legislation ever introduced in the Congress", voted against a supreme court justice because she was "likely to uphold the homosexual agenda", acted for years as spokesman for the large tobacco companies, was reprimanded by the justice department and the federal election commission for electoral malpractice, and compiled a dismal personal record as a slum landlord.

But this obit didn't mention his bilious hatred towards gays, and how it effected artists and AIDS activism.

Unlike US media, rightwing and "mainstream" (i.e. more rightwing) media took a brief part of the day to lionize the pig. Thankfully, it wasn't the obscene orgiastic martyrdom of Tim Russert (WTF was up with that?).

Here's a nice comment:

The Jesse Helms that I gave money to see defeated in 1984 was an all powerful titan of Washington who could single handedly defeat gay rights. By the time I got here he was out of office and his state had several areas with gay rights laws and others where gays were protected by other means. The state that when he gave his commentaries in the 1960's had segregated schools, offices, lunch counters, hotels, and voting booths has integrated schools, offices, and every other public accomodation. His state has openly gay teachers working at integrated schools with integrated administrations. Jesse Helms' ideas died way before he did.

The Senate seat he held for 3 decades is up again this year. One of the candidates in the primary on the Democratic side was an openly gay man. Sadly, he didn't make it to the general. But the very fact an openly gay man could and did run for his seat is testimony that Jesse Helms' ideas are dead. The Democratic nominee for President is an African American who won our primary going away, that is testimony to the fact taht Jesse Helms' ideas are dead.

The AP "official" obit used by hundreds of papers and websites worldwide, soft-pedals Helms' homophobia: "And he softened his views on AIDS after years of clashes with gay activists, advocating greater federal funding to fight the disease in Africa and elsewhere overseas."

What it fails to mention is that a group of ACT UPers covered his house with a gargantuan condom.



This little website collects a few of Helms' best quotes:

"The New York Times and The Washington Post are both infested
with homosexuals themselves."
The Post, he charged, "caters to homosexual groups.
Just about every person down there is homosexual or lesbian,"

"There is not one single case of AIDS in this country that
cannot be traced in origin to sodomy."

"If homosexuals would only stop doing what they're doing,
There wouldn't be any more AIDS."

Doodys love Faggots

Family of Faggot Fans Fly Flag

A West Midlands family is playing a central role in the quest to raise the profile of a forgotten British dish - faggots.

The Doody family from Wolverhampton has been crowned The Faggot Family in a national competition, and to kick off their reign they will launch National Faggot Week.

The family will be touring the country extolling the virtues of the dish, which is best-known for its links with the Black Country.

The Doody family were chosen to front the campaign after impressing judges at the Savoy Hotel in London in November.

(more at the headline link. You do know that in the UK "faggots" are sausages.

Faggot facts
Faggots were called "savoury ducks" in the Middle Ages
Faggots were named after the Latin word for bundle
Faggots were originally made with pig's liver and offal
Faggots are now made from pork liver and pork
Fans have published the Good Faggot Guide