Some of Senator Frist's best friends are gay

Right. Senate Republican leader Frist says that gay marriage is an untested social experiment on children, but gay civil unions aren't an untested social experiment on children, and are actually more beneficial for kids. So conservative Republicans believe that parenting out of wedlock is preferable to parenting in marriage. Uh huh.

Of course, what Frist really means is that he got totally fucked by being one of the first members of Congress to put his weight behind this bigoted amendment, and now he's been made to look like the neanderthal extremist that he really is. Well boo hoo for you.

He's got some nerve, one week after this unprecedented attack on an entire class of Americans, to now pretend he likes us so he can get the moderate vote. Frist can go Cheney himself along with Senator Gordon Smith (R-OR), who claimed to be a friend of gays during his election campaign and now stabbed us in the back. They declared war on us last week, and we're not letting them off the hook until every last one of them is out of office.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who championed the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) and brought it to a vote last week, now supports states' rights to allow civil unions, the Associated Press reported Monday.

The conservative Republican told reporters that individual states should be able to "determine whether or not civil unions are appropriate for that state."

Frist's remarks also represent a significant departure from his past statements about the rights of gay couples. He has called same-sex marriage "an untested social experiment on children" and a threat by "activist judges" to "destroy the institution of marriage." During last week's debate on the Senate floor, he warned that "same-sex marriage will be exported to all 50 states" unless a constitutional amendment passes....

His voting record shows one thing, and now he's trying to appeal to fair-minded conservatives, moderates and liberals with rhetoric," said Steven Fisher, spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, a national GLBT rights group. "He voted with the extremists and perhaps he doesn't want to associated with them, but his record fits firmly in their camp."

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Nude Man Covered in Nacho Cheese Arrested

I say it was Senator Santorum. Just a guess. Read More......

Republican Ex-EPA Chief Criticizes Bush

Ouch:

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites) for two Republican presidents criticized President Bush (news - web sites)'s record on Monday, calling it a 'polluter protection' policy.

Russell E. Train, who headed the EPA from September 1973 to January 1977 - part of the Nixon and Ford administrations - said Bush's record on the environment was so dismal that he would cast his vote for Democrat John Kerry.

'It's almost as if the motto of the administration in power today in Washington is not environmental protection, but polluter protection,' Train said. 'I find this deeply disturbing.'

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Bush invites gay church to adoption summit - huh?

In the very-odd-but-true category, Bush's Dept of HHS invited the leader of the largest gay church in American to attend the administration's recent adoption summit:

Days after President Bush encouraged Congress to pass the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA), the administration seemingly offered an olive branch to the GLBT community by inviting the predominantly gay and lesbian Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) to take an active role in recommending strategies for recruiting adoptive and foster families.

MCC is one of the world's largest gay organizations, with almost 300 local churches for its 43,000 members and adherents in 22 countries.

Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson invited Rev. Troy D. Perry, who founded MCC in 1968 and now serves as moderator of the gay Christian denomination, to participate in the AdoptUSKids National Adoption and Foster Care Recruitment Summit in Washington, D.C., on Thursday and Friday.

Secretary Thompson's letter said, 'As a respected leader in the faith community, your participation in the AdoptUSkids Summit is critical to mobilizing a dedicated segment of the American public who intrinsically understands the importance of family to healthy youth development.'

Although Rev. Perry was not able to attend the conference due to a previously scheduled speaking engagement...

Two points:

1) Either this was a mistake, or Bush is again speaking out of both sides of his mouth. I've noticed a trend out of this president over the past 3 years. He slam one community to curry favor with another, then he sucks up to the community he just slammed by slamming the OTHER guy he previously sucked up to. Confusing? You betcha. Well, it seems that it was the gay community's time to get slammed over the marriage amendment, and now it's the gay community's time to get a suck up. Very two-faced, if you ask me.

2) What possibly possessed Rev. Perry NOT attend this event - Satan? I don't care what previously-schedules engagement you have. When the White House has the bald-faced hypocrisy to invite you to an event on gay adoption, an invitation that is sure to cause very public fireworks with the religious right, and an invitation that is guaranteed to get you page one news coverage, how could you NOT attend? I like the MCC church, they do great thing, but geez guys, how did you miss this opportunity? Read More......

Absolutely brilliant political humor video

Check it out. Trust me, it's brilliant (you'll need a high-speech connection).


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More on MoveOn.org and Common Cause's FTC complaint against FAUX News

From AP. Read More......

Dr. Laura flees gay protests

Good job folks. I reported a few days ago on this sweetheart deal Dr. Laura had going for new office space. Apparently, she lost the deal as a result of your calls and emails. Good job. And I love how the lady who calls us pedophiles and biological errors is asking for "tolerance" in return. Love to know who she just got her "tolerance training" from, Goebbels?
 
From AP via 365gay.com:

Dr. Laura Schlessinger has withdrawn her application to lease a Stearns Wharf office where she planned to broadcast her nationally syndicated radio talk show.

Schlessinger did not provide an explanation for the decision, Waterfront Department Director John Bridley said.

Schlessinger, who owns a sailboat in Santa Barbara Harbor, had expressed interest in leasing a 250-square-foot office space used by a city wharf maintenance supervisor.

However, city officials had debated whether that would be legal in an area that is zoned for businesses that are 'ocean-oriented, visitor-serving and ocean-dependent and ocean-related uses.'

The proposal also ignited a strong response from gay community activists because of her expressed opposition to same-sex couples adopting children.

They barraged City Council members with protest e-mails.

In her own e-mail to the Santa Barbara News-Press, Schlessinger urged tolerance from her critics.

'This and most other `liberals and liberal groups' need to take diversity and tolerance training,' Schlessinger wrote. 'They need to be able to accept that there are other points of view without lapsing into `search and destroy missions' -- like this one.'

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If MoveOn.org were a guy, I'd marry them

Complaint filed today with the Federal Trade Commission:

To the Division of Enforcement:

MoveOn.org, Inc. and Common Cause hereby petition the Commission to initiate a complaint, pursuant to section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act (the “Act”), 15 U.S.C. §45, against Fox News Network, LLC, (“Fox News”), for deceptive practices in the advertising and marketing of cable television programming. Specifically, Fox News has advertised and promoted the Fox News Channel (“FNC”) using the slogan and mark
“Fair and Balanced”, but FNC’s news and commentary programming is not remotely “fair” or “balanced.” To the contrary, that programming is deliberately and consistently distorted and twisted to promote the Republican Party of the U.S. and an extreme right-wing viewpoint.

The Commission should institute an enforcement proceeding against Fox News; order Fox News to cease and desist from using the slogan and mark “Fair and Balanced;” and take such other action as may be appropriate to remedy the injury to consumers from Fox News’ deceptive practices...

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Closet Case Matt Drudge goes off partisan deep end (I know, like this is news?)

At this point, Drudge has lost any credibility he ever had as a "journalist." He's nothing more than a partisan Republican hack. He now has a page up noting that Kerry missed 80% of the Senate votes this year (probably because he's been campaigning for president, duh), and Drudge then shows pictures of Kerry water-skiing and playing baseball. Presumably this is to show that Kerry missed all those Senate votes because he was on vacation, just like Bush has been on vacation his entire life.

What's really galling about Drudge's counter-attack is that it's a lie. It's one thing to criticize Kerry were he 80% of the time on vacation. But it's another thing to take an AP story citing Kerry missing 80% of the votes, and then imply that he missed those votes because he was on vacation like Bush, when in fact there's no evidence whatsoever to suggest it.

But hey, the closet does amazing things to a man's mind. Big surprise Drudge is only interested in getting more gay-bashers into office. Read More......

Bush summer vacation on the ranch selfishly ruined by Michael Moore

Apparently the 42% vacation-time numbers are not going down very well with voters so poor George is only going to visit his ranch for 2 weeks this year.  Like I said before, even giving him the benefit of the doubt on weekends (and I'm not saying that they should be excluded, just playing along with the "it's not really 42%" crowd) he's still taking considerably more than most Americans.  Now we can debate whether or not it's a good thing to have Bush spending more time at work.
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Eleanor Clift on Republicans playing the culture card

Newsweek:

Republicans couldn't even muster a simple majority for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but that didn't stop the GOP-controlled Senate from devoting the better part of a week to the dangers posed by recognizing same-sex unions as legitimate marriages.

A waste of time, yes, but a valuable lesson for the American voter because of what it tells us about the modern Republican Party. The greatest threat to marriage is not Adam and Steve or Heather having two mommies. It's economic stress. Not having health insurance, getting laid off from your job, falling behind on your rent or mortgage, that's what shakes marriage and leads to divorce, not gay marriage.

The GOP's unwillingness or inability to address the economic concerns of ordinary Americans is why it falls back on divisive social issues.

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An apple is a weapon, but not a banana, huh?

And now playing left field, our very own, Secret Service.  Here's a very strange note from Joel Feick of WJRT-TV, East Lansing, MI who covered a recent Cheney visit.

On a personal note, the United States Secret Service examined my briefcase on the way in. I was carrying, among other things, an apple and a banana.

They confiscated the apple, saying I could have thrown it at the vice president. But the banana made it through.

Americans abroad signing up to vote

Speaking from my experience, I have never heard so many ex-pats talking about the vote.  I disagree with the Republican in the article who believes that there are more Republican voters overseas because they "tend to be business leaders."  Sure, a lot of ex-pats are business people (myself included) but that in no way guarentees a Bush vote.  The internationall business climate for Americans is not as easy as it used to be.  I tend to think that there are plenty of non-business people abroad such as teachers, professors, journalists, etc who tend to vote more Democratic.  I guess we'll all find out soon enough, but for now, everyone is chasing down potential voters.

The votes of U.S. citizens living abroad are being courted by the Democratic and Republican parties more aggressively than in any previous election, officials from both parties said. They said the narrow outcome of the 2000 election...has motivated them to register every voter possible, including the millions of citizens who live abroad and are often overlooked.
 
Officials at the Federal Voting Assistance Program, the government agency that handles overseas voting, said that in 2000 they had 250,000 requests for voter registration applications from U.S. citizens living abroad. This year, as of earlier this month, they had sent out 340,000, and they expect to mail many more before the November election.
 
"It's at fever pitch," said Connie Helque, of the Association of Americans Resident Overseas in Paris. She said one man walked into the group's office and asked for 40 registration cards, saying he was going to get all his friends registered.