Please make it happen, you fools. Bring it on. With mainstream conservatives bailing on the anti-gay approach to politics (or at the very least want it at the bottom of any agenda), the fundies are losing their cookies. Seeing anti-gay attitudes and legislation slipping away, their latest attempts to cry foul have been tossing out the “victim” and “religious freedom” arguments.

Given the exposure of the National Organization’s craven game plan to create division between the LGBT and black/Latino communities, proving that they are willing to pay to have token minorities spew and foment hatred for political points, it was only time before the political apocalypse alarm went off. Witness the bleatings of Southern Poverty Law Center hate group-certified Family Research Council vice president Tom McClusky (via People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch, has audio):

Mefferd: Ultimately, why do you think this is an issue worth fighting for even if they dub it in the media as a losing issue, the gay marriage issue, why is it worth fighting for?

McClusky: Even more so than the economic issue this is a generational issue. I look at my nieces and nephews, I look at my wife and the children that we hope to have and I understand what would happen to society if marriage were to go away or to be redefined out of existence. Societies that try to do away with marriage, they crumble, they fall apart. We need to emphasize more on the family and without that fight the U.S. will just not be the U.S. anymore.

Mefferd: I unfortunately agree with you on that.

…

Mefferd: If the GOP continues to go in a direction where they will not get on the side of traditional marriage and be willing to fight for it, what do Christians do?

McClusky: I think you will—there are always threats of a third party—I think if something like that were to happen you would see a third party. It would be made up of more than just disgruntled conservative Republicans. On the marriage issue there’s African Americans who normally vote Democratic, there’s Hispanics, and the same on the life issue, and there are a lot of good Democrats like say in the state legislature of New York who fought against same-sex marriage and Maryland who tried to, I think what you see is a lot of people drifting from both parties into a third party or some sort of independent party that is more pro-life and pro-marriage.

Wow. Please split away from the GOP. Pretty please.

If hardline conservatives, including  country artist Toby Keith, former GOP gubernatorial candidate Richard Vinroot, Tea Party advocate U.S. Rep. Renee Elmers (R-NC), John Hood of the Art Pope-funded John Locke Foundation as well as the Republican grandson of the man who drafted North Carolina’s constitution are willing to speak out against poorly thought-out discriminatory behavior by our politicians, it’s time for people to give and to work to defeat this nonsense. Via the National Conference for Community and Justice of the Piedmont Triad (h/t BlueNC):

Early voting is April 19-May 4, with the primary on May 8.

Weep, my friends, for the human race and its pathological obsession with race and skin color. It’s the 21st century and it seems that we have come so far when it comes to race, but at times it feels like we’re becoming even more paranoid and insecure and still invested in white=right. How else can you explain this:

Advertisement for a new skin whitening product for private parts has sparked outrage on the Internet with people blasting the commercial as an “ultimate insult to women.” This is the latest in a long list of skin whitening products to have earned the wrath of women including a wide range of fairness creams.

The television commercial for the “intimate” product promises its “special pH-balanced formula cleans and protects the affected area, and even makes the skin fairer.” Fairness products are regularly endorsed by film stars and celebrities in India despite protests from feminists that they promote insecurity and discrimination amongst women.

“Ok this is the ultimate insult. Skin whitening for your vagina,” Rupa Subramanya, a writer with the Economics Journal for Wall Street Journal, India tweeted. User Neha who tweets as @ThePunjew said: “What a bummer, there’s no shade card yet to monitor fairness progress!”

It is no surprise that this sickness permeates countries like India, where fair skin is prized, and dark skin is associated with being part of the lower-class. The fact that men are also dragged into this addiction to fairness via cosmetics as well shows what — equal opportunity colorism? As I noted in a 2010 post on Vaseline introducing a skin-lightening application for Facebook users in India.

Why can’t people celebrate the skin they were born with? What is the appeal of risking permanent damage to your skin by baking on the beach, and even more onerous, using chemicals to bleach your skin? Apparently human beings are just screwed up and multinational companies have no problem making a buck over colorism. Wwell-known beauty brands in your local drugstore are diving into this perverse market in India:  Garnier, L’Oreal and Nivea.

But lightening your vaginal area? We are f’d up. And the sickness and cashing in on colorism, is everywhere. The Asian markets are targeted, as are African one. L’Oreal tailors its message so expertly and craft its ads so well, you’d think the product should a must-have in your beauty arsenal. L’Oreal calls this marketing strategy ‘Geocosmetics:

More than half of Korean women experience brown spots and 30 per cent of them have a dull complexion. Over-production of melanin deep in the skin that triggers brown spots and accumulation of melanin loaded dead cells at the skin’s surface create a dull and uneven complexion. Vichy Laboratories has been able to associate the complementary effectiveness of Kojic Acid and pure Vitamin C in an everyday face care: BI-White.

Is this Madison Avenue’s idea of marketing beauty?

The faces of Black South Africans permanently damaged by long-term use of Over-the-Counter (OTC) 2 per cent hydroquinone based skin-whitening cream.

It makes you wonder what are the long-term side effects of using these “whitening product for private parts” will be.