Evening open thread

Fake tree or real? (I'd say fake Menorah or real, to be fair, but I'm not sure that distinction actually exists.) Read the rest of this post...

Note how everything the far-right says now is the infallible word of God

Even a dork in a t-shirt in high school is now channeling God. Some kid puts on a t-shirt attacking gays, abortion, and Islam, and the school is supposed to let him do it because it's "religious discrimination" not too, according to the radical right.

Fine. We ought to raise money and print t-shirts for everyone else in the school that say:

1. God loves gays
2. Evangelical Christians are bigots
3. Pro-lifers hate America

I'm a Christian, and I think God agrees with me on every point. So clearly I'm speaking for God, or at the very least, this is my religious view that cannot be censored. So if some enterprising kid at the school wants to fight back, let's do it :-) Hell, someone should do it anyway at their own school, anywhere.

From the radical right propaganda organ, AgapePress:

...An Ohio seventh-grader wore a T-shirt to school earlier this fall that displayed a Bible verse as well as his viewpoint on homosexuality, Islam, and abortion. But school and district officials in Thornville deemed the apparel "offensive" and "potentially disruptive," and have prohibited James Nixon from wearing the shirt to school ever since. On Monday (December 6), the Alliance Defense Fund filed a federal lawsuit against the school district on behalf of the young student, alleging viewpoint discrimination. The case is "clothed in censorship," says ADF-affiliated attorney Frederick Nelson of the Orlando-based American Liberties Institute. "Everyone agrees that no disruption has taken place," he notes. "The Constitution does not permit censorship based upon what someone thinks 'might' happen." School officials had determined that the message on Nixon's shirt violated the district's Student Code of Conduct -- but Nelson says that is not the case. "[O]ther students wearing clothing in clear violation of the policy were allowed to remain in school and were not disciplined in any way," he points out. "Nixon has been singled out for his particular viewpoint, and that's not constitutional." He adds that school officials cannot treat religious speech as "second-class speech." ADF is involved in a similar lawsuit in the San Diego area in which a student was barred from wearing a T-shirt that expressed his religious views on homosexuality.

Read the rest of this post...

Watch ABCNews World News Tonight today, it's a real joy

Armor in Iraq & Afghanistan

First ABC reported on the issue of our military vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan not having sufficient armor. The president weighed in today and, well, pretty much didn't say anything other than he'd have asked the same question if he was a solder in Iraq. Well, here's a thought. You're the commander in chief of the armed forces - remember that little Star Trek jacket you wore the other day, said "Commander in Chief" on it, just under your name. Why don't YOU ask the question of Rumsfeld, even though you're life isn't on the line in Iraq.

And the military confirmed today to ABC News that of 30,000 military vehicles in Iraq and Afghanistan, 8,000 are STILL waiting for the necessary armor. That's over a quarter of all the vehicles. Rumsfeld's response today, however, was to suggest that there's no problem at all. Rumsfeld had the nerve to say publicly that you've gotta realize, not all the vehicles really need that armor. Huh, that's funny. So you mean DOD is wasting money preparing to armor 8,000 more vehicles that DON'T need it? How odd. And why are all our soldiers so upset about this if it's not a problem?

And another thing, why did Rumsfeld say 6 months ago that in six months (i.e., NOW) we'd have all the vehicles armored? It's six months, and more than a quarter are not. Gee, no one asked him that question. And finally, John Kerry raised this issue during the campaign. He was obviously right. And the media didn't give a damn. You voted for him, you got him.

Homeland Security

The second big story from ABC is that the Inspector General at the Dept of Homeland Security (i.e., the guy who investigates waste and abuse in the department itself) is being let go because, apparently, he did his job too well, to quote ABC. Seems there's been millions of dollars of waste and money even lost at the department, and nobody really cares. So what do the Bushies do? Let him go.

But hey, this is the Soviet Union, after all, and it's not like we hold our government officials accountable for something as small as the war on terror. I'm sure God will provide. Read the rest of this post...

Human Rights Campaign's response to NYT article

The NYT article, cited in a post below, has caused a bit of consternation. HRC (the largest gay rights lobby) says the article didn't present the truth of what they're doing. So here's the statement in response to the article. Read it and comment.

HRC STATEMENT ON DEC. 9 NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE

The Human Rights Campaign made the following statement regarding the Dec. 9 New York Times article on strategy for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights:

Today’s New York Times article was an incomplete and therefore inaccurate representation of the plans of the Human Rights Campaign.

HRC’s goals are unchanged and rock solid. There will be no retreat or compromise in the pursuit of full equality for GLBT Americans, including our right to marry, protect our families and be free from discrimination at work.

Tactics adapt, goals do not.

The marriage debate has focused attention on GLBT families and our struggles like never before and HRC will sharpen that focus in coming weeks and months as Americans come to understand our lives and the challenges we face.

Thus far, our opponents have sought to shape this debate as “us versus them” in a political framework. HRC’s current deliberations are centered on strategies to reshape the national dialogue in personal terms of “we” in the broader context of community. People need to better understand the issues affecting gay and lesbian lives and HRC must provide that leadership.

For example, regarding Social Security, the Congress will be considering Social Security reform. The debates will be both substantive and partisan. HRC intends to use that debate to promote to the country the fact that GLBT people do not have a majority of the social security benefits enjoyed by most Americans right now if we cannot designate a beneficiary to the monies we have earned. We will not be used as a partisan tool and have taken no position to support privatization. Rather we will focus on the need for equality.

In the days ahead, we will talk about our plans to retool and expand HRC’s existing programs and announce new policy initiatives to invigorate how Americans think about our issues, our lives, and our vision of equality. We will reach out to straight allies, communities of faith and provide new avenues of hope for the LGBT community.

The path to social change is never fast enough and always fraught with twists and turns, but the final destination is never in doubt.

The Human Rights Campaign is the largest national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender political organization with members throughout the country. It effectively lobbies Congress, provides campaign support and educates the public to ensure that LGBT Americans can be open, honest and safe at home, at work and in the community.

Read the rest of this post...

Washington Post will likely get chance to run bigoted ad again

According to a Virginia radical right organization, the anti-gay bigots who ran the ad insert in the Washington Post a few weeks ago are planning on running more installments of the "magazine."

As you'll recall, the Washington Post REFUSED to respond AT ALL to the thousands of complaints they received from people around the country who were none too happy that they published an "ad" that espoused junk science theories about gays dying in the 40s while straights like to their 70s, and using that junk science to argue that we don't deserve civil rights. Did the Post Ombudsman write about this? No. Did the paper respond at all to those who wrote in? No.

Well, now they're going to get their chance when these jerks run another ad.

So help me God, if the Post runs this next ad I WILL raise money for the same ad and it will talk about how blacks and Jews don't deserve civil rights because of junk science (I'm sure we can find some about those groups), and the fact that they can "change" who they are (blacks can use whitening cream and Jews can simply convert). Then if the Post doesn't run the ad, we slap them with a civil rights lawsuit based on public accomodations (basing their controversial advertising on which minority is the target).

And if those mo-fos at the Post don't believe me, try me. I have had it with big media being front organizations for red-state ideology. Enough already. This is 2004, not 1964. You don't publish Nazi science about a minority group and simply claim "it's an advertisement."

From the Virginia Family Policy Network:

Grier says homosexuality is not a civil right issue, and reports that his church felt it was so important to communicate that message the church took out a loan to found and publish the magazine.

As to the controversy surrounding the content of BothSides, Grier says many of those who protested do not understand the difference between race and sexuality. "As an African-American, my color -- or the melanin in my DNA that causes me to be brown -- is a result of simple chemistry," he says. "However, sexuality is not a physical trait; it's a behavior.

"To interchange the color of my skin, which is not considered immoral in the Bible or anywhere else for that matter, [and] to equate sexual behavior with the color of my children's skin, is quite offensive," Grier adds.

The pastor says the controversy has brought the church a good bit of publicity, but he urges readers to pay attention to the message of the magazine. There will be additional opportunities to do that, he says, as the church plans to publish more editions of BothSides.

You can see the ad in the link I provided above, and feel free to contact the Post ombudsman again and ask why they're refusing to comment on this issue.

ACTION:
Contact the Post's ombudsman, Mike Getler. Try to explain to him why you consider this flyer (below) hateful, and be sure to ask him how the Post would feel about a similar ad about Jews or blacks and their physical inferiority to other races and peoples, and how that relates to those minorities not deserving civil rights:

- ombudsman@washpost.com
- (202) 334-7582 Read the rest of this post...

Radical right censor chick watches "Sopranos" and "Sex in the City" - what's wrong with this picture?

From the Washington Post, a profile of the radical right organization that monitors all that evil sex and violence on TV. They took a specific look at the woman in the office who's in charge of watching all the shows and then giving the shows their warning labels for sex and violence and stuff. Here's what they had to say about her:

She'll be leaving around 4:30, as usual. Her day's work will help the PTC assign shows ratings -- green, yellow or red, traffic-light style, in the categories "sex," "violence," "language" and "overall" -- which parents can use when deciding what to tune in. PTC staffers will also use the sponsor logs and episode descriptions she's compiled when lobbying companies to pull their ads from red-lighted programs.

In the 5 1/2 years she's been doing this, she's logged more than 7,000 hours of television. "It's all gotten worse," she says. She used to be able to log two networks' prime-time shows in the same number of hours it now takes her to do one.

She still watches at home, but doesn't enjoy it as much as she used to. "Entertainment Tonight" just makes her roll her eyes. She watches movies, the Food Network and the dramatic series on HBO. "The Sopranos" is her favorite show by far, but lately she and her fiance have been tuning in ABC's "Desperate Housewives," too.

Hey, they're grown-ups without kids, she says. They're entitled. She used to watch "Sex and the City" at home as well.

Ok, here's the thing. Either this is a good sign that the organization is only worried about truth in labeling so parents can judge if their kids should be watching certain shows, but they're not interested in actually banning show, or it's a sign of hypocrisy (ban my shows while you're watching them too). Unfortunately, Brent Bozell, her boss, is hardly part of the level-headed middle-ground in this country. He's a leader of the far-right of the Republican party.

These quotes should be thrown in their face EVERY time these issues come up. Read the rest of this post...

Curious about your response to this NYT article

I'm not going to say a thing, because I really don't want to influence your reaction, good or bad. I want a serious, honest response. Is this a good thing, bad thing, great thing, not too sure, smart thing, what? Read the rest of this post...

Please, Sir, May I Have Some Armor?

Great NYT editorial:

"Mr. Rumsfeld talks a lot about supporting the troops. We wish that someone powerful would explain to him that doing so includes treating them with respect and telling them the truth."

Slap! Read the rest of this post...

Bush to meet with anti-gay bigot

According to the Guardian newspaper, Bush is meeting on Monday with the anti-gay bigot Alabama legislator who wants to ban books with gay characters from libraries.

Bush is meeting with this bigot? The article claims that Bush has met the man a number of times - Bush reportedly uses the guy as a red-state barometer.

I really want to know if this is true. If it is, some well-funded interest group should be all over this.

[Echo echo echo echo echo...] Read the rest of this post...

Morning open thread

Blah Read the rest of this post...

United Church of Christ launches campaign over ad refusal - will challenge FCC licenses of NBC/CBS stations

Our Christians are bigger than your Christians :-)

United Church of Christ
UCC campaign site: http://www.accessibleairwaves.org

For immediate release
Dec. 9, 2004

United Church of Christ files petition with FCC over networks' refusal of church advertisement
UCC: Ad's rejection denies 'full range of religious expression'

CLEVELAND -- The United Church of Christ today (Dec. 9) is filing two petitions with the Federal Communications Commission, asking that two network owned-and-operated television stations in Miami be denied license renewals for failing to provide viewers "suitable access" to a full array of "social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences."

WFOR-TV (a CBS station) and WJVT-TV (an NBC station) -- whose operating licenses are currently up for FCC review -- are being challenged because "there is substantial and material question" as to whether the stations' parent companies, Viacom, Inc., and the General Electric Company, have operated the stations in the public interest, the petitions state.

The action stems from a much-publicized decision by both networks to deny an advertisement that makes clear the church's welcome of diverse, even marginalized, segments of the population. CBS and NBC have said the all-inclusive ads are "controversial" and, therefore, amount to "issue advocacy," something the networks have said they do not allow.

In a signed statement that accompanies the petition, the Rev. John H. Thomas, the UCC's general minister and president, said, "The religious, ethical and moral right of members of UCC churches and other citizens to have access to diverse programming has been harmed by the refusal of NBC and CBS to carry [the ad], as well as by their failure to carry programming reflecting the full range of religious expression in the United States on their networks and on their owned-and-operated stations."
Similarly signed complaints from a group of UCC members in south Florida make the case that those who live in the network stations' viewing area are being denied a positive message of inclusion.

"Ensuring that all Americans, especially women and people of color, have the opportunity to be seen and heard in today's media-saturated culture is vital to free expression," said the Rev. Robert Chase, director of the UCC's communication ministry. "It gives voice to God's rich mosaic and is essential in a full democracy."
Said Andrew J. Schwartzman, President and CEO of Media Access Project, "Broadcasters agree to serve the needs of the communities where they are licensed in exchange for receiving free use of publicly owned airwaves. That means everyone, not just people their advertisers care about."

"The viewing public is harmed when powerful networks can label an ad 'controversial' and refuse to air it. Repeal of the Fairness Doctrine was supposed to result in the airing of more, not less, 'controversial' programming," said Angela Campbell, Director of Georgetown University Law Center's Institute for Public Representation. "It is time for the FCC to re-examine whether some sort of public right of access is required under the Communications Act and the First Amendment."

Ironically -- long before the current television ad controversy -- the United Church of Christ, through its Office of Communication, Inc. (OC, Inc.), has been at the forefront of media access issues for more than 40 years. During the civil rights era, the UCC was the first voice to demand that those holding FCC licenses and authorizations act on behalf of the public interest and be held accountable as stewards of the public trust.

Only three months ago, on Sept. 1, 2004, the UCC's Office of Communication, Inc., filed a petition with the FCC to deny license renewals of two television stations serving the Washington, D.C., area for failing to serve the educational needs of children.

"Who would have guessed that it would one day be our voice that was silenced?" Chase said. "When CBS and NBC refused to air our commercial because they considered it 'too controversial,' we found ourselves in the very position as other groups for whom we have historically been advocates."

Gloria Tristani, OC Inc.'s managing director and a former FCC commissioner (1997-2001), said, "NBC and CBS and their stations must be accountable to the communities they are licensed to serve. How can it be in the public interest for television stations to exclude a church's message of inclusion?"

The FCC filing was done on behalf of the United Church of Christ by lawyers from Media Access Project and the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University.

More information about the petition and the campaign can be found at:
http://www.AccessibleAirwaves.org

# # #

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Jobless claims rise once again

Surprisingly, some "officials" claim to be surprised by the bad news. What planet are these people living on?
Read the rest of this post...

Oil tests $40, OPEC itching to cut production

The good news is that we're still at the lower end of the range for oil prices. The bad news is that OPEC, our close friends and allies, want to cut production again because they're just not making enough money and a cold winter is forecasted. With all of the brainpower that we have around the world, why do we tolerate such a disfunctional relationship that brings us so much trouble? Why is there no serious effort to promote alternative energies? Right now I would even settle for fuel conservation.

Here in my neighborhood of Paris, they are redesigning one of the main roads to make it miserable for car traffic in order to encourage people to stay out of their cars and use the very cheap and very efficient public transportation. Think of it as a Robert Moses road design in reverse.
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