Did We Love Reagan? I Can't Recall

Wonkette found this recent piece via UnderNews from the former assistant managing editor of the Wash Post, William Greider. It's good. Here's the beginning:

My condolences to the staff and management of The Post. I had no idea you felt so deeply about Ronald Reagan. I was a reporter and editor at The Post during the launch of Reagan's 'revolution,' and we had a somewhat different take on his presidency then...

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New survey results on gay marriage constitutional amendment

Very interesting new survey. Barna, the researcher, is himself a pretty religious person, and not at all associated with the pro-gay side of this debate, as far as I know. Here's what he found in his recent poll about the anti-gay constitutional amendment:

This is interesting:

The survey of 1618 adults revealed that 37% of voting-age citizens have never heard of the amendment.

This is good, and certainly not a mandate for amending the Constitution:

46% favored the amendment while 44% opposed it and the remaining 10% had no opinion.

Nothing new here, other than the fact that smart people are with us (I love how "Republicans" are on the opposite side of the poll from "college graduates"):

The strongest support for the amendment came from evangelicals (83%), conservatives (58%), Republicans (56%), Protestants (49%), and non-evangelical born again Christians (47%). At the other end of the spectrum, the segments most fervently opposed to the amendment were liberals (55%), atheists and agnostics (51%), and college graduates (43%).

That's good news:

Among the 37% who were previously unaware of the amendment, upon hearing a description of the amendment 37% said they supported such a change to the Constitution, 45% opposed it, and 18% remained undecided.

Bad news, though not too high a number:

The survey also showed that the adults most likely to vote in November favored the amendment by a comfortable margin, 52% to 43%.

This is odd:

The homosexual niche constitutes just 4% of the adult population, of whom 78% oppose the FMA.

Putting aside for a moment the "homosexual niche" comment (it makes us sound like we're insects, or something), who are these 22% of gay people who either favor or have no opinion on the amendment? That number sounds an awful lot like the number of gay peopled who voted for Bush last time around. I simply refuse to believe that 22% of self-identified gay people support the amendment, that's just bizarre. (Now tell me they don't deserve to be outed>) Read the rest of this post...

And you thought you didn't like Reagan

Woosh. Read the rest of this post...

Smart people hate Bush

Reuters:

Democrat John Kerry picked up the endorsement on Monday of 48 Nobel Prize-winning scientists who attacked President Bush for 'compromising our future' by shortchanging scientific research.

'The Bush administration has ignored unbiased scientific advice in the policy-making that is so important to our collective welfare,' the 48 scientists, who have won Nobels in chemistry, physics and medicine dating back to 1967, said in an open letter released by the Democratic presidential candidate's campaign.

The scientists, who included 2003 chemistry winners Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon, accused the Bush administration of undermining America's future by reducing funding for science and turning away scientific talent with restrictive immigration policies.

'John Kerry will change all this,' they said. 'John Kerry will restore science to its appropriate place in government.'

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Keep drinking the Kool-Aid, part II

I just got the following email from a group that purports to represent "ex"-gays - i.e., people who claim to have "prayed away" their homosexuality. Putting aside for a moment the fact that the lady running this group has an openly gay son - oops - just check out the venom and hate that is interlaced in their message.

They only want to promote tolerance, they say, and that's why they oppose adding sexual orientation to the already-existing hate crimes bill. The "ex"-gay groups actually oppose pretty much every law that would ever protect gays and lesbians - they are actively fighting gay marriage, etc. - yet they say that all they want is tolerance. Uh huh. Funny how there isn't a single person who's been "cured" of homosexuality who hasn't ended up a fire-breathing gay-hater. If some gays really could change and become straight, wouldn't you think at least one would end up pro-gay or at least agnostic on the whole gay "agenda," simply saying "it's not my thing, but they're ok people anyway"? Yet somehow every person who's been "cured" sounds like they've been brainwashed to channel Pat Buchanan.

Think this discussion is academic? I have an aunt and uncle who won't even speak to my gay cousin (their son) because, they say, "there are people who have changed" - then they sent my cousin info on Exodus, the lead ex-gay group. Of course, what they didn't send him was the info on all the "ex"-gay leaders - most every single one of them to date - who have been caught in gay bars, or worse, and have left the "ex"-gays. So we have these guys to thank for fucking up at least one family in which some very old, and very ill, parents will probably never see their son again.

One seriously fucked up group of people.

Republican Senator Votes for Gay Federal Hate Crimes Law, but Refuses to Protect Ex-Gays

Senator George Allen (R-VA) voted for the Kennedy hate crimes amendment last Tuesday, which includes sexual orientation, but he failed to support a resolution calling for tolerance for ex-gays. Hate crimes
legislation is a top priority for gay activists in their desire to gain federal designation as a minority group. But, that law might also be interpreted as a means to override states that do not have, or oppose, hate crimes laws based on sexual preference.

Members of the ex-gay community and their supporters from across the country came to Capitol Hill last month for Ex-Gay Lobby Days sponsored by Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX). PFOX, headquartered in Virginia, supports families affected by homosexuality and advocates for the ex-gay community.

Ex-gays related personal stories of the hate and discrimination they experienced because they left homosexuality. They urged Congress to support a resolution calling for tolerance for ex-gays. ?The resolution says that Congress condemns hate against ex-gays and affirms its commitment to a society that respects all people, including former homosexuals,? said Regina Griggs, PFOX executive director. ?Now who could be opposed to that?? Apparently, Sen. Allen is. In a meeting with Rev. Darryl Foster, an African-American ex-gay, Allen?s office did not want to sign on to the resolution. ?Allen?s office said that acknowledging ex-gays through the resolution would amount to 'favoritism' and the Senator would not do that, said Foster."

?It now seems that Sen. Allen is playing favorites and discriminating against ex-gays,? said Regina Griggs, PFOX executive director. ?Sen. Allen voted for the Kennedy gay hate crimes law which will cost taxpayers $5 million a year to implement, yet refuses to co-sponsor our
resolution, which is merely a statement condemning hate against former homosexuals and costs nothing to implement. It doesn?t make sense.?

For the past two years, Sen. Kennedy?s office has refused to make an appointment to meet with his ex-gay constituents on Ex-Gay Lobby Days.

Because of his closed door policy to ex-gays, Kennedy?s gay hate crimes law will not protect former homosexuals,? said Griggs. ?Sen. Kennedy?s intolerance and ignorance of ex-gay issues, and Sen. Allen?s refusal to consider supporting a resolution for ex-gays, is unfortunate in this age of civil rights,? continued Griggs. ?These senators should promote tolerance for ex-gays.?

PFOX calls upon Senators Kennedy and Allen to stop playing favorites by protecting homosexuals while ignoring ex-gays. ?This divides families, is discriminatory and hurts our communities,? said Griggs. ?Sen. Allen should now sponsor the PFOX ex-gay resolution. He has sponsored or supported other resolutions in the past. Why not this one??

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Keep drinking the Kool-Aid, lady

I am Republican, must not speak truth, truth bad, truth hurts, must ignore facts or man with black coat will shock me with stick...

AP:

Republican Shannon Miller, of Dover, Ohio, said [GW] Bush would be more kindly remembered [than Clinton] because 'he hasn't had as many scandals.'

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Bush doing HORRIBLY in new ABC/Wash Post poll

Atrios has the coverage. I still hope we don't peak too soon. Read the rest of this post...

USA Today op ed: Cheney needs to step aside for good of Bush, party

I wonder if the Dump-Cheney movement is gathering steam again. This op ed is very interesting. McCain would be a total loser to join Bush on the ticket - the two men hate each other, not to mention, God only knows what what four more years of Bush will do to McCain's reputation if they do in fact win. Read the rest of this post...

Signorile discussing outing campaign right now LIVE

http://www.Sirius.com/OUTQ - there's a link to listen live, do it now. Read the rest of this post...

CNN just covered our DearMary.com ad!

Excellent. Of course I missed it, it was on Inside Politics, but I'm told they showed a good portion of the ad. Hopefully Headline News will pick it up. Read the rest of this post...

George Bush's lasting contribution to America's image in the world

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Lawyer Wants Bush on Witness Stand Over Abu Ghraib Abuse

And the fun never stops. Now how important does a blow job seem? Read the rest of this post...

Pretty well confirmed that Cheney is a big-ass liar

You don't often catch someone like Cheney in this clear-cut a lie. This happened only 3 days ago. I want outcry, and I want it know. Al Gore made some factual mis-statements in 2000 that were a lot less significant than this, and he was branded a liar by the media and a good portion of the public. Cheney is now caught lying about his own justification for September 11. Outright lying. It's about time someone on the left grabbed this stuff and launched a real campaign over it (do I sound frustrated?):

June 17, 2004. Vice President Cheney talking to CNBC's Gloria Borger:

Borger: 'Well, let's go to Mohamed Atta for a minute, because you mentioned him as well. You have said in the past that it was, quote, 'pretty well confirmed.' '

Cheney: 'No, I never said that.'

Borger: 'Okay.'

Cheney: 'Never said that.'

Borger: 'I think that is . . . '

Cheney: 'Absolutely not. What I said was the Czech intelligence service reported after 9/11 that Atta had been in Prague on April 9th of 2001, where he allegedly met with an Iraqi intelligence official. We have never been able to confirm that nor have we been able to knock it down.'

On Dec. 9, 2001. Cheney talking to NBC's Tim Russert:

Cheney: 'Well, what we now have that's developed since you and I last talked, Tim, of course, was that report that -- it's been pretty well confirmed that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack. Now, what the purpose of that was, what transpired between them, we simply don't know at this point, but that's clearly an avenue that we want to pursue.'

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Pakistan and Saudis helped Osama - big surprise

Big trouble for moose and squirrel:

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia helped set the stage for the Sept. 11 attacks by cutting deals with the Taliban and Osama bin Laden that allowed his Al Qaeda terrorist network to flourish, according to several senior members of the Sept. 11 commission and U.S. counterterrorism officials.

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My DearMary.com ads targeting Mary Cheney are live across the Net today!

Below is our press release we just issued today. Dying to hear what you guys think of the ads :-) You'll note our "still" ad at left on this blog - the moving ads can be seen on DearMary.com at the top of the page.

INTERNET ADS TARGET VP's OPENLY LESBIAN DAUGHTER AS CONGRESS DEBATES GAY MARRIAGE
- Bush campaign charged with sexism over treatment of Mary Cheney
- Apology to gay community demanded from Cheney daughter

WASHINGTON, DC - Millions of ads targeting Vice President Cheney's openly lesbian daughter Mary will blitzkrieg the Internet this week as Congress debates gay marriage in two separate hearings on Capitol Hill, the gay advocacy group DearMary.com announced today.

An example of the ads can be seen online at www.DearMary.com

The cartoon-like ads will run on news sites across the Internet, including the Washington Post, humor sites such as The Onion, and top liberal political blogs. The ads accuse Ms. Cheney of "selling out" by earning $100,000 a year as the head of the vice president's re-election campaign at a time when the Bush administration is pushing for an amendment to the US Constitution that would ban same-sex marriage. Such an amendment would make Ms. Cheney and her life partner, and millions of other gay and lesbian Americans, second-class citizens.

"Mary Cheney used her 'lesbian celebrity' status in 2000 and 2002 to woo gay votes and gay money for the Republican party," said John Aravosis, the creator of both DearMary.com and the new ad campaign. "Now that Mary Cheney's promise of a 'compassionate conservative' Bush administration has fallen flat, she owes an apology to the one million gay Republicans who voted for Bush-Cheney in 2000."

The DearMary.com ads ran into controversy even before they launched when one of Washington, DC's most-respected political publications found them too hot to handle. CongressDaily, a daily staple for lobbyists, members of Congress and their staff, and administration officials, refused to run a print version of the ad, claiming the campaign attacked a politician's child.

DearMary.com circumvented this censorship by running the ads online, and by creatively targeting the ad buy. A portion of the ads will only pop up if the Web visitor is using a US government computer to surf the Internet, thus guaranteeing that a number of Ms. Cheney's colleagues in the Bush administration see the ads. The ad campaign also includes the purchase of a number of key words on the Google.com search engine.

The Bush campaign responded to the DearMary.com ads this weekend by echoing CongressDaily, telling the Associated press that Mary Cheney was simply a child, and therefore off-limits to political criticism. Robin Tyler, co-founder of The Equality Campaign, Inc., the parent organization of both DearMary.com and DontAmend.com, charged the Bush campaign with sexism.

"It is sexist for the Bush campaign to refer to a 35-year-old woman who makes $100,000 a year running a national election campaign as a child," said Ms. Tyler. "And it is simply bizarre to suggest that Mary Cheney is now an off-limits private citizen when less than two years ago she was selling her photo for $500 a pop at Republican fundraisers. Either she's out or she's in, the Bush campaign can't have it both ways."

According to the Los Angeles Times, Ms. Cheney was to be the special guest at a gay Republican fundraiser in Los Angeles on September 5, 2002. The Times reports that "guests were to pay $500 for photos with [then-gubernatorial candidate Bill Simon] and Mary Cheney, the lesbian daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney." - Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-me-gov4sep04.story

The DearMary.com ad campaign comprises an over $21,000 online ad buy - all the money collected via online donations - a number of print ads donated by magazines and newspapers across the country, and an additional $50,000 in in-kind donations from an ad agency and a Web advocacy firm, Advocacy Inc., for production and dissemination of the ads. The ad campaign begins Monday, June 21 and will run at least one week.

Read more about the DearMary.com ad campaign in this recent Associated Press story:
http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-cheney20.html

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Foes Confounded by Limited Outcry Against Gay Marriage

It appears that evangelical Christians are NOT nearly as incensed about gay marriage as their out-of-touch leaders. Read the rest of this post...

Bush Judicial Nominee Practiced Law Without License in Utah

That's my boy. Read the rest of this post...

Snow Expects More Jobs in Coming Months

Yeah, right. I predict a LOT more jobs in the coming months... for Democrats, come November. Read the rest of this post...

Here we go again

Just at the last minute the Bush administration claims to have found "new intelligence" showing that a lieutenant colonel in Saddam's militia was an Al Qaeda member, or well, maybe was, if they're right, I mean. Of course, the article notes that the allegation hasn't even been confirmed yet. But what the hell - Bush's adage always has been "why not go public today with what you won't admit was wrong tomorrow." Read the rest of this post...