Bill Clinton should look in the mirror before accusing others of sucking up to anti-gay bigots

Dear Bill,

Pardon the somewhat stern tone, but I got a bit upset reading in the paper that you've decided to start accusing others of hypocrisy on the gay issue.

Yes, Arthur Finklestein, the GOP political consultant who helped Jesse Helms get elected to office, among other gay-hating politicians, is a big hypocrite for being gay, getting married to his boyfriend of 40 years, while not renouncing his courtship of the gay-haters. And yes, you and everyone else is right to chastize him for his hypocrisy. But, at the same time, it's difficult, as a fan of yours - and I am a big fan - to watch you pontificate about the hypocrisy of Republicans on gay marriage when you yourself have a pretty big gay hypocrisy you've never owned up to.

The thing is, you signed the gay-bashing Defense of Marriage Act. You crowed about your support of DOMA in radio ads. You continue to support DOMA to this day. And you reportedly told John Kerry to throw us overboard last year on the state constitutional amendment issue in order to help him get elected president.

So where do you get off now accusing someone else of being a hypocrite on gay issues relating to marriage?

Look, we all know you couldn't give a damn about gay marriage. I'm sure you support it. You're not exactly a prude about relationships. The Republicans forced you into signing DOMA, we get it. But you're not in office anymore, and you still haven't renounced or even regretted your signing of DOMA. You could have said the truth, you could have come clean, you could have simply told the American people "look, the Republicans have risen gay-bashing to an art and put me in a spot where I had to sign it, and I regret that I did." I mean, how hard is that?

But you didn't.

Maybe it's because you're worried you'll put Hillary in a bad position - she'll then have to either agree with you about DOMA being a bad thing, and be seen as a Democrat who's not afraid to actually take a firm position on a matter of principle regardless of the polls, or she'll have to disagree with you and risk being seen as, uh, not your lackey.

You were a good president and a lot of us liked you and still like you in spite of your DOMA baggage, and even in spite of your trying to sell us out last year during the 2004 election. But please, if you're going to start moralizing against pro-gay people sucking up to anti-gay hypocrites - and we hope you continue to do so - could you take a bit of time to finally get your own house in order?

JOHN

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RL and BJs

There's a rumor going around, I've heard it from two sources now, that a certain radio blowhard mentioned a certain sexual act (more than once) about 40 minutes into the first hour of his radio show today. If it's true, and I sure would like to confirm if it is or not, I think we have an FCC complaint a-comin'.

Anyone got the goods? Read the rest of this post...

A little anti-Hillary bias at AOL?

Check out this headline and the photo they're using at AOL. Read the rest of this post...

DeLay tells colleagues to "blame Democrats" for his ethical failings

The Democrats ate my homework. Read the rest of this post...

Open thread

Been a while Read the rest of this post...

Terri Schiavo's dying days meant big bucks for Ricky Santorum's Florida fundraisers

Rick, Rick, Rick. Tacky, tacky, tacky.

According to the Philly Inquirer, nasty uber-GOP Senator Rick Santorum raised "$200,000 - twice what he had anticipated - from four fund-raising events he held in Florida when he was visiting the hospice where Schiavo's parents were keeping vigil." Gosh, guess that GOP Senate memo was right, Terri Schiavo's death throes were a "great political issue" for the GOP, and for Rick Santorum in particular.

Who knew the culture of life, and one brain-damaged woman's dying days, could be so profitable? Read the rest of this post...

Bash a judge for Jesus, too

It seems Jesus hates judges too. Way more than you'd realize. Max Blumenthal, son of Sidney, infiltrated that religious right loony bin we-hate-judges conference held last week in DC - you know, the one that quoted Stalin, the man who murdered millions of his own innocent citizens in infamous purges, as to what we REALLY should do to judges. Max has a great report. And if any of our old-Europe liberal non-profits - NOT the new non-profits like CAP & DFA, they're fine, I mean the OLD ones that have been around for years and who are sucking up all the money yet not doing their jobs - if any of THEM had any brain cells or backbone left, they'd be all over this. But of course, they're not all over this. They're busy Saving Phil (click at your own risk - those with heart conditions and anger issues might want to refrain). Read the rest of this post...

Bash a fag for Jesus

I see this as a multi-million dollar harassment lawsuit just WAITING to happen. Please, every school district in the country, PLEASE welcome this group to your school and give them free reign to spread their message to every potential bully in your school. Because the first gay kid who gets bashed for being gay in your school is going to be getting a million dollar graduation present from your budget.

Go ahead, make our day. Read the rest of this post...

Bill Clinton blasts Finkelstein

The NY Daily News has the story. It's actually vintage Clinton...and probably a very accurate analysis of Arthur Finkelstein:

Ex-President Bill Clinton criticized a gay GOP critic of his wife, Hillary, as suffering from 'self-loathing.'

Former President Bill Clinton wasn't about to let just anybody attack his wife - especially a gay Republican operative. Clinton fired back yesterday, suggesting that political consultant Arthur Finkelstein, who has launched a "Stop Her Now" campaign, is suffering from "self-loathing."

Finkelstein married his male partner in a civil ceremony in Massachusetts in December, with a few of his conservative clients at the nuptial.

"... He went to Massachusetts and married his longtime male partner and then he comes back here and announces this," Clinton said at a Harlem news conference.

"I thought, one of two things. Either this guy believes his party is not serious, and is totally Machiavellian in his position, or there's some sort of self-loathing there. I was more sad for him."

Sounds accurate to me. Finkelstein helped elect Jesse Helms over and over. Something doesn't add up. This was his quote about his nuptials in Saturday's New York Times:

"I believe that visitation rights, health care benefits and other human relationship contracts that are taken for granted by all married people should be available to partners," he said.

See, Arthur, the problem here is that the people you work to elect don't believe in visitation rights, health care benefits and the other human relationship contracts for gay couples. They don't think of your relationship as human or normal. They hate you. Read the rest of this post...

Privacy: A Relic Of The Past

The online database company LexisNexis had its files breached by outsiders, as it first confessed in March. Now they're admitting they were just a tad off in their numbers. Did they say 30,000 Americans had their privacy violated? Sorry, they meant 300,000. The LA Times doesn't even blink about their attempt to calm fears.

Reed Elsevier [LexisNexis's London-based owner] said the data stolen does not include "personal credit histories, medical records or financial records on individuals."

"The information concerned relates to names and addresses and other personal identifying information such as Social Security and driver's license numbers," Reed Elsevier said today.

Oh, now I feel better. They just got my frickin SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER. Read the rest of this post...

This week's episode of DemsTV is now live

As always, I'm hosting and would appreciate your serious, frank feedback about the show overall - content, format, etc. Remember, the show is new, so we very much welcome suggestions, and even look forward to them, so go to it.

Watch it here.

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Open thread

Michael and Chris are alive! Read the rest of this post...

Cloned meat and milk study too small for any real conclusions

Between the headline of the article ("Study: Cloned Meat, Milk Nearly the Same") and then the introduction to the article a casual reader might actually think that this was a serious study. I'm sorry, but doing a study that involves 12 cows is hardly a serious study. I consider myself still somewhat neutral on the subject of cloning cows and other animals and the impact on humans but this is pure PR bullshit. The AP ought to be ashamed of themselves for churning out something so dishonest. Read the rest of this post...

It's official: Poland out of Iraq by end of 2005

So does this mean that Poland is now part of "old Europe" or how does it all work with these changes? Maybe Rummy can tell us what it all means. Read the rest of this post...

Halliburton cash machine hits a (small) road bump

Auditors are questioning more than $212M in charges and Rep Waxman has asked Rep. Shay (chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee) to hold hearings on the matter. Auditors questioned costs that were previously billed to the US government though not-so-surprisingly, the GOP controlled government paid everything including bonuses. Another fine day for accountability. Read the rest of this post...

American wages failing to keep up with inflation

Despite all of the talk about the "low" unemployment figures and increased employee productivity in the US, wages failed to keep up with inflation in 2004. Employers are talking about increased health care costs as one reason, though with my friends and family those costs have often been pushed directly over to employees so I'm not so sure I can accept that reasoning though it could be possible.

While some analysts are suggesting that we may be in for a period of stagnating wages others are saying that 2004 was just a hiccup and everything will be better moving forward. Who would guess that economists might see things so differently? We won't really know until next year but it's something quite serious to follow.

Since 2001, when the recovery began, productivity growth has averaged 4.1 percent a year; overall compensation - wages and benefits - has risen about one-third as fast, by 1.5 percent a year on average. By contrast, over the previous seven business cycles, productivity rose by 2.5 percent a year on average while compensation rose roughly three-fourths as fast, by 1.8 percent a year.

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Cardinal Law -- Given Cold Shoulder By US Cardinals

Finally, someone in Rome realizes Cardinal Law is a source of shame for the Church, however dearly the departed Pope considered him. According to the LA Times, six out of the seven US Cardinals avoided Law's mass, where he was given the honor due to his ceremonial position at the Vatican and allowed to say a mass for the Pope and -- crucially -- give a homily where he could try and shape or influence the debate about who should be the next Pope.

Now most of the other cardinal also skipped the mass on a rainy afternoon, but their motives are unclear. (The story doesn't report the level of attendance by cardinals at the other memorial masses.) Three of the US cardinals had schedule conflicts or chose not to attend when they found out it wasn't expected or mandatory.

But three of the US cardinals specifically avoided the mass and those close to them let it be known why -- it was because of the sex abuse scandals where Law played a key role in protecting priests who raped little boys and did so for decades, knowingly and inhumanely shuttling the priests from parish to parish where they could molest again, lying to others about the priests and generally betraying every sense of grace and compassion that Jesus embodied.

The three Cardinals who stayed away to snub him were Egan of NY (thank God for that), George of Chicago and Mahoney of LA (who is generally dismissed by Vatican watchers for being uninfluential because he's such a hippie -- ie. doesn't hate women, thinks raping kids is bad, etc.) One cardinal -- Rigali of Philadelphia -- was the only US cardinal present at the Vatican to attend the mass. Anyone from Philly? Rigali should be chided and shamed and demanded to make amends for associating with Law by the people of his parish. Like all sinners, Law can be forgiven, but he must show repentance and pay his debt to God and man. Clearly, a cushy high-paying job in the Vatican and voting on the next Pope is hardly a sign of sorrow.

I hate to disagree with Chris in Paris who saw Law's participation as a deliberate snub to those who criticized the Church over this issue. But in fact, it's much worse than that. The child sex abuse scandal -- which has gone on for decades (if not centuries) and which is hardly contained to the US (recent scandals have broken out in Ireland and Austria and elsewhere) -- is not even remotely on the radar for the Vatican or most cardinals from around the world. It barely registered on their consciousness and when it did it was simply as an example of the US's bizarre fixation on sex (a la Clinton's affair) and a lamentable case of Church leaders caving in to public opinion and abandoning priests just because the going got tough.

The child abuse scandal and Law? They weren't snubbing us; nope, they weren't even thinking about it. Read the rest of this post...

So Which Is It?

How easily do headlines shape our opinion of the facts? Here are four newspapers, all providing much the same quotes and facts about Bush meeting with Sharon and discussing the Palestinian question. Given the facts they all shared, which one captured the defining spirit of the event with their headline? Which one is true?

BUSH SUPPORTS PLAN BY SHARON FOR A WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA -- NYTimes

BUSH PRODS SHARON ON PEACE -- Washington Post

BUSH DEMANDS A HALT TO MORE WEST BANK HOMES -- Times of London

BUSH, SHARON CLASH OPENLY -- LA Times Read the rest of this post...

What if you threw a convention and arrested all the wrong people?

It's spelled G O P. Read the rest of this post...