I wonder what Ken Mehlman thinks of this...

From Howard Fineman in Newsweek:

In the next term, Rove said, Bush will push—hard—for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union of man and woman, and for "strict constructionist" judges. "Voters like the president because he doesn't blink and he doesn't waver," says Rove, "and he isn't going to start. He says he values life, and he means it." The cold calculus: force Democrats to defend gay rights and unfettered access to abortion.

Cold calculus back at ya: Force Republicans to defend Ken Mehlman and all their other ambiguously asexual friends who won't fess up about whether THEY'RE living a life of pure family values or pure abomination.

You want this war, Karl, you got it. Hope your friends and coworkers don't mind paying the price. Read the rest of this post...

Why is CNN giving Falwell a podium?

Seriously. Jerry Falwell today hosted CrossFire on CNN, opposite James Carville. Not a guest. He HOSTED it. Yet, Falwell is not a conservative counterpoint to James Carville, somehow on the same plane as your typical outspoken Democratic political consultant. Falwell publicly blamed gays and lesbians, feminist, and pro-choicers for CAUSING September 11.

Falwell is a hatemonger and a bigot. His bimbo eruptions put our lives at risk - God only knows what his gun-toting red state supporters thought of us when Falwell told them, only a few days after September 11, when the entire nation wasn't just grieving and out for blood, but nearly out of our collective minds, that WE WERE TO BLAME FOR THE DEATHS OF 3,0000 AMERICANS.

It's bad enough for the media to turn to Falwell for a quote every time they do a story on gay rights - since they don't turn to the KKK or David Duke every time they do a story on affirmative action - but what more does Falwell have to do to delegitimize himself so completely that CNN and the rest of the media will finally understand that it is morally wrong to give this man a microphone?

But hey, sure Falwell preaches hate and bigotry, blames entire classes of American citizens for mass murder, but I mean, it's not like he was ever so crass as to ever want to go on TV and preach a message of love and inclusiveness in the name of God. THAT, we now know, goes one step too far in today's America.

Check out video of Falwell's appearance on CrossFire via Crooks and Liars. Read the rest of this post...

The ad censorship controversy grows

Fafblog finds itself in the same conundrum as CBS and NBC - what to do when controversial ads cross your path (or blog). Read the rest of this post...

Oh, just watch it.

A spoof on the Team America movie. It's very keep. Keep watching it, the whole thing. It gets better as it goes on. Read the rest of this post...

Radical right ticked at Target over Salvation Army

RawStory's Blue Lemur has the story. Read the rest of this post...

Robertson: Gays and lesbians are "self-absorbed hedonists ... that want to impose their particular sexuality on the rest of America"

Ok, who told him? Read the rest of this post...

For that hard-to-please friend

Target has the perfect gift.

And if they pull the page down, here's a screen capture of it. Read the rest of this post...

Oklahoma family values Republican, a sex offender?

Say it ain't so. Read the rest of this post...

Afternoon Open Thread

I [heart] CBS/NBC. Read the rest of this post...

The more you know, the more you think NBC hates Christians

Funny that NBC has no problem running ads about tolerance when NBC itself authors the ads. Using Eric McCormack of Will & Grace in their recent ad (you can view it online) clearly shows NBC's desire to have this ad implicitly address anti-gay hate as well as other forms. The NBC Web page about the ad even says the following:

Addressing the roots of prejudice in our communities, workplaces, and houses of worship sets an example of courage and hope for the future of our society, the future that our children will inherit.

Color me confused, but NBC's own Web site says that houses of worship should set the example in opposing the roots of prejudice. Uh, isn't that the same thing the UCC is saying? Unless the real problem here isn't the message at all, but the messenger. Maybe NBC simply has a problem with Christian churches, or at least Christian churches who don't hate gays, blacks, and people with disabilities, getting their message out. If so, that would sound like a violation of federal civil rights laws - denying the ad based on the fact the messenger is a church.

And in the end, if NBC wants to stick with their claim that the problem was the message, then they need to tell America what it is about a message of tolerance that is so offensive to NBC's sensibilities. Read the rest of this post...

Copy of CBS anti-gay letter to United Church of Christ

UPDATE: The letters are dated February and March of this past year, 2004, because that's when this battle began. The UCC has been negotiating with the networks for ten months over this, and it was only on November 30 that the negotiations finally ended and UCC was toast. Another aside, it appears the networks are now changing their story, they started claiming this was about gay marriage, then shifted gears and said it was about churches not letting people in to worship and THAT was too controversial. Meaning, the networks decided they didn't want to run UCC's ad, period, and have been fishing for ten months for a reason to block it.



Click here to see a larger version of the CBS letter to the UCC denying the ad.

A few responses to the CBS memo:
1. How is the pro-gay message "secular" when it comes from a pro-gay church, but religious when it comes from an anti-gay church? After all, the religious right tells us repeatedly that their anti-gay prejudice is roots in their faith. But the UCC's pro-gay views AREN'T rooted in their faith, per CBS?

2. The only "position" UCC is taking is on their church welcoming everyone to pray. Since when is that a "current controversial issue of public importance"? I didn't realize whether people could pray in church was such a current controversial issue. This is an outright lie/red herring from CBS.

3. The second sentence from CBS "Because this commercial..." seems to be suggesting that because the Bush administration is opposed to civil rights for lots of different people, then ANY pro civil rights or pro-equality/inclusion message about any minority groups in America is "current" and "controversial" and thus CBS will no longer run ads promoting anything positive about blacks, gays, or people with disabilities, among other groups.

And more generally, CBS is saying that all the Bush administration has to do is make an issue controversial by talking about it, and CBS will pull the ad, becausea then, per se, the ad is about a controversial current issue. Think about that. CBS just gave the Bush administration absolute veto power over ANY AD the network ever runs. If the Bushies don't like an ad by a company that gives more money to Dems, they can complain about that company and its products, thus making that company part of the "current controversy" and the ad gets yanked.

4. CBS says the ad "proselytizes" on behalf of a single religion. Again, they say this because apparently messages about loving they neighbor and being nice to people are now proselytizing. So CBS won't accept any more public service announcements, I suppose, since those are generally "be nice to your fellow man" ads.

5. This entire memo reeks of anti-religious and anti-gay bigotry. I say we need a few lawsuits against CBS based on public accomodatoins laws, both national and local, that protect either religion and/or sexual orientation.



Click here to see a larger version of the UCC letter to CBS submitting the ad. Read the rest of this post...

Michigan yanks domestic partner benefits - blames passage of anti-gay state constitutional amendmet

It's time to declare all out war, people.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm will remove same-sex partner benefits from contracts negotiated with state workers, said an aide, citing a voter-approved amendment to the Michigan Constitution that bans gay marriage "and similar unions." Michigan voters approved the amendment Nov. 2.

Read the rest of this post...

$900 Million over 5 years and this is what we get

Science is for America haters. Go ignorance! It's really cool! It's in US schools today, thanks to our tax dollars.

• A 43-day-old fetus is a "thinking person."
• HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, can be spread via sweat and tears.
• Condoms fail to prevent HIV transmission as often as 31 percent of the time in heterosexual intercourse.
• abortion can lead to sterility and suicide
• half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus
• touching a person's genitals "can result in pregnancy"
• men need for "admiration" and "sexual fulfillment" compared with a woman's need for "financial support"
• Columbia University researchers found that although teenagers who take "virginity pledges" may wait longer to initiate sexual activity, 88 percent eventually have premarital sex.

(Note the mention of the "Waxman and other liberal sex-education proponents" but we do not see "religious conservative" or even a simple "raving lunatic who perverts science to fit with his seriously fucked up assertions and probably should be first in line for a serious mental examination" associated with the supporters of this program.)
Read the rest of this post...

Bush campaign official indicted for phone jamming

Who needs democracy anyway?
Read the rest of this post...

Dollar dropping again to new lows

New lows for the dollar to euro and twelve year lows against the British pound.
Read the rest of this post...

12,000 more troops in Iraq until March

And we know how reliable the Pentagon can be when delivering news. So far the story is that the numbers will be temporarily boosted due to keeping troops in Iraq for an additional three months while their replacements also are in country. Obviously this is a sign that the bad guys are on the run and the US military has them routed under the weight of a superior force and better tactics and who could forget, better technology. With cheerleaders like the spineless American press, it is not always clear what is really happening.
Read the rest of this post...

As the UN turns, CYA out in full force

The saga continues and the CYA crowd is circling the wagons, protecting Koffi Annan. For me, Annan raised a red flag when he forcefully pooh-poohed the food-for-oil investigation, which clearly has issues itself since it was initially promoted by the infamous Chalabi, who is not exactly known for his honesty. It still brings me back to what I think is a problem, where the son of the UN Secretary-General is getting paid by a business who was closely involved in the food-for-oil program. To me it is absolutely stunning to read that his son was paid $2500 per month by a company that he stopped working for in 1998. I am reasonably familiar with labor practices both in the US and in Europe and such payments are highly irregular, to say the least.

If the UN wants to make itself irrelevant, they can continue allowing garbage like this and vote to keep each other immune from criticism. Annan can also continue dragging their feet with crisis such as Darfur. If Annan wants to be forceful, he could be a stronger force with that problem as well, especially after ignoring Rwanda ten years ago. Then perhaps the UN can start taking a look into other issues such as aid distribution and how it has contributed to false economies and corruption. Again, I strongly support the idea of the UN and want to see it work, but right now there are problems.
Read the rest of this post...