The quack anti-gay "scientist" the Wash Post is promoting

Some more info on the guy whose research is cited in the anti-gay magazine the Washington Post published yesterday. His name is Paul Cameron, and he's a kook with a capital k. In particular, Cameron is the guy who did the "study" tens years ago "showing" the median age of death for gay men is supposedly 41! Which is most certainly is not.

This is from Dr. Greg Herek's Web site (he's great, and very credible, I've dealt with him before):

- On December 2, 1983, the American Psychological Association sent Paul Cameron a letter informing him that he had been dropped from membership. Early in 1984, all members of the American Psychological Association received official written notice that "Paul Cameron (Nebraska) was dropped from membership for a violation of the Preamble to the Ethical Principles of Psychologists" by the APA Board of Directors.5 Cameron has posted an elaborate argument about his expulsion from APA on his website, claiming that he resigned from APA before he was dropped from membership. Like most organizations, however, APA does not allow a member to resign when they are being investigated. And even if Cameron's claims were accepted as true, it would be remarkable that the largest professional organization of psychologists in the United States (and other professional associations, as noted below) went to such lengths to disassociate itself from one individual.

- At its membership meeting on October 19, 1984, the Nebraska Psychological Association adopted a resolution stating that it "formally disassociates itself from the representations and interpretations of scientific literature offered by Dr. Paul Cameron in his writings and public statements on sexuality."6

- In 1985, the American Sociological Association (ASA) adopted a resolution which asserted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism" and noted that "Dr. Paul Cameron has repeatedly campaigned for the abrogation of the civil rights of lesbians and gay men, substantiating his call on the basis of his distorted interpretation of this research."7 The resolution formally charged an ASA committee with the task of "critically evaluating and publicly responding to the work of Dr. Paul Cameron."

- At its August, 1986 meeting, the ASA officially accepted the committee's report and passed the following resolution:

The American Sociological Association officially and publicly states that Paul Cameron is not a sociologist, and condemns his consistent misrepresentation of sociological research. Information on this action and a copy of the report by the Committee on the Status of Homosexuals in Sociology, "The Paul Cameron Case," is to be published in Footnotes, and be sent to the officers of all regional and state sociological associations and to the Canadian Sociological Association with a request that they alert their members to Cameron's frequent lecture and media appearances."8

- Cameron's credibility was also questioned outside of academia. In his written opinion in Baker v. Wade (1985), Judge Buchmeyer of the U.S. District Court of Dallas referred to "Cameron's sworn statement that 'homosexuals abuse children at a proportionately greater incident than do heterosexuals,'" and concluded that "Dr. Paul Cameron...has himself made misrepresentations to this Court" and that "There has been no fraud or misrepresentations except by Dr. Cameron" (p.536).9

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Senate GOP caught red-handed invading public's privacy

This is wild. The GOP got caught slipping, into a 3000 page bill, legislation that would permit certain Senate committee chairs to look at the tax returns of ANY American (like, oh, for example, the DA going after Tom DeLay in Texas). The Dems caught them, and apparently it's hell to pay. More from Kos. Read the rest of this post...

Wash Post executive editor blasted for opposing diversity (I see a trend)

It seems the Washington Post was already in some hot water, just yesterday in fact, for shunning diversity:

Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. met with hundreds of newsroom staffers yesterday to outline management's latest attempts to combat declining circulation. However, the more intense discussion at the meeting involved diversity at the newspaper, as several minority staff members lamented that a white man recently was chosen over a woman and a black man as the paper's new managing editor....

"We're crushed," said national reporter Darryl Fears at the meeting. Fears, who is black, organized two meetings of African American staffers in recent days in response to Bennett's promotion. "A lot of our worst suspicions were confirmed about the ability of African Americans and other minorities to rise to the highest level of the best papers in the world," he said.

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UPDATE on Wash Post's homophobic race-baiting magazine

Sorry gang, I just got back and saw that the PDFs of the magazine (mentioned in the post below) were a bit large to download. We have a few solutions:

1. Download a 1.2 meg file of the entire 16 page magazine here. This server is much quicker, and you can download the entire magazine at one (albeit a blurrier version):
http://rawstory.com/images/pdf/BothSidesSmall.pdf

2. Download the individual pages here, still as pdf (I need jpgs of these if anyone can help). These are from a FASTER server, so should be much easier to download.
http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag1.pdf
http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag2.pdf
http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag3.pdf
http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag4.pdf

If those links are slow, try these as well:
http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag1.pdf
http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag2.pdf
http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag3.pdf
http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag4.pdf

3. I think we need to make this a major story, and political effort. One visitor had already mentioned about talking to his media buyer's and asking them to weigh in with the Post. Does anyone have any other ideas for how to blow this up bigger?

4. Finally, someone in the comments mentioned the "freedom of speech" issue - namely, aren't these bozos able to say whatever they want even if we don't like it. It's a valid concern, and I have a valid response:

A word about Freedom of Speech

I have two words for those who might suggest that the Post and this anti-gay group have the right to "freedom of speech": David Duke.

I doubt the Washington Post practices unfettered freedom of speech in its advertising supplements. I refuse to believe that David Duke could run a similar Wash Post supplement about African-Americans, presenting evidence that blacks are physically and mentally inferior to whites, that their struggle was nothing like the struggle of, say, Jews who were killed during the Holocaust, and that therefore blacks don't deserve the same civil rights you and I deserve, and that blacks can change and become white by simply using skin cream, so they're not a "real" minority. Think the Post would run that? Of course not.

What we have here is a double standard in the "freedom of speech" the Washington Post offers those who would attack minorities. Attack a gay, a-okay. Attack other minorities, not so okay. If the Post is going to have standards about what bigotry and quack science it will and won't publish in its advertising supplements, then it should apply those standards equally to all. And I doubt David Duke would get a real friendly welcome from the Post. Read the rest of this post...

Washington Post printed bitterly homophobic magazine supplement

ACTION:
Contact the Post's ombudsman, Mike Getler:
- ombudsman@washpost.com
- (202) 334-7582
I want his mailbox FULL of messages by the time he gets back on Monday. This crosses the line of decency.
---------------------

The Washington Post yesterday published a magazine ad supplement, bought by religious right groups, that is one of the most bigoted homophobic things I have ever read. I am astonished the Post would print this filth.

In it you learn things like the fact that sexual orientation isn't genetic. Why? Because if it were genetic it would have to be passed by gay parents who don't have kids! Putting aside a number of holes in that theory, there's the more general scientific point about recessive genes. My point is that this filth isn't even scientifically correct, and the Post is publishing it. I didn't realize the Post had no problems publishing junk science targeting minority groups. Huh.

What's more, the entire publication is based on race-baiting. It is CLEARLY written for the black community in an effort to piss them off against the gays. Funny, but you'd think the Post would have a problem with a scientifically invalid publication whose sole intent was to enrage one minority community against another. But no.

Oh, and it gets better. The publication informs you that gays die at the age of 41. Yep, all of us. What they don't tell you is that this little "study" was conducted by Dr. Paul Cameron, an anti-gay nutjob who has even been disowned by the religious right (let alone he was thrown out of various medical associations). But does the Post have a problem publishing junk science that suggests that certain minority groups are inferior to others? Not at all!

Oh, it goes on and on. Then concludes by invoking Martin Luther King's memory to attack us. Which is again an outright lie since Coretta Scott King has already said that the gay rights movement is part of the larger civil rights movement her husband embraced.

Where the hell is the Washington Post on all of this? Pay them the right price and they'll publish any crap, no matter how outrageous, no matter how wrong, no matter how hateful and obviously race-baiting (note that the fags in the publication are all white).

This is so beyond the pale. You have got to see this. And we have got to respond. On its face this is publishing junk science meant to attack minorities, and is race-baiting, among other things. I wonder if the Washington Post would publish a magazine insert that, oh, specifically targeted the white community, alerting them to studies suggesting that blacks are genetically inferior to whites, more prone to disease and early death than whites, and that blacks therefore don't deserve affirmative action and other civil rights protections because, you know, they're not as worthy as Jewish people? Also, I hear that if they use the right cream, blacks can become white.

I'm serious about this. If the Post refused to run such an ad we could sue their asses off under the DC civil rights ordinance. We need to get the Post on the record explaining the differences between the two ads because there is NO WAY they can defend the science in this ad, on that I'm an expert. This science is the same crap that says blacks are inferior to whites. And if the Post wouldn't run bigoted race-baiting Aryan science studies about blacks - and they wouldn't - then they'd better treat gays with the same journalistic standard.

1. Download a 1.2 meg file of the entire 16 page magazine here. This server is much quicker, and you can download the entire magazine at one (albeit a blurrier version): http://rawstory.com/images/pdf/BothSidesSmall.pdf

2. Download the individual pages here (4 pages per link - 16 pages total), still as pdf (I need jpgs of these if anyone can help). These are from a FASTER server, so should be much easier to download. http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag1.pdf http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag2.pdf http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag3.pdf http://www.frankenhooker.com/images/arsenal/posthate/bothsidesmag4.pdf

If those links are slow, try these as well: http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag1.pdf http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag2.pdf http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag3.pdf http://dugard.org/~dave/bothsides/bothsidesmag4.pdf
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Palestinians prepare for January elections, no news on Iraq

What ever happened to concrete news about Iraqi elections? All I hear about Iraq is that elections may be delayed and never anthing more. The Palestinians only started planning this after the death of Arafat and somehow there's more information out about their election than the one in Iraq that has been in the works for, hmmmm, how long now?
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But don't worry, their backs are broken

I'm fairly sure the penta-spin will call this the "last gasp" or "desperation" from the insurgents whose backs were clearly broken in Fallujah. Tell that to the family who no doubt heard that and had their hopes up for a safe return for their boy, only to learn today he won't be coming back. It's all crap, and it's an insult to the INCREDIBLY brave people over there who know they are not getting the support they need in terms of personnel and equipment.

I'm sick of watching generals run victory laps while crap like this happens. This is going to be a long, difficult fight. There will be highs and lows. Military families don't want false bravado or rhetoric from generals. They get enough of that from the white house. Many of them will spend the holidays wondering if their loved ones will come back safe, and they deserve the truth.
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Dashcle talks cooperation in final speach, Republicans MIA

Reaching out once again and talking about moderation, Daschle spoke to a mostly Democratic crowd in the Senate yesterday. Get a clue Tom, the Republicans are not interested in moderation nor are they interested in paying any respects to anyone that is not a wingnut. Let's see how long it takes before the moderate Reid gets demonized by the GOP as well. When is the party going to get a clue that the GOP is not interested in reaching out or working with the Democrats?
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Zarqawi, bin Laden reappear in media

After a brief absense in the press and after increased violence and chaos in Iraq, Zarqawi and bin Laden are now linked up or at least that is what the US military is implying. If we had not be lied to so many times maybe this would be worthy of review but every time something starts to go wrong, whether it's the economy, the war, whatever, we suddenly have reports that are scarier than the last. Keep in mind that this story is also coming out after a bloody week in Iraq and around the same time as the late Friday afternoon story about more troops heading to Iraq.
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UN Security Council to expand?

There has been a lot of talk about expanding the UN Security Council and yesterday Chirac voiced his interest in expanding the current number of 15 up to 20 or 25 in order to reflect the modern world. In general I think it's a great idea because the world has changed since 1945 and we ought to have stronger representation from around the world. That said, I am not interested in Germany joining that team because we already have two European countries represented and adding one more Euro-centric will not add any value. Maybe the new EU could consolidate those seats and have revolving ownership since everyone is now family.
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Greenspan reaches for past glory, talks about deficits

If Greenspan would have retired a few years ago he would have gone down as one of the best, rightly or wrongly. In the last few years he has come to look like a bumbling fool who is out of touch and grasping for anything that might propel him back to his former glory days. The deficit problem has clearly been a problem for a while now and finally he has decided to talk about it and as one might guess, the markets dropped on his confirmation of the problem.

For all of the Clinton bashers out there that always credited Greenspan (and not Clinton or the Democrats) for the booming economy in the 1990s, maybe it's time to re-think those remarks.
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