Some gay Republicans are sticking by their man: Gay DC couple stage fundraiser for Bush

Ok, gag me. Make sure you read this article with a bucket next to you, just in case.

Some highlights:

1. Two points for Log Cabin:

“I asked Patrick Guerriero [executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans] to come and speak, but of course he declined because this was a party for the president,” Cortinez said, clad in a white Bush-Cheney polo shirt.

2. Are you insane?

“In his heart, I know the president doesn’t support [the amendment]. He knew that every single vote would count, so he had to do something to appeal to the base."

3. You've got to be kidding me

“I am a delegate who is fighting for the Republican Party and to make sure it is inclusive. It’s hard for me, but I can achieve that by working with the party’s choice,” [Carl] Schmid said. “Last week, he finally mentioned the word ‘gay,’ which is something I requested of his advisers. He does listen.”

Bush’s mention of the “G-word” did not come in a speech or other scripted remarks, however. It was an off-the-cuff remark at a campaign event in Pennsylvania, where he let those in attendance know that he had just been asked about “gay marriage.” He went on to express support for the Federal Marriage Amendment....

“He’s not a bigot, otherwise I wouldn’t be sticking by him. I feel like I really know him,” Cortinez said before pausing to list his positive qualities. “Sometimes you just have to do something to appeal to the political base.”

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Now they're proposing YET ANOTHER gay-bashing marriage bill in the Congress

Need another reason to donate to Kerry? Read this latest BS from the radical right, and vote Democratic in November. Throw the bums out of the White House and out of the Congress. No bill like this would ever pass out of a Democratically-controlled committee. Read the rest of this post...

Focus on the Family Ads "Upbraid" Senators for FMA Votes

"Upbraid"? Good God, are these people still living in the 16th century? Would ye like to stone the witch today? Anyway, the family values hate groups are apparently now going to run ads "upbraiding" Senators who didn't vote to limit debate on the Gay Bashing Constitutional Amendment last week (i.e., Senators who didn't vote the way the family values bigots wanted).

Here's a snippet from their news release:

"As our ads say, the votes of these six senators were a slap in the face of every American child," [FOF leader James] Dobson explained. "Countless studies have repeatedly proved that children do better physically, emotionally and academically when they are raised by their married, biological parents. And while a compassionate society always comes to the aid of courageous single parents, no society should endorse and encourage the creation of intentionally motherless or fatherless families.

"With both political parties gathering in the coming weeks to celebrate their visions for America's future, we remain committed to defending the right of every American child to have a mom and a dad in their lives.

How about the right of every American child not to be born into the home of a self-important blasphemous bigot? I'd vote for that constitutional amendment any day. Read the rest of this post...

Margaret Cho responds to controversy, calls for unity

Now THAT is one classy broad. Read the rest of this post...

Margaret Cho Dissed, Take 2

Michael in NY posted below about Margaret Cho getting uninvited to the HRC event at the Dem Convention. Michael, like many of you, was understandably outraged. I wanted to take a moment to present another side. Not necessarily a defense of HRC, but rather, a presentation of the "rock and a hard place" I think HRC found itself in over this issue.

In a nutshell, apparently, Margaret Cho's was due to speak at an upcoming HRC event at the Dem Convention. Margaret Cho's people informed HRC and/or the folks organizing the event that Cho was going to present an "incendiary and controversial" performance. After what happened to Whoopi two weeks ago, when the Republicans used her Bush-bashing to make Kerry look bad, and after previous successful attempts by the Repubs to make similar hay with criticism from Michael Moore and others, either HRC, the Kerry folks, or some other organization involved in this event started to worry that the same thing might happen with this event. I.e., the Republicans would take this wonderful week of Democratic solidarity - something very important for giving the Dem candidate a big bump in the polls - and make the week instead about how Kerry surrounds himself with hateful supporters who have no sense of decency.

Now, I don't think her comments about Bush would be hateful and indecent. I think Cho's expected criticism of Bush would be hilarious and well-deserved. But. Do I think the Republicans would successfully use such a performance to destroy Kerry? Yes, I do.

So now I have a choice. I can either go ahead with the performance, knowing that the Republicans will likely use it against me in a successful effort to harm the candidate. Or, I can try to find a way to make the performance less controversial. Were it me, I'd vote for option 2. Free speech is all well and good, but I'm not going to be a sucker when the Republicans have already telegraphed what they're planning to do to me.

Does that mean "uninviting" Cho? I hope that wasn't the first choice of the HRC or the Kerry people. Margaret has always seemed damned bright and politically savvy - I would hope she'd understand and sympathize with a request to tone down the nasty stuff since this event is a very public one to which Kerry's name is attached, especially in light of the Republicans known desire to twist this event to their own purposes (not to mention, it's more than a bit interesting that they chose a 'gay' event to bash Kerry over).

I have no idea what HRC did or didn't do in this matter. I will say that for a "GLBT Unity Event" to become this much of a mess - NGLTF has already pulled out - it sure doesn't bode well for our unity coming up to the most important election our community has faced in a generation. And in that regard, the Republicans have already accomplished all that they would have liked to do with regards to this issue. Read the rest of this post...

Sudan Horrors Mount; US Begins To Apply Pressure

Colin Powell went to his friends at the UN today and circulated a Security Council resolution threatening sanctions against Sudan if it doesn't stop the waves of violence in the Darfur region. Congress has labeled these crimes as genocide, the UN calls it the worst humanitarian crisis in the world and the Sudanese government says no one knows what they're talking about. The sad truth? No other country is acting more swiftly and the US's hands are mostly tied thanks to our already-thin troops on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.
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Army Abuses Report on Army Abuse

Anyone who thought the Army couldn't reasonably investigate itself and those horrific acts of brutality that shamed our nation and shocked the world...well, you were right. The Army released its report the same day as the 9-11 commission's report -- successfully burying its findings in the flurry of news coverage for that scathing indictment. Despite finding evidence of more abuse than they ever admitted to before (94 cases, including 20 deaths), despite tallying those incidents as occuring in Iraq and Afghanistan in many different areas, despite contradicting itself in the report at numerous times, the Army said the abuses were the actions of a few and there were no systemic problems. Reaction, sadly, was split on party lines when EVERYONE should be outraged at the Army's willingness to blame underlings and not hold top officials to blame for what happened on their watch.
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Margaret Cho Dissed

Margaret Cho has been dumped by the Human Rights Campaign from performing at its Monday gala near the Democratic convention in Boston, according to USA Today. We just praised HRC for their recent smart political ads on the Cheneys. Too bad they caved here out of fear the media would make hay over her comments. There's a big difference between an HRC event with a stand-up comic (one of our favorites) making jokes and an event where candidate Kerry is in attendance, sharing a stage with celebs and calls them the "heart and soul" of the nation. Maybe Rush Limbaugh would have tried to make something out of it, but no one else would. HRC's silly defense? "We didn't want to censor her, so we're making other plans." You didn't want to censor her so you censored her? Huh?

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Attacks on Gay Rights Continue

Putting the lie to the claim that it's all about "protecting marriage," USA Today reports that Arkansas is the sixth state to put an anti-gay measure -- in this case a proposed state constitutional amendment -- to up for a vote. Numerous other states are also looking to do the same. Arkansas already has a law banning same-sex marriage -- now they want to raise the ban to the constitutional level and also ban gay civil unions.
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Bush Urges Blacks Not to Back Democrats

AP reports that Bush is trying to woo the black vote. Got me thinking of possible Bush campaign slogans to accomplish that task:

6. 3/5ths a man, phooey. We'll give you 4/5ths!
5. Slavery's cool
4. Come home to the big house
3. Vote Republican, or don't vote at all
2. Tired of too much freedom?
1. At least we hate Muslims and gays more than you

Other ideas?

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Group May Attack Media at Democrats Convention: FBI

Reuters:

The FBI said on Friday it was investigating "unconfirmed information" of a possible attack on media vehicles during the Democratic National Convention, which begins on Monday in Boston.

"The FBI has received unconfirmed information that a domestic group is planning to disrupt the Democratic National Convention by attacking media vehicles with explosives or incendiary devices," the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Boston field office said in a statement...

Oh yeah, DEFINITELY feeling safer than I did four years ago. Read the rest of this post...

Fuzzy Math - and Much Worse - at the Pentagon

That large sucking sound you hear is the Pentagon taking our money -- and not remembering where they put it.   It seems they've underestimated what the war in Iraq will cost this year -- again.  To the tune of $12.3 billion. The Government Accountability Office recently issued a stinging report on financial mismanagement in the Pentagon.  It's so bad the Department of Defense admits it can't actually tell you where its money goes.

So why the $12 billion (yes, that's billion, with a "b") more this year?  One reason is they can't seem to find about $1.2 billion worth of the stuff they sent to Iraq.

There's also this gem:

• Another Pentagon agency mistakenly sold chemical warfare suits on the Internet for $3 each while a separate office was struggling to fill shortages with new suits it bought for $200 each.

We're supposed to be tracking the financial records and activities of terrorists.  And our own Defense Department is losing billions of dollars of equipment in Iraq -- you know, that place where all the bad guys are -- and selling chemical warfare suits on the internet to anyone who wants them for three bucks.   Our troops on the ground need this equipment, and this is how the leadership at the Pentagon treats them.

But remember, America is safer. Read the rest of this post...

Another day, another change to the Berger story by the White House

Since the original documents remain in the archives, I can't think of a logical explanation for Berger taking any of the papers with any intent to destroy or hide information.  He was wrong to take documents away but how important they were is open for debate.  What is more interesting to me is how the White House has had a different story three days in a row.  Maybe there needs to be an investigation into yet another politically charged smear campaign that seems to be originating from the Administration.  Hello...Karl?  Are you there?

A senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that some National Security Council officials knew Berger ... was suspected of mishandling National Archives documents that were being sought by the commission.

On Wednesday, a day after saying he learned about the investigation from news reports, White House press secretary Scott McClellan added that "a few individuals" in the White House counsel's office had known about the inquiry.

"This is the third day in a row that the story has changed," Lockhart said. "Did the political operation know? Did [adviser] Karl Rove know? I think it's time for them to come clean, say what they knew, when they knew it, and what role if anything they had in leaking it."

Joke of the day: Bush targeting black voters

Today Bush will speak to the Urban League where his campaign staff claims that he wants to speak  "directly with the African-American community about how his agenda is worthy of their attention and consideration."  Looking at some of the numbers, he certainly has an uphill battle on his hands.

Blacks supported Democrat Al Gore over Bush by a 9-1 margin in the 2000 election, and the poll released this week by BET/CBS News showed their backing for Kerry is almost as strong.

Nine out of 10 black adults surveyed believe the Iraq war was not worth the cost in lives or money, and the same proportion believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.