The Progressive Puppy

Scott Roeder Found Guilty in Thirty-Seven Minutes

No over ever doubted that Scott Roeder murdered Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. Roeder confessed to the crime. The question was whether Sedgwick County District Judge Warren Wilbert would allow jurors to consider a lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter based on Roeder’s belief that he killed Tiller in order to save the lives of unborn babies.  He told the court that the "easiest" way to achieve his goal was to "walk into Tiller's church, put a gun to the doctor's forehead and pull the trigger."  Roeder added, "Those children were in immediate danger if someone did not stop George Tiller."  During his closing arguments, defense attorney Mark Rudy begged the jury to reject the murder charge, saying, "No one should be convicted based on his convictions." 

That might just be the most insane statement a lawyer has ever made.

From Huffington Post:  Jurors swiftly convicted an abortion opponent of murder Friday for shooting to death one of the only doctors to offer late-term abortions in the U.S., a killing the gunman claimed was justified to save the lives of unborn children.  The jury deliberated for just 37 minutes before finding Scott Roeder, 51, of Kansas City, Mo., guilty of premeditated, first-degree murder for putting a gun to the forehead of Dr. George Tiller on May 31 and pulling the trigger. Defense attorney Mark Rudy described his case as helpless and hopeless.  "I've never seen anyone lay himself out as much as Mr. Roeder did," Rudy said after the verdict, referring to his client's confessions. Roeder faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years when he is sentenced March 9.  Prosecutor Nola Foulston said she would pursue a so-called "Hard 50" sentence, which would require Roeder to serve at least 50 years before he can be considered for parole.

I'm not a supporter of the death penalty - and definitely not in this case.  Religious conservatives would have turned this cretin into a martyr.  I'd like to think Roeder's quick conviction would serve as a warning to other anti-choice radicals.  But of course it won't.

Virginia Schools: Anne Frank's Diary Too Sexual For Adolescents

A school district in the state of Virginia has decided that Anne Frank's unedited diary is too sexually explicit for young readers because it mentions - shhhh - the vagina.

From the Star-Exponent:  A version of an iconic autobiography detailing a young Jewish girl’s two-year experience hiding from Nazis in a cramped "Secret Annex" has been pulled from the shelves of Culpeper County Public Schools.  "The Diary of a Young Girl: The Definitive Edition," a vivid memoir of Anne Frank’s private thoughts during the German occupation of the Netherlands during World War II, will no longer be assigned to CCPS students, according to Jim Allen, director of instruction for the school system.  This book is usually given to eighth-grade middle school English students to read.  Citing a parent’s concern over the sexual nature of the vagina passage in the definitive edition, Allen said school officials immediately chose to pull this version...  Allen said from his office Wednesday morning, "I don’t want to make a big deal out of this. So we listened to the parent and we pulled it."  (One parent. A single parent. That's all it takes to get literature banned in Culpeper County.)  Allen suggested teachers become more familiar with any reading material before issuing an assignment and described this situation as a "teachable moment." 

The passage that this parent found so offensive describes Frank's discovery of her genitalia.  Writes Anne:  "There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!"

I'm astonished that anyone could turn Anne Frank's natural curiosity about her body into something shameful and dirty.  This isn't Lolita, for chrissake.  Superintendent Allen was pleased as punch to accommodate the complaining parent.  He said, "I’m happy when parents get involved with these things because it lets me know that they are really looking and have their kids’ best interest in mind. That’s where good parenting and good teaching comes in."  (Hat Tip: Raw Story)

Gay Super Bowl Ad Stolen From MAD-tv Skit

It's not offensive because it's gay, it's offensive because it's lame.

Fox News reports that CBS is still reviewing that Super Bowl ad submitted by the gay dating service ManCrunch:  The 30-second spot shows two men excitedly watching the game, before their hands brush as they both reach into a bowl of chips. Suddenly, the two begin making out, much to the shock of a guy sitting close by.  According to a rep for the dating site, which operates under the slogan "Where Many Many Many Men Come Out to Play," the ad was submitted on Monday, January 18th.  When the site followed up on the status of the ad, they were told by CBS that "the spot hadn’t been officially approved yet" by network standards, and that "all the Super Bowl spots were sold out."  ... ManCrunch officials said they believe CBS has no intention of airing a commercial for their gay dating service, "but do not want to officially reject the spot out of fear there may be a backlash from gay advocacy groups."

The commercial is a mess.  Not only does it have little to do with same-sex dating, its one joke is a shameless knockoff of an old MAD-tv sketch.  CBS will never agree to run this poorly produced tripe, whose raison d'etre seems to be shock value.  I'd be surprised if any gay folks were involved in creating the spot - and that includes the actors.  Below is the ManCruch ad, followed by the much funnier comedy skit that inspired it. (Really, is this the best they can come up with?)

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UPDATE: The ManCrunch commercial has just been rejected by CBS.  The network promptly issued this statement:  "After reviewing the ad - which is entirely commercial in nature - our Standards and Practices department decided not to accept this particular spot.  As always, we are open to working with the client on alternative submissions."

Producer Who Says Gays Should Stay Closeted Fires Gay Actor

Mad Men creator and executive producer Matthew Weiner said in December that even though Hollywood stars like Neil Patrick Harris and Ellen DeGeneres have not lost work because of their decision to come out of the closet, actors should continue hiding their sexuality if they want successful careers.  During a Radio and Television Society luncheon, Weiner declared:  "I think it can be a commercially devastating thing.  The viability of you as a character - no matter how good an actor you are - can be jeopardized by this."  He insisted that if a gay actor is out, he won't be seen as a sex symbol.

And now Weiner's statements have become a sort of self-fulfilling prophesy.

As if to prove his point, Weiner recently fired Bryan Batt from the AMC hit series Mad Men.  Batt is an out gay man and he plays a gay character on the show.  From TV Guide:  When the Sterling Cooper ad agency regrouped at the end of last season, Salvatore Romano was the one Mad Men character not called back to work - a direct result of the colorful character’s uncloseted homosexuality.  Now with the shooting of Season 4 set to begin in March, Bryan Batt is worried that he’s out of a job. "I was supposed to be notified by December 31, and nothing," says the actor.  (In Hollywood, no news isn't necessarily good news.)  It sounds as though Bryan’s concerns are warranted. "We don’t murder people on our show, but for there to be any stakes, there have to be consequences," says creator Matthew Weiner.  (Weiner then added, "I know how people felt about Bryan. I obviously love working with him, and he has been an indelible character since the pilot. But I felt it was an expression of the times that he couldn’t work there anymore. It’s the ultimate case of sexual harassment.")

There are many different plot scenarios in which "Salvatore Romano" might have remained on the program, but of course employing the actor - and retaining the character - would contradict Weiner's personal philosophy.   (Pictured: Batt)

Conservatives Run From Pretend Pimp Turned Wiretapper

Of course you remember right-wing activist James O'Keefe who last summer dressed up like a Halloween pimp and infiltrated ACORN offices in order to solicit advice about managing a brothel.  He secretly videotaped the visits and then posted them on YouTube, which resulted in mass anti-ACORN hysteria from GOP lawmakers and their teabagging buddies.  In fact, House Republicans so loved O'Keefe, they wanted Congress to pass a proclamation praising him for "saving taxpayers millions of dollars."

Well now that banty cockerel has come home to roost.  O'Keefe was arrested this week for "attempting to illegally access and manipulate the phone system in a district office of U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana."  Landrieu is a centrist Democrat, so it's unclear what the radical poseur was looking for.  Proof she's not conservative enough for the Pelican State, no doubt.

Those who once hailed O'Keefe as a hero are suddenly distancing themselves from him.  From the Los Angeles Times:  Conservative pundits and activists on Wednesday backed away from a young video producer who was arrested with three other men on suspicion of illegally entering the New Orleans office of Democratic Sen. Mary L. Landrieu posing as telephone repairmen.  James O'Keefe, 25, gained celebrity in conservative circles last year for undercover videotapes he made at several offices of the liberal community organizing group ACORN, in which workers appear to give advice on tax evasion, human smuggling and child prostitution.  O'Keefe and the others were arrested Monday and charged with entering federal property under false pretenses with the intent to commit a felony.  Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers, with hard hats, tool belts and fluorescent vests. At one point, O'Keefe was allegedly seen photographing them with his cellphone...  Conservative commentator Patrick J. Buchanan expressed disbelief over the allegations of criminal behavior in an interview on MSNBC's Hardball.  "If this is true, this seems like an absurd act," Buchanan said. "If that's what they're doing, bugging her - the New Orleans office of a United States senator? What in heaven's name do they think they're going to pick up?"  Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin, who had previously praised O'Keefe for his videos attacking ACORN, wrote that O'Keefe's arrest should "be a lesson to aspiring young conservatives."

Fox News blowhard Glenn Beck is calling O'Keefe's brand of investigative journalism "insanely stupid."  (And let's face it, Beck knows a thing or two about insanely stupid.)  Not all Republican leaders are ready to abandon the young activist, however.  From the addled brain of Iowa Congressman Steve King, we get a fledgling conspiracy theory.  Says King:  "You are innocent until proven guilty...  it seems really convenient that this would happen now." 

No, Mr. King.  It would have been "convenient" if this had happened six months ago.

Sugar's Rainbow: DADT, Joint Chiefs Scowling

During Obama's State of the Union address, Joint Chiefs of Staff sat scowling as the President promised to overturn the military's archaic "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy:  "This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are.  It's the right thing to do."  (Lest you imagine grim faces are required while listening to SOTU, Joe.MY.God. provides a screen shot of those same generals standing and applauding when their Commander-in-chief warns Iran to mend its nuclear ways.)  It's important that Obama is offering us a timeline for repeal: This year, he says.  John Aravosis notes that the sentence "It's the right thing to do." was inserted at the last moment.  After the President's speech, John McCain hurried to the nearest television camera and proclaimed that ending the discriminatory policy was a mistake:  "I am immensely proud of, and thankful for, every American who wears the uniform of our country, especially at a time of war, and I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the policy."  So, he's only proud of gay and lesbian soldiers as long as they continue to lie about their sexual orientation?   It's estimated that 66,000 gay and lesbian troops are currently serving in the US Military.  According to the Williams Institute, the United States has spent between 300 million and half a billion dollars implementing DADT.  (I'm still not convinced that Obama is serious about ending DADT since he could have already put that ball in motion - but I do believe he's serious about appearing to be serious.)   

In case you haven't been keeping up with the Prop 8 federal trial, attorney David Boise expertly eviscerated defense witness David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values.  (Why do the names of these anti-gay orgs all sound alike?  For once I'd like one of them to grow some balls and call itself The Institute for Hate and Homophobia.)  Blankenhorn, the defendants' star witness, made a total fool of himself in the courtroom yesterday. Even Judge Vaughn Walker was disgusted with his condescending attitude.  You can review Rick Jacobs' excellent coverage over at Prop8 Trial Tracker.  (Highly recommended.)  Keen News Service has a satisfactory rundown, for those who are interested in a summary of the day's proceedings.  Bilerico supplies context and criticism.  And now the testimony has concluded.  And now we wait.  At the end of the session, Walker thanked the lawyers for a "fascinating" trial.

James Withers at 365Gay has a good smackdown of HuffPo blogger David Kaufman who ludicrously asserted that LGBT activists - and in particular, Pam Spaulding - are responsible for Martha Coakley's loss in Massachusetts.  Earlier this week Kaufman wrote:  "(S)ame-sex marriage advocates must finally understand they cannot equate their struggle with the African-American battle for Civil Rights or South African movement to end Apartheid. Not because Marriage Equality is not a noble goal, but because they are simply not the same thing.  And - yes, I'll dare say it - because they simply have not earned it!"  (Equality must be earned?)

Bray Cary of WOWK TV13 conducts a "serious" debate about gay marriage with the ACLU's Seth DiStefano and Jeremiah Dys of Virginia Policy Council.  The hostile reporter actually starts the segment by equating same-sex relationships to those which might exist between "a pig and a cow" or "a man and his brother."  Good As You has video.

And finally, a Miami judge has approved the adoption of a foster child by a lesbian couple, bringing to three the number of adoptions by gay parents since 2008.  A recap of Florida's adoption ban challenges, from the Miami Herald:   A judge in Key West, Monroe Circuit Judge David J. Audlin, struck the first blow to the statute on Aug. 29, 2008, when he signed a 67-page order declaring the law unconstitutional. Audlin's order cleared the way for a Key West lawyer, Wayne LaRue Smith, to adopt a boy he had been raising in foster care.  A month later, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman approved the adoption of two half brothers by a North Miami foster parent, Frank Martin Gill, who declared on his adoption application that he, too, is gay. DCF did appeal Lederman's ruling to the Third District Court of Appeal in Miami-Dade. That appeal is still under review.  (Will this third ruling be the one that ends adoption discrimination?)