The Progressive Puppy

Melodramatic Anti-Choice Ad

From the theorcratic advocacy group Personhood Colorado comes this radical take on "America the damned" that portrays President Obama as the Angel of Death., and a view of history that would make any clever third grader roll their eyes with disgust.  Honestly, the only thing 'Personhood' left out of this overwrought political commercial is a hound dog baying at the moon.  For those who see the world clearly, the following ad is high camp.  To America's Christianist taliban, it is religious dogma.  The background music sounds like something from an old Conan movie.

Attention women voters:  If you cast ballots for ultraconservative candidates with "pro-life" agendas your bodies will one day belong to a group of fanatics you wouldn't trust to walk your dog.  Their interest is not in zygotes; it is in you.

Tuesday With Sugar. And Spice.

 From the Associated Press via Raw Story:  A Pentagon spokeswoman says recruiters have been told that they must accept gay applicants, following a federal court decision striking down the ban on gays serving openly in the military.  Spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Tuesday that top-level guidance has been issued to recruiting commands informing them that the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" rule has been suspended for now. Recruiters also have been told to inform potential recruits that the moratorium could be reversed at any point.  (So this is where the DoD is: "We'll accept you knowing you're gay or lesbian but we reserve the right to fire you whenever we want because you told us you're gay or lesbian." How bizarre.)  Last week, a federal judge ordered the military to stop enforcing the 1993 law banning openly gay service members. The Justice Department is appealing the decision and has asked for a temporary stay.  U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips said Monday that she was leaning towards denying that stay.  (Nerdless to say, legal eagles at Obama's Department of Justice are chomping at the bit to file an appeal.  UPDATE:  DADT is now back on the books, thanks to a federal appeals panel that blocked the lower ourt ruling.)

America's Religious Right must be shouting "Halleluiah" over this one:  A national publication based in Kampala (called, curiously, Rolling Stone) ran a feature article titled "100 Pictures Of Uganda's Top Homosexuals" (whatever that means) with a yellow banner across the front page reading: "Hang Them!"  Next to the photos were the men's names and addresses.  Since the the paper came out, at least four of the men listed have been brutally attacked.  Friom MSNBC. 

Back in 2009, Georgia state legislator Rep. Calvin Hill led a high-profile crusade against teaching sexual health at public universities.  He and other conservative lawmakers wanted to end college courses dealing with LGBT history and other "controversial subjects," and he pressed universities to fire any professors who didn't line up with his sexless agenda.  Who knew Representative Hill owned a company that sells sex gadgets online (to adults only, presumably).  From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:  Stephanie Webb is Calvin Hill's Democratic opponent. One night, her husband and campaign manager was perusing the Gila Distributing web site and discovered more than antlers for sale:  Foam "stress relievers" in the shape of a woman's breasts, and the male sex organ;  "The Little Black Book of Sex Secrets," allegedly by the author Dee Flower;  a 'safe sex' kit that includes condoms, anti-bacterial wipes, and two Lifesavers breath mints...  Webb, a 50-year-old homemaker, has set up an Internet site displaying the products. "It wasn’t to be mean, but to show the hypocrisy," she said.  (Republicans?  Hypocrites?  Go on.)  Hill said he had no idea that such items were available through his web site.  (And where have we heard that before?)

In the country of Finland, 20,000 congregants have resigned from the Evangelical Lutheran Church over its intolerant position on gay rights.

Fifteen-year-old Sommer Collins was suspended from her middle school in Fort Smith, Arkansas for wearing a tee-shirt that said "Proud To Be A Lesbian."  So why was she wearing the LGBT shirt to start with?  The previous day her Christian teacher told her to remove a rainbow bracelet because it promoted an immoral cause.  Change.Org has details.

Colorado Senate candidate Ken Buck says being gay is just like alcoholism, a topic with which he is intimately familiar.  Not to be outdone in sheer stupidity, Kentucky's GOP congressional candidate for District 3 Todd Lally says that being a homosexual is like being obese.  LezGetReal applies ridicule.

Bowling Green, Ohio residents are being regaled by the discredited Matt "Bam Bam" Barber who wants them to overturn two local equality measures.  Joe Sudbay at Americablog provides the lowdown.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, once again, assures us that Don't Ask, Don't Tell will be ending soon.  (He must think that we were born yesterday.)

The cancerous National Organization for Marriage has metastasized into the state of New York, for what good it's doing them.  The Hateful Trinity of Brian Brown, Maggie Gallagher, and lawyerly bigot Bart Sullivan Behr have filed a lawsuit seeking to exempt their discriminatory organization from campaign finance disclosure laws.  This, after Democrat Andrew Cuomo opened up a 35 point lead over homophobe Carl Paladino in the current gubernatorial race.  Leaders of the malignant NOM, who know their way around the inside of a courtroom, can be expected to waste lots of donor cash and make asses of themselves just like they did during the federal Prop 8 Trial.  Pity the sheeple who waste their hard earned money on this group of zealots.  There's more information at Pam's House Blend.

Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" project to inspire confidence and hope in victims of anti-LGBT bullying keeps growing, despite some naysayers in the gay community who insist that it doesn't do enough to address the problem now.  I'm with Savage on this one.  It's not an either/or situation and at this very moment there are at-risk kids committing suicide.  Karen Ocamb at LGBTPOV calls the following music video "inspirational, uplifting – and catchy, too."  Next to that, an anti-gay marriage ad by the fundie groups Minnesota Family Council and NationForMarriage (with a little help from their prayerful friends in hate at NOM), pushing the same tired lies we've been hearing for years.

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DADT Twister

Josh Gerstein at Politico has written a lengthy report called "Obama’s go-slow Don't Ask, Don't Tell plan backfires."  (Duhhhh.)  It's a well-trodden rehash of the history of legal and political maneuverings surrounding the nation's ban on openly gay and lesbian soldiers, with subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at America's Commander-in-chief.  As with a tragedy penned by Aeschylus, you know how this one's going to end before the first scene plays out:  On Sept. 9, (U.S. District  Judge Virginia) Phillips ruled 'don’t ask' unconstitutional, relying in large part on the legal standard set forth in the 9th Circuit’s Witt case — the same one the Obama administration declined to challenge last year.  Again, the policy of deferring the issue seemed to have backfired. The judge's decision also laid bare some of the inherent contradictions in Obama's approach. While Obama rejected calls from gay activists to issue an executive order halting discharges, an additional 275 service members were kicked out under the policy in 2009. But the judge found Obama's repeated public comments blasting 'don't ask' undermined the government's claims that the policy was constitutionally legitimate.  Working the audience is half the fun, eh?  Gerstein is aiming to inspire that Walmart Superstore full of Politico's typically homophobic gulls to regurgitate their anti-gay loathing into byte-sized chunks, easily re-digestible.  This they do, squawking ad nauseum, in the apparently un-moderated comments section.  Here are several characteristic examples, for those of you with protected keyboards: 

"This issue again? Poor homosexuals, the victims again. When will you people realize, the majority of people dont give a rodents glutamus maximus about your sexual choices. Keep it to yourselves...  (U)sing the courts to force your point of view on society, WILL CHANGE NOTHING!!!!! I grew up coloured during segregation in the 50s & 60s, and just let me inform you, that you are complaining about nothing! Nobody made you come of of the closet!"
"Perhaps the problem is that this issue is hardly the 'civil rights issue of the decade' but is instead just more progressive pandering to a small minority of psychiatrically impaired whiners who are immaterial to national security and the military mission."
"I am sick to death of in your face sex.  Isn't anything personal anymore?  If you want to participate in deviant behavior go right ahead but do not expose me to your perversity."
"The fact that the gay puke's were the winners in this lawsuit suggests this might just carry through on legislation because there is a constituency there for both sides. The Military ain't KALIFORNIA - they also don't want their guys to get into that brokebutt mountain scene in the pup tents."
"On Navy ships there is not much room for ANYONE. Compartments might have 30 sailors packed into one small area for 6 to 8 months at a time. It would be detrimental to morale if 26 guys had to put up with 4 homosexuals screwing each other during a 6 month cruise in their living quarters."

In steps doddery old John McCain to swear As Gawd Is His Witness He Will Filibuster any attempt at repealing the discriminatory policy in the Senate.  Meghan McCain tosses her golden locks and pouts, "Oh, Daddy. You're, like, so totally mean."  Conservatives of all stripes (except lavender ones like the GOProuders) are prepared to buck public opinion on this issue.  Their Bibles tell them so.  JaySays.com reports that Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva, the first American wounded in Iraq and a spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, has taken the position that Obama should NOT issue an executive order halting military discharges.  (This is likely going to be the official stance of Gay, Inc, our main-stream advocacy groups that seem masochistically inclined toward utter failure.)  John Aravosis at AmericaBlog notes:  "While I agree that repealing the policy is the better option, as executive orders can be overturned by future presidents, there currently is no legislation repealing the policy. The best we have is legislation that gives DOD veto power over any future repeal of the policy (and it doesn't even set a date by which DOD has to consider the repeal)."

Pam Spaulding walks the dog:  HRC continues to churn out nice press releases and e-blasts, and focus on NOM and other non-legislative matters, hoping to distract from the very fact that its DADT repeal strategy has failed; we're left with only the courts moving the ball forward, and a Senate that has no chance of passing the weakened measure in the Def Auth bill that doesn't even stop the discharges. ENDA is dead for this year, DOMA's going nowhere (other than becoming an issue because of DADT).

Aravosis and Spaulding are right.  We are playing this hand of Spades without any trumps, no aces up our sleeves, and no face cards.  Your partner has just bid seven thinking you can pull two tricks out of your ass.  It won't happen, not during this round.

Culture Warriors Still Spitting Venom

In case you thought the instances of gay youth suicides have made the Religious Right soften their anti-LGBT rhetoric:

"If we want to see fewer students commit suicide, then we want fewer homosexual students."  - Conservative Christian 'love' proclaimed by Renew America's Bryan Fischer

"I don’t like the idea of somebody in Washington deciding that Susie has two mommies is an appropriate family situation and should be taught to my kindergartener in school.  That's what happens when we let things get to a federal level."  - Tea Party Senate Candidate Rand Paul, explaining why he wants to abolish the Department of Education

"There will be dramatic implications.  Military life is not like civilian life.  There are intimate quorters and it's an entire lifestyle, schools in which children are educated.  If homosexuality is allowed, then very soon we'll see, uh, service members' children will be taught about homosexuality."  - Wendy Wright, President of the Anti-Gay Group Concerned Women For America on repealing the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy.

"So you've got your homosexual activity, your abortion activity here, Islam coming in, you've got a financial collapse - all of this, to those of us who are Christians, is an apocalyptic confirmation that when you remove God from public discourse, you inevitably hit an iceberg like the Titanic and you go down."  - Christian Dominionist Lance Wallnau frothing at the mouth.

"Homosexuals may recognize intuitively that their same-sex attractions are abnormal -- yet they have been told by the homosexual movement, and their allies in the media and the educational establishment, that they are "born gay" and can never change. This -- and not society's disapproval -- may create a sense of despair that can lead to suicide."  - Rabid Homophobe Tony Perkins the Family Research Council

"We have a 3,000-year-old tradition of marriage which is called Sanctity. Holiness and our religion should not be mocked. Homosexual marriage is a misnomer, which is very, very offensive."   - That's our old nemesis Rabbi Yehuda Levin (pictured right), spitting nails about the announcement of same-sex nuptials in the magazine Jewish Standard.

"Bishop Long is one of America's superstar preachers in terms of media. He has written many books, he has a flourishing TV program and at one point his was one of the largest churches in America. I think we owe to him not a rush to judgment.  I know Eddie Long personally. The way CNN has presented this case has been very lopsided."  - Anti-gay Bishop Harry Jackson, defending his old pal anti-gay Bishop Eddie Long from accusations of coercing young men into sexual acts.

"Sodomites should be returned to the closet, where they were of relatively little danger to themselves and others."  - Harry Jaffa, philosophy professor at the conservative Clarement Institute.

At the bottom of the cesspit is Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina who says that hiring gays or "sexually active unmarried women" to teach school should be prohibited. 

And the LGBT teenager learns these life lessons:  "My legislator thinks I'm not morally fit to be a teacher.  My schoolmates scorn me and call me filthy names.  My parents' pastor condemns me to hell.  Congress thinks I'm not good enough to serve in the nation's military.  My own President says I'm not worthy to marry the person I love because God is supposed to be 'in the mix' and that, in his opinion, precludes me.  In America, I will not have equal rights in my lifetime.  My best chance for equality was squandered during these past two years." 

Two Tropical Storms - 1807 and 2007

Gilchrist, 2007

     It's five o'clock on a Monday morning, still dark outside. A tropical storm is approaching the peninsula and rain is pouring down in sheets. Thunder crackles and booms.
     Little Brother is restless. A few minutes ago he climbed into bed with me - that's 90 pounds of lean lab muscle plastered against my spine. With each flash and rumble Little Brother scoots closer, which is amazing since already I'm wearing him like a second skin. Fleas could not exist in the crawlspace between us.
     Maggie Moose growls.  She has been wrapped around Art all night long and doesn't appreciate the intrusion of another labrador retriever in the bed, especially during times of high stress.  Maggie bares her teeth at Little Brother, who is trying his best to ignore her.  
     "Maggie, stop it!" my partner snaps.  Even faced in opposite directions, Art and I know that neither one of us is sleeping and that we're unlikely to doze off anytime soon.  "The storm should be making landfall by seven," he says to the wall.  "That was the best guess-timate I heard last night."
     "If you're getting up, take the moose with you," I reply grumpily.
     "Might as well.  Maggie, come on."  They get out of bed and amble into the living room.
     I close my eyes and wonder what it must have been like two hundred years ago, sitting on this very spot, with the wind howling …

The Peninsula, 1807

    Inside their sturdy reed hut, three Karankawa braves shudder as a gust of wind forces open the flap door and a burst of rain drenches them. Two gnarled yellow dogs crouch close to the sputtering fire.
     "Bad storm," the eldest of the three men grumbles, rising to secure the flap. "We will not go fishing until tomorrow.  Our nets are dry and secure."
     The two listeners nod in agreement. The youngest of the Karankawas asks, "Do you think the White Skinned People will fish this morning?"
     "Yes. They fish in any weather," the eldest says. "They have a hard time finding food."
     "Are they brave then, or foolish?"
     "They are both brave and foolish. But they will starve if they don't catch many fish. They will not eat plants of this good earth, they scorn pear flesh behind the nettles, croakers frighten them, and their yard birds are scrawny."
     The two younger men digest this information.
     "Food is plentiful here if you know where to look, and when to look. So we can wait. We don't have to get wet."
     One of the dogs walks over and nudges the knee of the eldest Karank. The old man reaches into his waist pouch and produces a piece of dried alligator meat. The dog takes its prize, tail wagging, and returns to the fire. Its companion, who had fallen asleep, wakes up and lunges for the meat. A fracas ensues.
     "Our dogs eat better than their dogs," the elder says. "But at least the White Skinned People do not eat their dogs, like the vile Apache do. That is a good thing. Dogs are our helpers."

Gilchrist, 2007

     There's another loud clap of thunder that shakes the beachhouse.  Little Brother scoots closer still.   I find myself pressed against the edge of the mattress.  Before long I will fall to the floor. As if that's not enough, Jellyfish my calico kitty is hunched on the pillow near my neck, tail whisking, practically smothering me with her bulk. She becomes completely unhinged during bad storms, and trembles with vexation.  Poor old thing.  Like all of our animals, she has experienced inclement tropical weather (including hurricanes) up close and personal for her entire life.
     There is more thunder, more wind gusts, and more shaking of the foundation.  The beachhouse is suspended from the ground atop twelve-foot creosote-soaked pilings.   The wooden pilings serve two functions: 1) to protect the structure from storm surge and 2) to provide "sway" during gale force winds. At the moment we are swaying.
     I let out a self-pitying groan.  I figure I might as well get up also.  There's no way I'll be able to drop off to sleep again.  So I swing my legs over the side of the bed and shove my feet into fuzzy pink house slippers (my sole nod to a hidden feminine side).  Jellyfish mewls mournfully.  Sorry guys, you'll have to comfort each other.  Brother looks at me with despair, then hops to the floor. Jellyfish starts sharpening her claws on my pillow.

The Peninsula, 1807

     The elder Karankawa's wife suddenly enters and shakes water from her hair and woven grass skirt.  She looks at her husband and two sons and frowns.  "We need a bigger hut."
     "When you build one, let us know," the husband says.
     The youngest Karankawa snickers, the eldest stands up and offers his mother a place of honor on the mat.  She accepts the seat as her due and immediately turns to her youngest son and pinches his cheek affectionately.  "You have always been my favorite son," the mother croons, ignoring the older youth.  She moans loudly and beats a small drum to ward off the bad weather.  "Oh, how my heart grieves for my previous husband.  He could weave reeds that allowed no water into our home.  And he was the best fisherman on this three-fronted island.  If not for my youngest son I would dine on misery each day."
     "You are lucky not to have an Atakapan or Apache for a husband," the elder man points out. "They beat their wives without mercy."
     "Atakapan! Chwee! I could handle an Atakapan man. See these muscles?"
     "My wife is a strong bear!" the husband says with pride.  Their sons laugh.  (There's more after the jump...)

Obama Bows to the War Hawks

The midterm election promises to be interesting, but as I and other progressives have long predicted, it probably won't be the bloodbath that Republicans and Tea Party robo-activists are yearning for.  Liberal and moderate politicians will suffer losses, to be sure - but it will be business as usual in DC:  Democrats will try to make life better for low income and middle class Americans, conservative lawmakers will pout and obstruct as long as there's a black man in the Oval Office.  The GOP is smugly convinced that in November of 2010 they will be taking control of both houses of Congress when, in actuality, it's likely that they'll merely make enough gains to paralyze the government - y'know, just like they're doing now, with the Democratic Party in power.

Noticing the shift in political wind, President Obama has been frantically reaching out to young voters who flocked to the polls in 2008 and helped put him in the White House. But I doubt he'll be able to impress that demographic this time around.  The economy and mass unemployment aside, Obama has - fairly or unfairly - become known as just another war president with terrible advisers, a prayerful man who surrounds himself with anti-gay religious zealots.  Afghanistan is Obama's Iraq.  Like George W. Bush, he's an advocate of domestic spying.  Like Dubya, he clings to discriminatory "faith based" initiatives and does everything in his power to appease the fundie crowd, a segment of the voting public that will always, always despise him.  Still, it is our Commander-in-chief's slavish obeisance to America's War Hawks that is perhaps the most disappointing aspect of his administration.

From the Indigenous People's Literature Weblog:   President Obamas decision to increase military spending this year and in the future will result in the greatest administrative military spending since World War II. This decision is being made in spite of continued evidence of extreme waste, fraud, abuse, and corporate welfare in the military budget.  At the same time, spending on "non-security" domestic programs such as education, nutrition, energy, and transportation will be frozen, resulting in inflationary cuts to essential services for the US public over the upcoming years.

While these domestic programs constitute only 17 percent of the total federal spending, they will sustain all of the proposed cuts.  Jo Comerford, executive director of the National Priorities Project, states, "[Obama’s] proposal caps non-security spending at $447 billion for each of the next three fiscal years. During that time, inflation will erode the purchasing power of that total; requiring cuts in services in each successive year." The consequences of cutting domestic spending will result in a further increase in the gap between the rich and the poor.

In contrast, military spending is roughly 55 percent of the discretionary spending in the current fiscal year, and will increase even more next year. According to the Office of Management and Budget’s projections, the military budget will increase an additional $522 billion over the next decade. Tom Engelhardt points out, "Here’s an American reality: the Pentagon is our true welfare state, the weapons makers are our real ‘welfare queens,’ and we never stop shoveling money their way."

It's as if our nation is caught in the middle of a perpetual military coup d'état, with generals quietly pulling the strings of whoever sits in the Oval Office.  The almighty Pentagon, that absolutely perfect example of a glutton, is happy to run the country into the ground economically as long as Congress and the President keeps feeding it.  As with any glutton, much of the food ends up of his chin or dribbling down his shirt.  Or tossed out with the garbage.  Hey, there's always more where that came from.

"Help us," begs the Average American.

"Feed us," demand the Gluttonous Hawks.

"Ignore needy neighbors and their hungry children. The Pentagon protects us!"  scream the conservatives.

And the President saves the largest slice of the tax pie for our morbidly obese military industrial complex to wallow in.  And waste.

(Hat tip Crooks and Liars.)