All the pervs and crooks you've come to love reading about here on the Blend.
My blogcrush, the brilliant Glenn Greenwald, makes mincemeat of the right wing's tasteless, destructive hypocrisy (that is fully enabled by the MSM) in his new book.
Blend-o-licious endorsements...
The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
(The future...they may talk mostly in text, but they seem to be enlightening themselves.
ee - promoted by The Educated Eclectic)
This is great. If I'd dared to wear a dress to school, I wouldn't have lived to tell the tale. I was harassed enough as it was for my clothes and being a "sissy", grown up to be trans. Now other kids are crossdressing in support. Way cool!
High school students crossdress to support transsexual sophomore
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 8th 2008, 4:00 AM
At least a dozen students at a Putnam County high school are cross-dressing to support a sophomore boy who wants to become a girl.
Boys wore skirts and wigs and girls wore caps and cargo pants to Brewster High School. One senior says the students wanted 17-year-old Michael Loscalzo to feel more comfortable.
To the surprise of probably no one, Sen. Obama has pulled ahead of Sen. Clinton in the number of superdelegates.
Senator Barack Obama has passed his opponent, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the count of superdelegates, the first time since the outset of the race that Mrs. Clinton has lost the lead in one of her few remaining trump cards.
Mr. Obama picked up endorsements on Friday from four more superdelegates, the Democratic Party insiders who are granted autonomy to support whomever they wish at the convention in August. One, a New Jersey congressman, switched his allegiance away from Mrs. Clinton, allowing the Illinois senator to pull ahead of his rival, according to the latest New York Times count.
The Times's tally shows Mr. Obama with 264 superdelegates against 263 for Mrs. Clinton, based on telephone polls conducted with CBS News as well as public endorsements. A separate count by The Associated Press shows Mr. Obama still trailing by fewer than four votes. And a measure by ABC News shows the Illinois senator already ahead, 267 to 265.
The tide turns in yet one more election metric -- in Sen. Obama's favor.
The new mayor of Rome promised yesterday to purge the Italian capital of 20,000 illegal immigrants and to raze 85 Roma Gypsy camps.
Gianni Alemanno (50) a firebrand neo-fascist and the first rightwing mayor of the city since the Second World War, vowed to make Rome "secure" as he was sworn into office after his election at the weekend.
In a sign of things to come, after Mr Alemanno's election, newly-elected Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared: "We are the new Falange."
The original Falange (or Phalanx) was the Spanish fascist party, founded in the 1930s, whose doctrine was adopted by General Franco.
Mr Alemanno's election was also celebrated by hundreds of supporters chanting "Duce! Duce!" and raising their arms in Mussolini's Fascist salute.
The new mayor said his first action would be to begin "immediate expulsions" of the 20,000 immigrants in the city with criminal records.
Folks, we are replaying the 1930's with America starring as Germany, and Italy reprising its original role.
For the record, the last time this bright idea was implemented, 500,000 "gypsies" were sent to their deaths, along with millions of Jews, gays, communists and other defectives.
Out. Of. Control. Dateline Kamloops, British Columbia - Three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers apparently couldn't subdue an elderly patient. The sadistic sickness continues. BTW, you can see pics of the man's stun gun burns at the CBC site.
Frank Lasser, 82, appeared fragile Thursday when he showed the stun gun marks on his body and talked about the ordeal he went through Saturday.
"They [police] should have known I had bypass surgery," Lasser told CBC News.
Lasser has had heart surgery and needs to carry an apparatus to supply oxygen at all times. He was in the Royal Inland Hospital Saturday due to pneumonia but has since been released.
RCMP said nurses called police after Lasser became delirious and pulled a knife out of his pocket.
Lasser told CBC News that he sometimes become delusional when he can't breathe properly. He said he couldn't explain why he refused to let go of the knife even after the Mounties arrived.
"I was laying on the bed by then and the corporal came in, or the sergeant, I forget which it was, and said to the guys, 'OK, get him because we got more important work to do on the street tonight,'" Lasser said.
The article also refers to the Taser as "the conducted energy weapon."
I fell down a bit of a rabbit hole yesterday. During a (rare) quiet moment, I took some time to catch up on my news/blog reading. And I finally started reading a collection of news stories that I'd quietly tucked away until I could actually bring myself to read them. I thought that would be a long time, because they were the kind of stories that I usually put out of my mind, because I can't bear to think about them.
What started me was Katharine's comment, which linked to Scott's post about something Felix Fritzl said upon seeing the moon for the first time.
"Is that God up there?" - Felix Fritzl, 5, sees the moon for the first time since leaving the cellar.
Whoops. This NY pol was not only fornicating outside the marital bond, he was procreating with a sex partner other than his wife. He receives bonus points for being charged with driving while intoxicated! (NYT):
Representative Vito J. Fossella, a Staten Island Republican who was arrested on May 1 in Alexandria, Va., and charged with drunken driving, issued a statement on Thursday acknowledging that he had had an extramarital affair with Laura Fay, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel, and that the two of them have a 3-year-old daughter together.
The prospect that Mr. Fossella could face a mandatory jail sentence if convicted had already threatened to bring to an end his decade-long career in the House, where Mr. Fossella is the only Republican representing New York City.
...Mr. Fossella, 43, was driving with a blood-alcohol level more than twice the legal limit when he was pulled over. He faces a mandatory five days in jail if convicted.
...In the Democratic stronghold of St. George, the neighborhood nearest the ferry to Manhattan, patrons at the Cargo Cafe weighed in on the scandal.
"Vito Fossella's behavior is a disgrace to himself, his family and to Staten Island," said an anesthesiologist, Dr. John Ferguson, 44. "Given the fact that he votes along the Bush-Cheney line 90 percent of the time, which means he sees himself as a moral values candidate, I find his behavior completely, but not surprisingly, hypocritical. He should resign immediately."
Just the other day (as in Wednesday), Congressman Brad Miller (D-13) sounded like he was going to stay on the fence for a while. I wonder what got him off the fence. From a press release that hit my inbox:
"I will cast my vote as a delegate in Denver for Senator Barack Obama. The decision was not easy. Senator Clinton has run an impressive campaign, and has spoken eloquently to the concerns of working and middle class American families. She is one of the great leaders of this generation.
"Senator Obama understands that he has the chance not just to win the election this year, but to be a great president. Americans know that Republican policies have failed because Republican ideas are wrong. Americans know that our government has not acted, to use Franklin Roosevelt's words, as trustees for the whole people, but have taken the side of powerful economic interests on every issue. Americans want a fundamental change in course.
"Senator Obama will seize that opportunity.
"If Senator Obama and Democratic candidates up and down the ticket win this year and then deliver next year, we can build a consensus that will last a generation."
Washington University students and faculty are in an uproar over the decision to award anti-gay, anti-feminist Eagle Forum fossil Phyllis Schlafly an honorary doctorate at its May 16 commencement ceremony. A Facebook group created to protest the move has over a thousand members.
Mary Ann Dzuback, the director of the women and gender studies department at Washington University agreed, said it was "grossly inappropriate" for the university to honor Schlafly with a degree.
"She's spent her entire career speaking against women in the workforce and for them remaining in the home," Dzuback said of Schlafly, who rose to prominence during the successful campaign against the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s.
...The university issued a statement Sunday defending its decision, saying it - like many other universities - chooses to honor those "who have become a part of the broad public discourse on vital issues of the times." The statement cited other controversial figures, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whom the school has honored.
PFLAG and our St. Louis chapter are proud to join those on the ground in Missouri and call on school officials to do the right thing and, as executive director Jody Huckaby said today, "find a more suitable person to applaud."
Steve also points out some of Mother Schlafly's winning cultural touchstones:
On California's SB-77, to protect GLBT students: The legislation "represent[s] a repudiation of 2,000 years of Christian moral teaching on human sexuality, marriage, and the family. The result is that California's schools are now promoting behaviors and lifestyles that are physically and spiritually dangerous for children."
On the idea of any protections for GLBT youth: "The bottom line is, don't count on the courts to protect public school students from being subjected to the promotion of homosexuality."
(UPDATE: Jim posted this over at at BlueNC, and he's very active in the comments there. Go surf for a look at all the love he's receiving from the progressive community.)
Jim Neal may not have won the NC primary, but down here in the Tar Heel state, he gave progressives and LGBTs and allies here a big victory in so many ways. He send on this nod to everyone here at the Blend. Thank you Jim.
Firstly, I want to again congratulate Senator Hagan on her nomination as the candidate to beat US Senator Dole in the 2008 senatorial race. I have told Kay that she has my full support and encourage you to work hard on her behalf.
To the staff, volunteers and bloggers who made our campaign so vibrant I thank you. We were a lean organization running a 21st century grass roots campaign. We took almost 20% (about 250,000) of the votes cast despite our lack of resources and the fact that nobody in NC had a clue who Jim Neal was 7 months ago. I am very proud of each and every person who volunteered their time and contributed to our campaign.
I've become a fan of this site and the blogosphere in general as a fantastic communications medium: the emergent Fifth Estate. Online activism is the future of politics and social change. I believe that the power of the blogosphere is only at the tip of the iceberg (and that iceberg is melting...) so keep your involvement and your voices in the debate.
Remember that the campaign was never about Jim Neal. It was about you. You are the voices of change. Change is only going to come from the bottom up.
Many of you have emailed me and asked "what's next?" Well, I've got a lot of people to thank and a campaign to wind down. Thereafter I'm taking some time, after 7 months and 35,000 miles on the road and not much sleep and too many pounds shed, to reflect. I don't know what the next chapter in my life will be. I do know, however, it will involve continuing to work for empowering the voiceless many most in need. I have heard them. They have made me a richer person. They still have my ear and I'm not about to walk away from them.
Some people marry for love, some for companionship, and others for status or money. Now comes another reason to get hitched: health insurance.
In a poll released today, 7% of Americans said they or someone in their household decided to marry in the last year so they could get healthcare benefits via their spouse.
"It's a small number but a powerful result, because it shows how paying for healthcare is reflected not only in family budgets but in life decisions," said Drew E. Altman, president of the Kaiser Family Foundation, which commissioned the survey as part of its regular polling on healthcare.
...What surprised researchers was that such costs had become a factor in marriage decisions. "We should have asked about divorce," said Altman, joking.
Those who cited health insurance as a factor in deciding to marry tended to have modest incomes. About 6 in 10 were in households making less than $50,000 a year, said Mollyann Brodie, who directs Kaiser's opinion research. They also were younger, with 4 in 10 between 18 and 34.
Short of yodeling, I've been doing my best Switzerland impersonation during the primaries. When it came my turn to vote in the primaries I voted my hopes, knowing I'd support whomever we got in the Democratic nominee. (Let's face it. My values would never let me vote for a John McCain.)
Well, it's pretty clear now what we're going to get in a Democratic nominee, and I agree it's time to move on. This has been a passionate race so far. One that has enlivened the progressive base, and the "maybe-kinda-sorta progressive" base, and the "we-just-want-to-win" base. Now that it's rounding the bend (though only on the last lap of the qualifying round, mind you), there are bound to be people who are as disappointed as they were passionate about their candidate. I understand and respect that, and I'd say the same no matter who was all-but-the-nominee right now.
That said, it's time to remember why so many of us were so passionate about one candidate or the other: We all want to see this country change course from the disastrous path we've been dragged along for the past seven-plus years. We all know that we can't afford even four more years of the same. Not our for country, not for our communities, and not for our families.
A shareholder proposal to amend Verizon Communications Inc.'s written equal employment policy to explicitly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity was voted down May 1, but backers of the plan say they were encouraged by the amount of support it got, and the group that proposed the resolution will bring it back next year.
Preliminary results showed that the resolution, which was opposed by the company's board of directors, won 17 percent of shareholder approval. It takes 3 percent for a proposal to come back, which it achieved. According to Alberto Canal, of Verizon media relations, more than 2 billion votes were cast. Canal said the company has 340 employees in the Bay Area.
I believe the most disheartening piece of news from the Bay Area Reporter piece was the position of the LGBT employee group at Verizon -- they apparently supported the board position (emphasis added):
When asked about the board's stance on the resolution, Verizon's Canal reiterated the company's "zero tolerance" policy. He also said that GLOBE, the company's LGBT employee resource group, supported the position.
As a customer that identifies as transgender and transsexual, next month I'll be cancelling my service with Verizon -- no matter what the financial cost. I won't do business with a company where even its LGBT employee group won't support a written policy of employment equality for its transgender employees.
~~~~~
Related:
* DiversityInc's No. 1 Employer Is Against Gender Identity/Expression In Non-Discrimination Policy
* Verizon's GLOBE President Responds
Congressman John Conyers, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has responded to the requests of numerous citizens as well as the cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco regarding the use of federal DEA resources in enforcement of marijuana laws against patients legally using medical marijuana under state law.
The Conyers letter, sent to Acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, asks for the administration's response to the complaints in advance of hearings to be held in front of the Judiciary Committee. Conyers' questions include:
Is the use of civil asset forfeiture, which has typically been reserved for the worst drug traffickers and kingpins, an appropriate tactic to employ against individuals who suffer from severe or chronic illness and are authorized to use medical marijuana under California law?
Has the DEA conducted any analysis of the potential economic consequences of using civil asset forfeiture in an area that is experiencing some of the nation's sharpest declines in property values?
Has the DEA considered the consequences of shutting down legally-operated public dispensaries, and whether that might drive the cannabis sales activity underground?
Given the increased level of trafficking and violence associated with international drug cartels across Mexico, South America and elsewhere, do you think the DEA's limited resources are best utilized conducting enforcement raids on individuals and their caregivers who are conducting themselves legally under California law?
Have you considered that DEA activities against qualified individuals is negatively impacting the ability of state and local officials across California to collect tax revenue, which they are entitled to under California law?
Every month new science supporting the therapeutic value of cannabis is published. As a result, medical and scientific organizations, like the American College of Physicians and the American Psychiatric Association, are urging reform of the laws that place in legal jeopardy physicians or their individual patients who may benefit from the use of cannabis. As the Administrator, you have the discretion to decide whether to continue heightened enforcement activities in California and in other states that have authorized the use of medical cannabis by qualified individuals. Please explain what role, if any, emerging scientific data plays in your decision-making process to conduct enforcement raids on individuals authorized to use or provide medical cannabis under state law.
Would you support the creation of an intergovernmental commission comprised of law enforcement, law makers and people affected by the laws, to review policy and provide recommendations that aim to bring harmony to federal and state laws?
While Conyers awaits the response from the DEA, let me play the psychic and predict what the DEA's answers to those questions will be: no, no, no, no, none, and no.
Surf over to Box Turtle Bulletin and read Tim Kincaid's piece detailing Peter LaBarbera's latest "research" at David DuKKKe's web site. He's culling material at the white supremacist's site to produce a call for action in support of an alleged anti-gay hate crime perpetrator in Illinois.
Just unbelievable.
TAKE ACTION: 1) Urge Champaign County, Illinois State's Attorney Julia Rietz (phone: (217) 384-3733) to drop the government's one-sided felony "hate crimes" prosecution against 18-year-old student-athlete Brett VanAsdlen - based on the inconsistent and likely exaggerated claims of Steven Velasquez, a homosexual University of Illinois (U of I) student who may have initiated physical contact with VanAsdlen. Already, Brett is being smeared as violent "gay-basher" by Velasquez and pro-homosexual activists in the media. Pray for Brett and his family.
Apparently in the City of Brotherly Love the police training for cadets includes how to act like a punks in a schoolyard. I guess we have to be pleased that the Taser wasn't whipped out as well for good measure. Why do these officers have to whale on suspects in this manner when the person is already down on the ground?
Fifteen police officers were taken off the street as authorities investigate a video showing three suspects being kicked, punched and beaten after they were pulled out of a car during a traffic stop.
"At a glance it does appear to be a bit beyond the pale," Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Mayor Michael Nutter, said Wednesday. "Officers are not allowed to operate outside of the law."
...The video, shot by a WTXF-TV helicopter, shows three police cars stopping a car on the side of a road. About a dozen officers gather around the vehicle and pull three men out. About a half-dozen officers hold two of the men on the ground on the driver's side. Both are kicked repeatedly, while one is seen being punched; one also appears to be struck with a baton. On the other side of the car, another group of officers can be seen kicking a third man who ends up on the ground.
conducted with CBS News as well as public endorsements. A separate count by The Associated Press shows Mr. Obama still trailing by fewer than four votes. And a measure by ABC News shows the Illinois senator already ahead, 267 to 265.
Washington University 
Firstly, I want to again congratulate Senator Hagan on her nomination as the candidate to beat US Senator Dole in the 2008 senatorial race. I have told Kay that she has my full support and encourage you to work hard on her behalf.
Remember that the campaign was never about Jim Neal. It was about you. You are the voices of change. Change is only going to come from the bottom up.
