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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).

"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008



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.
--"Joe"

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An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community.


Military: numbers of black recruits dropping like a stone

by: Pam Spaulding

Sun Jun 24, 2007 at 12:30:00 PM EDT


The AP reports that between job prospects opening up and family members pressuring them not to join up for Dear Leader's Military Adventures, young black men and women aren't ready to sign on the dotted line.

According to the Pentagon, the number of new black recruits for active duty and reserves has declined 38% since 2001.

Walking past the Army recruiting station in downtown Washington, D.C., this past week, Sean Glover said he has done all he can to talk black relatives out of joining the military.

"I don't think it's a good time. I don't support the government's efforts here and abroad," said Glover, 36.

Glover doesn't have to try too hard -- who can blame young black men and women from steering away from the military with news like this:

In desperation, military suggests foot patrols can be safer than Humvees, tanks. The surge is really working out well for our troops in harm's way, huh?

Top US commanders in Iraq have been encouraging soldiers in Baghdad to "get out and walk."

In fact -- they've been using those very words. According to Friday's LA Times, a counterinsurgency guidance memo "released last week by Army Lt. Gen Raymond T. Odierno, the commander of day-to-day military operations, urges Iraqi and American troops to 'get out and walk.'

"I would rather go out without any armor or gear," one soldier told the Times. "If an EFP [explosively formed penetrator, or projectile] hits the vehicle, you are dead anyway no matter how much armor you have. It can take out an Abrams tank; these 1114 [armored Humvees] are nothing."

Back to the subject at hand though, I think it's obvious why fewer blacks are joining the military. If you've tuned in on the TV or gone to the movies, you've seen the tack that the ads have taken (showing "patriotic" black parents talking to their sons about signing up) I'm sure these have left a bitter taste in many black families' mouths.

The aggressive, misleading recruiting in poor black areas has not gone unnoticed, either. You'll recall how in Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore showed recruits trolling the low-income areas and strip malls where young minority men frequent (as opposed to the suburban white well-to-do malls where no kids showed interest). From F9/11, the outlandish recruiting tactics in Moore's hometown of Flint (the best part is about 3:30 in):

The simple math is that if these black kids can find better job opportunities (not even great ones at this point) that don't involve signing up for a suicide mission like Iraq, common sense dictates that they aren't going to find the military appealing right now.

Another factor to consider is that the military, for many young minority men living in socioeconomically depressed areas, represented an opportunity to get out, receive valuable skills they wouldn't have acquired in the dire situations of the ghetto, while receiving funds for education in an environment that offers discipline and order.

George Bush's military is increasingly looking like the gang-infested, crime holes these young men and women are trying to escape from. What's appealing about a military that is recruiting folks convicted of aggravated assault, robbery, vehicular manslaughter, receiving stolen property and making terrorist threats. The number of convicted felons enlisted in the U.S. military has almost doubled in the past three years, and 43,977 individuals convicted of serious misdemeanors such as assault have enlisted under the moral waivers program.

An excellent article on problem of the Pentagon recruiting and enlisting active gang members in a piece by Radar Magazine's Seamus McGraw, Gangs of Iraq. It's a chilling account of how far the military has fallen, with its backdrop the murder of Sergeant Juwan Johnson a decorated war vet, who was killed as a result of a gang initiation by the Gangster Disciples while in the military.

It wasn't until May 2006, five months after the Army papered the base with fliers offering a $25,000 reward (later upped to $50,000) for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, that investigators acknowledged a gang connection.

Ten months lapsed before the first suspect was charged. Since then, five soldiers have been charged in the case, according to a U.S. Army spokesperson. Only one of them, Specialist Bobby Morrissette - a friend who served alongside Johnson throughout his deployment overseas -- has been slated to stand trial.

But according to gang experts, including one who has been called to testify, the real mystery is why it took the Army so long to accept that Johnson was the victim of a growing epidemic of gang violence that has infected all branches of the armed services. Lax enlistment standards have inadvertently allowed thousands of gang members to join the military, including young men who belong to the Crips, Bloods, Latin Kings, and various white supremacist groups. But no gang has infiltrated the armed forces as deeply as the Gangster Disciples, a 100,000-member Chicago-based syndicate that has been linked to an assortment of crimes ranging from murder to mortgage fraud.

"There's no doubt about it -- the Gangster Disciples are the biggest [gang] in the Army," says Chicago Police Lieutenant Robert Stasch, who has spent 30 years tracking the group's rise from a handful of street-corner hoodlums to what he calls "the most sophisticated criminal enterprise in the United States."

Pam Spaulding :: Military: numbers of black recruits dropping like a stone
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Sorry, Young Man
Thanks, Pam, for posting this. I have never seen Fahrenheit 9/11. I just love what the young man said at the end of the clip you embedded:

One would love to have that chance to experience college life—stuff young people can do—without having to risk dying in the process.

Sorry, young man. You are not here in this life but to give your body and blood to those who own it all.


Ability and Privilege
Oh, and I should have mentioned: Just look at that quote from the film, uttered off the cuff and without a teleprompter. The abstract “one” is the subject, the gerund “having” is the object of the preposition “without”. A perfectly formed, complex English sentence, one that George W. Bush, son of vast privilege, graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School, and president of the United States, could never in his entire life utter.

[ Parent ]
Run, don't walk, to your local Blockbuster...
I have never seen Fahrenheit 9/11.

and rent it.  Not only is it illuminating, it is also very entertaining.


[ Parent ]
How the right fell all over themselves
  was entertaining.  And how they are going nuts over Moore's new movie SICKO, it is just laughable.

  Having never seen F 911, and doubt I will see SICKO, it does crack me up on the effect it has on the right.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.


[ Parent ]
I saw SICKO last night
at a special sneak preview.

It is great.  Less dramatic than Moore's previous films yet every bit as smart. 

He has a strong point of view that is underrepresented. 
Thank Goddess he makes films and keeps fighting to rally the complacent to make change.

Fahrenheit 911 was very important - still is - and so is SICKO.  Moore's tone is not at fever pitch here like it was in his previous film.

Both are very much worth seeing.  Go see SICKO and demand better from the politicians that make themselves wealthy off of you.


[ Parent ]
Between...
...minority gangs among the enlisted corps and the christianists among the officer corps, the US military is probably rapidly becoming unmanageable.

I guess this is an upshot of the great Bush economy
we are enjoying today.

[ Parent ]
Great Bush economy?
  Housing market down, foreclosure rates up.  The money I save buying my meds overseas, pays my airfare to travel there. (The exact same brand and manufacturer) Add to that, one of the worst failing educational systems.

  Yes, all this greatness, living in a red state, that has had over 8 years of conservative led state gov't, and 6 years of Bush and a republican congress.

If I make sense? it was quite by accident.


[ Parent ]
With the DOW setting records every other week and
job creation near an alltime high, if you aren't prospering in today's economy, it's your own fault.

[ Parent ]
Hey, you're quoting Jesus!
Jesus said, at his untranscribed Sermon of the Poor House, "It's all your fault." *

But let's get numerical (from Kos: http://www.dailykos....):

"What should be noted is that under Clinton it went from roughly 3,200 to 11,722.  In other words, it went up by 366%.

And now we are supposed to be impressed that in the last 6 years we've gone up around 3%?"

And the Nasdaq is way, way, way, way down from its record highs.

*Some Biblical scholars believe that the Christ really said, "It's all your fault, liberal losers.  Now roll over and die and go to Hell with the homos!  Only rich men make it to my Heaven.  You gotta have bling to walk through my pearly gates." **

** Pearly = crusty oyster snot


[ Parent ]
I'm sorry you're among the poor.
but chin up.

As for the DOW, yes. The tax cut policies of the 104th Congress did in fact spur the great DOW percentage climb in history. But you must remember, we had to overcome the trillions of dollars in losses to the DOW due to Clinton's 9-11, as well as the economic downturn we experienced as Clinton left office, due to his JD's attack on Microsoft.

The fact the Bush has overcome these incredible obstacles to help us achieve the rip-roaring economy we are in is nothing short of incredible.

IMHO, if the war ultimately leads to a stable democratic Iraq as the president envisions, that achievement, coupled with his economic miracle and his superb USSC appointments,  may well propel him into the ranks of the top 5 presidents of all time.

His immigration policy could hurt him, UNLESS, (and I wouldn't put a stroke of genius like this beyond the president) his current alleged immigration stance is orchestrated to galvanize conservatives into getting truly meaningful border control in place.  I say this because some believe Bush's apparent nomination of Harriet Myers was done intentionally to get a huge conservative like Alito confirmed. And this was accomplished without so much as a whimper from the Democrats. I always go back to Bush's promise to nominate candidates in the mold of Scalia. Well, if you look at the results, Bush got exactly what he had promised.  So, I'm not altogether unsure immigration isn't being handled the exact same way. This president is dumb like a fox.


[ Parent ]
Colbert
You must be one of the writers for The Colbert Report.  What you wrote above is pure genius!!

Sorry Josh I could resist.  I'm a bad bad boy.


[ Parent ]
Typo
I meant couldn't resist.

[ Parent ]
I Was There
Yes, Holly. I was actually there, and the Biblical scholars you mentioned have indeed characterized the flavor of Jesus’ sermon quite accurately, even if his actual words were slightly different.

After telling the crowd what they needed to obtain to get into the Kingdom of Heaven, Jesus looked down at his Rolex, and, anxious to get back to his kind of people, announced to the crowd that, while he was truly sorry, he just had to leave for another commitment on the other side of Lake Galilee.

But before his handlers could take him of the stage, he turned to the crowd and, with a conspiratorial wink, he whispered, “Google calls. October 600 Google calls.”


[ Parent ]
Yep, the Christ said,
"I gotta be with the Pharisees on the swanky side of Galilee."

Then, instead of forming the peace symbol with his fingers and saying, "Peace out," he contorted his fingers into the dollar sign, which was the miracle most recalled by moneycounters today, and he said, "He who is resurrected with the most gold wins."


[ Parent ]
He also said...
...if a woman gets raped she was asking for it...

[ Parent ]
Oh, the Christ said more than that.
He said, "If a woman gets raped, she's atoning for Eve's original sin."

Jeez, I think I'm channeling the fundy's Jesus. 

And He also said, "Brown people aren't blond and beloved like me, which is why the world fabulous Minutemen will toil forever in the desert to keep America's borders secure." *

This foretelling isn't repeated because those soft, pudgy Minutemen lasted about 6 days in the desert.  Their only chance of securing that border was hiring some resolute, hardworking brown people, who don't waddle from hard work.


[ Parent ]
And you people wonder why voters think the left hates religion.
Again, read your posts and those of your comrades. It ain't no big mystery.

[ Parent ]
It's the fundy Jesus that gives me the heeby-jeebies.
The 'I don' turn no stinkin' cheeks-I'm the shock and awe' Jesus.

The 'I covet wealth' Jesus.

And yet again (and again), you pass on the opportunity to suffer quietly for your faith.


[ Parent ]
I always find it comical when
atheists lecture me on Christianity. That would be like me describing how it feels to be lesbian.

[ Parent ]
Not all who say to me, "Lord, Lord" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.


[ Parent ]
And Josh most certainly won't.


[ Parent ]
The Economy Under the Bush Administration
has been great, I'll admit.  Great for CHINA!

[ Parent ]
It should have been obvious that Josh is nothing but an idiot troll. n/t


[ Parent ]
Perfect Combo
Gee, raj, it seems to me that these two groups—street gangs, and evangelical Christians, who are just members of another type of gang—make the military even more manageable.

Consider that most of these folks:

  • Have a strong need to belong to a group
  • Have a strong need to take orders from a leader and not think about what they are doing
  • Have a powerful sado-masochistic impulse that can be put to very good use.

Street gangs in the rank-and-file, Christian gangs in the officer corps—sounds like the perfect combo to me.

[ Parent ]
These stories go hand in hand.
During the time between the V.N. war and the Iraqi War the all volunteer force (AVF) worked pretty good.  They had a few dust-ups and came out of them looking like a professional fighting force, with overwhelming technical superiority and devastating fire power.

But the AVF was never intended to fight a prolonged war.  To continue to return our men and women to war without front for two, three or more tours of combat is asking for a mass break down of our nations security.

During the time between these wars the military had a record of being color blind in the lower ranks.  You got out of it what you put into it.

Don't ask, don't tell was years away when I was in the Marines from 73-81.

But the AVF wasn't meant to withstand years of unremitting war.  It could have held out well at a level that could have secured Iraq until relieved by a fresh force of draftees.  But that would have been too politicly suicidal for any rational discourse. 

You can't fight a prolonged war contrary to the public opinion.  Enter the Blackwaters.  Corporations that fight wars for governments, NGOs or who ever has the money.  This is the most blatant evil ever.

Bush is braking America for the money of it.


Just wait for the Drug Draft
I've said it before, but here it goes again.  I fully believe that if this war continues, you will see legislation that will marry our two favorite wars on nouns -- terror and drugs.  Caught with crack, meth, X, weed, horse, etc., choose between "voluntary" enlistment or mandatory minimum.

They'll need some sort of "Pearl Harbor" event on the drug war front.  More busts of suburban home pot farms would help, meth's scaring the hell out of the Midwest and Intermountain West, more Afghani heroin should be arriving on the mean streets any day now.  If they can tie that strongly to "what about the children", they'll have it. Oooh, I know, a mass-killing school shooting by a kid on meth!  That's above-the-fold page 1 material right there!  Bonus points if the kid is Arabic or Muslim.

That might not be enough, so the "Perfect Storm" of drug war hysteria would require two more elements.  Let's say strong evidence of drug gang financing of a terrorist cell in America who just blew up a water treatment facility in, say, Des Moines, and, oh, I don't know, how about a high level official in a new Democratic Administration embroiled in a cocaine and prostitution scandal.  Bonus points if that new Democratic Administration's President is a black guy who has admitted to cocaine use in his past.  With a middle name of "Hussein".

There's my nightmare scenario.  A panicked nation stricken by dual threats of drugs and terrorism on the homeland passes the most draconian anti-drug legislation since the cocaine-related death of a future Boston Celtic caused a Democratically-controlled Congress to pass mandatory minimums in 1986.  The Terrorism Reduction Act will create harsh new mandatory minimums with the out clause being that first time offenders can opt to take a special enlistment term with the Army that promises four weeks of drug rehab (at an Army hospital), eight weeks of Basic Training, and only a twelve-month term of service.

See?  Problem solved.  More cannon fodder for the war, mostly black and Latino, no need to draft any suburban kids, we can puff up our chests by doing something about drug addiction ("We're helping people beat addiction, and all that Army discipline will be good for them!"), and there you go, just like any other corporate merger these days, it becomes the War on TerrorDrugs.

(Man, Sensi Star really brings out the paranoia...)

"If people let government decide which foods they eat and medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as are the souls of those who live under tyranny." -- Thomas Jefferson


[ Parent ]
More bonus points
If the incident occurs on Christmas, er, during the holidays!

My America includes LGBT families.

[ Parent ]
Recently uploaded
Maybe a wee bit off topic, but still relevant.

http://www.sfgate.co...


The Few, The Proud, The Aryan?
The numbers of black recruits declines by 38%. That's a huge amount, considering that the number of Academy grads is also declining--because they're getting out when their 8 year commitment is done. Meanwhile, the numbers of uneducated, lower-income white kids who call themselves "white supremacists" and the numbers of gang members and convicted felons are growing. Soon, the US military will be overwhelmingly "Aryan Nation gang members with felony convictions." Nice. Think of the future slogans for advertising: The Few, The Proud, the Aryan; or An Army of One Color; or, Air Force White.

Worst. President. Ever.


Just FYI
there was some troll posting about this on americablog about 20 minutes ago.
He was saying that military recruiters never lie. I posted this in response:

"I served...for 6 years, and I'll be the first to tell you that military recruiters are the biggest liars you'll ever meet. They're no better than used car salespeople. They will (and do) tell potential recruits ANything enticing to get them to sign on the dotted line. If you don't think so, you're full of shit. Period."

I'm glad to hear that african americans are realizing that there are other opportunities besides the military, especially with the situation in Iraq.  They have been exploited wayy too much by all branches for too many years now. Kudos.


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