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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.



Homobigot eruption roils Nashville music scene

by: Pam Spaulding

Sun Oct 28, 2007 at 09:00:00 AM EDT


"I think if you legalize that, you've got to legalize some other things that are pretty unsavory. You can call me a radical, but how can you tell an aunt that she can't marry her nephew if they are really in love and sharing the bills? How can you tell them they can't get married, but something else that's unnatural can happen?"
-- John Rich of the country group "Big & Rich", with deep thoughts on marriage equality
Apparently the gay and gay-supportive employees at Warner Bros, as well as many in the Nashville music business are up in arms over the above comments by one half of the duo known as Big & Rich. Howie Klein has the scoop.
Gay employees and straight non-bigots at Warner Bros, and that pretty much accounts for almost everyone who works there, are pretty disappointed, to put it mildly... and I'm not the only one getting complaints. One person who has worked on the Big & Rich projects wrote, "I tend to support all of our artists unconditionally even when some of their politics don't necessarily coincide with mine. I have been made aware of comments made by Big and Rich and I must say this is a real blatant slap in the face and it's somewhat scary to think that I'm helping to make artists' voices such as theirs heard out in the world. I feel deeply torn by comments that they've made recently and can't help but feel really uncomfortable having to see or hear them played in this amazingly diverse environment of Warner Brothers Records that to me has always spoken on behalf of the eccentric and artistic."

Another WB employee, an out front gay men, is torn between his disapproval of censorship and his disapproval of bigotry. He feels it's the company's duty-- their moral responsibility-- to take a public stand against this denigration of a class of people. "Rich's comments are not a political position, they are words of hatred that denounce an entire community and are taken as a personal attack on many of our families. CBS did not tolerate Imus's racist remarks against Blacks nor should we with Rich's remarks about gay families."

I spoke with one of Tennessee's most influential and respected radio programmers. He was still dismayed today and he said most everyone he knows in the music business is as well. This is what he told me:
    "Much of the Nashville music scene is ashamed of John. We have felt betrayed because many of us had embraced him and his mantra of love everybody. John has made a career on the backs of many people, and a lot of them are gay. More than anything, his hateful comments have hurt them and they feel especially betrayed. John is entitled to his opinion. However, comparing gay marriage to incest was unforgivable. I have urged those who feel as I do to stop buying his records and songs that he writes."

Rich, by the way, has endorsed Fred Thompson.

UPDATE: Via Perez Hilton, it looks like Rich must have felt his career was going south fast if he didn't issue a "clarification" of sorts (that's kind of surprising; figured he'd have some good old boys come to his defense):

“My earlier comments on same-sex marriage don’t reflect my full views on the broader issues regarding tolerance and the treatment of gays and lesbians in our society. I apologize for that and wish to state clearly my views. I oppose same-sex marriage because my father and minister brought me up to believe that marriage is an institution for the union of a man and a woman. However, I also believe that intolerance, bigotry and hatred are wrong. People should be judged based on their merits, not on their sexual orientation. We are all children of God and should be valued and respected.”
- John Rich, of country music duo Big & Rich

Pam Spaulding :: Homobigot eruption roils Nashville music scene
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Rich said,

"You can call me a radical,...."

Nope, we call you a conservative, who wants to conserve the status quo, who wants to protect your privilege.

Hey, I just read about a husband who killed his wife by shoving an ashtray down her throat.  And Pam is forever posting about straight parents who cage their kids and microwave them.  And this singer is worried about some hypothetical "unsavory" things?



Pointing out

Someone needs to point out that besides being a blatant case of homobigotry, Rich's comment is also a bad case of a logical fallacy. No, just because you allow two people of the same sex to marry, it does not follow logically that you must also allow people closely blood related to do the same. They are not at all the same issue. Completely unrleated, in fact.

If rich has any level of intelligence at all, he already knows this. The fact that he has chosen to posit it as fact means he intentionally hopes to mislead the national discussion on marriage equality. He has chosen to lie to the American people out of hatred for gay people. I knew there was a reason I couldn't stand country music. The redneck flavor harbors lots of real redneck thinking.



"The right most treasured by civilized men is the right to be let alone."--Justice Louis Brandeis

I am not for incest

But Federal tax breaks are a different story.  I am for "Domestic Partners" getting the same tax breaks as other couples, this could include brother and sister, aunt and nephew.  If they have sex, I would not approve, but that is none of my business or the governments.  The key here is sharing expenses as married religious couples who get tax breaks. 

Most of the country hicks and gospel singers got their start by singing in homobigot churches.  They are brainwashed.  Tenneesee is the headquarters of the Southern Baptists.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

Once again I find myself locked out of a boycott!
I really wish I could boycott this yahoo, but I can't say I've ever heard him sing.

Charly 6 makes a point that I'd like to push further.  In order to form a consensus we need to appeal to basic common rights.  Why should people get tax benefits just because they are sexual partners?  Do you need to have sex to be a family? Why is sex anybody's business at all? 

I'd like to side-step the whole sexual thing and appeal to basic humanity: people who are sharing responsibility for each other are a family, and deserve equal rights. Can't we leave marriage up to our individual churches, and let the government deal with us all as equal citizens?





Thanks,I am going to use your words

In my legal brief against the IRS when I go to court for not filing Income taxes since 2004.  They need to know that "domestic partnership" does not mean sex.

Bush's "sanctity" of marriage is a joke.  Sanctity means blessed by a diety.  It may be church law, but not civil law in a democracy.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
You are sounding like a true Republican

Why are any of us taxed for anything?

Taxation is part of the SSM argument, but it is only a part of it.  It seems like a difficult enough task to get anyone to actually think about SSM as a civil rights/equality issue.  I'm not willing to attach revamping the tax code to marriage equality.  

As for legislating sex, that too is a topic that was resolved by Supreme Court a few years ago.  Combined with restructuring the tax system and persuading the willfully ignorant to consider SSM, finding a way to get people to open their minds sexually seems like a utopian goal. 

First cousins can get married in New York State (and other states).  Want to open that up to include aunts and neices/nephews?  I wish you luck.  You will need it.



[ Parent ]
Being forced to file single

rather than as a couple is not a GOP issue, but a democratic one.  Equal treatment under the law. You aksed, "Why should any of us be taxed for anything?"  Reality check.    The fact remains that there is legality in place about paying income taxes and it discriminating against those in a domestic partnership, giving automatic favor to legally "married" couples.  Separation of Church and State.

I like Gravel's "Fair Tax" and supported him with the maximum amount allowed for a candidate, as he is the only candidate that reached out to GLBT's, however won't be heard.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
As a college student, do you even worry about taxes ??

Probably not.  I am getting moral support from legal groups here in California.  Most cannot enter the fight because it would mean their livelyhood would be in jeporady, as they are non-profit orgs and the IRS watches them very closely.

Not Utopian, just fighting for justice.  You are too young to know.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
too young?

Don't be so sure of that, Charley6.....I might be in college, but I stopped being young a few decades ago...or maybe one decade ago. 

I don't mean to antagonize you by calling you a Republican (I do consider it a slur to use that word).  I mean to say that emphasing taxation over the other complexities of marriage equality sounds like old school republican logic. 

They pretend to be motivated by reducing taxes unless they are justifying a military action that keeps their friends rich.  

In addition to being too poor to worry much about taxes (I am, by the way), I also don't have any property, probably won't have any property, and most likely will not inherit anything when my father dies.  Neither will my husband, for that matter.  

Our incomes have been inconsistent for the 8 years we have been together.  We will never be a part of the gay middle class / SUV driving / fabulous / raising children with a picket fence / IRA 401K set....we want marriage because there is no reason to deny us from having it.

We won't let religious fanatics get away with saying NO to us.  It's not about taxes for us. 

 



[ Parent ]
File jointly anyway-clog the courts

And challenge the system to bring down the government.  Even though your income is not enough to pay taxes, you should file jointly, just to get them pissed.

 

The only way to bring down the corrupt government in both parties.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Hilllary will revise DOMA
Dumb nuts.  This is why we must bring the focus about discrimination in Federal taxes.

Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Charley6!

You trust her?!?!?!?!!?!

Honest to goddess - do you really believe that she will (or can - or will be able to) amend her husbands DOMA to make it easier for same sex couples in America?

I can't believe it...don't take the bait, Charley6...vote for her if want to...give her $$ if it maks you feel good...put a sign on your front lawn...but don't believe for one moment that she is going to lift one greasy finger to help same sex couples.

Of all candidates, she is the last one that feels any pressure to act on our behalf.  If any LGBT person supports her position on our citizenship after what her husband did - and after she promotes a "states rights" position regarding equality - then she has absolutely no obligation to pay a lick of attention to us again.

Apparently, we will vote for anyone no matter what they do.  She knows that all she has to do is open up the closet door every four years and toss us a box of state crackers and then she can get back to what she was doing...while we sit in the dark happy sucking on mold happy that she even said hello in the first place. 



[ Parent ]
Barney Frank will re-enter the amendment

that gives Federal Tax incentives to same sex couples, and Hillary will not veto it as Bill did.  Times have changed.

That is why it must be a big issue in the media before the election, to get her firm commitment.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Your ignorance is amazing

 

In order to form a consensus we need to appeal to basic common rights.  Why should people get tax benefits just because they are sexual partners?

Sexual partners?  There is nothing that requires married opposite-sex couples be sexual partners in order to get the federal and state tax breaks.  All that is required is that they be married in the eyes of the state.



[ Parent ]
Gay friendly country music ???

Very scarsce if any.  It's usually about "daddy & momma" rocking on the front porch with the "good book", or working on a carburetor.

I have never heard a gay friendly gospel song.



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

I have, Garth Brooks

"We Shall Be Free"

Garth is one of the few to stand up for us in Nashville.



[ Parent ]
Dolly Parton

Dolly once said she was a "Drag Queen trapped in a straight woman's body" or something like that. 

From what I've observed over the years, I'd say she's pretty gay-friendly.  However she hasn't always been pure-country music...often crossing over into other genres.



[ Parent ]
She's gay friendly
Her agent, producers, everyone around her are gay.  But has she written or sung a gay friendly country song? Nope.  It's just not in the country grand ole opry tradition.  Men are supposed to be like John Wayne and women are like Tammy Wynette in her apron standing by her man.  Much like Hillary, even though she claimed to the contrary.

Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Trans-friendly
She got an Oscar nomination for "Travelin' Thru" (from Transamerica) in 2006.


"If the apocalypse comes... beep me." -- Buffy Summers

[ Parent ]
illogical conjecture

   I'm so OVER the illogical leaps and conjecture people put out when discussing marriage between gay people. Without extreme control over gay people, there is NONE?!

That makes no sense.

It shows that no one wants to understand that being gay isn't strictly about DESIRE, but about being a person with a profound characteristic.

And last I saw, no one is banned based on a characteristic, nor can a citizen be KEPT from their obligations to a significant other or especially, their children.

Bans are enforced based on STATUS.

So, when someone is going to talk about marriage, I wish they be more informed. And not make PREDICTIONS OR SPECULATE, but deal with reality.



heteros started the slippery slope
if they want to play the slippery slope game, then heteros must accept that they started it with granting marriages to themselves in the first place.  if they didn't marry, no one else would be considering it, now would they? 

if you let a man and a woman marry just so they can feel justified in having sex, who's next?!

Click HERE and sign up: Campaign For Military Partners.

Lurleen on Twitter.


Maybe not your aunt...
In Nashville (Tennessee) you can marry your first cousin. And with parental permission, you can marry your 16-year-old first cousin. Real "natural", that.

Muzik Mafia fan no more...

I used to love their music, but I will not buy anything related to the Muzik Mafia again unless those "artists" let me know their own point of view on the subject. Gretchen? Cowboy Troy?...ie

 

I will no longer have any of Rich's music in my player.



John Rich's "rationale"

Judging from John Rich's argument one could conclude that Johnny must have attended some very unusual family reunions.



I would rather be hated for whom I love; than loved for whom I hate.

[ Parent ]
The article stated:

"John also is known as a woman-loving party animal."

So, he's a fornicator.  He must seep sin, so what's next for him: Fox TV!



WTF?
I don't know what his problem is.  Half of the country music love songs are about the singer's cousin, sibling or parent. 

Regarding the "clarification"

I'd bet money that John Rich did not personally write that statement.  It suspect he just gave his "OK" to it -- in the face of a serious threat to his career -- while it may well not reflect what he actually thinks...or what he would say, and the jokes he would tell, in private conversations.

I hope he is challenged specifically on this "unnatural" business.  An occurrence in a minority of cases does not make something "unnatural."  Homosexuality is seen throughout the animal kingdom; and has occurred in human beings consistently throughout history, and across nations and cultures.  It is as "unnatural" as left-handedness.



Ouch, that mental pretzel must hurt

 "I oppose same-sex marriage because my father and minister brought me up to believe that marriage is an institution for the union of a man and a woman. However, I also believe that intolerance, bigotry and hatred are wrong. "

 

translation: "I beleive in bigotry because my daddy and my minister told me to. Avd that's bigotry, intolerance and hatred is okay, but everything else is wrong . . . okay I need stop there and untwist, unknot my brain because I am not quite that good at mental gynmastics



Question

If his father and his minister brought him up to believe that black people are inferior to whites, would he dismiss any criticism of this belief in a similar fashion to the excuse he uses here? Or would he try to search inside his soul a bit, to see if perhaps what he has been taught is just plain wrong and is hurting innocent people?

In other words, "that's how I was taught" is not an excuse to hate people and discriminate against people.

One would hope he has more intelligence than he has thus far demonstrated. It's never too late to just admit that something you said was stupid, and that you have thought about it and would like to apologize. Not holding my breath, obviously. 



"The right most treasured by civilized men is the right to be let alone."--Justice Louis Brandeis

[ Parent ]
Perfect Question

Now let's see someone really ask it.

Why doesn't anyone seem to be that bright?



[ Parent ]
The Civil Rights / Gay analogy

The difference between civil rights and gay rights?  Gay men are condemned to death in the countryboy Bible, rather than salvery. 



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Next question

"The difference between civil rights and gay rights?  Gay men are condemned to death in the countryboy Bible, rather than salvery."

--------------------

Then I guess the next logical question is: Does the Bible hold any authentic divine inspiration, any validity at all, or is it a mere man-made fabrication of bronze age mythology?

Because if the former is true and valid, we should tear up the constitution immediately, tell Madison and Jefferson where they can shove their ideas, and govern ourselves under the Bible. And if the latter is true and valid, then belief in Biblical edicts should have no bearing at all on the rights of people to live their lives.

And if the former is deemed true and valid, one would expect the fundies to adhere to ALL of what is in it, instead of obsessing over a few verses here and there, and ignoring the rest of it.



"The right most treasured by civilized men is the right to be let alone."--Justice Louis Brandeis

[ Parent ]
Stoning to death

is illegal in this country, but they still keep it alive by not taking it out of the Bible. Even the gay churches keep it in there and try to re-interpret it as love.  Tough love?  Weird.  They could use the Jefferson Bible.   Jefferson edited all that illegal stuff out of the King James version, and ended up with just 100 pages for his "Jefferson Bible".



Make alot of noise. Life is short.

[ Parent ]
Hmmm
Having seen Big & Rich on tv and in some videos, i have to say i've always thought John Rich was a bit of a flamer. Perhaps he's just trying to prove his "anti-gayness" before some manwhore hits the airwaves and outs him. He is a Republican, right?

As a gay Nashvillian

I can tell you that this city and this state are such an enigma.

Folks really are clueless here.  They have gay friends, family members, and coworkers, but they either have no clue that the Pugs are hatemongers or they don't care.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this or got this feeling, but the country in general is in a weird state.  A famous person can make a stupid ass comment, like Rich did, and get creamed, but in the next breath, the gay community and anyone who is tolerant is told to forgive, forget, and move on.  We should get over the offenses against us and not hold a grudge.

I'm hearing stuff like this more and more and it's really starting to piss me off.  We wouldn't expect a black person to simply get over a verbal offense by a famous person, now would we?

Bashing gays is the last piece of acceptable public bigotry.

FYI, here's an article from our local paper on country music's political involvement:  http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071028/NEWS0206/710280449/-1/NLETTER01

Apparently, Rich doesn't hold the same views as his singing partner, but that doesn't mean that the rest of the Muzik Mafia crew doesn't.

My first gf loved country music and it drew me in too because of that, but I can't understand why anyone would listen to music from people they knew hated them.



Aunts marrying nephews
neices marrying uncles, people marrying their pets. I get so sick of hearing this rhetoric. If the far right phobes would get their heads out of their asses they would realize that if inter species marriage were to be a threat, that those people would be out there lobbying for it right now. They seem to think  if gay marriage is legalized that the planet will be flooded with other types of marriage equality requests.

I just don't see this happening. I can say though, if we let the religious right continue to walk all over us we will soon be living under a taliban type rule where no one will have a say in what they would like. Things will be determined by people who worship the letter t


Biting The Hand That Feeds Him

Some of the folks who like John Rich's non-traditional brand of Country music will be disgusted by his bigoted comments.  Big and Rich don't play traditional Country, and I daresay most of their audience isn't composed of religious conservatives.  Even if they were a traditional band, its not just ignorant rednecks who listen to Country music anymore.  There's a new breed of Country stars, too.  The majority of female artists working right now are Gay-friendly: Dolly Parton, Wynonna and The Dixie Chicks, most definitely.  Probably Emmylou Harris, too.  Among the enlightened male singers are Garth Brooks, Dwight Yoakum and Tim McGraw.  And then there are the closeted Country artists like Ty Herndon, KT Oslin, Randy Travis and (possibly) the late Porter Wagoner, among others . . .

It's an open secret in the industry that (White) Gay people form a significant segment of Country music fandom, and I think that's always been true.  Gay Country dance clubs have proliferated in the last 20 years or so.  Now there are openly Gay staffers working on Music Row and interacting directly with the artists.  In the past, Nashville may not have minded its artists spouting hatred, but things are different now.  Music City today is about expanding its consumer base, not alienating people.  John Rich and his ilk can't pull Country music back into the dark ages.  The industry won't tolerate it.  I think he's going to be surprised at the level of denunciation he gets from his peers.



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