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.
The federal government would be banned from funding sex change operations and other services for transgender individuals if social conservative activists get their way.
There's no sponsor yet for an amendment to the health care overhaul - and it may remain in the dustbin of unrealized wedge issues - but culture warriors are shopping the proposal to Republican senators.
The language is written: "None of the funds authorized or appropriated under this act (or an amendment made by this Act) shall be used to cover any part or portion of the costs of any health plan that includes coverage of" any sex or gender reassignment procedure, surgery related to such a sex change, hormone therapy for a sex change or pre- and post-operation treatments for a sex change.
A senior aide to a Republican senator said that a public insurance plan could easily end up covering sex-change procedures if that's not specifically banned in the bill...
The "Fierce Advocate" for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community in the White House needs to draw a line here. House and Senate leadership need to draw a line here too. LGBT people just cannot acquiesce the enshrining of new discriminatory policies against any subcommunity of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community into law.
I have zero expectation that healthcare reform is going to end up in mandated genital reconstruction surgery. However, if this amendment is adopted should a Republican put it forward -- when zero or close-to-zero Republicans are going to vote for this bill no matter what it looks like -- this would be a travesty. This would be on the same plane as when Congress passed the Defense Of Marriage Act (DOMA).
If this amendment is submitted and were to be adopted -- when Democrats have sizable majorities in both Houses of Congress -- then I believe there would be something incredibly wrong with the Democratic Party's position on LGBT people and issues. It one thing to drag ones' feet or repealing discriminatory legislation of the past; it's another thing altogether to create new laws enshrining new discriminatory policies against any LGBT subcommunity into law.
Think Progress caught House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) in a bit of delicious hypocritical jack*ssery as his party wants the American people to see the health care reform legislation by posting it online for 72 hours. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said he would.
But then a reporter asked Boehner when the GOP plan was going to be placed online for the world to scrutinize. Oops, there isn't a plan.
At a press conference this morning, a reporter turned the tables on Boehner and asked whether he'd post the GOP plan for 72 hours. Boehner declined to make such a pledge:
QUESTION: Will the Republicans put their alternative online for 72 hours as well?
Well, the plan can't be posted if it's "vaporware". I'm sure Boehner felt that was a sufficient vague answer, but another pesky reporter asked for more detail, and this answer is priceless.
QUESTION: Is it your plan to have one Republican alternative that you all would get behind and endorse?
BOHNER: We have a number of ideas that we would like to proffer in this process, and we're not quite sure how the majority intends to proceed. And so until we understand how they intend to proceed, it's pretty difficult for us to have a solid plan.
It's amazing, but not surprising, that health care reform has turned into a big boondoggle. How can the Republicans continue to stonewall reform (and decry a public option), when you have insurance companies doing crap like this (N&O):
Maybe it was just lousy timing, but many customers of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina are ticked off at the mail they've received recently from the state's largest insurer.
First, they learned their rates will rise by an average of 11 percent next year.
Next, they opened a slick flier from the insurer urging them to send an enclosed pre-printed, postage-paid note to Sen. Kay Hagan denouncing what the company says is unfair competition that would be imposed by a government-backed insurance plan. The so-called public option is likely to be considered by Congress in the health-care overhaul debate.
Let's just say that BCBS, which controls more than half of the state's market for health insurance, is out of touch with its customers, as North Carolinians are burning up Kay Hagan's phone lines to scorch BCBS's tactics.
They've hit the Internet in a flurry of e-mails to friends and neighbors throughout the state. They've called Hagan's office to voice support for a public option. They've marked through the Blue Cross message on their postcards to instead vouch support, then dropped them in the mail -- in at least one case taped to a brick -- to be paid on Blue Cross' dime. Or dimes.
Thomas Frank on the Obama Administration's accurate analysis of Fox 'News':
To point out that this network is different, that it is intensely politicized, that it inhabits an alternate reality defined by an imaginary conflict between noble heartland patriots and devious liberals—to be aware of these things is not the act of a scheming dictatorial personality. It is the obvious conclusion drawn by anybody with eyes and ears.
Oh...
and where was this op-ed, entitled, "Obama Is Right About Fox News," published?
Post from Cord Jefferson's Blog:
Senator Vitter Won't Admonish Bigoted Justice
By C_Jefferson - Oct 21st, 2009 at 1:41 pm EDT
Also listed in: Campus Progress Updates
Republican David Vitter, the junior senator from Louisiana, continues to remain mum about the Louisiana official who refused to marry an interracial couple.
Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal (R) and senior Senator Mary Landrieu (D) have both called for Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, to be fired. But, as this video shows, Vitter won't join his colleagues in admonishing Bardwell, who doesn't believe biracial children can function in society ('cause, y'know, they might grow up to be president).
Saved by the elevator doors. Apparently the only time Vitter likes to discuss mariage is when he's blasting gays or apoligizing for cheating on his wife with prostitutes.
I'm not a neurologist, ethnologist, anthropologist or sociologist and I don't play any of them in the coffeehouse, but it seems like there needs to be some scientific research into these frequent bigot eruptions by conservatives and mouth-breathers. I don't quite understand how their brains operate, other than to speculate there is some kind of sludge up in their craniums that is inhibiting healthy synapse firing.
Take today's latest misfire, by SC Republican officials Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin, and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer. In their defense of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who is accused of not bringing home the bacon for the Palmetto State, the hive mind of Merwin and Ulmer came up with this, run as a guest editorial in The Times and Democrat.
"There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves."
That's right, friends. DeMint is like a "Jew watching our nation's pennies." Think about this. Not one, but both Merwin and Ulmer had the synapses firing and as the thought traveled from the brain to the hand to the keyboard, to the later review of the editorial, neither of them thought that statement was a problem.
This is why the GOP bigot brain needs scientific analysis. Most normal individuals don't have the old saw "penny pinching Jews" rattling around upstairs, and if they do, the phrase never makes it out of the cob-webbed recesses of their brains down to the tongue to form the words and to the larynx to assist in uttering the asshattery out of the piehole.
And in the communication method of choice for these GOP officials, the common sense/taste filter upstairs is damaged so that the thought doesn't find its way to the eyes and fingers to tap out the filth, to print it out, read it or hit a send button to send it to a newspaper editor.
What is going on upstairs in these individuals? This isn't about being PC, it's about internalizing bigotry up in the brain where it is catalogued in the "ready to burst forth in creative, witty splendor" section rather than the "not for consumption - under lock and key" area.
The exchange occurred after Trey Walker, an advisor to S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster, posted an innocuous Facebook update about this morning's escape of a Western Lowlands Gorilla from Columbia's Riverbanks Zoo. Walker's harmless update, however was followed by a highly-questionable comment from longtime SCGOP activist and former State Senate candidate, Rusty DePass.
"I'm sure it's just one of Michelle's ancestors - probably harmless," DePass wrote.
Here at the Blend we've covered dozens of racist, sexist and homo/transphobic statements like this that just blow the mind. I just wonder when some serious study will be launched to look deeply into whether there is some clinical issue with the GOP bigot brain. What do you think? Who would you nominate to have their brain explored?
And I thought the bought-and-paid-for-by-the-big-firms Supreme Court justices in Texas were bad. Gort42 tells of Joan Orie Melvin.
She's - wait for it...a Republican! - running for a seat on the Pennsylvania high court:
Her website tells us that she has been a lifelong Republican. Her faith is the cornerstone of her life. She comes from a family of nine children raised with the principles of God and Country. Her sister is State Senator Jane Orie who helped her get the endorsement of the Pennsylvania Teamsters that didn't turn out so well. The Pennsylvania Progressive has the details. .
Melvin was in town last month and said of the Juvie Brothers scandal "This is surreal. It is right out of a Charles Dickens’ novel." .
In her previous visit to Wilkes-Barre in May she gave a long rambling speech to the local GOP faithful. In that speech she listed as one of her selling points was the upcoming redistricting after the 2010 Census telling the partisan crowd that they needed a Republican on the court to rule in favor of Republicans in any challenges to whatever plan emerges.
So much for Judges being above politics.
Gee - if the hair was just a bit longer she could go as Ann Coulter for Halloween.
As a Canadian, I find the US political system to be a challenge at time and others, well, down right giggly. One of my bigger problems is keeping track of the players. And since I'm a geeky type of person having it in an easy format, like say an iPhone/iTouch app, would be ideal. I've gotten to know some thanks to Rachel Maddow's show and the segment TMI. But it would be nice to have a list of some sort that can tell me who the hypocrites are, the gay-bashers, etc.
And then I came across this. I couldn't help but laugh. Someone has done it. I actually wouldn't mind having an iPhone/iTouch app like this. It'd be easy to remember who I was having issue with given there are so many republicans that just seem to be a few cards short of the full deck at times. The actual creator has a webpage that details information about each of the listed reps, as well, for those of us who are not so US politico savvy.
A man who was a press liaison for former President George W. Bush and ex-Vice President Dick Cheney is at the center of a case involving $2 million of fuel stolen from Mexican oil giant Petroleos Mexicanos that was resold in the United States.
Josh Crescenzi of Houston, former vice president for Continental Fuels of San Antonio, has been cooperating with agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for several months, helping them secretly record conversations that have resulted in the conviction of a Houston oil industry executive, another one from San Antonio and the president of a small oil and gas company in Edinburg.
Crescenzi's help is likely to lead to charges against more people, the San Antonio Express-News has learned.
...
Crescenzi is a former press advance representative for Bush and Cheney. They are not implicated in the case, but those familiar with Crescenzi said he was known to brag about his connections to further his business interests.
I'm not liking what I'm hearing about Obama's speech tonight - but should we perhaps keep things in perspective?
FROM THE CIVIL Rights Act of 1964 to putting a man on the moon, the great reforms and achievements in American history were only possible because of unwavering commitment and leadership from members of both political parties. Likewise, full equality for gays and lesbians will remain but a dream without advocates on both sides of the aisle.
Unfortunately, neither party has adequately fought to lift the legal barriers to equal rights for gays in the United States.
Apparently Eric Brescia has a Ph.D. in false equivalencies from Fox News University.
Are there Democratic scumbags out there?
I'll answer that with another question: Have any of you ever seen anything I've written about Barney Frank?
Which brings me to another interesting aspect of Eric "full equality for gays and lesbians" Brescia's free campaign ad in QCM.
"Gay"/"gays" : 6
"Lesbian" / "lesbians": 3
"sexual orientation": 2
"gender identity" : 0
B-anything: 0
T-anything: 0
But that's only the gloss. The half-truth that is the complete lie is after the flip.
Staring Secessionist Rick, of course. From the Houston Chronk:
It would be a dangerous political liability for any candidate: The possibility that, as governor, Rick Perry presided over the execution of an innocent man
Yet, that's the prospect raised in recent years by several arson experts and exhaustive national media reports in the case of Cameron Todd Willingham. Maintaining his innocence until the end, Willingham was executed in 2004 for the deaths of his three small children in a blaze that destroyed their Corsicana home in 1991.
Media reports by outlets such as the Chicago Tribune and the The New Yorker may have been easy for Perry to dismiss, or ignore. And likewise, perhaps, was last year's investigation by five experts commissioned by the New York-based Innocence Project, which found arson testimony at Willingham's trial to be based on outdated and invalid investigative criteria.
But brushing off the bruising findings of Craig Beyler proved more difficult. Beyler, a nationally known fire science expert, was commissioned not by a newspaper or an advocacy group, but by a state commission chaired by Perry's own political appointee.
So, when Beyler concluded recently there was no credible scientific evidence to support the finding that the Willingham fire was arson, and likened the investigative methods used to folklore and mysticism rather than science, it appears that the governor had to find a way to silence him.
At first, Perry tried to discredit Beyler, using air quotes in an interview with The Dallas Morning News two weeks ago to refer to “latter-day supposed experts” who have cast doubt on Willingham's conviction.
Then, this week, days before Beyler was scheduled to present his findings to the Texas Forensic Science Commission in a public meeting Friday, Perry made a move so blatantly political that it was stunning even for a candidate locked in a tight primary battle.
He canned the commission's chairman, Sam Bassett, his own two-term appointee, and replaced him with a new chairman who promptly canceled Friday's meeting on the Beyler report.
The analysis of the situation comes from Barry Scheck, of the Innocense Project:
“It's a Saturday night massacre, pure and simple,” Scheck said. “If you don't like the evidence, you just get rid of the judges.”
Considering who is at the center of it all, we could presumably be thankful that Gov. Goodhair didn't have them all executed to get them out of the way.
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) warned Americans that "Republicans want you to die quickly" during an after-hours House floor speech Tuesday night.
His remarks, which drew angry and immediate calls for an apology from Republicans, were highlighted by a sign reading "The Republican Health Care Plan: Die Quickly."
I'm going to call this Democratic congressmember's commentary a House Floor version of internet trolling:
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts controversial, inflammatory, irrelevant or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into an emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion.
Rep. Grayson's comments would, if made in an internet forum, would qualify as a kind of flaming:
An Internet user typically generates a flame response to other posts or users posting on a site, and such a response is usually not constructive, does not clarify a discussion, and does not persuade others. Sometimes, flamers attempt to assert their authority, or establish a position of superiority over other users. Other times, a flamer is simply an individual who believes he or she carries the only valid opinion. This leads him or her to personally attack those who disagree. In some cases, flamers wish to upset and offend other members of the forum, in which case they can be called "trolls". Most often however, flamers are angry or insulting messages transmitted by people who have strong feelings about a subject.
I want healthcare reform -- especially for the underinsured and the uninsured -- and I want a public option as part of that healthcare reform. I don't see how Rep. Grayson's comments lead us to the kind of healthcare reform -- the kind with a public option -- that many of us progressives want.
In my mind, it comes down to this: Rep. Grayson's commentary doesn't clarify discussion on healthcare reform and isn't likely to persuade others; Rep. Grayson's commentary does personally attack those with whom he disagrees. What was the point of the speech? In my mind, it was simply to antagonize his opponents.
The problem is that, if anything, his commentary will in the long run turn out to be destructive. This is because his commentary will turn off those in the middle -- those whom progressives want to persuade to support healthcare reform that includes a public option. I would say many of us Americans are tired of Republican and Democratic sniping back and forth at each other -- throwing snowballs at each other from the safety their own snowball forts.
Basically, one doesn't change hearts and minds if one behaves like a jackass. Rep. Grayson, if he wanted to speak on the subject of healthcare reform, could have (and should have) done much better at framing the discussion -- One doesn't have to sink to one's opponents' jackassary to effectively counter these others' fallacious arguments.
Fox News is under fire for a newspaper ad they purchased Friday that inaccurately accused its competitors, including CNN, of failing to cover last weekend's Tea Party protests in Washington.
"How did, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, and CNN miss this story?" Fox's newspaper ad asks.
The answer: They didn't.
They lie with their 'news', so why would anyone be surprised that they'd lie with an ad promoting their 'news'?
Actually, the better question is: How much do we wanna bet that Faux News will get away with this, just like they get away with everything else?
Let me boil down the two arguments of the Traditional Value Coalition's (TVC's) piece If You Hate America You Have a Lawyer -- Chai Feldblum: 1.) If a person who lives in the United States of America is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, then one hates America. 2.) If a person who lives in the United States of America is more liberal or progressive in their politics than the folk at the TVC, then one hates America.
TVC article text to the points (emphasis added):
Feldblum isn't known by most Americans, but her career experience and employers make her a sort of general counsel to the Forces of Darkness. She has worked for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the pro-homosexual Human Rights Campaign Fund and she founded something called the Moral Values Project, a "gender equity" group meant to sound like something conservative.
She is a lesbian and has played a major role in pushing the LGBT agenda in American culture for the past 20 years.
The actual last line in the piece by TVC Executive Director Andrea Lafferty:
"Liberals hate America and so does a President who insists on appointing them to positions of power and responsibility within his already tottering administration."
Let me pose a response in very narrow terms:
Throwing my Disabled-20Year-Navy-Persian-Gulf-War-Veteran-(Service Connected)-Who-Is-Also-A-Transgender-Woman card, exactly How many years did Andrea Lafferty (or her father and TVC founder) Lou Sheldon serve their country in the military? -- or in any other way (Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, etc.)?
Is Andrea Lafferty actually saying that my service to my country was done with hate? That all LGBT and progressive service veterans of the military, Peace Corps, or AmeriCorps hate their country?
Apparently, she is saying exactly that. She -- and her father -- are apparently conflating Americanism with their being heterosexual and cissexual, and unAmericanism with being lesbian, gay, bisexual, or trans (LGBT). She and her father also are conflating Americanism with their conservative political opinions, and conflating unAmericanism with liberal and progressive political opinions.
This should be a galling conflation to American LGBT service veterans; this should be a galling conflation to LGBT and progressive Americans; this should be a galling conflation to all Americans.
Andrea Lafferty's opinions seem to be arguments from believing her side has values and her opponents have zero values -- when the reality is that her peers' and her's opponents include Americans with different values.
However strongly I may disagree with Andrea Lafferty's and Lou Sheldon's viewpoints, I don't believe for a moment that the two hate America. To not extend me, as a Disabled-20Year-Navy-Persian-Gulf-War-Veteran-(Service Connected)-Who-Is-Also-A-Transgender-Woman, the grace to believe I too don't hate America -- well, it says something that should be shocking to Americans about the TVC version of values.
Ok - after close examination its not really all that analytical. However, it does indicate just how obvious the insanity of the notion of picking Caribou Barbarella should have been for John McCain - and anyone else...
Bush also is quoted as saying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin was "being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for" after McCain announced her as his vice presidential running mate.
“I’m trying to remember if I’ve met her before. I’m sure I must have.” His eyes twinkled, then he asked, “What is she, the governor of Guam?”
Everyone in the room seemed to look at him in horror, their mouths agape. When Ed told him that conservatives were greeting the choice enthusiastically, he replied, “Look, I’m a team player, I’m on board.” He thought about it for a minute. “She’s interesting,” he said again. “You know, just wait a few days until the bloom is off the rose.” Then he made a very smart assessment.
“This woman is being put into a position she is not even remotely prepared for,” he said. “She hasn’t spent one day on the national level. Neither has her family. Let’s wait and see how she looks five days out.” It was a rare dose of reality in a White House that liked to believe every decision was great, every Republican was a genius, and McCain was the hope of the world because, well, because he chose to be a member of our party
Perhaps Jeff Foxworthy should rename his TV show to Are You Smarter Than George W. Bush?
Apparently, John McCain was - and Teabagger Nation is - not.
...Now, after this summer of bad political behavior -- full of hecklers, birthers, truthers, death panels and guns -- I think it's time to take up the cause against poorly behaved politicians and citizen activists alike. Do it for the children!
It wouldn't be so bad if politics weren't viewed as the be-all and end-all of American culture. I mean, I'd be happy if someone like, say, South Carolina GOP Rep. Joe "You lie!" Wilson had the courage of basketball star Charles Barkley to stand up and say, "Hey, I'm not a role model just because I got elected to Congress."
But you know that won't happen, because despite all the evidence to the contrary, we like to delude ourselves into thinking that politics is an honorable profession guided by only the most moral and high-minded of individuals and intentions...
In the middle of the piece, commentator Gregory Rodriguez makes a serious comment about Nazi politics (that for once isn't an exercise in violating Goodwin's Law):
Otto von Bismarck, the 19th century German chancellor, is famously said to have remarked that "laws are like sausage. It is better not to see them made." As much as I agree with his assessment, I also recognize the dangers of looking away from the sausage machine. Indeed, one of contemporary Germany's foremost intellectuals, Wolf Lepenies, argued a few years ago that the German elite's disdain for the lowly practice of politics (and preference for high culture) essentially allowed the Nazis to emerge unchecked. So dismayed were they by the everyday horse-trading, the elite left politics to others.
But if none of us can afford to turn away, what can we do to make political discourse and behavior more palatable?
Of course, the writer answers his rhetorical question with his ideas on how to create space for civil political discourse.
But, of course, let's "unrhetoricalize" the question, and make it a question for all of us. What do each of us who are politically engaged on some level or another to make political discourse and behavior more palatable?
But let's not frame our answers in tems of "this is what I think the other guy should do," but instead from the perspective of "what do I think I could and should do?" So, how would you answer Gregory Rodriguez's question of "what can we do to make political discourse and behavior more palatable?" if you applied the question to yourself and your own behavior during political dialog?
And I know, the question as I've interpreted it takes on my perspective that civil political dialog is the preferred kind of political dialog. So for those who don't agree with mine or Mr. Rodriguez's perspective that civil political dialog is preferred, you can instead answer of how you think you should engage in political dialog in the current reality that political dialog is currently pretty uncivil.
So what are your thoughts?
~~~~~
Since this is a discussion about political civility, here's a special excerpt related to Godwin's Law that I like to quote occaionally:
And the Hitlers keep on coming. Yes, Adolf Hitler, one of the worst mass-murders in all of history, has become the go-to metaphor and comparison for anyone you have a minor disagreement with.
...Here's my point. When you compare people to Hitler, enh, you lose a little credibility.
...[P]lease stop calling people Hitler when you disagree with them. It demeans you, it demeans your opponent, and to be honest, it demeans Hitler. That guy worked too many years, too hard, to be that evil to have any Tom, Dick and Harry come along and say "Hey, you're being Hitler." No--You know who was Hitler? HITLER!
The Jon Stewart video on that linked site to the quote is a particularly poignant and funny take on calling an opponent a Hitler or a Nazi. Higly recommend its vieing.
A: Remind him (masculine used intentionally) about the Ninth Amendment.
I teach a transgender history class but, coming from a legal background I use a lot of legal materials as primary sources. And, yes, sometimes the discussion veers off into other legal/political areas.
Occasionally, the discussion has gotten into the Constitution in general.
One favorite question to pose: What does the Second Amendment actually say. Not surprisingly, most people can rattle off the 'bear arms' part - but no one ever bothers to recite the dependent clause that starts the sentence...
you know - the 'militia' clause.
What's fun is to suggest that, if Antonin Scalia's 'originalism' logic is carried through to its logical conclusion, the only 'arms' that there is a right to 'bear' would, in addition to blade-based ones, be single-shot muzzleloaders (even if you're not into guns, think about what sort of firearms existed in 1789 - and what sort didn't), though arguably you would have a right to bear cannons (and catapults and iron maidens and guillotines....)
Even more fun (for me) still is another question that should be simple: What does the Ninth Amendment say? And forget 'actually say'; the trick here is to find someone who actually knows that there even is a Ninth Amendment, much less what it says.
And, of course, in my experience - be it in law school or out in the real world - those most ignorant (I leave it to the imagination as to whether said ignorance is genuine or voluntary) tend to be Tenthers. Now I know that that particular term is fairly new - coming on the heels of Birthers and Deathers - but what it describes is nothing new: a morbid, insane addiction to the Tenth Amendment.
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others (health-care) retained by the people.
One reason that the Ninth Amendment is the amendment that dare not speak its name among Tenthers and the like is that - well, read it (yes, the parenthetical is not in the original - but the rest is.) You don't really have to be a lawyer to see that it is a specific recognition that ununumerated rights - you know, those things that Tenthers and christianists and other crypto-18th Century-oids get apoplectic about any time that the U.S. Supreme Court recognizes that they exist - actually do exist.
The problem is that the court never just flat-out points to the Ninth Amendment. When I was in law school - and I took Constitutional Law in 1996, when Bob Dole was using a pocket-sized copy of the Tenth as his proto-Viagara - my Con Law prof asserted that the Supreme Court had never actually utilized the Ninth as a ground for resolving a case (read: recognizing a right.) It gets cited occasionally, and some concurring Justices, had they written the majority opinions, would have 'gone there,' but a Court majority never had.
As far as I can tell, that prof was right then - and that status quo hasn't changed.
We know what it means to 'take back the night.'
We also need to 'take back the Ninth'...
before Glenn Beck scares Rahm Emmanuel President Obama into banishing it to wherever the hell Van Jones ended up.
ROTFLOL. In the you can't make this sh*t up category, Pink Visual owner Allison Vivas received a congratulatory fax from Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF). What was unusual about this was that Pink Visual's business -- honored for stimulating the economy -- is a porno DVD superstore. Think Progress obtained a copy of the knee-slapping missive.
Newt would like to arrange a private dinner with you at the historic Capitol Hill Club on the evening of October 7, 2009 in Washington. You'll dine privately with Newt at this exclusive venue and he'll take the occasion to present you with your well deserved award and have your photo taken together.
This tremendous honor is a testament to your success in building your business and recognition of the risks you take to create jobs and stimulate the economy. As an award winner, you'll be on the ground floor as Newt and his Council begin the work to turn this country around. ... Newt is looking forward to hearing your ideas on getting the economy moving again and getting your feedback on his plans over dinner.
Heh heh heh. The crown prince of adultery will certainly be listening carefully. Oh wait -- maybe not -- when ASWF was alerted of the line of business Pink Visuals was in it retracted the awardsaying it inadvertently sent it to Vivas. She (and anyone with a synapse firing) called BS on that front.
Allison was disappointed to receive a call this morning from an ASWF representative stating that the fax had been sent to her 'inadvertently,'" Boyer told AVN.com. "We're not entirely clear on how one 'inadvertently' sends a fax to the right person at the correct fax number, so our sense is that this is damage control on the part of a group that is having second thoughts about either recognizing the excellent work of a porn company entrepreneur in light of their own conservative political and social orientation, or having second thoughts about their promotional methodology and communication protocols."
Surf over and read more at TP, including Newt's commitment in 1995 to restrict access to pornography.
U.S. Rep. Lynn Jenkins offered encouragement to conservatives at a town hall forum that the Republican Party would embrace a "great white hope" capable of thwarting the political agenda endorsed by Democrats who control Congress and President Barack Obama.
Jenkins, a Topeka Republican in her first term in Congress, shared thoughts about the GOP's political future during an Aug. 19 forum at Fisher Community Center in the northeast Kansas community of Hiawatha.
..."Republicans are struggling right now to find the great white hope," Jenkins said to the crowd. "I suggest to any of you who are concerned about that, who are Republican, there are some great young Republican minds in Washington."
It's worth noting that all of the Republicans Jenkins points out as prospects (Cantor, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., and Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.) are white. Just a coinkydink. And here comes the hilarious "it's not racist" denial from the spokesbot for Jenkins, Mary Geiger:
Mary Geiger, a spokeswoman for Jenkins, said the reference to a great white hope wasn't meant to denote a preference by Jenkins for politicians of a particular "race, creed or any background." Jenkins was expressing faith fellow GOP representatives in the House would be key players in returning Republicans to a leadership role in Washington, Geiger said.
"There may be some misunderstanding there when she talked about the great white hope," Geiger said. "What she meant by it is they have a bright future. They're bright lights within the party."
Big, bright white Broadway lights, apparently; the Topeka Capital Journal's Tim Carpenter pointed out the obvious.
The phrase "great white hope" is frequently tied to racist attitudes permeating the United States when heavyweight boxing champion Jack Johnson fought in the early 1900s. Reaction to the first black man to reign as champion was intense enough to build support for a campaign to find a white fighter capable of reclaiming the title from Johnson.
From the ongoing story about Sharon Keller, a judge on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals who is on administrative trial for deliberately obstructing a death penalty appeal:
When she first ran for the court in 1994 she wrote in the Dallas Morning News that she was “pro-prosecutor.” It was truthful advertising.
When DNA evidence showed a man imprisoned for raping a girl who was also murdered did not contribute the semen, she ruled against his appeal, saying he might have worn a condom.
When prosecutors put on an expert in another case who testified a convicted man was a threat to society and therefore should get the death penalty because he was Hispanic, she voted not to require a new sentencing proceeding. The U.S. Supreme Court disagreed.
When a district judge ruled that the evidence “unquestionably established” that a man had been pressured into falsely confessing to raping his stepdaughter, Keller voted with the minority against his release from prison.
I'll say this for her. She is hard working. In the midst of this week's trial, she voted not to hear an appeal in a death penalty case. Six of the nine members of the all-Republican court voted the other way.
John Cornyn - now one of Texas' US Senators - was on Texas' other high court (the Texas Supreme Court, which handles non-criminal matters) at the time Keller slithered onto the Court of Criminal Appeals (BTW - 1994 was also the year that Texas voters put a clown named Steve Mansfield on that same court.)
I wonder what he - ahd his vote against Sonia Sotomayor - think of "pro-prosecutor" judges?
Something tells me that, in 2005, if Dubya had nominated Keller instead of Harriet Myers, Cornyn would have been her nomination's champion.
On Monday afternoon, Mayor Sullivan vetoed the LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance passed 7-4 by the Assembly last week, citing a lack of evidence and the will of the majority as his reasons.
"I have received nearly 2,500 additional communications from Anchorage residents," said Sullivan's veto statement, and "the vast majority of those who communicated their position on the ordinance are in opposition."
"Civil rights are not a popularity contest," countered Jackie Buckley, spokesperson for Equality Works.
The news of the veto spread quickly through Alaska's LGBTA community and protestors gathered at City Hall. A line of ordinance supporters along the street held big letters spelling EQUALITY NOW. Around them stood protestors with signs like, "Headline news: Anchorage Mayor Supports Discrimination" and "Celebrating 50 Years of Discrimination" based on the recent 50 Years of Statehood events.
The Assembly has 21 days to override the veto, and they are 1 vote short of the 8 needed to override. Their next meeting is Tuesday, August 25. Please email the Anchorage Assembly at WWMAS@ci.anchorage.ak.us and tell them that we DO matter, and we are counting on them to protect all minority groups from discrimination, not just the popular ones.
I'm not a neurologist, ethnologist, anthropologist or sociologist and I don't play any of them in the coffeehouse, but it seems like there needs to be some scientific research into these frequent bigot eruptions by conservatives and mouth-breathers. I don't quite understand how their brains operate, other than to speculate there is some kind of sludge up in their craniums that is inhibiting healthy synapse firing.
Higly recommend its vieing. 
ROTFLOL. In the you can't make this sh*t up category, Pink Visual owner Allison Vivas received a congratulatory fax from Newt Gingrich's American Solutions for Winning the Future (ASWF). What was unusual about this was that Pink Visual's business -- honored for stimulating the economy -- is a porno DVD superstore. 
Boy, we have seen the racist dog whistle become quite audible these days, but when called out these Rethugs 
