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Sunday, March 21, 2010
unCivil Rights
Foot soldiers for the Republican minority in Congress -- a devil's sabbath of tea partiers, birthers, racists, bigots -- invaded the Capitol yesterday. They chanted "faggot" at Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.). They chanted "nigger" at Reps. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Andre Carson (D-Ind.), both members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Someone spit on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), another black legislator, and House Majority Whip Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said, "I have heard things today that I have not heard since March 15, 1960, when I was marching to get off the back of the bus."
That's just the slime that's gotten reported.
Yup. We shore do hope these fine specimens of humanity are the people who get control of our government!
At least one Republican member of Congress on the Sunday Morning Gasbag shows tried to excuse the behavior -- "Well, people are just so angry" -- without bothering to acknowledge that the misplaced rage has been artificially ginned up by a wealth of misinformation and outright lies spewed by leading Republicans and going back at least a year. Sarah Palin had her tongue all wrapped up in that. And Michele Bachmann. So did our own Rep. Virginia A. Foxx ("at least we Republicans won't be putting people to death like the Democrats!"). The gullible, the naive, the under-informed either fell for that bilge or find it convenient to hang their racism from those particular hat racks.
Haven't been personally enthusiastic about the Senate bill about to be passed, but I confess to being driven to root now for its passage, witnessing the desperation of Karl Rove on ABC this a.m. Rove was either severely over-caffeinated or showing the true panic of realizing a Democratic victory in this matter will damage his own ... shall we be generous and call it "his own legacy"? (His credibility was already as damaged as a Pinto in a roll-over.)
Or take the true creepy mendacity of the fake memo trotted out on the House floor by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) yesterday. Unfortunately for Garrett, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) also happened to be present, and he don't take no shit. Weiner called out Republicans for the lie, while our own Virginia Foxx tried futilely to come to Garrett's aid. Watch it.
That's just the slime that's gotten reported.
Yup. We shore do hope these fine specimens of humanity are the people who get control of our government!
At least one Republican member of Congress on the Sunday Morning Gasbag shows tried to excuse the behavior -- "Well, people are just so angry" -- without bothering to acknowledge that the misplaced rage has been artificially ginned up by a wealth of misinformation and outright lies spewed by leading Republicans and going back at least a year. Sarah Palin had her tongue all wrapped up in that. And Michele Bachmann. So did our own Rep. Virginia A. Foxx ("at least we Republicans won't be putting people to death like the Democrats!"). The gullible, the naive, the under-informed either fell for that bilge or find it convenient to hang their racism from those particular hat racks.
Haven't been personally enthusiastic about the Senate bill about to be passed, but I confess to being driven to root now for its passage, witnessing the desperation of Karl Rove on ABC this a.m. Rove was either severely over-caffeinated or showing the true panic of realizing a Democratic victory in this matter will damage his own ... shall we be generous and call it "his own legacy"? (His credibility was already as damaged as a Pinto in a roll-over.)
Or take the true creepy mendacity of the fake memo trotted out on the House floor by Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.) yesterday. Unfortunately for Garrett, Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) also happened to be present, and he don't take no shit. Weiner called out Republicans for the lie, while our own Virginia Foxx tried futilely to come to Garrett's aid. Watch it.
Labels: health care, homophobia, Michelle Bachmann, racism, Sarah Palin, Virginia Foxx
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Not That There's Anything Wrong With That
NC-10 Congressman Patrick McHenry, named by Howie Klein of Down With Tyranny (albeit at Huffington Post) as one of five "closet cases" currently serving in the U.S. House of Representatives.The real reason McHenry keeps drawing multiple primary challengers in the 10th Congressional District.
Labels: homophobia, Patrick McHenry
Monday, January 11, 2010
Foxx: Friend-of-the-Court But No Friend of Gays
Virginia Foxx is one of 30-some Republican members of Congress who are sticking their noses into governmental decisions in the District of Columbia. Foxx, little Patty McHenry, and Walter Jones from N.C., along with 36 others, have signed a friend-of-the-court brief demanding a voter referendum on gay marriage.The Foxx loves her some WEDGE issues, don't she now?
The D.C. City Council recently voted overwhelmingly to allow same-sex marriage. A local church leader, Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church, sued in D.C. Superior Court to force a referendum, which most people figger would fail, especially once the fundies and other right-wing fringe groups saturated the atmosphere with smears, fears, and queers.
Madam Foxx, who once upon a time was a good deal more accommodating to gay Americans, having supported decades ago the right of gay couples to adopt children, ought to be ashamed of herself now, but isn't, nor is she embarrassed to be pursuing this kind of politics.
Beware the person who can't be embarrassed.
Labels: gay marriage, homophobia, Patrick McHenry, Virginia Foxx, Walter Jones
Thursday, December 17, 2009
MeckCo Official Calls Colleague's Dead Son "A Homo"
Meet Bill James, Republican County Commissioner in Mecklenburg. He's a dick.Tuesday night during a County Commission meeting in which a majority of commissioners agreed to offer domestic-partner benefits to county workers in same-sex relationships starting in 2011, Commissioner Vilma Leake spoke about her own son's death from AIDs, following which Commissioner James leaned over to Commissioner Leake and asked: "Your son was a homo, really?"
Leake responded: "You're going to make me hurt you. Don't do that to me. Don't talk about my son."
Yesterday Mecklenburg County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts said that James should apologize for using the slur to a fellow commissioner.
Ever the jerk, Commissioner James has refused to apologize.
Labels: Bill James, homophobia, Mecklenburg County Commission, Vilma Leake
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Tom Fetzer, Still Not Gay
Definitely.
Legal precedent, not on his side: "The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in 1994 that falsely claiming someone is gay or bisexual is not libelous on its face."
Legal precedent, not on his side: "The N.C. Court of Appeals ruled in 1994 that falsely claiming someone is gay or bisexual is not libelous on its face."
Labels: homophobia, North Carolina Republican Party, Tom Fetzer
Monday, May 25, 2009
Malaise
Jeff A. Taylor over at The Meck Deck, another of the 4 million websites sponsored by the right-wing John Locke Foundation, sums up his reaction to the Tom Fetzer "I'm NOT Gay" side-show in the N.C. Republican Party: "...this dust-up tells me that there is a sickness deep within the Republican Party in North Carolina that will not soon be healed. What was once a party of ideas is now a collection of special interests, boiling resentments, and stunning mediocrity."
We're going to remember that particular oxymoron ... "stunning mediocrity." Nice touch, that.
We're going to remember that particular oxymoron ... "stunning mediocrity." Nice touch, that.
Labels: homophobia, John Locke Foundation, North Carolina Republican Party, Tom Fetzer
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Future Chair of the NC GOP ... Heterosexuality "A Matter of Public Record"
It's not just the Watauga County Republican Party that's obsessed with homosexuality. The state party is too. Where else would an e-mailed gay accusation about front-runner to become the new state Republican Party Chair, Tom Fetzer, elicit this hilariously defensive denial from Fetzer:"I am not gay -- never have been -- never will be. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support any of the scurrilous allegations made in the anonymous attack on me .... The fact that I'm 54 and single does not mean that I have to put up with vicious rumors that I'm gay. The fact that I am heterosexual is a matter of public record."
Excuse me? How did Mr. Fetzer establish his heterosexuality as "a matter of public record"? Is there a central office for doing that? A board of examination? Is there videotape evidence of his rampant heterosexuality in action?
What is even funnier is that Fetzer is also a political consultant (he was big in this state for Elizabeth Dole's reelection), and he's done what I should think a political consultant might have advised him against ... giving credence to the accusation in the way he denies it ("The fact that I'm 54 and single...") -- not to mention letting the whole world in on what was probably just an e-mail kerfluffle among a few Republican wing-nuts.
Such is the paranoia (queer fear) in the modern North Carolina Republican Party.
Labels: homophobia, North Carolina Republican Party, Tom Fetzer
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
N.C. GOP Stands Tall for Bullying Gay Kids
The School Violence Protection Act, Senate Bill 526, passed the N.C. Senate yesterday. Not a single Republican senator voted for it because it recognized gay and lesbian students as potential targets of bullying. Republican politicians don't want to get caught being "gay friendly," no indeedy.
So Public Policy Polling's discussion today deserves some attention. In March, PPP found that 69% of the general public support the sexual orientation provision in the bill, and even a 51% majority of Republicans support the bill. Writes Tom Jensen,
In other words, the Republicans in the state senate are considerably to the right of even their base, who don't seem all that concerned that protecting gay kids from getting beat up is going to lead to Sodom&Gomorra, right here in River City!
Anyone waiting for the "rebranding" of Republicanism in N.C. needs to pack several meals and a bedroll.
So Public Policy Polling's discussion today deserves some attention. In March, PPP found that 69% of the general public support the sexual orientation provision in the bill, and even a 51% majority of Republicans support the bill. Writes Tom Jensen,
This is a pretty good example of how legislative Republicans marginalize themselves and why Democrats have generally been able to keep control of the legislature in election years that otherwise went very well for the GOP. The truth is that the issues they choose to lose sleep over are outside the mainstream of even much of the Republican base.
In other words, the Republicans in the state senate are considerably to the right of even their base, who don't seem all that concerned that protecting gay kids from getting beat up is going to lead to Sodom&Gomorra, right here in River City!
Anyone waiting for the "rebranding" of Republicanism in N.C. needs to pack several meals and a bedroll.
Labels: homophobia, Public Policy Polling, Republican "brand", Tom Jensen
Worser and Worser
So Madam Foxx has written Matthew Shephard's mother a note, saying "If there was anything I said that offended you, I'm sorry you were offended," which is parsing words in order not to make an apology, and then lied to WXII-TV, saying she was speaking "off the cuff," when she was clearly reading from prepared remarks in the video we've all seen. And then refused to say whether she now considers Shephard's brutal beating death a hate crime.Because she doesn't. And if you think for a micro-second that she didn't use EXACTLY the word she meant, then you don't know Foxx. And if you think she's sorry for anything beyond the fact that she's been embarrassed INTERNATIONALLY as the very face of bigotry, then you don't know beans.
She's our Michele Bachmann.
Labels: homophobia, Matthew Shepherd, Michelle Bachmann, Virginia Foxx
Tuesday, May 05, 2009
Who's Your Daddy?
The Catholic Church hierarchy in North Carolina ... what peaches!The two Catholic presiding bishops have come out against Senate Bill 526, otherwise known as the School Violence Protection Act, because, saith the prelates, if you ban bullying of gays and lesbians, you're on the pathway straight to gay marriage.
Their holinesses thus join up with the Christian Action League and the N.C. Family Policy Council in proposing that it ought to be the constitutional right of every red-blooded American teenager to fatten the lip of any gay kid who gets in his/her way.
The ironies are rife. The church dictum is effed up. And the example of Christ is nowhere to be seen.
Labels: homophobia, North Carolina Catholics
Foxx Chase
This just in: Madam Virginia Foxx is ranked the second most partisan Republican in Congress. According to Ryan Beckwith, "The Hill" newspaper surveyed more than 100 Capitol Hill lawmakers and promised them anonymity to speak frankly. The ranking of Foxx comes from her own peers in Congress, mind you.
And in case you missed it: the very nearly universal scolding of The Madam over her insult to the memory of Matthew Shepherd extended itself into the pages of the Winston-Salem Journal, which ran an editorial, "Outrageous Statements," blasting the congresswoman last Friday while we were on the road to Raleigh.
Judy Shephard, Matthew's mother, who just happened to be in the House gallery when Madam Foxx made her hateful assault on her son's memory, appeared on the Rachel Maddow show, on Thursday, and commented unfavorably on Foxx's non-apology.
ADDENDUM
Here's the link to "The Hill" article, which I should have referenced above. In it, Foxx is described as "opaque" by one of her colleagues, which means, we think, that she emits no light.
And in case you missed it: the very nearly universal scolding of The Madam over her insult to the memory of Matthew Shepherd extended itself into the pages of the Winston-Salem Journal, which ran an editorial, "Outrageous Statements," blasting the congresswoman last Friday while we were on the road to Raleigh.
Judy Shephard, Matthew's mother, who just happened to be in the House gallery when Madam Foxx made her hateful assault on her son's memory, appeared on the Rachel Maddow show, on Thursday, and commented unfavorably on Foxx's non-apology.
ADDENDUM
Here's the link to "The Hill" article, which I should have referenced above. In it, Foxx is described as "opaque" by one of her colleagues, which means, we think, that she emits no light.
Labels: homophobia, Matthew Shepherd, Virginia Foxx
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Madam Foxx Gives Matthew Shepherd the Stinkeye
In her lust for the approbation of the extreme conservatives in The Party of Torture, Virginia Foxx has indeed arrived at a plateau of assholery that few would have dared predict even last November when she was reelected to her third term in the U.S. House of Representatives.She calls the luring and torture of Matthew Shepherd in 1998 a "hoax" perpetrated by The Gay Cabal in order to pass hate crimes legislation. Incidentally, her argument lost in the House of Representatives by a vote of 249-175 yesterday.
But by sundown Virginia Foxx got her fame, in spades. I was away from the InnerTubes yesterday, but by the time I got home last night I had a dozen or more forwards of the tape of The Madam saying those hateful words. Oh, here's just one link, if you simply MUST watch this particular witch casting her spell.
The Madam has always depended on the voters of the Fifth District either (a) to agree completely with her extremism or (b) to be totally ignorant of whatever arms-akimbo dance she's doing on any given day in Washington, D.C. My God, the 5th Dist. of N.C. has earned the ridicule of the world.
UPDATE
The Madam has now said her description of Matthew Shepherd's notoriety as a "hoax" was a poor choice of words. What she meant to say is that it was a joke, an escapade, a bit of horseplay, a prank, and a huge shaggy-dog story.
Labels: hate crimes legislation, homophobia, Matthew Shepherd, Virginia Foxx
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Who Is Steve Schmidt and Why Is He Saying Those Things About the GOP?
Steve Schmidt's speech to the Log Cabin (gay) Republicans Friday makes for very interesting reading, and though most people are likely to highlight his advice for the Republicans to get over their opposition to gay marriage, he says a great deal else about the imminent death of the GOP that might give loyal Republicans, not to mention activist Democrats, some pause.Steve Schmidt's bona fides: He was an acolyte of Karl Rove, a member of the "senior strategic planning group" in the George W. Bush White House, and oversaw the Bush reelection "war room" in 2004. Then he became John McCain's senior day-to-day message manager during last year's disaster.
He told the Log Cabin Republicans on Friday that the Republican Party is shrinking. Most alarming, it's shrinking among voters under the age of 30 and among Hispanic voters. If John McCain had not been on the ballot, he's convinced that the Democrats would have won Arizona last year.
On the issue of gay marriage: "...it cannot be argued that marriage between people of the same sex is un-American or threatens the rights of others. On the contrary, it seems to me that denying two consenting adults of the same sex the right to form a lawful union that is protected and respected by the state denies them two of the most basic natural rights affirmed in the preamble of our Declaration of Independence -- liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, I believe, gives the argument of same sex marriage proponents its moral force."
Sooner or later, Schmidt believes, the Republican Party will be forced to acknowledge the moral rightness of that argument. Sooner would definitely be better, in his view, for the political health of his party. Later, though foreordained, will likely be too late.
And get this: Schmidt believes that a group's notion of the revealed word of God is not a good basis for a political party's platform: "If you put public policy issues to a religious test you risk becoming a religious party, and in a free country, a political party cannot remain viable in the long term if it is seen as sectarian."
Schmidt was making sense. Can we rest secure in our confidence that the leaders of the Republican Party will not listen?
Labels: gay marriage, homophobia, John McCain, Steve Schmidt
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Homo Sapiens?
Apparently, it's our God-given right to beat the crap out of queers, and the N.C. Family Policy Council intends to keep it that way.
Labels: homophobia, religion and politics
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Anti-Gay Bills in the NC General Assembly
Bills were filed (yet again) in the NC House and Senate (both) for an amendment to our state constitution to deny marriage to same-sex couples, which is already illegal under state law anyway. This particular piece of nonsense comes back every session, introduced by Republican tools who have nothing better to do than carry water for the Christian Right and try to stir up the latent hatreds of the under-educated. Because, Lord knows, the holy matrimonies of man-woman couples will be disastrously devalued if gay people are allowed the same right.
Not to worry. Mark Binker, who wrote the article linked above, notes on his blog that Marc Basnight has assigned the bill in the NC Senate to the Ways & Means Committee, which hasn't met since 2001 and which seems highly unlikely to leap into action for this particular piece of soiled linen.
Speaker of the House Joe Hackney has a similar attitude about this kind of right-wing extremism.
This anti-gay bill is going nowhere.
Not to worry. Mark Binker, who wrote the article linked above, notes on his blog that Marc Basnight has assigned the bill in the NC Senate to the Ways & Means Committee, which hasn't met since 2001 and which seems highly unlikely to leap into action for this particular piece of soiled linen.
Speaker of the House Joe Hackney has a similar attitude about this kind of right-wing extremism.
This anti-gay bill is going nowhere.
Labels: homophobia, Joe Hackney, Marc Basnight, Mark Binker
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Kay Hagan Shows Courage
Kay Hagan was the subject of a N.C. Republican Party mailing in 2008 attacking her for refusing to back a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage.In a more-or-less tit-for-tat response to that attack, Sen. Hagan has made state history by agreeing to headline a fundraiser tonight in Charlotte for the Human Rights Campaign of the Carolinas, the leading gay-rights org.
Hagan is the first state-wide elected Democrat to have the cojones to show up for this event (in its 14th year) and risk the inevitable gay cooties that are sure to follow. Sen. John Edwards wouldn't attend. No Democratic governor, no Democratic lieutenant governor, no Democratic Anybody would dare risk the bigots' wrath. Until Kay Hagan.
We didn't support the senator in the primary. We support her now.
Labels: homophobia, Kay Hagan
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Rowan County Seized by Queer Fear
Last night the Rowan County Commission, evidently bored with county budgets and the managing of county departments, staged a circus for the benefit of bigots and voted unanimously (including the votes of two Democratic commissioners) to ask the state legislature to pursue "a constitutional amendment declaring marriage between a man and woman the only legally recognized union."
And a good ole gay-bashin' time was had by all!
Amazingly, given the atmosphere of hellfire and brimstone, an equal number of people spoke against the resolution, some quite eloquently (and futilely). One man said the civil rights of a minority should never be decided by a majority vote. (Apparently, the commissioners had never heard that novel tenet of democracy.) A retired minister called the resolution unnecessary because the state already defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He added that homosexuals are being vilified and discriminated against. Lina Drinkard of Salisbury said, "This is an inappropriate topic for county commissioners." She added that the board is "dividing the citizens of Rowan County. This is not good leadership." William "Bill" Stanback talked about his daughter, a lesbian who has a divinity degree and married her companion of 25 years on Valentine's Day. Stanback said he was proud of his daughter, but he was not proud of the commissioners. "This is not the thing to do," Stanback said. "We elected you to run Rowan County. This is not within your appointed duties."
Not within their appointed duties, but the Rowan Commissioners were bent on satisfying the prejudices of the loving Christians who carried signs outside the County Administrative Bldg. condemning homosexuals to everlasting damnation.
According to Matt Comer, during the public comment Garland Faw of Truth Temple Baptist Church quoted Leviticus 20:13, about the "abomination" of homosexual love, but Pastor Faw omitted the rest of the verse which called for homosexuals to be put to death. Because -- hey! -- we don't want to get caught reading all of Leviticus too literally, right, Pastor?
County government in Rowan has gone completely loony-tunes.
And a good ole gay-bashin' time was had by all!
Amazingly, given the atmosphere of hellfire and brimstone, an equal number of people spoke against the resolution, some quite eloquently (and futilely). One man said the civil rights of a minority should never be decided by a majority vote. (Apparently, the commissioners had never heard that novel tenet of democracy.) A retired minister called the resolution unnecessary because the state already defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman. He added that homosexuals are being vilified and discriminated against. Lina Drinkard of Salisbury said, "This is an inappropriate topic for county commissioners." She added that the board is "dividing the citizens of Rowan County. This is not good leadership." William "Bill" Stanback talked about his daughter, a lesbian who has a divinity degree and married her companion of 25 years on Valentine's Day. Stanback said he was proud of his daughter, but he was not proud of the commissioners. "This is not the thing to do," Stanback said. "We elected you to run Rowan County. This is not within your appointed duties."
Not within their appointed duties, but the Rowan Commissioners were bent on satisfying the prejudices of the loving Christians who carried signs outside the County Administrative Bldg. condemning homosexuals to everlasting damnation.
According to Matt Comer, during the public comment Garland Faw of Truth Temple Baptist Church quoted Leviticus 20:13, about the "abomination" of homosexual love, but Pastor Faw omitted the rest of the verse which called for homosexuals to be put to death. Because -- hey! -- we don't want to get caught reading all of Leviticus too literally, right, Pastor?
County government in Rowan has gone completely loony-tunes.
Labels: homophobia, Matt Comer, Rowan County
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Ken Starr, To the Rescue!
The California attorney general has submitted a brief to the state's Supreme Court arguing that the infamous Proposition 8 -- which not only outlawed same-sex marriage but is also being used to argue that the 18,000 couples who have married in the state since same-sex marriage became legal, are NOT married any more -- "must be invalidated because the amendment process cannot be used to extinguish fundamental constitutional rights without compelling justification."The high court is considering the constitutionality of Prop 8 and will hear oral arguments as early as March.
Guess who's going to be arguing for the legality of Prop 8 ... Kenneth W. Starr, the famous prude and underwear-sniffer of yore.
Labels: homophobia, Kenneth W. Starr, Proposition 8
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
NC Senate Updates
Somebody in charge -- who? -- decided that the ban on photography from the Senate gallery was inappropriate. So the sign prohibiting photographs was removed last night. Good.
North Carolina homophobes bulldozed the NC Senate into delaying -- killing? -- the anti-bullying legislation because it mentioned sexual orientation as one of the causes of bullying. Bad.
North Carolina homophobes bulldozed the NC Senate into delaying -- killing? -- the anti-bullying legislation because it mentioned sexual orientation as one of the causes of bullying. Bad.
Labels: bullying, homophobia, North Carolina Senate
