25 February 2007

what's going on here (part XIX)...

can someone explain...

72-year old Gay bashing victim dies from injuries
Earlier this week, Andy at Towleroad made us aware of the brutal and senseless gay bashing of a 72 year old resident of Detroit. Today, the victim, Andrew Anthos, died from his injuries....

Don't tell us hate crimes don't matter. Don't tell us we don't need protections. Don't tell us we need to move on. Don't tell us that while members of our community are still being bashed. And, don't be mistaken: We're still not safe in America.

And a quick note: The religious right is lying to you. They say they oppose hate crimes legislation. No they don't. There already is a federal hate crimes law, and it covers the religious right (race, color, religion or national origin). What we're proposing is that the current federal law be broadened to include everyone (gender, disability and sexual orientation). The religious right is crowing about how this will make it a crime to criticize gay people. News flash, I criticize the religious right - they're a bunch of hateful loons - every day on this blog, and I'm obviously not going to jail. They're liars. If we're going to have a hate crimes law, it should cover everyone. Fair is fair.
Joe Sudbay over at Americablog

What was the man doing that set the killer off? He was singing! On the bus. The attacker asked him if he was gay. The killer followed him when he left the bus and hit him in the back of the head with a metal pipe. What was the guy doing on a bus with a metal pipe? I agree with Sudbay. Fair is fair. Everyone no matter who they are is supposed to be protected. Even convicts and prisoners seem to have more protection than the elderly, women, the disabled and gays. What is it going to take to make these wingnut christians understand that they aren't very christian? just asking...

Ex-pastor defends acts
The attorney for a former Baptist church leader who had spoken out against homosexuality said Thursday that the minister has a constitutional right to solicit sex from an undercover policeman.

Authorities allege that Latham asked the undercover policeman to come up to his hotel for oral sex.

Latham’s attorney, Mack Martin, filed a motion to have the misdemeanor lewdness charge thrown out, saying the Supreme Court ruled in the 2003 decision Lawrence v. Texas that it was not illegal for consenting adults to engage in private homosexual acts.

“Now, my client’s being prosecuted basically for having offered to engage in such an act, which basically makes it a crime to ask someone to do something that’s legal,” Martin said.

Let's get this straight. [pardon the pun] This man is opposed to gays. He worked against anything that supports gay rights. He wanted gays to reject their “sinful, destructive lifestyle.” He meets an undercover policeman in a bar. He asks him to come up to his room for gay sex.There is no request for money. The pastor is arrested for lewdness. He then says that what he did was okay because Lawrence v. Texas gives him the right to engage in private consensual homosexual sex. There seems to be two problems here. One, the pastor is using a court case with which we have to assume he was totally opposed in his own defense. Two, the Kansas City Police & prosecutor are saying that they have a right to arrest and prosecute anyone for wanting/having gay sex. How is that following the dictates of Lawrence v. Texas and isn't the pastor calling the kettle burnt? just asking...

'Secretive' Christian conservative club 'dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election'
"A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn," David D. Kirkpatrick writes. "The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including then-Gov. George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign."

Kirkpatrick adds, "But in a stark shift from the group’s influence under President Bush, the group risks relegation to the margins. Many of the conservatives who attended the event, held at the beginning of the month at the Ritz Carlton on Amelia Island, Fla., said they were dismayed at the absence of a champion to carry their banner in the next election."

Okay. Let's see what's more surprising. That there is a Secretive Christian Conservative Club? Nahhhh... That there isn't a dufus they can choose to pander to them? Posssssibly... That there isn't anyone dumb enough to believe that he/she needs them? Probbbbably... That there isn't a conservative that meets all of their qualifications for conservative? Defffffinitely... That King George W won't be able to kiss their collective asses after January 20, 2009? Absssssolutely... That they may loose any influence to make more money for their pulpits? Aye, there's the rub...

U.S. can't afford another war: Iran - Chicago Sun-Times
Pentagon drafting plans to bomb Iran - Americablog.com
Iran's foreign minister said Saturday the United States was in no position for another war, and maintained that negotiations -- not threats -- were the only way to resolve the standoff over its nuclear activities.
Manouchehr Mottaki was responding to Vice President Dick Cheney, who renewed Washington's warning to Iran earlier Saturday that "all options" were on the table if Tehran continues to defy U.N. demands to halt uranium enrichment.

Mottaki said the United States could not afford to settle its differences with Iran by launching a third war after Afghanistan and Iraq.
- Chicago Sun-Times

and
What the hell. We can't win two wars, so let's have three! These people are seriously nuts. Oh, but the plans are to "just" bomb Iran's ability to help the insurgents in Iraq. Uh, ok. And what do we do when the Iranians decide to flood across the boarder and hit us back? Of course, this is exactly what Bush wants to have happen - he wants all out war with Iran. The problem is the Iranians know that we don't have the ability anymore to fight a third war against them. So what the hell is Bush doing? We have an idiot as president. - Americablog.com

We have an idiot for a president. I don't think it could be said any better. Oh, wait...
Impeach the bastard!


Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation. - Oscar Wilde

Sources: Americablog, Kansas City Star, The Raw Story, Americablog & Chicago Sun-Times

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