Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Via JMG: Michele Bachmann Linked To Uganda's Pastor Martin "Kill The Gays" Ssempa
The Atlantic reports that Peter Waldron, the campaign aide who steered Michele Bachmann to her first place finish in Iowa, has quite the shady past, including an arrest for terrorism in Uganda where he boasts a friendship with Pastor Martin Ssempa. Ssempa, as most of you probably know, vigorously backed Uganda's proposed death penalty for homosexuality. The evangelical organizer who helped Michele Bachmann win the Ames Straw Poll in Iowa Saturday was previously charged with terrorism in Uganda after being arrested for possession of assault rifles and ammunition in February 2006, just days before Uganda's first multi-party elections in 20 years. Peter E. Waldron spent 37 days in the Luriza Prison outside Kampala, where he says he was tortured, after being arrested along with six Congolese and Ugandan nationals for the weapons, which were described variously in news reports as having been found in his bedroom or a closet in his home. The charges, which could have led to life in prison, were dropped in March 2006 after a pressure campaign by Waldron's friends and colleagues and what Waldron says was the intervention of the Bush administration.Warren Throckmorton provides the link to Waldron's relationship with Ssempa.
The American doctor also says he is a friend of the first family and a friend of Pastor Martin Sempa, according to the article, written by one Stuart Price. [snip] "They embrace Americans here,” he said enthusiastically. Indeed, as we sat together, a steady stream of young admirers who had seen Waldron in church came up to greet him. They made complicated handshakes, the way Ugandans do, and Waldron boasted to me that he had met privately with President Museveni and his born-again wife.” “It struck me that, for many Americans of faith, Uganda – a country where homosexuality and abortion are outlawed, where politicians freely mix church and state, and where outward displays of religious devotion are the norm – represents a kind of haven.” Waldron is said to have talked to several high-ranking government officials on arrest including some powerful ministers.Just so we're clear here, Rep. Michele Bachmann, a leading Republican candidate for the presidency of the United States, has a top-ranking employee who was arrested for allegedly smuggling assault weapons to a foreign regime that is presently working to legalize the executions of gay people. Everybody got that?
Labels: 2012 elections, Christianists, gay death penalty, GOP, Martin SSempa, Michele Bachmann, Uganda
Via JMG: HomoQuotable - Jeff Buchanan
"The innocence of a child should not be required to wrestle with the complexities involving same-sex orientation. Nor should a parent be forced to educate their child on these issues before that child is mature enough to understand and cope with those complexities. Unfortunately, the current culture is going to force parents and church leaders to address the issues surrounding homosexuality and same-sex marriage with younger and younger kids. When Tommy comes home from preschool and asks, “Why does my friend Jennifer have two daddies?” we must be ready to provide sound answers grounded in compassion and truth. Theirs will be a generation that must face an assault upon their innocence unlike any generation before." - Exodus International vice president Jeff Buchanan, who will go to his grave as a homosexual man. Labels: "ex-gay", brainwashing, Exodus International, hate groups, HomoQuotable, religion, scam artists, still totally gay, torture
Via JMG: Frothy Mix: Gays Wrecked The Economy
"Letting the family break down and in fact encouraging it and inciting more breakdown through this whole redefinition of marriage debate, and not supporting strong nuclear families and not supporting and standing up for the dignity of human life. Those lead to a society that’s broken. [snip] And you can’t say that we’re gonna take morality out of the public square, morality out of our schools, God out of our schools, and then expect people to behave decently in a country that requires, capitalism requires some strong modicum of moral consciousness if it’s gonna be successful." - Frothy Mix.
reposted from Joe
Via AmericablogGay: Update: Indiana Coroner is working to release body to Santiago's partner and family
The post to which John linked below has been updated twice.
NOTE: This story has been updated to include the information that Santiago's aunt will be allowed to claim the body.
UPDATE: Alfarena Ballew from the Marion County Coroner's office called to offer this statement, "Her friend and her aunt are working together with the life partner to take care of the remains. We have nothing in writing from the partner asking to claim the body. Our records show that the next of kin is her aunt. Our understanding now is that they're all working together to release the body and take care of the services." Ms. Ballew described the incident as a "misunderstanding" and says the office is on track to release the body shortly.
UPDATE 2: The organization Santiago was a board member of, Amigas Latinas, has put out this statement:
Amig@s. We've seen a few posts asking folks to call the media because of a claim that Alisha's wishes aren't being respected because the tragedy took place in Indiana. This is NOT TRUE! We appreciate the passion for equality and justice on behalf of these mujeres, but everyone has been working together to honor Christina Santiago. Please intervene if you see this news...
A commenter on the post says she is afraid she misspoke to the media. I did not speak to this person for my story.
My UPDATE: This wouldn't be a story if we were just allowed to marry, and our political leaders would evolve along with the majority of Americans on this issue.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
O Buda de pedra sabão // The Buddha from Soap Stone
Asked a guy in the feira de pedra sabão to make me a Buddha from a bronze one I have from Nepal... it turned out grand...
Via JMG: NEW HAMPSHIRE: Texas Gov. Rick Perry To Address "Ex-Gay" Advocates
Good As You alerts us that in late October, Texas Gov. Rick Perry will attend the "Steward Of The Family" awards dinner held by New Hampshire's anti-gay Cornerstone Policy Group, which as you can see from the bottom of the above image are promoters of all the major "ex-gay' brainwashing and torture groups. Jeremy Hooper observes: "This is not a minor thing. This is a major GOP star lending credence to a leading state group who quite literally wants to not just stop LGBT people's civil rights, but to also stop human beings from living their truths. If it sounds absurd, it's because it is. But it's also now a part of the 2012 campaign season." Labels: "ex-gay", 2012 elections, brainwashing, GOP, hate groups, New Hampshire, Rick Perry, scams, still totally gay, torture
Today's WTF is Wrong with people:
STAGE COLLAPSE UPDATE: Coroner Tells Lesbian She Can't Have Partner's Body
Bilerico reports that an Indiana coroner cited DOMA in his refusal to release the body of Christina Santiago to her lesbian partner. Santiago was one of five killed at Saturday's stage collapse at the stage fair.The Marion County coroner's office is refusing to release Santiago's body to her partner; the office cited the Defense of Marriage Act as the reason why they've turned down Brennon's request to pick up her loved one's remains. DOMA allows states to refuse to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states. Indiana has its own version of DOMA that outlaws same-sex marriage. Since Indiana law requires the next-of-kin to pick up Santiago's body, but the state won't recognize Brennon as the surviving spouse, Santiago's body is still laying in the morgue awaiting a solution. It's unclear whether or not Santiago has other family available to claim her corpse and take it home for burial.Santiago's partner was herself injured in the incident.
Marcus Bachmann Lies to Iowa State Professor Warren Blumenfeld
Heated Exchange Caught on Video by Fred Karger
Professor Blumenfeld (left) with Marcus Bachmann during happier times, just before their fiery exchange. Marcus told Fred to “go ahead and record this,” and then proceeded to deny ever calling gays and lesbians “barbarians” and said that his two clinics and 27 counselors do not practice any type of “reparative therapy” even though there is ample evidence to the contrary on both his claims.
Iowa News and Fred's Front Page L A Times Profile
FEC Complaint Against Fox News in the Works
Hope you can take time to read this in-depth story by veteran L A Times political reporter, Mark Z. Barabak. It created quite a buzz in Iowa on the eve of last week’s debate, and has been reprinted all over the world: CLICK HERE FOR STORY
Gay presidential candidate Fred Karger has a message
The longtime political advisor knows he stands no chance of becoming the Republican nominee, but he wants to let other homosexuals know it's OK to be gay and to aim high in life.
Mark Z. Baraback, Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2011 | 7:50pmFred Karger, Republican candidate for president, knows there is no chance he will be the GOP nominee, much less the next leader of the free world. "I'm not delusional," he says, though one might wonder what, exactly, he is thinking.
Fred Karger, Republican candidate for president, spent nearly 30 years as a campaign advisor to several of California’s top Republicans and served as an election strategist for corporate clients, including cigarette maker Philip Morris. (Bret Hartman, For The Times / August 10, 2011)
Karger is no political naif. He spent nearly 30 years as a campaign advisor to several of California's top Republicans and served as an election strategist for corporate clients, including cigarette maker Philip Morris. His trophies — a home a block from the ocean in Laguna Beach, a second one above Laurel Canyon and a silver Mercedes to ride between the two — speak to his success... (more)
Via AmericablogGay: Bachmann squirms on the gay
Joe posted yesterday a video of GOP presidential candidate and Tea Party leader Michele Bachmann being quizzed on Meet the Press about her stance on gay issues. Bachmann is rather anti-gay, to put it lightly, but yesterday she did everything she could to distance herself from the gay issue. She didn't go back on her previous words, but still, note in the video how she downright squirms over David Gregory's questioning. She even seems to suggest that she'd be okay having openly gay appointees in her administration, including openly gay judges.
Now, that's just bs. There's no way Michele Bachmann is going to appoint an openly gay Supreme Court justice. But it interesting that even Michele Bachmann, the darling of the religious right, feels the need to tone it down on the gay. It doesn't mean she's going to change her anti-gay policies, but it is evidence that even the far right realizes that being perceived as anti-gay is no longer to even their political advantage. And that's interesting.
Now, that's just bs. There's no way Michele Bachmann is going to appoint an openly gay Supreme Court justice. But it interesting that even Michele Bachmann, the darling of the religious right, feels the need to tone it down on the gay. It doesn't mean she's going to change her anti-gay policies, but it is evidence that even the far right realizes that being perceived as anti-gay is no longer to even their political advantage. And that's interesting.
Via AmericablogGay: New President could thwart DADT Repeal by reinstating ban on open service
We mentioned in an earlier post that Michele Bachmann was jabbering about reinstating DADT if she became President. She could do it by using her Executive Authority.
The NYT's Jim Dao talked to SLDN"s Aubrey Sarvis about this:
Congress merely laid out a process under which the ban could be lifted. Under that process, the president, Secretary of Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had to certify that repeal would not undermine recruiting, retention, morale and other indicators of what is commonly called military readiness.
Once that certification was made and sent to Congress, the secretary of defense then had to prepare and issue new regulations allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly. That is where the process is now: the regulations are being written and the ban will be lifted on Sept. 20.
But because Congress did not require the military to allow open service, a new president could order his or her new secretary of defense to issue new regulations that effectively reinstate the ban, said Aubrey Sarvis, executive director of the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, which advocates for gay and lesbian troops.
Mr. Sarvis said that if a Republican president were to take that path, it would essentially return the military to the pre-don’t ask era, when gays were banned under regulation. In those years, which date back at least to World War II, he said, there were no federal statutes expressly prohibiting openly gay people from serving. It wasn’t until President Clinton pushed to reverse those regulations that Congress enacted don’t ask, don’t tell in the 1990s, statutorily prohibiting open service.
Aubrey thinks it would be difficult for a new President to implement a new ban on open service "because senior military leaders prefer continuity in policy and would not have much appetite for reversing course so quickly." It would sure fly in the face of public opinion, too. But, the when the haters get to hating on the gays, not much stops them.
Republicans are unabashed about using power when they have it. Yet, our side has to beg, scream and plead the Obama administration to use its power -- and they still won't. How many of the those executive actions laid out by the Task Force's New Beginnings Initiative have been implemented? Not many.
Via AmericablogGay: Basic Rights Oregon hasn’t decided on 2012 ballot measure -- yet
A clarification from Basic Rights Oregon:
Statement from Jeana Frazzini, Executive Director of Basic Rights Oregon:
An article by the Salem Statesman Journal inadvertently implied that Basic Rights Oregon has already decided to gather signatures for a 2012 ballot measure, while in fact we do not expect to make this decision until later this year. In the meantime, we continue our work to educate the public about why civil marriage matters to caring and committed same-sex couples. Last year, we launched this education campaign to engage Oregonians in conversations in person, on social media and on TV. To get involved in this effort, visit us at www.lovecommitmentmarriage.org.
I saw that report earlier and it seemed premature. I've only heard good things about the way Basic Rights Oregon is undertaking its deliberations. The advocates are not rushing into this. They're thinking it through very carefully and very strategically.
Monday, August 15, 2011
Via JMG: Crazy Eyes: I'll Reinstate DADT
Yesterday Rep. Michele Bachmann told CNN that if elected, she'd "probably" work to have DADT reinstated. Bachmann, a favorite of the ultraconservative Tea Party movement, said she would revisit the policy if she reaches the White House. "The 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy has worked very well," she told CNN's "State of the Union." "I would be in consultation with our commanders, but yes, I probably will" reinstate the ban, she added. The ban was overturned in a law adopted in December 2010 that first required the top military officer, the defense secretary and the president -- who is also commander-in-chief -- to certify the change would not harm military readiness and that the armed forces were ready to carry it out.GOProud will be thrilled.
Via JMG: Seen At Montreal Pride
JMG reader Earl reports that Crazy Eyes was the only American to be included in a shaming of homophobes at Montreal's pride parade. Via JMG: Friendly Voices - Adam Levine
"I can single-handedly dispel any ideas that sexuality is acquired. Trust me, you’re born with it. My brother is gay, and we knew when he was two. We all knew. We all really wanted to provide some cushion for him and constantly let him know that it’s OK. A lot of people don’t want their kid to be gay and will fight it at all costs. But I’ve got news for you—it’s a losing fucking battle. The more you fight it, the more fucked-up your kid’s gonna be. You’ve just gotta embrace it from the beginning. That’s the only way to deal with it as a family. Otherwise, you’re just screwing yourself over, and you’re gonna make your kid miserable." - Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, speaking to Out Magazine.
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