Florida Squeezed

Why the Impending Nomination of Romney Is a Special Gift to Social Democrats

2012-01-12T13:08:00.000-08:00

Newt Gingrich did what he does best last week. He launched an attack video against Mitt Romney that calls into question his business ethics at this time of high unemployment.

Mitt Romney will be forever tied to the aptly named Bain Capital where he presided over the massive outsourcing of American industrial jobs to foreign nations. The fat-cats over at Bain Capital raked in the dough while American jobs were shipped overseas or dropped altogether.

The only asterisk after this criticism is the idea that Mitt Romney left his CEO position for a short time in order to chair, of all things, the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Of course, he still profited from the jobs-killing Bain Capital during his winter vacation - to the tune of millions - but he was not "on the board" at the time that Newt Gingrich and others have chosen to highlight. Serendipitously, this brief hiatus serves as reminder to the American people of both Romney's "Multi-national" nature and his religion - another sore spot for Romney within his party.

(Can somebody please queue the videos of Mormon overseas adoption scandals?)

Until just now, the word "outsourcing" has been on the no-no list of American political rhetoric. The corporate media, being in cahoots with their advertisers, have agreed to refrain from explaining to the public why the jobs just aren't showing up. Even on MSNBC, you'll rarely hear Rachel Maddow go off any tangents about child labor exploitation in the Eastern Hemisphere.

Liberals have been shouting into a vacuum about the evils of outsourcing for quite some time. Terms like "multinational conglomerate" are dog whistles to the far left. We complain bitterly to our facebook friends about the astronomical cost of our defense operations and blame most of it on the ubiquitous "military industrial complex". It presents a rhetorical question that earns Social Democrats a lot of traction: How can we justify denying people unemployment insurance when we are spending so much money on defense? Furthermore, why is our defense money going overseas? Shouldn't our military or American civilians have those jobs?

The questions raised when the topic of outsourcing is mentioned are ones that Republicans - and some Blue Dog Democrats - find troubling to answer. The unrestrained capitalist process of moving jobs around from nation to nation is great if you are a foreign dictator who needs money for guns and bombs and have plenty of child-age workers to exploit. It's also great if you are a Wall Street tycoon who only cares about the bottom line.

But outsourcing is not so great for the average American worker. Can the Republican Party win an election without working class Americans? They didn't have to answer that question in years past because "jobs" was not nearly the buzz word that it has become in this economy.

2012 is going to be a very different sort of terrain for Republicans. They must now answer to their economic principles or lack thereof. Just a few short years ago, the Tea Party did a fine job of obfuscating these issues by promising an economic solution and then delivering a radical conservative social agenda. That kind of thing doesn't work twice and Mitt Romney is the perfect candidate to clarify that.

Romney is the 'Picture of Dorian Gray' for Republicans. He reminds them that they can encourage their party to follow Ayn Rand's economic mythology and Laissez-faire Capitalism or they can encourage Christian Morality but the two concepts cannot be reconciled without a lot of hypocrisy and disenchantment.

The very best thing that might come of a Mitt Romney nomination by Republicans is the election of a Democratically controlled congress which could easily persuade President Obama to put a legislative cap on the outsourcing of American jobs in his 2nd term.

Long time until November...

2012-01-11T01:36:00.000-08:00

Occupy Rachel Maddow?

2011-12-03T09:31:00.000-08:00

An interesting discussion has begun on MSNBC's Rachel Maddow Show Facebook Page:

This week in Hypocrisy: Activist Website Change.org Discriminates Against Gays and Disabled

2011-10-25T10:56:00.001-07:00

How on EARTH is it possible that Change.org has fewer non-discrimination policies than Walmart or Target?
This is a total Change FAIL on their part:
http://www.change.org/petitions/changeorg-human-resources-add-more-diversity-to-your-employment-non-discrimination-policy

In other news, the hacktivist group known simply as Anonymous, has apparently decided that they can take down Facebook, Fox News and the Wall Street Tickers all in the same day on November 5th... We'll see... Perhaps they could start smaller and take down Change.org since they are apparently more discriminatory than Fox News... which, let me just emphatically wave my arms around when I say that again... "more discriminatory THAN FOX NEWS!!!"

OccupyWallSt.org Chat Hijacked by Angsty Teenager With Control Issues

2011-10-24T13:29:00.000-07:00

This sounds like a headline from the Onion, I know... But for the last week, I've been updating my facebook friends on Occupant News from anywhere I can find it... The OccupyWallSt.org chat function has been a good resource up until an hour ago.

I talked to a moderator named "@usotsuki" this morning who was pretty cool. We both prefer Madonna's old early 80's tracks over Lady Gaga's newer rehash of the same vibe.

Before that another user in Houston (huestonepress) had been desperately trying to get an area newspaper to cover the large-scale occupation going on over there... Here's one of their YouTube videos, reflecting that the streets of Houston, Texas have been uncomfy and loud:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXBC0zr9GtE

A few days ago, a user named "SteveJobsZombie" advertised his new easy-to-use "Outsource My Job" App to the barely bemused occupants and we learned that arrests are beginning to slow down.

A plethora of links to Occupy news articles, videos and artwork have been shared over the past week and a half and every 5 minutes a student interrupts the conversation to say "I am writing a report for school and I need to know what this is all about..."

A Ron Paul supporter posted a brilliant and hilarious video that more clearly explains the "End The Fed Bank" philosophy and a group of Democratic Occupants in Chicagoland are pushing the "Move 2 Amend" agenda which would add a consitutional amendment that defines corporations as "not people".

Together, we all decided that we didn't think it was a great idea for our "leaderless movement" to be given "leaders" by the business media... We deciphered which photos of police brutality were really from Occupy Wall Street and which ones were not... And I promoted an Occupation of Boca Raton on Thanksgiving.

The Beginning of the End...

But then, without warning, I was banned by a moderator (and so were my roommates and anyone else on our network) by an overzealous moderator named "@catsup". No more connection to the main chat offered anonymously to Wall Street Occupants... just like that.

I got to where I could chat up the moderator of the service (@catsup) who I'm told was something called an "NT Tech" and asked him why I was banned... His reply was that I was caught "electioneering for Obama" and that I was "an agent of Wall Street"... Which is HILARIOUS if you really know me...

He called me an "astroturfer" and told me that I have a "listening problem" because I had revealed that I wasn't too fascinated by Dr. Cornel West's "I hate Obama because that's so cool these days and I'm black" video.

In short, I was dealing with a 'King Baby' who was DEEPLY relishing this moment - probably his first taste of absolute authority - the power to ban someone and let them appeal to him in order to return. From the leaderless movement, there arose not just a leader but... for a moment... a fascist dictator and anything not sufficiently hateful toward Obama was mere "judenlettern".

Now that @Catsup is in charge over at the OccupyWallSt.org website, there are no Democrats allowed.

What was my grand offense, you might ask?

I simply told other people in the chatroom that Obama tried to tax the 1% for us on Thursday but his plan failed when a couple of "Blue Dog Democrats" joined Republicans in voting it down... Which is true.

Mark Pryor (D-AK) and Ben Nelson (D-NE) are the worst. Here's who they REALLY work for:

2011-10-24T06:24:00.000-07:00

Two Democratic Senators On Thursday joined their Republican colleagues (as they always do) to defeat the single aspect of Obama's "Jobs Plan" that would have benefitted out-of-work Americans like Police, Emergency First Responders and Teachers.

Notorious "Blue Dog" Democrats Mark Pryor (Arkansas) and Ben Nelson (Nebraska) are infamous for sabotaging the President at key moments in his 1st term but this time they may have gone too far. The aspect of the Jobs Bill that the two Senators voted against cloture on would have opened up debate on the Senate floor as to the possibility of a relatively small tax directed at millionaires to pay for the job spur.

Americans when polled, overwhelmingly support a tax on the rich and corporations to help our nation's fiscal situation.

It should be noted that Pryor and Nelson voted, essentially, not to even discuss Obama's plan and every Republican agreed with them.

These two Senators have only their campaign donors at heart and stand steadfast against American prosperity and the creation of jobs in the USA.

Contributions to Senator Ben Nelson's Campaign came primarily from the Banking and Insurance industries during the last election cycle. Berkshire Hathaway, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Amgen, Citigroup, Monsanto, Bank of America and the Carlysle Group were some of Ben Nelson's biggest campaign contributors.

The bulk of Senator Mark Pryor's campaign contributions come from Murphy Oil (a petroleum and gas lobbying group), Experian Consumer Credit/Banking, Merill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, Wal-Mart Stores, Time-Warner communications, Comcast cable/internet providers and sadly... the American Federation of Teachers (whom he has gravely harmed with this vote).

Brazilian Cops Set To Win Child Macing At 2016 Olympics

2011-10-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Of all the horrific things in this world, photos like this one still catch my attention:

The 2016 Olympic Games are set to be held in Rio De Janeiro and guess who joined the Organizing Committee?
That's right - none other than Luiz Fernando Corrêa (former National Secretary for Public Security, former Federal Police CEO) has just become the "Rio 2016 Security Director" for the Olympics.

Please view these photos of police brutality in Brazil:
http://www.policebrutality.info/2011/04/police-officer-pepper-spray-women-and-children.html

Then send an email to the Olympics telling them that you don't want your children to get maced in the face if you decide to go to their games:
http://www.olympic.org/brazil

You can also make a big stink on their facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/olympicgames#!/rio2016

Then write a letter to the US Ambassador to Brazil (Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.) under our Department of State and express your concerns about supporting trade with a nation that has no respect for humanity:
http://riodejaneiro.usconsulate.gov/contact.html

We'll Tell You When It's Safe For Congress to Go Golfing with Lobbyists In Florida Again.

2011-10-18T22:13:00.000-07:00

All the bull you can handle:

Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/245599762156029/

Proposed Thanksgiving Day Occupation of Boca Raton, Florida:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=116845861757313

Of Steers and Queers

2011-10-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Perry and a group of Boyscouts at the Boyscouts Of America
Annual Report Conference.

Is The Gay Community Ready For Another TexanPresidency?

"It shaped my view of the area and taking a hintfrom Lot’s wife, I vowed never to look back. Ifelt really bad for the entire state. I couldn’t quite imagine a life withoutculture, diversity or pride. It seemed to me that even the livestock almostlooks down their noses at people in Texas."

About 12 years ago, I wasdriving through the portion of Texasknown as “the panhandle” and trying in vain to get some decent music on theradio. I was on my way up to West Yellowstone, Montana where I had a jobwaiting for me. I was going to work at what was advertised at that time as ournation’s only Gay-owned and operated dude ranch – the Bar ‘N’ Ranch.

I didn’t get a chance tovisit any metropolitan areas of the LoneStar Statebut I got quite an education about what kind of media is available in the greatbig muddy field that makes up the northern part of Texas. There wasn’t much television andinternet would have been a fantasy.

On the radio you had twochoices: Christian or Country. If you spokeSpanish, you might have a 3^rd choice in some spots. There was no NPR, there was no pop music, rap or hip-hop… I couldn’t even find any recognizableclassic rock…just what I now affectionately refer to as “white noise”.

Boy, those radio preacherssure gave me a lecture per mile on that trip - chapter and verse! I learned that God thinks of me as quite theannoyance and that the end of the world is so close you might be able to smellthe sulfur past the stench of cow manure.

It shaped my view of thearea and taking a hint from Lot’s wife, Ivowed never to look back. I felt really bad for the entire state. I couldn’tquite imagine a life without culture, diversity or pride. It seemed to me that eventhe livestock almost looks down their noses at people in Texas.

I didn’t know it at thetime, but this was Rick Perry’s country. Back then, he was thought of as aDemocrat, believe it or not. This seemedto work for people since President Clinton had signed the Defense of MarriageAct and the city of Houstonwouldn’t have her first lesbian mayor for another decade.

Perry switched parties fromDemocratic to Republican in 1989 during a major shift in political discourse,particularly marked by the rise of right-wing radio personalities such as RushLimbaugh and Laura Schlessinger. For a long time, he was able to hedge his betsand win elections by being thought of as a moderate in places with absolutelyno moderation otherwise.

Among some of his best moments were the time that he outlawed the practice ofissuing death sentences to the mentally retarded and the time that he suggestedthat every teenage girl get a vaccination against HPV. Those might be things we take for granted ina secular world but in Texas,these are things that only a liberal would put forward. Rick Perry was looking for an issue-basedposition that he could push which would keep him firmly grounded in the newRepublican Party. He needed to carve his signature on something and he neededto do it quickly.

Enter The Boy Scouts of America.

He finally found thatopportunity in a 2003 federal court ruling which held that the Boy Scouts ofAmerica (BSA) were a religious organization and as such could not be hosted inpublic schools without paying standard rental fees and only after school hours.

According to theconventional wisdom of the time, the Boy Scouts had long been plagued withchild molesters in their ranks and this had become a major concern withparents. I was a Cub Scout (the younger version of the scouts) in the 80’s andmy parents forbade me to join the BSA (which was the customary graduation at acertain age) for this very reason. (Inmy area, there was a scout leader who was rather infamous for havingquestionable “sleep-over” parties.)

The BSA’s response was to issuea declaration that homosexuals could not join the scouts, thereby confusing theissues of homosexuality and child endangerment. But they even took it a stepfurther than that by disallowing atheists and agnostics as well. This is, ofcourse, what prompted the court decision.

Rick Perry recognized theopportunity to one-up the Federal Courts by painting the Boy Scouts of Americaas an American institution which was “under attack” by a “left-wing agenda”. He wanted to amp up the idea that gaypedophiles were trying to use the BSA to mess with your kids.

In fact, he even wrote anentire book on the subject entitled On My Honor, which are the first threewords of BSA’s pledge. In this book, Perry went full throttle against otherAmerican institutions such as the ACLU (which he calls a mere “group” using“refined tactics” to “impose their will against the court of public opinion”)and even the Supreme Court (which he termed as “nine oligarchs in robes”).

Enter the “Prayer Warriors”.

Rachel Tabachnick, a writer and researcher who hasappeared on NPR’s Fresh Air and the popular blog site Alternet, describes the NewApostolic Reformation as a Dominionist Pentecostal group with a “50 statePrayer Warrior network” who make it their business to support politicalcandidates (such as Sarah Palin) who they believe will restore Christianity’srightful place at the top of the ladder in American Government.

“There’s little doubt thatPerry is NAR's candidate,” says Tabachnick, “its chosen vehicle to advance thestated agenda of taking dominion over earthly institutions.”

You won’t find anythingfavorable to gay rights in the teachings of the New Apostolic Reformation. In fact, they describe themselves aspartaking in “spiritual warfare” against the “dark forces” of the homosexualagenda. These people believe that theycan literally “pray away the gay” and make you straight. They describe their“powers” as “supernatural” and to evidence this claim, they take credit forhaving ended mad cow disease in Germany.Yes, you read that correctly.

Justlike Bachmann and her husband, the NAR “prayer warriors”, believe that gays canchange. But they don’t think of it asscience or psychology, they quite literally believe that gay people arepossessed by demons sent to Americaby Satan himself.

These are the people who will be carrying water for Rick Perry in the 2012election. These are the folks who willbe sending out robo-calls to your church leaders, holding bake sales andleading the Boy Scouts of America in prayer on his behalf. The question for the gay community is “atwhat price do these services come to Rick Perry?” What do we suppose they will want in returnfrom their new President?

A Tale of Two Mayors

2011-10-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

The Mayor of Lincoln, NE is a Democrat.

His name is Chris Beutler.

He makes $35.00 per hour at his job.

In Lincoln, all municipal employees are screened and their employment is maintained by an idependently operating Personnel Department.

Lincoln, Nebraska has the LOWEST unemployment rate for a metropolitan area in the USA with only 3.6% unemployment.

Recent Quotes:

"Lincoln, Nebraska used federal stimulus funds for an energy-saving lighting project. In just three years, we will recoup the original $227,000 it cost to replace old lighting with energy-efficient lighting. We're doing the right thing and saving money."

"The city expects to save about $2,500 a year in energy costs because of new lights in Gere branch library and $25,000 a year on the Center Park Garage."

The Mayor of Yuma, AZ is a Republican.

His name is Alan L. Kreiger.

He makes $85.00 per hour at his job.

In Yuma, the Mayor is allowed to terminate or suspend any city Employee on the Spot.

Yuma, Arizona has the HIGHEST unemployment rate for a metropolitan area in the USA at a whopping 30% or more Unemployed and receiving benefits as of August 2011.

Recent Quotes:

"I can't believe that a bunch of lacey-drawered, limp-wristed people could do what these men have done in the past. We are currently having problems with homosexuals serving on the front lines in the military. We need solid, strong men... not pacifists to fight those battles."

"Yuma is a safe environment. Hundreds of thousands of families live here and go back and forth across the border. Every day thousands and thousands go back and forth and you know, they have jobs. It's not a wild frontier."

Is Florida's 'Troy Davis' An Old White Dude?

2011-09-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget
what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."

- Maya Angelou

When Dr. Amy Goodman's phone died, she stopped trying to look at the time. Others had huddled around Ben Jealous from the NAACP and began to pray. The execution of Troy Davis in Jackson, GA had been mysteriously delayed by the Supreme Court for hours but ultimately, it happened.

People in every major city took to the streets. The mainstream media soon realized that they were losing viewership with every moment that they were not discussing the possibility that an innocent man was being murdered by his state. Time stood still for just a moment at 11:08 and then resumed again. Part of what we know as "America" died with Troy Anthony Davis... the presumption of our innocence.

Although there were undeniable racial components to the controversy that finally simmered to a boil on September 21st, it was not what any of us would call "racially charged". White people were also deeply concerned - even if they suspected, as the Supreme Court must have, that Troy Davis was guilty. No matter what our race, gender, age or other qualifiers, we all have an uncomfortable suspicion of persecution. It's part of the American DNA... We translate these messages from our government with bits of code that we gathered from the Salem Witch Trials, the Southern Strategy, the McCarthy Era, the Anita Bryant Crusade and the Satanic Panic.

Some of us are more keenly attuned to persecution than others. William Thomas "Tommy" Zeigler is just such a person. He has been sitting on Death Row for 35 years for a crimes that largely stink of being a set-up.

Back in the early 70's, Ziegler owned a furniture store in Winter Gardens just outside of Orlando. He had become friends with the local police cheif and was taking it upon himself to root out corruption in the area caused by the Ku Klux Klan who had begun pulling some kind of sharecropping scam on the mostly black citrus pickers.

On Christmas Eve, he intended to give his wife's parents a reclining chair as a gift. He went to his store to either meet them there or gather the chair and was unable to turn on any lights. Upon entrance, he was beaten unconscious and shot in the abdomen by unseen attackers.

When Zeigler regained consciousness, he phoned his friend (the Police Cheif) and informed him that he had been attacked and needed help. What Zeigler did not know is that his wife, his wife's parents, and an African American customer were all scattered on the floor of the store and riddled with bullets. They had been that way even before he entered.

What followed was the most convoluted and utterly ridiculous cooked up case against a man that you could ever imagine. Investigators decided that Zeigler had massacred his own family on Christmas Eve just moments before he was scheduled to go to dinner with the police cheif and a judge and then shot himself in the abdomen to make it look like a robbery.

The case against Zeigler was sketchy at best. Then, evidence began turning up from strange sources and new motives were "discovered" by investigators with a little help from the FBI. Suddenly, there were two eye-witnesses who just happened to see everything except the actual shooting.

When it came time for a trial, Zeigler was surprised to find out that the judge just happened to be his nemesis from his earlier activism against loan-sharking, sharecropping, or otherwise taking advantage of the migrant workers. A young police officer witnessed that judge and the prosecutor hanging out with each other and discussing the case.

By the end of Zeigler's trial, 72 people testified against him and the jury was utterly confused by the fantastic series of events that the State's Attorney expected them to believe. Both Zeigler and his attorney attested that they felt they were being railroaded. One juror was not convinced of Zeigler's guilt and raised questions during deliberation. She was threatened and intimidated by the jury foreman and this made her even more resolute. She attempted to contact the judge to inform him of how she was being treated and the judge ordered that she be given heavy doses of valium. Once they had her all drugged up, she was compliant with a guilty verdict but still insisted on recommending only a life sentence and not death.
When the verdict was handed down, the judge overruled the jury's sentencing reccommendation and gave Zeigler the death sentence.

Now - this sounds a little crazy, right? Well, the State of Florida's story was even crazier. But what really arouses suspicion is who all these players went on to become during the 35 years that Zeigler has occupied death row.

The blood-spatter analyst who gave a half-cocked testimony which falsely identified the blood on Zeigler's shirt (DNA Evidence later contradicted him) went on to become the nation's leading criminologist of this nature and even worked the OJ Simpson trial and appeared on numerous television shows.

In 2008, when a citizen advocate wrote to Herbert L. MacDonell (the blood-spatter analyst), to question him about the DNA discrepancies, the analyst responded with a brand new, never before heard theory of how all the blood got where it did... by accusing Zeigler of being bisexual and having sex with the body of the customer who was found in the store. That response, aside from its complete randomness and audacity, seemed to be a hostile response to being questioned about the case.

The State's Attorney, Robert J. Eagan was moving up in the world until a 1985 corruption sting fell upon him that involved allegations of bribery on his part. A judge was involved as well as a number of Eagan's informants and the allegations stemmed all the way back to a drug arrest in the late 70's, just after Zeigler's trial. At one point Eagan was quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as admitting that "one of his informants", whom he declined to name, may have accepted bribes without authorization from himself.

One needs only to look at the courtroom transcripts from Zeigler's trial to understand that Eagan is a master of manipulation and will do anything to whip a jury into a senseless frenzy... As long as there's a "guilty" verdict, he's not concerned with the aftermath.

The Judge, Maurice Mitchell Paul, was later promoted by President Ronald Reagan to US Federal District Judge and he still hears cases in North Florida today. Specifically, he decides whether to advance cases against the government for maltreatment of prisoners in Florida's corrections facilities. The Zeigler case is not the only one that Justice Paul is infamous for. In 1995, he intervened in a case that juveniles had against the Florida Corrections System and ruled in favor of the Dozier Training School for Boys. This will ring a bell for anybody who is familiar with Florida's most grotesque tale of child abuse - The White House Boys.

Say Hello To All Your New Supporters. Now Where's My Check?

2011-08-19T18:03:00.000-07:00

Why would Mitt Romney's #1 fan and designer of his largest support network not want anyone to know who he is?

Perhaps, it is because Brian Armstrong of Eagle Mountain, Utah is a paid shill who is acting as an unofficial OPO (online political operative) for the Republican hopeful.

By now, I'm sure you've noticed that Mitt Romney has a website... or maybe you haven't because you wouldn't even want to visit it. That's a problem that many candidates, even the President have faced over the past few years: "How do we drive traffic to our website?" Another question then becomes, how do we get donations from that traffic once we've got them?

Well, back in 2004, the Republican Party expirimented with using OPO's to get the much coveted "youth vote" for George W. Bush. One of the "bad ideas" that most of the OPO's decided not to go for was an angle that's commonly called Associate Marketing? Why is it a bad idea? Because if you are found out and exposed, you show that your candidate only has support that they are paying for - not REAL support.

A key player in this process of bringing Republicans into the internet age was a girl who later went on to head up the internet-related side of many other campaigns including Mitt Romney's 2008 campaign. Her name is Mindy Finn and she most recently was known to have worked on Tim Pawlenty's "crash and burn" campaign... which is sooo not like her. Is she still REALLY working for Mitt Romney with Zach Moffatt? Who knows... There's afterall, no honor among thieves... or in this case, among associate marketers gone political.

So how does it work? There is a 2nd Mitt Romney website that more people enjoy visiting... it is supposed to be like a hub for "tea party-like" "grassroots" supporters that is supposedly NOT paid for by the Romney campaign. This is where the associate marketers mingle with the real supporters and solicit donations from them and "drive their traffic" to the places Mitt Romney (or whoever has hired them) want them to go. Here, it is important to note that Mitt Romney's official facebook page links to the supposedly disconnected "Mitt Romney Central" as though it is in fact, part of the official campaign.

Associate Marketing techniques are a few steps beyond the pale of what voters and people concerned with ethics are willing permit their candidates to get into... It creates a lot of spam, it's mostly anonymous and it just doesn't speak to the idea that the supporters are there for the right reasons.

Creating a political campaign based on paying per click and driving traffic this way and that might seem lucrative to people who never step away from their computers... But there is REAL life outside the matrix that one must eventually contend with. For Mitt Romney, it's going to be devastating to his REAL supporters that most of their "new friends" are being paid handsomely to get cozy with them.

According to one of Armstrong's many, many websites, he explains it this way: "Targeting social groups with your marketing message may be like tight-rope walking. It also may require some nice social engineering where you have an opportunity to talk about your product or service without it coming across as an advertisement or a “pitch”... the overall concept revolves a bit around SEO (search engine optimization 0r "making your site popular via keywords) being a “popularity contest” with backlinks being the votes. Monetizing that traffic [in this case, getting donations] is probably the topic of a different article."

Mr. Armstrong's mistake - the part that really uncovered this mess... was claiming that the "grassroots" site was designed by amateur volunteers and then not giving those people proper credit for their help... It smelled fishy, and boy was it ever... See the "official page" for the "volunteer" who set them up here. Notice anything strange?

Here, you can watch Brian's videos about Associate Marketing.

Here, you can see his obscure and kind of strange blog/webpage where he recruits business.

Now that you know this much, have fun sorting through the rubble... If you know more than I do about associate marketing techniques and political campaigns, please send me an email at floridasqueezed@gmail.com and don't hack me, bro...

If any of my facts are wrong here and I'm barking up the wrong tree, just let me know - I'm a reasonable guy who only wants politicians to be honest about who their support is coming from and under what motivation. I always welcome new information and correct my mistakes where I can. Don't have a cow and think I'm your biggest enemy just because I don't support being shady.

Allen West and Debbie Wasserman Schultz - Together At Last?

2011-08-02T03:33:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for any evidence that the Debt Ceiling Vote was truly a compromise for both Democrats and Republicans, you needn't look any further. Both Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Allen West (R-FL) have both voted in favor of the legislation.

What's ironic about this pair falling on the same side of our nation's most contentious debate this year is that they've been sparring over this very issue with vigor unmatched by any other dueling legislators.

According to the Schultz camp, West is a "sexist" and waging a "war on women and the elderly". According to Allen West himself, Schultz is "not a lady" and therefore doesn't deserve his respect.

Another unlikely pair of legislators to fall in line with each other for obviously very different reasons would be Alcee Hastings (D-FL) and Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Bachmann, a Tea Party member like West, is the legislator who championed the idea of not raising the debt ceiling in the first place. Both Hastings and Bachmann voted against the debt ceiling compromise bill.

If these two (Allen West and Debbie Wasserman Schultz) can agree on a compromise - there is indeed hope for the rest of us... Or is there?

Recently, the Wilton Manors Business Association (WMBA) was forced to cancel an invitation for Allen West to speak at their event on August 8th. The speaking engagement was first championed by Celeste Ellich, the owner of a real estate agency, who is currently President of the association.

A number of association members were unhappy about West being asked to speak at the engagement and a few threatened to withdraw their membership. Some boycotts were haphazardly started and a petition began circulating.

According to sources close to Ellich, she even claimed to be receiving "death threats" over the situation. This claim of death threats has not been verified by anyone.

So why were the businesses so upset? Evidently, a lot of it has to do with West's anti-gay rhetoric and disrespect for women - particularly Schultz. In fact, a non-partisan organization made up of business owners and community activists in the Fort Lauderdale area has been set up to continue carrying the torch against West's rhetoric at future events.

As a disclaimer, I joined this coalition yesterday.

The following is the organization's only official statement to the press thus far:

A non partisan group of community and business leaders was formed
today, entitled 'The Coalition for Equality and Fairness (CEF)', to create
an organization designed to protect citizenship diversity and stand up to public
officials who are bullying the LGBT community in order to advance their
own political and personal agendas.

The first order of business for the CEF will be to conduct an open and public educational rally next Monday, August 8, at 6 p.m., in Wilton Manors, entitled 'Allen West: In His Own Words'. Our purpose is not to censor anyone; it is rather to censure those who attempt to abuse us.

The Coalition will be issuing a mission statement on Wednesday evening defining and
articulating its purpose and objectives, at which time the venue for the community rally and gathering will also be announced.

To participate in the rally or the initial organizing efforts of the CEF, please send an expression of interest to norm@normkent.com, co-ordinating outreach at the present time.

Has Obama Changed Washington (or has it changed him)?

2011-08-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

I am writing this note to my friends (and their friends) today because I want you to think about the long arduous battle we have ahead of us in 2012. Thanks to the conservatives on the Supreme Court, there will be an influx of campaign cash in our politics like we've never seen before. In a ruling called "Citizens United V. The Federal Elections Commission", Supreme Court Justices like Scalia, Roberts and Thomas basically opened up Pandora's Box for corruption and propaganda at its worst.

Moderate and Independant voters will be faced with the age old question, "Republican or Democrat?" and conventional wisdom tells us that they are inclined to lean toward Republicans. To make matters more ominous for Democrats, state level politics experienced an influx of hard-right Republicans in the 2010 elections and this includes Governors and State Houses that will be re-rigging the voting laws, the way the districts are drawn and even the processes by which votes are counted in key states.

What Democrats need right now is a strategy and a clear message... We need to be on the offense and the defense simultaneously. Mostly, we have to bring something to the table. Voters are no longer interested in Kennedy's sentiment that they should "ask what they can do for their country". They now sing a tune more akin to the Janet Jackson song, "What have you done for me lately?"

We must attempt to answer this question for voters because it just happens to be the Achilles Heel for conservatives and Republicans... The truth is, what little the Democrats have been able to accomplish has aired on the side of the working middle class... the side of the voters. Republicans cannot truthfully claim anything of the sort. Here are a few examples that are actually quite impressive:

1) Barack Obama is the first American President to issue a "Taxpayer's Reciept".

2) The United States under leadership of Obama captured and killed the terrorist responsible for collapsing the World Trade Center.

3) Democrats alone trailblazed a path for making healthcare a fundamental aspect of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

4) Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Party, Gays & Lesbians can openly serve in the armed forces while knowing that they are protecting true freedom without exceptions made for personal prejudices.

5) Thanks to President Obama and the Democratic Party, the mother of a hate crime victim will have her anguish validated by the law when she buries her son or daughter. The Government will not tell her that it's her fault.

6) President Obama has given options to Native American Women who are the victims of rape and violent attacks on their reservations so that they may access law enforcement and see justice for the first time.

7) It is Democrats, NOT Republicans, who continue to insist that the Government protect consumers from predatory banks, lenders and credit card companies.

8) Both civilian casualties and armed services casualties in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan are (from what I can tell) about 30% of what they were yearly under the leadership of George W. Bush. The ongoing occupations seem to be slowly turning into the "peace-keeping" missions that Republicans promised but could never manage to deliver.

9) Women who do the same work as men at their jobs must now be paid equally according to the law for the first time in America's History and once again... that was Democratic legislation.

10) For the first time since the crisis began, our Federal Government has a strategy to treat HIV/AIDS in the United States and to prevent new infections from increasing in frequency.

Rick Santorum Is A Mortal Sinner by Vatican Standards

2011-06-24T18:30:00.000-07:00

My hope for gay rights activists going into 2012 is that we can focus our protests and actions on those who richly deserve to be protested and acted against.

Too many activists, it seems, are going off on tangential facebook rants about Barack Obama’s lackluster non-support of gay marriage. This ignores the culpability of Congress in not passing legislation to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which Bill Clinton signed into law not too long ago. DOMA is an unconstitutional law because it dictates standards for marriage to all of the 50 states – a power that the Federal Government cannot have. The United States Constitution says verbatim:

Amendment 10 - 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.

Since marriage is not one of the enumerated powers of the Federal Government, it MUST belong to the States or the People. It is the responsibility of the Congress to admit their mistake and pass a repeal law. When they do this, it will be Obama's responsibility to sign the repeal law as he did with repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT). Many people in Congress are failing us right now because they are disobeying the Constitution every moment that they do not repeal DOMA.

One such person is former Senator Rick Santorum who frequently cites the Constitution of the USA in other debates. He relies on his Catholic upbringing for his argument against gay marriage, however.

Interestingly though, Santorum’s allegiance to Catholicism might be his downfall in his current run for President of the United States. Why? It is because in the process of campaigning, he has already committed two mortal sins.

In 2008, The Holy See under leadership of Pope Benedict XVI added seven “new sins” to the list of mortal or “deadly” sins to make a total of 14. While such a decision strikes non-Catholics as somewhat arbitrary, the Holy See is not to be disrespected or defied by practicing Catholics and the rules stand. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “immediately after death the souls of those who die in a state of mortal sin descend into Hell”.

The Vatican made it quite clear that “promoting torture” is a mortal sin because “torture, which uses physical or moral violence to extract confessions, punish the guilty, frighten opponents, or satisfy hatred is contrary to respect for the person and for human dignity.” Thus, in respect to the 5th Commandment, the verbal promotion of torture or cruel experiments by a Catholic media person or politician creates what the church calls “scandal”.

Scandal, in Catholic terms, is about as bad as it gets – it means that you are “wolf in sheeps clothing”. The Bible says of one who creates religious scandal that they’d be better off to tie a stone around their neck and drown themselves than to deal with the Lord himself.

Here is a link to Rick Santorum being disingenuous about and promoting torture: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/55140.html

Another mortal Sin that Santorum has flippantly ignored his culpability in is promoting pollution of the environment.

According to Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti of the Holy See, “environmental blight” is a particularly grave sin because it affects so many people globally who cannot defend themselves. The Archbishop cited climate change specifically on this matter.

Here is a link to Rick Santorum shamelessly denying that Climate Change (Global Warming) even exists at all:
http://thinkprogress.org/green/2011/06/24/253389/santorum-theres-no-such-thing-as-global-warming/

Now, obviously, some will argue that the mere promotion of policies which may or may not lead to such sins is a murky area in moral law and that the Santorum should not be held religiously accountable for his words… Its fine for a non-Catholic to hold that opinion but the Catholic leadership totally disagrees.

It goes back to the Holy See’s staunch refusal to support Scandal… Sins which are promoted on a mass scale via media or social networking are considered Scandal and for a Catholic to commit these acts… Well, there’s always the stone-around-the-neck routine…

Catholic Democrats have been denied Communion in the United States on more than one occasion due to their perceived “promotion” of abortion and stem-cell research. Being denied Communion is basically the Catholic Church’s way of saying “Go to hell”. John Kerry, a Presidential candidate like Santorum was one such person in 2004.

Nazi-owned Newspaper in UK Calls Anthony Weiner a Secret “Cross-Dresser”

2011-06-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Daily Mail Uses Old College Prank Photos To Evidence Lies and Distortions

Just when you thought “weinergate” had finally been laid to rest by the Congressman’s resignation – you would be wrong. The Daily Mail ran a big outlandish spread of text with two photos allegedly from Anthony Weiner’s college days where a young man is parading around in women’s underwear and charges that his poor unsuspecting wife must now contend with the humiliation of accepting that he is a closeted "cross-dresser", implying that he sends out kinky fetish pictures to other women.

Only when carefully gleening the article can a person discern that the photos have nothing to do with the recent non-scandal that was cooked up by Andrew Breitbart and Ann Coulter.

So who is the Daily Mail and why would they care to attack a Jewish Congressman in another country across the pond? Well, that’s the really awful part.

The Daily Mail has a long history of attacking Jews and gays and liberals. This is because they are (and always have been) owned by real Nazis. Harold Harmsworth, (known to the Brits as Lord Rothermere) was their creator and publisher prior to WW2. He wrote such columns as “Hoorah For The Blackshirts” and was a close friend of Adolph Hitler and Benito Mussolini. The Daily Mail is still owned by his descendants.

Fox News and the National Enquirer frequently look to the Daily Mail for marketing gimmicks to copy and for outlandish quotes that they can attribute to an outside news source. Sadly and shamefully for the UK, the Daily Mail is the 2nd best selling newspaper in their little "empire".

But don't think the USA is totally off the hook on this... Ann Coulter, one of the architects of "Weinergate" is rather antisemitic herself, having made statements on Meet The Press that she wished for a purely Christian, White, Republican America and that Jews "still need to be perfected".

Today in Hypocrisy Part 1 – Dan Savage is a Cyber-bully.

2011-06-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

This is the kind of story that reminds me of why I started a blog… A lot has happened in the last year but not much of it takes precedence over the 3 points at which my fellow so-called liberal Democrats have decided to play “Republican for a day” and began drafting their plans for the first semi-automatic glass-housed stone launcher…

First, let’s start out with the possibly the most neglected hypocrite of them all: Dan Savage… Yes, I’m talking about the “It Gets Better” guy…

You see, It Gets Better aims to foster warm-fuzzy feelings not in the bullying victims themselves, but rather the people who made the videos. Sadly, the videos made by concerned citizens are largely ignored on YouTube while everyone really only cares to hear from their favorite celebrity… However well intentioned it was to start, it’s becoming a PR tool to tap into the gay market. But the irony of this movement is that Dan Savage himself is a cyber-bully.

There. I said it.

Was he not the person who designed the nauseatingly vulgar and intentionally humiliating website which attacks a Catholic Republican candidate named Rick Santorum? This action fits squarely within every definition of cyber-bullying on Wikipedia. So what is Dan Savage REALLY teaching kids about bullies? If you can’t beat them, join them?

I wish it ended there - I really do. But (ahem!) it gets better…

Dan Savage is serophobic and rather hateful about it too. In case you’re not familiar with the term “serophobia”, let’s call it somebody who hates people with HIV or fears them. It is serophobia that lead to proposed legislation in Uganda that would effectively put all gay people in prison or have them killed (even though the majority with HIV in Uganda are heterosexual or “straight”).

Have you ever read one of those articles by a right-wing flamethrower that tries to connect the dots between homosexuals and pedophilia? Do you remember wondering how hateful a person would have to be to make that connection in their mind and try to convince others that it was true?

Dan Savage has never done that to gay people in general. But he’s done it to people with HIV… specifically gay men whom enjoyed bareback pornography or got HIV from practicing condomless sex. You see, Dan Savage wanted to make a case against “bareback” pornography. This was presumably to gain favor with Democrats who were concerned about a “gay sex columnist” joining their ranks as “the Ann Coulter of the Left”.

So, with his usual flair for the obscene, Savage chose to equate condomless pornography with child pornography. His writing on the subject assumed that young boys were being victimized by the California above-ground porn industry and being intentionally infected with a deadly virus by predatory men with HIV who want nothing more than to harm your little boy… You think I’m making that up? Read it here (as he’s never had the shame to take it off his blog).

Speaking as someone who has worked in the adult entertainment and novelties industry, I can say with some certainty that the producers of condomless pornography go to great lengths to make sure their models are tested for a wide array of STD’s and that those with HIV (the least problematic of the main ones) are only paired up with partners of the same status. If anyone disagrees with my rose-colored view, they can feel free to leave a comment.

Child pornography, on the other hand, is some SERIOUS shit. I’ve also been witness to the absolute terror that is child pornography and I’ve suffered effects of PTSD from only having viewed what I did. I imagine that not too many of the children I witnessed being raped managed to live through the ordeal. That is all discussed in other places on my blog.

If Dan Savage thinks it's ok in any way to try to connect condomless (natural) sex with such crimes... he's not the person you want to leave your kids to look up to. The fact that this scare-tactic laiden and bullying propaganda came from a so-called Democrat astounds me to no end. But lest you think Savage is just a prude - he's all about using images of children in explicit content without the permission of their parents.

All of this brings me to my next blog post – where I will be highlighting the recent hypocrisy of some other audacious Democrats including President Obama, Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and Nancy Pelosi who all seem to have "sex issues" because of Congressman Anthony Weiner's penis.

Until then, I’m just “keeping ‘em honest” as Anderson Cooper says… but I’d like to end on this note: If Dan Savage is willing to take down the Santorum website that made both he and the homophobic Republican famous in the first place, and if he is willing to take down his article comparing condomless pornography to child pornography, I will in turn remove my criticism of him from my own blog and congratulate him on taking the necessary steps to not be such a bully himself.

My Complicated Situation & How Allen West Might Be Able To Help

2011-05-27T19:13:00.000-07:00

The Situation
For any of you who have been following my blog or are my friends on facebook, you should already know a little bit about the issue at hand.

The short version of it goes like this: During a tough time in my life, I became friends with some unsavory characters, a gay couple that I met up with for sex. In the course of my friendship with them, I discovered that they collected, dealt and possibly even produced their own child pornography. After some serious consideration, I decided to take this issue to the FBI. The FBI launched an investigation and I was considered a “CI” (confidential informant).

Since that time, the case has seemingly been dropped. But this is over a year after I risked everything (and lost) by stealthily soliciting a DVD/CD with over 30 disgustingly hardcore videos and images of children being abused in ways that I will not describe on this blog. The FBI and Fort Lauderdale Police raided the men’s home while they were supposedly away on vacation as part of the investigation and recovered even more evidence against these men.

Since then, week after week and month after month went by and nothing else happened. The FBI stopped being as forthcoming with information as they had been. They changed my contact agent on me two different times and returned my calls less frequently. I have not been contacted by the FBI in about 4 months. I feel like I was basically hung out to dry.

I went before the Broward Human Trafficking Coalition and told of my case to anyone there who would listen to me. The Dolphin Democrats invited me to speak at one of their monthly meetings so that I could direct people to my blog and give them more information about the case.

I spoke to child safety advocates from around the country online and on the phone about the issue and discussed it with the Broward County Sheriff’s Department as well. An interesting conversation with an anonymous (only because I can’t remember his name) Sheriff’s Office employee, revealed something that I think everyone should know. Evidently, according to this unnamed source, there are only 6 or 7 “processing centers” in the United States where law enforcement can take recovered computers and electronics to have them probed for evidence in child pornography cases. These places are supposedly like warehouses and they are all back-logged for years because child pornography is THAT prevalent in our society and they just don’t have the manpower or funding to process all of these computers!

That being said, this particular case is probably NOT being held up for that reason. The FBI officially released me from CI status in a phone call a few months ago and told me that their investigation was complete. My contact agent told me the same thing: “The investigation is over and we have plenty of evidence to convict at least one of the two men. We know we have enough to get David [, the one who handed you the disc.]”

The question remains: Why would it take YEARS longer to indict one or two men for AT LEAST the possession of child pornography when there is plenty of solid evidence against them AND eye-witness testimony that can be used in court?

The Media

I’ve also spoken to reporters and publishers about this issue. The first person I discussed this issue with was my publisher, Norm Kent. At that time, I was the News Editor at South Florida Gay News. I was on thin ice with him at the time because of another issue and he seemed concerned that I was showing up to work sporadically and not performing at full capacity. I explained to him that I wasn’t getting any sleep and told him why. I even offered to write the story up for the paper when the investigation was complete. He responded by bringing in my replacement, Jason Parsley, and then firing me.

I can’t pretend to know exactly why Norm fired me. I have my suspicions but this is just the nuts and bolts of it.

The next reporter that I discussed the case with (after I was told the investigation was complete) was a woman who showed up at the Broward Human Trafficking Coalition meeting. Her name was Lisa Lucas and she claimed to be writing an in-depth article for Boca Magazine. She said she had written extensively about Human Trafficking and child abuse and that she was very interested in covering my story and that it had to be done quickly. My experience with her was rather ridiculous and unhelpful.

First Lucas said she wanted to interview me – I agreed to be interviewed at any time. Then she said the magazine would let me write my own story as a sidebar and that since I was previously a News Editor, it could lead to a permanent job at the publication. Speaking from her illustrious experience as a member of the “Society of Professional Journalists”, she told me that in order to get some press (and in turn, advocacy) around this issue, I would have to go into all the gory details and write a heart-wrenching piece for her. So that’s exactly what I did… and then she disappeared.

It was only later that I found out that Lisa Lucas was not operating as a writer for Boca Magazine as she claimed, but rather as a friend of Jason Parsley – the guy who replaced me at SFGN (South Florida Gay News). When I finally got her to call me back and respond to what I had written for her, she claimed that she was recovering from an aneurism and that my story would go to press very soon… Of course, it never did. If Ms. Lucas was indeed suffering from an aneurism, I apologize and hope she makes a speedy recovery.

Lastly, I spoke to Jay Weaver at the Miami Herald. He had written an article about the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement for South Florida who was discovered to have received child pornography via email on his home computer. I remembered that the two men whom I had reported to authorities told me that they had “friends everywhere” and could take trips to Cuba and Prague where they could “pay little boys five dollars to do whatever [they] wanted”.

When Mr. Weaver called me back, he seemed more interested in the fact that AOL had reported this ICE agent to authorities. He was interested in whether or not I knew anything about AOL’s method of intercepting illegal emails. What Mr. Weaver was apparently NOT interested in was the likely possibility that my story and his could share a connection.

So, the Miami Herald has a story about a man who’s only known to have received 4 pictures via email and this is “big news” to them. Meanwhile, they neglect a story about two men who owned hundreds of high quality videos of children, toddlers and even infants being sexually abused when I’m telling them that I was a witness to these events… The news is apparently not the news until the government says it is…

The Government

So far, Government has been about as helpful as a sharp stick in the eye. I’ve spoken to Congressional Aides, Sheriff’s Officers, FBI Agents, State-Level leaders of efforts to combat Human Trafficking, and City Police and have come up empty-handed on all counts. The ONLY thing I NEED TO HAPPEN is for the two men that I turned in to authorities to see the inside of a courtroom. Once that happens, my good samaritan task is completed and I can go on with my life… Until it does happen, I am left wondering what happened to my country and my faith in humanity.
After I coaxed a response from the offices of Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) I received a call from Jon Pyatt, Mrs. Schultz’ Deputy Chief of Staff. I was pleasantly surprised that he took time out of his hectic schedule to discuss my concerns with me. The congresswoman sits on the Intelligence Oversight Committee and her district is right next door, so this, in my mind, makes her the person who could see to it that whatever went wrong goes right. To further identify Mrs. Shultz as the perfect candidate to help me resolve my issue, child safety and the capture of predators is an issue that she has introduced legislation on and sought funding for.

Mr. Pyatt explained to me that if the congresswoman were to look specifically at my case - or to “cherry pick” as they say – it could be perceived as a lapse in ethics. Evidently, members of an oversight panel in congress can only look at an aggregate of investigations or Federal cases and can’t ethically zone in on a specific case… unless of course, the issue is specific to THEIR constituents. This brings me to my next attempt at ensuring that justice is served.

I contacted the offices of Allen West (R-FL) who was freshly elected in 2010 as part of the Tea Party revolution. Anybody who has been reading my blog or following me on facebook will know how I feel about conservative Republicans and thus what a stretch it is for me to go to these lengths. But as I explained to my friends – I refuse to draw a political line in the sand when it comes to the safety and protection of children. I need help from Mr. West because the criminals that I reported and helped to investigate happen to live in his district.

The offices of Allen West directed me to their website where I downloaded a form that authorizes him to investigate me and my situation as it pertains to the US Attorney’s Office. If he looks into this case and can determine that an indictment should have been handed down to these two men – we may finally have this ball rolling…

I have filled out Mr. West’s advocacy request form and he should be receiving it shortly. I only hope that my incessantly partisan blogging for Team Obama will not prejudice him against me. I hope at least that his desire to create a safe environment for kids in South Florida will rise stronger than any disfavor of liberal Democrats he might harbor.

Wish me luck – and as always, I’ll keep you updated!
-Jarrett Terrill
floridasqueezed@gmail.com

UPDATE (01-08-2012): DAVID BARCENAS GUILTY PLEA! (Now how about Stephen R. Morse?)

Classic Right Wing Liars Return To Familiar Territory

2011-05-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Part 1 – Newt Gingrich and Harold Camping

Newt Gingrich – Amongst such whoppers as “Gay marriage is against the Constitution” and “Indiana has the lowest unemployment rate in the region”, Gingrich should always be remembered for the sleeziest political lie in American history. It all started when a South Carolina woman named Susan Smith drowned her children in her car and infamously blamed the crime on a mysterious black man.

Susan Smith’s stepfather had been a prominent Republican fundraiser for Newt Gingrich and so Gingrich put himself front and center with the scandal to fabricate a new reality for the American people. “I think that the mother killing the two children in South Carolina vividly reminds every American how sick the society is getting and how much we need to change things,” Gingrich said.

This was of course, after it had come to light that a black man was not to blame for the crime. Susan Smith’s sickness, Gingrich said, was symptomatic of the kind of society that Clinton-era Democrats had created in America. "We need very deep change if we're going to turn this country around." Never once did Gingrich mention that the man who helped Susan Smith cook up the story about an evil black kidnapper was her own step-father… a preacher and a Republican.

Also missing from Newt Gingrich’s spin on the story was the fact that Susan Smith had desperately tried to escape her family since she was 15 years old with no success. Why had she tried to escape? According to her ex-husband, it was because she had been repeatedly molested by her stepfather, the preacher and Republican Gingrich campaigner. Of course, all of this information only came to us after Laura Bush was already hanging curtains in the newly Republican White House.

Harold Camping – Another big fat lie from right-wing Christian Republicans during the Clinton era might sound very familiar to us in 2011. This one goes: “The world is going to end tomorrow and it’s all because of the gays”. The architect of this perennial lie is Harold Camping, the multi-millionaire from Southern California who owns more than 135 radio and television stations in America and other parts of the world. He has tens of thousands of followers globally and they don’t leave his side no matter how many lies he tells them. His followers are gluttons for usury.

What’s really amazing about Camping is the way the American media refuses to portray him as anything but a pitiful, crazy old man with silly ideas. The reality of the situation is that Camping is an angry homophobe who commands that his followers protest homosexuality as a full-time job. It’s basically like giving the Westboro Baptist Church access to thousands of daily listeners in places like New York City, Boise, Tampa, San Francisco and other metropolis’ throughout the United States.

Furthermore, even gay activists have been slow to uncover the fact that the last time Camping made his "end of the world" prediction, he was joined up with the full force of "Focus on the Family" (although someone has edited their wikipedia page to indicate that the break between the organizations happened way back in 1985). Focus on the Family were the principal architects of California's Proposition 8 and Florida's Amendment 2 against both gay marriage and civil unions and it was Harold Camping who really put them on the air in the first place.

With a lack of irony, Camping’s two end-of-days predictions both came about in times that a Democratic President was seeking re-election. Both of his predictions relied heavily on “gay pride” being seen as an absolute sign from God that the end was near. Lastly, both of his predictions were lies. But they were useful lies to tell because both times, a renewed interest in FamilyRadio.com was born with hits to the website increasing by thousands of times their original traffic virtually overnight. Family Radio fans donated their life savings to Camping’s anti-gay efforts and in 1999 sixteen Family Radio cult members were sent on a mission to Kingston, Jamaica to distribute copies of this anti-gay tract in French and English. This was around the same time that CBN, the Christian Broadcasting Network began really setting up camp there. Since this time, Jamaicans had grown steadily and increasingly homophobic and fanatical in their beliefs about the rapture. It would take an entire decade before a woman came into my office to tell me that Camping’s spell had finally been broken and Jamaica had its first ever gay pride parade.

Florida vs. Florida - Republicans and 1 Democrat Lawyer Up Against Voters

2011-05-21T19:24:00.000-07:00

Rick Scott has stuffed himself into a hat and now pulls himself out as a “defendant” in his own war against voters in Florida.

When you think of the way political lines are drawn, you may want to picture Florida as being shaped like a ballet shoe doing a pirouette because Florida has gently danced around the idea of a fair election for more than a decade now.

Let’s review this ballet & magic show, shall we?

Act 1
V is for Voters
In 2008, voters in Florida overwhelmingly voted for Hillary Clinton in the Presidential Primary. However, the Republican powers that be decided that they would rather run against Barack Obama and successfully invalidated the votes of Democrats in both Florida and Michigan. Barack Obama, to the dismay of many Republican tricksters, won the election anyway and resurrected Hillary Clinton as perhaps the most effective Secretary of State the USA has ever known.

Republicans are still sore about that. Especially in Florida.

Act 2
V is for Vendetta
In 2010, Republicans saw an opportunity to harness the anger, racism, homophobia, resentment and economic turmoil that voters were experiencing and re-package it as a revolution. Through a complex and manipulative marketing strategy, they birthed the “Tea Party” with funding from the Koch Industries and Florida’s own Amway.

(As a quick side note: Lady GaGa has broken her promise from the National Equality March for the 6th time by performing at an Amway Arena on Tax Day in Orlando. This is also after signing exclusive deals with Target and being the first to break the Arizona boycott.)

Once again successful, the Republicans elected a new leader for Florida… a billionaire proponent of privatization named Rick Scott. Since 2008, Republicans in Florida are keenly aware that racism and sexism, if made too obvious, can both come back to bite them in the ass. Therefore, Rick Scott was flanked throughout his campaign by a pretty black woman named Jennifer Carroll who satisfied both under-represented demographics for Republicans. She is rarely heard from since Scott won the election.

Intermission – A Puppet Show in the Lobby
V is for Ventriloquism

Believe it or not, Tea Party rhetoric was useful beyond what Republicans had originally anticipated. As it turns out, liberals gained traction with talk of “fighting the elitist cronyism at play in our big government”. Of course, the liberals were speaking of state-level politics which have been gerrymandered to benefit the Republican Party for as long as anyone can remember in the Sunshine State.

So it came to pass that the same puppets who denounced the validity of our President’s birth certificate could be used to promote the passage of Amendments 5 & 6 which would end the practice of re-drawing district lines to favor incumbent career politicians. Like naked emperors, Tea Party Republicans had proudly marched around Florida complaining of cronyism, nepotism and suppression of their fair representation. The unintended result was a window of opportunity to finally castrate Florida’s Republican machine – the machine that delivered George W. Bush to the United States of America.

Act 3
V is for Voodoo

In order to understand someone like Corrine Brown (D-FL), in my opinion, you need to see a movie called ‘Just Cause’ with Lawrence Fishburne. Fishburne plays a Sheriff in rural Florida who is one of the few black people permitted by the well-oiled establishment to hold a position of power. For this reason, he nearly terrorizes his own black community for the purpose of self-preservation.

Corrine Brown is a member of the US House of Representatives from North Florida and as such is situated in the same uncomfortable position (although, to my knowledge she has never terrorized anyone). She is one of the few Democrats in Florida who has systematically been permitted to win reelection for the last 17 years in a row. But Brown’s status as an incumbent comes at a steep price.

The district lines are re-drawn (gerrymandered) every year to capture almost every black voter in North Florida’s 3 largest cities (Orlando, Jacksonville and Gainsville) and throw all of them into her district so that other legislators needn’t worry about appeasing “those people” during their Republican campaigns. So, the tradeoff is that we get 1 black female Democrat in the House but we have to take as many as 3 hard-right Republicans in the area who don’t have to answer to a single black Democratic voter in their own districts.

Ultimately, this sort of injustice is what brings Corrine Brown to the rescue of Republican Governor Rick Scott as he tries to do away with Fair Districts Florida’s Amendments 5 & 6 (which have now become Article 3, Section 20 of the Florida Constitution). Corrine Brown has even called former leaders from the NAACP to her side and asked them to go against the current majority of civil rights figures (including President Obama) who support the new re-districting laws.

In what seemed like an alternate reality for Florida Democrats, Corrine Brown turned on a dime and sided with Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) (who voted against protecting minorities in every other situation) and the Republican establishment to sue the State of Florida in Federal Court for her perceived “right” to retain an unfair advantage in future elections. When Rick Scott purchased his way into election by the slightest margin ever, he became “the defendant” (along with the ACLU) in this case by default. The ACLU might be of some help in defending our new law, but Rick Scott will throw everything he can into stopping it.

It's confusing to voters because it makes it appear that Rick Scott is now defending fair districting practices in Florida against a black woman and a Hispanic man who want special treatment… That view of the situation is exactly how Rick Scott wants it to go down in the papers. But in reality, all 3 have been on the same side and wasting your tax dollars to fight against the Amendments that you voted into law. These three pirates have seized the throne and refuse to accept that they’ve already been outmoded.

In a time when teachers are being laid off by the thousands and medication for working-class people with HIV is no longer provided by Florida, it’s comforting to know how many tens of millions of dollars these 3 career politicians are willing to spend on their own job security.

Mark Pryor - A Spoiler Turncoat

2011-04-08T06:59:00.000-07:00

Enough cannot be said about Mark Pryor, a so-called Democrat from Arkansas who manages to defeat his own party on every single issue, every single time.

Consider that he is one of just 3 Democrats who held up the battle to repeal DADT for over a year. One of his partners in crime, Blanche Lincoln, already paid the ultimate political price for that... She was not re-elected and a Republican is now keeping her seat warm.

It's easy to understand that he's homophobic when his buddies like Georgia's Saxby Chambliss are busy sending death threats to gay bloggers, but his party is just not down with that... We wanna class it up a bit. In a recent budget discussion, Mark Pryor recently referred to Saxby Chambliss as being "like one of the brave men who flew those airplanes over Great Britain to stop Nazi Germany from invading and defeating the English people."

Also consider that he loves pollution/profit more than he loves mother nature.

Mr. Pryor was one of only 8 Democrats to vote against allowing Healthcare reform to include the option of abortion.

But perhaps worst of all... Pryor is a total tool for the corporations of America. He voted to block a bill that would tax corporations in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Now, Pryor will say that he always does what's best for Arkansas... That he always "puts Arkansas first"... But let's explain what he really means by that... He puts INFLUENTIAL Arkansans first... like Hillary Clinton. When Hillary Clinton drafted a bill to give federal funds to border states to offer healthcare to illegal immigrants, Pryor sure signed onto that one right away! Sure, that would help New York, California, Florida and Arizona, but what does that do for taxpayers in Arkansas?

Why I "perceive" Rep. John Kline to be a Total D!ck

2011-04-06T18:09:00.000-07:00

As we all know, Barney Frank (D-MA) is going to re-introduce ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act). Initially, the bill was attacked by both liberals and conservatives alike for different reasons.

The first few rounds were met with frustration from transgender advocates and anti-bullying advocates because it only covered "sexual orientation" as its LGBT protection. Therefore, some transgender persons felt vulnerable because employers would likely claim that transgender persons could be discriminated against under the notion that it's not really their "orientation" or their "gender" that is being scrutinized.

Some were also dissatisfied because a person who is only perceived to be gay or straight by their peers should be protected equally as well. You know... some people might get fired just because of their mannerisms.

Barney Frank and other Democrats finally gave in and said 'no more half measures' so now the new ENDA bill specifically protects transgender people and "perceived sexual orientation" as well... In a nutshell, this means that if an employee SEEMS like a gay person to you, that's not an excuse to fire them either.

This is not the first law to protect people on the basis of their "perceived" sexual orientation - the Mathew Shepard Act features the same language.

Now, the biggest problem that conservatives say that they have with measures like ENDA is their fear that Religion will be affected adversely and their morals will be compromised. That's gone now too - because the new bill exempts religious organizations from having to hire LGBT persons if they don't want to.

But this time, the big hurdle that ENDA must cross is Rep. John Paul Kline (R-MN) who said as part of his campaign that "Job creation is his #1 priority".

Kline is now painting the new additions as "vague language" which are meant to confuse the matter. He pretends not to know what "perceived sexual orientation" means and claims that exempting all religious organizations from this law is still just too risky for Christians... because, well, you know... it's totally against everyone's religion to have to work with people they don't like.

Here's an excerpt from the Windy City Times:

Kline said back then that ENDA "creates an entirely new protected class that is vaguely defined and often subjective." Specifically, he objected to the language of the bill prohibiting discrimination based on "perceived sexual orientation."

"Attempting to legislate individual perceptions is truly uncharted territory," said Kline, "and it does not take a legal scholar to recognize that such vaguely defined protections will lead to an explosion in litigation and inconsistent judicial decisions."

Kline also said he thought legislators should consider the "consequences" ENDA might have on "religious and family-based organizations."

Why I Question Governor Rick Scott's Sobriety...

2011-03-28T16:19:00.000-07:00

Is Rick Scott the Charlie Sheen of Governors?

Many people know that I am, among other things, a recovering addict. I've had my ups and downs with drugs and I've voluntarily subjected myself to various treatment options before I was ever in trouble with the law.

Now, before we get too deep into this, you should also know that I support decriminalizing all drugs. Yes, even the really nasty stuff like crack-cocaine and crystal meth. I think that when the status quo tries to take away voting rights from people who are stricken with addiction problems (like Rick Scott is attempting to do), our Democracy crumbles.

Given my intimate experience on the matter, I can recognize what we call "addict behavior" in others. I see this behavior in Governor Rick Scott.

In short, I would not be at all surprised to find out that Rick Scott is an alcoholic. He displays all the tell-tale signs as I know them. In the recovery community, it is referred to as "King Baby Syndrome" and Governor Scott epitomizes this.

Let's flash back to a night before the Republican Primary Election in West Palm Beach, when a handful of wealthy GOP donors were waiting anxiously to hear the first debate between Gubernatorial hopefuls Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. Members of the Boca Raton Republican Club never got to hear that debate. What they got instead was a weird political/religious sermon from Esther Scott (Rick Scott's mother).

According to anonymous sources:

"Scott should have been finished right then and there. You should have seen it... This guy [Rick Scott] never even showed up!"

"Bill McCollum was there and ready to speak. Hell, even Rick Scott's own MOTHER was sitting there waiting for him. She had to get up in front of all the wealthiest Republicans in South Florida and make excuses for her son not being there. The best thing the old woman could come up with was "God has chosen my son to become Governor of Florida."... She REALLY said that! Can you believe it?"

According to both anonymous eye-witnesses, the only explanation they heard for Rick Scott's absence came when he called 15 minutes after the debate had been scheduled to start and reported that he was either lost or stuck in traffic somewhere in the Florida Panhandle!

If you've ever looked at a map of Florida, you can clearly see that the Panhandle is absolutely as far away from West Palm Beach and Boca Raton as you can get in Florida. Some Scott supporters reportedly threw their hands in the air, tore up their signs and shouted obscenities on their way out the door.

This is not something that a sober person does.

But of course, there's more. Rick Scott will also not entertain any questions from the media about essential issues regarding his life prior to being elected Governor. In fact, he gets downright hostile when he's asked to explain his past.

For me, there is no greater annoyance than someone who wants to believe that I'm high on drugs when I'm completely sober... I get that. But years of fending off these kind of questions can create a nasty character defect in a not-so-recovering addict. This character defect will eventually bleed into all other areas of their personal and professional lives and ultimately consume them in one final gulp. This "final gulp" was just on the verge of happening when the media caught wind of the fact that Rick Scott had swindled thousands of elderly persons out of their Medicare dollars.

See Rick Scott's "don't you DARE Question me" attitude in this video:

So, why am I questioning Scott's sobriety in the public square? That's the easy part... I'm calling him out on his hypocrisy because he's questioning the sobriety of all the little people under him... Another hallmark of addiction left unchecked.

Rick Scott wants all public employees to be subject to random drug tests... But so far, he's been unwilling to subject himself to the same rule. Had there been a breathalyzer lock on his car, maybe his mother wouldn't have been forced to embarrass his party. Had he done the first 3 steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, he might have learned to focus on himself before worrying about the other addicts in the room...

Governor Scott, please... get help. We will gladly part with some tax dollars for your treatment (as well as for those who are unfortunate enough to have landed in jail) because we need honor and productivity to be restored to your office and throughout Florida. I'm totally sincere in saying that.

What The Millionaires and Billionaires Really Want - Sex With Children

2011-03-26T13:38:00.000-07:00

Let's face it... It's class warfare out here and the haves are playing really dirty against the have-nots. What could be more thrilling for them than subjecting their enemy's children to horrific abuse?

But should they have to worry about the good folks rising up against them with torches and pitchforks? Nah... They have the Tea Party to protect them. After all, when you have Republicans like Kathleen Passidomo in Florida who will accuse an 11 year-old gang rape victim of "dressing like a prostitute", what can go wrong? Or how about those wonderful ladies in Atlanta, GA who are blaming Craigslist.com for all their woes while their state aims to put them behind bars should God punish them with a miscarriage...

But let's take a quick look at the evidence behind these weighty accusations, shall we? I mean, my readers aren't the type to let me get away with broad generalizations and no evidence... First consider this fact: Most of our nations wealth is concentrated in the upper 2%... These are America's Millionaires and Billionaires. So when even ONE of them does something wrong, it's magnified to represent a larger percentage of their "class" than it would be for us... 300 Million times as much, in fact.

So here's a SMALL and RECENT sample of what I'm talking about:

1. Racine, Wisconsin - Samuel Curtis Johnson (to read full article click here), a member of the Johnson family that has led the SC Johnson & Son Inc. company in Racine through five generations, was charged Thursday with one count of repeated sexual assault of a child. Johnson, 55, a billionaire son of the late Sam Johnson, appeared Thursday afternoon in Racine County Circuit Court on an allegation that he inappropriately touched a girl, now 15, beginning in June 2007. Bail was set at $500,000, and part of the criminal complaint was sealed. Johnson's attorneys filed a motion at the start of Johnson's court appearance requesting that two paragraphs of the complaint be kept from public view for now until a judge makes a ruling on whether to keep them under seal.

2. Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Stephen R. Morse and his partner David (to read full article click here) have been accused by a man who says they showed him hours and hours of child pornography which they claimed to have gathered from friends and helped to distribute. The FBI and Fort Lauderdale Police collectively raided the mens home and pulled out "mountains of evidence" against them. Charges and Indictments have not been filed. Morse is part owner of South Florida's largest Wine & Spirits retailer and has hosted many tastings at white tablecloth events (including political fundraisers) all over South Florida. He lives in Allen West's (R-FL) district.

3. Palm Beach, Florida - Jeffrey Epstein (to read full article click here) is a billionaire financier who, according to sources on wikipedia, served 13 months in jail of an 18-month sentence as a convicted sex offender in the state of Florida for soliciting an underage girl for prostitution, is a registered sex offender, and remains under investigation by the FBI over allegations of involvement with underage girls and for money laundering. However, Epstein had assembled a world-class legal team, including Alan Dershowitz, Kenneth Starr, and Roy Black (best known for having defended William Kennedy Smith against rape charges in Palm Beach.) Together, this man and his team of diligent attorneys pounded tons of other accusations into the ground and kids who were as young as 13 years old went without vindication after Mr. Epstein bought and sold them in a sex trafficking ring that may have included Prince Andrew.

Uncomfortable Silence - Why Won’t Obama’s Miami Attorney Indict Child Pornographers like Stephen M0rse* and his partner David?

2011-03-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

[There are more recent posts related to this one - click here to read newer information.] I have always been a big supporter of President Obama. I campaigned for him in 2008 and registered over 500 new voters on behalf of him and Hillary Clinton. But shortly after that, I got myself into a bit of a mess…

And now I find myself wondering why Obama’s appointed US Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer seems not to want to put the consumers/distributors of child pornography (and possible human traffickers) behind bars.

Starting at the beginning…

My blog was never really supposed to be about me… I intended to use it to spout off about politics and government but now I find that it will begin to have more use in bringing to rest an issue I’ve been struggling with for a couple years now.

* UPDATE 8-15-11 - DISCLAIMER - The name Stephen M0rse is a very common name, even with his middle initial R. included. If you know someone by this name, please don't jump to any conclusions as it could very likely be a mix up. I've already heard from two other Stephens with the same full name and they understandably do not wish to be confused with the subject of this blog post. I have taken measures to limit the circumstances that this post pops right up in Google - but if you accidentally got here that way anyway, please do not be alarmed. Like I said, it's a very common name. Sorry for any confusion.

I am gay and I had been having a discreet sexual affair with a gay couple who lived in one of the wealthier areas of Fort Lauderdale. It wasn’t until the 5th or 6th time that I met up with them that they revealed their appreciation for child pornography. They showed me digital videos of horrible things being done to young children. These images still haunt me to this day.

In early May of 2009, I drove down to the Miami Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigators and reported what I had seen. The FBI took my report and sent two agents to my house to collect every detail I could remember about the situation. Based on my eye witness account, they began an investigation.

The FBI went back and forth with me for about six months and they encouraged me to go back to the men’s home as a “CI” (that stands for confidential informant) and gather hard physical evidence of what I had seen there… They told me that I was going to be their “star witness” in this case and they insinuated that they would pay me reward money for my good Samaritan reporting. I told them that I reported the case for the sake of the kids involved and I didn’t care if it would earn me any money (and that I would rather not get “famous” this way)…

One evening, I secured over 30 digital videos on a DVD data disc for the agents and they came to my house to pick it up the next morning. About two months after that, they (along with a squad from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department) raided the house that belongs to the two men off Bayview Drive.

An agent called to inform me that the house had been raided and that there was enough evidence on hand to prosecute. Her voice was chipper and she sounded like this was good news.

“So are they in jail?” I asked…

“No, not exactly,” she replied. “You see, we didn’t know that they were on vacation at the time and we raided an empty house that was overflowing with evidence against them but nobody was inside.”

“But you’ll arrest them when they get back, right?”

“Well, we’re talking to their lawyers and the lawyers are being very cooperative,” she replied with less conviction in her voice.

I think it occurred to both myself and the agent that I was dealing with at that time that this was not good news she was calling me with… These events were out of order. Since when do we negotiate with the lawyers of criminals before handing down an indictment or an arrest?

After that conversation it would be 6 months before the FBI would contact me again. It was a call from some kind of secretary at the FBI office in Miami to tell me only that I had been “released” from my CI status and my services were no longer needed.

Since that time, I have been trying to piece things together and conduct my own personal investigation into what went wrong and why these men are still free - and I'm not getting much help. The whole process should not need to take years, especially in this case.

Oh, the FBI has sure been back to visit me... They have promised that an indictment is on its way but have refused to say when. When I've asked them how I can get in touch with the attorneys who are supposed to handle the case, the answer does not come. When I ask them to verify my story with journalists, the answer is "we can't". When I ask them if there's a psychologist I can go to because I can't sleep at night, they don't know of any... This has been going on for over TWO YEARS now...

The US Attorney’s Office, who is supposed to prosecute cases like this has not issued an indictment against these men and they will not return any of my numerous phone calls.
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz who claims to care about abused kids has not responded to me either and neither has Senator Bill Nelson or Congressman Alan West.

UPDATE 04-18-11 : Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz' staff has returned my call and assures me that they are taking the issue seriously and looking into it. Nobody from her office removed my facebook post from her page either - it's still there. Evidently facebook was acting up when I posted it and it only appeared as though it had been removed. I'm taking this opportunity to apologize to Mrs. Schultz, her staff and my readers for that error in perception on my part and thank her and her staff for their interest and advocacy in matters like these.

But most of all, US Attorney Wifredo A. Ferrer should be very concerned about all of this because as long as these two men are free to molest children (as they have admitted to me that they’ve done), I expect Florida parents to stand up for their kids and demand his resignation. I have done my part… In fact, I’ve done way more than most people would.

Let this be a lesson to people in Law Enforcement and Government everywhere. When you fail to do your jobs, the people will learn about it - there are photos, videos, audio recordings and documentation of all of these events too. The only way I feel that I can keep myself protected is to make sure that all of this is in the public domain so that there is little incentive to "hush me"... or moreso, to make sure that people never confuse which side of this terrible situation I am on (the side of safe kids and law enforcement that works quickly and efficiently).

I need to get on with my life... I have lost my job, my best friend hasn't called me in months, and even my own mother is hesitant to talk to me about this because she's afraid for my safety. If the US Attorney's office can't make an arrest or issue an indictment, they are putting my safety and reputation at risk after I've done everything within my power to do the right thing.

Did I mention that these guys live less than 1 mile from a school? I sure hope nobody lets their kids hang out the parks and schools in THIS neighborhood.

Now would be a good time to issue that indictment.

I can be reached at FloridaSqueezed@gmail.com

Florida Republican Calls 11-year Old Rape Victim 'Prostitute'

2011-03-16T15:36:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought the Republican women of Florida couldn't be anymore vile and off-base than Anita Bryant was with her "Save Our Children (from the homosexuals)" Campaign... Along comes Kathleen Passidomo (R-FL), a member of the Florida House of Representatives from Naples, Florida.

Passimodo was arguing on the House Floor about how students should wear pants that fit them properly. Evidently, her focus is not on jobs, but on how to dress your children. Her train of thought derailed at some point and she went off on a tangent about a little girl in rural Texas who had been gang-raped by some young men.

Here's what she said:

"There was an article about an 11 year old girl who was gangraped in Texas by 18 young men because she was dressed up like a 21-year-old prostitute. And her parents let her attend school like that. And I think it's incumbent upon us to create some areas where students can be safe in school and show up in proper attire so what happened in Texas doesn't happen to our students."

Ms. Passidomo couldn't be further off the chain with this one. First of all, she has exhibited absolutely NO COMPASSION for the young child who she is referring to. Secondly, she is just making stuff up.

What the New York Times report REALLY said about the child who was raped by at least 16 young men in rural Texas was:

Residents in the neighborhood where the abandoned trailer stands — known as the Quarters — said the victim had been visiting various friends there for months. They said she dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s. She would hang out with teenage boys at a playground, some said.

But even the above quote from the NYT is disturbing in the sense that it does not quote a real person with a name. Therefore, the writer (James C. McKinley Jr.) should be ashamed of his lapse in journalistic integrity. Blaming a rape victim for his or her attire is NEVER appropriate and it's especially unforgiveable when it comes to young children.

We have enough problems scouting out those who rape children and putting them behind bars without Florida Republicans and the New York Times ganging up on the victim all over again.

Lastly, the hypocrisy must be noted... Kathleen Passidomo was elected to the Florida House with money and support from the Republican/Tea Party resurgance of 2010. One of the issues that she campaigned on was "Reducing Government Interference With Our Daily Lives and Business".

One of the ways she reduces this interference is to cut off unemployment benefits for those who are unable to find extra time to do volunteer work to earn the benefits they already paid into. The other way she reduces interference from the government, evidently, is to tell you how to dress your children lest they be dragged into a trailer in the middle of nowhere and gang-raped.

Stay Classy Kathleen!

Here is a photo of Kathleen Passidomo with former Florida Governor Claude Kirk at the "Women & Money Convention" at the University of Central Florida. Passidomo was just finished moderating a discussion called "Florida Women Mean Business!"

Claude Kirk is another horribly insensitive Republican who once joked and smiled at deathrow inmates while on the campaign trail about maybe having to sign some of their death warrants and who looked at a photo of weeping and murdered students at Kent State and called them simply "communist dissidents".

Who is it that looks like a prostitute now, Kathleen?

Farming Racism: Gov. Scott Walker Vs. David Duke (VIDEO)

2011-03-10T21:21:00.001-08:00

A friend recently made me aware that there was video out there of Wisconsin's Notorious Union-Busting Governor arguing with David Duke about his right to be on the Republican ballot in WI...

At first, I thought, "oh no... Walker is going to come out smelling like roses here because people will mistakenly infer that he's not racist himself just because he's 'against' David Duke being on the ballot..."

But then I watched the video...

What unfolds is the perfectly clear state of the Republican mindset in the 90's... "We need the racist white people vote but we have to destroy anyone with the guts to admit that it's what we're gunning for..."

Ironically, it's David Duke's dead-pan honesty about his racism that makes him the perfect nemesis for Walker's limp explanations and near-misses... The result is a TOTAL MESS for the GOP/TEA establishment when live callers are invited to weigh in on the situation:

This Week In Crazy: Christo-Republicans Are Not So Anonymous

2011-02-25T23:26:00.001-08:00

This week I am up to my ears in facebook links that leave me flabbergasted (love that word!) at how stupid, crazy and mean-spirited some Christians and Republicans can be...

Let's give you a quick run-down:

CRAZY: Shirley Phelps-Roper, who will likely be the new Pastor of Westboro Baptist Church (the "God Hates Fags/Soldiers" people) when her father finally kicks the bucket, has got herself into an online spat with the amorphous collection of hackers known as "Anonymous". The details are really quite boring, but the video posted at Joe.My.God can be amusing if you're not already familiar with the downward spiral that both groups are apparently riding together. The whole incident quickly devolved into a situation where it became obvious that both parties are helping each other to achieve fame/notoriety.

From my understanding, "Anonymous" first made themselves known as protesters of clandestine religious groups by wearing Guy Fawkes masks ala "V for Vendetta" and ranting about supposed murders committed by Scientologists without much evidence at hand... If I'm wrong about that, please don't hack me - just give me your side of the story in the comments section... Thanks.
(Also, it would be REALLY cute if you use the "anonymous" function in the comment box, hint, hint.)

Moving right along...

STUPID and CRAZY: Oh my goodness... Where to start with Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin? Of course, you've probably heard about the prank call in which he revealed that he had given some thought to sending covert provocateurs into the MASSIVE pro-union protests in order to incite riots...
Then you probably also heard in the same recorded conversation that he was going to trick the Democrats into showing up for a quorum so he could strip away worker's rights with a simple majority.
But then... the STUPID jerk went in front of a TV camera to verify that the union-busting thugs idea was REALLY his idea first. Boy, you can't sneak anything past this bright guy! Don't even think about taking credit for his evil master plans. He will send his Storm (ooops, I meant "state") Troopers after you!

Suck it up, Democrats... There's no crying in baseball or fascism... it's just the American Way!

The upshot here, is that a little tavern called "The Merchant" is serving up slices of STFU with every "Governor's Special". When Gov. Walker came into their private establishment, his very presence was causing a disturbance amongst their hard-working clientelle... So they did what any small business owners in Rand Paul's Civil-Rights Repealed America would do... They kicked his ass out.

STUPID and CRAZY and MEAN-SPIRITED: A legislator in Georgia has brought forward an anti-miscarriage bill similar to the fiasco in Utah... This stupid, crazy and mean-spirited bill would have women defending themselves in court after a miscarriage in an effort to prove that the miscarriage was not actually a makeshift abortion. The stupid part of it, of course, is that by giving civil rights to fetuses, you create little versions of the children of Salem... They can't speak for themselves, so you're free to place whatever wants and desires may lurk in the back of your own mind up as their "defense" in court... So, say you secretly want to throw your wife in jail so you can bang that hot chick down the street... Pray for a miscarriage and the world is yours, my friend.
The crazy part of it is the fact that some ass-wipe named Bobby Franklin actually brought the legislation forward...
The Mean-Spirited part of it... C'mon, do you really need me to tell you? These women have just lost the opportunity to love their newborn child and now you want to drag them into court and persecute them... Nice, real nice.

Special shout-out to Salon.com and Clarence Thomas who first started the "This Week In Crazy" meme... Thanks for that!

South Florida Plagued By Child Abuse

2011-02-21T14:47:00.001-08:00

Carmen Barahona uses a sheet of paper to shield herself as she enters the court room. Her husband, Jorge Barahona, and one foster child were found covered in chemicals inside a truck alongside I-95 in Palm Beach County. (Photo: C.W. Griffin, Miami Herald)

First Read This:
http://browardsblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/how-to-slay-cucuy.html
Excerpt: "As a confidential informant for the FBI, I penetrated these men’s operation and secured over 30 digital videos of child abuse that was so horrific that I haven’t really slept at night ever since viewing it. From start to finish, I handed the FBI a perfect case with proof beyond all doubt of these men’s guilt."

Then Read This:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-02-19/jorge-barahona-accused-of-horrific-child-abuse-in-florida/
Excerpt: "Behind closed doors, authorities say the twins were systematically abused: tied with duct tape, locked for hours at a time in the bathroom, made to stand in garbage cans, starved, roughed up, and neglected."

Then Support Debbie Wasserman Schultz in this:

And then Join This Group:
http://bhtc.us/news.html
Excerpt: "According to authorities, in April 2009, Cox found a 17-year-old Broward County girl to work for him as a prostitute. Cox would pick up the minor near her home and would take her to a hotel, authorities said. Myers helped Cox by posting advertisements on the Internet, according to prosecutors."

Florida Rises Up Like Egypt

2011-02-13T15:00:00.000-08:00

Floridians: Give Us Democracy Or Give Us Death!

“The Floridian culture is very threatened by Rick Scott’s dictatorial lockdown on the press,” says renegade blogger Jarrett Terrill who barely escaped the death panel imposed by the ruling party last year. “The people want to see what a real democracy looks like. Florida has not had a real election since the early 90’s and they blame the ruling party for this,” says Terrill.

Scott, like Mubarak, maintains a tight control over all communication online. If a worker’s internet access has been denied by Comcast’s clandestine operation called the Internet Owners for Freedom Regime (CIOFR), they cannot get necessary help or information. However, they may still receive Scott’s daily inspirational tweets on the preferred media outlet of the ruling party.

“The native people of Florida are feeling inspired by the Egyptians and Tunisians,” says Rebellion Leader Alan Grayson. “They are intent on upon achieving a real Democracy. It’s going to be a tough battle to the finish, but we’ve seen worse. So far, our plan is to not get sick and if we do, die quickly.”

But the rebel faction has received little help in the region from the United States. Although President Obama said “This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, husbands and wives who are sacrificing for us to keep us safe, and you don’t play games with that,” about the radical regime in Florida, there is still a pervasive sense that those in the beltway see Florida as a Sovereign Nation.

Real journalists were denied access to the ruling party even before the so-called election. “It wasn’t an election, it was a dog and pony show just like always,” says Terrill. The small minority of Floridian people who did confirm that they voted for the dictator said they did so out of fear and desperation. They voted for Scott primarily so that his brutal Tea Party regime would stop harassing them. “I can take care of myself," said Evelyn Logas, a retired medical worker from Mount Dora. "I just want the government out of my life."

Logas, like other Floridians who were pressured into voting for Scott were also afraid that they would be denied medical care. The Dr. Mengele of the ruling Tea Party regime is named Dr. Jack Cassell. Outside of his office, he has signs posted that read “If you voted for Obama, seek medical care elsewhere.”

“I’m glad he’s shutting down transportation and denying medical care,” Liz Staub screams to a mob of protesters in Tampa. A Tea Party insurgent herself, she shakes her fist authoritarian style one more time at the crowd and retorts, “I hope he cuts it down to the bone!”

Staub is obviously under the advisement of Rick Scott’s minister of Propaganda, Sean Hannity. Activists stormed Disney World (which has since become the only refuge from snipers and car bombings) when they found evidence that no women were actually forced to give birth in the middle of the street under other leaders throughout the southern region of the United States and that their only government-approved media source had lied to them.

“The real issue here,” says Terrill, “Is that people finally realized the ruling Tea Party had been nothing but a front for Rick Scott’s regime all along. They were caused to realize this when Governor Scott vetoed their demand for a free democratic election. He did this by removing the people’s mandate to redraw the voting districts more fairly. The Scott regime employs a kind of propaganda about the situation in which they managed to convince their insurgents that Gerrymandering is ordained by God.”

Terrill says he also believes in God, but he is not a Talibangelical like the hostile majority in the Tea Party Regime. “My God would never allow for such deplorable behavior in his name,” says Terrill, who is now in hiding since insurgents took over his refugee camp. “These people are very dangerous because they believe in radical tax fundamentals like the idea that you can take more away from zero. So who can say what their concept of or respect for human life is like.”

“I only pray that the CREW is successful at infiltrating this dangerous regime at their highest levels. If I would have known things would get this bad, I would have voted for Alex Sink instead of the real Democrat I voted for... I was just thinking that at worst he'd be another Charlie Crist.”

Notice: Although this "news story" is obviously a parody, the photograph above is taken from inside the United States by PBS during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina... Some of the quotations above are real and some have been slightly embellished but the links lead you to the very real reasons that you should be concerned about our Democracy in Florida.

Gay Newspaper Rolls with Stone

2011-02-03T13:53:00.000-08:00

No Apologies from Republican for Hijacked Blog

When a strange silence suddenly falls upon a gay pride parade, you can bet that the Sunshine Republicans are nearby; a group of LGBT Republicans who split off from the Log Cabin Republicans over concerns about political tone and conservative values. The Sunshine Republicans were closely associated with (although not formally in sponsorship of) Florida’s first Transgender Republican candidate for the House of Representatives, Donna Milo, who incidentally did not believe in Gay Marriage… but she intended to go up against Florida's Pro-gay Democratic Rockstar Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

Nick Stone is their Vice President. He operates his own website at http://drawnlines.com/ .

Recently he wrote a blog piece called “Do Words Matter to Debbie Wasserman Schultz”. In this piece, he attempted to counter-attack Mrs. Schultz’s opinion that we all need to cool our heads and tone down the political rhetoric because “words matter”. In the news broadcast that Stone refers to in his rant, Congresswoman Schultz (D-FL) tells CNN’s TJ Holmes that we all need to be conscious of what we say in light of the recent assassination attempt on her good friend Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ).

Never once in the referenced news broadcast did Schultz ever say that the man who shot Giffords was a Republican. Nor did she make any other kind of partisan divide in that speech. Nonetheless, Stone wrote his counter-attack by questioning Schultz’s integrity, her honesty, and her motives. From there he connected all of America’s most beloved Democrats to the worst violence in US History.

"I want to clarify that just about everything you've heard from me or that I've written is just my opinion,” said Stone in an interview on Friday, “and should not reflect on The Sunshine Republicans or be seen as an official statement on any matter."

When he wrote the item for his blog, it was geared mostly toward his fans, friends and fellow Republicans. It was meant to be sort of a morale booster for the sort of Republicans who like to turn up the volume on rhetoric and defy what they refer to as our “PC Culture”.

But when Stone wrote the piece, he didn’t intend for the Florida Agenda to swipe it from his blog and publish it in the context of an editorial in their newspaper…

“I could be wrong but I believe that the author would have addressed things somewhat differently,” said Andy Eddy, a Log Cabin Republican, “if he were under the impression this was an op-ed piece for media consumption and not just blogging among friends and cohorts.” Eddy has met Debbie Wasserman Schultz once before, unlike Stone, and remembers that even though he was introduced to her as “one of those Republicans”, she said something reasonable like “it is most important that we, as Americans, are politically involved regardless of our differences.”

Stone says he never gave permission to the Florida Agenda to re-print his blog post at all and that he thinks the media sometimes uses Republicans to label as crazy and weird for a sort of boost in readership. He says journalists will often pick “the weirdest statement” to highlight. “I didn’t pursue the Agenda about it and they didn’t pursue me about it.”
Now, aside from the already scandalous way that The Florida Agenda (a gay newspaper) selected this particular gay-friendly Democratic Congresswoman to attack in their newspaper, there is the matter of all the other Democrats who were dragged through the mud in Stone’s original blog entry.

For instance, Stone stated boldly that President Carter and his wife Rosalynn had been “close friends” with John Wayne Gacy - a serial killer who preyed on teenage boys. He evidenced this accusation by showing a photo of Rosalynn with Gacy which was taken at a large Democratic event in the Chicago area. Gacy was just one of many people who were photographed with the President’s wife that day.

“Whether or not Gacy and the Carters were ‘besties’ is not the point,” said Stone when pressed for clarification on the matter, “the fact that Democrats and violence have a long and sordid history together was my big point.” But for every statement in the entire piece there should be a separate retraction and apology if it were to appear in a real newspaper.

As another example of his propagandizing spin, Stone cites the Discovery Channel Hostage situation in which James Jay Lee, who stone describes as an “enviro-terrorist” [sic] and a “left-wing nutjob”, held hostages at the popular science show headquarters. It’s important that we realize this, according to Stone, because “everyone in the media” had supposedly jumped to the false conclusion that “since he had a gun” he must have been a conservative or Tea Party member.
When pressed to come up with a source of who Stone believes originally blamed James Jay Lee of being a “Tea Party Extremist” in the media, he admitted that it was “just a sort of rumor that got started”.

But Stone has dug his own hole even deeper by choosing this particular event to highlight because environmental terrorists are not what Stone thinks they are (check the definition) and Lee was actually what’s properly called an eco-terrorist. On his own website, Lee ranted about “immigration pollution” and “anchor baby filth”. When asked about this particular section of the piece, Stone said plaintively, “I feel that being an enviro-terrorist [sic] is generally a left-wing ideal and everything else is tangential to me.”

As predictable as his spin can become after a glance or two, the dapper young Republican is not without his surprises… He speaks more favorably of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow than he does of Fox News’s Glenn Beck and he’s not so quick to toss Hillary Clinton into the fray either.

At the end of the day, a lot of Stone’s criticism of Democrats seems reactionary to an either real or perceived hatred that he feels is directed toward him by the majority of left-leaning gays and lesbians who can tolerate just about everything EXCEPT Republicans in their midst. He perceives danger and hostility at what most of us consider as being rather benign events like Gay Pride Parades. For this reason, much of what he says becomes self-fulfilling prophesy for him. Because he thinks negatively about Democrats, some Democrats behave negatively toward him. He really doesn’t seem to think of his writing or opinions as hostile or unwelcoming either - but if you use a term like “teabagger” in his presence, you’ll likely not be forgiven.

It must be this sensitive side of himself that is bothered by Congresswoman Schultz. Some Republicans have referred to as "the DNC's Head Cheerleader" or "The Mean Girls version of Nancy Pelosi" because of her biting wit and clever use of props on the house floor... But even her Republican counterparts in the House are generally humored by her antics. She doesn't use "violent rhetoric" or "tell bald-faced lies" as Stone states in his blog... She's just very partisan... because that's her job.

In the end, Nick Stone is also just a puppy. That is to say he is a young guy with a pleasant demeanor whose bark is worse than his bite. “Debbie Wasserman Schultz is right,” he says, “in the sense that if her party does their part as well, we can make things better […] but it has to be fair and even handed. No, I won’t apologize for what I’ve written.”

An apology for threatening the congresswoman with damnation to “the darkest pits of hell” if she dared to use any rhetoric herself, was in the end, too much for him to manage. But in his defense, he went on to list even more supposed connections between Democrats and violence. I’ll leave it to his fellow Republicans to correct him on those matters if they would be so kind.

Happy Kwanzaa & New Year

2010-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody - Let's give a big applause for 2011, who couldn't get here soon enough!

As we move into the New Year, we will be letting go of the past and welcoming the new. One thing that I hope we do not easily let go is the way we all came together to show love and support for teenagers who feel our nation's pain at their very core.

In the spirit of Christmas:

"I have shown you all things, how in your work you ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of Jesus, when he said it is more blessed to give than to receive. The most sorrowful words that he spoke were that we should see his face no more." Acts 20:35-38

In the spirit of Kwanzaa:

Ubuntu, or Umoja (Unity - the first principle of Kwanzaa) is not, 'I think therefore I am.' It says rather: 'I am a human because I belong. I participate. I share'... In essence, I am because you are." - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

It is in this spirit of unity that I hope we can reflect on what it means for Lesbians, Gay Men and the Transgendered to be left out of the dialogue on Human Rights at the Global level by the United Nations. We have only one weapon in the fight to protect children from another holocaust beginning in Uganda or Lithuania because of misguided prophets of doom like Scott Lively. Our weapon is 'obuntu bulamu'.

On SFGN - I listed "11 People Who Rocked Me Into Next Year" as a tip-of-the-hat to those whom have been fighting the good the fight lately. Please join me in appreciating your community and the people who work to tear the walls down between us.

11 People Who Rocked Me Into The New Year - #03: Asher Brown – There were as many as 12 gay kids who committed suicide in rapid succession and it was to be expected that the mainstream media would collect the easy ratings and move on as soon as any other news story emerged. This is of course part of the larger problem that these troubled kids face. Asher Brown, age 13, was one of the most perplexing of the cases and he was the boy that touched my heart and finally brought me to tears. His adorable smiling photo does not easily connect with the story of poverty, out-casting, bullying and reckless disregard that stole this child from his parents and the nation at large. I don’t easily make heroes out of victims, but in this case, I gladly accept this kid as a hero because he inspired me to make the rights of kids a priority in my life.

Tomorrow - World AIDS Day

2010-11-30T15:39:00.001-08:00

Click On Graphic To Make Larger - See Next Post To Read About Florida's Cuts To ADAP

Inside Florida’s Republican Death Panel

2010-11-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

How Florida Conspired To Set Up an ADAP “Drop Dead List”

Florida’s mostly Republican leadership has conspired with private conservative advocacy groups like AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) to defund and demoralize people receiving their HIV medications through a Federal/State program called ADAP (AIDS Drug Assistance Program).

People who receive ADAP medication are generally low-income members of the workforce. The ADAP programs were originally set up as a partnership between the Federal Government and States to address the problem of HIV drugs being too expensive for the average person to afford out-of-pocket coupled with the “pre-existing conditions” clause in most health insurance programs which would deny coverage for HIV drugs.

Over the past decade, it has been customary for the Federal Government to increase ADAP funds by about 13.33% per year. Both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have done that (although Bush only increased ADAP funding to appropriate “catch-up” levels when a Democratic Congress took over during the latter part of his Presidency as he had previously cut domestic HIV spending in favor of global HIV spending). But according to Michael Weinstein, President of AHF “Obama has done very little to support domestic HIV/AIDS funding” and “he’s only good at making nice speeches on the subject” which don’t solve the funding problem.*

This is the message being transmitted to the mostly gay and African American communities affected by HIV/AIDS in South Florida. Both Weinstein and Joey Wynn of The Broward House (another state-funded HIV care and advocacy organization) snarl Obama’s name through pursed lips as if they are speaking about a fascist dictator and their message isn’t any kinder when it comes to parting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.**

In fact, Michael Weinstein and his highly paid employees at AHF routinely protest the Federal Government with picket lines and chants like “Hey Feds, Give Us Back Our Meds”. One such stunt had them all carrying faux coffins and crosses and dressed like Grim Reapers while walking in circles around Nancy Pelosi’s California office.

But what AHF and the Broward House absolutely will NOT tell you, is that Obama and the Congress have done business as usual on ADAP and that it’s actually Florida’s Republican legislature that has made the cuts to the program which resulted in the infamous “ADAP waiting list” and ultimately, the far worse “ADAP drop list” which FL Health Department officials like Tom Liberti swore just a couple of months ago would not occur…

When AHF protests outside of Pelosi’s office (invariably at the peak of her re-election campaign) with signs and displays indicating that people are dying because of her actions, a subtle lie is being communicated to passers-by. California has no “waiting list” for ADAP medications and is better-funded than South Carolina where at least three people have already died waiting for medication. California is better funded because their Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger eventually stepped up to the plate and delivered the $27 million in funds. So it’s intellectually dishonest for Weinstein and his merry crew of tea-party style “deathers” to imply that this is a Nancy Pelosi problem. South Carolina’s Republican government completely de-funded its own contributions to ADAP voluntarily. That is what killed people – not Pelosi.

Weinstein does not seem to care that his message is based on a false notion of the Obama Administration supposedly “cutting funds”*** for HIV. He is working with the State of Florida on a number of proposals which would elevate his organization’s stature and authority in the United States. One such proposal would allow him to police the pornography industry for safer sex practices and allow him access to confidential medical information which he is currently not given access to.

Another proposal is one by where AHF works with Pharmaceutical companies to negotiate prices and “freebies” called PAP’s (Patient Assistance Programs) so that the “free market” can step in and take care of what the big, bad Federal Government supposedly would not.

Weinstein’s Republican favoritism shows itself quite readily when you look at his supposed solution to the ADAP crisis. His protests are meant to draw negative attention to Democrats while drawing positive attention to a bill drawn up by far-right Republican Senators called the “Access ADAP Act” (S. 3401).

The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Richard Burr R-NC (whose last campaign was funded by BlueCross/BlueSheild), aims to take a huge chunk of Obama’s stimulus package and divert it toward ADAP. In essence, the withdrawn funds would damage the effectiveness of the stimulus (sending them into a category which does not produce a return on the investment) but it would also alleviate Republican-controlled states from their fair share of a national burden.

Incidentally, 3 of the co-signing Republican Senators on the bill (which has already died in committee and was never expected to be plausible) have anti-gay legislation languishing in various committees too. In fact, all 5 of the Senators who co-sponsored the legislation that AHF’s Michael Weinstein is urging his followers to support were also co-sponsors on a Senate Bill last year which would have outlawed individual states from making their own marriage laws – in direct conflict with the United States Constitution.

The sunshine state is not exactly forthcoming with information on exactly which aspects of healthcare funding were cut and by whom specifically. Florida has a set of what are called “Sunshine Laws” (transparency laws that make legislation available and accessible online) which sound just brilliant but are not very effective at all in this situation. Browsing the budget reports from over the last 10 years, it shows that decisions like this are made in sub-committees. Sub-committees in Florida are allowed to, for whatever reason; block their procedures and committee notes on “certain items” from view by the public. This is of course what has happened with the specific itemized budget cuts that resulted in the ADAP Drop List.

Mysteriously, not a single high-ranking Florida official has addressed this issue to the public or responded to media inquiries on the subject. Governor Charlie Crist (R) and his Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink (D) have talked about every issue under the sun during their expensive political campaigns for higher office this year. Hundreds of millions of dollars were spent by Crist, Sink, Rick Scott and Allen West in the last election cycle and even a small fraction of that would solve the problem that HIV positive persons face in being dropped from the program. Even according to AHF, the amount that is needed is only 17 million dollars.

Even some Democratic State legislators who claim to care deeply about the crisis have been unwilling to go to the Republican legislature in Florida and either ask or demand an increase in state level funding for HIV care. Frederica Wilson, a State Senator at the time, scoffed at the idea and pretended that it was simply impossible. This was after she told her audience that she and Health Department official Tom Liberti had gone to Washington “way back during the AIDS crisis” and tearfully pleaded with congress for funds and concern. Evidently to Florida Democrats, mountains are moveable but not molehills.

* These are actually sentiments from Michael Weinstein who I interviewed and audio-recorded with his permission. The statements about Obama’s supposed uselessness were made two days after Obama released the comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy which is meant to coincide with healthcare reform. The strategy is the culmination of years of research and studies conducted nationwide and abroad and was hailed by many activists as a trailblazing and enlightened approach to the care of persons with HIV/AIDS and prevention for those whom are not yet affected.

** According to Joey Wynn from The Broward House at an AHF-sponsored town hall meeting, he told a bystander that Obama had actually “not increased” funding for ADAP, that he had “kept it the same”. That is untrue as well. The concept that Wynn was twisting around was the fact that Obama had not increased funding by any more than he did the previous year or the last year that Bush was in office. But Obama did, in fact, increase funding for ADAP to the tune of +13.33% in his last 3 annual budgets which are available to browse at the Kaiser Institute website.

*** In my work as a journalist covering the ADAP crisis in Florida, I’ve encountered many concerned people with HIV who have been misled by AHF and Joey Wynn at the Broward House to believe that Barack Obama has personally slashed the budget on their ADAP funds… This is NOT true. However, these organizations buy plenty of advertising in every newspaper, magazine, charity event and venue in South Florida. This is not done because they need to advertise; it’s done in order to harness the media and overpower any voice of dissent that dares to disagree with their rhetoric.

My Personal Endorsements for South Florida's Election in 2010

2010-10-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Jarrett Terrill is the News Editor at SFGN (South Florida Gay News) and a registered Democrat.

I limited myself to making endorsements in the races that I am very familiar with. If a campaign that you are a part of has not received an endorsement from me, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything other than that I don’t want to mislead people by making endorsements without all the facts. Now, with that being said…

For the US Senate, I endorse Kendrick Meek because of his solid Democratic platform, his refusal to put special interests ahead of his fellow Floridians and his unwavering support for LGBT Equality.

For US Representative District 23, I endorse Alcee Hastings. Hastings has also routinely gone to bat for equal rights and he has never let me down. He dares to bring much needed legislation to the floor where others might fear how it will affect their campaigns.

For US Representative District 20, I endorse Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who has without a doubt been a trailblazer for civil rights and equality in the House of Representatives. Schultz is a family woman who values safety for children and economic security for their families. Her constant advocacy and media appearances played a huge role in garnering support for passing the Mathew Shepard Act and keeping the repeal of unconstitutional laws like the Defense of Marriage Act on the table.

For Governor of Florida I endorse Michael E. Arth, an Independent candidate. While I break with my party on this endorsement, and while Alex Sink is a great candidate with many of my closest friends supporting her, I just really like Michael E. Arth that much better. He has brilliant ideas and isn’t afraid to be truly liberal in a time when other politicians are becoming rather fascist in their conservatism. Arth has written books, made documentary films, traveled Florida, and run a clean, honest campaign. Unlike his opponents, he supports FULL equality for all people – regardless of gender or orientation. He is an artist and an entrepreneur and he is also the only candidate who has addressed our state’s homeless population. While it’s very important to beat Rick Scott (possibly the worst candidate for governor we’ve ever had) and I believe that Alex Sink CAN beat him – I must support Michael E. Arth because he more strongly represents my personal beliefs and ideals.

For Attorney General, I endorse Dan Gelber.

For Broward County Commission District 4, I endorse Ken Keechl. He has a reputation for keeping a balanced budget, he is concerned about environmental affairs and emergency preparation and he most certainly will do everything he can to make sure that Broward County stays inclusive for ALL types of families and individuals. With this endorsement, it’s all about Keechl’s experience on the commission and the various boards, committees and associations he has worked with. His opponents just can’t duplicate his working knowledge of Broward County.

Most importantly in this election, I endorse Amendments 5 & 6. Both of these Amendments arose from grassroots campaigning for better re-districting in Florida and discussions nationwide about the fact that voters should be picking their candidates and not the other way around. If you don’t know what Gerrymandering is, let it just suffice to say that Florida is full of it… When career politicians get to re-draw the districts in their favor, it breeds corruption. Please, if you go to the polls for only one reason, make it to vote YES on 5 & 6.

Photo above: Congressman Kendrick Meek with Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz /Photo by Jarrett Terrill

"Let Us Not Be Nuts."

2010-09-25T20:45:00.001-07:00

"Here is a grand old party frozen, suspended, mesmerized, in thrall to a gaggle of showboats and radio entertainers and small mobs of fist-shakers standing staunch for unreality, and no Republican elected official dares say, 'Let us not be nuts'."
- Garrison Keillor

John Boehner (R-OH) - I Don't think women should be paid as much as men for doing the exact same work. That's why I voted against The Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R. 1338). I also voted against protecting credit card holders from sudden interest rate increases surprise changes in terms of agreement (H.R. 5244).

Michele Bachmann (R-MN) - I don't want small businesses to get a tax-cut as a hiring incentive to create jobs. That's why I voted against the Small Business Lending Act (H.R. 5297). However, I did make firearms exempt from repossession during bankrupcy, but that was only for businesses - not individuals like you (H.R. 5827)

John McCain (R-AZ) - I think companies like Halliburton/KBR should be allowed to lock rape victims in shipping containers for days - even weeks - to keep them from testifying in court against the company. This happened to a young woman named Jamie Leigh Jones and she's my daughter's age. That's why I voted against Amendment 2588 to the Defense Appropriations Bill H.R. 3326. I also voted against repealing 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', a pay increase for soldiers and a program to treat PTSD.

Carly Fiorina (R-CA) - I want to give all of America's jobs to China and India. I use the term "globalization" rather than "outsourcing" because we've added yet another way to take away American jobs. You see, by successfully promoting H1-B Visa programs, we can actually ship immigrants into the USA and give them your job for much cheaper than what you'd work for. You can call that "insourcing". When I was queen bee at Hewlett Packard, I laid off 18,000 American workers and made decisions which led to 30,000 more being laid off when I was gone.

Charlie Crist (R-FL) - I like to tell everyone that I'm concerned about the environment, but under my governorship, Pensacola FL became the American city with the absolute most polluted water. That was before the oil spill in our gulf. When the BP disaster happened, I thought it was more important to collect $25 Million from the oil company for tourism advertisements telling everyone to come to our beaches before I even knew whether or not that was safe. I have been suspected of being in the closet as a homosexual for quite some time now, but I think dashed those myths by signing a few anti-gay laws including one that forbids gays from even getting civil union in Florida, let alone marriage. And just to rub it in, I got married the week after I passed the no gay marriage bill.

Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) - I really hate homosexuals. In fact, my Senate staff likes to send death threats to gay bloggers in their spare time. I tried to pass a law that would effectively open up all of our Federal land including National Parks to hunting. This would probably result in children being shot, but I don't care. Even John McCain says I'm "reprehensible" because I attacked the patriotism of my veteran opponent to get my first seat in the Senate. I want to privatize social security, eliminate the IRS and get warrantless wiretaps on US citizens. I want to make it a felony just to drive a woman to an abortion clinic.

How Liberal Bloggers Are Helping Republicans

2010-08-02T15:47:00.000-07:00

You think you are exposing a scandal, but what you're actually doing is promoting someone you hate to a better rank on Google.

On June 9th, while supposedly waiting to be interviewed by KXTV in Sacramento, Carly Fiorina (a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate) said something VERY scandalous... She called Barbara Boxer's hairstyle "so yesterday". What she (supposedly) didn't know is that her mic was on and the video of her catty comment would be "leaked".

Sounds like the perfect chance to give her a gut-punch on your blog, right? I mean, you could really spin that. You could call her a "gossip" or a "catty elitist who cares more about fashion than substance"... This could be the end of her, right?

Wrong.

This is what strategists call a "manufactured scandal". It's something that's "leaked" by the campaign itself to trigger a surge in Google searches but doesn't really do all that much to damage the reputation of the candidate in question.

Fiorina also made sure to mention that her buddy Meg Whitman decided to be interviewed by Sean Hannity. So when Politics Daily and the Huffington Post did their part and made mountains out of molehills with this "caught on open mic" scenario, this is what the results looked like:

Google Searching "Carly Fiorina Hair":
You get a story about Fiorina's Courageous Battle With Cancer.

Google Searching "Carly Fiorina Hair Barbara Boxer":
You get her wikipedia page, which presents a sanitized version of her corporate legacy summed up with another quote about Boxer: "After losing all my hair, Barbara Boxer just isn't so scary anymore." (Another reference to her cancer survivor status.)

Google Searching "Carly Fiorina Whitman Hannity Comment":
You get Carly Fiorina and Sean Hannity in a mutual admiration love-fest with eachother where Fiorina expresses profusely that she is friends with Whitman and that she was afraid Hannity would be "too tough" on her.

You see what this all adds up to?

There were THOUSANDS of liberal bloggers doing their part to advertise Carly Fiorina's spin campaign for a week after the manufactured scandal was "leaked".

The biggest mistake a Liberal Blogger can make is to assume that Republicans are all ignorant people with misspelled signs at a Tea Party or an NRA rally. In reality, if this were a game of chess, they'd already have you in check-mate.

Obama's poll numbers are in the tank, healthcare reform is a win-win situation for the Insurance Lobby (mandatory Insurance with no public option), the war rages on, Gitmo is still open for business, faith-based initiatives are funneling millions of your tax dollars into the right-wing think tanks, billionaires have that antsy-dancey feeling in their pants again and millions of dollars are being dumped into any campaign against a democratic incumbent or gay candidate.

Republicans have convinced America that there is an all-powerful "liberal media" out there, hellbent on denying the "truth" and that somehow, the most watched News channel in the world (FOX NEWS) is just not a part of this grand conspiracy. Meanwhile, "our side", MSNBC, has chosen to legitimize the Tea Party as a "grassroots movement that became a real political party" and they've completely forgotten that it is actually just tightly controlled Republican atro-turf.

You must never forget that Republicans are masters in the art of deception and propaganda - and especially today's Republicans who hail from the corporate dotcom revolution and have learned how to use facebook and adwords to their advantage.

Here are some of my suggestions for liberal bloggers to avoid unwittingly helping Republicans to spin the media in their favor:

1) Never blog about Sarah Palin. She is the media center of Right-Wing talking points and any exposure you give her is always a "freebie" to the GOP. Everything that relates to Palin is a carefully crafted device to get you to do exactly what you're thinking of doing. Remember that.

2) Find some politicians you actually like and blog about their success. Far too many liberals are going down the path of defensiveness and it gives the Republicans quite an edge. The President himself just can't seem to score a few kind words from the mainstream media even though conservatives maintain that we are talking about a "liberal media".

3) Decide what your values are and start from there. Conservatives are able to follow eachother blindly without ever worrying about back-stabbing or sabotage because they all share the exact same values. A Liberal without a clear understanding of his own values will find himself struggling to explain exactly what he is so concerned about and it does more harm to his position than good.

4) Attack someone in your own party on occasion. Decide who the bad apple is in your bunch and expose them as a "wolf in sheep's clothing". This is a great way to draw in some readers from that highly coveted "independent/moderate" group.

5) Do NOT rely on the mainstream media for all your news. Networks like CNN, FOX, MSNBC and CBS are good for an occassional glance, but you should be using the internet to its fullest capability and really digging for information that YOU have decided that YOU care about. Any first-hand information or interviews you can get are far better than recycling whatever the latest talking point is.

Alex Sink Cites "Religious" Reasons For Not Supporting Gay Marriage

2010-06-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

On Thursday June 10, speaking to a group in St. Petersburg, Gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink contradicted her pro-equality image by saying “I don’t support gay marriage. I think that is entirely a religious decision that individuals can make. I do support civil unions.”

“That’s not good news for gay marriage proponents hopeful that a new governor would make changes,” writes Christina Silva who broke the story for the St. Petersburg Times.

This is in contrast to what the LGBT community might expect from the winner of Equality Florida’s esteemed “Voice of Equality” award for the year 2009. At the reception gala she garnered standing applause from about 200 of South Florida’s gay community leaders. She spent approximately 10 minutes giving a stump speech about how “every American deserves to be treated equally” but mostly she gave the audience her resume from her days at Bank of America. She did not, however, talk about Florida’s controversial ‘Amendment 2’ which bans LGBT persons from participating in both marriage and civil unions.

At the beginning of that November 2009 gala, director Nadine Smith introduced Alex Sink by saying “when you look around at these galas… you see the backbone of the gay community.” Alex Sink took to the podium soon after where she made a total of eight pleas for campaign money while saying nothing about specific actions she would take as Governor in favor of the LGBT community

“I know that together, we can make equality for ALL Floridians a reality,” Sink said to the guests at the 2009 Equality Florida event, “that is - with the right officers in place."

“Tonight I stand before you as a candidate for Governor – a position for which no woman has ever been elected. And in 2010, with all your support and encouragement, and maybe some of your money, I intend to put Florida under new management.”

Update: Director of Equality Florida, Nadine Smith issued the following statement: "I disagree with all candidates of both parties who do not respect full legal equality for LGBT families including equal protection under our country'smarriage laws. "

Darrin McGillis, also a candidate in the Democratic Primary has expressed that his position is for FULL Marriage Equality. His campaign website is McGillis4Governor.com

Arizona’s Immigration Policy Would Not Have Stopped the 9/11 Hijackers

2010-05-02T09:12:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of blabber from the right-wing lately about how THEIR style of immigration reform is needed “in a post-9/11 world”.

That phrase, “post-9/11 world” is meant to imply that we now live in a more dangerous society than we did before. Thereby, right-wing pundits assert that new, tougher and more radical immigration reforms are needed – including Governor Jan Brewer’s controversial reform in Arizona.

The debate over Arizona’s new immigration policy can be framed in one of two ways. The right wing of American politics contends that we are losing jobs, security and quality of life due to excessive immigration (mainly from Mexico but not limited to that border).

The left wing argues that we lose more jobs from corporate outsourcing and that our immigration policies pose no particular threat to our security or quality of life – that those are false perceptions based in racism and classism. Furthermore, those on the left believe that better national security will arise from a uniform Federal immigration reform, as opposed to each state choosing their own immigration policies as Arizona has done.

So let’s take a quick look at this phrase that has become popularized within the right-wing media and see if it holds water… Sorry to spoil the surprise, but the answer is NO.

According to the 9/11 Commission Report and numerous Congressional Inquiries, all 19 hijackers who are commonly known to have been the perpetrators of 9/11 were in possession of the required documentation in Arizona’s new code.

None of the 9/11 Hijackers were known to have crossed the Mexican/United States border by foot and few of them even spoke broken English. They had even taken classes with large numbers of other foreigners on how to speak with American dialects, appear more American and blend into American society.

All the hijackers had visas, passports, and photo ID’s. All the 9/11 hijackers’ information was verified by the Concordance system prior to boarding their flights.
The Arizona Immigration Bill (SB1070) does not include any provisions which would require additional scrutiny in obtaining work visas or immigration status. It does not require any additional checks or procedures for national or state security in the process of obtaining citizenship or an identification document.

The Arizona Bill is primarily a set of laws which restrict LEGAL citizens from having any contact or collusion with illegal or undocumented workers. For instance, an Arizona citizen can be charged with a misdemeanor for knowingly or unknowingly giving an undocumented worker a ride in their car. The language of the bill encourages regular citizens to be “watchdogs” or “vigilantes” in the sense that it stiffens penalties for citizens who are found to have “reckless disregard” for another person’s immigration status.

The bill is very poorly written and unconstitutional at best and does absolutely NOTHING to prevent terrorism or to strengthen national security. SB1070 serves only to encourage distrust and skepticism amongst Arizonans based on race, class, employment and income.

Photo: Jan Brewer (R-AZ) and Sheriff Joe Arpaio (R-AZ) celebrating Pakistani Day 2006 with Arif Kazmi. Joe Arpaio is one of the most controversial characters in law enforcement. He has created prison camps in Arizona which are softly referred to as “tent cities” in which prisoners suffer in 120 degree heat and has been scolded by human rights advocates for digitally recording the daily activities of prisoners and putting these images on the internet for all to see – without knowledge or consent from the prisoners.

The Right Wing Has Now Self-Imploded...

2010-04-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Has the "liberal media" been unkind to the right wing lately? Perhaps... Or maybe we are just witnessing the end of an era.

First up, the Hutaree Militia has skyrocketed on search engines and now we have a group of half-assed unibombers to hold up in infamy.

Just a few weeks before that, the story broke that the Republican National Committee had plans to use "fear", "self-centeredness" and "tchotchkes" to solicit donations from party faithfuls. A painfully embarrassing slideshow demonstration which fully illustrated their lack of respect for their own GOP donors was left in a hotel room where some underpaid Democrat was sure to find it... Ooops!

Around the same time, lifelong Republican gone Democrat, Eric Massa was explaining to a sympathetic Rush Limbaugh that he had been ousted from his NEW party, not for tickling male interns, but for being a turncoat...

Then this week, after healthcare reform became a done deal, we had bailout supporters Sarah Palin and John McCain claiming ownership of the Tea Party Patriots. This is ironic considering that the Tea Party Patriots were "forced down our throats" by Fox News 24/7 as a "grassroots uprising" that was supposedly not just more Republican astroturf... In the same fell swoop, the co-mavericks decided to co-opt the phrase "hell no" to be their new party slogan.

Following that, umpteen reports came in that Teabaggers had been acting out in outrage over their new healthcare benefits by throwing bricks through windows, calling congressmen "fa**ots" and "ni**ers" and putting crosshairs on the offices of elected officials who voted to give them extended healthcare.

Then, just yesterday, the father of a US Soldier finally stood up to the Westboro Baptist Church and it looks like the "God Hates Fags" church will finally get their day in court... The Supreme Court. But wait, it gets better... Bill O'Reilly of Fox News declared that he would give $16,000 to the hate group... just to help out.

Speaking of court appearances, just today the anti-abortion activist who shot a doctor in church was sentenced to life in prison.

John McCain, now on the campaign trail again, has been clumsily trying to avoid answering any questions as to why he voted for Corporate Rape.

Speaking of rape, apparently The Vatican has sexually abused everyone in the world at some point while the Pope did his best to hide the dirty deeds...

Moving right along, McCain's "naughty librarian" sidekick, Sarah Palin has decided that she would pay for her new reality show on the discovery channel using old kickbacks from Alaskan state money that she installed before she quit her job as Governor there.

And finally, RNC Chair Michael Steele has joined the ranks of hypocritical Republicans with naughty sexy things going on, using tax payer money in an effort to "seduce donations".

Have you ever seen those videos of animals still running around after their heads have been chopped off, simply because they don't understand that they're already dead?

The Genesis of the "Tea Party Patriots"

2010-03-19T08:41:00.001-07:00

The Heritage Foundation and FreedomWorks are the two main "think tanks" associated with protesting healthcare reform. The differences between them are as follows:

Heritage Foundation is much larger and ingrained in US Government and Media than FreedomWorks. They specialize in media manipulation and dissemination of propaganda but they also help to organize protests and faux townhall-style activism.

FreedomWorks has more control over the actual protesters and activists than Heritage Foundation does because they specialize in rallies, robo-calls and ground-level training.

Read more on the Heritage Foundation here and here and especially here.

Another anti-healthcare reform advocacy group that works closely with the Heritage Foundation and in much the same manner is FreedomWorks which you can read about here and here.

Lady GaGa will Not Save You from the Religious Right

2010-03-02T22:29:00.000-08:00

In October of 2009, Stephanie Germanotta (better known by her stage name - Lady GaGa) stood at a podium in front of our nation’s capitol and vowed that she would "refuse to accept any homophobic or misogynistic actions in the music industry". For this largely vague and unenforceable promise, she recieved standing ovation and cheering from more than 200,000 people at a rally that was supposed to be focused on repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. To make matters worse, she broke that little promise a few months later by standing idly by as Adam Lambert was castigated and censored for his performance on the American Music Awards. She went on to do business as usual with Dick Clark Productions and ABC as they cancelled Adam's appearances and edited a "gay kiss" out of his performance, all the while keeping his simulated oral sex and other raunchy bits intact.

This solemn oath on her part was given at the National Equality March. There were, as I figure it (from my perch to the left of the capitol steps), 3 types of people who came together for that event. The first type of people were a small collection of rag-tag activists (such as myself) who were frustrated that gay rights were being put on the back burner once again, despite our efforts to get Obama into office and our constant campaigning for socially liberal candidates and causes. The next, slightly larger, group of people who were in attendance were the garden variety "MoveOn" Democrats who are motivated by their support of astroturf human rights campaigns and other sorts of organizational shuffleboarding. But the largest group of people who attended the National Equality March was Lady GaGa's "little monsters" as she likes to call them.

Who are these "little monsters" and what do they mean to a political movement?

Statistically speaking, they are gay boys between the ages of 16 and 25 who have a lot of expendable income in the form of allowance money from their parents. Their hobbies include Lady GaGa, Lady GaGa and Lady GaGa. They range from slightly materialistic to downright vapid and their political prowess is best expressed in their capacity to choose Fox's next American Idol via their iPhones.

Do you think I'm being harsh? Talk to them.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't hate this diva or her fans. But at the end of the day, she's a distraction from what's really important. Therefore, I would suggest that gay men leave her to be a distraction for the right-wingers as opposed to themselves. Take that $50 you would spend on her show and instead, spend it on condoms and a nice wallet to hold your new voters registration card. Instead of downloading her latest MP3, download a podcast of NPR's Teri Gross interviewing Jeff Sharlet about the Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power. Educate yourself. Motivate yourself... and as Madonna once said, "Express yourself".

As a product of Reagan/Clinton era politics, I saw Madonna Rock The Vote but then subsequently, I saw her become a parody of herself. This always happens to pop stars who venture into politics and GaGa will be no exception. This we know because she has already done everything she can to mimic Madonna's shtick.

There is an important distinction to be made also between Madonna and GaGa... Madonna's loyal and dedicated gay following was largely an accidental byproduct of what she aimed for. It was Madonna's honesty and fierce advocacy of her personal beliefs that inspired gay men to draw to her like moths to the flame. But with GaGa, it's manufactured. There are marketing techniques in place to re-create the Madonna effect but she has not walked through the fire or done anything that landed her in jail or caused international controversy.

GaGa has got Madonna's bag down to a science but we already have a Madonna (and a Sean Penn) and these celebrities, as much as they care, have yet to pass any legislation in our favor. We just have too many cheerleaders and not enough linebackers in the gay community.

If we are going to achieve long-lasting and meaningful equality in American society, we're going to need more than a good poker face. We need to know, for starters, the three branches of American government and the differences between them. We need to know how to stage a successful protest and how to determine what we should get all up in arms about and what we shouldn't. Furthermore, we need to know who our enemies are before we go to battle. A serious overhaul in our psychology is in order. For instance, in Florida, why do we stand around clapping for silly little half-measures like anti-bullying legislation when we are the only state in the USA that outlaws gay adoptions and civil unions?

Our Gay Agenda as per YouTube:
The Proposition 8 trial - 1,986 views
Lady GaGa's Bad Romance Video - 134,209,139 views
(Is she really Sixty Eight Thousand Times more important than our civil rights?)

I'm aware that these gay kids get their feelings hurt so easily when you attack their idols, but that's exactly the point. Your feelings should be hurt by what the religious right is doing to our country and to you personally. Lady GaGa can defend herself... but she doesn't even know who you are. She'll never really have your back because she's too busy doing commercials for Wal-Mart and re-making "Truth or Dare".

Now, before you start flaming me in the comments section, I want you to consider this question:

Who would you rather idolize? Someone who wears Halloween costumes and sings about not being able to find her keys when she's drunk? Or a gay black socialist who organized 500,000 people in one of the most important civil rights movements in American history and stayed devoted to his life partner until the day he died?

No Meaning Behind 'NoH8' Appearance

2010-02-23T16:57:00.000-08:00

No Meaning Behind NoH8 Appearance
Republicans Use McCain Family As Distraction
This Viewpoint Column was published on February 11,2010 in The Florida Agenda Newspaper

When Cindy McCain, the wife of Senator John McCain, recently participated in the highly publicized photo shoot for the “NoH8” campaign against California's Proposition 8, I was so proud of her. I emblazoned my Facebook page with Mrs. McCain's glamourous photo and hailed her as the "true Maverick" in their family, for supporting the leglization of gay marriage.

Then, just a week later, her husband reversed his position on the controversial Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy. He was previously for repealing the antiquated anti-gay military policy, but now he's suddenly and voraciously supportive of keeping it in place.

Their daughter, Meghan McCain (who also supports gay marriage and repealing DADT) recently appeared as a guest on “The View.” I was hopeful that the mystery of John McCain's flip-floppy opinions would finally be put to rest. Quite the opposite—now I fear that little Meghan might have put herself in the precarious position of having to defend the politically indefensible: her father.

Cindy McCain had been an unfortunate target of mine when I was campaigning for Barack Obama in '08. The Obama campaign officials urged those of us at ground level to "avoid attacks on family members" and to "run a clean campaign." We obviously didn't listen. It was just too easy to point out the hypocrisy of McCain/Palin "family values" when it came to subjects like pill-popping (Cindy was addicted to prescription painkillers) and teen pregnancy (Sarah’s teenage daughter had a baby). But when Cindy McCain boldly posed for the “NOH8” campaign and announced her support of overturning Proposition 8, I hoped for an opportunity to give the gal a pat on the back and say "job well done... I really like you, Cindy!" But the fact of the matter is Cindy McCain, and her camera-friendly daughter Meghan, are just a distraction from what's really happening on Capitol Hill.

John McCain is the one who gets to vote on our rights, regardless of petty things like his family's opinion (and for that matter, the opinion of 74% of the military). The McCain women are being trotted out by the Republican party to present a more moderate image, separate from the Tea Party movement. Repubicans know Sarah Palin and her angry extremist views are bad for the party; so in an attempt to separate from Palin, Republican officials created various media campaigns around Meghan and Cindy McCain to make the Republicans appear more mainstream.

These “mainstream McCain campaigns” paint a false picture of the Republicans’ true motives. In reality, gay marriage in California is being handled by the Supreme Court, and the McCains have very little influence on that, if any at all. So Cindy and Meghan’s support of the issue is merely a token gesture. The real issue involving the McCain family is only DADT, and only one member of their family has a stake in that: John. And on that issue, John is sticking to the traditional Republican party policy of discriminating against the gays. So much for progress.

Enter young Meghan McCain, on the ever-popular women's perspective show “The View.” Does she have a perspective on her mother's recent pro-gay advocacy?

Meghan McCain: "I almost started crying during the photo shoot,
I've never been more proud of my mom. She's um... very... she doesn't like to rock the boat and I'm very proud of her for taking a stand."

Ok, very good. But John McCain is not a Supreme Court judge in California, so let’s move on. Does she have an opinion on her father's support of keeping DADT in place?

Meghan McCain: "My personal take on it is that my father
thought it was Admiral Mullen's personal account [that gays should be allowed to join] and my father wants more of a military research kind of thing to present to the Senate, and obviously I disagree with my father but it's a complicated issue [...] but let's look at the current President who made a lot of promises to the gay community in the last election that he hasn't necessarily fulfilled... so let's not just look at my father because it's not just him in this case."

FAIL. Sorry, Meghan, but your father has a vote on this issue, and Barack Obama does not. DADT must be repealed in the Senate, because that is where it was birthed... and John McCain was certainly one of the Senators who made it happen in the first place.

If Meghan McCain cannot understand the basic legislative process that her father is a part of, then perhaps she should not offer an opinion.

So basically, what we have here is a family of Republicans who pretend to be strong advocates for only the issues which they have no control over, but hide behind the party on the issues where they get to vote.

The Supreme Court Ruling on Contributions is Outrageous

2010-02-12T10:10:00.000-08:00

This opinion by Jarrett Terrill appeared in the The Florida Agenda newspaper on February 4, 2010.

On January 21, The Supreme Court of the United States did something unthinkable. (Well, at least the 5 who had been appointed by one of the Bush's did...) They overturned campaign finance laws in a decision known as "Citizens United V. Federal Elections Commission".

When a Supreme Court decision is reached, it sets a precedent, which becomes "the law" as we know it. The plaintiffs in this case, Citizens United, were a rag-tag group of Republican propaganda artists who wanted to make a negative documentary about Hillary Clinton and play it on TV before the primary election in 2008. They said the US Government had denied them their "freedom of speech" by not allowing their corporation to fund their smear film without forming a political action committee, known as a PAC.

PACs are necessary to fund campaign ads because they ensure that only those members of a corporation who wish to donate will do so and that the general funds of a corporation or publicly traded company are not used against the wishes of the stockholders, employees or union members. Citizens United wanted to fund the film and its broadcast out of pocket, ignoring maximum donations allowed to a political campaign.

Here's what's wrong with the way the Supreme Court handled this case:

Citizens United was not even trying to overturn campaign finance laws, they were only trying to claim that the laws did not apply to their propaganda film which they were referring to as a "documentary" instead of a campaign ad. This means that the conservative members of the Supreme Court used the case of Citizens United as a catalyst to legislate campaign financing from the bench, which is not in the enumerated powers of the judicial branch of government.

Secondly, the ruling and opinions of the conservative justices who blatantly thumbed their noses at the Constitution did not even match up with the subject at hand. For instance, Clarence Thomas gave a lengthy opinion in which was arguing for the rights of anti-gay marriage petitioners to to sheild their names from public record in order to avoid social outcasting and retribution. The transparency of state legislative initiatives has nothing to do with campaign finance laws at all, and Clarence Thomas clearly has no business sitting on the Supreme Court of the USA if he is unable to tell the difference.

Thirdly, the case is not a "freedom of speech" issue, as the conservative justices claim. The First Amendment only applies to citizens of the United States; corporations are not people. By allowing a corporation the right of unlimited campaign financing and not placing the limits of maximum allowed donations on the corporation, the Supremes are trying to ensure that Blackwater, Halliburton, Wal-Mart and MSNBC can stock all 3 branches of Government with their own appointees because independently funded persons cannot afford to compete in terms of campaign spending.

But at last, the most disturbing and glaringly obvious problem with this new law that the Supreme Court has audaciously written from the Bench is that it allows foreigners to have more influence over the candidates who run for office in America than her own citizens do. Because the largest, wealthiest corporations are multi-national conglomerates, the Supreme Court is trying to ensure that China, India, Iran and Saudi Arabia all get a vote in our government.

This Supreme Court decision goes against the very concept of Democracy, against the Constitution and obliterates any chances of an elected official being a voice for anyone except the corporation which hired them.

HOPEFUL SIGNS OF IMMENENT AID

2010-02-01T14:32:00.000-08:00

The trouble with these really big boats is that to make them profitable a lot of attention has to be paid to the passenger class that can really pay. After all, it’s all about business.

In order to make First Class comfortable, for instance, a good number of life boats, were not installed on the Titanic. This was to give the passengers at that level more room.
Having not foreseen a difficulty with that omission- until this rather awkward and unexpected disaster, some scrambling to right the situation is being made.

Having hastened to take care of the obviously important issues, we watched from the lilting deck as the first life boat- a motorized launch, was lowered into the choppy sea.
It was rumored that the chairman of Goldman Sachs and his family were on board; the plan was to quickly get them in motion so that they could rally outside support in the world and, ostensibly, save the rest of the passengers- who faced with the small number of life boats aboard, were facing a rather dire evening ahead.
The orchestra had come onto the deck and was doing it’s best to sooth the classes below First. Their “tip jar“ was rather low, just now; Maestro Pelosi was cranking out the 110th Overture in a vain attempt to offer a distraction. (A rather old dowager just swept by w/ two furs- one presumably for her legs should they get wet when she gets into her launch.)

The ship’s management was able to provide some comfort to those in Third Class and Steerage, in addition to giving them some music.

Hot tea and pastries are being passed around First class while passengers wait for the plan to unfold for lowering the boats, to remove them from this most uncomfortable situation.

Hillary to Museveni: You Need To Settle Down!

2010-01-27T02:04:00.000-08:00

In all the buzz about the Uganda's anti-homosexuality genocide bill, some interesting American political connections surfaced. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow brought our attention to James Inhoffe, a GOP Senator, and Pastor Rick Warren who had both been traveling to Uganda and frequently advising Ugandan leaders on the subjects of HIV, Homosexuality and Birth Control.

Harper's magazine and NPR turned their attention to "The Family" - a clandestine group of government and business leaders who gather in secrecy and have some very strange views on Jesus and capitalism. Two of the people mentioned in connection with "The Family" who are most relevant to the situation in Uganda were the President of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni and US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton. According to most sources, Museveni is a known member of "The Family" while Clinton was merely a close friend to the group's leader, Douglas Coe.

Museveni is mostly described as favoring the anti-gay genocide bill and is widely distrusted among human rights activists who disagree with his handling of the Lord's Resistance Army by supposedly mimicking their grotesque human rights abuses which included mutilation, torture, murder and rape. Another blemish on Museveni's record is his fondness of "storing" victimized people in what amounts to concentration camps.

When the controversy over the deadly bill reached its boiling point in the blogosphere, people began speculating as to whether or not "The Family" was using Uganda as testing grounds for a new holocaust and if that was the case, whether or not Clinton was implicated. Speculation is all that comes from these discussions, since the group is, by nature, secretive.

On World AIDS Day, Clinton affirmed that “We have to stand against any efforts to marginalize and criminalize and penalize members of the LGBT community worldwide. It is an unacceptable step backwards on behalf of human rights.” That statement, however, was too general to be applied specifically to Uganda. Nevertheless, Clinton did eventually respond to the Uganda controversy directly, albeit in a cryptic way by saying that she and the Obama administration have addressed the problem to Uganda's leaders in both "direct ways and indirect ways" and that she viewed the pending legislation to be a "potential" threat to Human Rights.

But Hillary Clinton must be a woman of her word, because Museveni has now affirmed to the Ugandan Parlaiment that "foreign policy issues" are at stake and the parlaiment must "slow down" on their legislative persecution of homosexuals. According to the Global Post, Museveni confessed that he had been urged against the bill by Hillary Clinton (USA) and Gordon Brown (UK).

So, it seems that if Hillary Clinton does indeed have any connection to "The Family" she is putting it to good use at effective diplomacy. But lest you think she's merely catching flies with honey in Uganda, let me remind you who Yoweri Museveni is dealing with:

Raw Hillary Power Unleashed

As per usual, one nation has gone much further toward protecting human rights in Uganda than the United States has, and that would be Sweden. Sweden directly and publicly threatened to cut off all aid to Uganda if the bill becomes law. President Obama could withhold PEPFAR funding from Uganda under the same conditions but a smarter approach might be to first restrict Uganda from using the funds for anything except direct medical care. As of right now, the loosely regulated millions go toward everything from infrastructure and religious education to law enforcement.

The Seven False Gods of the Right Wing

2010-01-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

7. Nationalism - Throughout history, Nationalism has usually been the driving motivator for war, fascism and all sorts of other reactionary misdeeds. Nationalism is a hyper-idealized view of one's country in which the nationalist ascribes their own sense of morality to the foundation of the entire nation. Usually dressing itself as ordinary patriotism, Nationalism is far more feverish and irrational than simply being a fan of the government. It is the result of mass propaganda, fear and an erasure of the lines that usually separate business, media, religion and government.

6. Charity - It has been said that Republicans give more to "charity" than Democrats do and I'm inclined to believe it. In fact, our charitable donation system in America seems specifically designed for the purpose of justifying that statement. The fact is, things get much worse when you indiscriminately throw money at your television screen. Religious charitable funds are some of the biggest and most unregulated industries in the world and many of them do as much harm as good. Mormon adoptions of underprivileged children from over seas are largely a justified version of human trafficking< and just recently, CBN (the Christian Broadcasting Network) told their donors that Haiti had caused its own earthquake destruction by signing a pact with the Devil. The network drew in millions of dollars in one week and much of that funding will go toward furthering their own presence and infrastructure in the small, underprivileged nation. Very little (if any) of the donations will actually help the people of Haiti.

5. Racialism - Racialism is the thought process that skirts around racism and disguises itself as harmless observation of racial differences. The most important thing to understand about racialism is that even when the racialist appears to be only pointing out racism in others, they are obsessed with it. Their first instinct is always to discuss race. Their hypersensitivity and bizarre misunderstandings generally give them away as outright racists in the end. A classic example of this was when a young John McCain campaigner named Ashley Todd cooked up false accusations about a ficticious black male Obama campaign worker who supposedly assaulted her by cutting a letter "B" into her face. The story was immediately picked up by Fox News and celebrated within Republican ranks as a sure-fire win for McCain in the 2008 election. The idea was that voters would react in a racist manner by associating Miss Todd's "attacker" with the skin tone and gender of Barack Obama. So while Miss Todd could simply indicate that the man who "savagely" attacked her was black, that unto itself would not be perceived as racist... except for the fact that she made it all up.

4. Public Opinion - Republicans and Conservatives are married to the idea that a majority of Americans agree with them. They love to indicate polls and percentages of "true Americans" who think exactly as they do. Truthfully, the general public can manipulated to believe just about anything. Certain people in the media have developed an intimate understanding of how propaganda can be used to create the illusion that mob rule is the law in America. The most glaring example of this is CNN's Nancy Grace. Nancy Grace runs a gossip show on CNN where she focuses on muders, rapes and abductions. She leads her viewers down a path of mob rule in which they feel as though they can investigate these matters from the comfort of their living rooms. The problem with Nancy Grace's style of entertainment is that her viewers rarely suspect that her show is simply entertainment. Nancy Grace fans feel as though they are actually doing the work of judge, jury and executioner and they hand down a guilty verdict every single time. The result of an actual trial matters very little to these people. It is the court of public opinion that they aim to try cases in. It's basically a mass-media form of public flogging and shunning without a trial, evidence or proof. Guilty until proven innocent, every single time.

3. Oil - One of the most shocking revelations of the 2008 election season was when video was leaked on to YouTube of Alaska's then-governor leading her hometown in prayer for a gas pipeline. To many right-wingers, there was nothing wrong with this scene and it all seemed quite normal to them. They even chanted "drill baby drill" as a campaign slogan of sorts. What resulted was a shockwave in the larger community of educated persons - the sudden realization that Republicans had created a new religion in which God & Oil had been merged into one holy concept. This also includes, of course, Global Warming Denialism and a celebration of private ownership over natural resources. Incidentally, that brings us to the 2nd False God of the Right Wing...

2. The Corporation - What can be said for a situation where Republican traders at an energy company laugh at elderly Bush voters and say they can go fuck themselves because their electricity has inexplicably gone out but the company got what it wanted? Well, this is exactly the situation shown with shocking clarity in the documentary calledEnron: The Smartest Guys in The Room. Republicans used to openly argue for what's called "deregulation" - a process of removing government restraints and safety nets on corporations. These days, they disguise deregulation as Independent Regulation which is not really regulation at all. To put it in simpler terms - they appoint the fox to guard the henhouse. Another interesting Republican tool is to disguise large multi-national conglomerates in terms that sound less severe, making the public think that they are protecting "small businesses" and somehow deregulating in favor of Ma & Pa shops in the American countryside. Nothing could be further from the truth.

1. Sexual Purity - This is the number 1 false God of the Right Wing because it is the most powerful. Everywhere you go in America, you are met with people who confuse virginity with innocence and religion with heterosexism. But there are contradictions to be found in this view of reality. For instance, Salt Lake City Utah, the epicenter of Mormonism, is the capitol of online pornography consumerism in the United States. Furthermore, those who protest sexual impurity the loudest are invariably caught with their pants down at any given moment. Two of the most devastating examples can be found in the cases of Ted Haggard (the disgraced President of the National Association of Evangelicals) and Carrie Prejean (the disgraced leader of the "opposite marriage" movement). But the real reason that Sexual Purity is number 1 on the list is because the consequences of worshiping this false god are the most deadly. In recent news, the Republic of Uganda has decided to implement the death penalty for persons who are charged with what they call "aggravated homosexuality" and prison sentences for anyone who refuses to testify against the behavior.

As a Buddhist myself, I cannot tell you which God to follow. I have no desire to influence your religious or spiritual life other than to indicate what I know does NOT work. The Seven False Gods of the Right Wing have shown themselves to be nothing more than snake oil and should be viewed with heightened skepticism in America. Namaste.

The Bizarre Self-Abusing Psyche of Michael Steele

2010-01-13T09:17:00.001-08:00

The Mainstream Media was all a flux with the latest diversion from the Proposition 8 trial at the beginning of this week: Another non-scandal dreamt up by Karl Rove - The Harry Reid talking point.
The GOP had hoped that it would turn into something big enough that they could call "Negro-gate".

Alas, as usual with the Republican Party, it blew up in their faces when Michael Steele was interviewed by Face To Face with John Ralston. Steele did his best to perpetuate the latest accusation against the Democratic Party but what resulted was a stunning revelation that Steele himself is an anti-black racist who just happens to be black. Furthermore, he seems to hold a significant amount of jealousy against the President for a perceived ability to "pass" as white.

Many liberals have regarded Steele's entire chairmanship to be a desperate attempt by the Republican Party to prove a lack of racism within their ranks. Although history and commentary illustrates otherwise, Steele's participation in the GOP must still at least represent some modicum of acceptance, right?

Let's go straight to the interview:

Ralston: "You didn't think Trent Lott should step down for his remarks? You think he used a poor choice of words? But you think Harry Reid should step down?"

Steele: "Yes. When THEY [The Democrats] get caught, it's a quick apology, everyone pats eachother on the back, they roll out a few African Americans to defend them,and everything's good. But if a Republican says something like Trent Lott, he's gotta be drummed out of office [...]
I know Trent Lott, I don't know Harry Reid.
I don't think anybody in leadership in 2010 should refer to an African American as "light-skinned" and with a "negro" dialect that they can turn off and on."

Ralston: But isn't what Lott said [in 2002] that essentially if Strom Thurmond, who ran on a segregationist agenda, had been elected President that this country would be better off?

Steele: "I don't know what would have happened in 1948 but [Lott and Senate Republicans] were at a Birthday Party and the leader of the Senate was only saying nice things about the honoree [Strom Thurmond]. And all they do in Washington is pat eachother on the back and give eachother nice platitudes. [Lott] just got caught between his happy talk and the reality. So, I think [Democrats] are absolutely being hypocritical because this isn't 1948 or 2005. This is a different mindset and a different time. You have an African American running for President and all you can say about him is that he's light-skinned... You know, in the context that he could pass. You know... that's what [Reid] is really saying, he could pass..."

Now, as any gay person can tell you, there is always a small segment of any minority who tries to "play it straight" and identify themselves with the majority while ignoring their own minority status. In the gay world, we call this "being in the closet". In the black world, it's called "being an Uncle Tom". What Steele is doing here falls so far beyond the pale (excuse my pun) that he actually becomes racist against his own race.

Let's review:

Steele: The Democrats "roll out a few African Americans" to defend themselves.
(So he thinks that blacks cannot decide for themselves what to say or whom to defend.)

Steele: But when someone "says something like Trent Lott", they have to be drummed out of office. (So he thinks Segregation is defensible and that Trent Lott's comment was just fine.)

Steele: "This isn't 1948 or 2005" - it's a "different time".
(So 1948 and 2005 are in the same era as far as Steele is concerned, time moves much slower for him. And the age of a black President represents a drastically different era in his world.)

Steele: "I don't think anybody should say that he's light-skinned", "All you can say about him is that he's Light-Skinned."
(So the operative phrase that bothers Steele so much here is not the word "Negro" but rather "light-skinned". Evidently, Steele doesn't remember that our President is half white and chooses to focus only on the tone of his skin. It really bothers him. He's jealous.)

Steele: "You know... He could pass."
(This is the final analysis. Barack Obama (in Steele's view) could pass as white. According to Steele's messed up mindset, it's all about fitting in with white people. Steele believes that Obama has an edge in this strange competition that he's imagined. He feels robbed. After all, if you are willing to (as a black man) chair the Republican Party and defend segregation, that must count for something, right?)

And The Band Played On...

2010-01-12T12:43:00.000-08:00

I’ve been looking for a cultural-anthropological expression for a while.

During that time I’ve watched Jarrett be politically active and read what he writes about.
Jarrett and I have known each other awhile- sorta well, mutual friends, that sorta thing. I’m older and used to be politically involved. While I’ve grown cynical, hope isn’t dead entirely, yet. When I suggested writing on his blog he was amenable. We may not always agree and we may play off each other. So here I am.

I chose to write under the pseudonym “Titanic Observer “as I may want to say more outrageous things than I normally would; I do have a job and clients, and a family. So far, no criminal record, though.

Then I chose the name because- we’ve hit the iceberg, folks. That’s done. Damage control is being exercised all around us, frantically, but it’s all rearranging the deck chairs. So that will allow me to point out elements of décor and style, as we observe this comedy of manners. I’m observing it, of course, from the 1st Class deck. Most of those people will be ok- that’s generally the way it goes.
There are several decks below; 2nd Class, Third, Steerage (you’ve all seen the movie).

There are only so many life boats aboard, and of course, they’re mainly on the 1/st class level:

Lobbyists earn healthy fees from bill
DAILY Business Review, Dec 31, 2009
By: Carrie Levine

"President Obama may have shunned lobbyists, but he gave them a big gift with his health-care plan.

From the moment he proposed overhauling the health-care system in February, the industry turned to K Street to help shape the plan.

It has been, without a doubt, the biggest lobbying campaign of 2009. Health care has translated into nearly $400 million spent on lobbying through September of this year, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Among the biggest winners: the Podesta Group reported $5.8 million in fees from clients lobbying on health issues in the first three quarters of 2009; Patton Boggs reported $6.9 million; Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck reported $1.32 million; and Holland & Knight reported $2.76 million.”

There are 435 members of Congress and 100 members in the Senate- that’s 535 members of Congress. Divide that into $400 million and it comes out to $747,663.55 per member, more or less. So who do you suppose is gonna benefit from Health Care “overhaul”? Let me point out the really expensive shoes moving about the slightly shaky deck @ the top of the ship; the dresses, the suits, costing thousands. It’s cool so we see some sable, fox-fur’s back in style- and some huge stones on the men and women. Absolutely fabulous! I leave this tableau as stewards arrange some chairs for their charges to wait for the life boats to be loosened (their families are, alas, in 2nd Class).

10 Things I Hate About Florida

2009-12-31T09:25:00.000-08:00

I am so excited about the upcoming 2010. So, for the new year, here is my list of 10 things that I hope to see a positive change in:

10. Dirty drinking water. It may surprise you to know that despite Charlie Crist's boat rides throught the everglades with John McCain, that Florida has some of the worst water contamination in the United States. Our governor has repeatedly attempted to market himself as having concern for the environment but there is absolutely no evidence to back it up. In fact, cities where Crist garnered most of his votes (like Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville and Pensacola) all rank in the bottom 50 US cities for water cleanliness. Pensacola Florida has the absolute worst water quality in the USA. We need to clean up Floridas waters and stop dumping pollution into them.

09. Hurricane madness. Every time there is a hurricane in Florida, our entire state goes topsy-turvy with panicked media reporting, price gouging, and bizarre "emergency preparedness" marketing gimmicks. Just settle down, people. Every thunderstorm is not Hurricane Andrew. Just board up your windows, buy a few candles and remember the serenity prayer: God help me to accept the things I cannot change. Check out one of the hilarious parodies of Florida's weather reports on YouTube.

08. De-funding of rehabilitation programs in Broward. This one lands squarely on the shoulders of our Republican Sheriff Al Lamberti. He promised Broward's voters that he would cut the budget as Sheriff. Many of us believed this would be a good thing as there seems to be 2 Sheriff's officers for every citizen out on the streets here. It's a total police state. But Lamberti has gone and exacerbated many of our problems here in Broward by cutting the most essential programs associated with his department - the ones that keep criminals from returning to the streets with a chip on their shoulder. Furthermore, rumor has it with all the new cops he's put on the streets and a refusal to "just say no" to the PBA, he's actually increased the budget, not reduced it. One officer proudly showed me the computer games he had installed on his laptop in his squad car, which he admittedly plays all the time on his "boring" nights of patrol - paid for courtesy of the PBA. And I can still point to half a dozen obvious crack houses in my community that nobody has busted - including the corner dealer who slings his rock just one block south of the Sheriff's office building. Total shame! (And this assessment is coming from a guy who voted for Lamberti...)

07. Charlie Crist. This guy ran as a moderate and turned into someone so repulsive and pandering that even teabaggers think he's crazy. He's not managed to do much of anything except to strike a severe blow to gay rights and get married to some chick in a shotgun attempt to prove he's not gay himself. Florida Agenda editor, Dan Renzi wrote a tongue-in-cheek endorsement of Crists ultra-conservative opponent in the upcoming US Senate race in which he stated "Personally, I am rooting for [Marco] Rubio to win the Republican nomination... Crist has sold his soul for conservative votes just to benefit his own career." It must be noted here, that Renzi's "endorsement" of Rubio is at least sarcastic and at most, a hope to see Republicans back themselves into their own corner of shame. The Florida Agenda is a gay newspaper and Rubio is running an anti-gay campaign. But Florida's gays have lost all respect for Charlie Crist because of his support for Amendment 2 and seeing him lose another race to the very people whom he panders to would be bitter-sweet irony.

06. Gay Adoption Ban. Florida is the only state in the USA with a ban on adoption that specifically targets gays and lesbians. It's unconstitutional, it's wrong and it's hateful. Gay families all over the USA live in fear of this bill becoming a prototype for Nazi-esque family management laws all over the country.

05. Parking issues in South Beach. Every time there is a convention in Miami or South Beach, you are bound to pay hundreds of dollars in tickets, fees or to get your car out of towing (or all 3 simultaneously). City officials have been terrorizing visitors to their lovely haven with the threat of losing their transportation and income to "the system" for far too long. If you want your precious tourism to return, you had better take it easy on us and give us an affordable way to get there.

04. Public officials who live outside their jurisdictions. This issue was brought to my attention by a candidate for mayor of Fort Lauderdale who eventually lost, Earl Rynerson. A great number of city officials in metropolitan areas of Florida do not actually live in the areas that they preside over. This "take the money and run" approach to government is bleeding our cities dry and decreasing the liklihood that our legislators feel any allegiance to the communities which they supposedly represent. I am currently working on a list of income levels and places of residence for city officials in Fort Lauderdale and I would encourage other Florida bloggers and journalists to keep track of this disparity as well.

03. Hate Crimes. Florida is well on it's way to becoming the Hate Crime Capitol of the nation. Everything from the murder of Ryan Skipper to the police tasering of an unarmed African American bicyclist in North Florida to the States Attorneys and Sheriffs who flippantly refuse to prosecute hate crimes as such in spite of the new Federal law, The Mathew Shepard Act. For more information, visit Gay American Heroes.

02. Amendment 2. The state of Florida has more targeted anti-gay laws on its books than any other state in the USA - which is ironic considering the number of gays and lesbians who live and vacation here. Gay and Lesbian, NY and European tourism is declining at warp speed from South Florida, the small two-city patch of Florida from which we derive the upper 35% of our total tax revenue. Businesses are closing and restaurant workers are taking home fewer tips. One major reason for this is because Fort Lauderdale is no longer "where the boys are". Florida has been getting a nasty reputation as the only state that has specifically outlawed both gay adoption and civil unions. Amendment 2, despite the hype from an ultra-conservative group who put it on the ballot, goes far beyond protecting marriage and is a full-scale assault on gays and lesbians. It's much worse than California's Proposition 8 because it outlaws the recognition of civil unions and mandates it's own permanency by requiring that only a super-majority of voters can overturn it. The areas of Florida that voted for Amendment 2 by the highest majority also happen to be the areas from which we recieve the measley lowest amount of tax revenue in the state.

01. Gerrymandering. Here's where I introduce the light at the end of the tunnel. More Floridians (both conservative and liberal) are warming up to the idea of a ballot measure introduced by Fair Districts Florida which would effectively end Gerrymandering in the sunshine state. The current re-districting policies are probably the one link between all of the 9 problems listed above and a whole slew of other problems including corruption and cronyism. We can all agree that Florida is sick of hateful Republicans and corrupt Democrats. The Fair Districts Florida ballot measure is a way for us to give power back to the voters and to restore confidence in our swing state. We used to be the spotlight of the nation during our elections and our impact on the USA was envied. But in the last few elections we were an embarrassment to our country. We allowed George HW Bush's Supreme Court to elect his son to the Presidency in 2000 and we allowed our state legislators to take away our ability to participate in the Presidential primary election of '08. It's time to take back our state and tell our legislators that we would like to stop being forced to vote for the lesser of two evils in every election. The Fair Districts Florida ballot measure is the way to go!

Coming Out Part 1: Transgender F2M in College

2009-12-27T18:58:00.000-08:00

Coming out of the closet is a process that is getting less and less press these days even though homophobia seems to be on the rise. I decided to start doing little bios occasionally on folks who are out of the closet at work and school. In this way, I can really use social networking for its ultimate purpose and hopefully, give my gay brethren a few words of encouragement along the way. The first person (and so far, the only one) to respond to my request for their perspectives on coming out of the closet is someone that I met and instantly admired as a girl but who is now a guy and I still admire him very much. Mason understood right away what my motivation was in wanting to bring the coming out process back into our consciousness. “I’ve definitely heard stories of people being very obviously fired for their identity and having no recourse. Sad as it is, sometimes it just isn’t possible to be out safely,” he warns.

Mason Strand was once a soft-spoken Midwestern girl, who went through a large part of his outwardly transformative process in NYC and has recently settled back in Chicago-land. But he has always been a student of the arts for as long as I’ve known him. The most difficult part in accepting my friend’s transgender status has been remembering to say “he” instead of “she” because, ultimately, in my mind, Mason hasn’t really “changed” but rather just expressed more outwardly who he really feels like on the inside. But also, until Mason, who has been a family friend for quite some time, came out as transgender, I had no frame of reference for this sort of thing. Being gay does not automatically give someone an innate perspective on all matters relating to sexuality.

Mason describes it this way:

“I experience and think of my entire queer identity as political, and I think a big part of that is not letting people get by with the “gay (or trans) people are just like us” thing. Some LGBTQ people are like straight people, but some aren’t, and shouldn’t have to be. Even though I’m male and date women, I’m nothing like you’re typical straight dude, and in fact don’t identify as straight, because no part of my sexuality fits into the ideas of what “straight” is. By being out, I queer even what people’s idea of a man is.”

Seeing his identity as being political is something that I can certainly relate to as an activist of sorts. I suppose if we’re being honest, gays and lesbians seem to have a choice in whether or not to pursue the politics of our culture but we really don’t. Politics in America eventually comes knocking for all of us, because, as the feminist mantra goes – the personal is political.

Let’s, for the sake of clarity though, offer the rest of Mason’s thoughts on coming out in Q & A format:

FS: What made you decide to come out at school?

Mason: I feel like saying you’re “out” is something of a contradiction or a misnomer, because you can never really be completely out – you’re continually having to come out to people, because you’re continually meeting new people. And so you’re making these decisions every day: who do I tell? Have I known this person long enough? Will this affect our ability to work together?

The fact that I work on a campus makes it so that I am out in certain circles, while other people have no idea. It isn’t that I’m hiding it at all – I started and continue to run a group on campus for transgender students that has a pretty visible presence – it’s just that with some people that I see infrequently it simply hasn’t come up. It’s also a little different for me because, as an ftm I’m often perceived as a gay man. So even if I’m not out as trans, I feel that I’m often perceived as queer one way or another, and that makes me glad. I think that straight people feeling the presence of LGBTQ people is important because it helps them remember that we aren’t just the people they make jokes about, or the funny sidekicks on TV. We’re real, whole people, who are infinitely varied and complex. This is a big part of why I want to be out.

Additionally, I feel like it’s important for me to be out at work and at school (which are the same place for me) because I’m interested in working in and for the LGBTQ community, and I think that necessitates a willingness to be upfront about your identity. I can’t run a group for trans kids on campus, or advocate for our rights if I’m not willing to tell people that I’m transgender.

FS: Has your “coming out” experience been overall, a good one or a bad one?

Mason: Overall my experience of being out has been very good. I’ve actually not had any negative reactions, and have experienced nothing but support and acceptance. I know that this makes me very privileged and fortunate, and the fact that I work at a big liberal university in a large city has a lot to do with this. But, that said, the most uncomfortable I’ve ever been in my life was when I was stealth (passing as male without disclosing my transgender identity) in a workplace. I was miserable and paranoid about being “found out.” Some people are perfectly happy being stealth all the time, but it makes me feel really icky (to use a technical term).

FS: What sort of work or school are you involved in and what special talents or appeal can GLBT persons offer to your line of work or education?

Mason: I work in the Center for Interreligious Engagement at the University I attend, where I’m also getting a Master’s degree in Women’s and Gender Studies (my BA was in Film). I think that LGBTQ people are so incredibly valuable in a University environment because, for a lot of people, it’s the first time they’re really able to be out, and the first thing they’re looking for is a supportive community. My university happens to have a really high LGBTQ population, both in the staff and faculty and in the student body. This makes the campus a really great environment, because everywhere you go, you’re bumping into “family.” Even the Center I work at, which you would think would be conservative, is run by an awesome, progressive gay man, and does remarkable, thoughtful programming. I think that any person who has been marginalized tends to understand the world in a very different way, and has the potential to have a great, deep compassion for others who have encountered oppression. So that is something that I think LGBTQ people can be really great at, though I think it’s important to realize how interconnected all oppression is.

Additionally, I think that, on a Campus, whether you’re a student or an employee, there is a lot that you can do for LGBTQ students. Your presence and your work can inspire people to further explore their identity, and to feel empowered. It’s also great in that, if there’s something you don’t like at the school – a policy or the way something is run - you can work to change it. I think of it as practice for engaging the government once you get out of school (although you can, of course, do that while in school as well).

FS: If you could offer advice for anyone else who is thinking of coming out of the closet, what would that entail?

Mason: My honest advice for someone on coming out is to start small, especially if you are nervous about it at all. Tell a few people that you can trust, and work up from there. That way, if you ever do encounter any problems, you’ll know you have someone to back you up. I would also advise knowing what your rights are in the workplace, like whether there are anti-discrimination laws for lesbians and gays, or for trans people (because sometimes it only covers the LGB and not the T). These are different for every state, and I’ve definitely heard stories of people being very obviously fired for their identity and having no recourse. Sad as it is, sometimes it just isn’t possible to be out safely. But, if it’s possible, and you want to do it, I would advise people to be out in school and work, simply because it is so freeing, and everyone deserves to get to be their full selves in all parts of their life.

Their FULL selves… in ALL parts of their life… There’s a novel idea. I wonder if anyone in America can be themselves 24 hours a day anymore. We all wear so many hats and it seems as though the entire nation might be stricken with multiple personality disorder. Can a Christian teacher really be a Christian at a University? Maybe if they work at a religious school… Can a gay male athlete be himself while vying for placement on a college team? Can an HIV positive woman really be frank with her co-workers while she is covered by the company insurance? Can a Republican candidate admit to thinking that Equality is a worthy endeavor? I’d like to think that eventually the answer to all these questions will be “yes we can”. But for now, we just don’t know, do we?

One thing that certainly helps to ease the mind is knowing that people like Mason are out there, every day and in every state and every metropolitan area – being themselves to the best of their ability.

Sex Scandals In The Media – Something’s Gotta Give

2009-12-12T12:47:00.000-08:00

One of the most curious entrances the GLBT community has had into the American political sphere was when a gay sex website called Manhunt.net became a political hot potato during the 2008 Presidential race.

In a condensed version of the story, the trouble started when gay activists learned that the popular “hook-up” website had donated the maximum allowed to Republican candidate John McCain. The larger gay community, usually assumed to vote Democratic, felt as though they had been betrayed by the website and that their membership fees were going toward their own political demise. The story became exponentially more complicated when conservatives had their own problems with the news. They wanted to know how their Republican candidate could justify using money from a gay sex website and still be considered morally sound.

In the end, Manhunt.net attempted to regain some of their fiercely Democratic customer base by issuing statements, firing people and even making an equal donation to the Campaign for Change. But their donations were returned from both Presidential campaigns and then Manhunt users were left with an even weightier question: Why are political candidates so fearful of accepting money or words of support from the adult industry?

Perhaps the answer to that question can be found in a would-be scandal that I call “Bondage-Gate”. In the Fort Lauderdale Mayoral race of 2009, Fox News decided to get involved by releasing a “news story” about one of the 3 leading candidates, Earl Rynerson.

Rynerson was one of two openly gay candidates for Mayor running against another Democrat who eventually won - Jack Seiler. Rynerson’s campaign was rather slow compared to his opponents, so on some level, the controversy brought him a bit of attention, but it wasn’t the kind of attention he wanted. According to Fox News (who had gone digging through his old credit card receipts), Rynerson had rented pornography and bought a lifetime membership to an internet bondage website a few years ago. Fox News has since removed the inflammatory piece from all their websites, the election is over and both Rynerson and Trantalis (the other gay candidate) lost the election.

However, there are two internet websites which found value in keeping the article online. A neo-NAZI website operating out of West Palm Beach (the infamous Stormfront.org) keeps the story up, as well as a similarly fascist anti-gay website called AmericansForTruth.com. These websites use the story as a platform to show their readers that those “filthy” gay people should not be elected to public office because they will supposedly “turn the office into a sexual playground”. But according to an ABC poll (in which less than 5% of the people polled were GLBT), a whopping 12 percent of Americans are already having sex in the workplace, literally… on the clock.

Now, even the most prudish among us can see that there a number of problems with this sort of smear campaign. First and foremost, it’s just not a big deal. Pornography made by consenting adults is just not quite the political pipe bomb it used to be back in the 60’s and 70’s. In fact, the heavily Mormon population of Salt Lake City Utah has been found to consume more internet pornography than any other place in America. Let the record show that even as I write this post, I have a second window open with some very naughty things going on… and yes, I’m very much ok with that.

Secondly, these kinds of non-news stories only serve to divert our attention away from bigger issues and real life “sex problems” that people face. Perhaps nobody remembers that there was a much more serious Floridian political sex problem in late 2007 that actually involved murder and suicide. You might not be familiar with this story, because to my knowledge, the only person who covered it was Pam Spaulding on her blog.

According to PamsHouseBlend:

* the bodies of Republican political consultant Ralph Gonzalez, 39, president of The Strategum Group, his roommate David Abrami and "a friend," Jason Robert Drake, were found in the house of Ralph Gonzalez.
* Gonzalez served with the Republican Party of Florida's House Campaign Division and executive director of the Georgia Republican Party and counted the Alabama Republican Legislative Committee as a client, producing an anti-gay flier accusing a Dem candidate of supporting marriage equality.
* A newspaper, Florida Today, initially reported that there were signs of a struggle, printing "Lovers' fight may have sparked three deaths" as its headline. The paper later scrubbed any references to a love triangle.

Now, these are the sorts of sex-scandals that we need to hear more about because they present the cold hard truth about the society we live in. These poor guys would rather kill each other and commit suicide than come out of the closet and admit to their Republican colleagues that they are gay. Yet, the mainstream media would rather focus on the non-story of a South Carolina Deputy Assistant DA who committed the heinous crime of being caught with sex toys in his SUV. He was not using the sex toys in his car and from what has been reported, the toys and a single tablet of Viagra were not even visible from outside the vehicle when police pulled him over. The Assistant DA was flogged by the media and then fired from his job even though no crime had been committed. The big question we should be asking here is why a man deserves to lose his entire livelihood over the possession of perfectly legal items in the privacy of his own property. But absolutely NOBODY in the mainstream media has raised this question in relation Roland Corning’s non-scandal.

America has hang-ups when it comes to sexuality. The human mind is capable of going to some very dark places and when we can’t even admit that we enjoy sex, the dark recesses of our minds begin to consume the entire landscape of our thinking… leading to sex addiction, sinister behavior and yes… even victimizing children.

I would put forth to any Fascist organization (Stormfront, AmericansForTruth, NARTH) which demonize the expression of sexuality that THEY are responsible for every child who has been harmed and every life that has been taken by the inability to receive mental help in terms of self-acceptance and release from the pseudo-religious dogma we have come to call “group-think”. Predators go undetected and parents are left without the necessary resources to raise their children with awareness and dignity.

This “disease” of sexual dishonesty is not just one for politicians, although they seem to be the most inflicted. A good majority of Americans are living in the psycho-sexual dark ages according to just about every world survey on sexual dysfunction. Unfortunately, in our tabloid-centric society, nobody is learning "the moral of the story" anymore. Rarely is the opinion presented these days which reflects that "the problem isn't the sex they're having, it's the lying about it."

Even so, the lies and cover-ups of everyone from Carrie Prejean to John Edwards really amount to people who are trying so desperately to protect the sanctuary of their private lives from the monster created by their media-induced public image. Can you blame them?

They don't owe us any explanations, really. We should concern ourselves with more important matters. That's the real "moral of the story."

On Planning and Executing a Political Demonstration

2009-12-10T12:53:00.000-08:00

In Brief: This post describes how to think of protests and activism in ways that are beneficial to your cause. It is meant as a forward to the list of 10 ways to make your protest a good one.

Having taken part in dozens of political protests and demonstrations over the past 8 years or so, I have noticed some things that work very effectively and some things that just don’t fly. Particularly in terms of gay rights advocacy, there is a problem with a lot of our demonstrations and protests in that the persons who are most inclined to participate have not been armed with a solid understanding of the advocacy process. Furthermore, many people don’t even understand the issues at hand but they know they are angry and they know that there is injustice somewhere so they get involved before they are ready. Lastly, they fail to narrow their myriad of causes and issues down to one simple and effective message or goal.

My aim in this post, no matter what your political stripes, is to give you some advice on how to handle your protests, rallies and demonstrations in a way that encourages understanding of your point of view and doesn’t become a moment of contention between only you and your peers.

I have always believed that there is a secret understanding that political activists have of each other. This empathy extends even to their arch nemesis on the other side of the picket line. Political activists are very fiery, imaginative and independent people. They can be clever, even wickedly so… But they also have family and friends that they love and wish to protect. They are loyalists to an ideology but they generally have a modicum of respect for public health and safety. Two rival activists will often have respect for each other and sometimes even feel almost kindred, as though they might have been friends in another life. This is because both of them know what it’s like to be outsiders looking in… they are the rogue cowboys and Indians who battle over a new frontier ahead of all of their peers.

Most people don’t like to get involved with political protests – and they don’t always think very fondly of those of us who do. They are afraid that their boss will see them on the nightly news and fire them the next morning. In some cases, this is a realistic fear but in most cases, it’s very pessimistic and a little bit paranoid. Perhaps you will see your boss’s daughter at the event… and even on YOUR side of the issue! I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard naysayers reason that they can’t get involved because they have “real life” to contend with. Well, I’ve got news for them: We activists are the creators of their “real life” as it will be tomorrow. We are not “the sheep” even though that is usually the metaphor chosen to describe us by our nemeses.

Having said that, there is a certain amount of “herding” that goes into organizing a demonstration or protest and a good shepherd will not let his flock be embarrassed and sent home feeling unaccomplished. A person’s self esteem can be greatly enhanced or diminished after participating in political advocacy. We all have an interest in making sure that nobody (not even our so-called enemy) feels too bad about partaking in their American right to free speech.

I have put together this list of 10 Steps to Make Your Protest or Demonstration a Good One to use as a reference if you are just beginning your involvement with public activism.

10 Steps to Make Your Protest or Demonstration a Good One

2009-12-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

In Brief: In this post, I describe some simple best practices when organizing a political demonstration, and help the reader to spot potential problems that may occur within their current structure.

To read my forward about why this list is so important and what's wrong with political advocacy today, click here.

Learn as much as you can about YOUR side of the issue. Too many people get all worked up about what other people are saying and doing. They don’t take the time to understand the facts and feelings put forth by their own side of the debate. For instance, in a gay rights rally, you will rarely find an advocate that knows how many soldiers have been discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”.

Ignore the media. I know that might come as a shock to a lot of people because they believe in that old adage that “the media controls the message” but it’s simply not true. The media is lawless and crazy in America and they control THEIR message… which is often in stark contrast with what you may believe as a concerned citizen. The media will be impressed with your actions if they are interesting and well-planned but they cannot be counted on to side with you or even be compassionate toward your point of view. What’s MOST important is communicating to the people passing by in cars and those whom you can talk face-to-face with. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. You can be more effective in changing one person’s mind through careful dialogue than you can by instigating thousands to react without reason.

Keep It Simple Stupid (K.I.S.S.). There are certain events (like the National Equality March in DC back in October ‘08) where it is very effective to bring a number of similar issues together under one big banner. But most activism that a person can take part in will be on a much smaller scale with less funding and support. You need to pick just one small issue and tackle that. Narrow your message down to just one goal and go from there. For instance, if your idea is to “empower the religious community” then you are going to have problems because everyone has a different religion and they don’t want each other to be more empowered… But if you wanted to plan a demonstration called “Baptists for Repealing Amendment 2” then that could be far more effective.

Be nice to police officers and security. This needs very little explanation. These folks have a job to do and they don’t make the rules. You can’t let your fear of authority taint your view of the men and women who have been assigned to keep you safe. Sure, there is always that egotistical jerk that is just aching to use his or her taser but usually you are dealing with a regular Joe who just wants to make sure nobody blows anything up.

Leave your vanity at home. All too often a demonstration goes sour because some idiot wants to play king or queen for a day and turns your activities into a lime light for themselves. I have not yet found a way to get rid of these people but I know better than to become one of them.

Be tolerant of diversity but do not worship it. What I mean by this is that it’s ok if you and your peers all feel the same way about something and have a similar ideology. For instance, at a gay pride parade, you will see drag queens, circuit boys, political activists, religious leaders and sexual fetishes all displayed in the middle of the street. This is fine for a celebratory kind of environment but it does not send a clear message to anyone and does little to advance your philosophy on the national stage.

Bring at least one member of your family or a close friend with you. Do whatever it takes to convince them to participate. It will be a momentous experience that they can be proud of for the rest of their lives. I don’t know how I could function without the knowledge that I have been part of a movement of people who fought for what was right. I pity anyone who has never held a picket sign or a megaphone.

Figure out whether you’re participating in a protest or a demonstration or a rally. There is a major difference between protests and demonstrations. The term “protest” should only be used if you are specifically standing AGAINST the actions of a person, group, business or government entity. In that case, your motivation is to get them to stop their evil ways and you have more freedom to be angry and outrageous (as long as you’re abiding by the laws). In a protest, it is perfectly ok to use strong language and show that you mean business. But a rally or a demonstration is quite different because, in this case, the point is to advance your own cause. You will want to be pleasant and attractive. You will want to convince people to join you and identify with you. In the case of a rally FOR a cause, you will need the help of politicians and upstanding citizens who have reputations to uphold. The tone changes drastically when your motivation is to attract rather than to shock or scare. Both kinds of activism are valid and useful, but you have to know the difference. In my opinion, this is what failed with “the tea party movement”. They failed to decide whether their aim was to scare people or attract them. They weren’t clear in whether they were against Obama or rather FOR one of the many politicians who were involved. The combination of pandering and protesting did not mix very well in people’s perception of the movement.

Decide on your role and stick to that. In every engagement, you will need a person or committee (depending on your size) to handle one of the following tasks: Designing pamphlets and signs, a media contact or liaison (the person who most understands the issues), a visible speaker/leader, a host to provide beverages and moral support, sign holders, pre-event promotion, a transportation/RSVP coordinator and a couple of people who are willing to chip in for the costs involved.

Don’t let other organizers dilute your message and don’t do that to other people’s demonstrations either. Time and time again, someone will attempt to rally around an issue but it will get away from them and become something foreign and meaningless because of some type-A, egomaniacal opportunist who sees their cause as another chance to step in front of a camera for their own organization or self-promotion. You have to encourage supporters to get behind the issue because it’s important. Remind everyone of exactly what your mission is and thank them often for their participation. If you think that signs promoting another idea or concept are going to disrupt your message, don’t be afraid to tell someone nicely that you would rather they leave those particular signs at home. But you MUST have clearly legible signs with simple, catchy phrases or else it’s your fault if other people’s messages detract from your own. A protest sign should have no more than 8 words on it and be printed boldly enough that it can be read by a passenger in a car at least 40 feet away. And well designed literature like pamphlets, postcards and brochures are an EXCELLENT way to get your message out there without having to be a perfect spokesperson for your cause.

If there were to be an 11th rule here, it would be to expect steps 1-10 to fall apart before your very eyes no matter what you do. I have seen countless protests, rallies and demonstrations over the years and every single one of them has had its own unique flavor and set of challenges. The important thing is that you accomplish your mission or goal to some degree. If your goal is a realistic one, you have better chances. You must have a satisfactory outcome in mind when engaging in any political action. If your only motivation is to be a rabble-rouser, then you are what I call an "aww", a cute little acronym which I've coined to mean "angry with the world". Nothing can really be done for these people except to simply sigh in sympathy for them... "aww"...

Barring that, you must try to hold on to your dignity and sanity in the process. Political activism starts from a place of personal strife, trials and tribulations. From this anxiety is born a movement. But just because you put in the blood, sweat and tears does not mean that God, society or your local government is going to give a hoot. After the engagement is over, you will have to go back home and live with yourself. You must practice some acceptance of your friends, co-conspirators and even your opposition, because without them, you are reduced to being that crazy person who yells at traffic for no apparent reason.

A Confession of Ignorance

2009-12-07T11:56:00.000-08:00

In short: I describe the need for more education in America on the fundamentals or basics of our nation's economy and I blame the mainstream media for failing to provide even the most rudimentary understanding of economic events.

Ok, so this morning I was reading an article in the Washington Post (described by readers in the comments section as "insipid") about Neel Kashkari, the hapless guy who dreamed up the bailouts under Secretary Paulsen and now chops his own wood for his fireplace.

If Laura Blumenfeld, the author of the article, meant to anger Americans with her descriptions of how he and his wife are "coping" and "detoxing from Washington" in their little cabin in the woods with their dogs, then she accomplished her goal. But there was no education involved in the piece.

At one point, she offers defensively that the Kashkaris actually took a pay cut to move from CA to DC and that the TARP funds were not used for personal gain. But that's the only line in the 1400 word memoir that serves to educate the public. And I'm not confident that the author would know these things for sure.

Let's go back to a couple weeks ago where MSNBC was interviewing hillbillies at a Sarah Palin book signing in order to highlight their ignorance of world affairs... The reporter grilled one girl (about 25 years old) who was wearing an anti-bailout T-shirt and when the poor girl confirmed that she thought Sarah was against the bailouts too, the axe fell swiftly and Democrats cheered.

However, we are ALL like that misguided girl in the stupid T-shirt. None of us know what's going on. While I applaud MSNBC for having the brass to show us that huge crowds of people can all be wrong about something (or everything), I would also appreciate a little bit of information I can use. I had no idea whether Sarah Palin was trained to offer an opinion on the bailouts or not... So the only difference between myself and "the stupid girl" is that I don't particularly like Sarah Palin and I don't wear T-Shirts with slogans on them.

I took an Economics class in high school where I learned how to sign over a check to my mom if I wanted to. Many years later, I took a Macro-Econ class in college and I learned (roughly) what the Dow index is used for. Nobody is there to explain why TARP was necessary (if in fact, it was) and nobody is there to explain the differences and similarities between capitalism and socialism to us (unless they happen to be a capitalist or socialist themselves and wish to spread a bit of propaganda).

We have become so sharply divided in politics but at the same time we know next to nothing about the gears in the machine itself. We push flashing buttons and hope for the best. The best education we can get on economic matters are little quips we hear in the news like "congress holds the purse strings" but those are misleading in their over-simplification.

Perhaps the saddest thing about Obama's first year in office is our nations gradual understanding that nothing had really changed in the heart of America's economy and that all the same players are still doing things as they've been done all along. I think that even some Republicans were secretly hoping that Obama would shake things up and we would get to war over socialism vs. capitalism in some apocalyptic battle for America... In fact, I KNOW some Republicans were hoping and planning for this battle - they are now called teabaggers.

But alas, even Michael Moore could not reach Paulsen by phone and so Moore's documentary on capitalism fell short of being touted as "Fahrenheit 2.0". Even more to the point, Elizabeth Warren just looked pathetic in Moore's movie. A brilliant Harvard educator who had crucified the credit card industry in a better documentary has now been reduced, thanks to her Obama appointment, to some kind of hermit in a windowless office somewhere in DC with no real way to influence anything anymore. Thanks Michael Moore - we can always count on you to slay the dragon.

Let this post be read as a plea to math and history teachers everywhere to find for your students ways to understand our nation's economy which allow room for dialogue. There is really no point in understanding math or history in America without talking about the economy. I don't even think the treasury was mentioned in my high school American History book. How sad is that?

If anyone would care to offer some links in the comments section to any educational websites which can help us gain an elementary understanding of current economic issues, we're all ears and eyes!

Satanic Nazi Spacemen Invade Uganda

2009-11-29T20:12:00.001-08:00

In brief: In this post I give a brief a synopsis of how Republican Senator James Inhoffe and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson are linked to a cult of money and privilege and how that cult has designs to start up a 2nd holocaust, beginning in Uganda.

It's tough to dream up a tale more horrific and obtuse than what Republicans give us as a storyboard this week. My facebook friends have been posting updates at rapid speed about the recent revelations concerning "The Family" - a nefarious clan of world leaders who were outed by writer Jeff Sharlet in Harper's magazine back in 2003.

Sharlet has recently connected the dots between an anti-gay bill proposed in the Republic of Uganda and an American Senator from Oklahoma who sits on aerospace and military panels.

The anti-gay bill is no less than the beginning of a new holocaust. It would require Africans to turn in their neighbors to the police if they suspected any "homosexual activity" and those Africans who committed the gay acts would be killed.

The Senator connected to all of this? His name is James Inhoffe (R) and unlike his fellow cult brothers, he has not been in the news very much. He believes, as part of the "The Family", that Jesus is a capitalist, among other things, and that Christians in Uganda have a duty to rid their nation of the evils of homosexuality by murdering rumored homosexuals. Inhoffe has recieved many awards from various Tea Party organizations and Taxpayers unions as well as the NRA.

Some other outed members of this bizarre pseudo-Christian money-cult are Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Thune(R-SD), Joe Pitts (R-PA) and our own Bill Nelson (D-FL).

What's especially interesting about "The Family" is the way its top members are sought out by their connection to the oil and aerospace industries... much the same way as Church of Satan was rumored to solicit their membership a few years ago. Sharlet goes into great detail about how the clandestine group of elitists who go about bringing us the Inaugural Prayer Breakfast every 4 years is also a group of men who idolize Adolph Hitler, King David and Osama Bin Laden but think of Jesus as "a guy who would be really great at sports". They also operate their own little version of Hitler Youth called Youth Corps.

When I look at Bill Nelson (one of the few Democrats in "The Family") in his NASA suit, smiling like the cat that ate the canary, I am immediately reminded of the confirmed Satanist, Jack Parsons, who pretty much invented the jet fuel for space travel along with the famed Nazi rocket scientist named Werner Von Braun...

But supposedly, Satanic Nazi Holocausts aren't very American... or are they?

Sink Is Running... And The Drain Is Open

2009-11-16T05:26:00.000-08:00

"Voice For Equality" Singing The Same Old Song...

UPDATE: Sink has finally made her position against the adoption ban solid. She can be seen in this video saying the same thing that the Herald quoted her as saying at the Equality Florida event. But it should be considered that this video was made after Sinks appearance in Broward, not before and that Sink really was misquoted by the newspaper... Therefore, I am not an asshole, she just didn't tell the crowd what she obviously told individuals. And the rest of the following post still stands true as well. However, it must be known that she DOES stand on the right side of the adoption ban and that she has now been willing to discuss it specifically.

I have condensed this post to its raw points, since it was getting way too long and boring to deal with:

Alex Sink (D), is a candidate for Governor of Florida in 2010.
She had not, until recently, been firm nor clear on any gay rights issues.
She was recently given an award by Equality Florida called "The Voice of Equality" where she gave a campaign speech even though, supposedly, Equality Florida was only giving her an award as CFO and not technically as a candidate for Governor (read as: an endorsement without the red tape of having to ask her to commit to her stance on the issues).
I went to the gala to get her opinion on the gay adoption ban and hopefully a statement of how she would work to remove it.
She did not specifically support repealing the ban in her speech at Equality Florida's gala even though a Miami Herald reporter wrote a misleading article which claims she did.
Her campaign staff ordered me not to record her on my digital video recorder and blocked my access to her. They did not want me to get her on record and made it known that I would not be able to ask the candidate any questions. (of course, I have all of this on video).
I raised a big stink about that.
Later, Alex Sink told a Florida TV news channel that she does support repealing the gay adoption ban in Florida.
So far, Alex Sink has specifically and verbally supported just that one agenda item for gays and lesbians, and I give myself some amount of credit for that because I really put pressure on her campaign and Equality Florida to be more specific and to actually express support on repealing the ban and not just let Sink get by with saying that she "looks forward to working with Nan Rich".
I am not really impressed with Alex Sink (D) and think of her as a noncommittal, political chameleon. Therefore, I will still be voting for Michael E. Arth (D) for Governor of Florida in the primary election.

Bittersweet Veterans Day - Dolphin Dems Back On Target

2009-11-11T19:07:00.000-08:00

While this Veterans Day was emotionally turbulent for most of America due to the recent attack at Fort Hood, there was a glimmer of hope offered to gay supporters of repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
At the Dolphin Democrats meeting in Wilton Manors, Vice Mayor Justin Flippin announced that Wilton Manors was the first city in Florida to unanimously pass a resolution to support the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (HR 1283) which would effectively repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Since then, 4 other cities and one county commission in Florida have followed suit.

When asked why city councils should pass such resolutions, Flippen said that this gives politicians in Florida the ammunition they need to support the legislation in the House, knowing that their communities are behind them. He expects other cities and counties to fall in line with this sort of resolution and he's not the only one.

According to Waymon Hudson on his blog; St Louis, Portland, San Francisco, Atlanta, Tuscon, Los Angeles and New York have also passed this resolution.

Also in attendance at the Veteran's Day meeting were police Chief Rick Perez, Michael Albetta(who gave an on-target speech about the upcoming Senate Healthcare debate), Julie Carson (who warmly presented Perez with recognition in light of his contributions), Colonel Robert Guida (who gave a fun retrospective on being in the Services prior to DADT) Stephen Gaskill (of the Stonewall Democrats), Mark LaFontaine and Scott Hall (the founder/coordinator of Gay American Heroes who was recently featured in Instinct Magazine along with Lieutenant Dan Choi in their Leading Men of 2009 article).

The meeting went without a hitch and there was a lot of buzz about how we can get a repeal of the gay adoption ban in Florida too... but more on that later.

I want to take this space to thank and congratulate the veterans in my life (my Dad, cousins, friends and the VFW Post 2857 in my hometown of Kankakee, IL) for their dedicated service to our country.

*Salute*

Note: This post was updated on December 08, 2009 to reflect a name change. I apologize to Mr. Albetta for previously attributing his speech to another Dolphin Dems member.