One of the last ads to come out against Proposition Hate ... I mean 8, in California was this hard-hitting critique of the religious denial of civil rights.
Although the election of Barack Obama as the next president is a harbinger of good changes, the simultaneous success of the anti-gay Proposition 8 in California (which repeals the equal rights of gays and lesbians to get married in that state) is a sign that bigotry is alive and well in America.
History may dwell on the ironic fact that the major financial force behind this "defense" of marriage as a "union of one man and one woman" was the Mormon Church or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Yes, that's right -- Mormonism: The recently invented religion that was essentially an excuse for polygamy. Even today some Mormons are arrested for raping young girls whom they claim as additional wives. Mormons failed in their quest to legalize multiple wives in America so now they declare themselves defenders of marriage itself. The fact is, they and their yes-voting allies are merely bullying bigots.
A prominent Republican told OplusO during the last election cycle that his constituents would let him vote any way he wanted to on economic and foreign policy issues so long as he continued to vote against gay marriage and abortion.
How sad is it that the last hope Republicans have to win the presidency this year is the "Bradley Effect" -- in other words, racism?
This isn't to say that they haven't relied upon, and overtly stoked, racism since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but it is pretty pitiful that they have absolutely nothing left other than an appeal to bigotry.
On October 14, 1931, Miss Ethel Merman first belted out Gershwin's "I Got Rhythm" in the Broadway premiere of "Girl Crazy". Also on October 14th, though a few years later, a very special star was born.
I got Geoffrey -- who could ask for anything more?
Connecticut's Supreme Court ruled Friday that gay couples have the right to marry, making the state the third behind Massachusetts and California to legalize such unions through the courts.
It comes just weeks before Californians go to the polls on a historic gay-marriage ballot question, the first time the issue will be put before voters.
To join the fight to protect equality in California during these last few weeks before the election go to the No On 8 web site.
Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin is being hidden from the press, apparently out of fear that she will embarrass herself and her party by saying something truthful about her beliefs and experience.
McCain announced that Palin was his choice on August 29th. Today is September 7th and we are still waiting for a real interview with Palin. Rumor has it that it will be at least two weeks before she grants an interview.
Perhaps she is merely being briefed on John McCain's myriad flip-flops. It is, after all, extremely difficult to keep up with how his position has shifted lately -- on taxes, war, veterans, torture, the economy, etc.
However, it is almost a certainty that she is being trained on how to avoid voicing any of her actual beliefs. You know, on things like Abortion, "Alaska First" and the coming Apocalypse.
While it is a viable personal opinion to believe that "abortion is murder," converting that belief into actual policy should require wrestling with the issue of what, precisely, the law should do to women who have abortions and the medical professionals who perform them. Given that death penalty advocates are most often conservative, one wonders where their courage went? Why not just come out and say it? "Abortion is the taking of an innocent life (i.e., "murder") and, therefore, calls for the death penalty or life-in-prison." Of course, that position is a BIG loser politically so the cowardly christians deceptively drop the logical conclusion from their stump speeches. Sarah "Pitbull" Palin is more the poodle when it comes to abortion penalties.
The same is true of her disingenuous disavowal of the Alaskan Independence Party, or AIP, which long favored succession from the United States. In other words, exactly the same thing that great American patriot Jefferson Davis demanded during the Civil War. The AIP is the third largest political party in Alaska. Sarah courted its members throughout her political career. The AIP's original founder was killed during an attempt to purchase plastic explosives. Sarah's husband was a confirmed member of the AIP for many years. Palin herself recorded supportive videos and never distanced herself from the AIP until it became a political liability. Obviously, anyone affiliated with it could be charged with anti-American, unpatriotic beliefs. How does Sarah "Barracuda" handle this situation? She runs from it.
And finally, what about the End Times? Sarah's church (Wasilla Assembly of God) preaches an ultra-conservative brand of evangelism. Gay people need to be "converted" into straights, Jews must be converted into christians, creationism should be taught as science (rather than science fiction), children should only be told that sex is a sin and abstinence is the answer and, conveniently, Alaska is one of the prophesied refuges for christians when god's apocalypse destroys us evil sinners. Kind of makes you wonder why Palin would want to leave the arctic version of the promised land and move to Satan Central in Washington, DC? Perhaps she has a plan to bring "god's will" to fruition?
