Had Enought Yet?

Nationally:

They're attacking Michael J. Fox because of his illness.

They've attacked an African American candidate for being African American.

They're now using Gay Marriage to "reignite" their troops for the election.

Locally:

Kerry Healey puts out a racist ad, claims it's not about race (but some in the Boston community believe it is racist)

The Mass "Family" Association also use the New Jersey decision to ask their members to vote Republican (you have to get their emails they don't do it where they can get caught in public)

"It will not be enough for all our supporters to vote. We need everyone to spread the word to their friends, family and neighbors. We need everyone to make sure that their pastor reminds all his congregants that it is their Christian duty to vote. Values voters were instrumental in returning President Bush to office in 2004, with the most obvious result being two pro-family justices being appointed to the Supreme Court."

Meanwhile:

• More soldiers are dying in Iraq. October has been the bloodiest month this year.
• The President no longer wants to use the words "Stay the Course" even though
  that is what we are doing (I guess not saying it out loud will make it sound better)
• The economy is going down the toilet, Massachusetts is losing jobs by the hour.
• Americans are getting profiled and searched while riding the subway.
• Companies responsible for the BIG DIG problems are now the ones we're relying on to inspect the problems they've caused after a fatal accident.
• Since the Goodridge decision in Massachusetts, more people are getting covered by their partner's healthcare, more people are allowed to make medical decisions for their loved ones.
• Oh yeah, no heterosexual marriage has been negatively impacted by two gay people getting married.

Again, I ask you: Have you had enought yet?

I have a Mother-in-law too!

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a ceremony for the new global AIDS Coordinator Dr. Mark Dybul. If you recall, during the ceremony Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice referred to Dr. Dybul's partner's mother as Dr. Dybul's mother-in-law. Simple enough right? Or so you would think....

It seems that since that lovely swearing in ceremony the "Religious" Right has been going crazy. The Agapepress has written about it almost every other day:

At the recent swearing-in ceremony of Dr. Mark Dybul -- an open homosexual -- as the nation's global AIDS coordinator, Secretary Rice referred to the mother of Dybul's homosexual partner as his "mother-in-law." Peter Sprigg of the Family Research Council (FRC), among others, reacted to the secretary's remarks shortly thereafter, calling them "profoundly offensive" in light of the Bush administration's lukewarm endorsement of a federal marriage protection amendment.

World Nut Daily asked the President's Press Secretary about it last Friday:

The White House on Friday offered no detailed explanation when asked by Les Kinsolving, WND's correspondent, about "how does this adhere to the president's belief in policy that marriage is between one man and one woman?"

"The Secretary said what she said, and she was showing due deference to the people involved," was the response from Tony Snow, Bush's spokesman.

While current reports show that over 600,000 Iraqis are dead from the war and October has been one of the bloodiest months ever for American troops, all these people are concerned with is the use of the term "mother-in-law"!

The use of the "mother-in-law" term normally reserved for legally married heterosexual families rankled Peter Sprigg, vice president for policy at the Family Research Council.

Only in your small mind Peter. To me the term "Pro-family" usually refers to someone who actually cares about the family (not just certain select families) but that doesn't stop you or the other anti-gay organizations from using it.

Do you think the reason they keep using the term "pro-family" whenever they describe themselves is because no one believes them?

Massresistance Radio Show SHOCKER!

David Parker was NOT on the show. I can't believe it! Ok, maybe I can believe it, you see, David "Mad Dad" Parker was one of the speakers at last week's hatefest "Liberty Sunday" and "Liberty Sunday" was held in Massachusetts because it was billed as:

Massachusetts is the only state that has legalized gay marriage, but eight states will vote in November on amendments banning gay marriage.

Now, Massresistance/Article 8 et al are still reciting the "same sex marriage is not legal here" mantra (it's how they started their show today) so I guess they weren't happy with Liberty Sunday. On the show this morning they also continued their attack on Governor Mitt "Did ya here the one about Massachusetts" Romney.

The show was the usual borefest. They had some unknown people running office somewhere in Massachusetts (I'm sure these people's potential constituents can't even receive the radio signal). Somehow they got to talking about Santa Claus and gay sex. I don't really know how they got on this topic but my husband reminded me that if Santa Claus is gay he is GOING to have to start working out.

All in all it's an hour I will never get back. Luckily I was multi-tasking: writing a check out to Brian Linsky (he's great!), finishing my Halloween costume and thanking my husband for buying Activia yougurt, it's delicious!

The Road Not Taken

Brian McGrory of the Boston Globe writes a piece about the speech that Willard Romney should have given on Sunday night at the Tremont Temple Baptist Church. Here's a snippet:

I am, for the record, opposed to gay marriage. I believe, as should be clear to anyone and everyone listening and watching tonight, that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that every child should have a mother and a father.

But I've been reminded of a few things in the 2 1/2 years since the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts legalized gay marriage.

I've been reminded that experience, real life experience, should influence ideology. I've been reminded that fears aren't always a precursor to reality. I've been reminded that the human spirit not only endures amid times of significant change, but it thrives.

More than anything else, I've learned over these 2 1/2 years that my marriage to Ann has not been affected one iota by the legalization of gay marriage. My sons' marriages are no less strong and loving. The marriages of my neighbors and of my friends have not suffered because men are allowed to marry men and women are allowed to marry women.

It's worth a read.

This article reminded me of something I would also like to make a note of that I found ironic when it happened. One of Romney's sons was married early in 2004 (I don't know if it was Tag or Biff or whatever their names are) I remember because the GLOBE did a story on the younger Romney's marriage. I recall wondering if he and his bride-to-be were getting married quickly before history making May 17, 2004 date. I thought this because the story stated that the younger Romney had only met his new wife the year before. By that time I had already known my future husband longer than the younger Romney knew his future bride only he could get married whenever he wanted, I had to wait at least until 2004.

Back to Brian McGrory's story, his ending of the "fake" Romney speech is precious:

Our fight is a long and important one. We need to pick the battles that matter most.

Yeah, imagine. A politician who's honest. A politician who doesn't pander.

Supreme Court Will Not Review Boy Scout's Case

In what can only be called a major blow to anti-gay activists, the United States Supreme Court has refused to hear a case brought forth by the Boy Scouts who claimed discrimination:

The justices on Monday let stand a unanimous California Supreme Court ruling that the city of Berkeley may treat the Berkeley Sea Scouts differently from other nonprofits because the Scouts bar atheists and gays.

You see, the Berkeley Sea Scouts used to get a free public boat slip to use at their leisure. However, the City of Berkeley said that because they discriminate against gays and atheists they had to start paying for the slip. The Boy Scouts claimed this was violating the group's free speech and freedom of association rights and didn't want to pay so they sued.

The California Supreme Court said "local governments are under no obligation to extend benefits to organizations that discriminate." and the US Supreme Court agreed.

The Sea Scouts blame Berkeley elected officials who disapprove of the Boy Scouts' membership policies. Yeah, the policy that allows them to discriminate!

Berkeley would have given the Sea Scouts a free slip if they broke ties with the Boy Scouts or disavowed the policy against gays and atheists. You can guess what was more important to them.

In full disclosure, I must confess that I am an Eagle Scout, however, when I was in the Boy Scouts there was no honor in discrimination.

Lordy! More Gays in the GOP!

While I was in the City of Brotherly Love this morning, I happened to pick up USA Today and saw this little tidbit:
It's from an article on how the GOP plays it both ways. They bash gays and lesbians for political gain during the elections but then put gay and lesbians in very prominent places in their administration. In the above picture, Secretary of State Rice swears in the new global AIDS coordinator Mark Dybul. As first lady Laura Bush looked on, Rice singled out his partner, Jason Claire, (who was holding the bible Dybul was swearing in on) and Claire's mother. Rice referred to her as Dybul's "mother-in-law."

In fact it seems like the higher ups in all the Republican offices are gay! Someone just outted Florida's Republican candidate for governor too! Who knew the Republican party was gaier than the first row at a Barbra Streisand concert!

Touché Margery

Margery Eagan of the Boston Herald has a good column on the Mark Foley scandal. She writes about the scapegoating of gay men by the conservative "spin doctors" and details some interesting issues that haven't been addressed by the MSM:

Yet yesterday, as church bells tolled across Amish country in memory of five young girls who were shot to death by a man who apparently intended to sexually assault them in their one-room schoolhouse - two weeks after another man shot and raped girls in a Colorado schoolhouse - no one was making any sweeping statements about the predatory instincts of straight men.

Nor should they.

There are more or less regular straight men and more or less regular gay men. When either variety starts hitting on underage children - male or female - they cease to be regular.

Touché Margery!

It's a terrible shame how they are trying to portray this as another "gay scandal" (they tried to do it with the Catholic Church too and failed terribly) when it is a problem with DEMENTED MEN period. Because of their smoke and mirrors "gay show" they are overlooking the problems that are going on all over the country and not dealing with it effectively.

How many more Dateline segments are going to show married heterosexual men showing up at a house to have sex with a minor? We need to stop the gay witch hunts and start dealing with the real problem, adult predators, regardless of sexual orientation.

There's a New Blog in Town...

and it's called MassResistanceRadioWatch and will cover the weekly MassResistance Radio show:

Every Wednesday, I will provide a recap of the low points of the Mass Resistance Infomercial so you can spend your weekends doing more enjoyable activities. I will also provide background about Ami, Brian and the cast of reprobates that appear on the "show" each week.

I've got to give the Aguy a lot of credit for taking this on. Listening to the show is incredibly painful and very un-thought provoking. I hope his IQ doesn't suffer! But he does get to look forward to hearing the confirmed bachelor C.J. Doyle and "Mad Dad" David Parker who are two of the most frequent guests of the show.

You Leave the Country and The GOP goes NUTS!

Wow, you leave the country for a week and so much happens! (My husband and I finally took our long delayed honeymoon and we really couldn't get much information about the US on the only English speaking channel we received.) We did have access to the internet for a few days so I did get to read about and post briefly about the RI marriage decision and Republican Mark Foley's inappropriate emails.

• Who knew that Lt. Gov. Sherry Healey, oops, I mean Kerry Healey, would not be able to stand on her own merits (does he have any?) and would go so negative so quickly. Before we left she was running ads that said she was tough on crime yet it seems that gun violence and overall crime has increased since she's been in office.
• It appears that the Republican leadership knew about Mark Foley's inappropriate emails a LONG time ago yet they did nothing to protect the underage youth he was sending emails to.
• The mother of openly gay general manager of the MBTA Daniel A. Grabauskas, Patricia Grabauskas-Caruso, used her son's name in a fund raising letter for gubernatorial nominee Sherry Healey's running mate Reed Hillman. The Florida resident wrote that her son was a good friend of Hillman and strongly supports him. Of course the Healey campaign says that the letter was "an honest mistake".
• Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, in an interview on Fox News, suggested that current House GOP leaders reacted cautiously to initial reports of Foley's e-mails for fear of being perceived as gay-bashing. Funny, they had no problem verbally bashing gay families when they were trying to put discrimination into the US Constitution! It's obvious that they are now using the "gay bashing" defense because they were caught in a cover up. The issue is about failing to protect underage children from predators.

And some good news:

Wendy Becker and Mary Norton, after 18 years and two children, were finally wed on October 8th in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

BTW, the news about the U.S. which dominated the airwaves in Europe was not about Mark Foley's emails but rather about the Republican coverup of the emails and, of course, the Iraq war. It was a sad reminder that more soldiers have been killed in Iraq than the number the people who died on September 11th, especially since Iraq had nothing to do with the September 11th tragedy.

Daily Show: Gays in the Military

Tangled Up in Bleu

Hat tip to Allan for this clip from the Daily Show.

I recopied the comments that were listed on the last video clip since that clip was discontinued.

The Real Men of the GOP!

What is this? The party of ¨morality¨ has been caught protecting one of its own a la the Catholic Church. It seems the GOP Rep Mark Foley from Florida was caught (most likely months ago but was shielded):

The Florida Republican resigned Friday amid scrutiny of his e-mail and instant-message contacts with pages. The six-term Florida congressman was co-chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus and a prominent backer of legislation to crack down on online predators and criminalize child pornography on the Internet.

AND, it is alleged that the GOP leadership of the House KNEW about what he had done and didn´t turn him over to authorities until ABC asked the Rep about some emails! Where´s the outrage? Where the Focus on the Family, the American Family Association? Massresistance has constantly asked where the real men are in the Republican party, here they are, these apparently ARE the real men of the GOP.