Get Out, Stay Out- Ken Mehlman and "Forgiveness"

Much has been said this weekend about OUT magazine's "Out 100" list ...and here whereGawker's Brian Moylan makes a brilliant case for why OUT's decision is both jarringly ill placed and wrongheaded..and rightly effing so.


Having read the write up that accompanied the article on Melhman I nearly spit coffee. "As someone who came out later in life I can say It gets better" he says. Please, its better for him because he's wealthy, conservative and most importantly DOESNT live in a state that hurled anti-gay policy around like grenades to make sure he can't EVER get married in them. He lives comfortably in one of the few states where it is better...but refuses to own up to the fact that its significantly less so in other parts of the nation because of his role as RNC chair. It hasn't gotten better for gay couples in the 11 states where they adopted the RNC's gay (southern) strategy and enshrined their state constitutions in bigotry to make sure gay people couldn't share their lives in any meaningful way.


I find the drum and strang on Melhman irksome because there have been very few conversations about him post coming out that even attempt to directly speak to his culpability as head of the party that made and continues to make being rabidly anti-gay a tentpole. Instead he's being lionized by OUT and more than a few apologists because he's out of the closet well after the damage has been done on the national scale and it is no longer politically expedient for him personally. There is in fact nothing heroic about being overwhelmingly opportunistic...and yet, here we are attempting to make excuses for those that haven't admitted wrongdoing. There's something so snide and disappointing in this narrative it makes me genuinely question the collective memory (and sanity) of the group he's profited off of maligning.

Wellsprings of Venom- The AFA and "Family Values"

Joe. My. God.: Star Parker: Gay People Make Us Sick:

The only political event that I've ever heard that approaches this sort of language is this "Family Values Summit", which frankly seems to have more in common with an Oi band performance than it does with the more...cautious rhetoric of a nonpartisan function. This is the AFA when it thinks its preaching to the chior. This is what they think and believe. Full stop. Its been unadultrated hatred and undistilled bigotry...but its been very informative... ahhh the internet. It really does have uses outside of pornography. Seeing the coded "family values" misdirect for what it is? May actually be something to thank them for. At the very least, the pretense of civility has at least evaporated in a spate of hate speech and righteous indignation. The Summit has proven to be a wellspring of such.

Its a fascinating notion that the Southern Poverty Law Center has categorized the American Family Association a hate group (explanation from the link), solely on the fact that it uses consistent disproven rhetoric and hate speech to further its anti-gay agenda, is so in line with right wing ideology that numerous GOP candidates for the presidency of the United States have shown up currying favor.The soundbites from its figurehead Tony Perkins (Right Wing Watch has compiled quite a list of inflammatory statements from the guy) are far from partisan and...only rarely deviate from the idea that gay people are going to destroy the world. How he's not advocating gas chambers yet speaks to incredible self control. These orginizations are not as benign as they position themselves to be. The National Orginization for Marriage may have once claimed that its merely interested in preserving marriage, the AFA may suggest its just about "family values", but more and more when one pays attention to the tone, language and frequency of anti-gay hostility in the interests of what they perceive "family interests" to be...their pretense that they're not homophobic and purely interested in politically advancing  that marriage is between a man and a woman (tm) evaporates. 

And now for some theme music. The National- Afraid of Everyone. Apt, no?

'via Blog this'

Trip Ups- North Carolina Politics and the Thinly Veiled Biases That Drive Anti-Gay Legislation

The Gist: NC Senator: "You're trying to trip me up":

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Two things come to mind when watching the above...utterly infuriating clip: 1.) Signorile doesn't have to TRY very hard to "trip up" Senator Forrester at all, 2.) The misconceptions and loaded rhetoric behind his reasons- "gay as unhealthy lifestyle", "the preservation of marriage" arguments just don't hold up over the slightest scrutiny.

People Hide Behind Masks For A Reason, Sir.

Joe. My. God.: DADT Repeal Forces Bigots Into Closet:

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Busy day, so just one thought on the angsting of figurehead bigot Mr. Sprigg;

If bigotry wasn't something to be ashamed of and keep behind closed doors...Klansmen wouldn't hide behind sheets and hoods. If they didn't know there was something to lose from their true selves being made public, they wouldn't conseal themselves. Could it be that the institutionalized discrimination you used to validate your view point with doesn't provide as much cover as it used to?

When those who have long sought to use their own personal biases to keep others in their "places" percieve that they have less of a leg to stand on, I'm putting it in the win column. It is of course a terrible pity that Sprigg and the like feel pressured to keep their bigotry to themselves. Now if you're wondering what to buy the closeted bigot that has everything, a suggestion: Hoods are very much in season this time of year, you'll fit right in.

Below is one of the most gorgeous songs I've heard in a long while-( natch for Caribou Coffee's playlist). Enjoy life.

A

Enemies w/ Names- More on North Carolina's SB 514

Now hear this, cats and kittens. The enemy has been named. Say what you will about the book of faces, but it has its uses- chief among them, information about the May 3rd vote on State Bill 514. You know, the one that will enshrine the state constitution in discrimination (unnecessary, because same sex marriage isn't legal in the state to begin with).

If the aftermath of today's rally is any indication, I anticipate a great deal of crazy ratcheted up on both sides. (An entry on the "discussion" I had with "the opposition" is forthcoming) Roughly 7 months of escalation and division to keep us firmly rooted in the past to endure. Should be a great deal of fun. How this sort of division is good for the state is even now beyond me.

On Orson Scott Card (Let's NOT be friends).

Ahhh Orson Scott Card. Nothing inspires an awkward debate about "supporting art vs. detesting the artist" more than this gent. Very often, those that adore the Enders Game series tend to find a comfortable Switzerland where they can love the stories (which they typically point out are about denouncing xenophobia and the like) and generally find the things they didn't know about the authors prolific and repugnant harping on "the homosexual". There are a great many anti-gay screeds by Card floating around the internet that can be unearthed with a casual Google search. (This one I especially like). In fact, its particularly hard to parse through the sheer amount of vitriol Card has written on the topic of "the homosexuals" and how many colorful responses there have been. I'd shovel through it to make the case...but its enough to merely google the man. His views are on record, and for the record, so darwinian its staggering. The fact that he's still marketable (what with his video game contracts and comic book publishing deals) speaks to how much work has to be done regarding equality and basic human decency.

Card can publish a "re-imagining" of Hamlet (another great send up of the lunacy here) making the titular character's father a marauding child molesting evil gay (uber-tired) trope and recieve little flack as so many hold up his sci-fi novels as the second coming, but I submit that there should and ought to be a corollary between an artists’ work and his or her political views…especially if said artist can speak to humanitarian interests in his works and be so outspoken against basic equality in his day to day life. Consider me a big believer in ethical consistency and on the tripe that is this Hamlet re-write and his numerous other transgressions on the issue of the day, Card is operating with entirely depleted social (and ethical) currency.

So props to the always amusing "Lets Be Friends Again" for this simple, to the point, and very justified takedown.

Proof of Life (I Feel Therefore I Am)

Linda Harvey: There's No Proof That LGBT People Exist | Gay Blog | Gay News:

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“There’s one big fact that’s not backed up. There is no proof that there’s ever anything like a gay, lesbian or bisexual or transgendered child, or teen or human. One of the other things you’re gonna see as I mentioned is a big campaign GLSEN’s gonna roll out this year calling for ‘respect,’ respect! Not just for people, but for homosexual lifestyle. The PR campaign to hold up gay as a good thing: the lifestyle, not the person, because there are no such humans.”

Its been a long day; classes, driving...fun filled holiday weekend recoveries...but all I have to say to the above is this: I feel therefore I am.

Beyond that- commentary like this, with the Xtian right bemoaning "lifestyle choice" understates the reality that religion in and of itself is a lifestyle choice. We're entirely more likely to be raised Christian in a "western" society where such religions are in the majority. We're socialized to perceive the world through a lens of pseudo-spirituality and its no excuse to justify abject bigotry and presume that because we're prone to seeing the world through a given lens, that other people do not exist. Its beyond calloused to claim that people who don't share your "values" are less valid (or in this case not real) based on a logical fallacy. But then, this woman has been making consistently similar soundbytes for quite a while, and its a piss poor argument to begin with. Ms. Harvey, scores of historical and sociological research begs to differ with you.

As far as lifestyle choices are concerned, I'm choosing to avoid those of her ilk, they don't make their God (tm) look so great...

Bloc Party- because feeling = meaning.

Superheroes Can Fight Anything- Except "fanboy" Racism. (Ult. Spiderman "Controversy" breakdown)

Long time no see. Due to excrutiating technical difficulties, I've been out of commission this week. Its sad how much internet withdrawal I've gone through. (I haven't felt this cut off from civilization since I moved to Eastern North Carolina the first time)

A lot's gone on in the world since the great crash, some more interesting than others.

Defamation for fun and profit. And fail.

Judge: Sherrod Defamation Suit Against Breitbart Can Proceed | TPMMuckraker

The lesson? Running a burn campaign on low level burrecrats (and otherwise kindly old ladies) by editing their meaningful and introspective testimony about how racism can lead to poor service and is wrong because you're making a name for yourself as a Republican shil is...about as douchey, illegal and unethical as it sounds. Proceed to Trial and do not pass go.

• More "fun" reading on Breitbart (and his "technical" employee facing federal felony charges). (Also...there's an African American conservative group called ....AACORNS. *headdesk*)

Its Like Watching a Morally Bankrupt, Dispicable Trainwreck...

There's something particularly troubling about how the press has been covering the tragedy in Oslo. When they're not blatantly diverting the subject back to their discomfort zones (Look, over there Muslim terrorists!) , or Beck's classicly horrifying "Those kids were practically hitler youth (so its not AS bad some nut killed them all)" they're pontificating on Breivik's methodically chilling manifesto and coming up with THIS disturbing assessment:

"As for a climactic conflict between a once-Christian West and an Islamic world that is growing in numbers and advancing inexorably into Europe for the third time in 14 centuries, on this one, Breivik may be right."(emphasis mine)

Its difficult to understand what anyone would have to gain from not uniformly denouncing someone who is capable of the cold blooded murder of innocents, and further an odd intersection between troubling and fascinating to watch some do this- all in the name of being loosely affiliated with the same (tremendously common) religion.

When involving Breivik, one hears pleas for nuance and understanding regarding what it is the writers and the villain share- belonging to an aggregate. The post Brayton showcases by Adam Serwer does a great job illuminating this position, especially given many of these same conservative writers eagerness to paint the "run of the mill" threat to America (tm) as being anti-American, Anti-Christian and most assuredly of the Muslim faith.

Sewer's article raises the serious concern with the tone of the argument here- not that they're writing and responding to a very real human tragedy...but they're responding with what a friend on the book of faces rightly categorized as a "No True Scotsman" logical fallacy (which the wiki-page helpfully provided Bill O'Riley's response to the Oslo massacre as an example). "Why, surely no one belonging to our group could be responsible for such awful things. But everybody from those OTHER groups they're monsters worthy of being suppressed and chased from this American life... but please, show some nuanced consideration for how intricately different we as Christians can be. Please excuse me while I demonize everyone practicing a religion I know little about."

Jon Stewart nails this bizzaro ideological contortion brilliantly.

Some days, I shudder for the universe. Oh what a world my parents gave me...

Sen. Al Franken: Mythbuster.

Speaking of feeble defenses and mis-apropriated sociological research; Al Franken absolutely dessimates the testimony of Focus of the Family representative's ...rather creative (false) assumptions about the article he sites.

The Box Turtle Bulletin highlights that here.

I'm not sure whether to be dismayed or amused at the aftermath of the DOMA exchange above. Especially considering Right Wing Conservatives are still clinging to the belief that the study cited excluded same sex nuclear families and Sen. Franken was flat out wrong.

That is, until the researcher responsible for the study chimed in, claiming that the Senator was correct in reading that nuclear families in this (or any) case meant two parents related to children by adoption or birth, and same sex families were included in the study. Same economic, emotional and psychological benefits. Period. Granted, the Good As You Article above is an indicator cold hard scientific evidence of normalcy isn't useful when countering those with fingers in their ears.

Music by Hey Champ.

Guess We Should Decriminalize Murder Too...

Another gem from the fine folks at GOProud (single handedly providing cover for arch-conservative hubris). An organization that of late has championed Tea Party darling Michelle Bachmann, despite her saying they were "of satan", an organization that falls all over itself to justify the smugly conservative in their disdain for the homosexual. Despite being an organization that is or alleges to be homosexual (Bachmann has argued that the homosexual is "anything but gay"). Have we discussed Uncle Toms, class?

Joe. My. God.: GOProud's LaSalvia: Being Gay-Bashed Proves That Hate Crimes Laws Don't Work

Hm. Good to know. You'll be happy to note that the Department of Justice is now considering throwing out murder laws and the death penalty because they don't prevent some people from committing them.... how do these people get airtime? There are smarter community college students who aren't ever going to see a fraction of the money this appearance makes.

Watch this video (by the Friendly Fires) You'll feel better about the world's suckiness.