An Open Letter to the American Bishops

An Open Letter to the American Bishops
on the Issue of Homosexuality


In 1974, the delegates of Dignity’s first national convention requested in a letter, that a dialogue be opened between the American bishops and the members of the Catholic gay and lesbian community. With very few exceptions that letter was ignored.

Now, nearly thirty years later, once again I call upon the American bishops to open that dialogue.

For over thirty years, I have ministered as priest and psychotherapist to lesbians and gays. I helped found Dignity New York to provide a safe and loving community within the Catholic Church for gay people. This June will mark the twenty-fifth year I have given retreats for lesbians and gays, at Kirkridge, an ecumenical retreat center.

I have written three books on gay spirituality: The Church and the Homosexual, Taking a Chance on God, and Freedom, Glorious Freedom. I also published an autobiography on my own spiritual journey as a gay priest. As a result of my experience, I have come to the conclusion that what is at stake at this point in time is not only the spiritual and psychological health of many gay and lesbian Catholics and other lesbian and gay Christians. What is at stake is your moral authority to teach on this issue.

In the past, when you undertook a listening process to hear what the Holy Spirit was saying through the People of God, you won our respect. We respected you when you made your statements on the economy, on nuclear warfare and, especially, your aborted effort to draw up a letter on the role of women in the Church. You listened carefully to what women had to say and, and drew up your statements responding to what you heard from women. These actions gave us gay and lesbians reason to hope that the Holy Spirit would lead you into a spirit of willingness to listen to us gay and lesbian Catholics.

What is at stake now is your own moral authority! Unless we gay and lesbian Catholics receive the message that you take us seriously and are willing to listen carefully to what the Holy Spirit is saying to you through our lives and our experience, your judgments on homosexuality will be, for the most part, ignored and you will lose what authority you have left to deserve to be listened to with respect on this issue.

I have never heard the same level of courage from the American Bishops in dealing with the Vatican as that shown by the Major Superiors of Religious Men in response to the egregious document issued by the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith, entitled, “Some Considerations Concerning Homosexual Persons.” [NOTE: It’s actually not clear to which document McNeill is referring. It could be either the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s 2003 document, Considerations Regarding Proposals to Give Legal Recognition to Unions Between Homosexual Persons, or its 2005 document, Criteria for the Discernment of Vocations with Regard to Persons with Homosexual Tendencies in View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders. Then again, McNeill may be referring to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops statement, Ministry to Persons with a Homosexual Inclination:
Guidelines for Pastoral Care.]

[The Major Superiors of Religious Men write:] “We view (this document) as a hindrance to the Church leaders of the United States in this most difficult and sensitive area of human living. . . . We are shocked that the statement calls for discrimination against gay men and lesbian women. We find the reasoning for supporting such discrimination to be strained, unconvincing and counterproductive to our statements and actions to support the pastoral needs and personal dignity of such persons. Far from a help to the Bishops and other religious leaders in the United States Catholic Church, the statement complicates our already complex ministry to all people.

“Moreover we find the arguments used to justify discrimination based on stereotypes and falsehoods that are out of touch with modern psychological and sociological understandings of human sexuality. We regret such actions by the CDF and we reaffirm our support for the human rights of all our brothers and sisters.”

As a gay Catholic theologian and psychotherapist, I am fully aware of the enormous destruction recent Vatican documents have caused in the psychic life of young Catholic gays, and of the violence they will provoke against all gay people. I find myself in a dilemma: what kind of faith and trust can I place in a teaching authority that I see clearly acts in an unloving, hateful and destructive way toward my gay family and is more interested in defending its institutional interest than it is in truth and justice?

In the name of the thousands of gay and lesbian Catholics and other Christians to whom it has been my God-given privilege to minister, I make this statement:

At this point, the ignorance and distortion of homosexuality, the use of stereotypes and falsehoods in official Church documents, forces us who are gay Catholics to issue the institutional Church a serious warning. Your ignorance of homosexuality can no longer be excused as inculpable; it has become of necessity a deliberate and malicious ignorance. In the name of Catholic gays and lesbians everywhere, we cry out “Enough!”

Enough! Enough of your distortions of Scripture. You continue to claim that a loving homosexual act in a committed relationship is condemned in Scripture, when competent scholars are nearly unanimous in acknowledging that nowhere in Scripture is the problem of sexual acts between two gay men or lesbian women who love each other, ever dealt with, never mind condemned. You must listen to biblical scholars to find out what Scripture truly has to say about homosexual relationships.

Enough! Enough of your efforts to reduce all homosexual acts to expressions of lust, and your refusal to see them as possible expressions of a deep and genuine human love. The second group you must listen to are competent professional psychiatrists and psychotherapists from whom you can learn about the healthy and positive nature of mature gay and lesbian relationships. They will assure you that homosexual orientation is both unchosen and unchangeable and that any ministry promising to change that orientation is a fraud.

Enough! Enough of your efforts through groups like Courage and other exgay ministries to lead young gays to internalize self-hatred with the result that they are able to relate to God only as a God of fear, shame and guilt and lose all hope in a God of mercy and love. What is bad psychology has to be bad theology!

Enough! Enough again, of your efforts to foster hatred, violence, discrimination and rejection of us in the human community. We gay and lesbian Catholics pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you into a spirit of repentance. You must publicly accept your share of the blame for gay murders and bashing and so many suicides of young gays and ask forgiveness from God and from the gay community.

Enough, also, of driving us from the home of our mother, the Church, and attempting to deny us the fullness of human intimacy and sexual love. You frequently base that denial by an appeal to the dead letter of the “natural law.” Another group to whom you must listen are the moral theologians who, as a majority, argue that natural law is no longer an adequate basis for dealing with sexual questions. They must be dealt with within the context of interpersonal human relationships.

Above all else, you must enter into dialogue with the gay and lesbian members of the Catholic community. We are the ones living out the human experience of a gay orientation, so we alone can discern directly in our experience what God’s spirit is saying to us.

And for the first time in history you have gay and lesbian Catholic communities of worship and prayer who are seeking individually and collectively to hear what the Spirit is saying to them in their gay experience - what experiences lead to the peace and joy of oneness with the Spirit of God and what experiences lead away from that peace and joy!

God gave you the commission of discerning the truth. But there is no mandate from Jesus Christ to “create” the truth. We pray daily that the Holy Spirit will lead you to search humbly for the truth concerning homosexuality through dialogue with your lesbian sisters and gay brothers.

The only consolation I can offer gay and lesbian Catholics in the meantime is the profound hope that the very absurdity and hateful spirit of recent Vatican documents will lead gay Catholics to refuse them and recognize the contradiction of their message and that of Jesus who never once spoke a negative word concerning homosexuals.

I work, hope and pray that lesbian and gay Catholics and other gay Christians will exercise their legitimate freedom of conscience, discerning what God is saying to them directly through their gay experience. I hope, too, that they will be able to de-fang the poisons of pathologically homophobic religion, accepting the good news that God loves them and accepts them as gays and lesbians and refusing to be caught in the vortex of self-hatred vis-à-vis a God of fear.

I believe that we are at the moment of a special “kairos” in this matter. The Holy Spirit is “doing something new.” I was recently the guest at a gay ecumenical community that established homes for adult retarded people in the city of Basel in Switzerland. The extraordinary spirit of love and compassion that permeated that community was a foretaste of what lies in the future. I believe there is a vast reservoir of human and divine love that has remained until now untapped because of prejudice and homophobia. The Spirit is calling on you to help release that vast potential of human and divine love through your action sat this national conference.

Please be assured that the actions of Soulforce and Dignity at your national conference are based in profound respect and love. We pray and hope that the same Holy Spirit who has graciously liberated us who are gay to self-respect and self-love will liberate in you, our Catholic leaders, a profound love for your gay brothers and lesbian sisters and melt away all prejudice and judgmentalism in your hearts. May you make us welcome as full members in your family in Christ.

May God bless your efforts!

Sincerely in Christ
John J. McNeill

The Vatican Support of Hatred and Laws to Imprison and Kill GLBT People Continues in the name of Jesus Christ

Today, December 10 the United Nations celebrates the 60th anniversary of Human Rights Day and for the first time in its history the UN General Assembly will consider, this week or next, the issue of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights.
There are 86 countries in the world (nearly half the countries on earth) that still have a total ban on gay men and a smaller number also have a ban on same sex between women, the penalty for being gay in these 86 countries range from a few years to life imprisonment. In a least seven of these counties the sentence is death.
The Vatican, while not able to vote, is very influential at the United nations and they have vehemently opposed the Declaration calling for the global decriminalization of homosexuality being presented by the French and fully endorsed by the 27 nations of European Union.
The Vatican is using a convoluted argument to justify its opposition to this declaration. Archbishop Migliore while referring to the Catechism’s passage on “unjust discrimination” also suggests that outlawing discrimination through a United Nations declaration would pressure states which do not recognize same-gender marriage to change their laws.
The Director of Vatican radio, Father Frederico Lombardi defended the archbishop’s remarks saying “no one wants the death penalty or jail or fines for homosexuals”. Really?
It has been suggested to me that the Catholic Church is against Capital Punishment under any circumstances but that is not totally true. Referring to the same Catechism, paragraph 2266 and in a later revision paragraph 2267, the Church “does not exclude recourse to the death penalty”
In other words, in order to protect society from “behavior harmful to people’s rights and to the basic rules of civil society” the Vatican can safely, in accordance with its rule book, defend its opposition to this proposed UN declaration and thus endorse the laws which deny basic Human Rights to a group of people that it feels is harmful to civil society, that being gay men and women who want to live peacefully and legally with their chosen life partners.
I know of no person who would act to deny any church or church leader the right to lead their flock in accordance with its rules. However it is a sad commentary that instead of supporting this UN declaration that would enhance the dignity of millions of people worldwide, the Vatican instead chose to stand on the side of tyranny.

Catholic Priests Should be Outed

The post election statement by the Catholic Bishops regarding their victory stated that their support for amendment 2 “was not motivated by discrimination or animosity towards gays and lesbians. Contrary to what may have been stated in the media, this amendment does not change existing laws or ordinances. It does not prevent cities or counties from passing ordinances allowing people in other living arrangements to obtain health or other benefits”. Indeed, it does not change existing laws but it opens those laws to be unconstitutional in the State of Florida

Well, I am a patient and generous person when it comes to viewing the other perspective, at least most of the time, in this case the Catholic Bishops simply lied. They knew what happened in Michigan when a similar amendment was approved by the voters of that state. That information was made available to them via media statements, editorials, commentaries and pleading letters to the editors, yet they, the Catholic Bishops, vehemently dismissed this information. Domestic partner benefits were taken away in Michigan, people lost their health care benefits and there is now besides all the psychological pain and suffering Catholic Bishops have imposed by their pedophile priests, real blood on their hands.

So now it begins, David Caton, the homophobe extraordinaire from Brandon has begun his Crusade to deny our community hard fought basic Civil Rights. He could have chosen a law suit, which was the downfall of domestic partner benefits in Michigan but he decided to go the route of “petitioning the people”, the same people who the Catholic Bishops convinced, their “sheep”, via their pulpits to continue this agenda of hate. Trust me, the Catholic Bishops and their gay priests will be on board for this, there is nothing worse than a homophobic homophobe. I am thinking it is probably a good time to start announcing those names. After all, this is a war, a cultural war and all is fair.

I can think of no greater insult to the cause of Jesus Christ than those who think they have moral leadership while diminishing the lives of many millions of humans who have already come to full life. The hottest place in Hell is preserved for those who promote ignorance and participate in spiritual violence.

The Final Screwing of America - George W. You Could Have Used Some Lubricant

One would have thought that George W. Bush would have made some last minute attempt to save the image that he tried to create for Middle America. You know, the folks who thought him to be a God while all the time he was screwing them into poverty. The Middle, Middle Class who work hard every day at jobs which offer little reward other than a salary, health benefits and a small pension. Tedious jobs that go nowhere, have no personal reward other than providing shelter, place food on the table and fund the education of children.

Now G.W. and his Senate friends, friends who supported the bail out of their rich Wall Street comrades, are refusing to support an initiative to support the US Automobile Industry. Why? Very simple, they want to break the Unions, in this case the UAW.

I love it when College Professors complain that a UAW worker without a College education makes more money than they do. One complaint suggests that Auto Workers make 148,000 a year and college professors make 78,000 plus 27% in benefits. He doesn’t break down the benefit part of the UAW worker but he extracts that from the College Professor’s. He also says nothing about the paid Sabbatical time that College Professors get nor the fact that College Professors are doing something that they want to do, not something they have to do in order to secure their families. Keep in mind, a college graduate, or Professor, could always apply for a job building cars if their object was simply to make money. No one asked them to choose to be a College Professor, that was their choice.

But I digress, I was talking about G.W. Bush and how he screwed America. Do you remember Enron? Ken Lay was a big G.W. supporter. The fall of Enron should have alerted all American’s to the coming disaster. Enron was a company that had no production; it created nothing but speculation and caused a major energy problem in California. To be sure America, from Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and G.W. we have persisted in selling off our manufacturing capabilities in the name of “Globalization”. That theory works for everyone except the soon to be gone American Middle Class.

The American Middle Class has become a victim of Capitalism. Capitalism as it is practiced in America today will reduce the American people to third World status.
George W. Bush has succeeded where Ronald Regan had failed, he has destroyed the American Dream.

African Americans Vote to Enshrine Discrimination

The results of this election are certainly full of mixed emotions and my personal nightmare came true. Barack Obama motivated the African American Community to the polls and in the meantime the African American Pastors motivated their flock to vote Yes on 2 in Florida and Yes on Prop 8 in California. For sure, and by the numbers, they were not the only ones, but they are the ones who can most identify with discrimination in this country. They voted overwhelmingly for Yes on 2 and Prop 8. For the GLBT Community it was a Win/Lose election. Most of us wanted Obama, but some of us knew that “Gay Marriage” as it was identified in Amendment 2, was not going to go over well in the African American Community. I don’t quite get it especially knowing that over the decades that I have been living, many in the GLBT Community have worked so hard to promote equality of the races and have worked hard to ensure African American Civil Rights. It concerns me that we are moving into a new model of hatred, a model, once again promoted by religious fanaticism.

The passage of Amendment 2 in Florida is an example of a majority terrorizing a minority, discrimination, pure and simple, what happened in California with the passage of Propositin 8 is simply inhuman.

I know the President Elect may think that he has a lot more on his mind than the Civil Rights of the GLBT Community. However, nothing is more important in this country than the Civil Rights of all citizens, without that we are just another “Banana Republic”. So, I would urge President Elect Obama to continue thinking forward and stand by his word to secure equality for all Americans.

We need to put our heads together and think about how we can make change. We have to reach out to those who do not understand us, we have to change minds.

Bart
Nill illigitimi carborundum

Catholic Bishops - Misinformed or Just Plain Liars

I would like to respond to Frank J. Dewane’s , the Roman Catholic Bishop of Venice and his staff on their recent comments in a number of publications throughout Florida. The title of an article in Ft. Myers was “It isn’t discrimination, its tradition”. To be honest “tradition” should never trump reality. It was tradition to think that the world was flat and for centuries by Bishop Dewane’s Church. They, the Roman Bishops forced that theory on all humankind at the time. It is also certain that Bishop Dewane’s community of Bishops took it upon themselves to hide illegal abuse of children. I know they, the Bishops, want to forget their collusion and slide it under the rug but it is not going to happen as long as he and his Community of Bishops insist on perpetrating discrimination and crimes against innocent taxpaying US Citizens. The Roman Bishop pronounces that no one will lose any benefits by the passage of Amendment 2. The Bishop is either naive or a liar. The truth is that those promoting this initiative, when and if passed, will immediately pursue the elimination of domestic partner benefits. They did that in Michigan and Kentucky and when they can free up enough money from their Crusade in California they will do the same in every other State where these amendments have been passed. Bishop Dewane apparently has no real dog in this fight, as a bishop of the Catholic Church his Health Care insurance is fully covered, he will have a nice cushy place to rest his head every night in a Catholic Palace. I know that priests who want to speak out against discrimination are stuck in the reality of their circumstances and are fearful of being homeless should they speak truth to power. In the meantime people are struggling in this country, retirees are losing their nest eggs, people are losing their jobs, more and more people are becoming homeless and the only thing the Bishop of Venice seems to be worried about is diminishing the lives of same gender couples. I think the Bishop needs to stop taking his orders from a fax from the Vatican and start being a Pastor.

Venice Florida - Roman Catholic Bishop is a Liar

Venice Florida - Catholic Bishop is a Liar

I was born and raised in Philadelphia, the Cradle of Liberty. When I was twelve years old my Club and I, the Eagles, would hop a trolley car and carry our flag to downtown Philadelphia and have a Club meeting in either Independence Hall or Carpenter’s Hall. Back in those days Philadelphia did not recognize the importance of the “Tourist Trade” so the keepers of those National Treasures let us kids have our meetings in those hallowed halls.
Even then, we kids understood the importance and the meaning of Democratic Republic theory. Sadly, most Americans and some Religious Communities who take their orders from other nations don’t understand the meaning of Democratic Republic. Our forefathers were very thoughtful in allowing most religions free to practice without harm or prejudice.
All Americans should be grateful that the men who met in Philadelphia in 1776 were so forethoughtful that they established our Nation’s government in a way that the majority would not be in a position to subjugate any minority. They created a Constitution that would allow all minorities to protest their subjugation to majority rule. They also protected religious communities from government control by ensuring that the State would not establish a religion. In other words, practice your religion as you see fit, but keep it to yourself. Impose your religious beliefs on your flock, those who choose to live under your rules, don’t break any of our laws, leave the kids alone, and let other American’s live as they believe. That is the American Way.
We kids, way back then, having our meetings at Independence Hall in Philadelphia understood, as our forefathers understood, that there would be times when the minority would be overwhelmed by a wealthy majority. But we also understood that people of good conscience would prevail.
The Catholic Diocese of Venice is playing fair in promoting its religious beliefs by supporting Amendment 2 in its Parish Bulletins this past Sunday. While I won’t dispute their right to promote bigotry and hatred I do dispute their premise that Amendment 2 is about “Gay marriage”. First of all “Gay Marriage” is illegal in Florida. Beyond that I am sure that the Catholic Church has absolutely no reason to fear that any gay person will be knocking on their doors asking them to perform a “gay marriage”. It just ain’t going to happen, so relax and don’t soil your cassocks.
Amendment two is truly about hate and ignorance, something the Catholic Church has promoted for centuries and probably one of the better reason it should just go away and just be part of mankinds terrible history.
While amendment 2 is indeed an attack on GLBT Marriage it’s affects on the non gay community are overwhelming. It will take away domestic partnerships rights that are currently available in Broward, Dade Counties, Tampa City, Sarasota City, Orland City in Florida and a few others.
We know this to be true, we have seen this happen in Michigan and we know they are working to make this happen in Florida.
When the Catholic Bishop of Venice says that this amendment will have no impact on people's health care, hospital rights, legal and financial rights, Social Security rights, pension rights, he is either totally misinformed probably by choice or just a plain liar. But then again we know that Catholic Bishops are below the truth.

Numbers Don't Lie, McCain Does

I recently had a conversation with a person who had an opposing view point regarding Congressional “earmarks”. I guess I was opposed to earmarks before I was in favor of them. Education and research is a wonderful thing and taking the time to understand the numbers is a good thing.

In the 2008 US Budget 6.6 billion was earmarked for defense issues by members of Congress, 3.3 billion was earmarked for clean water, the water we drink, 895 million was earmarked for the Health and welfare of our people, how sad is that, and 1.7 billion was earmarked for transportation. The balance of the 16 billion in “earmarks” in the 2008 US Budget were for sundry things that are probably important but may be offensive to people who do not understand that real research has to happen.

Earmarks comprise about .005% of the 2008, 3 Trillion Dollar United States Budget. In many cases they help to fulfill the obligation of the people we elect to represent us, our United States Representative. We send these people to Washington to bring back Tax dollars to our community.

If we need a “Bridge to Somewhere” Federal Aid, earmark budget items, our taxes, can be a boost to making that happen and enhancing the quality of like in our communities. Perhaps the people of Arizona do not need Federal assistance to improve the quality of life in their desert, but when I vote for a Congress person or Senator to represent my community in Washington I want them to do all they can do to bring my Federal Tax dollars back to my community. Indeed, I would prefer that my tax dollars be spent building and securing our infrastructure versus the infrastructure of Iraq.

So the next time you hear Senator McCain make a big deal out of a relatively itsy bitsy tiny issue give him the facts. The numbers never lie.

What Happened To The "Republicans" ?

I guess I must have been distracted when Verne Buchannan gave up being a “Republican” and decided to run as an Independent. Indeed, I don’t hear the word “Republican” in most political advertising either from those running for Congress or the top of the ticket. I also missed the Republican Party’s favorite sons at their recent convention. Oh yea, that’s right, GW did get to speak via satellite for a few moments, then gone and forgotten. The Dark Lord of the Republican Party, Dick Cheney, was nowhere to be seen.

What that pretty much tells me is that the Republican Party wants to forget its sordid past seven years, they want America to forget the disaster they inflicted on this Country, which will last for generations to come, and want the American voters to just act like everything is okey, dokey.

Well it isn’t and despite John McCain’s attempt to steal the vision of his opposition, John McCain is indeed the same old Republican baloney. The gall of Republicans to suggest that Democrats, who have barely controlled Congress for the past two years are somehow responsible for the tragic direction of this Nation is unmitigated.

Republicans have controlled Congress for twelve out of the past fourteen years and the Presidency for the past seven plus. During that time Republicans have diminished oversight and regulation, regulation that, as we are learning the hard way, could have lessened the impact of this historical economic crash.

I doubt very much that most Republicans, despite the nonsense rhetoric from the McCain campaign, really care about Middle Class America. Republicans will survive and weather this storm. In the meantime they have accomplished their main goal, to bankrupt the country and destroy important education assistance, health care and so many other programs that Middle America so badly depends.

Florida's Amendment 2 - Ignorance and Hate Prevails in the South

When you are as old as I am you can grasp the near history that went before you, especially when one of your own hometown people is part of that history. Back in 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution refused permission for my hometown girl, Marion Anderson, to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall in Washington, DC. As a result of the ensuing furor, thousands of DAR members, including First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned. Later that year, with some pressure from Eleanor Roosevelt, Marion Anderson appeared before an audience of 75,000 people in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Easter Sunday. She sang “My Country 'Tis of Thee”, a song that speaks about liberty, freedom and the dignity of all Americans. This November Voters in Florida will be asked to vote on an issue that if passed, will diminish the lives of hundreds of thousands of Florida residents. It is falsely called the “Marriage Amendment” or “Amendment 2”. The Amendment is cleverly worded to suggest that “Marriage” should only be between a man and a women, but it goes on to say “no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."
This statement in “Amendment 2” takes away the rights of those who cannot legally marry and others who choose “domestic partnership” over “marriage” to care for each other. It denies the right of unmarried but loving couples from visiting each other in hospitals when one in the relationship is stricken, it denies these couples from sharing health insurance and it places many taxpaying Florida citizens into a second class citizen status. I can assure you that those who are promoting this initiative are the same folks who would deny Marion Anderson the dignity to sing “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” in a public forum.

John McCain: A Man of Mature Leadership and Experience

We have been told that there is only one candidate that has the experience and proven skills necessary for the Presidency. That candidate is, of course, John McCain. Everyone knows Barak Obama is a gifted orator, and can inspire the masses with his prepared speeches. But the true test of political skill and insight comes not from prepared speeches, but from statements made "off the cuff", when you must fall back on your accumulated years of experience to speak truth and wisdom.

To this end, I thought it might be helpful to collect some of John McCain's own words to illustrate how more than a quarter century in public office has made him such a respected public servant and presidential nominee. Some of these quotes are well known, some are not. They all have one thing in common, though: They speak to McCain's readiness to be the next President of the United States.

John McCain on Economics
"The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should. I've got Greenspan's book."
Fortunately, putting together economic policy is a relatively minor responsibility of a president, as evidenced in the following quote.

John McCain on the Duties of the President
"I'm running for president because I want to help with family values." Referring to one of the primary responsibilities of the president.

As soon as I find the part of the Presidential Oath of Office dealing with Family Values, I'll update this post. Please be patient, it might take a while.

John McCain on Working with Congress
"Fuck you! This is chickenshit stuff." Spoken to Republican Senator John Cornyn during discussions on McCain's amnesty bill.

"No, I'm calling you a fucking jerk!" Spoken to Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, after Grassley asked if McCain was calling him stupid.

"Can I get the translation? That's an excellent question." Responding to a supporter's question on what McCain would do in an election to "beat the bitch" (meaning Senator Hillary Clinton).

The main theme here is that McCain is highly skilled at working with others in a calm, mature, respectful way.

John McCain on Foreign Affairs
"We have reached a crisis, the first probably serious crisis internationally since the end of the Cold War." Referring to the Russian attack on Georgia. If this is the first serious international crisis since the end of the Cold War, some might ask why we attacked Iraq, sacrificing the lives of over 4000 Americans and possibly hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. For something not serious? But that's just liberal talk.

"We are all Georgians now." This shows McCain's well-reasoned, measured resolve to come to the aid of a vital American ally.

"I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia." Referring to a country that has not existed for 15 years, but that's a minor detail.

"We have a lot of work to do. It's a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border." Spoken during an ABC News interview, referring to an international border that does not exist, but that's also a minor detail.

"Well, it's common knowledge and has been reported in the media that al Qaeda is going back into Iran and receiving training, and are coming back into Iraq from Iran." This a claim proudly repeated at least 4 times, that Shiite Iran is training Sunni al Qaeda.

As McCain himself has told us, he is a much more respected and knowledgeable expert on foreign policy than Barak Obama.

John McCain on International Diplomacy
"You know, the French remind me a little bit of an aging actress of the 1940's who is still trying to dine out on her looks but doesn't have the face for it." Commenting on French opposition to the Iraq War.

"Maybe that's a way of killing them." Referring to reports that cigarettes are being exported to Iran despite restrictions on trade with that country.

"Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran." Sung to the Beach Boys tune, "Barbara Ann".

Finally, we can have a president with the maturity and wisdom needed to heal diplomatic ties with allies, and reduce needless tension with potential adversaries.

GOP – Grumpy Obdurate People

Ok, now we all have to change our thinking to comply with the new Republican “think”. It is ok now for your daughters to get pregnant by Hockey duds, oops, dudes, who never wanted children to begin with. And it is ok now to parade Mr. Hockey dud, dude, onto the stage of the Republican convention. I suppose it would be a good thing for all Americans if Republicans would create a Guide, omg, I forgot, they have one, the Bible. A book written two thousand years ago that has some but, little relevance to our lives today.

Has anyone a clue that this is not the Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln? How dare they even consider or suggest that they are the party of Lincoln or Teddy Roosevelt. As a reader and student of Theodore Roosevelt I can tell you that the Republican Party of today is an insult to Teddy Roosevelt. To even suggest that the John McCain of today has any resemblance of the John McCain of 2001 is insulting to good people and Veterans everywhere. John McCain sold his soul to the devil, and he is an embarrassment to Veterans.

The Republican Party of today is what the Democratic Party was yesterday. Republicans embraced the ignorant South, their Southern Strategy, to gain votes from the ignorant, uneducated, and an unfunded educational system. That’s how Republicans win, they promote ignorance.

I am thinking that America is really tired of the hypocrisy of the Republican Party and for the life in me I cannot figure out why a man, who I respect, would every compromise his principles, would stoop so low, to place on his ticket this utterly hateful women, a Christian equivalent to Osama bin Laden.

Haven’t we had enough of Religious Fundamentalism? Goodness, I am thinking the Catholic Church should take over the education of all of our children, at least Catholic educators, to their demise in some cases, taught us to think.

Palin's Dilemma

I have the deepest respect for Governor Palin and her Husband’s decision to support their daughter’s unfortunate position. I had a similar occurrence in my family and the parents struggled with what to do. Thankfully, working together, a beautiful child was born and welcomed into a great family, my family. The better news is that my family member and the child are in a lifelong and loving relationship, supported by our family.

The great news is that our family did not force a marriage between two people who did not love one another. They were stupid teenagers who had unsafe sex and got pregnant. They were lucky, I guess, they didn’t spread AIDS, Gonorrhea, climidia or other sexual diseases, they just got pregnant and a life was created.

I have not heard a lot from this “Levi” guy who is the apparent father of this child but I want to make one thing clear, Marriage is for those who love each other, it is not something you do because you made a mistake. Marriage, in these cases is taken down to that lowest denominator and is an insult to any person who has dedicated their life to another person. Hence, I would ask Governor Palin and Her husband not to force that commitment on two young people if they are not ready to accept that challenge, and worse of all if they do not truly love each other.

If Governor Palin’s daughter and the father of her child really love each other then the marriage should happen but, if there is no love than they should arrange for the care of the child and go their separate ways.

bart

McCain - "I Agree" Bring Back the Millitary Draft

I am pleased that finally the Republican nominee for the Presidency, Senator John McCain, and I agree on something and that is the subject of reinstituting the Military Service Draft. In a recent Town Hall Meeting Senator McCain was advised by one of the participants that, “If we don't re-enact the draft, I don't think we'll have anyone to chase Bin Laden to the gates of Hell” (Chasing Bin Laden to the gates of hell is part of Senator McCain’s stump speech). Sen. McCain’s response: “Ma'am let me say that I don't disagree with anything you have said and thank you”. So Senator McCain and I agree on one issue, but for different reasons. Senator McCain and the current Republican War machine will need more cannon fodder for their wars, your children, to fight their wars in Iraq, Iran and goodness, now Russia. Who would have ever thought that the final words of the last great Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, would go so unheeded; “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist”. Senator McCain and I do agree that a Military Draft is important, he to supply more bodies for war, me to wake American parents and young people up to the disaster of Republican folly. Go ahead, elect McCain, then start packing your kids bags to send them off to war.

It's the Country of Georgia, Not the State - It is important to clarify this to my Republican Friends.

John McCain criticized Senator Obama during Obama’s trip to Europe suggesting that there is only one President of the United Sates and that Obama should not present himself as such. Yet Senator McCain, in Presidential style felt the need to suggest that the United States should come to grips with the Russian invasion of Georgia. A cynic may think that John McCain’s current Foreign Relations advisor Randy Scheunemann may have had something to do with John McCain’s approach to Russia’s invasion of Georgia (It is important to be really clear to Republicans, the Russians invaded the Country of Georgia and not the State of Georgia just north of Florida). John McCain suggested that no civilized, democratic country would invade another country in the 21st Century. I guess he forgot that the United States invaded and has occupied Iraq for, hmmm, five years, in the 21st Century John McCain drew his saber, perhaps the only saber left in the US since all our other sabers are busy fighting the other phony Republican war in Iraq. Exactly how many wars do Republicans need to accomplish their goal of bringing this country to its knees? How bankrupt do they need to make our Country to satisfy their need to destroy Roosevelt’s “Great Society”? Is there no incentive to stop them? Where are the Christians when real social issues are at stake? Guess they all went shopping.

Bart

An Essay on Liberalism from Wayne Bensen

It is campaign season, once again, which means conservatives, will try to paint Democrats as "liberals," as if it were a dirty word. I, for one, am proud to be a liberal and believe we should stand up against these conservative smears.

One of the great fallacies in modern lore is that liberalism stands for nothing and liberals have no core beliefs. The right wing, from the Pope to the President, has impugned the left by unfairly portraying it as a valueless movement mired in moral relativism.

This could not be further from the truth. Indeed, the left is the backbone of freedom, the defender of personal liberty, the guarantor of free speech and religious worship and the nurturer of democratic movements across the globe. Far from believing in nothing, wherever liberal democratic values prevail, civilizations flourish and free people thrive.

The cornerstone of liberalism is the idea that each person is endowed with the precious gift of liberty and can freely choose his or her own path - for better or worse. We believe this is crucial to greater enlightenment, personal growth and ultimate fulfillment. It also offers the best opportunity for people to realize their dreams and achieve their spiritual promise.

Liberalism encourages exploration and education. It reveres science and celebrates the inquisitive mind. Indeed, liberal values are often superior to those held on the right, because they are tenaciously subjected to rigorous examination. Beliefs that are questioned and still prevail are the ones that stand the test of time.

Like conservatism, liberalism has very strong core principles. But unlike conservatism, liberalism is not afraid to question "the way it is." The fulcrum of this philosophy is that all ideas will be constantly examined, scrutinized, studied and debated. If new information emerges to counter the culture's prevailing values or understanding, it will be rightfully taken into account. Far from moral relativism, liberalism searches for the ultimate value in which to build a moral foundation: Truth.

Right wing movements across the globe often seem uninterested in truth if it contradicts their obdurate belief systems. Reality averse, they are woefully unable to adjust to new understandings, burgeoning ideas and cultural awakenings. For example, despite overwhelming evidence that women are the equals of men, they still can't drive or vote in some Muslim countries. In America, gay people are still treated as second-class citizens, even though mountains of science and empirical evidence suggest that homosexuality is as biologically ingrained as eye color or handedness.

Liberals believe in the power of "reason," while conservatives are often just plain reactionary. This is why the GOP is the party of the "southern strategy" and anti-gay subterfuge. Republican power is directly related to fertilizing fear and fomenting fanaticism.

Indeed, the great appeal of modern conservatism, or other forms of authoritarianism, is that people don't have to think for themselves. They can mentally "check out" of this world and place their worries in the hands of a commanding politician or a higher deity.

Modern conservatives are often discomfited by the complexities of life and demand answers to the world's many unanswerable questions. They arrogantly and disingenuously claim to have absolute truth, while liberalism boldly proclaims that it does not have such ubiquitous powers of understanding. Liberalism is for those who are unafraid to fully embrace the magnificent journey of life and tackle the great mysteries of our time.

If one looks at modern conservatism in the United States, it is easy to see that it is a movement of intellectual and spiritual atrophy. In the political realm, conservatives essentially call for judges who are "strict constructionists," which is shorthand for saying "the Constitution is a dead document."

What a monumentally ridiculous notion to put forth, that American jurisprudence has not evolved in more than two centuries! Do strict constructionists believe that women and African Americans should have their rights restricted because the nation’s founders treated women as second-class citizens and owned slaves?

Likewise, modern conservatives have also rendered the Bible (or Koran) "dead documents." In conservative houses of worship, traditionalists put forth the untenable belief that holy books are literal. They call these books "God's Plan," as if the Creator hasn’t had a new thought in a couple of thousand years.

Modern conservatives will claim that liberals are sacrilegious for holding such beliefs. To the contrary, liberals are often extraordinarily religious or spiritual people. However, they diverge with conservatives in that they believe the strongest faith is one that is subject to healthy skepticism and painstaking examination. In encouraging people to explore all faiths -- free of guilt, shame, coercion or fear - liberalism also offers people the greatest number spiritual options.

Many of my columns deal with gay themes because equality for gay men and women is the civil rights issue of the new Millennium. However, gay rights mean nearly as much to heterosexuals as they do for homosexuals. The very peace and prosperity of nations can be easily predicted by looking at how they relate to their gay citizens.

If a country treats gay people with dignity and respect and offers them equality, it signals that the country bases its decisions on sound education, rationalism and science. This inevitably leads towards success in all spheres of life.

Countries that ostracize and penalize homosexuals tend to be superstitious, authoritarian and anti-intellectual. This almost uniformly leads to poverty, war, oppression and ultimately tyranny.

A cynic might argue that the United States is not as gay friendly as other countries, yet, it is the richest country in the world. True, but nearly all of America's cities and states that are centers of profit and creativity offer acceptance for homosexuals. States most hostile to gay people are relatively backwards, with lower levels of education and income. Places that offer acceptance signal that they are open-minded and looking towards the future. Locales that reject homosexuals indicate that they are stuck in the past -- at their own peril.

In essence, gay rights are the canary in the coal mine for freedom and prosperity. Unfortunately, the bird is hacking, signaling a period of increased oppression and a dangerous erosion of freedom. It is up to us to rescue this nation from the perilous path it is now on. It is time we proudly stand up for what we believe in. If we don't defend our values, our opponents will define them.

Progressive does not mean passive. Our compassion does not mean that we lack passion. Our respect for other beliefs does not signify that we don't hold strong beliefs of our own that we are willing to fight for. Indeed, our power comes from out ability to adjust to reality. We are secure in our values, yet humble enough to adapt if our viewpoints are proven obsolete. Wherever liberal democracy takes root, a strong and proud record of economic, moral, social and political achievement follows.

Young Florida Democrats - The State's Progressive Thinkers

Several months ago, before Florida’s Amendment 2 gained enough signatures to be put on the ballot, the Brevard Young Democrats endorsed the Fairness for All Families Campaign, one of the pro-equality groups opposing the so-called “Marriage Protection Amendment.” Now that Amendment 2’s ballot placement is official, our organization has moved to explicitly oppose this discriminatory initiative. At our July 23rd general membership meeting, the Brevard Young Democrats unanimously passed the below resolution:
Resolution Regarding Florida’s Amendment 2 on the 2008 General Election Ballot
Whereas:

Florida’s Amendment 2 discriminates on the basis of sexual orientation, and
Whereas:

Discrimination should never be written into the Florida Constitution, and
Whereas:

Similar amendments in other states have led to the revocation of domestic partnership rights for seniors, police, firefighters, and other public employees, and
Whereas:

The rights of both LGBT and straight individuals are threatened by this amendment
Therefore, be it resolved:

The Brevard County Young Democrats does hereby oppose Amendment 2 and encourages its membership and affiliates to vote “NO.”

This Amendment threatens to write discrimination into the Florida Constitution, and is morally reprehensible. As noted in our resolution, similar amendments in others states have stripped seniors and public employees of domestic partnership rights. Amendment 2 is a wholesale government invasion into the private relationships of citizens and must be stopped. For more information you can see this page from the Fairness for all Families Vote No on 2 campaign, or this one from Florida Red and Blue.

Below I’ve compiled a list of the local and state organizations working to oppose Amendment 2:

PFLAG Melbourne:
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays promotes the health and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, their families and friends through:

Support, to cope with an adverse society
Education, to enlighten an ill-informed public
Advocacy, to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights
Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays provides opportunity for dialogue about sexual orientation and gender identity and acts to create a society that is healthy and respectful of human diversity.

Say No 2 (Florida Red and Blue):
Florida Red and Blue, the statewide bipartisan campaign fighting the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment, has launched the Say No 2 campaign, urging voters to Vote No on Amendment 2, which will be on the November ballot. Amendment 2 is also known as the “same sex marriage ban” amendment, but it’s consequences and effects will harm ALL unmarried couples in Florida, whether they’re gay or not.

The message of Say No 2 is simple: Say no to taking away rights, benefits and protections from unmarried couples, especially senior citizens. Say no to eliminating shared health care and pension benefits. Say no to someone else deciding who can visit you in the hospital. And say no to more government intrusion into your private life.

Fairness for All Families (Vote No on 2):

Fairness for All Families is a growing coalition that includes seniors, business leaders, consumer groups and social justice organizations who are joining together to oppose stripping away existing employee benefits while barring the passage of future measures to help Florida families.
Florida ACLU:

The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is freedom’s watchdog, working daily in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
The Space Coast Progressive Alliance has a resource page on state and local GLBT issues and organizations.

Categories: 2008 Elections, Civil Liberties, Gay Rights, General Information
Tags: 2008 Elections, Amendment 2, Brevard Young Democrats, the Hate Amendment

Democrats - Wake Up

“You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things…I come to bury Caesar not to praise him. The evil that men do lives after them. The good is oft interr’d within their bones”, Shakespeare (Julius Caesar). This line from Shakespeare’ Julius Caesar can be interpreted in many ways. With the understanding of multiple interpretations of this line from the Barb I would like to give a little advice, sage that I am, to those men and women in Florida who decide to run as Democrats for public office. When you run against Republicans, as we have come to know them, having morphed into some, god only knows, greedy, unconcerned, “let them eat cake”, my God is better than your God groupies, you should not in any way think in terms of decency or integrity, and furthermore have no concern for the United States Constitution. Republicans have no regard for decency and integrity, they just want to win, and that is what your goal should be. Do not hesitate to shower the dirt that you have on your opponent, totally truthful or not. If there is any grain of truth let it rip. You should use the same underhanded, unscrupulous tactics that have given us eight years of war, economic failure, and diminished Constitutional Rights. You should consider the lies of a man running for the Presidency, John McCain, suggesting that he supports the troops but does nothing for Veterans. The evil that that these men have done, that this Republican Administration has used to gain uncontrolled power, the slime that George Bush’s handlers and supporters used to defeat an honorable Veteran, is an abomination. There will be no good “interr’d within their bones”, and this is John McCain’s party of record.

Bart

An Open Letter to Sean Hannity by Candace Chellew-Hodge

A letter to Sean Hannity (in response to the Knoxville shootings) from Rev Candace Chellew-Hodge , the founder and editor of www.whosoever.org .
In sharing her letter with the Whosoever community Candace explained " In light of the shootings at the Unitarian church I have written an
article called "An Open Letter to Sean Hannity." News reports say
Hannity's book along with books by other conservative authors were
found in the shooters home. This is where he got this twisted idea
that "liberals" are to blame for the world's woes.
I know Sean Hannity. I worked with him in Atlanta back in the 90s
right as he hit the big time, so I addressed a letter to him. "

http://religiondispatches.org/Gui/Content.aspx?Page=AR&Id=382#
RDEpistle: Open Letter to Sean Hannity
Candace Chellew-Hodge
"If the Left succeeds in gaining and retaining more power, the well-being of future generations will be at greater peril. I fear (our children) will inherit a nation that is less free and less secure than the nation we inherited from the last generation. It is therefore our job to stop them. Not just debate them, but defeat them." — Sean Hannity
Dear Sean:
I found these words on page 11 of your book Let Freedom Ring. This book, and similar ones from your conservative colleagues Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage, was found in the home of a man who read those words, internalized those words, and then loaded his shotgun. He took 76 rounds of ammunition with him to a place of worship—a place where he knew he could do his job to stop and defeat some liberals. At the Unitarian Church in Knoxville, Tennessee, Jim Adkisson, a fan of yours, killed two people, wounded five others, and left an entire congregation and country shaken by his actions. Actions prompted, as he testified in his own written notes, by the ideas contained in your words.
I don't know if you remember me, Sean, but I worked with you in Atlanta in the early 1990s, right as you got your big break with FOX News. I was an anchor and reporter (under the air name Candace Petersen) at WGST, your last low level stop before hitting the big time. I remember your last night on the air before you left for the big leagues. I approached you in your office, a cramped back room that I'm sure resembles a hovel compared to your FOX digs. I asked if you, during your last show, would tone down your rhetoric against gays and lesbians—stop demonizing our community for just one night. You refused. You explained to me, as if I were a child, that to do so would be to let your audience down. They expected you to go on the air and rant about how liberals, minorities, women and especially gays and lesbians were ruining our country. You simply had to oblige.
Even though you explained it simply, I still didn't understand. Your Girl Friday—your most trusted assistant on your show was a young lesbian. She admired you, for some strange reason, and you two were close friends, lunching together, spending time together outside of work. You didn't seem to have a problem with this particular lesbian. She wasn't the one you kept blaming on the air for the downfall of democracy. No, you had two different lives then—one on the air, where you performed your outraged conservative act and one in real life, where you enjoyed your lesbian friend and seemed like a decent, sane fellow.
I don't know if you've bought into your own shtick or not these days. If you truly believe half of what I could manage to read in your book (thank God the quote I found was in the early pages), I feel sorry for you. I don't know how a person who obviously has no problem with homosexuality in their friends (or used to have no problem, anyway), can rant about how disgusting homosexuality is on pages 156 to 157. (Many thanks to your editors for the index.) I would call you a hypocrite, but if you've become a true believer, I guess the label no longer applies.
I hope you are not too far gone, your conscience too eaten away with greed, to understand the violent and vile object lesson that Mr. Adkisson has provided for us in Tennessee, because it's a lesson you need to learn: Our words matter. Our words have power.
If you tell a child long enough that they are stupid and will never amount to anything, it won't be long before they'll believe that and live up to those words. If you tell the whole population of a country that their woes can be blamed on something called "liberals" who hold different ideas than you do, it won't be long before those "liberals" will become the scapegoat for all social ills. Those words matter—they have power. Adkisson was a true believer.
Your book is rife with paragraphs bashing "the Left"—an enigmatic group of "liberals" painted so broadly that your label for them must be capitalized. These are the people to blame if anything goes wrong in the world. Terrorism? "The Left" didn't hunt down the terrorists before they struck. War? "The Left" didn't do enough to protect us from our enemies and have opposed our military readiness. Job losses? "The Left" taxed the corporations so much they moved overseas.
In your world, and the world you convinced Adkisson of, "the Left" is the bogeyman under the bed. But your book never mentions how the last eight years of Republican leadership has already left our children a nation that is less free, less secure, and as a special bonus, deeply in debt. Republicans are responsible for bankrupting our country, chipping away at our civil rights, sending our monetary and human treasure to waste away and die in the desert, leaving us paranoid and afraid of anyone who may look different, undermining social safety nets like unemployment and food stamps (which Adkisson had recently just lost), and generally making us a more selfish and divided nation. You have done this with your words, Sean—words of division, words of hate, words of war, and words of greed.
The sad irony here, Sean, is that if Mr. Adkisson had gone to that Unitarian church and told them he was out of a job and his food stamps had just ended, they would have helped him. They would have fed them from their food pantry and used their network of friends to help find him a job. Not because they're liberal socialists, but because they understand that it's not "us" against "them." Instead, what made this country great is that we pull together in times of crisis—we bear one another's burdens and put aside our differences in order to be of service to one another. They would have reached out to Mr. Adkisson without asking him if he was Democrat or a Republican or a liberal or a conservative. Labels don't matter when someone is in need—or they shouldn't.
But, Mr. Adkisson did not know that about the Unitarian church. You didn't tell him liberals could help him. You only told him they're to blame for his misfortune. His mind had already been poisoned by the words of hatred and division from you book. He saw the Unitarians down the road, not as fellow human beings who would generously help him in his time of need, but as enemies—the very reason his world had gone to hell. His job, since he had no other because of a bad economy created by Republican policies, was "to stop them. Not to debate them, but defeat them." And so he loaded a gun.
Sean, you occupy a position of power. All words have power, but some words are more powerful than others simply because they are amplified from a larger stage. With power comes responsibility. If there is any of that old Sean left—the one before the big office, the popular TV and radio show and best selling books—I appeal to that man. Understand the power of your words. I know that words of division are profit-making words for you. We human beings apparently love to see a good fight, or feel our views justified by a good argument. But I hope this incident will give you pause and help you begin to choose your words more wisely. I hope, in choosing future words, you'll consider not what's best for the Hannity bank account, but what's best for humanity.
I long for the day when profitable words are words that uplift, encourage, and inspire people. The strength of this nation has always been our unity in diversity and our unity in the face of adversity. By using your words to create a world of "us" and "them" you only perpetuate violence and discord in our society. I am asking you, Sean, to examine yourself and your words. You don't have to agree with liberals and their views, but you can oppose liberal ideas without painting those who hold those beliefs as enemies who need to be stopped or defeated. If conservative ideas are truly superior, then a compelling case can be made for them without resorting to the politics of personal destruction.
Sean, your words have the power to heal and the power to destroy. The choice is yours.
Sincerely,
Candace Chellew-Hodge

Gay Republicans? Say What?

For years I have been trying to describe Gay and Lesbian folks who vote Republican. Finally an Arizona state Representative Kyrsten Sinema put it in focus for me when she recently said “It’s kind of like being a deer and joining the NRA. Because come hunting season, they’re going to shoot you”. Indeed they will.

I understood being Gay and Republican, the “Big Tent” thingy, before the Republican Party decided to enter our bedrooms and started preaching that Jesus was offended by gays, as if Karl Rove, George Bush and John McCain have a full comprehension of what Jesus thinks. Jesus to Republicans is a means to an end, the end being, win elections at any cost, including their “immortal souls”. Democrats who believe in the Word of Jesus believe it to be a life style, feed the hungry, heal the sick, shelter the homeless and most of all love one another, pretty simple stuff.

I almost understood being gay and Republican when I thought about Republicans touting “fiscal responsibility”, but that certainly has gone down the tubes.

I thought well maybe Republicans are good for the security of our National Defense and that some gay people are afraid that the Mullahs will come here and start hanging Gays as they so in Iran. Hence, I started checking out the Military history of Republicans and realized that the best they could do is send some other persons kids to fight their “Republican Wars”.

I am convinced that Gay men and women, probably more men than women, who vote Republican are suffering from a “me too” syndrome. They want to be the model that Republicans seem to project, sort of like so many women want to be that skinny model that “Fashion” projects . They want to be really rich, they want to be “different” from Gay People yet have all the benefits of being gay, but in a closet.

The bottom line, in my mind, about Gays voting for Republicans is that they are ashamed of who they are and are desperately wanting to be something different, something they will never be. For sure a sad commentary about their lives.

Bart

3 Facts That Could Change This Election

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x6430781
3 Facts That Could Change This Election (If We Share Them With Enough People)

Here are 3 Stunning facts that could not only change the outcome of this election, but with regard to the first two points, they could change the results of every election for years to come *if* we make enough people aware of them.

I want to keep this as simple and short as possible, so that the people who need to read this actually do. And again, I encourage you to share this information with as many people as you can, either by recommending and commenting on this thread, by emailing these points out and or by posting a link to this thread on the appropriate websites.

1)-Over 70% of our National Debt was created by just 3 Republican presidents.

Go ahead, get out your calculator and add up debt by president/party. Apparently the party that claims fiscally responsibility thinks it's ok to borrow massive amounts of money from foreign countries like China. Consider that we spend hundreds of billions of dollars in interest payments on this debt each year. That means more and more of your hard earned money is going to make interest only payments on what is basically a Giant National Credit Card. Not to mention the fact our debt/deficits are largely behind the weakness of our dollar, which in turns makes gas more expensive and creates other serious problems.

If you want to learn more about the National Debt, check out these links:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock /
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...
http://zfacts.com/p/447.html (A running clock with the cost of the war)
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/business...

2)-According to new research from Larry Bartels out of Princeton, real middle class wage growth is double when a Democrat is president compared to when a Republican is president.

"...Even more remarkable, the real incomes of working-poor families...grew six times as fast when Democrats held the White House. Only the incomes of affluent families were relatively impervious to partisan politics, growing robustly under Democrats and Republicans alike...": http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/magazine/27wwln-ideal...

Here is a short summary of this research: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008...

And here is a good, short audio interview with Larry Bartels: http://youngturks.wmod.llnwd.net/a591/o1/4-25-08Bartels...

3)-90% of Americans would pay less taxes under Obama's proposed tax plan compared to McCain's.

This is according to the non-partisan Tax Policy Institute as reported by CNN:http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/11/news/economy/candidates...

People making under $112,000 a year in individual (not household) income would pay less taxes under Obama's plan.

By contrast, John McCain's tax cuts mostly benefit the top 10% of Americans. Under McCain's plan, people making over 2.9 million dollars in individual annual income would get almost a million dollar tax break.


Conclusion: Countless millions of Americans vote Republican because they believe they'll pay less taxes and that they'll have their money spent more responsibly. As you can see, those beliefs are directly contradicted by the facts. Of course we can choose to ignore the facts and instead focus on which candidate is wearing a flag pin (you ever notice that Hillary and McCain don't wear them? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi5nbZvS9cg ) but I think we're a smarter country than that.

PS---If you're not sure how to respond to those laughably bad, factually inaccurate anti-Obama smear emails and or you want more information on John McCain, here is a nice resource guide of articles, videos and commentary:http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Whose Freedom are we talking about? And Free to do what?

As we celebrate our Independence I am sure that all Americans will remember those who have secured our freedoms. The most recent are the unnamed and hidden from the public men and women who have died on the premise that invading Iraq was an effort to secure our freedom and spread “democracy”.
I suppose a convoluted logician may think that to be true if indeed one believes that securing the oil fields of the Middle East secures our freedom. Securing those fields may secure our economy, but does it secure our freedoms, at what price and who pays the price?
A couple of years ago I understood that the war in Iraq was going to cost this nation over a trillion dollars. The current direct cost of the war is a little under a trillion dollars but the indirect cost, veterans care and the demise of our own national infrastructure is well over a trillion dollars.
Sadly the real cost of the war is the human cost, not just the soldiers who have been killed, hidden from the public but the severely wounded, also hidden, and the tragic toll that this Republican war of convenience for the really wealthy in America has taken on our military families. Our Soldiers are sent over and over again into a god forsaken experience and their family members are forced to suffer years of constant worry.
I know that the families of our military personnel will be steadfast and keep their heads up high and always proud of the sacrifices they, their spouses, their children and their parents have made. Unfortunately the bottom line in this so called war, this hidden war, is that no one other than our military and their families know the real pain yet others are profiting from their pain.

Bart

True Prayer

There are two things that I admire in the human spirit: fortitude and patience. I don’t have fortitude, which definitely challenges my patience. My partner has fortitude but depends on me for the patience. I guess that’s how we make it through the day and years.
Recently an editor expressed a comment about a politician offering prayers at a public meeting. Subsequent letters to this editor, which were freely printed, really lambasted her. As the former leader of the Dignity [GLBT Catholics organization] chapter in Sarasota, I totally agree with this editor and her position. Religion and prayer have no place in the public forum. Politicians have made prayer a cliché. If you want to or need to pray, you should do it in silence, and for those Christians who would challenge this, I refer them to Matthew 6:5-8. Politicians on both sides are diminishing the importance of the human spiritual experience. Government in the United States should be oblivious to religion and take no particular religious stand. Most of all, politicians should not be judged based on their religious upbringing. On the other hand, religion, at least Christian religion as I understand it, should be about securing the dignity of all of God’s creations, the poor, the homeless, the sick, the veterans of war, our natural environment, the creatures that are struggling for existence as a result of human greed. Honest Christians should not allow the “professional Christians” the scum who use Jesus to acquire wealth and avoid the laws of this land to diminish their faith and most of all, should never allow those so called leaders to impose guilt, shame and fear on innocent people.
The people of Christian Faith, who have been led astray by those who seek to control them and in turn set this Nation back two thousand years, need to re-evaluate the message of Jesus; His message of Love, Peace and tolerance.
Jesus said “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites” Matthew 6.5. Amen.

ANWR

One would think that a man who is about to leave the Presidency of the United States with the lowest favorability rating, ever, would make some attempt to redeem himself and act responsibly. Instead George Bush, after having been told a few weeks ago, and to his surprise, that gasoline prices were approaching $4.00 a gallon repeated the mantra of his oil cronies and insisted that we begin drilling for more oil in ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge). The following facts can be found on the Energy Information Administration’s website; If drilling were to be approved no oil would come out of ANWR for at least ten years, that’s 2018; The biggest field in ANWR would produce, at the maximum, 1.4 billion bbls (barrels), total, secondary fields would produce another 2.8 billion bbls., which is maximum total of 4.2 billion bbls. In 2007 the U.S. imported approximately 4.9 billion barrels of oil, 2.2 billion bbls came from OPEC nations and of that 800 million bbls were imported from the Persian Gulf and the rest from various supplier nations. Considering these production and consumption figures, the most we can expect by drilling in ANWR is to sustain our economy’s thirst for oil for less than one year, ten years from now, but the potential environmental damage is immeasurable. My opinion is that the President should not be promoting the continuation of oil dependence; instead he should, for once, be a trail blazer and initiate a project to promote alternative energy and energy conservation. We’ve been through this before, back in the early 1970s. Had the President and Congress acted responsibly by creating an energy task force we probably would not be in the position we are today.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/servicerpt/anwr/methodology.html
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm

Catholic Marriage

There is a conflict when the Catholic Church demands that “Marriage” should only be between a man and a woman. In the twelfth century Pope Alexander III gave the doge of Venice a ring and told him “Receive this ring as the symbol of your empire over the sea…You and your successors be married to her each year, so that succeeding generations may know that the sea is yours and belongeth to you as a spouse to a husband”. And so each year afterwards the succeeding Doge’s of Venice, Italy, dropped a wedding ring into the sea to renew his vow to Venice’s wife, the sea.
After the newly professed nun receives a blessing from a priest, she receives a blessed profession ring, a wedding ring. This ring is to symbolize her contract of virginity and perpetual chastity. The ring is the seal of the Holy Spirit. Through the reception of this ring, she is espoused forever to Jesus Christ. In other words, she is married to Christ.
These things are good things, both examples talk about love. In the case of Venice it is the love of the sea and the great wealth, material and knowledge that the mariners of Venice were able to achieve. Their exploits and the exploits of mariners all over the world gave us the beginnings of good science.
In the case of the good nuns married to Christ, despite all the funny Broadway shows, I personally will always be grateful for their love, their sacrifice and their marriage to Christ. I am not sure where I would be without them.
So there you are, two examples of marriage in the Catholic Church that is not between a “man and a women” but have produced great things, myself excluded my life relationship included.

Bullshit

Oh Good, Candidate John McCain has offered his alternative to the Health Care crises that millions of Americans, 47 million and growing, were waiting to hear from the Republicans. So what is he offering? What he is suggesting is that individual Americans can take a $2,500 tax credit and families $5,000. These tax credits would not be granted to the individual tax payer, instead they would be turned over to the so called “Health Insurance Company” of your choice. Mr. McCain has no option for people with “pre-existing” conditions other than to turn that problem over to the States.
When I was a young accounting supervisor for a major oil company, about 25 years ago, the Vice President of Human Resources understood the need for a National Health Care initiative. He understood that in a Global economy American’s would no longer stay in jobs that would last a lifetime; he also understood that Corporate Sponsored Health Care Insurance would stagnate people of talent.
As it turns out, twenty-five years later, people who depended on their corporate benefits are the losers. Even those who were loyal workers for some corporation or another throughout the years are lost.
John McCain’s voice is the voice of “Greedy America”, it is the voice of the very wealthy who are getting even more wealthy without any concern for the Nation. McCain’s Voice is the voice of fundamentalist so called Christians who pay homage to wealth rather than the spirit of Christ. McCain’s voice is about sending the un-wealthy children of America to fight his and Bush’s wars and not even securing the dignity, health and welfare of our troops.
It is becoming so transparent that John McCain is indeed the epitome of another four years of the incompetent and un-Middle Class American administration of George W. Bush.

If I was Straight

“A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation”.

This is a quote I lifted directly from Rhonda Storm’s Church’s web site. As I read it, it says that the world Rhonda Storm wants to create in Florida would not tolerate a Rhonda Storm. Indeed it basically says that Mrs. Storm should be home baking cookies, wiping noses, making school lunches for her children and, I guess now, grandchildren. Further, She should not voice any opinion in public at all and much less having a voice in the Florida Senate. All opinions and decisions should be left to her husband and she should graciously serve his leadership. But we all know that is just silly, who could imagine putting a muzzle on that clap trap? The real problem with Rhonda Storm is that she is out to reduce the integrity, not only of science but of religion. She and her supporters, if successful, will introduce Florida to the world as “Ignoramus Central” (not that a lot of people don’t already think that), a place where you can learn that God did not give humankind free will and intellect, but only a book, that has not been updated for two thousand years, and indeed her Religious beliefs are only one amongst many. On the other hand, Science is updated every second of every day, we learn new things about this wonderful and at times scary Universe in which we live. In terms of scary things in the Universe, Rhonda Storm’s thinking probably ranks among the highest.

Two Stories

There were two stories in print media this week that caught my attention. The first was in the Sarasota Herald Tribune and it was about the success of the Florida4Marriage organization soliciting enough signatures to place an amendment to the Florida Constitution on the 2008 ballet to deny Gay Americans , as the Declaration of Independence insists, the right according to “Nature's God” to secure their “unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.
The second story that caught my attention was in one of the weekly magazines that quoted Avi Primor the former Israeli ambassador to Germany. He was praising Germany for taking responsibility for its history. They are erecting a memorial commemorating murdered Gypsies and a second for gays and lesbians killed in the Holocaust. Avi Primo said “Where in the world has one ever seen a nation that erects memorials to immortalize its own shame”.
Indeed, and where in the world has the shame of Germany’s Holocaust been resurrected other than right here in Florida.

There is a ignoramus Republican Machine generated email going around the internet suggesting that 14,000 US Military Personnel were killed under President Clinton’s Administration. The real scary part of this email is that apparently Republicans can’t even count or add even the figures they are sending out.

There is an old saying that lies can be carried around the world before the truth can get it’s shoes tied.

So below is the truth and following that is the republican Spin Machine Lie. The truth can be found in your own government records, you just need to check, i.e., if you are really interested in Truth, otherwise don’t bother reading.
Bart

I did a little research on this and it appears that only 1 United States military personnel was killed in hostile action during the Clinton Administration. This information comes from a search of the Department of Defense Information site http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf.

You will note that in 1993 there are 29 Military personnel listed in the category of "Terrorist Attack". These are probably soldiers killed in Mogadishu (for those who can’t connect or only identify war in terms of motion pictures, this is "Black Hawk Down". This number is insignificant relative to the 241 Americans killed in Lebanon under Regan, not to mention the 40 French troops. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1983_Beirut_barracks_bombing ), a real disaster and waste of American life.

It is also interesting that the number of “pending” and “undetermined” increases significantly in the Bush years. If you combine the “Hostile Action” and the “Terrorist Action” I think you get a better picture of what really is happening.

Despite Republican interference in Clinton’s attempt to stop the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia in what use to be Yugoslavia, Clinton succeeded without the lost of any American military person, Army, Marine, Airman or Navy.

Base on the information I was sent, i.e. the below, below information, I am glad my parents didn’t waste a lot of money and time to send me to college because apparently it didn’t pay off for a lot of people. I wish your friends (the person who sent me the original email) would do a tiny bit of honest to goodness research before spouting off. Sending out lies/Republican Machine crap only proves the ignorance of what some thought to be college educated intelligent people, who could have thought? Apparently Republicans like to be told what to think and now as entire Nation, America, is suffering from that “think control”.

The true numbers play like this as far as they are available (2006) and if you don’t like the numbers call the Pentagon and complain:

1992 – 1,293 Total deaths. 676 Accidental, 0 from Hostile Action,109 Homicides, 252 Illness, 238 Self Inflicted, 1 Terrorist Attack and 17 and 1 undermined.

1993 – 1,213 Total deaths. 632 Accidental, 0 Hostile Action, 86 Homicides, 221 Illnesses, 236 Self Inflicted, 29 Terrorist Attack and 8 undetermined.

1994 – 1,075 Total deaths. 544 Accidental, 0 Hostile Action, 83 Homicides, 206 Illness, 0 terrorist Attack, 10 undetermined.

1995 – 1,040 Total deaths. 538 Accident, 0 Hostile, 67 Homicides, 174 Illness, 250 Self Inflicted, 7 terrorist attack and 4 undetermined.

1996 – 974 Total Deaths. 527 Accident, 1 Hostile action, 52 homicides, 173 illness, 188 Self Inflicted, 19 Terrorist Attack and 14 undetermined.

1997 – 817 Total Deaths. 433 Accident, 0 Hostile Action, 42 Homicides, 170 Illness, 159 Self Inflicted and 13 undetermined.

1998 – 827 Total Deaths. 445 Accident, 0 Hostile, 26 Homicides, 168 Illness, 10 Pending, 3 terrorist attack, and 14 undetermined.

1999 – 796 Total deaths. 436 Accident, 0 Hostile Action, 37 Homicides, 150 Illness, 13 pending, 145 self inflicted 0 Terrorist attack and 15 undetermined.

2000 – 758 Total Deaths. 398 Accident, 0 Hostile Action, 34 Homicides, 138 Illness, 151 Self Inflicted, 17 Terrorists Attack and 20 undetermined.

George W. Bush Years
2001 – Total Deaths, 891. 437 Accidents, 3 hostile action, 49 homicides, 185 illnesses, 1 pending, 140 self inflicted, 55 terrorists attack and 21 undetermined.

2002 – Total Deaths, 999. 547 Accidents, 18 Hostile Action, 51 Homicides, 190 Illness, 6 pending, 160 Illness and 27 undetermined.

2003 – Total Deaths, 1228. 440 Accidents, 344 Hostile action, 36 homicides, 207 illness, 16 pending, 167 self inflicted and 18 undetermined.

2004 – Total Deaths, 1874. 604 Accidents, 739 Hostile Action, 46 Homicides, 270 Illness, 19 pending, 188 Self Inflicted and 8 Undetermined.

2005 – Total Deaths, 1942. 632 Accidents, 739 Hostile Action, 49 Homicides, 281 Illness, 72 pending, 150 Self Inflicted and 19 undetermined.

2006 – Total Deaths 1858. 465 Accidents, 753 Hostile Action, 30 Homicides, 205 Illness, 238 “Pending”, 155 self inflicted and 12 undetermined.

The Most interesting statistic is the number of wounded. In Vietnam there were 153,303 “Wounded- Not Mortal”, in Iraqi Freedom there are 25,830 listed in the category of “Wounded in Action”. The number that served in Vietnam was 2,594,000 and while the report I have does not give the number who served in Iraq it is pretty much the same 140 to 150,000, over and over again. If you remember most GIs only served a year in Vietnam, some more, but for the most part just a year. So, I guess the question I have is “are American’s willing to foot the bill to take care of those who diminished their lives for us”? So far that does not seem to be the case. We hear a lot of “for the Troops” speech but not a whole lot of action.
Indeed that ningcompoop O’Rielly, suggests that there are no “homeless veterans”. I think it would be a great idea to send O’Rielly and that drug addict Rush Limbaugh into combat, oh, never mind…we want to win the war against terrorist.

bart

This is the Republican Spin Machine intrepretation of the numbers.

"==================================================================
As it is now the official Election Year nationally, I have been getting these reports sent to me. This one was particularly interesting ( I have included a link to the original report). Whatever your politics, however you lean, however you feel about the War on Terrorism, this report should open some eyes.
Military losses, 1980 through 2006
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf
These are some rather eye-opening facts.
Since the start of the war on terror in Iraq and Afghanistan, the sacrifice has been enormous. In the time period from the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 through today, we have lost over 3,000 military personnel to enemy action and accidents.
As tragic as the loss of any member of the US Armed Forces is, consider the following statistics: The annual fatalities of military members while actively serving in the armed forces from 1980 through 2006:
1980 ........ 2,392 (Carter Year)
1981 ......... 2,380 (Reagan Year)
1984 .......... 1,999 (Reagan Year)
1988 .......... 1,819 (Reagan Year)
1989 .......... 1,636 (George HW Year)
1990 ......... 1,508 (George HW Year)
1991 .......... 1,787 (George HW Year)
1992 .......... 1,293 (George HW Year)
1993 .......... 1,213 (Clinton Year)
1994 .......... 1,075 (Clinton Year)
1995 ...........2,465 (Clinton Year)
1996 ......... 2,318 (Clinton Year) Clinton years @14,000 deaths
1997 ......... 817 (Clinton Year)
1998 ........ 2,252 (Clinton Year)
1999 ......... 1,984 (Clinton Year)
2000 ..........1,983 (Clinton Year)
2001 .......... 890 (George W Year)
2002 .......... 1,007 (George W Year)
2003 .......... 1,410 (George W Year)
2004 .......... 1,887 (George W Year) George W years (2001-2006): 7,033 deaths
2005 ......... 919 (George W Year)
2006.......... . 920 (George W Year)

If you are confused when you look at these figures, so was I.
Do these figures mean that the loss from the two latest conflicts in the Middle East are LESS than the loss of military personnel during Mr. Clinton's presidency; when America wasn't even involved in a war? And, I was even more confused; when I read that in 1980, during the reign of President (Nobel Peace Prize winner) Jimmy Carter, there were 2,392 US military fatalities!

These figures indicate that many members of our Media and our Politicians will pick and choose. They present only those "facts" which support their agenda-driven reporting. Why do so many of them march in lock-step to twist the truth? Where do so many of them get their marching-orders for their agenda?
The latest census, of Americans, shows the following distribution of American citizens, by Race:
European descent............................69.12%
Hispanic ....................................... 12.5%
Black...............................................12.3%
Asian ...............................................3.7%
Native American ......................... . ..1.0%
Other ................... ........................... 2.6%

Now... here are the fatalities by Race; over the past three years in Iraqi Freedom:
European descent (white) .............74.31%
Hispanic ................................... 10.74%
Black ......................................... 9.67%
Asian ...........................................1.81%
Native American ......................... 1.09%
Other ........................................... 0.33%
The point here is that our mainstream media continue to spin these figures (for liberal political gain). Nothing more...it’s all about politics and the libs are famous for turning American against American for a vote.

(These statistics are published by Congressional Research Service, and they may be confirmed by anyone at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL32492.pdf )

Now ask yourself two questions:
"Why does the mainstream Print and TV Media never print statistics like these?"
and
"Why do the mainstream media hate the (world wide) web as much as they do?"
Ensure you do your homework before you place your vote.