Doug and Rob Ford, the morality police and patriotism.

Yes, you read that correctly.

For three days in a row, the political horror show known as Doug and Rob Ford has been exploiting homophobia in all its multiple hate-mongering facets to further ingratiate themselves with their bigoted fans and followers.

On Wednesday at the first mayoral candidates' forum of the 2014 Toronto municipal election, Mayor Mascot made a point of disclosing that his non-attendance at Toronto Pride is a personal and political boycott.

“I’m not going to go to Pride Parade. I’ve never gone to a Pride Parade so I’m not going to change the way I am,” Ford said.

On Thursday at City Hall, his brother Doug defended his brother's position by attacking the Pride Parade. In a four minute tirade about the event, he said five times that seeing "buck naked men" was disturbing.

In response to Ford's putative not-homophobic screed, Kristyn Wong-Tam who represents the ward that includes Church-Wellesley, and a blatant non-heterosexual councillor said:

Doug Ford [seems] to be doing “a bit of baiting,” possibly to “appeal to a homophobic base within his supporters.”

She said Pride is “so much more than just a handful of people who decide to express themselves in ways that not everyone would understand.” Referring to the mayor’s own controversial behaviour, she said his administration is not in a position to criticize the morality of others.

“Should the morality police descend on the mayor’s office or the mayor’s home, they may have something to say about public drunken stupors and behaviour, crack cocaine use, the allegations of domestic assault (a charge against Rob Ford was dropped in 2008), marijuana and hash dealing (Doug Ford has denied a Globe report that he was a dealer in the 1980s), improper use of city resources, drunken outrage, public urination, cultural appropriation of a Jamaican accent. I would imagine that it’s best not to judge,” Wong-Tam said.

Doug Ford has used such rhetoric before. In opposing a city hall bike station with public showers, he said the facility would turn into a “bathhouse” involving “hanky-panky” and “a towel boy handing out towels.”

On Friday this happened.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford appears to have lost a fight to remove a rainbow flag flying at city hall.

The flag, an international symbol of gay rights, went up on one of the many flagpoles outside city hall on Friday, just as the opening ceremonies of the Winter Games were underway in Russia.

The flag-raising was meant as a response to Olympic host country Russia's anti-gay laws. Several other municipalities around Canada have done the same.

Ford wanted it taken down as soon as he saw it.
The Olympics, "is about being patriotic to your country, this is not about someone's sexual preference," he told reporters.

But it's not his decision to have the flag taken down. The city's protocol officer is the only one who decides what flags fly from the city hall`s "courtesy" pole. That pole hosts all sorts of flags during the year — for autism week, fair trade, and to honour the national days of dozens of countries, from Azerbaijan to Israel. The Canadian flag is always flying on several other poles around city hall.

My co-blogger Fern Hill went looking for news items about rainbow flags flying in other Canadian cities; she also discovered what hisser means in French.  Which led her to craft these bilingual bon mots:

Check out the LOVESOCHi campaign in support of gay rights — and its magnificent photos — on Twitter. 

Cross-border Right Wing Nut Job Gathering ...

to be held in Niagara Falls, Ontario in early September.

This. Warning: mute sound on your laptop or device unless glurge-y music and a sermon about the Virgin Mary is your thing.

It appears that Roméo Dallaire's staff didn't bother to google "Fatima: the path to peace" when the invitation for the senator to speak came into the office.

Had someone done that, they would have discovered the deeply gynophobic, racist, homophobic and anti-semitic ideology this organization promotes.

From here:

Beyond the obvious, what do a far-right Italian politician, the president of the John Birch Society and former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul have in common?

In early September, the men are all scheduled to speak – along with a lengthy list of archconservative clergy, lawyers and academics – at a conference in Canada sponsored by the Fatima Center, part of the “radical traditionalist Catholic” movement, perhaps the single largest group of hard-core anti-Semites in North America. 

Senator Dallaire has withdrawn from the conference.  I'm ambivalent about that.  He should have gone ahead and spoken to the religious RWNJ audience before him, and excoriated their medieval asses.

Practice Makes Perfect

Gwen LanDOLT is trying to walk back her most recent imbecility.

Speaking to LifeShite, she claims her views were misrepresented in the CBC article that implied she was okey-dokey with the death penalty for homosexuality.

Then there's this paragraph with a rather breath-taking phrase.

Last week REAL Women criticized Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird, a practicing homosexual, for imposing what it called “his own perspective on homosexuality” in foreign countries such as Uganda, Kenya, and Russia that have passed laws aimed at preserving the traditional family structure.

Heh. I just googled 'practicing homosexual' and got pages and pages of Why Practicing Homosexuals Can't Be Christians. Must be a Christian thing.

Oo. Looky here. On page 7 of the November/December 2012 REALity(pdf) (newsletter of REAL Women):

It is common knowledge that John Baird is a homosexual, and, apparently, his personal support for homosexuality overcame any reluctance he had about being up close and personal with his political rivals—the Liberals.

So, this isn't a first. Seems REAL Women keeps hoisting this flag and no one salutes it.

Pity poor Gwen. Must be soooo frustrating to be a galloping homophobe in a country that doesn't give a shit about a politician's sexuality.


h/t Big City Lib

Gril on Gril: Babs Spanks Gwen

More for the novelty than anything else, herewith a column by Babs Kay that isn't stupendously stupid.

Taking on Gwen Landolt's latest moronic brain-fart (that deBeauxOs critiqued yesterday), Babs first maunders on about how much she respects REAL Women.

I found this amusing though. In one paragraph she says 'since, unlike most feminist organizations that wouldn’t exist without some form of government subsidy, they are self-funding' and in the next she gauges the actual size of the gang with 'their president, Gwen Landolt (who effectively is REAL Women)'.

Then Babs proceeds to spank Gwen. Some gems:

Ms. Landolt is out of line here. . .

stunning moral gaffe. . .

Her statement, first of all, offends against Christianity. . .

Thus, in one fell swoop, she has aligned herself with anti-Semites who shrugged as Jews were persecuted in Russia. . .

I think REAL Women may just have imploded as a credible organization. . .

OK, well, that last bit is pretty stupendously stupid. REAL Women never was credible to anyone but the credulous.

But maybe this Gwen-gaffe is finally enough to discredit the gang even in the eyes of the Contempt Party of Canada.

Too much to hope for? We'll see.

Just checked to see if Gwen has tried walking it back yet. Nope. But comments on the original news release have been closed.

UPDATE: LanDOLT not backing down.

Added by deBeauxOs: Alison at Creekside on R.E.A.L.Women supporting Russian family values. 

Hmm. I wonder what Gwen Landolt thinks of Pussy Riot?

Hey, I'm just goofing around!

BOOM!

 
 

That was the MASSIVE sound produced, one might call it a "dis-sonic boom", as R.E.A.L.women's home-schooled fundamentalist christian homophobia collides with the Harper government's Foreign Affairs Minister's efforts to counter homophobia in foreign countries.

From here:

Real Women of Canada, a privately funded socially conservative group, says Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird is imposing his own views on Uganda, Kenya and Russia when he criticizes those countries for passing legislation targeting homosexuals.

The group, which describes itself as a "pro-family conservative women's movement," issued a press release Wednesday decrying what it called Baird's "abuse of office" and his awarding of a $200,000 grant to "special interest groups" in Uganda and Kenya "to further his own perspective on homosexuality."

Real Women also lambasted Baird for admitting he worked extensively behind the scenes to persuade Russia not to pass laws restricting foreign adoption of Russian children by gay couples and cracking down on gay rights activism to control the spread of "homosexual propaganda."

Finally, the press release states, "Mr. Baird's actions are destructive to the conservative base in Canada and causing collateral damage to his party."

We have written about R.E.A.L.women's odious, toxic anti-feminist lobby before.

MP Mark (motion 408) Warawa is a huge fan.

They helped pick the Jubilee medal winners, one - a jailed criminal.

They even attacked Helena Guergis when she was still a member in good standing of Harper's cabinet.  Funny though, how virulently gynophobic the CPC Cons get when women like Belinda Stronach, Helena Guergis and Bev Oda and Marjory LeBreton draw attention to their vacuous principles.

Which leads me to think that the unofficial Harper policy towards women which Sen. Nancy Ruth called "friendly advice" - when she addressed it to feminist organizations - will be swiftly and brutally executed.

Pass the popcorn, please.

Added by fh: The Disaffected Lib is on it too. Fun! Popcorn!

Update:

Landolt suggested Baird was meddling when he raised such concerns.

“It really is offensive,” Landolt said Wednesday. “The issue is really why is he interfering in a sovereign country’s legislation? He really has no business to do that.”

“I don’t want other countries to get what we have here where people’s religious values and traditional values are being pushed aside and giving homosexuals priority,” she said.

“According to Mr. Baird it’s a protection of human rights but it’s not universally accepted. It’s not a Canadian value,” she said.

The organization describes itself as a “pro-family conservative women’s movement . . . Our common bond is our belief that the family is the most important unit in society.”

The same news release also says that “homosexual activists” have become a “tyrannical minority.”

Oh really?  Like the fetushist, anti-choice, anti-women's right to reproductive justice,  “tyrannical minority”? 

via Stephen Lautens' tweet.

Take That, Henry!

Who didn't see this coming?

Two convicted serial clinic harassers 'pro-life heroines' -- one actually in jail at the moment -- receive Queen's Jubilee Medals.

After all, REAL women was one of the non-governmental 'partner' groups advising on the award of 60,000 of the honours.

REAL Women is outspoken on several issues: They are strictly anti-abortion, believe in the traditional definition of marriage, oppose Canada’s “promoting [of]easy divorce legislation” and say the Supreme Court has too much power. They say Winnipeg’s Human Rights Museum project was spearheaded by “left-wing extremists” that included “representatives of homosexual and feminist interests.”

They also have criticized the “wayward” Michaëlle Jean, the former governor-general, who they say “cavorted” with separatists and Liberals. They wrote that Ms. Jean “appears to be a lightweight with little or no grasp of Canadian history, culture or traditions.” (A spokeswoman said Ms. Jean, now chancellor at the University of Ottawa, wouldn’t comment on the issue.)

This did not deter the office of Ms. Jean’s successor, Governor-General David Johnston, from inviting REAL Women of Canada – an order Rideau Hall says came from the federal government.

From the federal government, eh?

REAL Women, in addition to being fervent fetus fetishists, are also virulently homophobic.

It is simply pay-back for Dr Morgentaler's Order of Canada, a point Gwen Landolt of REAL Women makes perfectly clear.

Landolt pointed out that if Henry Morgentaler, Canada’s ‘father of abortion’ who “kills for a living and destroys human life,” can receive the Order of Canada - Canada’s highest civilian honor - then “its about time that someone who fights to protect life gets recognized”.

What vile, petty little people they are.

Woodworth and 'Modern' Science

Aww. Isn't this cute? MP Stephen Woodworth, he of Woodworth's Wank, is still in the public eye he has grown addicted to.

But uh-oh, look at this.

Under the heading Woodworth garnering all the wrong attention Joseph McNinch-Pazzano writes:

After Kitchener-Centre Member of Parliament Stephen Woodworth’s failed attempt to reopen the abortion debate in Canada, you might have thought he would gracefully exit the spotlight of hot button social issues. Regrettably, this is not the case.

On Oct.7, Woodworth was a featured guest for an event in Quebec where he appeared alongside Michel Lizotte, an outspoken advocate who believes that gay people can become straight if they simply choose to do so.

Woodworth was criticized in the House of Commons, but has not yet responded to the criticism nor made a public statement disowning what Lizotte advocates.

At the event, Lizotte reportedly delivered a lecture on sexual re-orientation.

Lizotte advocates for gays to learn “how to be freed from thoughts, attractions or unwanted homosexual behavior while taking the path of heterosexuality.”

One of two things could explain Woodworth’s silence.

The MP could actually believe the psychologically-debunked nonsense that Lizotte trumpets.

Or, Woodworth could oppose what Lizotte advocates but refuses to publicly state his disagreement—which is equally detrimental to gay rights.

McNinch-Pazzano goes on to demolish Lizotte's nonsense. Then winds up:

In his attempt to reopen the debate about when life begins, Woodworth stated that “our 400-year-old definition of a human being says a child does not become a human being until the moment of complete birth, contrary to 21st century medical evidence.”

If Woodworth wants to invoke his conceptions of modern medicine in the abortion debate, he must give equal time to the notion in the gay rights debate.

Woodworth cannot simply turn a blind eye to an activist who is living in 1970s psychology textbooks.

Among the Kitchener-Centre constituents that Woodworth purportedly represents are young men and women who are looking for guidance and acceptance of who they are.

If Woodworth does not have the decency to come out in strong opposition to Lizotte and his views, then perhaps he should reconsider whether he espouses the necessary values to represent the people of Kitchener-Centre.

Or, perhaps better yet, the people of Kitchener-Centre should tell Woodworth that they would like to have a full-time representative instead of one who seems to be more interested in advocating for the social issues that keep him in the national spotlight.

So much for 'modern' science when it doesn't toe the Vatican Taliban line, eh, Woody?

Chick-fil-A: Everything you wanted to know ...

about the controversy & boycott, but were afraid to ask, can be found in this blogpost, written by a thoughtful US citizen.

It can seem ridiculous to get all worked up over fast-food chicken.

Let’s also agree that this isn’t about curtailing anyone’s rights under First Amendment. The Constitution is a legal document. This is not a legal argument. No one is arguing that Chik-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy should be put in prison, or silenced, or censored by the government. This has nothing to do with government censorship or government abridgment of Freedom of Speech. So don’t worry: the ability of this millionaire to legally spend his millions as he sees fit is not in jeopardy. You need not defend it. [...]

1. This isn’t simply about marriage. [...] here’s what you should know:

- In 29 states in America today, my partner of 18 years, Cody, or I could be fired for being gay. Period. No questions asked. One of those states is Louisiana, our home state. We live in self-imposed exile from beloved homeland, family, and friends, in part, because of this legal restriction on our ability to live our lives together.

- In 75 countries in the world, being gay is illegal. In many, the penalty is life in prison. These are countries we can’t openly visit. In 9 countries, being gay is punishable by death. In many others, violence against gays is tacitly accepted by the authorities. These are countries where we would be killed. Killed.

- Two organizations that work very hard to maintain this status quo and roll back any protections that we may have are the Family Research Council and the Marriage & Family Foundation. For example, the Family Research council leadership has officially stated that same-gender-loving behavior should be criminalized in this country. They draw their pay, in part, from the donations of companies like Chick-Fil-A. Both groups have also done “missionary” work abroad that served to strengthen and promote criminalization of same-sex relations.

- Chick-Fil-A has given roughly $5M to these organizations to support their work.

- Chick-Fil-A’s money comes from the profits they make when you purchase their products.

It's a long piece, well worth reading.

Our own Benediction Blogs On has posted some thoughts, from an evangelical perspective that's neither bigoted nor supportive of christian Sharia.

By the way, the Chick-fil-A "cow appreciation" campaign ripped off one of Gary Larson's cartoon. I suspect that the corporation didn't pay him a cent of royalties for his concept and he's probably too classy a guy to litigate.

Homophobia is alive and festering in the US.

When is a kiss not just a kiss?

The photo above and an article about US armed forces personnel was greeted with the predictable nasty and murderous reactions from zealot christianists and vile bigots.

Tut, tut. What would Jesus do?

He might say something along the lines of this letter from the managing editor of The Seattle Times.

Dear XXX

I’m sorry that you found the photo on today’s front page offensive. That was not our intention. We selected the photo because it depicted an historic moment for the U.S. military, vividly illustrating the end of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” era in a striking twist on the Navy’s “first kiss” tradition.

As you know, treatment of gay and lesbian members of the U.S. military has been hotly debated for years, including at military installations around the Puget Sound region. As politicians and military leaders argued, the effect on individual soldiers and sailors sometimes got lost. This photo, which both our picture and news editors described as iconic, showed what the policy change meant at street level.

Part of our responsibility as a news organization is to reflect the reality around us, even if it might make some readers uncomfortable. We do not make those decisions lightly. We debated how and where to use this picture extensively. In the end, we felt the historic nature of the photo merited front page treatment.

While you may not agree with this decision, I hope this explanation helps you understand it. We were not trying to push a political agenda. We were trying to show the real-world effect of a political change of policy.

I hope you will reconsider your decision to cancel the paper. Just as we value lively debates in our newsroom about how to display news, we value lively debates with our readers about whether they think we’re doing a good job. We need readers like you who care enough to call us to account when you don’t think we’re doing our jobs well. It keeps us on our toes and helps inform the choices we make going forward.

Sincerely,
Kathy Best
Managing Editor, The Seattle Times

Is there anything more despicable than pimping your own kid?

Apparently, Tim Hudork doesn't think so. He thinks it will win him an election.

Here he is using his daughter's recent serious illness (and some ringer nurses) to talk about healthcare.

Here he is using a ginormous photo of wifey and adorable daughter as bus-wrapping.

Here he is again using daughter's illness to try desperately to connect with someone, anyone. (Warning: major glurge-fest.)

And how about this one this past weekend? Adorable daughter has a birthday party and a CP vidographer just happens to catch the candle-blowing out part.

Awwwww.

But really, I wonder how he can top today's kid-pimping effort.

Defending a homophobic flyer sent out by his party -- a flyer that spouts a bunch of lies about that sensible sex-ed program that the Liberals scampered away from when Foghorn McVety stamped his widdle foot -- he trots out adorable daughter again today.

“My little girl Miller – it’s her birthday today – is just four and she has started JK,” he said. “The notion that Dalton McGuinty thinks a priority in education is sex-education curriculum starting at Grade 1 when they should be learning their ABCs and how to tie their shoes is another example of how Dalton McGuinty has lost touch with mainstream Ontario.”

How low can a pol possibly go?

Well, there are three days of desperation left. We may find out there is yet a lower sinkhole in pandering pimpitude.

AFTERTHOUGHT: Surely, in a Theo-Neo-Con's mindset, teaching a child to tie her shoes is a PARENT'S responsibility.

Making women gay ...err, happy.

"Post coitum anima tristes est" ... ? Not according to recent research.

You may have heard about the controversy surrounding Dr Lazar Greenfield. His one-liner about semen supposedly cost him the loss of his president-elect position at the American College of Surgeons.

In the February issue [of Surgery News], he penned some thoughts on Valentine's Day [...] ("But Valentine's Day is about love, and if you remember a romantic gut feeling when you met your significant other, it might have a physiological basis.") Greenfield proceeded to then discuss the mating habits of fruit flies ("It has long been known that Drosophila raised on starch media are more likely to mate with other starch-raised flies"), the mating habits of the rotifer ("Biologists say that it's more advantageous for a rotifer to remain asexual and pass 100 percent of its genetic information to the next generation."). In each case, Dr. Greenfield made sure to reference to the scientific literature. Then he turned his attention to humans.

Dr. Greenfield noted the therapeutic effects of semen, citing research from the Archives of Sexual Behavior which found that female college students practicing unprotected sex were less likely to suffer from depression than those whose partners used condoms (as well as those who remained abstinent).

Presumably it was the closing line that caused the controversy: "So there's a deeper bond between men and women than St. Valentine would have suspected, and now we know there's a better gift for that day than chocolates."

Better than chocolate? No f***ing way!

There is growing evidence that human semen has the potential to produce profound effects on women. We have replicated the effects showing female college students having sex without condoms are less depressed as measured by objective scores on the Beck Depression Inventory. We've also examined the data as a function of whether the students were using hormonal contraceptives, whether they were in committed relationships, and how long these relationships have lasted. The anti-depressant properties of semen exposure do not vary as function of any of these conditions. It is not a question of whether females are sexually active, since students having sex with condoms show the same level of depression as those who are not having sex at all. We have also received numerous semen testimonials from other women who attest to the anti-depressant effects of semen exposure [...]

Only 5 percent of the ejaculate is sperm. What's left is seminal plasma, which is a rich concoction of chemicals, including many that have the potential to produce mood-altering effects derived from hormones, neurotransmitters, and endorphins. There are even female sex hormones in male semen. Within a hour or two after insemination, you can detect heightened levels of many of these seminal chemicals in a woman's bloodstream.

Yadda yadda yadda. Notice something inherently heterosexist about this research? If that seminal plasma is such a tasty dish of yummy mood-lifters, what about the effect it might have on a male partner? Is this why queer men are so gay?

Oh. Wait. It's only about reproductive biology and, as Adrienne Rich called it, compulsory heterosexuality, isn't it?

But it is also important to acknowledge that there is a dark side to semen chemistry. The vagina is a very hostile environment for sperm. During human evolutionary history women couldn't afford to conceive as a consequence of being inseminated by just any man, and the presence of semen in the female reproductive tract often triggers an immune reaction that treats the sperm as a pathogen.

Gotcha! What we need is serious, all-encompassing and unbiased research regarding the effect of the plasma aka 'manly essence', as well as that of cyprine upon the happiness quotient of all human beings and ^NOT only upon their ability to breed.

We can safely surmise the Contempt Party and its homophobes wouldn't fund that, though.

Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill Is Dead.

Success. At least for now. Updated yesterday.

Great news -- the bill has has been shelved! Together, we've won a major fight for equality and justice. Over 1.6 million of us signed the petition opposing the anti-gay bill, tens of thousands of us called our heads of state, and we helped make the attack on gay rights in Uganda a major international news story -- and it worked.

Today, under intense global pressure, the Speaker of the Ugandan Parliament blocked the anti-gay bill from coming to a vote in the emergency session. Now Parliament has closed and the bill has been wiped from the books. It's not necessarily gone for good, but to be considered again, it would have to be reintroduced as a new bill and go through the whole Parliamentary process -- which took 18 months last time.

Our global outcry made it clear that the world is watching, and demanding that human rights be respected everywhere. Today, we can join our friends in Uganda in celebration of a victory that could save thousands of lives.

I doubt Avaaz and the petition signers can claim all or even most of the credit. But it must have helped.

Smells like a Contempt rat to me.

Or it might be a BQ dirty trick, since the incumbent could lose his seat to NDP Boivin - who once held the riding of Gatineau for the Libs. These allegations against Boivin have been raised in the past and she has clearly stated that they are unfounded.

Montreal newspaper Le Devoir reported Tuesday that Boivin did not actually leave the [Liberal] party for ideological reasons as she has previously stated, but because she hired a woman to work in her office the Liberals say was her same-sex partner and then refused to acknowledge she had broken the rules. [...]

Boivin flatly denied the allegations, saying that she knows all the rules and she never broke them. “These anonymous sources should come out of the shadows and have the courage to defend these allegations,” Boivin said in a statement on Tuesday, where she also announced her intention to defend her integrity and give legal notice to Le Devoir and the journalist who wrote the story. [...]

NDP officials say that was always their understanding of why she joined their party, noting she had voted with them – and against the Liberals – on votes like the missile defense system and legislation concerning the right to strike. [...]

Boivin told a news conference in Gatineau on Tuesday that she has been consistent in saying no every time she has been asked whether she had hired a same-sex partner to work in her office, a question that came from both the Liberals and the NDP. Boivin noted that she gave the same answer to [Toronto] Star reporter Richard J. Brennan when he asked her about the rumour in the past.

Brennan has written previously about the BQ and his language suggests that he is not sympathetic to that party - nor to the NDP.

Le Devoir has been relentlessly investigating Contempt Party candidates for their affiliations to extreme rightwing and fundamentalist religious groups during this federal election. This may have led to pressure on the editorial board to "balance" this reporting by publishing something dodgy about an Opposition party's candidate, particularly one who might be endangering a BQ incumbent's prospects for re-election.

Canadian politics have shifted; hateful political tactics increasingly replicate the polarized ambiance in the US. We can thank the Contempt Party and its leader, Emperor Stevie Spiteful for importing these toxic substances.

At this point, I'm thinking that someone close to the BQ or the Cons is the source for this contemptible product of trash journalism. BTW, the ADQ, which has formed an alliance of convenience with the CPC and Alberta's Wild Rose Party is not known for supporting gay and lesbian human rights.

And also: Count on Norm Spector to get it right ... NOT!

Too: The NDP's knee-jerk response to the attack on their candidate is short-sighted and not very politically astute, imho.

Gawd Says: as interpreted by Focus on the Family

Shorter Candi Cushman of US Focus on the Family: Homophobes? Nonsense, we're here to preach God's love for heterosexuals and only heterosexuals.

Only rightwing intolerant christian zealots *really* know what God says and so The Focus on the (fundamentalist religious nuclear) Family will shrieeek as loudly as it can over the "Day of Silence".

Other families - here, and there - are offensive to the christianists and their Gawd and are thus rejected as 'unnatural'.

Noted catholic bigot Margaret Somerville used academic flourishes to disguise the hideous loathing, and perhaps envy, that seethes from her form of family worship. So shallow is the defense of her opinion that her final resort is a quote from a woman (who owes her existence to reproductive technology) equating these medical interventions with the crime of sexual assault.

Responses to Somerville's peroration can be found here.

'The Family Leader' FAIL

Just when you thought rightwing whackos couldn't get any nuttier, somebody comes along to crank up the shrieeek!

[...]The Family Leader, a conservative group spearheading the repeal same-sex-marriage campaign in Iowa. The organization’s president, Bob Vander Plaats, has embarked on a 99-county tour in which he presents The Family Leader as a traditional religious group that is more interested in restoring biblical values than slandering gay people. “The Family Leader affirms sexual relations within the bond of marriage, and opposes distortions of sexuality or special rights to those practicing distorted sexual behavior,” the group’s website states.

But as Hooper discovered, a slight alternation of the organization’s website reveals SecondHandEffects.com, a site which describes homosexuality as a public health crisis akin to smoking and endorses discredited ex-gay reversal therapies [...]

Those christianist zealots are indeed toxic, and the video that describes their activities and lobbying events is chilling.



Notwithstanding the contempt they have for the teaching of evolution, these bible-thumpers attempt to convey that there is a scientific basis to the lies they spew. This cached webpage can be found via google:

It is currently popular to support the notion of allowing two people of the same gender to “marry” each other. But should we ignore what science is telling us just because it is popular?

Doesn't that loopy illogic remind you of someone whose name is not yet trademarked because she didn't sign the application form? Yup, you betcha.

Go to hell, go directly to hell.

Mr John Smeaton. Do not pass GO, do not collect any of the hundreds of indulgences you believe your slavering obsequiousness has gathered on your behalf.

We learn of Smeaton's odious and smarmy homophobic rant via Enormous Thriving Plants. It wavers between the shop-worn passive-aggressive style favoured by christian Brits and the prickish swagger affected by men hung like hamsters.

Smeaton, the top rent-boy at SPUNC, hits out at Elton John, gay parenting, IVF, and atheism whilst not missing an opportunity to disparage Tony and Cherie Blair.

The crux of his screed is given a magnificent whoopee! with his reference to "the 10th anniversary celebration of Stonewall, the UK’s main homosexualist organisation. Sir Elton's performace featured homo-erotic dancers dressed as Boy Scouts, in what seemed to me to imply the promotion of paedophilia."

Clearly those dancers should have been dressed as members of Pope Maledict's Vatican Taliban in order to make the connection to the catholic church and its promotion and tolerance of heterosexual pedophilia evident to all.

Not that there's anything good about that.

Seriously. How would LGBTQ people be uplifted if it came to light that a world-renowned institutional homophobe were a notorious closet case?

Would outing him advance human rights or promote acceptance? It wouldn't not stop homophobic hatred and murderous violence directed against lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered folks and queer individuals.

But it would certainly once more reveal the depth of the hypocrisy of the Vatican Taliban and their catholic zealots.

Read and form your own opinion.

Oh yeah, and here's a good shriEEEk on Blob Blogging Wingnut's behalf.

Go to hell. Go directly to hell.

According to this recent Gallup poll,

About one-third of the American adult population believes the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word. This percentage is slightly lower than several decades ago. The majority of those Americans who don't believe that the Bible is literally true believe that it is the inspired word of God but that not everything it in should be taken literally. About one in five Americans believe the Bible is an ancient book of "fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man." [...]

Some denominations hold the belief in a literal Bible as a hallmark of their faith. The statement of "Faith and Mission" of the Southern Baptist Convention, for example, states that: " The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. ..."

Nice - and profitable - scam you've got going there, Pastor Steven Anderson.

In trash news, Caribou Barbie Junior Miss - Bristol Palin - takes on Margaret Cho by snarking about KD Lang and Indigo Girls. The whole WTF? 411 here.

My Karma Ran Over Your Dogma.

'Blogging Tories in Their Own Words' highlights this typical fundamentalist christian view about yoga.

Not news to us; we've known for years that Blob Blogging Whiner practices dogma, not yoga. The twisty positions SHE assumes occur in HER mind.

SHE is currently shrieeeking about objections raised regarding the charitable status and tax exempt status of these homophobes.

SHE seems perfectly aligned with the haters of the Faithful Word Baptist Church.

The church is not new and the controversy surrounding the beliefs of its leader are not new. However, a report released Wednesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center gives the church a new label. The SPLC is now listing the church as a hate group targeting homosexuals in a list of hate groups operating in Arizona. [...]

"Do I hate? Absolutely," said Faithful Word Baptist Church Pastor Steven Anderson. Anderson said. "I do hate homosexuals and if hating homosexuals makes our church a hate group then that's what we are." The church leader, with a Bible in his hand during the interview, said he preaches his hatred for homosexuals and wishes death upon them.

"Should I be a Baptist Pastor if I don't believe what the Bible says, if parts of this book offend the Southern Poverty Law Center then it should label it a hate book."

From here.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has no issue with the bible - its focus is identifying the hate groups who justify their pathological venom by using selected Old and New testament quotes. More information about SPLC and its work, here and here.

fern hill ADDS link to slapupsidethehead's campaign to get charitable status revoked.

And. Also too. LuLu writes a letter to Fred Phelps & his acolytes - The Galloping Beaver: Dear Westboro Baptist Church:

More fascist than Pope Maledict.

Dr Dawg caught Blob Blogging Wingnut doing what SHE does best - shriEEEking.

The folks at St. Joseph's Parish in Ottawa are supporting the Capital Pride march on August 29.

What, tolerance squeezing through the door of the Catholic church? Not so fast. Big Blue Wave's SUZANNE is MASSIVELY pissed, and she's ratted them out to the Archbishop.

HER obsession with homosexuality - who is and who isn't, who's intolerant and who isn't - borders on the manic.

In recent weeks, SHE has been cyber-stalking Raymond Gravel, a former BQ MP who was ordered by the Vatican Taliban (no doubt prodded by Ayatollah Ouellet) to choose between the priesthood and politics.

One of HER blogposts shriEEEked:

Fr. Raymond Gravel dumps on pro-lifers, again.

Actually, Gravel was defending himself from more attacks from The Fetus©™ fetishists' fundraising and marketing organ, Lies-Site.

HER most recent screed about him was:

Fr. Raymond Gravel Celebrates Gay Pride Mass

At a Catholic Parish in Montreal. On the Feast of the Assumption. If I find any more details, I'll let you know.

Imagine that. A catholic priest celebrating a mass for devoted and observant believers in Jesus - gay men, lesbians, transgendered folks as well as their supportive family members and community.

But then, we knew that SUZIE-CAPS-ON! is one of the more rabid busy-bodies and panties-sniffers in thrall to Pope Maledict's Vatican Taliban.