The stage was set up way to the front of the west capitol steps rather than near the steps, which crowded the audience into a much smaller space. Figures; it made 5,000 people (guestimate based on number of rows times number of people in the third from the back row, which I cut through to get out of the crowd) feel more like 10,000 because the crowd area was small and packed.But the fun part is that Kel received a classic voicemail from an irate female teabagger.Second, this was all about the over-40 white people (only person of color I saw in the whole place who wasn't wearing a police uniform was a brave Black man on a bicycle who rode by with a "Fox Sucks" sign shouting "Fox can teabag me!"). Men outnumbered women about three to one.
Third, there was plenty of wingnuttery: the usual "Abolish the IRS" and "Return to the gold standard," as well as one guy who kept saying, "They're committing treason. Hang 'em all!"
Fourth, nobody seems to grasp that the Obama administration was not the author of TARP. They seem to have forgotten that a Bush administration ever existed, and the anger at President Obama ranged from the usual accusations of socialism (except for the guy with a sign equating him to Hitler-I think that's an accusation of fascism) to several signs with variations of "OBAMA: One Big Awful Mistake, America."
Uh, yeah, Kel, my name is Liz and I was at the same Sacramento tea party you were. And I don't know what the hell you're talking about about the black stuff, you're probably black yourself, I guess. I don't know whether you're some kind of hate monger ... maybe goes with your last name, Munger.Click over for his reply. Below the fold, KO and Janeane Garofalo gab about teabagger bigots.Anyway, as far as the black people showing up, there were quite a few black people and they were probably intelligent ones that weren't home on welfare where the rest of 'em probably were, and a lot of hispanics that we're paying for that are illegally here. So next time you write an article you better write it right because the re was a black man that sung the tea party song in case you missed that one, and there was also a black guy from Hollywood, a comedian, who was up there speaking to the crowd.
The next time you decide to write your slanted view get your fucking facts straight you fucking asshole.
Keith Olbermann and Janeane Garofalo discussed this phenomenon of teabaggers who are so upset by Barack Obama "presidenting while black" that these events are serving as their outlet to vent their overflowing sense that white privilege is under assault. Nah, those teabaggers weren't racist....
GAROFALO: They don't know their history at all. This is about hating a black man in the White House. This is racism straight up. That is nothing but a bunch of tea bagging rednecks. And there is no way around that. And, you know, you can tell these type of right-wingers anything and they'll believe it, except the truth. You tell them the truth and they become-it's like showing Frankenstein's monster fire. They become confused, angry, highly volatile.
That guy caused in them feelings they don't know because of their limbic brain-we've discussed before, the limbic brain inside a right-winger or Republican or conservative or your average white power activist - - the limbic brain is much larger in their head space than in a reasonable person. And it is pushing against the frontal lobe. So their synapses are misfiring.
Is Bernie Goldberg listening? Bernie might not have heard this when I said this the first time. So, Bernie, this is for you. It is a neurological problem that we're dealing with.
OLBERMANN: Well, what do you do about it, though? I mean, our friend in Pensacola there, who played them like a three dollar fiddle.
GAROFALO: Yes.
OLBERMANN: And led them right down the garden path with nothing but facts, and then they went, wait a minute, that doesn't sound like Rush Limbaugh. If you can't-
GAROFALO: Right.
OLBERMANN: If you can't get them to make that last leap to what are we all doing here, Howard Johnson is wrong.
GAROFALO: Yes.
OLBERMANN: How do you break through that?
GAROFALO: I don't think you do, for most of them. This is a pathological-it's almost pathological or elevated to a philosophy or lifestyle. Again, this is about racism. It could be any issue, any port in a storm. These guys hate that a black guy is in the White House, but they-they immigrant bash. They pretend taxes and tea bags-like I said, most of them probably couldn't tell you thing one about taxation without representation, the Boston Tea Party, British imperialism, whatever the history lesson has to be.
But these people always-unless there's some's some people with Stockholm Syndrome.
OLBERMANN: I didn't see them. They were in the back. They weren't near the cameras, which is bad strategy on the part of the people staging this at Fox.
GAROFALO: True. And Fox News loves to foment this anti-intellectualism. That is their bread and butter. If you have a cerebral electorate, Fox News goes down the toilet very, very fast. It is sick and sad to see Neil Cavuto doing this. They're been doing this for years. That's why Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch started this venture, is to disinform and to coarsen and dumb-down a certain segment of the electorate.
But what is really-I didn't know there were so many racists left. I didn't know that. As I said, the Republican hype in the conservative movement has now crystallized into the white power movement.
OLBERMANN: Is that not a bad long-term strategy. Even though-your point is terrifying there are that many racists left.
GAROFALO: Right.
OLBERMANN: The flip side of it is there aren't that many racists left.
GAROFALO: You're the minority, literally tens of people showed up to this thing across the country.
OLBERMANN: But if you spear your television network or your political party towards a bunch of guys who are just looking for a reason to yell at the black president, eventually you will marginalize yourself out of market, won't you?
GAROFALO: No. Here's what the right-wing has-there are no shortages of the natural resources of ignorance, apathy, hate sphere. As long as those things are in the collective conscious and unconscious, the Republicans will have some votes, and Fox News will have viewers. What else have they got. If they didn't do that, who's going to watch?
I mean, they have tackled that elusive clam-I said clam-you know, the clam demo, the 18 to 35 clam demo. Klan, with a K, demo. Who else is Fox talking? What is it, urban older white guys, and the girlfriend-you know, the women who suffer from Stockholm Syndrome again. There's a lot of Stockholm Syndrome, is what I'm saying, ultimately.
What else you got? What do you want to know?
OLBERMANN: What if somebody was at one of these things hurts somebody.
GAROFALO: That is an unfortunate byproduct, since the dawn of time, of a volatile group like this of the limbic brain. Violence, unfortunately, may or may not ensue. It depends on immigrant bashing and hating the black guy in the White House. Will people act on that? It's not new. But, you know, Fox doesn't mind fomenting it. Michelle Bachmann doesn't mind fomenting it. Glenn Beck doesn't mine fomenting it.
OLBERMANN: Lou Dobbs.
GAROFALO: Lou Dobbs. Oh, man. But what have they got if they don't have this? You know what I mean? It's like identity politics of the worst kind.
I wanted to draw your attention to a new book that makes a biblical case for LGBT equality (full disclosure: I edited the book and my dad is the author). The book is called Jesus, the Bible, and Homosexuality: Explode the Myths, Heal the Church by Jack Rogers who is the former Moderator (highest elected official) in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).
As Nate Silver at fivethirthyeight.com pointed out in a recent post, the three biggest factors that influence whether a state will approve same-sex marriage are: "1. The year in which the amendment was voted upon [every year public support for same-sex marriage increases by about 2%]; 2. The percentage of adults in 2008 Gallup tracking surveys who said that religion was an important part of their daily lives; 3. The percentage of white evangelicals in the state."
But what Nate's post didn't take into account is that within almost all Christian denominations in the U.S. are active LGBT advocacy groups working to change hearts and minds from within that faith tradition. Dr. Rogers is one a number of evangelical theologians who have become vocal supporters of LGBT equality (in his case he is working to reform the Presbyterian Church USA from within).
I sat down with Dr. Rogers (he is family after all) to talk about his new book.
(The interview is below the fold.)
Me: Why did you write this book?
JR: I wrote this book to help heal the church. For decades the church has been divided over whether to ordain and marry people who are LGBT. It seems to me that the debate highlights different methods of Biblical interpretation. In my book, I show that the proper way to interpret the Bible is through the lens of Jesus’ redemptive life and ministry. When we interpret the Bible in this way, we see that we are called, by the Bible, to grant equal rights to people who are LGBT. The church won’t be healed until it does the right thing — which is to grant equal rights to people who are LGBT.
Me: In the book, you make some intriguing remarks about the relationship between homophobia and patriarchy. What is this relationship all about?
JR: Women, in ancient, patriarchal cultures were assumed to be inferior to men. Thus, men who did not conform to traditional masculine roles were assumed, like women, to be inferior. Homophobia, the irrational contempt for people who are sexually different, is rooted in sexism, the prejudice that women are inferior to men. In our present culture, the people most opposed to homosexuality (like James Dobson at Focus on the Family) also demand male dominance in marriage, the family, and society.
Me: In the book you also talk about the progress toward LGBT equality in other denominations. What is the state of the broader movement for LGBT equality within the American faith community?
JR: Several denominations already have official policies of full LGBT equality including the Metropolitan Community Churches, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association. Several other denominations are making good progress including tuding the Episcopal Church, my own Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which is very close to a breakthrough, and the Methodist Church which has majority support for LGBT equality here in the U.S. but is still lacking the support of their international brothers and sisters. Finally there are the denominations which are dug in or going backwards — such as the Roman Catholic Church and the Southern Baptist Convention — but even within those denominations there are active advocacy groups working for change. Fifty years ago there were no out LGBT clergy or LGBT advocacy groups in any denomination. Now many denominations have out clergy and all denominations have active LGBT advocacy groups. This is really remarkable progress within a relatively short space of time.
To learn more about the book or Dr. Rogers check out:
Harry Knox, Director, Religion and Faith Program at The Human Rights Campaign says, "Rogers offers both a rigorous yet accessible theological study and a model of spiritual discernment that is essential reading for anyone struggling to reconcile their faith with the needs of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community."
William Stacy Johnson, author of A Time to Embrace: Same-gender Relationships in Religion, Law, and Politics says "The compelling biblical and theological case Jack Rogers makes for the full acceptance of gay couples is simply impossible to ignore."
Rev. Janet Edwards, Parish Associate, Community of Reconciliation, Pittsburgh, PA writes: "Searching Scripture even more widely, sharing the progress toward equality across a broad range of denominations and describing his encounters with so many devout LGBT folk, Jack shows us how we can biblically and truthfully include all our children in the gospel promise, 'Jesus loves me, this I know.'"
Hard to believe it, but that embarrassment to The Washington Hate Coalition, the greedy evictor of retired clergyHere is their bizarre website. Do they really exist, or is this just another vanity site for another vain theocrat? Oops, not that vain theocrat, this vain theocrat.
But the connection to my post topic came when I googled PCA and was directed to this node at the Washington Eagle Forum, an 
affiliate of Mother Schlafly's outfit. (When you click on the only link on that page, "Resources and Legislative Alerts", you're redirected to that bizarre PCA site.) I've heard local Eaglettes testify and speechify and screechify during the DP bill deliberations, so I thought it worth a click around their nest. And now I'm finally getting to the point of this story: these people are hypocrites when they say "the people" should vote on marriage, DPs and the like. What?! Hypocrites?! You can't believe it, can you?
Now, about that vote thing, after the flip.
It seems that the Eagles are all het up about SB 5599, Washington state's version of the National Popular Vote effort.
The National Popular Vote bill would guarantee the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia).Under the U.S. Constitution, the states have exclusive and plenary (complete) power to allocate their electoral votes, and may change their state laws concerning the awarding of their electoral votes at any time. Under the National Popular Vote bill, all of the state's electoral votes would be awarded to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The bill would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes-that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538).
And by all het up, I mean that Eagle Forum is in a lather and dead set against it:
Believing that enforcing majority will is the only purpose of government, a group called "National Popular Vote" is attempting to nullify the Electoral College....Huh? What? Did that just come from the lips of an Eaglette?If the purpose of government is liberty and justice, the Electoral College has done America proud. The system moderates our politics and protects minority rights.
If the purpose of government is simply enforcing the will of the majority, the Electoral College is in question.
The WA Eagle Forum backs the fleece-the-sheeple referendum Gary Randall is scamming a paycheck from. We know that Gary fervently believes in 'enforcing the will of the majority'. When it suits him.Washington State lawmakers passed SB 5688 yesterday afternoon, thus giving the homosexual activists what they want.Gov. Gregoire will sign it.
We will seek to overturn it by referendum.
"Let the People Vote!" How many times did I hear that chant during the marriage anti-equality amendment battles in Massachusetts? In how many states have the Schlaflys and the Randalls of the country made "enforcing the will of the majority" their priority? (45)
I defy anyone to find even one member of The Washington Hate Coalition who doesn't believe in enforcing the will of the majority when it comes to my freedom to get a civil marriage. And yet here they are, rending garments because local democrats want to do the very same in presidential elections. I know it's not uncommon to find hypocrisy among the Professional Christianists drawing salaries from the anti-LBGT industry. In fact I think it's a job requirement. But it's been quite some time since I've witnessed such a baldfaced, in-your-face example. Will wonders never cease?
The lawsuit was brought forward by the Transgender Law Center on behalf of Gigi Marie Somers, a 67-year-old Kansas resident seeking to change her documentation. Read the full story at the Advocate’s web site, or read the court’s decision.
Birth certificates are often relied upon as a primary documentation resource, used by employers, creditors and the government to verify individuals’ identities. Without the ability to change their birth certificate, many transpeople are left in legal limbo, anspeople are left in legal limbo, and are frequently outed by their documentation, which may not match their gender presentation.
Birth certificate change procedures vary from state to state, and some states don't allow any alteration to the sex listed on this critical document. This increased ease in changing birth certificate will benefit California-born transpeople across the country. Congratulations to the Transgender Law Center on this fantastic victory!
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