Well, here's President of the Greater Cleveland Young Republicans Joe Amschlinger displaying his mighty intellect, unedited. Somewhere on the internets, this genius complained that my editing of the first Tea Party video made him look like he didn't know why he was at the Tea Party. As usual, the full clip makes him look even more stupid than the edited clip.
I literally had NO IDEA what this guy was saying. None. ZERO. He was completely unintelligible. I gave him numerous opportunities, and all he could do was take stupid cheap shots about Rachel Maddow, whine about how I was "lawyering" him, etc., etc, then tell me he wanted to be "friends." I'm going to guess that Joe got away with being this vapid his entire life because daddy had some cash, or mommy had a trust fund, or maybe Joe really is smart but he turned off the smart gene when he entered the Tea Party so his intelligence wouldn't be sucked out of his head by the cosmic vacuum of stupidity he was about to enter and spend an hour using like a cheap whore to perpetuate the illusion that his political party isn't a rotting corpse. Either way, if Joe has a brain, it is not evident in this video.
| The National Organization for Marriage needs some cash now that it's flushed who knows how much down the crapper with that ridiculous ad a week or so ago. So it's back to the drawing board -- traditional direct mail. Blender Orion 45 passed along a copy of this fish wrap.
Their campaign is to beg for buxx to fund its "DOMA Defense Fund." |
Together you and I can make it crystal clear to the powerful misguided politicians in Washington:Can I hurl now? BTW, NOM has released new radio ads, specifically targeting Washington, DC and Connecticut. You can listen here.Don't sabotage DOMA, the one federal law protecting U.S. taxpayers from being forced by judges to treat same-sex unions as marriages. Don't let Washington politicians push such a divisive and intrusive issue against the will of the majority of the American people.
So how do we do it? What does it take to get the attention of Washington politicians? Out-of-touch politicians pay attention to one thing: the threat of tough, organized and determined political opposition. So NOM's 2009 DOMA Defense Fund aims to do just that: NOM's 2009 DOMA Defense Fund will make your voice heard in the halls of power in Congress-to make sure every member of Congress knows that in his or her district there are people to whom marriage matters and that we vote.
NOM's powerful new technology allows ordinary Americans to multiply their voices with a few clicks of the mouse, swelling the chorus of pro-marriage voices to a never-before-heard crescendo; Americans of every race, creed and color speaking together for God's truth about marriage.
...You know it and I know the mainstream media portrays Christians and other people of good will who support marriage as hate-filled bigots. Gay marriage activists' goal is to silence, intimidate and depress the opposition. Bullying and intimidation is at the heart of their movement's tactics because silencing your voice is the only way that lies and hatred can prevail over truth and love.
It's nice to know that Peter LaBarbera's BFF, Matt Barber of Liberty Counsel, is consistent in his homo hate. In his latest column for Don Wildmon's news organ, "Separate but unequal protection," he manages to make a mess of criticizing the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009. It's kind of tiring to see the same old arguments put forth. And the lie in this screed is particularly entertaining: Furthermore, under existing criminal statute if H.R. 1913 becomes law, actual violence or injury need not take place for a "hate crime" to occur. For example, if a group of Christians are at a "gay pride" parade and a one of them gently places his hand on a homosexual's shoulder and shares that there is freedom from homosexuality through a relationship with Jesus Christ, then, voila, we have a battery and, consequently, a felony "hate crime."This was only a small snippet of the non-reality-based column. This law wouldn't do anything to stifle free speech. The ACLU's Washington Legislative Office passed along this document outlining that the legislation protects First Amendment rights of free speech and free association.But the Christian needn't even touch the homosexual. If the homosexual merely claims he was subjectively placed in "apprehension of bodily injury" by the Christian'tian's words then, again, the Christian can be thrown in prison for a felony "hate crime." The FBI has included mere words - "insults" and "intimidation" - in calculating "hate crimes" statistics and - under the current political regime in Washington - there's every reason to believe they'll subjectively consider "insults" and "intimidation" (read: traditional sexual morality) for purposes of prosecuting "hate crimes."
III. The New Bill Provides Strong Protection of Free SpeechThe ACLU has a long record of support for stronger protection of both free speech and civil rights. Those positions are not inconsistent. In fact, vigilant protection of free speech rights historically has opened the doors to effective advocacy for expanded civil rights protections.The full letter is here. Bam Bam needs a better script to work from.Fourteen years ago, the ACLU submitted a brief to the Supreme Court urging the Court to uphold a Wisconsin hate crime sentencing enhancement statute as constitutional. However, the ACLU also asked the Court "to set forth a clear set of rules governing the use of such statutes in the future." The ACLU warned the Court that "if the state is not able to prove that a defendant's speech is linked to specific criminal behavior, the chances increase that the state's hate crime prosecution is politically inspired." The evidentiary provision in the House bill will help avoid that harm.
The ACLU appreciates the sponsors' inclusion of the evidentiary provision that prevents the hate crimes legislation from having any potentially chilling effect on constitutionally protected speech. The evidentiary subsection in the bill provides that:
Evidence of expression or association of the defendant may not be introduced as substantive evidence at trial, unless the evidence specifically relates to that offense. However, nothing in this section affects the rules of evidence governing the impeachment of a witness.
This provision will reduce or eliminate the possibility that the federal government could obtain a criminal conviction on the basis of evidence of speech that had no role in the chain of events that led to any alleged violent act proscribed by the statute.
She discusses the tragic cases of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover and Eric Mohat, two youth who committed suicide after being the targets of relentless anti-LGBT harassment in their schools. And she cites some sobering numbers:
"Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2 percent) reported being verbally harassed at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, nearly half (44.1 percent) reported being physically harassed, and about a quarter (22.1 percent) reported being physically assaulted." [...] "Nearly two-thirds of LGBT students (60.8 percent) who experience harassment or assault never reported the incident to the school. . . . Of those who did report the incident, nearly a third (31.1 percent) said the school staff did nothing in response."
Nothing in response? Nothing to help young people who rise each morning not knowing if school brings another day of hell on earth or something a bit more tolerable? As parents and school leaders, we cannot tolerate this status quo.
Read the full piece here, then write to your state Senator in support of the Oregon Safe Schools Act (HB2599).
Portland’s Night of Noise will benefit the Sexual Minority Youth Resource Center (SMYRC) and will take place at the Jupiter Hotel at 9:00 pm tonight! Click here for a map of the Jupiter's location.
As we’ve discussed previ556">previously on the blog, bullying and harassment remains a major problem for LGBT students, and for students who are perceived to be LGBT. And the effects of school-based harassment reach far beyond middle school and high school.
For more information on the climate for LGBT students on Oregon’s college campuses, read Too Afraid to Learn, the report coauthored by Basic Rights Education Fund and the Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance. Click here to download the report (PDF).
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 eir birth certificate, many transpeople 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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