The state's top liquor regulator, Doug Fox, is now the former top liquor regulator, as Governor Beverly Perdue demanded and received Fox's resignation after newspapers sent her a copy of the racist illustration Fox was shooting around on email. The e-mail included an altered photo of the White House that turned the South Lawn into an enormous watermelon patch. The phrase, "There goes the neighborhood ..." was printed above the photo.Of course the obvious question is why do some public officials think that sending out stuff like this is not going to blow up in their faces? As I've said before, never, ever send "humor" around like this unless you are 100% certain that the all of the recipients of your missive share your rancid, bigoted sense of humor. In his case the recipient of the email was a lobbyist Bill Hester (who represents Southern Wine & Spirits, a major liquor distributor). He declined to speak to the media.The e-mail was sent from Fox's law firm address Nov. 14 -- 10 days after Barack Obama was elected president. The message, which had been forwarded multiple times by others before reaching Fox, contained no text other than the subject line, "how true."
..."I have accepted Doug Fox's letter of resignation," Perdue said. "E-mails and images of this nature are offensive and unacceptable."
Fox, who was paid $110,000 last year, offered to stay on and help his successor settle in. Perdue, who will appoint a new chairman, declined. "The resignation will be effective immediately," said David Kochman, Perdue's communications director.
Fox also earns bonus points for *ssclown stupidity -- how could he not have seen or heard about the story about how this very same knee-slapping racist image was emailed around by Los Alamitos, California Mayor Dean Grose -- and how it cost him his job? I mean it wasn't as if it didn't make national news at the time...
You can see a copy of Fox's resignation letter here.
Related:
* CA: Orange County bigot eruption - Los Alamitos mayor sends out racist email
From one mother of a gay child to another - thank you, thank you, thank you. Your support for your daughter is touching - and very brave. You didn't have to come out so publicly, but you did, in spite of your own church's very public anti-gay stands. It proves one thing I already knew, there is no match for a mother's (or a father's) love for their child:
Actress and singer Marie Osmond was on a radio station KOST 103.5 Los Angeles yesterday, discussing her lesbian daughter Jessica and Marie's beliefs.
Contrary to rumors, Marie spoke of how much she loves and supports her daughter, despite her own Mormon religious convictions.
Naturally, the gay marriage question came up, and, we're proud to say, Marie spoke in support of civil rights for everyone, regardless of orientation.
The Mormon Church (in Marie's case) and the Catholic Church (in my case) is wrong. Dead wrong. Sinfully wrong. Unforgivably wrong. And I hope God will forgive them their sins against our children because Lord knows I cannot.
Delightful audio clip at this link.
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NOTE FROM PAM: Interestingly, her brother Donnie makes no bones about his religious beliefs, drags out the familiar "some of my self-loathing best friends are gay," and quotes from a Mormon document: "Marriage between man and woman is essential to His eternal plan." From his website:
There are many gay individuals that are members of our church. I know many of them. In fact, some of my best friends are gay. You ask how I react regarding their marriages. Well , I do support our Church leaders who say that we can accept those with gay tendencies in our church as long as they do not act upon their temptations. Everyone has tenancies to succumb to temptation, but we all have the same standard given to us by our Father in Heaven. Whether we may be tempted to be immoral with members of our own sex or of the opposite sex, we are expected to live chaste lives. This is very well explained not only in the Book of Mormon, but in the Bible as well.
...I am not a judge and I will never judge anyone for the decisions they make unless they are causing harm to another individual. I love my friends, including my gay friends.
We baristas and Pam have been noticing a coarsening within the discussion threads of late. Frankly, when we see within discussion threads Ann Coulter again start being referred to as a tranny and as Mann Coulter, when we see in different threads where the acknowledged gender identities of trans people aren't respected, when in still another thread we see the term bitch used in a derogatory fashion, and when we see people hijack threads for flame wars, it's time again to remind people about what the character of this blog is supposed to be.
So, I'm writing this diary from Pam's House Blend's front counter to do one of those periodic reminders about what Pam's House Blend is and isn't about. Have a cup of coffee or tea, and let's discuss the flavor of The Blend. 
But unfortunately, discussing the flavor of The Blend means that some of the discussion will need to be couched in terms of the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions. Sorry, it's a necessary thing.
To begin with, what is The Blend about, in general terms? Well, this is the way Pam describes it on the About The Blog page:
The LGBT community is obviously not monolithic. Issues of concern to one element may not resonate with another, be it race, gender, gender expression or position on the political spectrum. What unites us all is that the hearty portion of the larger society is demonizing us.I do post about personal issues on my blog, about pets, vacations, my wife. I want to make it clear that there is someone human behind the screen.
The Blend is about community, civility and friendly debate. It's never going to be highbrow content at the Blend, but it is always newsworthy and I like to mix up the fun and the political quite a bit -- as long as it makes people think.
The Blend was designed to be a virtual, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) coff ee house for LGBT people, their significant others, families, friends, and allies (SOFFAs). We discuss politics; we discuss religion; we discuss life -- we like to think about what we believe in, and challenge each others' beliefs. And, even though we sometimes disagree, the concept is one where although we may disagree on a subject, we don't have to be disagreeable about it.
So in other words, we share coffee in the same coffee house day after day, and for the most part we want to still be on talking terms when we meet again for coffee or tea tomorrow. Pam's House Blend isn't about freewheeling free speech, but about free speech among peers, friends, and potential friends.
For example, this is in part why it's not cool to say tranny and Mann Coulter in conversations in the threads here at The Blend. I'm a transgender barista, and we have lots of transgender blenderenders who come here -- when non-transgender blenders use terms that are considered widely offensive by many of the transgender blenders, it changes the character of Pam's House Blend to one where transgender blenders may not feel as welcome as the lesbian, gay, and bisexual blenders. The same thing happens when the gender identities of blenders, or even public figures, aren't respected -- trans blenders wonder if their trans identity will be slammed next, and again end up feeling unwelcome here.
And, we work hard to make sure the trans blenders are welcome here. We'd rather embrace the trans subcommunity of the LGBT community here at The Blend than embrace freewheeling free speech. So in this example, we would enforce the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions regarding widely offensive speech because we want to respect the transgender blenders who visit here.
[Below the fold: When the baristas or manager at The Blend have to take action to protect the flavor of the virtual coffee house, the Pam's House Blend Terms Of Service And Conditions spell out what actions we can -- and sometimes do -- take to protect the flavor here.]
The same goes with using terms like "bitch" when the term is used as a derogatory term (instead of a self-identifying term, or a term that's synonym is complain). We have lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and SOFFA women that come visit The Blend, and since the derogatory use of the term "bitch" equates women with dogs, the derogatory use of the term "bitch" is treated as a widely offensive speech that offends many female patrons who visit here.
And, if you don't act like a friend outside The Blend, but come into the blog and only play nice while you're here while still behaving badly outside The Blend, don't expect a completely free ride here. You get some leeway for playing nice here, but don't kid yourself into believing that it's a completely free ride.
Anyway, here are two key sections of the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions that you should be aware of with regards to behavior at The Blend. The first is from Item 7. xii:
You may not post or transmit any message which is harmful, threatening, abusive or hateful. It is not the Service's intent to discourage you from taking controversial positions or expressing vigorously what may be unpopular views; however, PAM SPAULDING reserves the right to take such action as it deems appropriate in cases where the Service is used to disseminate statements which are deeply and widely offensive and/or harmful.
Inappropriate use of epithets, pejoratives, defamatory, and derogatory language directed at individual blenders, or language that can be considered defamatory language against blender identity communities (i.e. lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people, feminists, etc.) will be considered deeply and widely offensive and/or harmful language by the baristas and management at The Blend. Flaming people or ide or identity groups in diaries and diary threads will also be considered deeply and widely offensive and/or harmful language by the baristas and management at The Blend.
And by the way, if you have any doubt on acceptable language regarding trans people at The Blend, please reference Transgender? Transsexual? Trans-Ghettoized? and Way Off-Target: Calling Ann Coulter A Transvestite.
And too, if you're angry at a peer blender, count to ten before you select that Post button for your comment, for goodness sake. Remember, we may not always agree, but we don't have to be disagreeable when we don't. Debate ideas, not people.
What happens if you don't get the message about acceptable language at The Blend? Well, also from the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions:
If you do not wish to be bound by [the] terms and conditions [of Pam's House Blend], you may not access or use the Service. If you utilize the Service in a manner inconsistent with these terms and conditions, Pam's House Blend may terminate your access, block your future access and/or seek such additional relief as the circumstances of your misuse indicate is proper.
We've banned a handful of people in the past week, and we've warned another handful of people in the past week. We're serious about the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions because we want to preserve the character of this virtual coffee house.
So, please consider this a very gentle reminder about appropriate behavior at The Blend if that's all you needed to hear, and please consider this a not so gentle reminder about the Pam's House Blend Site Terms And Conditions -- about the consequences of inappropriate behavior -- if that's what you needed to hear.
Our preference, of course, is that you come into Pam's House Blend and enjoy the virtual coffee house atmosphere and good conversation.
So, glad this talk is over. There's one free virtual espresso drink, or virtual cup of tea, for everyone who made it to the end!
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After nearly a dozen hours of hearing testimony and a long morning of floor debate, Maine's House of Representatives today voted to approve LD 1020, a marriage equality bill, by a 89-58 vote. Yep, that's right--Maine has just won marriage equality!The legislature also voted 85-62 not to send the bill directly to the ballot for a popular vote. Opponents may still choose to run an initiative to repeal the law, but today, the legislature decided not to facilitate that process for anti-LGBT activists.
The bill now moves to Governor John Baldacci's desk. Governor Baldacci still hasn't stated whether he intends to sign or veto the bill, but, according to blogger Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, he has hinted he may support it.
Congratulations to Equality Maine for all their stellar work!
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