Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

ABCNews Good Morning America breathlessly reported that “Kate Middleton is drawing further comparisons to her late mother-in-law Princess Diana of Wales after she chose an array of charitable organizations to donate her time and draw attention to this week.”

That’s lazy reporting. The lady’s name is not Middleton. It is either Catherine Windsor or Catherine Wales. The first is legal, the second is the name under which Prince William serves. Correctly, she is Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge. Call her Kate if you must, but not Kate Middleton.

Now, about those charities. There is a very, very long list of royal charities – organizations that count on the attention drawn to them by the Royal family. None of them can in any way be political. Many of the Royals have also established new charities, such as the Prince’s Trust and the charity Princes William and Harry set up in Africa. During the two months that the Queen is in residence at her estate at Sandringham (which is private, family property, by the way, not the property of the government), usually early in January, the entire family gets together with the necessary functionaries and sets out the schedules for the coming six months to a year. This year will be more involved than most because of the Queen’s 60^th anniversary and the foreign travel being undertaken. They divvy up the list, trying not to step on each other’s areas. Allegedly, at one point, the Duchess of York picked an AIDS charity and Princess Diana called her up and read her the riot act for infringing on her territory. There is a certain degree of personal interests involved, but the charities chosen also reflect the age of the Royal. Hence, the youngest member of the immediate family will typically get the kiddy charities.

That Princess Catherine chose many of the same charities that Princess Diana did is perfectly understandable. After the divorces, members of the family had to take up both Diana’s and Fergie’s charities. The only “channeling” (as ABC put it in their on-line headline) that is going on here is the secretaries and bookers channeling certain ideas toward Princess Catherine.

The Royals are as much a business as a family. Princess Anne makes more personal appearances for charity in the course of a year than there are days. As her parents have aged, she has taken on many of their sponsorships.

A Royal charity is an organization that benefits from granting an honorary board membership or chairmanship to a member of the Royal family. The so-honored Royal will put in at least one appearance a year at a fund raising event. The one limitation placed on these activities is that they cannot involve anything in the political arena. The Royals are forbidden, by the British constitution, to stick their noses into politics. This is the reason Princess Diana chose land mines when she divorced Prince Charles. It’s a political charity. It was the one area where she would not compete with the Royals. It could be hers and hers alone.

If the media is going to insist on reporting on the Royals, they should at least do a little homework. Naturally, the “unnamed Palace source” quoted in People magazine will say that Princess Catherine did all this research and chose with her heart, but the charities are what the Royals do. It’s part of the job description.

The New York Times got it right in their “Year in Style” review. In their piece on Princess Catherine, they only mentioned Princess Diana once, and that was to say that, unlike Princess Diana, Princess Grace and Jackie Kennedy, Kate isn’t a clothes horse.

Princess Catherine is not Diana. She will never be Diana. She wasn’t fifth on the short list of acceptable Princesses of Wales. She was first in the heart of a man who clearly loves her.  She is a strong, mature, educated young woman who had years to decide if she would be able to deal with the rigors of Royal life. It’s not a freaking fairy tale with designer gowns and palaces out the wahzoo. It can be dressing up in some antique-style military uniform to “inspect” your personal army unit from the back of a horse sitting in the broiling sun. It can be sitting through endless boring dinners with boring speakers eating foreign “delicacies” that would turn most of our stomachs. It’s learning to keep your opinions to yourself and don’t ever refer to the leader of a political party as a gnome. It’s spending the rest of your life with a couple of bodyguards on your heels, knowing that there are people out there in the world who think it would be a peachy-keen political statement to blow you to hell. Yeah, there are millions of people who adored Princess Diana, but she’s dead. Get over it. Let Princess Catherine be herself without the idiot comparisons.

Related articles

• Kate Middleton Drawing More Comparisons to Diana (abcnews.go.com)
• Catherine Middleton unveils her chosen charity causes (cnn.com)
• Kate Middleton – Mistakes won’t be made with her like they were with Diana (celebs.gather.com)
• Kate Middleton and Prince William palace security secrets revealed (mirror.co.uk)

Several surveys have shown this trend over the past few years. It appears to be part of a backlash over the confusion caused by women of my generation not taking their husband’s names and ending up with families with two or three or more surnames. Excessive surnames are a consequence of serial polygamy, not choices that women make for surnames. There were also a fair number who decided to change their surnames from their fathers’ names to their mothers’ maiden names, which was sort of feminist-counter-productive since the mother’s maiden name was the grandfather’s name. But, one would have to go all the way back before we had surnames to arrive at something purely female in the way of a family name…or at least to the arrival of Christianity. In pre-Christian times, Irish men were given their mother’s name under the theory that one always knew who one’s mother was, but only had her word as to who Daddy was. Hence, the great Irish King Connor mac Nessa was the son of Nessa, his mother.

But a law? Seriously?

I grew very fond of the French Canadian way of handling surnames while spending 15 years up to my armpits in Québequois genealogy. A woman is legally recorded by her maiden name. She will be called Madam Hébert, but on all legal records she will be Marie Rollet. It made the genealogy so much easier than tracking relatives in English cultures. When a society has a limited number of first names, it is far too easy to get your Mary Joneses mixed up unless you know that she was Mary Smith married to John Jones.

I don’t use my maiden name legally. I took my husband’s name when we married. But I never thought of myself by that name. I know I’m not the only person in the world who talks to herself, and when I do it has always been as “Carbonell” not my married name. I used my maiden name for writing letters to editors while my husband was a Federal employee because in the Judicial Branch, once you are outside the privileged circle of the Supreme Court, no one in the Judiciary is allowed a political opinion and neither are any members of their families. I just kept it up after he retired and when I came to this blog. This is me — Linda Susan Claire Carbonell. Well, that’s the simple explanation of who I am. We’ll kind of slip past the part about being a Loynus for now.

The only time my use of Carbonell became a problem was during that little dust-up we had over Amina-Tom/Paula-Bill. People kept demanding I prove I exist. Well, as Linda Carbonell, I don’t. I haven’t existed as Linda Carbonell since 1972. All my legal documentation says I’m somebody else. Though, frankly, the one guy who insisted that I don’t exist because I don’t have a Facebook account was the one who thoroughly pissed me off. I felt I didn’t have to climb into the attic and go through boxes to dig out my birth certificate and marriage license just to prove I’m here, thank you very much.

My French-Canadian friends have no trouble with the surname thing. They attend teacher’s conferences as Mme So-and-So, even though their legal documents still record them as Such-and-Such. What we are called legally or professionally does not have to be what we are called socially.

Maybe this should be a matter for state law, but not the way it is being proposed. Just the way I would love to see the French Canadian practice of separate civil marriage and religious weddings, I would love to see women retain their maiden names for legal documents and professional use, but able to use their husband’s name socially if they so choose. After all, isn’t Hillary Rodham Clinton a mouthful? Why should Andrea Mitchell, with a long and illustrious career behind her, have suddenly become Andrea Greenspan? Alan wasn’t responsible for her success as a journalist, was he? Besides, have you ever noticed how, when an actress takes her husband’s name or adds it to her own, the marriage ends in divorce? Okay, maybe not always, but the Farah Fawcett (Majors) outnumber the…okay, give me a minute, I may come up with one. Nope, can’t think of any. Though, I have to admit that Susan Sarandon sounds so much more melodic than Susan Tomalin, it was worth keeping the name if not the husband.

Related articles

• Should the Law Make Bride Take Groom’s Name? (abcnews.go.com)

I don’t like Facebook.  I lost touch with a dear friend when she went on Facebook and no longer had time for real contact with real friends.  She lives in Canada and we relied on e-mails to keep in touch.  I miss her nearly daily messages.  I miss her.  To me, Facebook was just too impersonal, too much like those horrible Christmas letters.

So, when I saw this “Daily Rant” by The Honorable Imogen Lloyd Weber on The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC this afternoon, I was thrilled.  Someone else hates Facebook!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Julian Assange by Bob Rand, 2011

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has lost his latest appeal of the extradition warrant issued by the Swedish government. Britain’s High Court has told Assange it’s time to go.

Assange’s attorneys have tried every imaginable avenue to get the British government to reject Sweden’s extradition request. They’ve claimed that the extradition is a means for neutral Sweden to hand Assange over to America for transportation to Guantanamo or summary execution, claimed the two women who filed the sexual misconduct charges against Assange are liars and agents of the United States, claimed the Swedish government doesn’t have the right to demand his extradition, and claimed that there was no crime committed according to British law, so Swedish law should be ignored. Their biggest mistake, from a legal perspective, has been treating the warrant as though it were an arrest warrant to force Assange to stand trial. It isn’t. Assange was in the middle of the investigation of these allegations, asked the Swedish authorities to allow him to go to England on business, promised to return to continue the investigation and dug in in England. The warrant is to compel him to return and answer questions, not to stand trial. No criminal charges have as yet been filed.

Julian Assange - now, who's he holding hands with? photo from El Pais

Assange, of course, refuses as always to believe that facts are facts. He prefers his paranoid version of alternative reality. The judge’s ruling stated that the Swedish warrant could not “be said to be disproportionate” to the allegations as they are “serious sexual offenses.” To permit extradition, the judge had to find the warrant valid, not hear any defense of the accusations. Assange has always demanded that the case be heard and judged by British courts, which have no jurisdiction even if a charge had been filed against him. Assange is very unhappy with the results, saying as he left the Old Bailey, that he “lamented that the terms of the arrest warrant [sic] do not allow me to argue extradition based on the substance of the case. We will be considering our next step. No doubt there will be many attempts made to try to spin these proceedings as they occurred today, but they were merely technical. So, please go to swedenversusassange.com if you wish to know what is really going on in this case.”

The website takes a new tack in the Assange versus the rational world journey. According to him, Swedish feminism is responsible for his plight. He claims that prosecutor Marianne Ny is “biased against men” and “a well-known radical feminist.” He paints Sweden as the “Saudi Arabia of feminism,” and says that “a significant interest group, which can be broadly described as feminists, has gained prominence in Sweden since the 1980′s. it is arguably more defining – almost as an ideology – in today’s Sweden than its (now unrecognizable) model of social democracy.”

This is actually rather amusing. Assange has had the support of many on the progressive left, including filmmaker Michael Moore, but crying “FemiNazis!” like a deranged Limbaugh fan is not going to win him any friends on right. It may even cost him support among those who have been there for him during this eleven-month circus, particularly Biana Jagger and Jemima Khan. Claiming that he is a victim of a massive international conspiracy to silence his arrogant, paranoid, reckless egomania garnered a lot of support among people who don’t pay attention to things like the impracticability of seizing any international celebrity and making him disappear or the fact that the United States government has already announced it doesn’t give a rat’s ass about Assange. Claiming that feminists are out to persecute him is just the kind of thing that could finally make people see what I’ve been writing about all along – the man is a sexist pig who should face the consequences of his actions. Coercing a woman into unprotected sex in this day and age, forcing himself on a sleeping woman, these the acts of a man who has no respect for the humanity of his sexual partners nor regard for their rights as people or as women.

Assange may try one last appeal in Britain, even though it has been made clear to him that he stands no chance whatsoever of even having the appeal accepted. The latest 43-page ruling can be summed in up five words: “The court dismissed his appeal.” The Supreme Court only hears cases of constitutional or national importance. No matter what Julian Assange thinks of himself, he doesn’t qualify.

Assange has fourteen days to request the appeal. If the Supreme Court rejects his appeal application, he will be extradited within ten days. He could be on a plane to Sweden on November 26^th.

In the past year, Assange has gone from top of world to bargain basement. His irresponsible handling of the United States State Department cables placed many people in jeopardy while not providing any real evidence of nefarious conduct on the part of this country. The United States is focused on prosecuting Bradley Manning, the young soldier who fed the Defense Department and State Department files to WikiLeaks, not on WikiLeaks itself, just as they were focused on Daniel Ellsberg and not on the people who published the Pentagon Papers. WikiLeaks donations have dried up, and though Assange likes to blame the credit card companies and America, the fact is there were other avenues for donating to WikiLeaks if people really wanted to. Julian Assange is of less interest to people than Princess Bea’ atrocious hat, and his ego can’t handle that. Assange made the mistake of believing that publishers are as important to the world as whistleblowers. Whistleblowers are the ones who risk everything to acquire information. In Bradley Manning’s case, he risked life in prison if not a firing squad. Daniel Ellsberg risked being shot on sight when he entered those offices to copy those documents. Whistleblowers have their lives and reputations and livelihoods destroyed by those they expose. Whistleblowers end up dead, by their own hands because so much has been taken from them, or by other’s hands. Compared to these people, Julian Assange is a whiny, sniveling little spoiled brat with delusions of importance.

Where can I send a contribution to his air fare to Stockholm?

Related articles

• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange loses appeal against extradition to Sweden (thestar.com)
• Julian Assange loses extradition battle over sexual assault complaint (arstechnica.com)
• WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange loses appeal against extradition (theglobeandmail.com)
• WikiLeaks: Julian Assange prepares Supreme Court challenge in extradition battle (telegraph.co.uk)
• Assange loses appeal, will be extradited to Sweden (hotair.com)

It’s no surprise that real men don’t drink diet soda. They don’t drink diet beer either from the looks of those beer bellies. No real man wants to caught holding a can that says “lite” or “light” or “diet” on it no matter what color the package. Real men can consume worthless calories without worrying about saddlebags or sagging butts! However, the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group has decided that they really want to crack the diet market for men, so they have put their advertising people and focus group analyzers and market researchers on the project and come up with MANLY diet soda. And they are selling it with an ad campaign that says this drink ain’t for you delicate little calorie-counting ladies. Only real men can down this swill! Hate my movie? Of course you do, now hand me a DP10 and go to your girlie-friend’s house to watch those romantic comedies!

The newly introduced Dr. Pepper Ten has real sugar instead of Splenda, which accounts for the ten calories, and comes in a gun-metal gray can with silver bullets on it. Oh, puh-leeze. It still says “diet” on it, doesn’t it? It still touts the calorie count, doesn’t it? Just because it comes in a can the same color as a battle field coffin, and reinforces the death theme with bullets, doesn’t negate the fact that it is a diet drink. Though one really has to wonder about the image they are projecting with this packaging.

Like I said, I tend to think of the advertising industry in terms of Darrin Stephens – a well-meaning man who was a tad on the dense side. He wasn’t a total idiot, just an ad man, like the idiots who think a soft drink can should resemble the coffins we use to bring home our battlefield dead. Okay, I’ll stop being obtuse about this…..your can suggests dying. Got it now?

By the way, all you cute little ad guys in your pretty little suits – real women sweat, belch, fart, drink beer from cans, ride hogs, own guns, wear jeans and boots, kick ass, can gut a deer and light a fire, “bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan and never, ever let you forget you’re a man….” (Loved that performance by Raquel Welch and Miss Piggy.) We also watch action movies, not just chick flicks. If you paid attention to Gerard Butler’s career, you’d know that.  His rom-coms suck.  My daughter took me to 300.  Great abs, disappointing ass – Gerard’s, not my daughter’s.

Related articles

• Dr. Pepper’s New Manly Drink is Not For Women (neatorama.com)
• [Blisstree] Dr. Pepper Ten’s “Manly Calories” – Just Not For Women. (blisstree.com)
• Dr Pepper Ten: ‘No women allowed’ (sfgate.com)
• Dr Pepper’s new brand is a manly man’s soda (msnbc.msn.com)
• Dr Pepper Ten: Because Men Don’t Drink Diet Soda? (huffingtonpost.com)
• Nina In New York: The Doctor Is In, And He Totally Hates Women (newyork.cbslocal.com)

Marni Kotak

Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time I take the attitude that I may not like a piece of art, but the artist has a right to create it. I just found one of those zero point one percenters.

 All my maternal instincts want to scream ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR PUNY MIND??????

 Brooklyn, New York, performance artist Marni Kotak has decided to give birth at the Microscope Gallery in the Bushwick neighborhood in front of a live audience. ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR EGOTISTICAL MIND?????

 Kotak explained to the New York Post, “I hope that people will see that human life itself is the most profound work of art, and that therefore giving birth, the greatest expression of life, is the highest form of art. I have decided to do this because I want to show people that, as in my previous performances, real life is the best performance art.”

 She is. She’s out of her self-centered, self-absorbed mind. And her “good support team” is even more so. The support team consists of her midwife, doula (a birthing professional who is not trained to deliver the baby) and husband. “Of course,” Kotak said, “I am a bit nervous about the whole process of giving birth and having a child, and like every mother, I am a bit nervous about the whole process of giving birth and having a child and like every mother, I am hoping that everything goes smoothly.”

 No, lady, not like every mother. Most mothers care more about the safety and atmosphere created for their baby than they do about getting a round of applause or making an “artistic” statement. When that baby is finally ready to be born (a date Kotak is apparently not terribly sure about), that fragile, precious, tiny infant will be forced out of a dark, warm, enfolding, snug, secure little space, painfully, crushingly pushed through a barely flexible hole and dumped into a cold, bright, noisy space that scares the crap out of him or her. He/she will be forced to suddenly give up floating and absorbing and have to suck air into virgin lungs. He/she will have someone’s finger shoved in his/her mouth to clear the airway – some strange, vinyl-tasting thing fishing around his/her tongue. Being born is traumatic. It hurts. It’s scary. It’s terrifying.

 And this “artist” wants to add the sights, sounds and smells of an audience to this, wants to do this in a wide-open space with god knows what for a heating system and ventilation, wants to subject this precious life to whatever germs that audience is carrying, or perfumes they are wearing. I don’t care if they hand out face masks to everyone and insist that everyone refrain from wearing scents. Americans are never without multiple perfumes – shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, laundry detergent, fabric softener all on top of the scents of the fabrics and materials that shoes are made of. We are the smelliest people on earth. It doesn’t matter if the audience doesn’t breathe on the baby, they are giving off germs just standing still. They are shedding skin cells and hair dander and dirt from the outside world.  And speaking of the outside world — how far is this gallery from any elevated trains?  Is there anything within shared-air distance that qualifies as a polluting industry?  What kind of art has been displayed in the gallery and did it involve any hazardous materials like paint remover? 

 ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MIND?????

 Kotak could rig up some giant TV screens and use a closed circuit system if she really want to share her screaming and grunting and expulsion of bodily fluids and sweat and pain with an audience, but for the baby’s sake, she should give birth in a warm, small, quiet space. That child isn’t a prop for an art performance. That child is a living human being who during delivery and afterwards has needs that far exceed Kotak’s artistic vision.

 The midwife and doula should have their licenses revoked for agreeing to put an newborn in such a potentially hazardous situation and the parents….frankly, there are thousands of childless couples in this country who would do anything to have that baby and who certainly deserve him or her far more than a selfish fool and her equally foolish husband. This is as much a case of child abuse as beating a kid with a stick.

Related articles

• Performance artist Marni Kotak to give birth in gallery (100gf.wordpress.com)
• Performance Artist to Give Birth Live (newser.com)
• Performance Artist Invites You to Watch Her Give Birth [Art] (jezebel.com)

Image via Wikipedia

08-15-2011 by Linda S. Carbonell

A very long time ago, I received a booklet in the mail the use of which would make us a “Neilson Family.” We had to record every 15 minutes of television viewing by everyone in the house over a seven-day period. We filled it out, laughing the whole time because our principal viewing was The Weather Channel (it was summer tornado season in Florida), The Discovery Channel and BBCAmerica. We figured we were doing serious damage to their statistics.

Today, my mail included an envelope from Arbitron Ratings. They are the other company, the one that primarily does radio ratings. I opened it expecting a booklet, a means of recording individual shows or radio programs…..on the back of the “Your opinion counts!  You’ve been specially chosen to help with an important research study about television viewing and radio listening in the Rutland area.” introduction was a one page “study.”

Arbitron should be ashamed of itself. This was the most pathetic excuse for a media study imaginable. The “important research” questions consisted of:

1. Which types of shows do you watch regularly? (Check all that apply) Comedy, Drama, News, Sports, Other:___________. What year is this? Where are the reality shows, the DIY shows, the alternative entertainment networks, movies, documentaries? We have hundreds of channels with the greatest range of entertainment and information in history and their question could have been asked in 1955.

2. In a typical day, about how many hours of TV do you watch? 0, 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7+. Where’s the tag for “it’s on all day as background noise”? Where’s the choice between “actually sit down and watch” and “sort of listen to while doing something else”?

3. What is your favorite TV show or channel? Wow, finally, something that resembles a ratings question. Show or channel? What is that supposed to prove?  There are four shows I watch regularly which are the only shows I watch on those channels. 

Repeat those three questions for radio, then there were access questions. Do you have internet, a cell phone, a landline? How about, how much television do you watch on your computer or even on your cell phone instead of your television?

The rest of the questions were demographics, ethnicity, age, race. I can use the pre-paid snail mail envelope, call a telephone number or log on to their website. My $5 for participating was mentioned five times.

This is a media study? For what purpose?

Someone will use the results of this “study” to prove something, but it won’t be an accurate picture of Rutland’s viewing habits or preferences. According to Ipsos, 51% of American homes have at least basic cable, 26% have satellite, 1% have both and 22% have neither. That 22% should have been broken down into “have antennas” and “don’t have TVs.” I would be willing to wager that cable and satellite usage in Vermont is above the national norm. Thirty years ago, half the kids in my elder daughter’s second grade class had HBO already. Seventy-eight percent of Americans can provide completely accurate ratings through our systems. People who use computers to watch TV can also have their viewing habits collected for accurate measures. The only thing that can’t be determined by gathering our cable, satellite or internet viewing patterns is our demographics. The census bureau will not allow a ratings company to match an address to a census record and find out the ages and ethnicities of the residents. The demographics are important so that advertisers know which programs to put their products on.

Arbitron sent $2 with the survey, and promised $5 when I return it. This idiotic excuse for a media survey is costing someone some substantial greenbacks. Someone is going to use this to justify something.

So, if you ever see the words “According to Arbitron…” you now know exactly what information Arbitron gathered and how totally useless the survey is. It sort of makes you wonder about all the other “surveys” and “polls” and statistics used to excuse, justify or prove anything.

Related articles

• I’m the reason you don’t like what’s on the radio (toddpack.com)
• Radio Makes People ‘Happier’ Than TV or Internet, New Study Finds (huffingtonpost.com)

Andrea Mitchell

For those of you who don’t follow the love lives of news personalities, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell is married to former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan. Though the two have always maintained a scrupulous separation of careers, it may reasonably be assumed that Ms. Mitchell probably knows more about economics than every other member of the news media that doesn’t have an economics degree. She could undoubtedly hold her own in a debate with Paul Krugman.

So, I would like to bring Ms. Mitchell to the attention of the Peabody award and Edward R. Murrow award selection committees. They are the people who give out awards for broadcast journalism. We know that they both have unparalleled senses of honor about journalism and an ability to think outside the normal parameters because Peabody gave two awards to The Daily Show for their election coverage in 2000 and 2004, and Edward R. Murrow gave one to Keith Olbermann for his eulogy for his own mother.

Ms. Mitchell deserves a special award for not once telling a tea party Congressman that he or she is a raving idiot. Watching her interview them, watching her listening to their outrageous and completely erroneous economic theories, watching her asking calm questions of these fools is an exercise in watching a human being struggling not to scream. There are days when we wish she would scream. She does try, very hard, to make them hear facts that refute their rhetoric and talking points, but they don’t hear her. They don’t hear anyone except the voices in their heads apparently. And Ms. Mitchell tries harder than any other journalist on television to put the facts out there into the conversation. No one else challenges the numbers or the ideology as completely.

So, how about a special award for Andrea Mitchell’s perfect demeanor, complete calm, and unflappable professionalism. I think it’s time the method and not just the message was honored.

Last night, within seconds of the end of President Obama’s address, the e-mail account of Speaker Boehner was showing “server too busy.” Seventeen hours later, it’s still overloaded. He’s not alone. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, and half a dozen other e-mail sites went down last night.

And then there’s the phone lines. An internal e-mail went out to members in the House and Senate this morning recommending that they emphasize their home district phone numbers on their websites because the phone traffic has almost swamped the switchboards.

Tweats are running in the thousands already, and the ones picked up by Elizabeth Flock of The Washington Post were running about 45 to zip in support of the President, compromise and rewriting the tax code for fairness. About 5 of 50 were not relevant to the debate. One thing that shows up in all comments from the public about this issue – the supporters of the President seem to truly understand the issues, while the anti-President, anti-tax crowd are talking about something totally unrelated (like how many vacations this president has taken – truth, about a third the number Bush did). We really are smarter than they think we are.

Thank you, everyone who contacted your Congressperson or Senator and let your voice be heard somewhere.

Related articles

• Congress Websites Down: House, Senate Sites Not Working (huffingtonpost.com)

President Thomas Jefferson, by Rembrandt Peale, 1800

Something Herman Cain said has been nagging at me all day. He insisted that Islam is bad because it doesn’t allow for the separation of church and state. He’s wrong, actually. It’s only Shi’ite Muslims like those in Iran that believe the spiritual leader inherits his position by bloodline and is the supreme leader of the country, Still, in Cain’s view, anything that blurs the lines between church and state is wrong and should be a barrier to public office.

What if we applied Cain’s view to all American politicians?

One of the problems with Protestantism is a lack of clear authority lines like those that exist in Catholicism. There are some authorities in mainstream religions, like the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, but they don’t have the same influence or power as the Papacy. So, where it was possible during the Kennedy campaign to question whether he would be more loyal to our Constitution or to the Pope, it’s not possible to make the same accusation with Protestants or those who call themselves Christians without specifics of a particular mainstream religion.

Maybe we need a new way to think of loyalty to religion or church over loyalty to the Constitution.

We have had some deeply religious Presidents and members of Congress. John Adams was teased by fellow founding fathers over his piety. Jimmy Carter was mocked for his. But there has been a change in religious candidates in the past couple of decades. Now, they talk about “receiving the call” to run for office, much the way priests and nuns talk about their vocations. Now, they have no hesitation about crafting laws that are based entirely on specific religious doctrine. Now, governors in their official capacities call on their citizens to engage in a day of prayer for rain.

When do their actions cross that line – when do they vault the wall of separation that Thomas Jefferson wrote about in 1802 in his letter to the Danbury Baptists?

Every state legislature, every state governor, every voter in every state that voted for an amendment or law banning either same-sex marriage or abortion vaulted that wall, because these were laws and amendments based solely and exclusively on the doctrines of a religion.

Today, Mary Fallon, governor of Oklahoma, called on her citizens to pray for rain. She’s not the first and probably won’t be the last. That’s pretty benign, until you consider the consequences of asking God to solve a state’s problems.

Gov. Rick Perry blew the wall up when he said that he considers politics a “ministry” and his office a pulpit. Using his office of governor to call together other governors for a prayer meeting also violates that wall.

Rep. Michele Bachmann crossed that line when she said she believes in the Rapture, because that means she does not believe that this country has a future to plan for or make decisions for.

Sarah Palin has done some really weird wall-vaulting. She had herself blessed to protect herself from witches while in the office of governor. She has taken to wearing the biggest Star of David pendant I’ve ever seen on anyone not in rock-n-roll. For a fundamentalist Christian, that takes chutzpah (and I do know how to properly pronounce that.) She also insists that she is waiting for a sign to tell her to run for the Presidency.

Herman Cain wants to give communities the right to ban mosques and wants to demand a special loyalty oath from Muslims. As President, he would probably condemn Rep. Keith Ellison’s decision to take his oath of office on a Qur’an and not consider Ellison a legitimate member of Congress. He apparently only believes in freedom of religion for Christians, or maybe just for Baptists. He hasn’t gotten around to what he thinks of Jews, Buddhists, Hindis or pagans.

Roy Moore, who announced his exploratory committee in April, runs Project Jeremiah, a seminar for pastors and a separate seminar on Restoring the Foundation: Church, State and the Law. He’s the former Alabama judge who was very big on putting the Ten Commandments in very classroom and courthouse in America.

Rick Santorum, oh, where to start? Mr.and Mrs. Santorum make no secret of their dedication to imposing their version of faith-based morality on America, claiming that it will restore the foundations of our country.

Among the least objectionable on the issue of the separation of church and state are the two Mormon candidates, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. When the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints had to choose between statehood and retaining the religious principle of polygamy, they chose statehood. Every part of the Church that was in any way contrary to American civil law was abandoned. (There was a lot more than just multiple wives.) The last thing we will hear out of either of them is a citation from the Prophet of their church on a matter of civil law.

Related articles

• Herman Cain Denounces First Amendment (lezgetreal.com)
• Herman Cain : Separation of Church and State is Awesome (passthedoucheys.com)
• Where is Separation of Church and State found in the US Constitution and how does the Supreme Court interpret this clause (wiki.answers.com)
• Nine and a Half Amendments in Some Copies of the Bill of Rights? (volokh.com)

George Santayana in the 1920's

One of my favorite quotes is one frequently misquoted by myself sometimes and others frequently: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Those words were written by Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás Santayana in 1905 in Volume I of his five-volume work, The Life of Reason.

Santayana was born in Madrid on December 16, 1863, and died in Rome on September 26, 1952. He was raised and educated in the United States and worked here until he was forty-eight years old, though he never gave up his Spanish citizenship. From 1911 to his death, he lived and worked in Europe, though he always wrote in English. A combination of an inheritance from his mother and the sales of his works made him independently comfortable.

Brilliant man. He’s definitely worth looking into He was a professional philosopher, though he rejected being classified as belonging to any particular school of philosophy.

American cartoonist Chuck Jones once said that Santayana’s description of fanaticism as “redoubling your effort after you’ve forgotten your aim” was an inspiration in his Wile E. Coyote cartoons.

A few Santayana quotes for your contemplation – see where they fit into today’s society.

“Familiarity breeds contempt only when it breeds inattention.” The Sense of Beauty, 1896.

In a 1913 letter to G. Lowes Dickinson, Santayana wrote “….the idea that horrors are required to give zest to life and interest to art is the idea of savages, men of no experience worth mentioning, an merely servile, limited sensibilities. Don’t tolerate it.”

“It is war that wastes a nation’s wealth, chokes its industries, kills its flower, narrows its sympathies, condemns it to be governed by adventurers, and leaves the puny, deformed, and unmanly to breed the next generation.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Society, Scribner’s, 1905, p. 82

“To call war the soil of courage and virtue is like calling debauchery the soil of love.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Society, Scribner’s, 1905

“…only the dead have seen the end of war.” Soliloquies in England, 1922.

“There is no greater stupidity or meanness than to take uniformity for an ideal, as if it were not a benefit and a joy to a man, being what he is, to know that many are, have been, and will be better than he.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Society, Scribner’s, 1905

“History is always written wrong, and so always needs to be rewritten.” Life of Reason: Reason in Science, Scribner’s, 1906

“The function of history … is not passively to reproduce its subject-matter.” Egotism in German Philosophy, Scribner’s, 1916

“America is all one prairie, swept by a universal tornado. Although it has always thought itself in an eminent sense the land of freedom, even when it was covered with slaves, there is no country in which people live under more overpowering compulsions.” Character and Opinion in the United States, Scribner’s, 1920

“We must welcome the future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and we must respect the past; remembering that once it was all that was humanly possible.” The Philosophy of George Santayana, Northwestern University Press, 1940

“There is wisdom in turning as often as possible from the familiar to the unfamiliar: it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice, and it fosters humour.” The Birth of Reason and Other Essays, Columbia University Press, 1968

Santayana’s relationship with religion was not as confrontational was some contemporary philosophers like Bertrand Russell. He described himself as an atheistic Catholic.

“God is a name the world gives to the devil when he is victorious.” Animal Faith and Spiritual Life, Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967

“… religion too often debauches the morality it comes to sanction, and impedes the science it ought to fulfill.” The Life of Reason:Reason in Religion, Scribner’s, 1905

“That fear first created the gods is perhaps as true as anything so brief could be on so great a subject.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Religion, Scribner’s, 1905

“Faith in the supernatural is a desperate wager made by man at the lowest ebb of his fortunes.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Science, Scribner’s, 1906

“Belief in a thousand hells and heavens will not lift the apathetic out of apathy or hold back the passionate from passion.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Science, Scribner’s, 1906

But my personal favorite, is this…..

.”.. in love the heart surrenders itself entirely to the one being that has known how to touch it. That being is not selected; it is recognized and obeyed.” The Life of Reason: Reason in Society, Scribner’s, 1905

       The Life of Reason

is available for free from Project Guttenberg.

Alex Fox

I started with your typical sports. Tee-ball when I was old enough, moving into softball, dance (tap, ballet, jazz), eventually basketball, then when I was in eighth grade, out of nowhere, I turned to my stepmom and said:

“I want to play soccer.”
“What? Why? That’s too manly of a sport.”
“I want to play soccer.”
“No.”

Ok. There went that dream.

For the time being.

Without her approval or signature on the little slip, I decided to change the conversation:

“I want to play volleyball.”
“Oh how fun! That’ll be so much fun for you..!”

So there it was. I was a volleyball player.

NO OFFENSE! I love standing around and hitting balls, but coooome oooon! I wanted to run! I wanted to run and kick balls! But… No. It wasn’t “feminine” enough.

Two years later, I tried again.

“I want to play soccer.”
“No.”
“I’m going to play soccer.”

And so I did. And I LOVED it. Excuse me. LOVE it.

It is something they have been searching for…

Individual sports for women have always had greater success and longevity than team sports. One of the oldest professional sports for women in the United States is golf. Established in 1950, it only took two decades for it to become an international organization. Even women’s professional bowling was established before the 1960s. Women’s tennis in the 1970s. All still going strong.

It is something they have fought for…

Something they have earned…

On the opposite side, we have women’s professional team sports, which have always had a difficult time surviving and stabilizing. Why? Well, some people argue that it is the masculine image of team sports that has inhibited some women from participating. The aggression. The sweat. The contact. The competitiveness… All these “unladylike” attributes… And yet men don’t think women sports are intense or aggressive ENOUGH, so there goes that fan-base…

It is something they are slowly receiving…

Respect.

Not only as women, but as female athletes.

The professional female athletic organizations and systems are finally gaining acceptance as offering respectable and entertaining sports that are worthy of public and national attention. Now it is up to the management of these organizations to attract more spectators in order for them to be considered successful and for women’s athletics to permeate society as a whole.

Considering the lack of acknowledgement soccer has received in the United States, it doesn’t exactly surprise me that rumored gay-thletes are hesitant to come out and embrace their assumed sexuality/relationships (cough-cough Abby Wambach and Megan Rapinoe). The seductive looks… The matching hair… the on- and off-field chemistry… It’s all there. We see it.

And we LOVE it.

While some of us may agree that it would be extremely liberating and show immense support for the gay community, I personally don’t think it’s solely their decision to keep their relationship and sexual preferences a secret. Their “agents” more than likely view homosexuality as a “threat” to their “brand.” Even some college coaches threaten their players about announcing and admitting to their tendencies while some coaches won’t even allow gay-thletes on their team. I mean even going from the long-haired, ponytail, feminine brunette to a hair cut that just screams LESBIAN!, Wambach took a huge step forward; she now looks the “part” to fit the rumors.

And with the recent, undeniable success of the U.S.A. National Women’s soccer team? The last thing the owners/coaches/players/agents/organizations want is a reason to deter any of their potential fans.

Yet, what they neglect to consider is the number of fans they would ATTRACT by openly admitting to who they are. Showing that they have personalities outside of the soccer facade. A new [and dare-I-say and improved] role model for younger female athletes. Although some may ridicule, others would relentlessly support. Those who may have never been interested in soccer before, now would be.

BASICALLY, all I’m saying…

Abby. Megan. When you read this, just know:

1. Your sexuality is acknowledged.
2. You should embrace it.
3. You have more support than you know.
4. You would make one HOT couple.

GO U.S.A.!

Want more information on this or other gay-thletes? Contact me, Alex Fox, at theunluckyfox@gmail.com.

It was an interesting final week for Glenn Beck on Fox News. He made headlines by saying that he and his family were harassed and someone kicked wine on his wife during a film showing in New York’s Bryant Park. He made headlines again when the woman who was sitting behind him at the Park went on-line and denied his version of the events. No harassment, no kicking, her friends half-filled glass of wine fell over on the uneven ground (though the witness did think it was well deserved, probably because Beck’s bodyguards were harassing other viewers of the movie.)

Today was his final day. He had no guests. It was just Beck, dressed in Christ-like robes and carrying a staff, circling around his many blackboards. Talking, talking on and on and on.

He will be starting his own “television network” GBTV, which is actually a pay-for-stream set-up. For $4.95 a month you can just watch his nightly show. For $9.95 a month you get…..whatever. Beck will be going to Israel this summer “in search of courage.” He’s been selling tickets for a rally in Israel similar to the one he held in Washington.

One last word about the Washington rally. Beck held up aerial photos of his rally the next day, insisting that everyone on the Mall was attending his rally. Not true. The Park Service had limited his crowd to the areas immediately surrounding the Reflecting Pool. It was the last weekend in August and one of the most important weekends in Washington for tourists. Beck’s permit was contingent on allowing free access for tourists to the war monuments separated from the Reflecting Pool by a row of trees, and to the Smithsonian which is on the Mall. The official count on his rally was around 35,000, not the 100,000 to a million that Republicans insisted on. And we still haven’t found out how much of the money that was donated through that rally actually made it to the Wounded Warriors Foundation. The fine print on the website said that the donations would go to the Special Ops Wounded Warriors AFTER paying the expenses of the rally. This man made over $30 million last year, but syphoned off the donations people thought they were making for scholarships for the children of the fallen to pay for the rally where he had said he was going to deliver “God’s Plan, well, not really a plan….” for America.

Back to the last hurrah.

Beck’s closing speech was pure Beck “We tried to teach you things to help. I’m a dad, too. I want my country to be around. What we have been trying to tell you lately, over the last year, is that you are the answer. We must have faith, hope and charity in our hearts.”

Pure Beck – What did he “teach”? Where to start? How about his warped versions of history? Just one, I don’t have all night. He taught that the “Black Robe Regiment” was ministers who fought in the Revolution, proof of the Christian heritage of our nation. The “Black Robe Regiment” were Scots Presbyterians who were deeply opposed to the Hanover dynasty and still fighting the deposing of James II Stuart. It had nothing to do with Christianity and even less to do with our freedom. The overwhelming majority of clergy were Anglican and faithful to the Crown, particularly since the King was titular head of their church.

His charity does not extend to the people at that Bryant Park movie, or to President Obama’s daughters, or to George Soros (who hasn’t made any meaningful contributions to any political campaign since John Kerry), or to anyone who doesn’t believe that Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover weren’t financial geniuses – you know, the guys who gave us the Great Depression.

As for his faith, well, what can we say? The man heard a voice while visiting the Vatican, a voice telling him how important his work was. Right, a Mormon in St. Peter’s hearing a disembodied voice. Got it. He never did deliver “God’s Plan, well, not really a plan…..” as promised.

And hope? This is the man who declared our republic dead. Often. That’s hope, in his view. I think he meant that we were seeing the rise of the oligarchy, but he would never use that word to describe the corporatization of America, would he?

Beck is gone. Personally, I can think of only one immediate consequence. If one were logged into the Yahoo News Service comments between 5 and 6 p.m., Eastern time, Monday through Friday, one would notice a drop-off in the rightwingnut posting hate-filled, obscene, offensive comments. They don’t even evacuate the sites during church hours on Sunday as regularly as they did to watch Beck. Those five hours a week of reasonable debate on the sites are now gone, never to be enjoyed again. I will miss those five hours.

Gosh, it seems like forever I’ve been waiting to write this……BECK IS GONE!

Related articles

• Glenn Beck Restoring Courage Rally in Jerusalem (rightpundits.com)
• Red Eye Panel Wonders What Glenn Beck Was Doing In Bryant Park (mediaite.com)
• Glenn Beck: I’m Better Than Jon Stewart Because I Talk Longer And Have Fewer Writers (mediaite.com)
• Tearful Glenn Beck Describes How He And His Family Were Attacked In New York Park (mediaite.com)
• Glenn Beck and FOX – it’s over! (rt.com)
• The Mystery Of How Spilt Wine Landed On Glenn Beck’s Blanket In Bryant Park (mediaite.com)
• Ann Coulter: GLENN BECK VS. THE MOB (A Relentless Demonic Mob) (gunnyg.wordpress.com)

Tom Petty

It has been 11 years since Tom Petty informed the Bush campaign that they did not have permission to use his music in their rallies. Just how dense does a party need to be not to understand that, after 11 years and multiple complaints from recording artists. Poor Tom just had to tell Michele Bachmann to knock it off. This is ridiculous.

So, Republicans, here’s a suggestion - Put up a huge sign in the Republican National Committee office. Then send out a memo to any campaign organization, officially announced or not minimally in 30 point font. This is the law….

IF IT WAS WRITTEN AFTER 1923, DON’T USE IT WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. IT’S UNDER COPYRIGHT UNTIL 2018.

We’ll get back to you in 2018 for the more complicated stuff, such as songs written between 1923 and 1978 and those written after 1978. For now, this is all you need.

By the way, you might want to put up a sign that says TOM PETTY IS A DEMOCRAT. That might help get the message across.

Related articles

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• Tom Petty Demands That Michelle Bachmann Stop Campaigning With ‘American Girl’ (beatcrave.com)
• Tom Petty Not Thrilled About Bachmann’s Use Of American Girl (rightcelebrity.com)
• Right-Wing Nutjob Quotes (kaystreet.wordpress.com)

Sarah Palin’s One Nation bus tour is supposed to draw attention to our historic sites and cement her relationship with our Founding Fathers. We New England Democrats should be thanking her repeatedly for proving why neither she nor Michele Bachmann can get elected dog catcher in New England, New York or Pennsylvania. We here in the cradle of American democracy actually learn our own history. Palin’s done nothing but embarrass herself with her lack of knowledge.

Okay, the pizzas aside (though really – a fork?!?! Who the hell eats pizza with a fork?) Palin is using our historical sites for photo ops, not to learn anything about our history. She knows it all, so why bother spending enough time to learn something that proves her dead wrong?

She sailed through every stop from Fort McHenry to Liberty Hall as though she was on some impossibly tight schedule. The guides who were knocked over in her wake are still shaking their heads about her disinterest in what those sites could have taught her. Her statement at the Statue of Liberty was incoherent – what the heck was that about other countries, anyway? And Ellis Island – “legal immigrants” “waited in line to enter the country”???? Where did she get that nonsense, from Jan Brewer? There were no immigration laws in America, other than laws protecting immigrants from exploitation by ship owners, until 1921. Most of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island did so during our period of unfettered entry. The worst thing was how few people processing these immigrants could spell Slavic names or understood that the last name in a Spanish name is the mother’s, not the actual surname. Too many of us had our names changed in Ellis Island.

She drove past one of the most important historical sites in Massachusetts. Old Sturbridge Village is a whole colonial community, created by moving historical buildings to the site and resurrecting 18^th century trades, crafts and farming techniques. It’s a beloved learning experience for anyone who wants to understand how this nation was formed. Thousands of us held our breath yesterday as the tornados bore down on it. We were terrified for all those tens of thousands in the paths of those extraordinary tornados, but in the back of our minds was the potential loss of so much of our history. Palin didn’t even know it was there. She’s spending what, half a morning in Boston before bearing down on Mitt Romney in New Hampshire? Boston? Can we please dump her in the harbor so she knows exactly what the Boston Tea Party was like? She will drive past Concord and Lexington on the interstate instead of seeing where the shots heard round the world were really fired – and hearing what a crock that poem was. Most of all, she will whiz past the consequences of manufacturers who decided to move their plants to the Carolinas for cheap labor before moving them to Central America for even cheaper labor.

So, on behalf of New Englanders who revere our history (no pun intended) and know our history and know how blatantly the extreme right wing is warping our history, thank you half-gov for proving what an idiot you are. You have no respect for our history, can’t be bothered to actually learn about our history and we really resent being used as photo opportunities for your southern/mid-western base.

Related articles

• Palin tour stops at Ellis Island, Statue of Liberty (nydailynews.com)
• Sarah Palin At Washington Biker Rally (lezgetreal.com)
• Statue of Liberty: Give me your poor, your tired … and Sarah Palin (chron.com)
• Sarah Palin praises Gov. Christie during visit to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty (nj.com)
• Sarah Palin plans to tour Freedom Trail before heading to NH (boston.com)

Rep. Eric Cantor

This morning’s national weather map showed an area of strong storms that extended from the Midwest right into the state of Virginia. What crossed my mind was “What will Eric Cantor say if a massive twister hit his state? Would he still demand tit-for-tat to fund rescue operations?”

They are still trying to find the missing in Joplin. One-quarter of the city is flattened. One of their largest hospitals is unusable. The death rate is over 120. Most of us had heard of EF5′s or F5′s as they used to be called, but this is the first time we have ever seen one in an urban center. The sight – the devastation all the way to the horizon around the destroyed hospital – is almost too much to comprehend.

And Eric Cantor wants some program cut before he will vote to give assistance to this ruined town or help restore these broken lives. God forbid he should even consider a teeny-tiny decrease in some tax break for his corporate donors. God forbid he should even discuss changing the tax code so his corporate donors pay a fair amount of taxes instead of not paying any at all. God forbid he should take just a few days off from being a heartless, ideologically-rigid bastard who’s totally incapable of seeing the human lives he’s using as political bargaining chips.

I would say “May God have mercy on his soul.” but I don’t think he has one.

Related articles

• Cantor to Joplin: Drop Dead (news.firedoglake.com)
• Cantor balks at tornado relief; tells Missouri “Them’s the breaks” (garystlawrence.wordpress.com)
• Cantor: No emergency aid for tornado victims without spending cuts (dailykos.com)
• Rep. Eric Cantor: Any Disaster Relief Funds Must Be Offset With Spending Cuts Elsewhere (mediaite.com)
• Midwest Storms Leave At Least 90, Untold Numbers Hurt, Joplin MO Almost Obliterated (lezgetreal.com)
• Brian Williams In Joplin (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)

AFP's Paris Headquarters

Agence France-Presse was founded in 1835, The Associated Press in 1846 and Reuters in 1851. For one-hundred-fifty years, these three agencies have collected the news and distributed it to the majority of free news outlets in the world. What they are most famous for is making it possible for some hick little newspaper in Upper Podunk to have access to world-class journalists filing stories from around the globe. Through the internet, they are now able to serve as the world’s free press. When the high-flying news networks have pulled out their reporters, the AP, AFP and Reuters will still have people on the ground. Unlike NewsCorp, they have no editorial positions or political ties. Individual journalists may put a minor level of spin on their stories, but outright propaganda is not allowed. The stories they feed to local newspapers can and usually are edited and in that context they may display a level of bias. One just has to compare the same story in two newspapers to see it.

The reputation of these news services is under attack these days because of a forum in which their stories are posted….Yahoo News. Yahoo allows comments on news stories, though Reuters very rarely participates in the comment streams. In the past two years, those comment streams have been flooded with “conservative” commentators, many of whom are just plain vicious in their attacks on our President and First Lady. Many are spreading lies and distortions they are learning from hate radio and that other news source. Any commentator who tries to insert truth, facts or reality into the forums is quickly “hidden” by popular vote. These “conservatives” have conducted at least two service interruptions in the past year. Fewer and fewer rational people are choosing to use the Yahoo News Service because it has become a forum for racists, homophobes, anti-Semites and anti-Muslims. It is appalling to think that the venerable Associated Press was linked around the world to a comment stream that called for the gang rape of female Democratic legislators and the President’s family.

Yahoo News is seen all over the world, as are these hate-filled rants. They are damaging our nation’s reputation as well as the reputations of the news services. It is in AP’s and AFP’s best interests to withdraw from comments as Reuters has. It is in America’s best interests for Yahoo to terminate these streams of hate. They stopped being rational debates over issues a long time ago.

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Warren Buffett

A while ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffet asked other billionaires to sign a philanthropy pledge. They would give away half their money to charities and causes to help the world. In eleven months, 69 billionaire individuals and couples have signed the pledge.

The co-founder of this little church jumble sale on steroids is Bill Gates, who together with wife Melinda, is noted for his involvement in all sorts of world health issues. The little gathering was held at the Miravel Resort in Tucson, Arizona, complements of one of the signers, Jean Case, wife of America Online founder Steve Case and CEO of the family foundation they set up for charitable work. They spent two days enjoying sharing ideas, drinks, food and laughs. Buffett worked the room the first night and made 40 new BFFs. The media was barred from the billionaire bonding fest

The get-together consisted of seminars conducted by members of the group to help other members learn better ways to give and to get others (ordinary people) to give as well. Though there was no effort to combine their resources towards shared interests, they were all so very helpful to each other, helping them see areas where they could give that they had never thought of before, like Melinda Gates meeting two people who were interested in state pension issues and criminal justice.

Okay….that’s about all the syrup I can swallow for one day. Let’s inject a little reality here. Ever read Gone With the Wind? Remember why Scarlett’s mother died? She was doing her noblesse oblige thing down in the slave quarters during an epidemic. That’s what these people remind me of. O-o-o-o-o-o-h, we’ve made oodles and boodles of money and we want to save the world by buying mosquito nets for Africa. Yes, mosquito nets are super cheap and would prevent hundreds of thousands of cases of sleeping sickness in Africa. I really am all for mosquito nets, just the way I think Heifer International is one of the greatest charity ideas in history. What I’m not for is these people thinking they are going to change the world. If you have ever not muted those commercials about saving children in third-world countries, you are familiar with the concept of pooled resources producing results for an entire community instead of just one child. One of the problems with philanthropy is how everybody’s got their own little thing to pursue and they can’t think in combination.

The rest of this is for those 69 philanthropists….

Let’s start with the wonderful seminar on using social media to get the little people to contribute to your favorite charity. Stuff it. While you were building your billions, the median income in this country dropped by almost $5,000 a year. Over 2 million homes have been foreclosed because of people like you, and an estimated 16% of us are actually unemployed, not just officially unemployed. Millions more of us are underemployed. We’re barely keeping our heads above water. When we give, it’s most likely to be for causes that were created by people just like you – millions in small donations to free health clinics for people who can’t afford health insurance and for-profit medical care, help for people who couldn’t afford flood insurance, money to keep visiting nurses visiting.

George Kaiser of Tulsa, Oklahoma, said you want to explore the best ways to “invest” your money in solving the world’s problems. How’s this for an idea….really invest the money. One of the best ideas running around the world right now is small community banks. In their smallest form, they will lend a small amount of money, say $200, to a woman who wants to earn a living as a seamstress so she can buy a sewing machine and initial supplies. She and four other people will sign the loan, all taking responsibility for the repayment at extremely low interest. When that $200 is repaid, one of the other four gets his/her shot at it. These are loans too small to interest real banks, being given to people considered too high risk. Right now, in America, this kind of financing comes from community development groups and grants. The economy can’t sustain this kind of grant program. These are the programs being cut all over the states. So, why not establish community banks to help Americans start their own businesses? The big banks are so busy guarding their credit card fees that they have virtually frozen credit for small businesses. This would be a real investment, the kind that sustains itself into infinity because the money is repaid to be used again.

Or, how about if, instead of taking an “interest” in state pension systems and criminal justice, you put your very rich mouths in gear and started denouncing the other billionaires who are trying to destroy our political system and our unions? Instead of “taking an interest” in early childhood education, how about lobbying for a fair tax system that would eliminate all those wonderful tax breaks that helped make you so bloody rich? You know, Gates, the way your built your dream house so that so much of it could be classified as business space. Remember that? All those nice little ways you were able to keep your salary low enough to pay less in income taxes than people making median income? Maybe if the tax structure were fair, our states would have enough revenue to fund our schools and we wouldn’t need your isolated instances of charity. What good is it if Mark Zuckerberg gives a heap of money to one school district when there are thousands of districts in desperate need?

Buffett – is John Paulson part of your little group, or is he too busy buying huge houses in Aspen with the money he made gambling that our adjustable rate mortgages would be foreclosed? You are an investor. You have a voice that can impact the way Wall Street does business. Isn’t it just possible that changing the culture on Wall Street so they are not making their billions by hurting ordinary people would make you sleep better than giving your billions away?

How about using that influence to teach people that a nationalized health system would drastically reduce the cost of manufacturing in this country, eliminate the reason retail chains don’t hire full-time employees and reduce the cost of health care in America? Oh, I’m sorry, did any of you make your billions in the insurance or for-profit health industries? How about doing something to advocate the rest of us having decent jobs with decent wages.

You have made your billions and you want to give back. You want to change the world. How about doing it in a way that will last instead of a way that will fade before you have even died? How about helping to end the culture that made you all so very rich at the expense of so very many of us who are getting poorer every day? If you are so eager to give it away, isn’t just possible that you didn’t need to make it in the first place and others should not be making that much either?

The French aristocracy thought that if they gave away cakes, people wouldn’t need bread. Remember what happened to them. Help change the culture and you might just save all your capitalist asses before the class warfare turns back on those conducting it now.

Related articles

• “Billionaires Gather In Arizona To Discuss How To Give Their Money Away” and related posts (patdollard.com)
• Billionaires gather in Arizona to discuss giving (boston.com)
• Billionaires gather in Arizona to talk about giving away their money (theglobeandmail.com)
• Billionaires Gather in Arizona to Discuss Giving (abcnews.go.com)

Melanaie Nathan, Tlali Tlali and Ndumie Funda March 2011

A 13-year-old lesbian  was raped in Atteridgeville, Pretoria, the Department of Dustice and Constitutional Development (DOJCD) announced today.  How many more South African men are cowards?  Today the South African Department of Justice came out in probably one of the strongest statements we have seen to date, calling men who rape women, cowards.

“Government condemns this senseless and cowardly act of criminality,” department spokesperson, Mr.  Tlali Tlali said in a statement. He said the girl, who was open about her sexuality, was raped in what seemed to be an act of “corrective rape” on Thursday.

SAPA reports  that according to activists, lesbian women are often victims of “corrective rape”, which is forced sex with a man to “cure” their sexuality.The department said every South African had the right to express themselves in the sexual orientation of their choice.

Tlali said police and the National Prosecuting Authority’s sexual offences and community affairs unit would investigate the case. The girl and her family would also receive assistance from the department of justice and the department of social development.

“Gay and lesbian rights are human and constitutional rights which must be protected and respected at all times,” he said.

Just two weeks ago, Noxolo Nogwaza, a 24-year-old member of the Ekurhuleni Pride Organising Committee, a gay rights group, was brutally raped and stoned to death in Kwa Thema township outside Johannesburg, targeted because she was a lesbian. Neighbors report hearing that  the men threatening to rape her to  take away her lesbianism.

Activists  have held two meetings with Mr. Tlali Tlali, one such meeting just this past Monday,  to bring reforms and awareness and shed light on homophobia with particular reference to so called corrective rape.

Ndumie funda, director of Luleki Sizwe said “It kills me. It tears my heart apart. Especially a 13 year old, it is almost an infant. It is time that the entire community stood together, also gay friendly people, churches and leaders. This task team needs to act now. We cannot sit and fold our arms. We need to act ASAP. Justice is all we are asking for, this bastard needs to be ARRESTED, prosecuted to the full extend of the law. We ask the community to help the SAPS getting this person.

We also need to see justice for Nxolo. We need to beyond just task teams, we need an imbizo where the whole community comes together and where we protect and govern vulnerable people like. In this regard we need to act immediately. We ask President Zuma to speak out at the soonest in this time of sorrow. ”

Melanie Nathan of LezGetReal, who attended one such meeting reported: “We have been imploring upon Minister Radebe to openly condemn Corrective rape of lesbians and to legislate such rapes as hate crimes. To date this is the strongest statement from the office of the Minister.  However we would like to have Minister Radebe himself stand before a microphone and call all South African men who rape women  “cowards” as well as call upon the people of South Africa to stop the homophobic attacks on lesbians and other LGBT people.”

Mel Nathan and Ndumie at parliament Corrective Rape Meetings And the SA Gay Flag

Mr. Tlali Tlali, from the department said every South African had the right to express themselves in the sexual orientation of their choice.

The meeting held with DOJDC and National Prosecuting Authority this week, with Luleki Sizwe and other activist groups, rendered a commitment to effect the sought after LGBT Task force on the issue in partnership between the DOJDC, DPA, SAP and grass root activists aqs well as NGO’s. The meetings have been held under the leadership of Mr. Tlali Tlali.

As part of the team talking with government, Henry Bantjez (Luleki Sizwe ) commented, “We can categorically state that we are confident that the Department of Justice and president Zuma’s ANC Government condemns this cowardly act.” A spokesperson in the DOJ (Tladi Tlali) stated that the government would like to reiterate that everyone in South Africa has the right to express themselves in the sexual orientation of their choice. “Gay and Lesbian rights are human and constitutional rights which must be protected and respected at all times.”

Our sources informed us that Department of Social Development is assisting the young girl and her family during this trying time and interacting with the South African Police Service and the National Prosecuting Authority’s Sexual Offences and Community Affairs unit in an effort to ensure that perpetrators are brought to justice and are prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Luleki Sizwe is calling for maximum sentencing in this case, given prosecution. Eugene Brockman (Gay flag of South Africa) commented “We are saddened by this violent act against this very brave young girl who did nothing wrong but being herself. Enough is enough and we are not ending our plight (and talks) with the government to escalate issues of corrective rape…”

We extend our love and support to the young and her family. No longer will we tolerate any form of discrimination or violence against the lgbti community,” Bantjez said.

Studies by the government-funded Medical Research Council in 2009 and 2010 found that one in four South African men admitted to committing rape, and one in three in north-central Gauteng province, where Nogwaza and Simelane were attacked.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

Action #1, 1938 (before my time)

Okay, the storyline in the new Superman comic has been detailed elsewhere on this site. This isn’t about the content of Volume #900.

IT COST WHAT??????

Sorry, suffering from massive case of sticker shock. When I was a kid, 50+ years ago, I would spend Saturdays at my Dad’s bicycle shop in Queens, New York. Mid-morning Dad would hand me a dollar and I’d go two doors down to the news stand and candy shop owned by the Chinese family and buy TEN comic books. You read that right. Flash, Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, all the Action superheros (pre-Marvel era) and Classics Illustrated – they all cost a dime each. Those Classics Illustrated were invaluable. They were Cliff Notes with pictures. That was the same price they were in 1938!

Vol. #900 has a price tag of $5.99 plus tax. That’s 60 times what I paid! The median income has only risen by a factor of 10 in that same period. Would some Republican try to explain to me how real income has not shrunken in my lifetime?

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• Cue Outrage: Superman To Renounce U.S. Citizenship In New Comic (mediaite.com)

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria is one of my favorite journalists. For openers, he’s better educated than most (Doctor Maddow is another). Born in Mumbai, India, in 1964, Zakaria took his Bachelor’s at Yale and his Doctorate in Political Science at Harvard. His father was a politician and Islamic scholar while his mother was once an editor of the Sunday Times India, which goes a long way to understand a political scientist-journalist. Since taking his first editorial job at Foreign Affairs magazine in 1992, Zakaria has been a rising star in both international journalism and economic analysis.

In addition to is weekly show, Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN Sunday mornings, Zakaria is a cover-story writer for Time Magazine. Seen a really interesting cover of Time lately? It was probably a Zakaria story.

When Zakaria speaks, people really should listen. He is a lone voice in the wilderness saying that there are simple solutions to America’s economic situation, and letting ourselves get diverted by social issues is dumb and THERE IS NO DEBT CRISIS!

Ironically, I’m sitting here listening to Pat Buchanan on MSNBC claiming all the things that Zakaria refutes in his latest article – the dollar has lost confidence, the American Treasury bond has lost confidence, the country is in crisis. Buchanan is an idiot. Well, he’s a conservative, so calling him an idiot is redundant.

In one of Zakaria’s Time cover stories, he explained why he is a naturalized American with an American wife and three children living in New York City instead of back in India. The India he left was very similar to the America he is currently living in. He then explained how India and the U.S. traded places in the world economy.

This week’s issue is the “debt crisis.” Zakaria is a meticulous researcher. I trust it when he goes after the facts because he does so without prejudice. If he had found that even half of what Buchanan and the Republicans are saying was true, he would have said so. Instead, he explains how United States Treasury Bonds are still the best large-scale investment in the world, how we are trusted to pay our debts and provide, through the interest we pay on those debts, to support other governments for decades to come. We are the best investment in the world. We are so well trusted, in fact, that we are paying lower interest rates on our debt than any other nation. We are paying less to “service” our debt than we did during the Clinton boom years.

Zakaria quotes our national debt as being 70% of GDP. That number’s a little high. My figures show a debt to GDP ratio of 64%, but why quibble about 6%? Both those numbers are based on the elephant-in-the-House – how we figure our national debt. The people who claim it is 96% or more of GDP (Screaming Crisis Time!) are including the money our government has borrowed from the non-existent “lock box” of the Social Security “trust fund” which also doesn’t really exist. Yes, we have used the money that allegedly was set aside to fund Social Security. It wasn’t really set aside. The government just said that to make everyone feel good. In reality, it was more like taking money out of one’s savings account to buy tires and wanting to replace that money at some time in the future. It’s all internal accounting, not a real, legitimate debt with contracts for repayment and interest accruing.

Internationally, we are in really, really good shape where our credit it concerned. There is no crisis other than the one the Republicans are creating by fighting raising the debt ceiling. That would be destructive to our international credit status. It would tell investors we cannot be trusted to pay our debts. Not raising the debt ceiling would be the same as having our credit cards cut up. Not good, very, very bad.

On the other hand, we really need to get our finances in order. We do not need to do it immediately or with a gun to our heads as Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan demand we defund thousands of programs before they will vote to raise the ceiling. As always, though, this all comes down to the narrative being pushed by the Republicans and their media ventriloquist dummies. Time Magazine doesn’t have nearly as much circulation as Rupert Murdoch’s newspapers and CNN doesn’t have the viewership of Fox.

One of the things conservatives like to point to as “proof” that our nation was founded on “Christian values” is the fact that lying under oath is a civil crime. Isn’t it wonderful that they can use that “under oath” thing to avoid telling the truth everywhere else?

Fareed Zakaria not only tells the truth, he tells the facts, which is more important. He deserves a larger megaphone.

Related articles

• Fareed Zakaria: Short-Term Good News Is Bad News For U.S. Economy (huffingtonpost.com)
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• The “Debt Ceiling Crisis” Is Accounting Nonsense (lezgetreal.com)
• Rubin, O’Neill Say Debt Ceiling Should Be Separate From Budget (businessweek.com)
• Fareed Zakaria Slams Glenn Beck: ‘I’m Not An American By Accident Of Birth, As Glenn Beck Is’ (mediaite.com)
• Fareed Zakaria: ‘Rest Of The World Has Begun To Catch Up’ To U.S. (huffingtonpost.com)
• Fareed Zakaria Sees Role for Mad Ave in U.S.’s Growth, if Country Can Fix Its Issues (adage.com)

Florida Rep. Cliff Stearns

Do you remember the picture of President Bush standing on the rubble of the World Trade Center with a megaphone praising the first responders, the men and women who were working their way through the devastation, the people of New York? Remember how much time Mayor Rudy Guiliani spent on the site? If it turned out at some point that one of them developed lung problems and those problems were related to being on that site, they would have to go through an F.B.I. screening as possible terror suspects before they could receive any assistance with the cost of treatment. It might be irrelevant for Bush, but could be a problem for Guiliani and any other politician who made points visiting the site.

It seems that during the debate over the long-delayed passage of the James Zadroga 9-11 Health and Compensation Law, Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida tacked on an amendment requiring anyone filing for assistance under the law to submit to a terrorist screening. As much as Repubicans have loved to use 9-11 for political purposes, even using it to invade a country that wasn’t in any way involved with it, the Republicans had blocked this law for years.

Faced with the combined onslaught of Jon Stewart using his last broadcast of the year to draw national attention to this bill and the demonstrators gathering in Washington, the Republicans finally caved and passed the bill. And in the process they let Cliff Stearns add this obscene amendment. This law was necessary because the people who spent months on the site, breathing in the toxic dust even through their respirators, are dying. They are insured, but the costs of their treatments are far greater than what their insurance is paying for. The out-of-pocket is bankrupting their families. These men and women didn’t give their lives in an instant when the planes hit the buildings. They have been giving up their lives one moment at a time for ten years.

Cliff Stearns is one of those men who loves to say “I served in Vietnam.” He was an Air Force aerospace engineer working in satellite reconnaissance, hardly someone who put his life in danger. This military desk jockey has no idea what those men and women went through at Ground Zero. Stearns’ voting and policy record shows a man who puts getting re-elected above having any real positions about anything. He twists in the wind like one of those spiral-thingies we hang outside our houses. He risked nothing by insulting the 9-11 responders. They don’t vote in his district. But perhaps people who do live in his district should be asked how many of them actually think the men and women who are dying a decade later from the effects of working at Ground Zero should be considered terror suspects.

Just for the record – conservative websites and media outlets are blaming the administration for this.   That’s how well they understand the Constitution.  The Legislative Branch makes laws and the Executive Branch must enforce them.  Funny how they always get that one wrong.

Related articles

• 9/11 Responders To Be Warned They Will Be Screened By FBI’s Terrorism Watch List (EXCLUSIVE) (matthewzavoras.wordpress.com)
• 9/11 Responders Warned They Will Be Screened For Terrorism Ties (EXCLUSIVE) (huffingtonpost.com)
• A trio of self-proclaimed GOP heroes (firedoglake.com)
• Stearns Defends Provision on 9-11 Health Care Bill – Obama Seeks Stronger Hand for Medicare Panel (politics.blogs.foxnews.com)
• Obama Victimizes the 9/11 Victims: 9/11 Responders Will Be Screened By FBI’s Terrorism Watch List (atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com)

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

04/23/2011- by Natasia Langfelder

Arguably, America’s most hated couple LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibrian tied the knot yesterday evening. RadarOnline has the details. The wedding took place on a cliff (wtf, mate?) overlooking the Pacific Ocean at 7 pm and about 40 guests attended. [Source]

LeAnn and Eddie have a huge age difference, which has been largely ignored by the media. He’s 47 and she’s 28, that’s pretty crazy right! I had no idea until just now. Grandpa looks pretty good. But LeAnn has made more of a splash in the media because she started “dating” Eddie when they were both married….riiiiight. They met on the set of a Lifetime movie that no one watched and only I remember. LeAnn also tweets stupid shiz about her now stepchildren and just puts way too much private information into the blogosphere. Either way, two adulterers getting married? Yes. Two people of the same sex? Nope! Better luck next time gays!  

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I usually have MSNBC or the Weather Channel on while I’m writing (if I don’t pop in a DVD), a combination of background noise and listening for breaking news.. A few minutes ago, something caught my attention.

Boris somebody, a GOP strategist, was just telling Chris Jansing that President Obama “gave billions and billion to the Brazilians for oil.” The Prez didn’t. We offered a billion dollar loan to Petrobras, but they took a $3 billion loan from China instead. Jansing didn’t correct the lie. She let it lay there and gave it credence by not confronting it. Jansing helped spread the lie. It’s not even a new lie. It’s been out there for over a year, blown up by Glenn Beck as part of his anti-Soros campaign.

Is there a point to having a free press if the people within it are so ill informed that they cannot correct outright partisan lies put out in their physical presence on the sets of their own shows? CNN is in bed with the Tea Party Express. We can longer count on CNN to confront partisan lies. That leaves MSNBC, local stations and small portions of our print media, as well as the blogosphere, to fight for the facts. It’s not all that hard. Go on any internet news comment stream and just note the accusations. Look up the facts. I don’t have a staff of researchers to do this. I’m one person alone in my dining room with a computer that keeps telling me there’s a system failure involving a fan, running on programs that outlived their copyrights years ago. Dinners are late or burned while I work. My house doesn’t get cleaned. My inbox is stuffed with story assignments and I’m starting to fear my IM. If I can look up the facts to confront a lie, why the hell can’t their research staffs do the same thing? I’d be more than willing to do it for them, for about half what they pay a researcher. Hell, I’d be able to quit my paying job for that much and do this fulltime.

If Fox News can hand out pages of Republican talking points to its news readers, why can’t MSNBC hand out a fact sheet to arm its journalists to fight the lies? That’s not partisanship, that’s journalism.

Related articles

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• MSNBC Insists they have no Political Agenda! (via Voting American) (votingamerican.wordpress.com)
• On Friday Night, Highest-Rated Non-Fox Cable News Show (In Demo)…Was MSNBC’s Lockup (mediaite.com)

Image via Wikipedia

04/15/11-Nicole Lamb

BBC Three comedy show Russell Howard’s Good News aired a sketch mocking trans women as it showed men dressed as female flight attendants  flashing passengers. Trans Media Watch has condemned the  sketch and say it is in response to news from a Thai airline that announced they would hire trans women as flight attendants. In response the executive Producer Sean Hancock has written:

“It is never our intention to cause offence, so of course it troubles me to hear of cases where we may have done so inadvertently.

“This sketch was not about transgender people per se, and while the BBC and the programme makers sincerely regret any offence we have caused to you, we would like to stress that the comments were not targeted at the transgender community.

“The sketch was about a fictional budget airline and the aim was to poke fun at the age old tradition of men dressing as women for laughs, very much in the vain of Les Dawson and Kenny Everett. We’re sorry if you felt this went too far but we have to credit the audience with the ability to discern that this is what we meant.”

The Problem of Comedy and Transmisogyny

Trans people are a popular butt of a joke in comedy still. There is a lot of transphobia within our society as we are often a  misunderstood and misaligned group so transphobic humor is generally not going to receive a lot of outrage from cisgender viewers.  And, regardless of what Fox seems to think, trans people have relatively little political or cultural power in which to fight back against transphobic attacks as our advocacy groups are smaller then most gay organizations and many supposedly GLBT organizations at best ignore our issues.

The media generally has only two ways it knows how to portray trans women. Perhaps less common are the deceivers who are portrayed as ‘passable’ women who are simply there to reveal they tricked a person, usually a man, into sex only to then reveal they are ‘really a man’. And more common to comedy there is the pathetic transsexual who does not look like a woman and probably never will. Like the Russell Howard skit they usually have lots of noticeable facial hair and generally act in a way that is coded to read masculine. Regardless of the variability of trans women’s ability to blend, these pathetic type trans women take it a step farther.

The pathetic trans woman, and they usually are trans women rather then trans men, has been prominent in a variety of mainstream pop culture humor. Saturday Night Live recently aired its Estro-Maxx skit featuring men with facial hair and in dresses advertising a hormone replacement drug. Craig Ferguson had his ‘half-sister’ Pam played by a guy made up to look ridiculous as per the pathetic trans woman stereotype and flashing his genitals like the Russell Howard Sketch (genitals are always a big focus). Family Guy featured Quagmire’s father transitioning and  Brian throwing up after having sex with them and finding out.

Some would say these recent example and countless others from comedies like South Park and Ace Ventura are regrettable but to be expected to some extent. There is still sexism, racism, homophobia and other examples of bigotry in comedy so  transphobia and transmisogyny aren’t really alone. However the issue of transmisogyny is a problem within progressive and even nominally GLBT media as well. Both the Daily Show and the Colbert Report are frequent defenders of gay rights however neither has had any problem using the slur ‘tranny’ or making jokes at the expense. Logo’s The Big Gay Sketch Show featured sketches like ‘Are You Smarter Then A Tranny Hooker’

Why It Matters

Of course the first thing you generally hear, especially on the internet, if you complain about anything in the media is that you should just relax and that it doesn’t matter since it isn’t real, generally from someone who is privileged enough to not have to deal with that particular oppression. However, media matters in shaping our culture and people’s views and that goes on to shape things like how they treat others and how they vote. Comedy is no different and saying something as a joke or not intending for it to offend does not change its negative impact on a community. That the show creators may make jokes about a variety of groups doesn’t mitigate that the primary intended audience for the humor is white, cis, heterosexual men while the primary groups being made fun of are not.

The Pathetic trans woman trope serves to dehumanize us in minds of people and make us objects of scorn. According to the study Injustice at Every Turn, trans people faced  elevated levels of discrimination in employment, housing, and other aspects of their lives compared to cis people.  Trans women of color in particular face high levels of discrimination as well  a high murder rate that is reflected in each year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance. Then there is the internalization of the constant reinforcements of negative stereotypes that contributes to the high suicide rates among trans people with 41% having reported attempted suicide.

In politics the  continuing fight for equal rights for trans people  often reflects the same tropes as the media. Any attempts at the city, state, or national level to  add trans people to non-discrimination law meets with the bathroom meme. From the opposition is the fear mongering about ‘men in dresses’ using the women’s restrooms preying on women and confusing the children. Regardless about facts about trans women already using the restroom without incident (except for when they are harassed and attacked by cis people) the fear mongering relies on the popular idea of the pathetic trans woman portrayed in the media to influence the public.

A comedy show using transphobic humor is not necessarily the cause of a trans bashing or why we do not have equal rights but it does help promote the transphobic attitude that makes life harder for trans people.

Changing Things

The problem of transmisogyny and transphobia  in comedy isn’t an indictment against humor surrounding trans issues in the media entirely.  In many ways being trans is a funny thing. I mean, you are going through puberty twice! And not all comedies portray trans people terribly, despite some flaws Better Than Chocolate does a good job portraying Judy.

Not dehumanizing trans women as the simple butt of a joke and instead treating them as equal human beings is a simple way of going about things. Many of the ‘apologies’ offered by shows, like the one by Russell Howard creator are merely non-apologies that blame you for having issue with the show rather then admitting there is something wrong with the show. This is a symptom of a larger issue of people with privilege not listening to those who are without it when oppressed people talk about their experiences and things that effect them.

Revolutionarily simple ideas, listen to trans women when they say something and treat them like human beings.

Related articles

• Transgender Group Furious At BBC for ‘Offensive’ Russell Howard Sketch (PinkNews.co.uk)
• Skirt Chasers: Why the Media Depicts the Trans Revolution in Lipstick and Heels (JuliaSerano.com)
• SNL Slammed for Transphobic Skit (advocate.com)
• CBS’s Craig Ferguson Sketch Mocks Trans “Character”. (craigfergusonnews.wordpress.com)
• Family Guy: Reaching New Transmisogynistic Lows (Bitchmagazine.org)
• More Transphobia on the Daily Show (NoDesignation.com)
• Injustice At Every Turn: Study of Trans Discrimination (bilerico.com)

Can you tell the gender of these feet?

The rightwingnuts are having birds over a J. Crew ad featuring designer Jenna Lyons and her son Beckett enjoying a toenail polishing session. Give me a freaking break!

Fox News.com Health column psychiatrist Dr. Keith Ablow wrote that “This is a dramatic example of the way that our culture is being encouraged to abandon all trappings of gender identity.” Really? Hey Doc, did you happen to miss the whole “Alan Alda” thing back in the seventies? Missed the “Mr. Mom” revolution, too, didn’t you?

Not to be outdone, Erin Brown of Media Research Center said the ad was “blatant propaganda celebrating transgendered children. Not only is Beckett likely to change his favorite color as early as tomorrow, Jenna’s indulgence (or encouragement) could make life hard for the boy in the future. J. Crew, known for its tasteful and modest clothing, apparently does not mind exploiting Beckett behind the facade of liberal, transgendered identity politics.” And you, Ms. Brown, don’t mind exploiting the boy for your conservative-hate politics, do you? I’ll bet you wrote nasty columns about Kate Hudson and Celine Dion not cutting their sons’ hair, too.

Just exactly where in this ad does it say that Beckett is transgendered? Even his mother probably has no idea if he will be or not. Dressing a boy up in skirts or letting him paint his toenails doesn’t make a boy transgendered anymore than it would make him gay. What Jenna Lyons is doing is refusing to stuff her kid into a narrow definition of gender based on clothing or length of hair or accessories. Get a clue here – a G.I. Joe is still a doll, not really different from a Barbie, just with worse taste in clothing. My sister got an electric train set for Christmas when she was eight. It didn’t make her a lesbian. Hell, it didn’t even make her tolerant of gays and transgendered persons.

My generation tried to free our kids from these strict gender roles back in the seventies. Many of us let our sons play with toy kitchens and our daughters play with trucks. We were grateful for the “boy” dolls that accompanied sets like Strawberry Shortcake, because it gave our sons a chance to play with their sisters and not be subjected to this kind of stupidity. We got hit with a backlash during the Reagan years with men bonding in Native American-themed groups that pounded drums and a whole bunch of other nonsense to assert their masculinity. Raising a child gender-neutral doesn’t determine that child’s sexual orientation or gender choices. It just makes that child more balanced, more open, more tolerant of others and less afraid to express himself or herself in a manner that best fits his/her personality and tastes. But, that’s what’s so intolerable to these rightwingnuts, isn’t it? Individuality is unacceptable if what is desired is Taliban-style conformity.

Anyone remember the front page picture in the New York Times a couple of years ago – a soldier in Afghanistan during a fire fight wearing his helmet, flak jacket and pink boxers? He’s straight. His girlfriend gave him the boxers.

Related articles

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• J. Crew ad horror: Boy has painted toenails! (adweek.blogs.com)
• Nail Polish on Boy in Ad Sparks Controversy (foxnews.com)
• The J. Crew Transgendered Plot to Destroy America (bilerico.com)
• J. Crew Ad Says Boys Look Good in Pink . . . and in Our Clothes! (pinkisforboys.wordpress.com)
• J. Crew Ad Draws Wingnut Fire (joemygod.blogspot.com)
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One hundred fifty years ago today, Fort Sumter was attacked and the Civil War began. President Abraham Lincoln made only one mistake in the conduct of that war – he conducted that war.

The South was an agricultural economy made possible by slavery. The total population of the Confederate States was 9,103,332, 43.4% of which were slaves. Sixty-nine years earlier, the free Africans and slaves of Haiti had revolted. They achieved independence in 1804. That would have been quite an inspiration for the slaves in the south.

Lincoln could have left the South to try to deal with an economy that had no manufacturing and would have collapsed completely within a generation when the Suez Canal made extremely cheap cotton readily available to Europe, and 3,953,761 people capable of revolt. He would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives and 145 years of headaches.

In the long view, the South really did win the Civil War – because we got stuck with them for the past 145 years. Just about everything they say was the cause of the Civil War, that whole states’ rights stuff, has come around to bite us in the ass again in the Tea Party. They don’t like to admit they were fighting for slavery, and they won’t admit today that they are supporting the idea that only white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant Christians are worthy of being Americans, but we know that’s the truth, don’t we? The aggressiveness of the Tea Party, their willingness to destroy not only our country but the whole world’s economy for their crazy ideas about economics, the way Southerners protect their gun rights and cheered on the abortion-clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, the vicious and violent postings on the net about gays, women and minorities, their almost pathological refusal to question the crap spewed at them by their radios and televisions, their devotion to the crusade to turn America into a theocracy……these are really scary folks who are the antithesis of everything we say this country values.

We should have just let them secede; and the next time a region decides to do so, we should acquiesce, particularly if it’s New England getting itself annexed by Canada. I know I printed out the lyrics during the Olympics….now where are they….got ‘em….Oh, Canada, our home and native land….

Related articles

• US marks 150th anniversary of start of Civil War (alternet.org)
• Fort Sumter and the “Start” of the American Civil War (Photo of the Day) (britannica.com)
• You: US marks 150th anniversary of start of Civil War (france24.com)
• Civil War still divides Americans (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com)

Suspect Tiven and Congressman Nadler -Think IE had some Lobby going here?

So Guess who is asking for more support for the same thing they screwed bi-nationals over and  over again previously?  Yes, It is Immigration Equality. They need your grassroots effort and/or money so you can get screwed yet again  – so they can mess with  our UAFA again and again and again – The question is this time do they plan on advocating for it or advocating for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, the past modus operandi; the latter previously touted as the only way to achieve these rights.   But it did not work and now what crazy path will they explore with your hearts risking your soul mates?  Do they plan on placing UAFA and Binationals, same-sex green cards ahead of the DREAM ACT this time – because the latter may happen to include some gays and lesbians?

Julie Kruse, Policy Director has put out a call for you to tell your stories and to support UAFA!   Time warp 2009! Julie what have we been doing for ten years?

Buyer beware- what is wrong with this picture?

Kruse”s letter states “In just a few weeks, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Congressman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) will reintroduce the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) — a critically important bill that would provide much-needed relief to LGBT families facing separation and exile under our discriminatory immigration laws. Will you help us build the support we need to ensure UAFA’s reintroduction is a success?”

AND WHY I ASK?

She continues ” As you know, UAFA would allow lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Americans to sponsor our foreign-born partners and children for residency in the United States. UAFA’s passage would immediately help all families with foreign-born partners. For families whose relationships aren’t recognized by state or local law – and for families currently living in exile — UAFA offers the only permanent solution for remaining together. ”

I have a feeling this jargon was copied from an email back in 2009 – c heck it OUT!  That said – when I was in DC with Shirley Tan, the lesbian mom saved from deportation under Private Bill #867, by Senator Feinstein two things did not occurred:-

1. Julie Kruse told us not to waste our time telling Republicans in Congress Shirley’s story – BUT now the Republicans have a majority and so should we still keep our stories from them Julie Kruse?

2. I informed Rachel Tiven and Julie Kruse in June 2009, after speaking with the Senator’s senior legislative staffer,  that the only way to get Senator Feinstein to sponsor and push  UAFA would have been for IE to acknowledge that the UAFA does not provide enough defining language demanding a CONTRACTUAL NEXUS between partners; and that mere evidence would not be enough to satisfy the Senator.   Understanding law the way I do the Senator’s requirement made complete sense to me.  But Immigration equality representatives fobbed me off.

a.  UAFA Language must change to  define Permanent Partner as someone who can prove a contractual nexus, via a DP or marriage document from a Jurisdiction or a written contract defining the relationship – beyond mere evidence of joint check accounts and rental agreements.   The impediment to UAFA has always been – not fear of fraud- per se- but rather the lack of provable contractual relationship or connection.  Roomates can share a bill but cannot a contract defining their relationship.

The language can and must work around this.  Immigration Equality basically told me I was wasting my time because and I quote “Senator Feinstein does not care about the  LGBT community.”  That was a horrible myth perpetuated by another organization which I care not to name as well as by Immigration equality.

b.  Senator Feinstein absolutely cares about gays  (LGBTI) and when I repeated that comment to a staffer in the Senators office two years ago, I was told it would break the Senator’s heart because she did care so much.  I believed that Senator Feinstein does care and did then and I deplore the fact that Immigration Equality failed to truly engage her office to provide the legislative solution for her sponsorship.

So much energy spent on fighting for so called immigration reform when all we wanted is equality.

c. Senator Feinstein is correct to go full out for the Repeal of DOMA at this point.  To split our advocacy once a repeal is on the table for DOMA is pure waste of of unity and advocacy time.    At this point IE should be asking for special visas and Private Bills to prevent deportations of a class to be named – pending the repeal of DOMA.   Instead they are trying to roll back the clock and hedge UAFA’s enactment  against DOMA’s repeal.

Yes Tell your stories and tell your representatives why you want your Federal benefits such as immigration. Tell them your stories.   But how can we do it in the name of UAFA which Immigration Equality may again hi-jack for their own invisible purposes.  Do it in the name of DOMA repeal.

Kruse  states then in her e-mail bvlast Help us honor those families by ensuring we have a strong coalition of lawmakers supporting UAFA in the new Congress.”  Yes, Julie Kruse, Rachel Tiven and Steve Ralls – et al – how are you going to regenerate support for UAFA in a Republican Congress when you failed in a Democratic one and took all binationals for the biggest ride of their life…. down CIR road to nowhere.   Do you plan on touting UAFA and switching to Comprehensive immigration Reform YET AGAIN?

How many times you take our community for suckers.

The Letter goes on to say: – “Ask your lawmaker to cosponsor UAFA, and add your personal story to your letter. Your story is the best, and most powerful, way to let Congress know how critical passage of UAFA is for our families.”

In case you were unaware OUT4IMMIGRATION has been doing just that since long before you let go of your grassroots respect and telling actual stories for UAFA.  But now its time to tell them our stories for the repeal of DOMA which will give same-sex spouses the same rights as gay spouses.

“We finished the last Congress with record support for UAFA.”   say Kruse with ultimate chutzpah – then why did you bandwagon and scurry after Immigration Reform and failed alliances?

“Help us begin this Congress by setting a new record again. With your help, we can take action to ensure LGBT families won’t be torn apart by unfair immigration laws.”    Does that sound familiar – like a pre immigration reform rewind?  A most disingenuous statement – do not expect support – we the grassroots are better off without your strategy mess ups and your inability to take responsibility – what you need to do is to be transparent.   This letter is another example of such lack of transparency , ignorance and the presumption that we are all a bunch of idiots.

UNLESS Immigration Equality shows the truth – and  tells same-sex couples what their FULL strategy and plan is – they have no place asking for Bi-national f support because same-sex couples who have been waiting for years and who you turn away when in need, do not trust Immigration Equality any longer.

What is Immigration Equality’s plan in the broad scheme of things? How is it addressing the repeal of the Defense of marriage Act  DOMA now that has strong support and has been introduced already – is UAFA a bey hedged against the repeal of DOMA and if it is what guarantee do we have that Immigration equality will not hijack the legislation yet again?

Will Immigration equality  chase the DREAM again or work for UAFA fully – or  CHASE comprehensive immigration reform with our UAFA stories and pleas for help.

Julie Kruse , If we want UAFA will you offer CIR  – again?    No one should follow this group without a fully transparent plan of intent and one that they honor.  No one should follow this group until they provide a financial disclosure of how money was spent over the past few years and how they plan to budget and allocate resources at this time.

Immigration equality-  the big glaring lie – is the offer that UAFA will provide a quick remedy. No it will not. It is simply not possible.   The only quick remedy will be a executive order by the President or some creative form of  Sunset Special Binat -VISA or Protocol to provide for the immediate relief suffered by our binational / same-sex couples – limited to those who are married – because marriage is now a relatively easy option, according to State and Foreign Laws.

Grassroots I ask you – are you going to allow your selves to be used again – like lambs to the slaughter ?

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

NOTE:-  An Aside: Who can depend on IE: If you have stories to tell please e-mail me – at nathan@privatecourts.com:

I recently sent an asylum seeker to Immigration equality who is within the small window of opportunity with a winning Asylum case.  They were excited to receive the case, my source informs me.   I then went to South Africa for a month and just arrived back – only to hear that the young person who is in great physical danger if returned home, is still waiting for a post interview call back.  She is panic stricken and under time constraints for filing.  It is a simple case to file and all they need is to find her an attorney to fill out the forms.

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By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

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For quite some time I have been writing about creative alternatives – I would like to see the organizations getting your money doing some of the creative out od the box work!!!!

Here is the Body of my Past work on this subject

http://lezgetreal.com/page/2/?s=Binational

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/12/same-sex-green-cards-the-case-for-a-presidential-executive-order-2011/

REPEAT  -  I WROTE THIS BACK IN DECEMBER,……   WRITTEN BEFORE INTRODUCTION OF REPEAL OF DOMA

Melanie Nathan, Dec 30, 2010. At the federal level of government in the United States, laws are made almost exclusively by legislation. Legislation originates as an Act of Congress passed by the Congress of the United States; such acts were either signed into law by the President or passed by Congress after a presidential veto.

Legislation is not the only source of regulations which have the force of law. There is also judge-made common law and constitutional law. The President can issue executive orders pursuant to a grant of discretion from Congress, or under the inherent powers that office holds to deal with certain matters of foreign policy.

When it comes to immigration matters, the standing law is that covered by the Immigration and Naturalization Act of the USA.  This law cannot be changed, without the involvement of Congress through an amendment process.  However I believe that when it comes to the regulations to effect the intent behind the law or something that unexpectedly and detrimentally impacts the law, the President of the USA can provide an executive order to adjust the circumstances, so impacted.

I do not believe that it was ever the intention of the Defense of Marriage Act to deny the de facto relationships of same-sex couples. I believe President Clinton who signed it into law would attest that it was never his intention to cause American citizens and Residents in same-sex relationships to have to exile the USA to pursue their Constitutional right to happiness. However Americans in the USA, in same sex relationships are denied the possibility to sponsor a partner for a green card.

Accordingly I believe that President Obama has the power to effect an Executive Order on behalf of same-sex couples who are specifically excluded by DOMA, from participating in the US Immigration laws.   This  quest would specifically denote a right by way of process to an American (citizen or resident) and not a right to an immigrant; the right of the American to Petition for a same-sex partner to reside in the USA, that is currently excluded via laws that simply fail to include the de facto situation, thereby causing extreme  hardship to American Families.

I do not believe the Immigration law needs to change for this to happen in the short term; I do not believe that this reflects in any way shape or form on the marriage equality debate.  It does not seek to change DOMA and nor does it impact the Immigration Act as we know it, at all.

There have been many early executive orders during all Presidencies;  the State Department began numbering executive orders in the early 20th century, starting retroactively from President Abraham Lincoln’s Executive Order Establishing a Provisional Court in Louisiana issued in 1862. An executive order is an order issued by the President, the head of the executive branch of the federal government, generally to staff of the executive branch and not to the citizens of the country. Article I, Section 1 of the US Constitution specifically reserves all federal legislative authority to Congress, not the president.

However here what would occur would be the President ordering the inclusion of same-sex partners under existing law, based on the de facto existence of relationships, the anomaly caused by State law that endorse such relationships, while the Federal government fails to secure the right of the American to remain at home in a relationship of their choice.

Examples of prior Immigration related executive orders -

• Employment of aliens under Federal contracts: EO 12989
• Grenada; revocation of naturalization exemptions: EO 12913
• Persian Gulf conflict participants; expedited naturalization: EO 12939

The Case for an executive order is easily made:

Urgent Need; Immediate Harm;

Without the passage of a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act the exclusionary legislation that caused the harm, or the passage of the Uniting American Families Act, (UAFA) the pending Legislation – which would fix the problem, there is little else that can happen to right this immeasurable harm in the near future.

Same-sex couples have been watching the introduction of legislation come and go for the best part of 15 years to no avail

Americans are living in exile to be with partners – separated from extended families, children etc.  Some are getting ready to leave the USA as I write this; some partners have not seen each other in years- partners are deported, living  jobless in hiding; the expense to maintain an international relationship is prohibitive and I can go on….

The Dream Act failed – Do you think Republicans will give a damn about gay and lesbian couples?

Now that DADT is repealed Military also need to a mechanism to bring home foreign born partners after serving abroad.

Now I have never written an Executive Order or anything similar before and so please do not take this as my expectation of what one would really look like or entail. In fact I may even be coming at it from the wrong angle – there may be a more direct way to do it than to Order a Special Board charged with a duty as I have done below.   I thought of doig it that way so that the ORDER would not be a blanket order, but would have built in measure for responsible actions, where evidence and contractual nexus helm the process.

EXECUTIVE ORDER

PREAMBLE:- Same Sex couples are a de facto part of American Society. The Defense of Marriage Act. specifically excludes Same-Sex partners from being included under the Immigration & Naturalization Act of 1952.

Some de facto same-sex relationships impacted by the Law include children who suffer hardship if parents are forced to separate or leave the United States;

No US citizen should be forced into exile or to leave their homes, careers and countries to be able to pursue a relationship with a same-sex partner;

The intention of the Defense of Marriage Act was define marriage as between a man and a woman only. In No way does this order derogate from that concept nor does it attempt to re-define marriage;

Predicated on the fact that DOMA was never intended to divide unmarried couples (who did not have the legal option to marry in accordance with the Federal definition established by DOMA)  and families or prevent them from living together.

It remains the policy of this Administration to enforce the immigration laws to the fullest extent, for all cases that do not conform to this Order;  including the detection and deportation of undocumented aliens.

IT IS ORDERED:-

I. Establishment of Emergency Board, to be led by personnel appointed by the President of the USA and office of the Department of Homeland Security for the purposes outlined as follows:-

I. Investigating the separation of same-sex partners whose relationships are excluded from immigration rights and privileges under the Immigration and Nationality Act of  1952 as amended ; with the specific purpose of providing remedies and urgent relief to specific couples and through general regulations and remedies for couples at large:-

a. To establish a Special Visa Program (similar to Fiancé Visa/ R1 Visa) to facilitate the reunification of same-sex partners in relationships where a contractual nexus can be proved within six months of entry by foreign partner into USA; and to to provide a path to citizenship upon conditions to be determined.

b. To provide a mechanism for the adjustment of Status for same-sex foreign partners who are currently in the USA undocumented, whose Visa has expired, who enter into same-sex relationships while in the USA, including those in Asylum or deportation proceedings, or under ten year re-entry ban, where other is a US Citizen or Legal US Resident, who can prove a contractual nexus;

c. To define contractual nexus (I have prepared my own)

d. To define and detail evidence required to prove contractual nexus:- (I have prepared a list)

II. Circumstances to Investigate:

• circumstances of American citizens forced leave the USA to be in relationship
• and live with a foreign born partner, where there is proof of contractual nexus;
• to review immigration cases of foreign same-sex partner, where other is a US
  Citizen or  legal US Resident,  who can prove a contractual nexus;
• to review deportation cases involving foreign same-sex partner, where other is a
  US Citizen or Legal US Resident,  who can prove a contractual nexus;
• to review asylum cases foreign same-sex partner, where other is a US Citizen and
  Resident,  who can prove a contractual nexus;
• to review Visa Applications

III Moratorium:

Immediate moratorium on all deportations involving foreign same-sex partner, where other is a US Citizen or Legal US Resident, who can prove a contractual nexus;  to include a retroactive waiver of 10 year ban on re-entry to USA.

The Power shall be vested in the Board and All Regulations stemming therefrom shall be subject to the oversight of a duly appointed Staffer and ratification by the President of the USA.

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CONCLUSION:

Maybe this is a pipe dream and I have written about this over a year ago – I hope to join with other advocates in the New Year to push for a creative remedy for the unconscionable and reprehensible inequity to same-sex couples and their families, immediate and extended.  This international community cannot wait any longer – not even for what it will take to repeal DOMA, Enact UAFA.  This is not an immigration reform issue – it is an immigration equality – as in parity- issue. Hence the bi-national same sex community which advocates, waits and prays for remedies should not be expected to wait any longer while an anti-immigrant weighted Congress plodders along with Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

A note from J. Bachelor  3/31/2011 : I had passed this on to others in the past, but the person to target is Obama and here is why:

A new strategy for helping out immigrants is outlined in a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) memo from last year. In that memo, staff members for USCIS catalogued the various options that are open to the President.

“USCIS can extend benefits and/or protections to many individuals and groups by issuing new guidance and regulations, exercising discretion with regard to parole-in-place, deferred action and the issuance of Notices to Appear (NTA), and adopting significant process improvements,” the memo reads.

The text of the memo asserts that USCIS’s discretionary power to use deferred action is unlimited. In order to suppress opposition to the flexing of this muscle, the USCIS staffers who wrote the memo suggest that deferred action be used to exempt “particular groups” from being subject to removal proceedings. In this memo, they explicitly admit that “deferred action” — or using prosecutorial discretion not to deport someone — would be “a non-legislative version of ‘amnesty.’”

Fox News notes that deferred action is a “suspension of deportation hearings for illegal aliens. With “deferred action,” illegals are allowed to apply for employment authorization cards,” (http://nation.foxnews.com/amnesty/2010/06/23/obama-granting-amnesty-executive-order).

The President has the power to sign an executive order to exempt “particular groups”, such as gay binational couples who are married, from being deported. This would not make them legal, but would allow them to remain in the country with their significant others.
- http://www2.nationalreview.com/memo_UCIS_072910.html

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3/30/2011 – by Cynthia S. Wright

Proverbs 23:2 ESV

And put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

Recently a portly female preacher felt the weight of God’s burden so greatly, she had no choice but to deliver her testimony from a chair in the pulpit. This preacher had a bone to pick (and no, not the ones on her plate – this time), stemming from her issues with the practice of masturbation and of course, homosexuality

Enraged, supposedly by the Holy Spirit, she lashes out (as much as she could muster – which wasn’t much) against those who practice the art of self love by letting them know that they are “partaking in what God made righteous and perverting it”.  She then banishes them to go get their sex toys and play with themselves as she moves onto her next object of contempt: male semen!

With all the anger that she displays during her talk of this male produced bodily fluid; one would ponder if she is angry about the actual fluid itself, or perhaps angry that no human being capable producing that “diseased” substance has come near her in quite some time.

That doesn’t concern her though because she soon turns her fury onto the gays – most importantly men on the down-low.  “You just keep watching your little husband (I’m sure she knows all about little husbands or does she call them Twinkies for Jesus?) and in a year or so, you will see him come in with his hand swinging. In a year or so you will see him with a switch in his hips.”  Why does that have to mean that he is gay, maybe he just enjoys dancing or is praising God that he can move freely without his mobility being confined to a chair? Whose to say?

Even still, it does sound like her concern (or anger) comes from a personal place, maybe she needs to contact Terry McMillan – I smell a book deal in the works and besides, they can bond over their hatred of their down-low brethren. After all isn’t the down-low all the craze in the black community these days anyway? Instead of acknowledging that maybe your husband was always gay, that he just didn’t want to lie anymore and the best thing he could do was to finally come clean.

After all, isn’t that what you bible-thumpers want or is lying no longer sinful? Also, why is the focus only on black men? Gay women are out there too but she probably left that out on purpose, since she probably believes down-low black men are the ONLY ones that can singlehandedly ruin the black church! Never mind, the talk of preachers sleeping with members of their congregation and breaking up marital homes, that must be a myth.

Now, portly preacher lady has a right to express her opinion. In her clouded, homophobic, one-sided view all the things, she so eloquently expressed might be relevant somewhere.

Yet, as she preaches her hatred from her “saintly chair”, wobbling back and forth, unable to lift herself up to deliver her sermon – no one questions that they are receiving the word of God from someone who is unable to stand long enough to give it.

My question is, when did gluttony get omitted from the Bible? How is that one fact being overlooked, unlike being gay or loving masturbating, which is often not known to the public – how can someone condemn others for living their life when it’s plausible that she might not be able to control her own.

That is often the problem when it comes to the black churches, so quick to cast the first stone (if she could even manage to do that) but at the same time don’t want to atone for their own sins. Gluttony the last time I checked is considered a major sin, a certifiable health risk and in most cases, a choice.

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03/20/2011- by Natasia Langfelder

TMZ (but of course) got their hands on a non-disclosure agreement for backup dancers that want to dance in BritBrit’s new music video. The agreement states: “Contractor acknowledges that it is essential that [Britney] not be exposed to any alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances.” It also says that the dancers are subject to random drug testing and can be fired for refusing the test. [Source]

The consensus on the ‘internets’ is that these demands are crazy, I’m going to have to step up to defend my beloved Britney. First of all, if bitch knows that she can’t handle being around drugs or alcohol, then it’s good she is taking steps to make sure she is not around drugs. She’s a mother and she has to do whatever she has to do to stay sober. Second of all, this is her muthafreakin’ show, bitches! She’s the one making the money, she’s the one putting food on all these people’s tables, if she says don’t drink vodka out of the bottle when I’m around, then don’t drink vodka out of the bottle when she’s around. Third of all, these dancers are going to be working around Brit. They will be on a set for a music video, dancing in teeny tiny outfits, crazy shoes and probably on precarious surfaces. They probably should be sober while they do so. The majority of office workers don’t go to work drunk, dancers don’t get a free pass either. And lastly, last time I checked, drugs are illegal…soooo you can’t really have a problem with random drug tests. Basically, nothing about this clause seems out of line to me. So go on with your recovery BritBrit!  

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03/17/2011- by Natasia Langfelder

Okay, what I’m about to say isn’t going to make me very popular, but you guys, I think Jodie Foster might be insane. Like, batshit crazy insane. I know, I know, she’s hot, she’s a great actress, she’s gay…but still, maybe crazy. Hear me out, so Jodie Foster directed and co-stars in the movie “The Beaver” with Mel Gibson. Now, the plot of this movie should be enough to tip anyone off that the people participating in this project are not all there. IMDB writes it up as “A troubled husband and executive adopts a beaver hand-puppet as his sole means of communicating.” Yes, exactly, what?

Mel Gibson has been making the headlines for physically and verbally assaulting his baby momma and former mistress Oksana Grivfiej&(&#*(&#, whatever her name is way too long. He also made headlines a few months ago when Winona Ryder revealed that he called her an “oven dodger” at a party back in the 90s. Also, do we want to get into his “raped by a pack of n@&#^$” and sugartits comments? No right? It’s depressing that someone so messed up could be so rich, famous and successful. However, Jodie Foster has no problem with Mel Gibson or any of his statements. The famous lesbionic lady simply attributes it to his “big mouth.” Foster told the Hollywood Reporter:

“God, I love that man…He’s so incredibly loving and sensitive, he really is. He is the most loved actor I have ever worked with on a movie. And he’s not saintly, and he’s got a big mouth, and he’ll do gross things your nephew would do. But I knew the minute I met him that I would love him the rest of my life.” [Source]

Really? Really?! No! I know she did a movie with him and needs it to hit on some cash, since she cheated on and left her longtime partner and prob needs some Benjamins to keep her ex lady and her new lady happy, but bending your principals to defend Mel Gibson is CRAZY. Gibson hates jews, blacks, women and he also HITS women. I thought as lesbians we were officially supposed to not be into that? So yeah, long story short, Jodie Foster is nuts. Sigh, okay Jodie fans, let me have it.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann

First, she knew nothing about the men in the iconic photo of the Marines planting the flag on Iwo Jima, then she didn’t know in which state the Revolutionary War started. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is a veritable fountain of historical misinformation.

Clutching a tea bag in Concord, New Hampshire, Rep. Bachmann told a group of students “You’re in the state where the shot was heard around the world in Lexington and Concord..” Both towns are in Massachusetts, about 30 miles south of Concord, New Hampshire. It really is impossible for a shot to be fired in both town simultaneously, but why quibble? The Tea Party, whose Congressional Caucus Bachmann founded, takes its name from the Boston Tea Party, when a group of revolutionaries badly dressed as Native Americans boarded a cargo ship and dumped the tea in the harbor to protest the high taxes on tea, which were levied to help offset the costs incurred by the British government in fighting the French and Indian War on American soil. Hopefully, Mrs. Bachmann knows where Boston is, though she very definitely does not know that the men and women who fought our Revolution were beyond liberal – they were outright radicals. It’s a distinction that is lost on conservatives who claim they are the moral descendants of our founding fathers. About the only thing the conservatives have in common with the revolutionaries is a reluctance to pay for wars.

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Attorney General Eric Holder

03-10-2011 by L. S. Carbonell

So far, the only people criticizing the Attorney General are the conservatives who are accusing him of liberal racism and failure to pursue the enemies of conservitism.   Those complaints are ridiculous.   There are some very real issues that Holder deserves to be criticized for.

We have the internal communications from Goldman Sachs that admitted they were dealing in “shit” that allowed one customer to make a $3 billion profit gambling on our mortgages. We have tens of thousands of complaints and paperwork to prove that the mortgage crisis was created, that foreclosures were handled illegally, that fraud was committed. We have all of this, and no one has been charged with a crime. No one has faced trial. No one has been held accountable.

In 2010, Wall Street passed out $144 BILLION in salaries and bonuses. In 2010, the banks that were too big to fail posted record-breaking profits. In 2010, approximately 20% of us were actually unemployed, not just the 9+% that is officially unemployed. In 2010, one million of us had already lost their homes and another million were scheduled to next year.

The people who collapsed our economy are still getting filthy rich and funding the political campaigns of the people who want to deny us our Constitutional rights.

And Eric Holder has had two years to find the necessary proof of the collusion of the these banks, mortgage servicing companies and Wall Street money managers. Two years is long enough. We want someone to be held accountable for the damage they have caused. We want someone to go to jail. Maybe that’s just a desire for revenge, but in the end that’s what justice is all about – extracting revenge from the persons who have harmed another person or a society.

The first stupid thing this administration did was decide not to prosecute anyone involved in the illegal actions that took us into two wars and broke our own laws and international treaties in our conduct of those wars. They wanted to avoid the disruptions that we had seen in the Nixon investigations and Clinton impeachment processes. Okay. That was the excuse given when a Democratic House refused to impeach Bush and Cheney – needed to be done simultaneously to avoid Cheney becoming President – and we accepted that excuse then. In the past two years, we have had the ability to bring some of those people to justice. We now have a former President and former Vice-President who cannot leave the borders of this country because of the international war crimes warrants against them. What is it saying to the world when we will not prosecute them as well?

The second stupid thing this administration did was not aggressively pursue prosecution of the people who collapsed the world’s economy. I understand the idea of not going into court without an iron-clad case for the prosecution, but sometimes it has to be risked. Sometimes, the pursuit of justice is as important as actually getting justice.

Eric Holder may be a very nice man. He may be a very competent lawyer. He is not a prosecutor. We need a prosecutor – a real, live, willing-to-go-to-the-wall, “Jack McCoy” idealistic prosecutor. We need Teddy Roosevelt’s big stick – the one he used to clear out the corruption in New York while he was Police Commissioner. We need Archibald Cox, the original special prosecutor in the Nixon-Watergate case. We need a man or woman with the guts to seek justice for all of us.

We need someone willing to instruct the United States Attorney in Madison, Wisconsin, to order the U. S. Marshals Service to arrest Scott Walker for accepting a bribe and State Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald for violating the state’s open committee law. The Federal government has the power to enforce state law when the state refuses to. Walker’s Attorney General will not enforce his own state’s laws.

Our economy has been devastated. Our voting rights are under assault. Our labor laws are being stripped. We need an Attorney General with cajones the size of Texas, not a cautious man afraid of political consequences. We need a hero.

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There are hypocrites, and then there is Phyllis Schlafly.

In 1952, Schlafly ran for Congress. In 1960, she firmly attached herself to the right wing of the Republican Party, and spent years denouncing the “Rockefeller Republicans” she thought weren’t conservative enough. In 1967, she ran for the presidency of the National Federation of Republican Women. She had a husband and six children at home while pursuing her political career and authoring numerous books. And she hates “feminists.” What is it with career-minded, successful conservative women? Sarah Palin, while running for the vice-presidency, denied being a feminist.

Well, according to Schlafly’s newest book, The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know – and Men Can’t Say, co-authored with Suzanne Venker, having a career has nothing to do with being a feminist. We didn’t fight for equality in the workplace or more equal representation in government. According to Schlafly, we fought for the right to get divorced, be liberated from raising children and destroy America.

Schlafly believes that the first legislative goal of the feminist movement was easy divorce. Really? Let’s examine the time frame here. The feminist movement dates itself back to the publication of Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique, on February 19, 1963. Twelve years later, our niece was waiting out a two-year required legal separation from her first husband, again. They had briefly reconciled half-way through the first one. In the end, it took her four years to end that marriage. Divorce laws are state-by-state, not national. Some states instituted no-fault divorces before the end of the 1960′s, but most states lagged well into the 1970′s. Divorce back in the dark ages could require proof of adultery, and no other acceptable reason. The laws were oppressive for both men and women. It was men who pushed this legislative agenda, since women had damned little political power back then.

Schlafly also believes that the feminist movement has offered women nothing that they didn’t have before. She was a very vocal opponent of the Equal Rights Amendment, and still says it would have taken rights and benefits away from women, like the right not to serve in the military and the right to be supported by a husband. Her book makes the claim that the feminist movement has taught women to hate men and demeaned motherhood. Schlafly never has understood that there are women who choose to serve in the military. The weird part is that she’s 86 years old. She was a teenager during World War II. She grew up with women who worked in defense plants, who served in the military. What did she think, that Rosie the Riverter was a guy in drag? Schlafly is still hung up on the idea of women being drafted, instead of an all-volunteer Army. As for hating men? Well, there are days, aren’t there? But feminism hasn’t done nearly as much to demean motherhood as women like Schlafly who preach anti-feminism while leaving their kids behind to pursue their own careers, or who use them as props in their public appearances like Sarah Palin. The big bitch in the feminist movement is the way men have been taught that they get to make babies but don’t have to take care of them. We didn’t so much demean motherhood as we insisted on a redefinition of fatherhood.

Let’s not forget the conspiracy theory. Don’t all conservative positions involve a conspiracy by liberals? In this one, the decline of marriage is the fault of special interest groups and that nasty liberal media, with massive help from Hollywood. Something that resembles facts would be appreciated here, like which special interest groups? Is this whole thing the result of pressures from divorce lawyers or the secret guild of nannies? And of course, Hollywood must be behind all this. We’ve all seen those movies where divorced women are living in luxury….um, sorry, can’t think of any off the top of my head.

Schlafly and Venker claim that all of America’s problems started with the feminist movement. America would be just peachy keen if women had stayed unemployed, married, pregnant and barefoot, just the way Schlafly did. Oh, I forgot, she’s been pursuing a career for 58 of her 85 years. It takes a really well-honed ability to deny reality not to be able to see that she is a contradiction of her own positions.

Related articles

• 5 Things Feminists Love Most About Divorce (thegloss.com)
• Phyllis Schlafly Hates That Lesbians And Gays Want Respect (lezgetreal.com)
• Schlafly Claims Protecting Women Breaks Up Marriages (lezgetreal.com)
• Beverly Willett: ‘Feminists Love Divorce!’ (huffingtonpost.com)

If you are fortunate enough to receive the new Oprah Winfrey Network, there is a show coming up Tuesday, Feb. 22, at 10 p.m. Eastern that I urge you to watch.  Please.

Lisa Ling’s Our America is doing an hour on “Transgender Lives.”   I’ve spent the past ten years, as the mother of a transgender, painfully aware of the fact that LGBT ought to be written LGB and maybe T.  Transgenders (and please don’t bother with comments about what everyone wants to be called) are the odd-ones-out in the LGB community.  They don’t fit into any of the neat little classifications that everyone seems to have for themselves and everyone else.    But they don’t fit into mainstream society either.   They don’t even fit with each other most of the time, with too many variations of the medical and psychological issues. 

I’m asking you to take an hour and learn a bit more about transgenderism, please.  If you can’t watch it on Tuesday, or TiVo it or whatever, it will be rebroadcast on Sunday at 9 p.m. Eastern.

Thank you.

Related articles

• Transgender activists face multiple challenges (topix.net)
• Landmark Study on Transgender Discrimination Released (towleroad.com)
• Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signs order protecting transgender state employees (miamiherald.typepad.com)

Melanie Nathan – January 31, 2011.

SAN FRANCISCO- Well known activist and blogger Michael Petrelis has been leading an effort in the Castro to pay tribute to David Kato.   Petrelis reached out to the President of MUMC, the local Merchant association of the Castro and Upper Market, to bring the famous Castro rainbow flag to half mast in memory of David Kato, the Ugandan activist who was brutally murdered in Uganda last week. This is the response Petrelis received:

Michael

MUMC controls the large rainbow flag at Castro and Market St. It is MUMC’s policy to only lower the flag at half staff for special honors

such as the deaths of Officer Jane Warner and Officer Jon Cook. When the flag was first put in place several years ago we were getting requests daily to lower it half staff for individuals and causes. We still get requests at least 4 – 8 times a month. If we honored every request, the flag would be kept at half staff most of the time. Therefore, we only lower it for very special honors within our community.

MUMC was the group behind getting the flag pole erected and maintains the flag pole. MUMC pays for the flags, maintenance and insurance which runs several thousand dollars a year.

As I am very sympathetic to your cause, (I feel what is happening in Uganda and the rest of Africa horrendous) I cannot grant your request at this time.    Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns

Steve Adams

President, Merchants of Upper Market and Castro

I was reluctant to post this at first, not wanting to participate in any schism in our community, however realized I would be remiss for a number of reasons, the most important of which is the fact that David Kato was a friend, and the bravest man I ever knew.  He took on the very magazine that outed him – the one that published his photo in a milieu of hate and terror.    He won – He won!   He is a Gay Icon, Hero and example to every child  and teen in America who faces bullying.

The Castro cannot and should not succumb to the all too often American ego that anything outside of the USA is irrelevant to us.   Kato is very relevant to us here in the USA and a place that represents ground zero of the American LGBTQI fight for equality, must acknowledge those who lose their lives for our mutual global quest.

For Mr. Adams to  imply that the brutal murder of David Kato is  an everyday event is pure ignorance.   Mr. Adams you cannot isolate the Castro from the rest of the World… the Castro and that Flag is a symbol for all and my Brother David Kato, who was important  enough to have his memory honored by world leaders, including President Barack Obama and Secretary Hilary Rodham Clinton, ought to be important enough to lower OUR rainbow FLAG for!

But more importantly than even that – David Kato is that police officer, he is that supervisor, he is you, me and  everyone of us and that Flag must be lowered for him!

Please do not miss the opportunity to pay tribute to a global hero!

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

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Melanie Nathan Jan 27 -2011 -This is what Giles Muhame continues to rile our hero David Kato, beloved LGBT Gay Activist -  who was murdered  yesterday in a brutal beating, which we believe would not have happened but for the vitriol and hate expressed in the Magazine Ugandan Rolling Stone.  Read the slap in the face to the family of fallen soldier – activist David Kato.

By GILES MUHAME : Rolling Stone newspaper has just learnt from the media about the murder of David Kato.   This gentleman is said to have been a human-rights activist, according to Human Rights Watch.

According to the organization, witnesses told police that a man entered Kato’s home in Mukono at around 1 p.m, hit him twice in the head and departed in a vehicle. And that Kato died on his way to Kawolo hospital. Police told Kato’s lawyer that they had the registration number of the vehicle and were looking for it.

“Kato featured in a case between Rolling Stone and homos.” The latter had sued the investigative newspaper, which will soon metamorphose into a daily online newspaper, for outing their pictures thus invading their right of privacy.

They won the court case. Rolling Stone was ordered by Justice Kibuuka Musoke to pay the three complainants shs1.5 each, including Kato, as compensation. The newspaper early this year tendered a notice of appeal in the Court of Appeal. The lawyers are working on the submissions.

Earlier, during the high court hearing, a former homosexual, one Kagaba, told High Court in a sworn affidavit that  Kato was seriously recruiting kids into homosexual circles. He further stated that Kato had been fired from a Christian-founded school in Nkoni, Masaka district where he was a head teacher.

He said it could have been because of sodomizing kids including one Douglas whom he stayed with.

Kagaba, who said he was recruited into homosexuality, intoxicated with drugs and then sodomized by Kato, later took another bold step and provided evidence to the government-controlled Media Council in December at the Prime Minister’s office. He said Kato had been chased from Nansana, a suburb of Kampala, by the area security officer over sodomy allegations. He was residing there.

Kagaba told the council chaired by Dr. Gorreti Nassanga that the security man who chased Kagaba is a retired low-ranking army officer. That the officer had received a huge chunk of complaints from concerned neighbors that Kato was terrorizing the boys in the area.

Kato, according to evidence provided to the Council, later fled to Mukono, where he has been staying before the attack.

Mukono has of recent been a sanctuary of iron-bar wielding men. In the past two months alone over 15 people have been attacked and others killed in cold blood.

Rolling Stone feels sorry for the family of Kato and prays that his soul rests in eternal peace.

In a play A Man For All Seasons, Thomas Moore says: “Death comes to all of us”.

Issued by

Giles Muhame

To say the least this is disingenuous and Gile Muhame  and Rolling Stone as well as their Christian Evangelical funders should be ashamed  perpetuating a lie in the name of a brutally murdered hero. There is no proof of an recruiting or promotion of homosexuality.  The story told here by Giles is disgusting in the wake of the death of KATO- Under pretense of extending sympathy he demonizes the murder victim.   I am even more convinced that Giles Muhame is complicit in the murder of KATO and he is trying to justify his actions. This is just too sick for words.

When Rachel Maddow interviewed Ugandan MP,  David Bahati, the author of the Kill the Gays Bill, he told her he had evidence of this – and she asked him to provide it to her, which I know he has not done.  I called Mr. Bahati and asked him if he had sent Ms. Maddow the Evidence. He seemed dumbfounded by the question.   I asked him if he would send it to me.   He said to me -” go on the internet – you will find it.”  I reminded him that he was asserting ti to be HIS evidence – if I found it on the internet it would no longer be HIS evidence. He then agreed to send it to me. That was two weeks ago and I still await.   The point here is that Giles Muhame is echoing exactly  the language of Bahati, both in this accusatory feigned note of condolence, and in the interview with me.   Everything Bahati said on Maddow,  Giles said to me… They are beating the same drum  …. Clearly the two are in bed together ( well not in that way I don’t think! )

Nothing Giles says or does from this moment on will remove suspicion that he could have ordered the hit against Mr. Kato . In fact surely the very publication and vitriol that went with it is tantamount to ordering a hit on Mr. Kato.   Mr Giles Muhame should be investigated as should the tabloid ROLLING STONE which has become the mouthpiece for the Evangelical Christian University / Church in Uganda.  Muhame inadvertently revealed the connection to me in the conversation I had with him.   We have no resources to construct our own investigation but I challenge the authorities in Uganda to look into its funding.

Funding could also be coming from David Bahati to Giles Muhame at the Tabloid.  Now in the wake of this death I  believe authorities must look at the possible money chain between David Bahati, Scott Lively, Rolling Stone and the US San Diego based church that is operating in UGANDA as the Ugandan Christian University.

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
Facebook Melanie
twitter @oblogdeeoblogda

Related articles

• Tragedy as Gay Activist David Kato Murdered in Kampala, Uganda – Impact on Ugandan Lesbian Seeking UK Asylum (lezgetreal.com)
• Sec of State Clinton Issues Statement on David Kato Murder (lezgetreal.com)

BY Melanie Nathan – Jan 03-2010 - Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic columnist with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication, Media and Theatre from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, and an Associate in Applied Science degree in Business Management from Triton College in River Grove, Ill. who has worked in the right-to-life movement and is a published writer focused on Catholic and social issues published an article on the site Pewshitter at http://www.pewsitter.com/addons/news/view/47081/  .. Abbott takes on women parishioner in attempt to discredit reasons for leaving CHURCH…

In the article he is criticizing a letter by a Catholic woman which contained the this clause:
In the decades-long cover-up of these despicable crimes, and to maintain the secrecy surrounding the Church’s responsibility and complicity in the sexual abuse of thousands of Catholic children… dioceses in Delaware, Portland, Tucson, and Spokane have filed bankruptcy to get the victims to simply go away and the Church’s lawyers have tried every legal trick in their very large books to see that the Church will not be held responsible for these crimes.

Abbott is irked by seeing self-identified Catholics bashing, and leaving, the Church:

“using the clergy abuse scandal as an excuse to do so. Let me be clear: I’m not talking about the actual victims of clergy and religious abuse, with whom I have a great deal of sympathy. I’m talking about those who condone the evils of abortion and/or the homosexualist agenda; or who desire to regularly, willfully and unremorsefully engage in immoral sexual practices that the Church rightly condemns—be it sodomy, contraception, masturbation, adultery or fornication—and who feign outrage at clerical corruption to make themselves feel better about abandoning Christ’s Church”

This comment is one that turns upon itself- it is a remark that hosts an underlying intent – to spew hate against gays and lesbians, under the pretense of legitimate preach!  Abbott fools few, by his disingenuous attempt at feigned sympathy, for the “victims” of abuse at the hands of the Church.  While some may suffer more than others, everyone in the Catholic Church is a victim, regardless of specific experience.

Indeed what Abbott does not realize is that every single person in the Catholic Church is a victim; for as long as they exist in earthly format and who really knows what after that?

As  long as Priests are pardoned; and as long as Priests pardon, through silence,  church secrecy in confounding confessionals- and the Pope sits on a gold throne, nodding off, the attempt at spiritual worthiness is nothing more than the ability to hide behind a purported relationship to Christ.   Christ is demeaned for as long as Abbottites write Abbottittics. (license to use non words granted by Abbott when he used  ” homosexualist ;  and unremorsefully ” above)

Yes for that is all it is.  There is no homosexual or homosexualist agenda is what  Mr. Abbott should understand  – and not everyone is planning on his journey to hell or heaven.

If wrongdoers roam free – yes the criminal priests who regardless of attire still live in a secular world and must abide secular law the true  evil roams free  in earthly format ready to victimize again and again and again.  The loss of flock is entirely at the hands of the Pope and scapegoating gays and lesbians is scandalous and in effect blasphemous.

I believe that  this very statement is the tip of the iceberg of hate from this man, Abbott – excommunication ought to top his menu ; how can one  purport to love Christ and be Christlike when one specifically preaches lies, rhetoric, that in fact ultimately serve to exacerbate the hate and crime that Jesus stood so strongly against. The scapegoating is inexcusable.

The Clergy abuse scandal is just one of many legitimate reasons to leave the Church.  Even if one does not perceive oneself as a victim, leaving the Church is Christlike – who said you had to be Catholic in a skirt to live by Christ’s teachings?   Perhaps if one leaves the Church one is expressing an overt aversion and making the statement that secret avoidance of criminal justice, overt hate and lack of acceptance of sexual orientation and gender identity  as a G-d given de facto state  are all DAMN good reasons to leave!

ABBOTT Also preaches…..

“If you choose, this [the clergy abuse] ” says Abbott,”scandal can lead you down to the path of spiritual suicide. But it should inspire you to say finally to God, ‘I want to become a saint so that I and the Church can give your name the glory it deserves, so that others might find in you the love and the salvation that I have found.’

‘Jesus is with us, as he promised, until the end of time. He is still in the boat. Just as out of Judas’s betrayal he achieved the greatest victory in the universe—our salvation through his passion, death and resurrection—so out of this new scandal he may bring, wants to bring, a new rebirth of holiness, a new Acts of the Apostles for the twenty-first century, with each of us—and that includes you—playing a starring role. Now is the time for real men and women of the Church to stand up. Now is the time for saints. How will you respond?’ ”

WHAT DO YOU LEZGETREAL READER THINK?

By the way – I think leaving because one is homosexual  is a necessary reason to leave the Church that does not accept all of G-d’s children; leaving because you have been raped and want an abortion is another good reason to leave…… SO who needs to leave purely based on the sex abuse scandal, Really!!

read the rest of his rant at,…… http://www.pewsitter.com/addons/news/view/47081/

By Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda

Related articles

• Pope Benedict Calls Conference In Wake Of Disastrous Visit To Spain (lezgetreal.com)
• The DC Declaration: A Call To Moral Resposibility (lezgetreal.com)

Melanie Nathan; nathan@privatecourts.com Dec 29-2010; – A creditor called me one particularly bad month asking me to pay a debt I could not afford at that time. I told him I had  no money to pay the amount needed for the month and that food on the table for my kids was more important.  As he persisted, I asked the caller if he had a wife and a family and he said he did. I asked him if he understood what I was experiencing, just having lost my paying work; he responded “yes ma’am but you incurred the debt;  you knew what you were doing,” he said.  My response came from goodness knows where: Which of my kidneys do you want me to sell;” I implored, exasperated with his persistence; “my left kidney or my right one?”  To which he answered ” I don’t care which one you sell madam, your left or your right – it makes no difference to me.”

In Washington each February, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, (CPAC)  draws thousands of conservative activists (is that an Oxymoron?) –including potential presidential candidates.  The presence of the gay Republican group GOProud, which was (along with many other groups) a co-sponsor of last year’s CPAC is planning to play a similar role this year’s event, yet to a foray of objections and boycotts of the event.

The American Principles Project announced that it would not participate in 2011, because it believes that the gay group’s “purposes are fundamentally incompatible with a movement that   - has long embraced the ideals of family and faith in a thriving civil society.”

I ask  “where is that  ‘thriving Civil society Pray show me? ” and how come it is still a thriving civil society,  given that the LGBT community has yet to see its equality under the law of the USA?  Have we ever truly seen a thriving civil society?  Not since the demise of the Bush erosion.   Gays and Lesbians have had no impact on whether society is thriving or not as without civil rights, including marriage and employment protections,  LGBT have not fully participated.

The conservative group GOProud wants a seat at the Republican and conservative table at CPAC.

At the behest of conservatives the words ‘Republicans/ conservatives’ and ‘Gay Group’ are simply unable to coexists – or at least we are told.   The  Republicans and  conservatives consider each and every American who is lesbian, gay or transgender  ‘persona non-grata’- unworthy of sitting at a table to talk issues and politics.

Several other groups have joined the American Principles Project, and the conservative news website WorldNetDaily has reported this latest development in the increasing numbers who will boycott the next CPAC  Conference.

Two of the nation’s premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America, are refusing to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in February because a homosexual activist group, GOProud, has been invited.

Deciphering: “has long embraced the ideals of family and faith in a thriving civil society” -  Do you think the society that hosts the  Kidney collector – oops I mean debt collector is a ‘thriving civil society?’ The one George W. Bush left us – and guess what -queers had no rights then too- specifically excluded.

Here we are in the Post BUSH years, after a lengthy time in the  hands of conservatives – conservative principles – no LGBT rights : how come we were not living a thriving  civil society at that time or even now for that matter? A ‘thriving civil society?’   That is precisely what our forefathers had in mind when they separated Church from State, whilst seeking religious freedoms.  Did gay people cause Bush-Cheney-Rove and their administration to bungle it up – hell we could not even serve in the military at that time, let alone get married.

In fact  that admin and now continues to effect the sending of LGBT Americans packing, exiled to foreign soil, just for falling in love with a same-sex foreigner!

A civil society is one where people share equally in the civil laws; a thriving society is one where people have healthy good full bellies and stress free lives, where money is earned and taxes are paid.  Where years of savings are not washed down the drain and where everyone has an equal shot at cures, remedies and transplants. Look at the Wall Street crooks and resulting debacle, the housing crash, mortgage meltdown,  the unemployment, dried up unemployment benefits;  what the hell is is thriving about all of that?

Now these very conservatives, who purport to have the answer for our ideal thriving society – which by their definition – such cannot be unless gays are excluded from sitting at their table;  do not want to sit at the table with GOProud because they are destroying the ideals that do not exist? How did that happen?

I have a suggestion for CPAC cowardice – why not pick the brain of a queer or two – you may just get an idea about “HOW TO” ensure and run an effective thriving civil society; from those who will appreciate the civility of separating Church law and dicta from State law and rights and not bitch slap it around the way the conservatives have done.

Okay, so now you are thoroughly confused – no worries you are in good company – so am I!

Bottom line guess what in case you did not notice, there was NO same sex marriage nor any LGBT rights while all this mayhem went on and while it continues to drench us as a society seeking our last pound of flesh, straight or queer flesh! No discrimination on the end result.

After all these years without any civil rights for the LGBT community, nor same-sex marriage, – millions of Americans are denied their basic civil rights and the ‘cowardly boycotters’ will have us believe we live in a civil society?  Civil for whom and thriving about what?

People have had their physical freedom and rights, stolen from them, such as United States Army Private Bradley Manning – what about Private Manning – waiting inside military  solitary confinement for 8 months without any charges.  I suppose that is our civil society and the ideal that the queers are going to mess with!

What is thriving about Africa right now, the rapes, the coups, the hunger, the malaria?  What is thriving about the Middle East – terrorism, bombings, kidnappings, nuclear threats, antisemitism, stoning of women, murder of lesbian daughters? What is thriving about Russia, Belarus, Europe…..  China ………..Central and South America  pray tell!  How did the queers cause all this?  Conservatives how are YOU  going to fix this entire universe of societies if you keep wasting your time with petty nonsense such as this boycotts such as this.

In conclusion sit at the table with those who share your ideals – and don’t give me that BS that you are backing out  because if you do “we will not have a thriving civil society.”  Try and find a better reason – this one does not work – and then face the fact there is no reason.

As far as my kidney is concerned – I still have both – There can never be a thriving civil society without full civil rights for all – anyway you choose to look at it, until that happens we are incomplete and you may as well take my Kidneys …..

App Cpac Letter

11-16-10 CPAC Opt Out Over GOProud

Related articles

• CPAC 2011 Boycott Grows Over Event Sponsorship By GOProud (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Anti-gay boycott of conservative powwow gains steam (salon.com)
• NOM & Liberty Counsel Join CPAC 2011 Boycott Threat Over GOProud’s Presence (joemygod.blogspot.com)
• Out and About at CPAC (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• CPAC Too Pro-Gay For Many Conservative Groups (alan.com)

Melanie Nathan – 12-05-2010 ;-   Chris Are Hate Groups Really welcome on your Show?  ….  The Petition can be found here:-   http://www.change.org/petitions/view/tell_msnbc_dont_give_hate_groups_a_soapbox

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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The LGBT Community will not stand for Hate any longer – our lives and our equality depend  upon it!
Melanie Nathan – 12-05-2010.
nathan@privatecourts.com

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MELANIE NATHAN    Nov 24-2010;   One of the most commented on Articles on LezGetReal is one from some time back; the LGBT community and Progressive Americans were outraged by what was called The Manhattan Declaration and this is what we wrote:

“With the potential to give all Church’s a bad rap, a diverse group of Christian leaders joined together Nov. 20, 2009,  to declare a commitment to defend the sanctity of human life, biblical marriage and religious liberty without compromise. One hundred and fifty evangelical, Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox signers said they were coming together to “embrace our obligation” to speak and act in support of the dignity of all human beings, marriage as the union of a man and a woman, and the freedom to express religious convictions. It is imperative that Church leaders and those of faith who disagree with this, not remain silent, but provide the backlash such hate deserves.

The 4,700-word statement, yet another reproach for the LGBT communities, named the Manhattan Declaration,  asserted: “[W]e will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act,” the statement says, “nor will we bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly (mmm not a real word…!!) render to Caesar what is Caesar’s. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God’s.”

Yet, in snide hypocrisy these so called Leaders of Catholic, Evangelical and Orthodox groups were present during the declaration and made it clear that the declaration does not have any political interest.

Horror of Horrors: The company has  approved the Manhattan Declaration app to allow users to digitally sign and “take a stand” for a call for “Christian Conscience”. The declaration defends Christian ideas of the sanctity of life, traditional marriage, and religious liberty. The app also allows you to take a brief survey which ask you questions about supporting same sex relationships and the right of choice.

Critics say it’s offensive to the gay and lesbian population and should be removed. It is indeed pure hate material and is effectively being promoted by APPLE by its mere inclusion.   It is my belief that notwithstanding the ideal of freedom of Speech would not be impinged if a Company Adopts policy to specifically exclude what it deems to be discriminatory, hateful and not in keeping with its own policy on inclusiveness and diversity.  Now this comment may not seem to make perfect legal argument at this time – however the experts will find a way. But I do not believe that APPLE is obligated to provide its forum to an APP of this nature.

To Steve Jobs – The Manhattan Declaration, is a decree of religious fervor, that APPLE has associated itself with by virtue of its recent approval of an Application that will serve to enhance the spread of anti-gay hate speech.   Various religious right figures and groups are urging, among other things, non-cooperation with laws that in any way recognize same sex couples. It has been condemned in many circles and for good reason. Wayne Besen of Truthwinsout.org said the following: “This is a disturbing call for anarchy from a group of radical clerics and activists who believe they don’t have play by the same rules as other taxpaying Americans.” And according to the blog Instaputz, there is another reason to not only oppose this document but also raise the alarm about it.   Some of the names those signing the declaration aren’t a surprise. They are the usual folks who oppose LGBT equality – Tony Perkins, James Dobson, Maggie Gallagher, Gary Bauer, etc.

Apple is apparently standing by its decision by giving the app a rating of 4+, meaning the company doesn’t consider the material to be offensive.

MORE on this Subject by Melanie Nathan

http://lezgetreal.com/2009/11/the-manhattan-declaration-where-does-it-lead-churchs-hate-gay-agenda/

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Call Apple and tell them what you think….

By Melanie Nathan

nathan@privatecourts.com

@oblogdeeoblogda

SOURCE – http://www.fox30jax.com/content/actionlocal/story/Anti-gay-app-available-for-iPhone-causes/RFXQmXH1BU2D9NSBjbHI4g.cspx

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11/23/2010- by Natasia Langfelder

If you had asked me in July what I thought of the TSA body scanners that show people nude on a screen, I would have said what a lot of people have been saying. “It’s not a big deal, as long as it keeps us safe.” I mean, I’ve never had problems with body image. Who cares if a grainy image of my naked body shows up on a black and white screen? But actually, I do care. I care a lot.

I’ve been through the naked body scanners twice, which is exactly half of the times I’ve flown since they have been operation. Basically, I get picked to go through once a trip. How does a 26 year old woman just happen to have a 50% rate of nude scanning? I don’t know. Maybe I imagined the male TSA guy smirking at me while he waved me into the box. Maybe the second time, when the lady TSA agent that looked like she played for my team sent me in, I imagined it too. But I know one thing, next time I fly, I’m sure I’m going to be sent through again. Why? I’m not really sure. Maybe because I don’t have a body like Susan Hallowell, director of the TSA research lab, she’s the lady in the picture that accompanies this post. See how easy it is to ridicule someone’s looks with this system? Yeah, I would kill myself if I had love handles like that. And now, thanks to the TSA, you can be judged on that sh@t everytime you fly! Thanks TSA!

I don’t want anyone to look at my nude body besides my partner.  I don’t think that’s too much to ask from society. I also don’t want some lady to run her hands over my vadge when I fly, I don’t want them to make me change out of a tight skirt and into a towel so they have easier access. (Brand new travel tip: wear pants otherwise you could find yourself wearing only a towel over your panties. Want another? Don’t wear a bra with an underwire, sorry full figured ladies! You’re screwed!) I never thought that would be too much to ask either. Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, maybe a lot to ask. Strangers keeping their hands off my boobs, not a lot to ask.  

Women have always had a hard time in terms of being oogled and checked out. The body scanners take that to a new level. It’s invasive and gross and who knows who these TSA agents are, really. There has been an incident where a lady was made to show her breasts and then ridiculed, it won’t be the last. Then there is the problem of the body scanners showing men’s penis size. Basically, between breasts and penises, you know those agents are making fun of people. They are human too, it’s just the way we are. There is also the problem of children being patted down and looked at by god knows who. If I was a parent, I would be freaking out right now. The video of a topless child going through a security line is one of the most disturbing horrors of this new system.

The problem with the body scanners is that they aren’t going to help. Terrorists keep finding new ways to secret away weapons in places where TSA agents won’t go. The body scanners don’t detect and internal objects, so basically, a child could figure out how to play the new system. All the body scanners do is make flying an even more painful process than it already is. I’m thinking my next vacation will be a cross country road trip.  

Related articles

• Exclusive: TSA Says Body Scanners Saving Images ‘Impossible’ [Tsa] (gizmodo.com)
• Are TSA’s Naked Body Scanners Dangerous to Our Health? (musicians4freedom.com)
• TSA: Pose Nude, or We’ll Touch Your Junk (bigthink.com)

Melanie Nathan – November 21-2010

President Obama today spoke about DREAM act and his desire that it be enacted before the new Congress is seated – BUT what about parity and equality for Americans who cannot sponsor spouses for green cards. Maybe if the Media had spent more time on really important matters UAFA would be in his purview! Not to mention the fact that our self proclaimed-gimme-your-dollars  LGBT immigration equality leadership has failed to map us on this atlas at all!

Sarah Palin has been the greatest embarrassment this country has suffered since the day she opened her mouth in the national forum – given that opportunity by the very tenuous and senile John McCain.  What I have never been able to figure out though, is why the MEDIA has sold out to ratings by giving Palin 24/7 prime time?

Admittedly it may seem that I am doing the same here on LezGetReal, when I have avoided this reporting or writing  about Palin, despite the ability to garnish hots and ratings.   In fact I have been tempted to suggest Alaska be allowed to secede so that Queen Palin and the Royal family can have their throne.   You voted for her, have her, and keep her away from US at all cost.   But its hard for me to be unpatriotic.   SO I say  lets make her irrelevantly rich and pay her millions to stay in her own backyard via Reality show after reality show.

Palin can retreat and reload in ALASKA.   Yet Media – here is something very important for you to consider – ‘Real Americans’ not reality Americans  – Imagine if the media gave Americans who are forced into exile by discriminatory  laws the same attention that Palin has had. Okay I will go for 10%.  Ah now you get why I am reporting – ratings and numbers for EXILED Americans who cannot sponsor their spouses and partners  for green cards, just because they are same-sex partners.

Gays and lesbians who cannot sponsor spouses and permanent partners for green cards are the victims of the most unconscionable of human rights infractions and also have become the victims of the assault on our USA Constitution. Ironically people like Palin steal the limelight from Americans who truly deserve to heard.

We do not know the numbers but there are tens of thousand of Americans – maybe in 100 of thousands, living in Exile because they have chosen to be with their beloved partners – make no mistake it is not an easy choice;  parents, children, mortgages, jobs, careers and pensions are left behind.  All because a same- sex couples cannot sponsor a foreign partner for a green card.

As an advocate for such couples and as a lesbian American, having gone through the tough choices that bi-national same-sex couples must make – I am astounded that UAFA the law that would provide equality for Americans in the CURRENT immigration law, is last on the lips of most LGBT advocates,  so now because of that UAFA is not even a whisper in the lame duck session, where in fact it is beyond mere immigration reform and should be holding the hands of legislation such as the DREAM ACT and ENDA and even repeal of  DADT. (Don’t Ask Don’t Tell)

All I hear is DREAM ACT but no UAFA. I implore all to call and contact media and ask do they know of our plight. Call your local newspapers, write to MSNBC who did not have LGBT represented in the IMMIGRATION town Hall Sunday. Not a single mention of your plight dear exiles; nor mention of our Americans who will kiss beloved partners good bye at the deportation gate.

SHOW your outrage – maybe someone will hear -  Most shocking to me is the fact that so many of our own community have no idea of this discrimination against their own until they happen to fall in love with a foreigner;  engendered by the exclusion of same-sex couples from federal law, by the Defense of Marriage Act. (DOMA)  The repeal of the latter would of course eliminate the need for UAFA.

SO In an article about Sarah Palin I am talking binational same-sex immigration reform via equality to get you here to read this – a select few of the desperate comments I receive by the score on a daily basis:

DESPERATE PLEASE! Comments by Binationals and Friends

R, says – I am so sick of this as well. I used to rely on Immigration Equality .org  for hope that something was going to happen. Every day I look to these web sites for signs of hope only to get another slap in the face. I met my partner while working in the cruise industry. No American will work under the conditions that he had to work in. twelve hours a day seven days a week seven to eight months at a time. Making 1,400 a month. They allowed him to come here to kiss our American asses, to see how us royals live then after seven years of limited us entry (cd1 visa) refused even a visitors visa. Now he sits in his third world country, having to do laundry by hand, have water carried in that he has to heat up to take a shower, no heat.  And every day we search for a solution so that we can be together. With out the passage of UAFA the only option is that I have to go there and live. I have been there twice and find it very difficult. I am not a young man and I finally found the person I love more than anything and I am not going to let it pass me by while waiting on an act of congress to justify the love I have for another human being.

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D; Melanie, we have been reading your work for a while now and you are right on target.
We are just settling in back in Denmark….again. UGHH .  This 90 day rule gets old.  We were flagged last time we entered the U.S. So it looks like we will be out for the next year because that is what the agent at the airport decided for us. B.S. when we have followed all the rules at great expense financially…  Nevermind the details. I forgot for a moment that this is one place that everyone already knows the details and hardship.   As soon as we get our bags unpacked we are on board with you. I am furious that those of us who have chosen to follow the rules are punished  while those who are not Americans can choose to break the laws and in return be given more rights and privileges. .  Two words “Class Action”.  Why does Dream Act get a lame duck vote when American citizens are living in exile?  Why do we even tolerate the term Lame Duck?

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N: Wish there was a way to show Pelosi and other politicians (and to truly make them realize and understand) what harm and suffering our current immigration laws are causing binational (same-sex) couples. I don’t think they really comprehend the pain and despair we feel and are going through on a daily basis, because no one who truly understands what this is like would not want to remedy this situation asap. UAFA would be such a tremendous relief to thousands of couples currently living in fear, uncertainty, hiding and separation; we are completely ignored by the law (unless it is to deny our applications, that a US spouse is recognized for).
We have a year left before we either have to leave the US or try another non-immigrant visa. Believe me every time it gets more difficult, because the suspicion about potential immigrant intent grows. We currently have no plan B, mainly because we were hoping that the Obama administration would pass pro LGBT legislation (incl. UAFA), and also because we are out of resource (money) after paying out of state tuition for many years (so we could be together) and one of us being unable to work. I realize that there is virtually no chance that UAFA will be addressed or voted on during lame duck or the next few years. So where do we go from here… We’ve been together for nine years and will celebrate our tenth anniversary next year, just where and under what circumstances (together, separated, in exile, in hiding… we don’t know).
What a situation to be in in the land of the free, where liberty, justice, equality and the pursuit of happiness supposedly reign supreme.

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J: I too always get the amazed look when i explain that I cannot sponsor my partner … we need action. I miss my partner, we’ve personally been waiting for 6 years, living in 2 countries… I know some of us have it worse. it really hurts when I know that 20 (+/-) other countries already have figured this out. Why is the US so far behind? thank you to all working for this.

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A: Mel, outside of writing to our senators, which I have done over and over. What else is there for those of us to do who are living in exile? I want to do more, but I no longer know what to do. Any suggestions? There has to be a mass way of getting our sotries heard or out there but it seems lost from outside the US.

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Melanie Nathan, Lt. Dan Choi Shirley Tan

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/11/immigration-equality-interview-fails-to-appease-same-sex-couples/

Another Comment:  FAEN-  Unfortunately the only way they listen is if we push….not politely either. I wish GetEqual would start putting pressure on the Dems AND the GOTP when it comes gay issues. I hate to say it but the Dems on their best day have no balls. There is no way the UAFA or ENDA will be on the to do list for the lame duck session. Unless something happens, like a miracle, I don’t see our agenda of equality going anywhere until at least 2013. Seriously, I still remember Obama and the Dems winning in such large numbers, I remember jumping up and down with joy, yelling at the top of my lungs, just KNOWING the binational community would FINALLY be equal. That seems like a lifetime ago and maybe the time to leave is now. Maybe I’m a coward but how long do we wait or start to really live?

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http://lezgetreal.com/2010/11/nancy-pelosi-please-include-same-sex-greencards-uafa-with-enda/

http://lezgetreal.com/?s=melanie+nathan+binationals

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http://out4immigration.blogspot.com/2010/11/hrc-where-do-same-sex-binational.html

Tim K  – I mean – did I miss something? An ELEVEN bullet point LGBT action plan, and I see no mention of immigration reform for same-sex binational couples. (OK, I’ll be fair and suppose that DOMA repeal could be construed as support of our same-sex binational couple immigration issue, but would it be so hard to actually spell it out?) Someone correct me if I am wrong but even with the election losses Tuesday, by my count UAFA STILL has more Congressional co-sponsors than any other immigration reform bill before Congress. Could HRC maybe concentrate some of its considerable lobbying strength in getting us some relief? And soon?

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Feb-  My name is ‘Des’*, I am a male U.S. citizen, born and raised here. In August 2002, after being largely unemployed for more than 2 years as a result of the dot-com bust, I went to Taiwan to support myself as a teacher of English as a Foreign Language.  In 2004 I got a job as a technical writer in the capital city, Taipei. In July of 2005, I met the love of my life, whom I shall call “John” (not his real name), in Taipei.Eventually John was able to get a job in the US and after a brief separation we both moved here to my home.

Coincidentally, right about the time I met John, a friend and coworker of mine, “George,” (also a U.S. citizen), who had joined the same company just about the time that I did, met a young woman while on vacation in another country and soon fell in love with and married her.

John is on a very limited visa, which enables him to work for one single company only, on contracts that can be renewed for up to 5 years.  His company has notified him that his current contract will not be renewed after the end of 2009.  At that time, he will have to leave the USA, and I will have to choose between staying with the person I love or remaining in my home and the country I love.

We have been struggling for years now to find a way to stay in the same country, legally and permanently.

Right now, our best hope seems to be Canada, where we could legally marry – IF we can get in. Ironically, my former coworker, George, returned to the USA with his wife about 6 months ago. Because he is male and she is female, they were able to marry, and he was able to sponsor her for permanent residency in this country. Inexpensively and in a matter of mere months.

However, because John is male and I am male, even if we marry,   I cannot sponsor him for a “green card.” We have a committed, permanent, long-term relationship that is exactly like marriage in every way except in the eyes of current U.S. law.  I cannot sponsor John because of the discomfort that many people feel about the nature of our relationship in the abstract.

Meanwhile, in reality, John is a highly skilled worker, with a master’s degree in physics and rare expertise in integrated circuitry testing protocols, and our economy is being denied his contributions because as a U.S. citizen I am being denied our constitutional guarantee of “equal protection under the law.”

George and his wife are now living peacefully in another state. John and I, however, are living with the daily stress that comes with not knowing when or where or if we will be able to safely live together in one country without the likelihood that one of us will have to leave at an unpredictable time because of immigration law.  (Dated 3/09)”

—-Anyone wanting to learn more can find information and more  stories at www.out4immigration.org

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Melanie Nathan:
commissionermnathan@gmail.com

Melanie Nathan, 11-18-2010;

“T The Action Fund is also urging Senators to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act (CIR) of 2010.  The bill’s sponsor, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), announced earlier this week that he has spoken to lawmakers, and President Obama, about moving the measure forward this year.  Senator Menendez’s bill includes the Uniting American Families Act, which would amend current immigration law to allow lesbian and gay Americans the opportunity to sponsor their foreign-born partners for residency in the United States.”

But really, Rachel Tiven Executive Director of Immigration Equality is asking you to support the Immigration Equality Agenda and backroom deal making. Does she take our community for idiots? I guess she does -

SLAP Number 1:
UAFA- should be the Lame Duck focus from the IE standpoint – not DREAM ACT – to support their backroom deal,  IE has failed to change its course with the fact that the lame duck session presents unique opportunties.  Instead of advocating for UAFA and strategically positioning it for the eventuality of the special session, what they have done is couched UAFA in CIR instead of as a stand alone – and

Slap number 2:
Instead of advocating  for Binational same-sex couples as a priority – which many of us believed to be their mission – IE has placed DREAM act ahead of UAFA in its advocacy as clearly illustrated from the announcement below, by its header.

Slap Number  3:
Does this announcement convey that UAFA is officially trapped in CIR?

Slap Number 4:
Our community has contributed money to IE on the basis of advocacy for UAFA -as a matter of equality and parity for same-sex couples; we have not given our money, nor our continued grass root activism to support the DREAM act that might also help some LGBT youth and nor have we placed amnesty and border security above our need to get our partners green cards. The latter  (DREAM) is immigration reform – whereas the former (UAFA) is LGBT equality reform.

Slap Number 5:
What would have been more likely to pass in this lame duck session -
(a) DREAM ACT as a stand alone together with UAFA ; or
(b) DREAM ACT as a stand alone;  PLUS  a separate Comprehensive Immigration Reform  CIR- inclusive of (UAFA -)

Well if you pick  (a) – 15 days may have cut it – but that is not what IE is asking you to support; IE is asking you to support (b) – in essence they are asking you to believe that the entire Menendez Bill which includes amnesty for 12 million undocumented Americans is the best way for us to get passage of a  same sex immigration equality BILL!

Slap Number 6:
Couching their push for DREAM ACT – an immigration bill and not an equality bill- in equality terms – by reference to LGBT youth – which is an unintended aspect of DREAM ACT – is disingenuous and deceitful way of asking for our binational community’s support.

We have been sold out!  I recommend that we defy IE’s quest for our support for CIR during lame duck – it is just not going to happen.

BUT YES  Call your Senators and ask for UAFA to be a Stand alone Bill together with DREAM ACT now….!!!!

This is not a call to defy immigration reform per se – I support comprehensive immigration reform – I do not support the entrapment of UAFA and this lost opportunity….. slap….slap…..slap…..

The full call by IMMIGRATION EQUALITY

Immigration Equality Action Fund Announces Support for DREAM Act

Critical Legislation for Undocumented Youth Would Benefit LGBT Young People

INGTON, Nov. 18, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Immigration Equality Action Fund, which advocates on Capitol Hill for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and HIV-positive immigrants and their families, today expressed support for the Development, Relief and Education of Alien Minors Act (DREAM Act), noting that the measure would benefit countless LGBT youth by providing them with a path to citizenship in the United States. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) announced on Wednesday that he would schedule a vote on the bill, which includes a path to citizenship via military service, before Congress adjourns this year.

“The DREAM Act is one critical step forward in addressing our country’s broken immigration system,” said Rachel B. Tiven, the group’s executive director. “Many of the young, undocumented people who would benefit from its passage are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. LGBT young people who have grown up and come out in America desperately need the DREAM Act to pass. This country has gotten a wake-up call about the vulnerability of LGBT youth, and passing the DREAM Act is a crucial component of protecting our young people. DREAM provides an opportunity to build a life, and fully participate, in the country so many undocumented young people call home. Congress should address the full array of obstacles and discrimination immigrants and their families face under our current immigration system, and passage of the DREAM Act is an important first step in doing just that.”

The DREAM Act offers two paths to citizenship for undocumented youth.  Young people can obtain U.S. citizenship through study at a college or university, or through service in the U.S. armed forces.

“We need an immigration system that treats everyone fairly and honors our history as a nation of immigrants,” Tiven concluded. “Every member of the American family – including LGBT young people, binational families and asylum seekers, deserve a fair shake at being part of the American dream. That’s also why Congress must urgently pass other family unification measures such as the Uniting American Families Act, the Reuniting Families Act and a comprehensive legislative package that protects all families, too.”

The Action Fund is also urging Senators to support the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010.  The bill’s sponsor, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), announced earlier this week that he has spoken to lawmakers, and President Obama, about moving the measure forward this year.  Senator Menendez’s bill includes the Uniting American Families Act, which would amend current immigration law to allow lesbian and gay Americans the opportunity to sponsor their foreign-born partners for residency in the United States.  An estimated 36,000 binational families are unable to do this under current law, with nearly half of those families raising young children who are, themselves, American citizens.

“Congress must address the obstacles and inequities that LGBT immigrants and their families face under our current immigration system, especially including passage of the Uniting American Families Act,” Tiven said. “LGBT Americans support passage of the DREAM Act as an important first step in doing just that.”

Immigration Equality Action Fund advocates on Capitol Hill for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and HIV-positive immigrants and their families. To end discrimination in U.S. immigration law, Immigration Equality Action Fund works to pass the Uniting American Families Act and LGBT-inclusive Comprehensive Immigration Reform. The Action Fund lobbies legislators and other policy makers, builds coalitions, and empowers LGBT immigrant families around the country to fight for change.

SOURCE Immigration Equality Action Fund

SO having read the above release by Immigration Equality Action Fund which purports to represent our LGBT binational interest – I reiterate -

BUT YES  Call your Senators and ask for UAFA to be a Stand alone Bill together with DREAM ACT now….!!!!

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda

I am loathe to give Alan Bounville any more attention as I have been forthright in saying that I do not agree with his strategy or target- with regard to his fast for Civil Rights.

When I spoke to Zoe Nicholson who is his fast coach and National Press Spokesperson, she told me that he was in a hotel in Manhattan  and that she had no idea which hotel he was in.

The family, his mother and his sister read my article and contacted me privately desperate for information on his whereabouts.  They are specifically asking Zoe Nicholson to stop the fast.  They believe that Nicholson, a proponent of political fasting, calling it a “beautiful thing.” is in direct contact with Alan Bounville as well as with Iona Di Bona who is helping Alan to fast.

Zoe has admitted that she is getting numerous calls from activists asking her to stop the fast, but she says she cannot do so.  I asked her if she was worried about any liability to her if anything happened to Alan and she said she was not because she had given him a list of what to do – to engage an attorney for healthcare agreements and live wills etc. as well as assured herself that he had a doctor.

I believe from a comment I received from  Alan via Zoe Nicholson in answer to one of my questions, that despite her assertion that “the doctor thinks he is doing great”  (MONDAY) I believe he is not doing very well and that his mental capacity had diminished drastically.

I too, like the family do not accept that Zoe Nicholson cannot stop the FAST- I also believe that Zoe can trace where the calls are coming from to locate Alan and Iona.  I believe this to be a matter of life or death. I do not think the target Senator/s should be blackmailed and I believe that they should NOT succumb to any demands derived from this incorrect and irresponsible action.

I believe that Nicholson MUST stop the fast – she is the only person in contact from the outside and admittedly providing support. She hasd not laid eyes physically on Alan and says she has only seen videos.

I implore on you Zoe, in any event, to grant this mother and sister access to their son/ brother. They are worried sick and you cannot keep them away from him – if this young man is going to die because of this and he is treading on thin ice, then you can at least let the family be in touch.

When we spoke Ms. Nicholson believed that responsible fasting would not lead to death.  But already Alan is vomiting up the water he is drinking and he told me his Uvula is double the size.   Zoe Nicholson used Ghandi as an example of such survival.  I wonder iof she realizes how close to death he was?

WHERE is ALAN Bounville. If anyone finds his location please contact me at commissionermnathan@gmail.com

or his sister

“Melanie,

I am Alan Bounville’s sister.  I read your article about his fast.  I was wondering if you could help with locating him.  I am trying desperately to find him and it seems people are reading your blog.  In fact, my mother is the one who found it.  Let me know if you would be willing to blog about our plight to find him.  We want this fast to stop and we want Zoe Nicholson to stop encouraging the fast.

Sincerely,

Christina M. Green, Esquire
cgreen@christinagreenlaw.com

Law Offices of Christina M. Green, P.A.

Putting Your Family First

Telephone:   407-574-8085

Facsimile:    407-574-8758″

http://lezgetreal.com/2010/11/civil-rights-fast-is-premature-and-off-target/

melanie nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com

Despite the probably inadvertent admission that immigration equality for same-sex couples is dead in Comprehensive immigration reform by its lead proponent Immigration Equality,  their Blog Posts continue to promote the failed strategy;  clearly they are not changing their strategy in the wake of the serious changes in the political climate.

Immigration Equality is asking you to contact your Senators to Co-sponsor Comprehensive Immigration reform Bill by Sen Menendez; and this  makes absolutely no sense during the lame duck session; in fact the very suggestion is lame!

Again the LGBT community is being misled by IMMIGRATION EQUALITY –

How would it further the interests of the Binational UAFA community who are desperate for solutions and green-cards now?  We all know that Rep Guttierrez has promised to add the UAFA piece, which will provide green-cards for same-sex partners and spouses, in the House version of Immigration Reform, – but that has yet to happen.  So why promote calling your senators for a larger bill that will never get passed the house this session and next session, upon their own admission?

The big question is what the heck is IE thinking?   I am banned from commenting on their site and they consider me persona non grata; so maybe my readers can ask the pertinent questions of them!   Am I the only one writing about this? Still?

Rachel Tiven herself said that CIR will be tough to pass in this new Congress, and impossible for at least a year!

This is what I found on their website as the only call to action for same-sex couples at this time:

“By Julie Kruse on 11/09/2010 @ 08:49 AM –    Last week, many of you joined us on our post-election conference call to learn about what Tuesday’s vote means for our families. The short answer is that the new Congress will bring new opportunities, and new challenges.

Our work to seize those opportunities, and meet those new challenges, begins today.

For the first time ever, LGBT immigrant families are included in broader reform legislation. The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010, sponsored by Sens. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), is the first comprehensive Senate bill to include our families.

It is imperative that we stand with our champions in Congress and build support for this critically important legislation.

Please call your senators today, and make the following ask:

Please co-sponsor the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2010 (S 3932). This bill will allow gay and lesbian Americans to sponsor their foreign-born partners for immigration.

Then, once you’ve called both of your Senators, tell us how it went!

Now, more than ever, we must ensure our voices are heard on Capitol Hill. By calling your Senator today, you can help us put lawmakers on notice that, regardless of which party is leading Congress, our families want – and need – LGBT-inclusive immigration reform now.

We will continue to make progress in Washington, but we can’t do it without your help. Please take a moment — right now — to call your Senators and urge them to co-sponsor this important legislation.

Join us, and demand change in this Congress, this year. We can send a strong message to Congress that our families will not step down, will not rest and will push – every day and with every lawmaker — for immigration reform that helps all families.

Call your senators today!

What I do not understand is why they are not calling for the urgent stand-alone or bilateral  legislation to include UAFA on its won or with DREAM Act for immediate passage in the Lame Duck Session, even at the risk of a loss?

CIR will not pass according to Immigration equality itself; so why are they calling for this action unless it is to continue to pander to the larger immigration alliances that they have made with promises of delivery  of co-sponsors.  It  was Julie Kruse herself, who told me back  in June 2009, when I disagreed with the UAFA being sold an  Immigration reform focus, that they had offered immigration allies the LGBT co-sponsors on the UAFA Bill, which happens to have more congressional sponsorship than any other LGBT legislation, as a means to get traction for UAFA and the Immigration community’s needs.  But that after over a year has not worked.

To my way of thinking  the Call to action ought to be – CALL YOUR CONGRESSIONAL Reps and Senators and URGE them to pass Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) in the lame Duck Session as a matter of extreme Urgency.

Call Senator Leahy’s Office and ask what ever happened to the Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing where Shirley Tan Jackie Speier, Jerrold Nadler and Julian Bond (NAACP) testified? What can he do to push UAFA into the lame duck session?

Call Chuck Schumer and ask him the same question?

Call Senator Gillibrand – she too is a great Ally – be sure to ASK FOR UAFA in the lame duck.  Same Sex Greencards are Nor on  the Agenda at this time and Immigration equality ought to be advocating voraciously on behalf of destitute couples, as a matter of extreme urgency.

Lezgetreal is asking all the LGBT Bloggers and organizations to Request this as an Urgent Call to action… what do we have to loose?  Another ten years ?

I am also recommending that we change the language to language the American public understands.  The word UAFA means a lot to our community but nothing to America; the same with bi-national – all key words. Lets start sayijng we want Green-cards for Same Sex Couples and it WILL change the American conversation – no one wants to endorse Americans in exile – yet most Americans and even the majority of Gay Americans have no idea that this inequality exists as a result of , inter alia, The Defense of Marriage Act.

A thought – Maybe they should take DADT, UAFA and DREAM ACT into as Lame Duck Session as a tripartite plan!

Melanie Nathan
nathan@privatecourts.com
@oblogdeeoblogda

Related articles

• Explosive: Does Immigration Equality Hold Future of UAFA as Bi-Nationals Beg for Immediate Relief (lezgetreal.com)
• Immigration Equality Interview Fails to Appease Same Sex Couples (lezgetreal.com)
• What next for Immigration Equality – Binationals are Concerned (lezgetreal.com)
• Rumors UAFA to be Introduced with Senate Inmigration Reform Bill (lezgetreal.com)

It all started with my friend Steve. Smart, witty , compassionate and a life preserver during my brief stint in corporate Hades.  He’s also a Facebook  buddy.
Last weekend he posted ;

“Steve Soman -is same-gender loving and today is National Coming Out Day. I’m coming out for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality because it’s 2010 and only five states plus DC recognize that love, not gender, is what matters in a marriage. Donate your status and join me by clicking here: http://bit.ly/9M95LG.

“Cool”, I thought, so I followed the link to Courage Campaign donated my status and posted too, only mine said

Mary Ingalls is same-gender loving and today is National Coming Out Day. I’m coming out for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality because it’s 2010 and almost 90% of LGBT youth experience harassment in school, and too many lives have been lost.

I  mentioned the teens because I am in the process of writing  a story about GSA and have been dealing the return of chicken pox and unable to focus.

October 11 was a typical quiet day spent with my wife (and trying ignore itching from the pox!)  I’m out to everyone that matters in my life, so what am I going to do? chase down the mailman?

Confession time: I waste more time than I should on FB games!  Sometimes, I ‘friend’ people for game purposes.

Right before midnight I found this in my inbox.

screenshot

“I am proudly against perversion

Huh?

I was shocked!
I was shocked at the venom spewed by this person.
It is wrong on so many levels that I didn’t know where to start to address them.  Nobody reading this needs it spelled out for them.  Also, she was “proud” of her toxicity!
So, I posted it to my profile page for everyone to see. I posted it to the chatroom of the game we both play.

The best part?
People rallied.  I received comments on my wall and letters to my inbox. They were compassionate, outraged and kind. Fellow gamers de-friended her.
14 minutes after I posted, Joy Cinotto from Suisan CA commented “Apparently, this woman’s defect is ugliness of heart and mind. She deserves every bit of hate and ugliness that spews out of her pitiful self and karma’d back to her. Oh and it will happen.”

Patient  gentle Kathy Yoemans my friend/teacher/mentor who stood up at my last wedding wanted to scream. Her message “What a hateful, mean person who has the compassion of a tse-tse fly and the thought processes of a lock-step, brainless cult member. I hope she doesn’t vote.”  was so forceful it scared my wife!

What I learned was that shining a light on the ugliness of bigotry decreases it’s power. Holding it in, makes it much harder to shake off.

The women at  here at LGR  amaze and humble me. Terrrific writers ( who assume readers have comprehension above the 6th grade level -yahoo!!)  I am sure, Paula, Melanie, Bridgette and Natasha and the others have  dealt with far worse and more frequent harassment than my little shocktrip with Ms. Evans.  They shine that light every day. Goddess, bless them!
Oh, and chicken pox are not fun at any age!

Write text here…

Related articles

• Lez Ask The Femme: Reeling Her In (lezgetreal.com)
• Fortune Feimster Talks Family, Coming Out and ‘Last Comic Standing’ (lezgetreal.com)
• Molly Wei, the Rutgers Student Who Caused Gay Teen Suicide, Feels “Attacked” (lezgetreal.com)

Rutgers student, Molly Wei, is infamous. She and another student, Dharun Ravi, allegedly used a webcam to broadcast Ravi’s roommate, Tyler Clementi, having a romantic encounter with another man. If you are reading this, you probably know this story already. Clementi had no idea his encounter was being livestreamed on the internet, when he realized what had happened, the 19 year old commited suicide.

This is no disputing that Molly Wei is a disgusting human being. However, a “friend” is speaking to People magazine about Wei…and he wants us to feel sorry for her. “She feels that everyone is attacking her,” the unnamed “friend” tells People. “She is trying to stay optimistic,” he says. “She’s really upset about this, she definitely feels bad, and wishes it didn’t go the way it did.”

People also reports that there has been no sign of Wei or Ravi or their families for over a week. According to People source, Wei’s friend, that is because “Wei is now living the life of a fugitive.” “She is going to different places,” he says, “because the media is always at her house.”

The poor thing! Just think, deceiving, mentally torturing someone and then driving that person to kill himself has consequences! Who knew? Wei has also received angry messages on Facebook from people who are disgusted by her actions. Unfortunately, social retribution is probably the only real consequence Wei will face. Her and Ravi are charged with with two counts of invasion of privacy and at most will only face up to five years in prison. A life is over and Wei is complaining about her flash in the pan infamy and her flash in the pan punishment.

There is outrage over Tyler Clementi’s suicide, but not nearly enough. This isn’t the first article People has published about Wei and Ravi. In this article, they refer to Wei as “quiet,” “sweet,” and “smart.” Nice words for a murderer. Three days before this article was published, they wrote one called, “Rutgers Suspects Aren’t Bad – Just Made a Bad Mistake.” There is a thin line between publishing the fact that Wei and Ravi have supporters and actually supporting their actions. I think the line might have been crossed. If Ravi and Wei had done this to a straight female, chances are there would be double the outpour of outrage; People would probably openly condemn Ravi and Wei and slut-shame Wei by painting her as a “party girl” instead of as “quiet, sweet and smart.” But we will never know for sure. What we do know for sure is that Wei and Ravi won’t get the jail time they deserve, even if they are given the maximum five years in prison.

Related articles

• Friend: Charged Rutgers Student Molly Wei Feels Attacked (people.com)
• Rutgers Suspects Aren’t Bad – Just Made a Bad Mistake, Pals Say (people.com)

Earlier today we reported that A New Jersey based Jewish newspaper, The Jewish Standard refuses to publish wedding or engagement announcements from same-gender couples any longer after receiving complaints.

The editor, Rebecca Kaplan Boroson: “We set off a firestorm last week by publishing a same-gender couple’s announcement of their intent to marry. Given the tenor of the times, we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well.

A group of rabbis has reached out to us and conveyed the deep sensitivities within the traditional/Orthodox community to this issue. Our subsequent discussions with representatives from that community have made us aware that publication of the announcement caused pain and consternation, and we apologize for any pain we may have caused. The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.”

Since this morning just about every LGBT BLOG has run the story as can be seen at the end of this Article; it has gone viral. The Jewish Standard has received numerous comments in support of the gay and lesbian community, expressing outrage at the editor’s decision and divisive apology, pandering to a small sect of Jewish extremists.

The Editor who made the decision to pull the announcements, provide this ridiculous “apology” to  a few ultra orthodox who complained, at the expense of an entire community – must either be really stupid or has no idea who the hell is reading her paper. She ought to be fired; and she ought to apologize for what she has said and the harm she has caused.

That said, as a Jewish married lesbian – I am so proud of the comments that were made by the Jewish Community and the Rabbis whose names are mentioned; in fact so proud that I have published them here lest they Jewish Standard decide to remove them from their site when they wake up to the outrage!    Out of so many there is only one comment that supports the homophobic stance of the newspaper.

The comments speak for the Jewish people while the view expressed by the editor reflects that only of a homophobic Board influenced by a few.

This editorial decision is insulting to those who were overjoyed by the celebration of a beautiful life-cycle event.  A non-ideological newspaper should report, not place value decisions on events in the Jewish community.  Moreover, the desire to please those who have experienced “pain and consternation” causes even greater pain for those who are gay and their friends and family.  It hurts much more to know that we are not welcome in the Northern Jersey Jewish community by the standards of this paper.

Leah posted 04 Oct 2010 at 04:27 PM

How disappointing for this publication, one where I always felt at home reading about this accepting Jewish faith. You have lost a faithful reader in me and believer that Jews are some of the most compassionate people on Earth, especially because of our past plight. To say the least, I am extremely saddened, disapointed and disheartened by my own people and our religious and supposed moral leaders.

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 04:36 PM

Wow

This is just plain disappointing. A paper that claims to represent the Jewish community bowing down to the pressure of one group, while spitting in the face of the other. This is not how to resolve conflicts and will only further suppress dialogue on this issue if we cant even read about it in our daily newspaper.

Hopefully these days will be behind us soon…..

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:20 PM

you should be ashamed of yourselves, cow towing to a bunch of BIGOTS. I will indeed encourage people to take a pass on this publication, because Bigots suck and that is what this mag has reduced itself to-a bigoted disgusting Piece fo garbage.

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:31 PM

How does it draw the community together to exclude the marriages of many members from public acknowledgment? I wholeheartedly agree with  mmmmmm

If the paper doesn’t count gay and lesbian Jews as members, so be it. But don’t pretend hat this solution is uncontroversial, or does not cause pain. You’ve just chosen the prejudices and discomfort of one segment of the community over the simchas of another.

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:34 PM

I am dismayed that a newspaper which seeks to be a voice for the ENTIRE Jewish community in Northern New Jersey, not just for “a group of rabbis within the traditional/Orthodox community,” would make such an unjust editorial decision. I was initially quite proud that The Jewish Standard was among the first Jewish newspapers in the country to publish a simcha announcement for a same-sex couple. Presenting an inclusive portrait of Jewish community in which we affirm the humanity and dignity of every Jew embodies the Jewish value of b’tzelem elohim, the notion that people are created in the divine image of God. What a shame that gay and lesbian Jews will open up the pages of The Jewish Standard and be told that there is no place for them here. How terribly painful to send a message to those who are leading meaningful Jewish lives that their love is not worthy of communal recognition. These messages are hurtful, mean-spirited, and very un-Jewish. I would hope that a Jewish paper would know that the Jewish community is, and always has been, strengthened by its diversity.

=posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:36 PM

Some “traditional/Orthodox” Jews experienced “pain and consternation” in reading a wedding announcement of a couple who just happened to be of the same sex? These people had no connection with the couple whatsoever and their marriage had no effect on them or their lives whatsoever. Given that absolute lack of any meaningful connection between these readers and the couple, it is disingenuous to claim they felt “pain” as seeing the wedding announcement. Rather, the proper word in this case is “hatred.” They did not like the idea of a gay couple’s celebration of their commitment and religious identity being equated to their own, and reacted with rage.

And now the Jewish Standard has decided that the hated-fueled rage of some “traditional/Orthodox” readers is more important that the REAL “pain and consternation” felt by gay and lesbian Jews, theri families, and friends at the Jewish Standard’s decision that their life-cycle events are not valuable or meaningful enough to report in the community newspaper.

This decision makes sense, in crass and venal sense: the “traditional/Orthodox” community is large and spends a lot of money that the Jewish Standard’s circulation and advertisers care about a great deal. It’s just sad that the rage of bigots and filthy lucre count for more than the lives and loves of other human beings.

Anonymous posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:47 PM

This apology is disgusting and abhorrent. In light of the recently publicized suicides of gay youth, how dare a Jewish newspaper apologize for publishing a same-sex marriage announcement? Whoever decided that was ok can add that to their list of things to do teshuvah for next year. This kind of absurd public apology is shameful, embarrassing, and dangerous. You are basically telling every young gay person who might happen upon this apology that, oops, we shouldn’t have shown support for gay people, because it offends some ignorant, insensitive members of our community. I’m shocked and horrified by this. And P.S.—there are segments of the Orthodox community that are coming around on this issue, so let’s not assume all Orthodox people think it’s ok to implicitly gay-bash. It’s also very un-Jewish.

Unreal posted 04 Oct 2010 at 05:59 PM

Hmm… you can publish treyf restaurant ads but not an announcement of two people joining their lives together? Sounds fishy to me.

n posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:13 PM

From your own “About Us” page:

“The Jewish Standard is not affiliated with any program, organization, movement, or point of view, but is dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life. “
…except for the lives of homosexuals.

Your actions sicken me. Take your mission seriously or take your lofty statements of principles down, you filthy hypocrites.

yankl posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:30 PM

Shame on your excuse for a newspaper.  How can you bring a community together by refusing to print marriage announcements from people within the community?  You can’t be a community newspaper if you refuse to carry notices from your own community.  You caused pain and consternation for the Orthodox Jews?  What about the pain you’re causing gay Jews and their friends and families?  You want to be divisive?  Congratulations,  by caving into religious extremism you’ve managed to highlight divisions within the community and widen them.  Did you notice that your two grooms are Orthodox Jews and were both leaders of Jewish student organizations? What about their Orthodox families?  Do they not get considered into your worries about consternation and pain?

און פאַר די גאָר פרומע װאָס האָבן געסטראַשעט די צײטונג: שװײג אײערע פּיסקעלעך. אַרבעט אױף אײערע אײגענע פּראָבלעמען פאַר דעם װאָס איר מאַכט מער צרות פאַר דער רעשט פון אונדז. אױב איר װילט אַװעקטרײבן אַלע האָמאָסעקסואַליסטן פון אידישקײט, הײב אָן מיט אײערע אײגענע געמײנדע װײל איר װײסט גאַנץ גוט װיפל געפינען זיך צװישן עץ

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:44 PM

What kind of newspaper are you?  Have you no backbone? You are a newspaper, first and foremost.  It is because of ridiculous “sensitivity” reactions like this that force young, bright children to jump off of bridges.  What’s next, no more NY Times because they publish gay wedding announcements?  No inter-racial wedding announcements because someone might get upset?  Since when does one group of readers determine what all readers get to read?  If it upsets the reader, DON’T READ IT.

B. Whine posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:51 PM

Thank you for making me feel like a valid and respected member of the Jewish community. Not.

Bert posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:54 PM

Are you serious? I guess you are. How disappointing. And stupid.

Lev Raphael posted 04 Oct 2010 at 06:56 PM

What a craven and ridiculous decision! How on earth can someone else’s simcha cause anyone pain and consternation?  If it does, that person needs therapy, not to throw his or her weight around and bully a newspaper into bigotry.

posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:01 PM

As a reader of the Jewish Standard and as someone who is engaged to be married, I am outraged by your discriminatory and biased decision not to publish life-cycle announcements from same sex couples. SHAME ON YOU!

To all regular readers out there and anyone else reading this, you must let the newspaper hear your outrage too.

Wayne posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:01 PM

Absolutely despicable decision, and the most craven form of journalism. I assume the Standard will also stop running articles about women who work outside the home, wear immodest clothing, or sing in the presence of men, since those people might behave in way that offends the delicate sensitivities of a few readers? Photos of men and women who are not related will now be segregated by gender, lest readers get the idea that sometimes men and women socialize without being married or related?  I assume *all* mention of Conservative and Reform (and don’t even mention secular) Jews will also simply be stricken, since what they call Judaism might not measure up to the standards of the strictest traditionalists, and should therefore simply be ignored, as if it didn’t exist? And anything at all—anything—that the most observant Jew doesn’t like, you will simply excise from your pages and pretend that by doing so, the real world has ceased to operate? When you cave in to the most restrictive among us, you alienate everyone else—and pushing certain people back into invisibility in order to avoid being “divisive” is, in itself, a horribly divisive stand. Shame.

Mark  posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:04 PM

I just wanted to thank you for letting me know I am not welcome in your community.

I’m not quite sure what constitutes “pain & consternation” caused by announcement of a couple’s pledge of love and devotion, but it doesn’t compare one bit to the pain you have caused all LGBT Jewish women and men by caving to in fear and bigotry.

If you are striving so hard to draw the community together, you’ve done a great disservice to the former members you’ve thrown under the bus.

Shame on you.

jt posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:05 PM

I suspect that some gay people, and even some of their friends and family members, feel pain from so many instititutions of our society not recognizing their lifelong committment in marriage.

Debbie Appel posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:07 PM

The logic of this statement is baffling. The Jewish Standard is “striving to bring the community together” by marginalizing LGBT Jews. What about the “pain and consternation”of that group of Jews who are being told by this statement that their celebrations are not worth celebrating.

Nancy 04 Oct 2010 at 07:12 PM

I feel the decision to run the original announcement was correct. I am saddened that a fraction of our Jewish Community may have felt hurt by your decision to announce a simcha. Our halakhic tradition demands that we treat all members of our community with love amd respect. The Jewish People have been victim to fear and bigotry throughout our long, rich cultural history, it is shocking and sickening to me that a Jewish newspaper serving members of our Jewish Community would condone this bigoted behavior and allow fears based on prejudice determine their policies. I am shocked and disappointed. We can do better.

SH  posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:18 PM

As a supporter and active Jewish citizen in Bergen County, I would like to state that while I understand the opinion of the traditional/Orthodox community and the pressures they often place on media outlets and the private sector, it is disappointing to find the Jewish Standard to have chosen to only speak to that community and change their policies of inclusion of all sectors of the Jewish community in northern NJ due to pressures. Perhaps it is that the Jewish Standard does not believe the secular Jewish community will make as much of a scene about this issue, but in light of the media coverage in NJ due to Tyler Clementi’s passing and bias crime that took place at Rutgers University, home to many secular Jews from northern NJ, I would have expected a VERY different decision by such a well-renowned publication. I am asking you to please change your decision, and understand that you are a publication for the ENTIRE Jewish community, no matter what pressures are put on you for social reasons. Thank you for understanding and I hope to hear that you reverse your decision and return to being the Jewish publication you have been for many years.

T posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:22 PM

It’s a simcha! Simchas don’t cause pain and consternation, at least not in my book. A gigantic mazal tov and kol hakavod to the happy, beautiful, and inspirational couple. We love you!

Joshua posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:27 PM

I write today to sincerely protest your exclusion of same-sex wedding announcements from your newspaper.

I sympathize with your conflicted decision making process, given the diversity of your readership, whose varying values are not only important but also are part and parcel of the very make-up of the communities you service.  Indeed, I applaud your sensitivity to the feelings of your readers.

However, your aim to be sensitive to one faction of the Jewish community has left another to suffer.  While I understand the publishing of a gay wedding may be upsetting to some, these readers are not being asked to attend or to approve.  To protest the publishing of such an announcement has more to do with accepting such people as existing in the world than accepting them as part of one’s community.

I find it tragically ironic that the stated motives for your decision hinge on community members’ pain, but you have effected quite a hurtful act in its own right, causing real pain to those who know now for sure that they will not be accepted (not approved of, merely acknowledged) in the Jewish community – at least the one you represent.  You are hardly “drawing the community together” in this move; you are merely choosing which group is worth listening to, which group is expendable.

I find your decision objectionable and offensive.  In two weeks, I will rejoice at the holy khasunah of my friends, whose wedding announcement was elided.  Our community will be strong and loving, as we welcome them with open arms.

Jonah Rank posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:31 PM

To whom this may concern,

I find this news disturbing, especially in light of the number of suicides by homosexuals that occurred in the USA over the course of the past month.

Why should the public announcement of a homosexual couple be more abhorrent to an Orthodox Jew than the announcement of a Simchat Torah celebration for young Jews where Jews must pay for entry or where musical instruments are used, or the announcement of services at a synagogue where non-Kosher food may be served at communal celebrations, or the announcement of the installation of a new female clergy person? And furthermore, why should an Orthodox Jew’s discomfort with announcing a life cycle event of two people unknown to him or her allow the publication, read also by non-Orthodox Jews, convince a community not to publish announcements that will upset several Orthodox Jews who clearly are at odds with recent attempts from the Orthodox Jewish community to reach out to and to welcome gay Jews?

Regardless of Jewish law’s ramifications surrounding a homosexual union, I am willing to suggest that it just might be a Chillul Hashem—a desecration of the God name—when a free publication that writes for and about Jewish causes sinks to the level of engaging in the shaming of an entire percentile of the Jewish population by refusing to acknowledge their lives, their lifestyles, their life cycles, and their existence.

We should not read about a gay union just as much as we should not read about Jews who belong to egalitarian synagogues, Jews who do not keep kosher, and Jews who do not engage in the core Mitzvah of “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

Sincerely,

Jonah
Rabbinical Student, Jewish Theological Seminary 2015

Goldberg posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:42 PM

Under New Jersey law, same-sex couples can enter a civil union, which grants them all the legal rights and obligations of marriage at the state level.  It is shameful that this newspaper would seek to accomodate a vocal minority of readers whose values run counter to the majority of Jewish denominations (and the majority of Jews in the US) as well as to discriminate against same-sex couples whose unions are legally sanctioned in the State of New Jersey.

Hershl posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:45 PM

Your newspaper has set a new low for American Jewish journalism.

While I am happy to learn that you want to be sensitive to those in your community who are bigoted and exclusionist,  I wonder whether you even care about the rest of us, the majority, who welcome the announcement of love and commitment between two members of the Jewish community?

You are making news in ways that you might never have anticipated.

http://jewishdailyreport.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/nj-jewish-paper-bows-to-bigots/

RT posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:46 PM

Every day people reach out to me to tell me about the pain and consternation homophobia causes lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.  Maybe you should apologize for writing this offensive apology.

Jesse posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:48 PM

Backpedalling on this issue will only exacerbate the problem. Bowing to the pressure of religious fundamentalists alienates those in the Jewish community who view marriage rights as a civil rights issue. This editorial is an insult and pretending that it will somehow reduce divisiveness is a foolish delusion.

Penny posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:52 PM

By apologizing to the homophobic and ignorant you are spreading hate. What if the New York Times apologized to the KKK and all of it’s readers for publishing a jewish marriage taking place and promised never to do it again so as not to ‘cause pain and consternation’ to the good white Christian men of the KKK.

You’ve just told every single person who loves another person of the same sex that they are wrong and that the world doesn’t want to know that they exist. But why stop there? We can’t have this group of Rabbis feel bad. Maybe we should round up all the gay’s and put them somewhere that they can’t be seen at all. Maybe a camp somewhere.

Garcia posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:55 PM

Doesn’t this decision betray your mission statement?:

“TO PROVIDE a forum for members of the community.

The Jewish Standard is not affiliated with any program, organization, movement, or point of view, but is dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life.

The Jewish Standard is independent; it is committed to Jewish continuity and to Israel and America’s well-being.”

Meir posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:56 PM

I echo Matthew ’s succinctly expressed opinion regarding the Standard’s unfortunate reversal of a brave and well-reasoned decision to print the Smolen/Rosen wedding announcement. I grew up in Bergen County, and my own adolescence and coming-out process as a gay man would have been unimaginably easier had I seen such examples of same-sex love and commitment in the local Jewish newspaper. I urge the Standard not to give in to “the pain and consternation” of one segment of the community at the risk of causing even more pain to another segment. In any case, calling these two groups “separate” is foolish, for by now we know very well that there are gay and lesbian people within the Orthodox community as well—some of whom may have been delighted to see this wedding announcement printed in the Standard, despite the protestations of the Orthodox leadership.

BS posted 04 Oct 2010 at 07:56 PM

Great, so a bunch of religious fundamentalists pressured a newspaper into discriminating against gays.  Do you guys have an Afghani edition by the way

Solomon posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:01 PM

I am appalled that The Jewish Standard would cave in the face of prejudiced bullying. I understand that same-sex partnership is seen as a “hot-button issue” especially within religious communities, but to say that a simple and unadorned announcement of the joyous union of two children of Israel causes “pain” to those who would rather have these two young men live out their lives alone or in unhappy and unhealthy heterosexual marriages is completely backwards. What is painful is that such couples who want nothing more than to live happy and observant Jewish lives with a loving and supportive partner continue to have to hide from and within our communities for fear of setting off a “firestorm” merely by existing as they are.

We as a people have to stop giving in to the right wing Orthodox just because they threaten and throw tantrums when the rest of us do not conform to their vision of how Judaism should look, and dare to have our own ideas about what we value as Jews and as ethical human beings in a confusing world. The more we give in, the more this minority gains the control to dictate where and how the rest of us worship. who is and is not allowed to live and celebrate lifecycle events in Israel, right down to who is and is not Jewish. I personally am not willing to quietly sit by while that happens.

Michael posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:02 PM

I read items in newspapers all the time that cause me “pain and consternation.”  My solution?  Turn the page!

Jewish same-sex weddings aren’t going to stop just because you now refuse to announce them.  Your decision is short-sighted, discriminatory, and ultimately, cowardly.  Score one for intolerance, zero for journalistic independence.  For shame!

A.R. posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:08 PM

It’s such a shame that this publication has gone from joining members of their community in celebrating their joyous occasions to pandering to a crowd of isolated, insular, intolerant, and selfish fanatics.  This move has shown that certain sectors of the community are more valued than others.  I personally find this decision sad, frustrating, and painful.

Rabbi Wendy Ungar posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:16 PM

Since The Standard has decided that it is only for “certain” Jews, I hope that everyone else chooses to no longer patronize your newspaper.

Bradley posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:17 PM

Does the Jewish Standard publish announcements of interfaith marriages or is the Jewish paper of Northern New Jersey unwelcoming to those couples as well?  More importantly, how does Rebecca have time to even write this when she should be home having kids and baking challah?

Tammy posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:17 PM

I’m saddened to read such news that you will no longer run ‘such’ announcements. I am proud and happy to know many a gay couple and my life will continue to be so much more enlightening and gratifying with them in my life and with your publication out of it.

Bob posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:17 PM

Your editorial is shameful. These narrowminded rabbis are causing serious “pain and consternation” to gay and lesbian Jews and to lots of other Jews who care deeply about their gay friends and family members. Why do the loudest bigots get to dictate the standards of a newspaper?

James mace posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:20 PM

Maybe you shouldn’t post ANY life-cycle events.  That wouldn’t work, would it?  This pressured discrimination comes from a minority that has made it their personal mission to disconnect more than 80% of all Jews who do not subscribe to their way.  I will no longer read your post.

John posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:23 PM

Striving to bring a community together by treating a segment of the community as lepers—exiling them to the outskirts of the city, and declaring them as unclean.  Good luck.

It wasn’t your publication of the announcement that is driving the community apart, it is those who are complaining that they are being forced to look upon the unclean, and your bowing to their wishes to treat the unclean as if they don’t exist, that is driving the community apart.

Yaakov   posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:28 PM

I hope that the editorial staff decides to reverse their decision. As an observant Jew, I am always overjoyed to hear of the simcha of any two people uniting in love.

Please reverse your decision and continue to run same-sex announcements!

Mickey posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:31 PM

If you don’t like same-sex weddings, I have three words for you:  DON’T HAVE ONE!

Rabbi David Greenstein posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:32 PM

t

The decision of The Jewish Standard to refrain from publishing announcements of sam-sex marriages in the Jewish community is shameful. It perpetuates the stigmatization of members of our community, with all the known results of emotional and real physical harm this causes.
It does so in order to placate another segment of the community that claims that it feels consternation to read about such events. But the assymetry of the claims of these two groups is blatant. No reputable newspaper tries to limit its coverage to stories that make everyone happy. Indeed, we all know that many things happen in the Jewish community that cause consternation to other groups. Such discomfort is the necessary corollary of living in a pluralistic world. Frankly, reading that some Orthodox rabbis objected to the marriage announcement causes great consternation to me – a rabbi who is overjoyed that the marriage took place. Would you consider not reporting their objection so as not to cause me, and the many, many other committed Jews who feel as I do, terrible consternation?
On the other hand, the erasure from its pages of the life-cycle events of one group of Jews supports the perpetuation of real-life suffering and misery and – read the recent newspapers – even death.
Until such time that the The Jewish Standard decides to become the official newspaper of only a certain segment of the Jewish community it is obligated to report the events in the entire community fairly and inclusively.

shira posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:52 PM

As Jews, we have always been commited to advocating for human rights, and giving respect to all.  The Standard should represent all aspects of the Jewish world, and give the same opportunities for all Jewish couples who want to announce the joy of their upcoming marraiges. I am ashamed that the Standard (which is supposed to represent all viewpoints), would take this backwards step.  Human beings are being hurt here.  I respect Orthodox Jews for living in the manner that is appropriate for them, and that respect should be given to all in the Jewish community.

M posted 04 Oct 2010 at 08:59 PM

As a friend to the couple, a queer ally, and a committed Jew, I am insulted and disgusted by this decision. The decision of these two young men to commit to each other and to build a Jewish family is one worth celebrating, and I am disturbed that you would bow to the opinions of small minded bigots who cannot see its value. If we are truly to grow and thrive in this country, it behooves us to move with the winds of history, which are blowing increasingly towards tolerance.

Sid posted 04 Oct 2010 at 09:09 PM

So you are simply valueing the “deep sensitivities” of some Jews over others. Not a very ethical decision, is it?

Sennesh posted 04 Oct 2010 at 09:25 PM

Have you not read or heard about all the teen suicides these past few weeks? They were all the result of bullying, and being made to feel that they were lesser humans because of their sexual orientation.  A person’s sexual orientation is a gift from G-d, not some perverse medical condition.  The true mitzvah would be to continue to announce these wonderful life cycle events until they ceased to seem “wrong” to some members of the community. They are the ones that need education and to find their truly loving hearts.

LR posted 04 Oct 2010 at 09:43 PM

What a shande. By allowing this segment of your readership the power to prevent you from reporting that these events occur, you’ve left behind your journalistic role and moved into acting as an apparatus of social ostracism. It’s so incredibly disingenuous to say that you’re making this decision to allow for greater unity when in fact your decision means the wholesale exclusion of LGBT Jews. This action can only be construed as “drawing the community together” if you believe that LGBT Jews don’t belong in the first place; that “some [Jews] are more equal than others.” Shame on you. Such behavior does not deserve the name of “The Jewish Standard.”

joan posted 04 Oct 2010 at 09:44 PM

It caused people pain? I feel pain every time I see an ad for a non-kosher restaurant in your publication because it means that Jews are going to eat non-kosher. I also feel pain everytime you advertise an event on shabbat because it means that Jews might not observe shabbat. Will you take note of my pain and refrain from advertising anything that violates halachic Judaism?

Sam posted 04 Oct 2010 at 09:49 PM

I feel so horrible for the “pain and consternation” experienced by members of the Haredi community.  How about the “pain and consternation” experienced by traditional LGBT Jews who feel invisible and alienated on a daily basis!?

I think you need to change the name of your newspaper to “The Jewish Double Standard”…

Feldman posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:00 PM

This is in direct contradiction to your mission statement, in which you say that you are not affiliated with any movement or point of view and that you are dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life. You have betrayed your own standards, let alone the trust of those non-traditional Jews who were also your readers, and you should be ashamed.

What is divisive? Refusing to acknowledge the joyous life-cycle events of non-traditional Jews, simply because traditional Jews don’t want to see or hear anything about them.

What are you communicating about the sensitivities and suffering of Jews? The sensitivities and suffering of traditional Jews, though such announcements affect them only indirectly, are more important than the sensitivities and suffering of traditionally marginalized Jews who may be driven away from the Jewish community entirely from such treatment.

Why is the pain of traditional Jews who are simply seeing an engagement announcement of which they disapprove valued above the pain of those who want to share their joy with those in their community who may wish to celebrate with them? If your management and/or editorial staff are not biased, then, at the very least, you’ve kowtowed to those who are.

You are not “drawing the community together.”

You’re silencing those who are different and making them feel less welcome.

Rabbi Bernard Spielman posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:18 PM

Dear Jewish Standard,
Conservative and Reform Jews recognize that gay individuals are also “created in the image of God”. They also have feelings and needs like the rest of us. They and their families actually experience pain inflicted upon them by such opinions and editorial policies as yours when you deny their humanity in the same way that the Germans did when they put them in concentration camps. In the State of Israel gay parades are permitted.but you would deny them even a joyful announcement in your paper. Please reconsider.
Rabbi Bernard Spielman.

Juliet Barr posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:20 PM

To the editors of the Jewish Standard:

As a long time subscriber of the Jewish Standard, I was deeply saddened to read your apology to printing an announcement of engagement in a recent issue.

How disappointing it is for me to know that I can not announce my own family’s simchas without knowing that I may face censorship by your newspaper—this causes me “great pain and consternation.”

Knowing that we are all created “B’Tzelem Elohim,”  in G-d’s image, and that in every community we pray for and strive for Shalom… peace and completeness, I cannot believe you have allowed a group of our own people to marginalize another group of our own people.

I hope you will reconsider your decision and perhaps consult with other members of our community who would share a clearer perspective on our wonderful, multi-faceted religion.

Kerry  posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:29 PM

And yet you choose to cut off those Jews who celebrate same-sex relationships. I don’t just mean Jews IN same-sex relationships, but all those who celebrate them.

If we look at CA, 83% of Jews voted against Prop 8, meaning 83% of Jews were committed
if not to acceptance of marriage for gay and lesbian people, at least to tolerance.
I believe through this decision you are hurting more people by insulting the Judaism of these 83%. The 27% may be more vocal, but the “Standard” of the Jewish community is clearly with the 83%.

Jewish law itself teaches us to go with the majority in almost all cases.

By going with the minority, and refusing to publish these celebrations, I believe you are
doing something very UN-Jewish both for traditional and ethical reasons.

Rachel Jane posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:32 PM

I am deeply upset at your decision to not include simachs like the one you so admirably posted last week. I am confused as to how this publication thought that it would bring together the Jewish community rather than push it away when they were so deeply influenced by one sect of Judaism, that being Orthodox. What the Jewish standard failed to consider, is the accepting and supportive views of homosexuality that many Reformed, Reconstructionist and Conservative Jews support. This decision only promotes one theory of thought while neglecting THREE others. In an age where there is an epidemic of gay teens committing suicide (including ones in places where the Jewish Standard is delivered, like Ridgewood NJ), this publication has a social responsibility to help people who feel ostracized and unaccepted rather than push them away. However, the views that created your decision are not ones that I am proud to promote as a Jew. This decision will not ‘bring the community together’ as it is intended. I am hurt and ashamed by your actions and I feel that you as a publication should reconsider your decision and speak with all of the Reformed, Reconstructionist, Conservative, and GLBT Jews who may think differently on this matter.

Ronstrom posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:34 PM

It is such an incredible insult to think a newspaper would censor itself based on pressure from certain homophobic members of the community. I hope this reaction to such censorship, and to the recent suicides of gay children due to isolation, harrassment, abuse, and social shunning will make you reconsider your misguided, shortsighted decision.

SM posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:39 PM

How sad that you caved to those who are intolerant.  You are now causing “pain and consternation” to the rest of us in the Jewish community who do not want to believe that our religion is hateful and bigoted.  Shame on you.

—————————————————-

Dear Editor,

Your decision to discontinue the publishing of same-sex engagements/marriage is both cowardly and unimpressive. The so called ‘pain’ of those opposed is a mask to encourage and promote sinas chinam. The pain of all Jewish LGBT people and friends/family is greater than you give credit for. To be shunned and hidden, to feel invisible and inferior is a far greater pain than the ‘pain’ of bigots.

Maybe you’re afraid that you will lose majority of your readers, but what ever happened to integrity? What ever happened to doing the right thing despite what people will think? To being stronger than the weak and narrow-minded. To promote tolerance and love. To be a leader instead of being a victim to your ‘numbers’.

It’s such a shame that people who are in the position to take a stand and have their voices heard choose to silence themselves and others hiding behind excuses that ooze fear and weakness.

I hope you will soon see what a big mistake and misjudgment this is on your part.

Gene posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:44 PM

“The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart. We have decided, therefore, since this is such a divisive issue, not to run such announcements in the future.”

This is not the reason why announcements of same-sex marriages are not to be published.  The decision not to publish these announcements in the future drives away a segment of the community, excluding a group in favor of pacifying the complaints of another.

“we did not expect the volume of comments we have received, many of them against our decision to run the announcement, but many supportive as well.”

There are members of the community who support the publication of this announcement as well as those who do not.  It is possible that those who are in support of same-sex marriage are more willing to remain quiet and not complain than those who do not.  That, however, is no reason to assume that by refusing to publish future announcements you will not be dividing the community.

The announcement made some people happy while others were upset.  To not publish these announcements in the future says that those who were supportive of this couple’s intent to marry are, at best, less important members of the community you wish to draw together more tightly.  The decision to not print future announcements divides the community just as clearly as did publishing it in the first place.  If your intent was to draw the community together, you failed, and must for the sake of the community try again.

Hershl posted 04 Oct 2010 at 10:46 PM

I never knew that the NJ Jewish Standard existed until you distinguished yourself by banning gay and lesbian civil union announcements.

Good for you. Now you are famous around the world, thanks to the net, as the number one Jewish organ for hate and intolerance in New Jersey.

Clever marketing ploy. Now all the bigots will subscribe.

http://jewishdailyreport.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/nj-jewish-paper-bows-to-bigots/

Alexis posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:04 PM

One step forward, two steps back. Shame on you.

Lori posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:14 PM

Dear Friends,

If you did not expect the volume of comments you received on this issue, you are woefully out of tough with the true tenor of the times. I am sorry to hear that you have elected not to run such announcements in the future. It is an indicator that you have no intention of drawing the community together, but fully intend to pander to voices of bigotry and prejudice. I am saddened by your decision.

Melissa posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:17 PM

I wholeheartedly agree with Mr. Meltzer’s comment above.  My Jewish upbringing taught me to be inclusive and not just tolerant but celebratory of differences.  This statement is outrageous and shameful as a reflection on the Jewish community.

Alan posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:22 PM

Your decision is reprehensible.  It is said that when there are two Jews there are three opiniions. I didn’t know that the opinion of one group would discount the feelings and opinions of another within the Jewish community.  You state “The Jewish Standard has always striven to draw the community together, rather than drive its many segments apart.”  Your decision not to run announcements of this sort will be divisive to the community as a whole while solidifying one right wing view.

Rachel posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:26 PM

As a former Teaneck resident I was delighted to see how progressive and open-minded the Standard had suddenly become by announcing a gay marriage.  I am deeply disappointed by their retraction.  It greatly devalues my estimation of the paper.  I certainly would never consider placing an announcement in it from now on!

Rachel posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:33 PM

I do not think I can adequately express how disgusted I am by this decision.  As one of the most oppressed groups in history—a group targeted over and over by violence, excluded, scape goated, hated—one would think the Jewish people would have developed an acute empathy for those who continue to suffer at the hand of small mindedness.  And I think, for the most part, one would be correct.  But not in this case.  This is a cowardly pathetic, backwards, and hypocritical step for a group of Jews to take.  The world has continually sought to marginalize the Jews for no reason other than fear.  So now a group of Jews has the gall to do the same?

You claim you are striving to draw the community together.  So you make the deliberate choice to exclude active members of your community because of their sexual orientation, their genetic makeup. What an excellent exhibit of togetherness. An excellent example for the rest of this hateful, prejudiced world.

Eli Kaplan posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:39 PM

It happened just a few days ago, in this newspaper’s home state:  A boy jumped off a bridge into the Hudson because society made it clear to him that being gay is too far out of the norm for him to be treated with respect.

Can such an event not teach us that the least we can do is welcome gay individuals as part of our community?

Are we as Jews going to set such an example to the world – cutting people out of our circle?

Is that our new standard?

Alexandr posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:42 PM

You have chosen to make this a divisive issue and you have chosen your side.  Gay teens around the country are being bullied to death and you have chosen to embrace homophobia.  All gays will always be welcome in my home.  The Jewish Standard…not so much.

Pollak posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:46 PM

Your reaction to the Orthodox cries of hurt feelings seems typical to me. We all back down to them as if they hear God better than the rest of us poor Jews. I don’t buy it and gay Jews certainly don’t either. You shouldn’t report news of the community as if the gays don’t exist. We can’t all live in a bubble world like the Orthodox. It’s a big world out there and gays are not shadow people and they can hear God as well as the Orthodox. So you should hear the gays and let them speak in your paper too. Unless, that is, there is more you don’t say—perhaps the people complaining are threatening nonsupport of your paper? If so then say so and be honest. Money is always at the root of most injustice it seems.

LL posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:49 PM

The headlines are full of the numerous lgbtq youth who have committed suicide in the past few weeks, and we wonder why. Could it be because the public institutions of our society, faith and community – like The Standard – choose to send a message over and over that it is acceptable to affirm discrimination? As a member of the Jewish community, I don’t know how you can call yourself Jews – and embrace the tenants of tikkun olum- and yet make a decision like this. You are worried about “the pain” you have caused a group of orthodox rabbis by sharing a happy announcement of a marriage. The Standard should consider the pain of people who are living as second class citizens in this country…something that Jews have unfortunately experienced and should be fighting against.  It is time for us all to acknowledge the responsibility we share in these tragic and preventable deaths.

Bati posted 04 Oct 2010 at 11:59 PM

For the Jewish Standard to support the shaming of gay Jews is a shonda. How cowardly to knuckle under to pressure from one segment of the Jewish community. What is that segment afraid of—that their children will see what is already commonplace in this country; that is, that people who identify as the same gender can marry and/or have a formalized partnership? Wouldn’t it be better for those who object to these announcements to let their children ask them questions than to have same-sex partnership be something they can’t talk to their parents about? From whom, then, will they learn about it? In addition, with the current crop of gay teen suicides in the news, don’t you understand that shame can be fatal? Some percentage of Jewish people are gay. That’s the reality. It’s time to accept it, and our gay brothers and sisters, and move on. Remember ahavat Israel, people?

Rachelle posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:11 AM

I would ask that the editors reconsider their decision.  Would you stop posting announcements about events on Friday nights and Saturdays just because they did not comply with Orthodox practices on Shabbat?  The truth is that the stance against gay marriage is a fundamentalist opinion.  Your decision to publicly refuse to publish gay marriage announcements is far more alienating to mainstream and secular Jews.  I live in Los Angeles.  I learned of this horrible decision on facebook.  It was forwarded to me by another Jew who lives in California.  Your decision will continue to have negative reverberations even if you decide to make a “separate but equal” accommodation.

Terri posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:13 AM

As a Jewish woman, Jewish educator and a mom of kids straight and gay, I am disappointed that this publication would purport to represent Jewish values while disenfranchising a significant portion of Klal Yisrael. Shame on you.

Ray posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:18 AM

Can it be that the editor is apologizing for letting people know that two members of the community love each other and want to share the simcha of their plan to wed?  The editorial apology completely ignores the pain caused by deliberately throwing LGBT people under the bus in some quest for community harmony.

If the new litmus test is whether traditional or Orthodox leaders experience “pain and consternation” from an announcement, then the Standard needs to make some other changes, too.  First, amend the statement of purpose, which currently says, “The Jewish Standard is not affiliated with any . . . movement, or point of view, but is dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life.”  Simply add: “except gay people’s Jewish lives, which do not count.”  Second, ask for Orthodox permission before publishing other parts of the Standard, too.  Does the ordination of women rabbis alienate traditional leaders?  Then just stop telling your readers that it happens!

Or try another approach:  Publish the happy announcements (and the objections from people who are afraid of, or pained by, others’ joy).  Or at least apologize to the people whose lives are actually affected by your decision, rather than to bystanders who were not invited to the wedding.

Elaine posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:23 AM

I am very sorry to hear that you have reversed your original decision.  In doing so, you have chosen to hurt those who are often marginalized and most need our support.  Jews of all peoples should understand that, regardless of their personal views.

A Disappointed Jew posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:27 AM

The way to move towards inclusion and pluralism is not to sweep bigotry and hate under the table.  This is a despicable decision on the part of the editorial staff.  Cloaking hate in the speech of pluralism is absolutely unacceptable and a complete farse.  Let’s call a spade a spade.  This is straight up bigotry.  If these Orthodox Rabbis actually want pluralism, they’ll put on their big boy pants and turn the other cheek.  Or, if they want Jewish continuity, as they say they do, they’ll wake up and smell the roses and include gay Jews in their communities.  Welcome to the 21st century!

Carl  posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:35 AM

I find your paper’s stance to be unprincipled.  If the wedding that you are asked to announce is a legal union in your state, then it is discriminatory to refuse to publish a notice—even if the basis of the discrimination is religious faith.  In this case, there are rabbis on both sides.  Your decision to refrain from publicizing gay Jewish unions is taking sides in a Jewish cultural conflict.  I urge you to reconsider it.

Zachary posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:39 AM

Dear Ms. Boroson,
I’m sure you’ve received a flood of emails following your editorial earlier today, and I do hope that you’ll take the time to read mine as well.  As a young, recently out Jew, I consider myself lucky to have been raised in a familial and Jewish community where a “gentleman’s agreement” to keep my sexuality private seemed destined for the history books, not the newspapers.  Imagine my disappointment to find that the Jewish Standard was kow-towing to a minority of the Jewish community behind the polite semantics of wishing not to appear divisive.
To me (and many others, I’m sure), the Jewish community has always been one that works to include and care for all of its members.  As one kehillah, we applaud our philanthropists and shun only our most sinister evil-doers; after all, “a Jew is a Jew.”  Yet you have determined, through rescinding the marriage advertisement, which Jewish voices fit within the cannon of Judaism, and which ones shall be cast out.  How can you, as the authority for a newspaper that claims to unite diverse branches of Judaism, make such a judgment call?
I have never been faced with a choice between my religion and my sexuality.  Perhaps I have lived a charmed life where Jewish avenues in which I participate either avoid making judgment calls, or make ones that specifically make me feel more welcome.  But as a Jew who aspires to marry Jewish, raise Jewish children in a Jewish home and synagogue, and works full time for the Jewish movement, you have offered me little hope.  I sincerely wish that this is not indicative of all multi-denominational organizations out there, and that, as you hope, this will be an issue that can unite Jews one day soon, and not divide them.

Sincerely yours,

Zachary

Rabbi Sue Fendrick posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:48 AM

This decision is beyond baffling and is causing “pain and consternation” among concerned Jews around the world!

The Jewish Standard is not a partisan political or ideological organ for one segment of the Jewish community. In a time of high rates of intermarriage, and enduring homophobia, two Jews of the same sex want to commit their lives to each other, in a way sanctioned by all but the Orthodox segments of the Jewish community? How can the Jewish newspaper of record *not* publish such an announcement?

It is ironic that you use the word “pain” twice in your short retraction, given how deeply painful it is to GLBT Jews, their friends and families and people who care about them, that their lives are not visible in our communities and publications. It is just that invisibility and lack of validation—a sense that there is no future for them—that leads young gays and lesbians to attempt or commit suicide. Make no mistake about it—THIS is causing pain.

How this decision will avoid confronting a divisive issue is beyond me. Both the content and process of the decision are deeply embarrassing. Jewish same-sex weddings and unions are happening. To exclude those announcements is to say that the paper is controlled by Orthodox concerns. Once the standard is “must not cause pain and consternation to the Orthodox rabbinate”, you will quickly find yourself with a very different paper.

I urge you to reconsider your position.

Geoffrey posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:49 AM

Dear Editorial Staff.
As you have heard in other comments: Reportage is Reportage. To announce a same sex union/marriage is not an opinion. One can not disclaim a fact. If it is raining, and the rain offends someone, would you put a disclaimer on your weather report? I suggest in the future that you print what is reportable, and let the “offended parties” look to themselves.

Yossi  posted 05 Oct 2010 at 12:55 AM

The decision not to run such announcements in the future will serve to divide the community just as much as the decision to continue to run them would have. Speaking as an Orthodox Jew myself, I am very perturbed to hear about your caving to bigotry in the name of my sub-culture.
Your editorial staff should be making decisions that they themselves believe are ethical, rather than relying on the ethics of their readership.

Rebecca posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:14 AM

Your disregard of the pain and consternation of the LGBTQ community and their supporters is a SIN. Your thoughtlessness in the matter is making a larger breach in the community— GLBTQ Jews benefit so much more from seeing themselves accepted than the ultraOrthodox “suffer” from seeing a marriage announcement. Your decision to no longer announce gay weddings, which mirrors actions of so many bigots out there, demeans members of the community who need our support more than ever. Your mission statement says that you are “dedicated to giving expression to all phases of Jewish life”— clearly only when it doesn’t insult the extremists! You should be ashamed of yourselves.

Harry posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:20 AM

t

The upcoming marriage of Justin Rosin and Avi Smolen is unquestionably “news of Jewish interest” that deserves to be printed in your pages. The decision to suppress marriage announcements of same-sex Jewish couples is a morally inadequate one. If the Jewish Standard is, as it claims to be, a publication that represents the Jewish voice of Northern New Jersey, its decision to silence its members does injury to that voice and to the publication’s reputation.

The suppression of this news distorts the reality of the contemporary Jewish world. Non-recognition of homosexual members of our congregations, counselors at our Jewish summer camps, and pupils at our Jewish day schools does not protect Jewish values; it impoverishes Jewish discourse. If Judaism is to survive in America as a serious system of ethical thought, it must engage critically with the cultural and technological changes which define our reality.

The Jewish Standard should print announcements like this one for a compelling moral reason. By silencing the announcement of the marriages of gay Jews, we prevent gay Jews from appearing in public. By silencing the voices of gay Jewish adults, we put young Jews who are developing their sexual identities at risk by depriving them of role models. Demonstrating their life-long commitment to Jewish life, service, and learning, Avi and Justin are certainly such role models.

The Jewish Standard’s editorial explaining its decision demonstrated that the opinions of some Orthodox members of the community about homosexuality compelled its decision to exclude homosexual members of the community from the public forum. By submitting to the “sensitivities” of the Orthodox establishment, the Jewish Standard deprives developing Jewish young people from envisioning happy Jewish lives in a way consistent with their sexual orientations. I fervently hope that the Jewish Standard will reverse its decision to perpetuates the exclusion of some members of the Jewish community. This act of exclusion has truly caused pain.

Mazal tov to Justin and Avi.

Hershl Goodman posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:29 AM

Before this stunning display of bigotry I had never heard of the NJ Jewish Standard even though I grew up in NJ.

Now I hope that I never hear of it again.

http://jewishdailyreport.wordpress.com/2010/10/04/nj-jewish-paper-bows-to-bigots/

Alex posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:29 AM

Shame on you.  Seeing things you disagree with in the paper is not “pain and suffering.”  By that logic, I’m sure whites in Selma felt a good deal of “pain and suffering” when they were forced to watch black people eat at their lunch counters, too.

Adam posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:47 AM

Dear Jewish Daily Standard,

You’re stupid.

With the love that dare not speak its name (and is agenda-ed to destroy the world!),
Adam

John Murphy posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:54 AM

I am so disappointed to here you have decided to continue to make gay people invisible again.  How appalling and said for you and your readers.  One day you will look back on this and be shamed by being on the wrong side of this issue!

Aaron S posted 05 Oct 2010 at 01:55 AM

I am a member of the orthodox community, but I must say that those Rabbis DO NOT represent me. This is a horrible decision by the editors of this newspaper, and I hope they decide to reverse it. Our Jewish community will always have its disagreements and differences, but we cannot allow the preferences of some to override those of others. There is enough room in our Jewish tent for a whole world of diversity, and it’s horribly upsetting to see a newspaper that claims to represent the community decide that it is their policy to do the opposite.

I’m not sure if I can expect there to be any change, but I can say that until further notice, I have no plans to read this newspaper ever again, and would gladly support a competitor that would take its place.

Anonymous, because you’ll call me a bigot too posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:00 AM

I support your decision to abstain from publishing such announcements in the future.

Publishing announcements of this nature are akin to publishing statements about Jews proudly eating pork or watching Saturday morning cartoons. While we know that Jews break Jewish law, it is not the business of a Jewish newspaper to proclaim it from the rooftops.

I applaud your newspaper not bending to pressure from the left wing of Judaism that is more sensitive to being politically correct than to being halachic Jews.

That being said, you need to be consistent. You can’t publish events held on Shabbos or Yom Tov and run ads from non-Kosher restaurants and expect that people won’t throw that in your face at the selective adherence to Jewish law.

Ken posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:25 AM

You are a Northern New Jersey paper. A Rutgers student jumped off the George Washington Bridge in pain last week and you are apologizing to the Orthodox for any pain you might have caused by allowing a gay couple to announce its simcha? Are you mad????? What pain? Did it hurt their poor Orthodox eyeballs to see gay people failing to have anonymous gay sex in the back of a gay movie theater like good little sinners? What was it about this couple’s happiness that was so painful to the Orthodox? What next? Will it hurt the poor Orthodox people to see a wedding between a Cohen and a divorcee? A Lubavitch and a Satmar? A wedding officiated by a Reform rabbi? One with inadequately kosher food? One involving a non-Orthodox convert? You so worried about causing the Orthodox pain, don’t announce simchas at all.

I just can’t get over it. The very week a gay student in your own backyard kills himself in pain you apologize to the Orthodox for allowing some gay people a moment’s respite from pain. Sick, twisted and shameful. I urge you to retract this ugly decision immediately.

laura posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:32 AM

The Jewish people have had a long, proud legacy of both existing on the margins of society and of defending those people who occupy the margins along with us.

Refusing to publish queer marriage announcements in this publication is a travesty, a betrayal of our commitment to social justice and tikkun olam, and ultimately, an act of cowardice.

It is times like these that I remember it is more important for certain members of my community to exclude people like me in order to close ranks; I’m sorry that’s the case, because every time you make this decision you will deprive the Jewish community of some of its most observant, committed, lively, engaged, and passionate members.

Mark posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:36 AM

Your wrong-headed apology reminded me of our Seder plate, which for many years has included an orange next to the shank bone and bitter herbs. Someone reads a short paragraph about prejudice against gay people, then urges everyone to eat a slice of orange and “spit out the seeds of homophobia.”

What’s significant is that this custom wasn’t started by a gay person, but by an older straight couple. It has now been passed on to their many children and grandchildren. Perhaps you and your rabbis with “deep sensitivities” should consider an addition to your Passover rituals next year.

Richard posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:47 AM

So you will not again announce the impending nuptials of two Jews of the same sex because I, another Jew, might not approve?  Will you also not announce the election of Jews to public office unless I supported them?  Do you ignore the conviction of that goniff Bernie Madoff because it’s a shanda and the goyim might possibly read of it in your paper?  The logic here is nebulous.  The spinelessness is apparent.

Erez posted 05 Oct 2010 at 02:47 AM

t

This statement is an embarrassment to Jews everywhere. The complete lack of sensitivity demonstrated less than a week after a gay teen committed suicide in NJ over bullying and harassment is utterly repulsive.

Ben posted 05 Oct 2010 at 03:04 AM

To the editor:

You’ve done a great job publicizing your periodical. You see, before today, I had never read the New Jersey Jewish Standard. Your new editorial policy has been “going viral” today among some of the Jewish students here on campus, and it would have gotten quite a laugh for backwardness if it weren’t about such a serious issue.

I’m a Jewish—and gay—college student, and I’m writing to express my disappointment in your new editorial policy of excluding same-sex wedding announcements.

Simply “not [running] such announcements in the future” does not make the issue less divisive or make the problem go away. It only further alienates gay community members—especially youth. An epidemic of gay youth suicides such as the one our country is experiencing this fall (including the latest in New Jersey) is a tragedy, but not an accident. By including same-sex couples in your announcements, you would show gay youth that they can be Jewish; you would not be complicit in their oppression.

If Jews in New Jersey are getting married, then you should print their announcements. It’s that simple. Unless, of course, you trying to say that same-sex couples aren’t sufficiently Jewish.

I know there are people out there who hold such a view, and I respect that they may still be good people and good Jews. However, that doesn’t mean I would want to read their newsletter. Rest assured that this is both the first and the last time I read your publication—until the policy is reversed.

I trust that your board can find a way to tactfully include same-sex couples equally in the Jewish community.

With great respect but also with great disappointment,
Ben

Melinda  posted 05 Oct 2010 at 03:11 AM

In your mission statement, you proclaim that your aim is to “provide the Jewish communities of Bergen, Hudson, Passaic, and Rockland counties with an indispensable newspaper that will present local, national, and world news of Jewish interest.” Yet today’s statement cheapens these goals. In announcing your decision to refrain from publicizing same-sex wedding announcements, your paper marginalizes members of YOUR community who already experience “pain and consternation.” I hope that your paper reverses its policy and decides to celebrate inclusiveness over bigotry. Until then, you are accomplishing exactly what you claim to fear—you are driving your many segments apart!

I am a young Jewish professional, and this is my first encounter with your publication. I am deeply offended by this apologetic editorial. The traditional/Orthodox community needs to learn that their sensibilities are no more godly than anyone else. Your words have unleashed a rotten stench.

Jeremy posted 05 Oct 2010 at 03:21 AM

I just want to make it known that I, and many others, find this decision discriminatory and offensive.

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