Boy Scouts May Accept Gays. Christian Right Heads Explode. News At 10.

Beware A Severe Outbreak of Pedophilia!

Shock waves are running through churches and pastors across the country are redrafting their Sunday Sermons.

The Boy Scouts of America, one of the nation’s largest private youth organizations, is actively considering an end to its decades-long policy of banning gay scouts or scout leaders, according to scouting officials and outsiders familiar with internal discussions.

If adopted by the organization’s board of directors, it would represent a profound change on an issue that has been highly controversial -- one that even went to the US Supreme Court. The new policy, now under discussion, would eliminate the ban from the national organization’s rules, leaving local sponsoring organizations free to decide for themselves whether to admit gay scouts.

It was a WTF moment with wailing, rending of garments, and gnashing of teeth never seen since Biblical times. For some, it has taken a full 24 hours for the shock to attach itself to reality, while others have been quick to respond:

American Family Association:

     "You're signing a death warrant when you say you're going to allow open homosexuals to participate in a program with young boys."

Southern Baptist Convention:

    "This decision will lead to a mass exodus of traditional, orthodox Christianity from Boy Scouts, including thousands of Catholic, Baptist and other traditional faith congregations."

Americans for Truth About Homosexuality ("Porno Pete" Peter Labarbera):

     "If you capitulate to the homosexual lobby, you're capitulating to immorality; and you're not being 'morally straight,' as the Boy Scout Creed says."

Family Research Council:

     "If the Board capitulates to the bullying of homosexual activists, the Boy Scouts' legacy of producing great leaders will become yet another casualty of moral compromise."

And while the above may represent the most homophobic of the lot on the side of the Christian Right, there are sure to be responses from the likes of:

Pat Robertson, "Bishop" Harry Jackson, Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone (San Francisco), Cardinal Timothy Doyle (New York), Former Governor Mike Huckabee, Linda Harvey (Mission America), James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Cindy Japan-is-shaped-like-a-dragon Jacobs (Prophetess), Lou Engle (Prophet), Scott Lively (instigator, Kill-the-gays bill in Uganda), Rick Joyner (went to heaven and told everyone about it), Bradlee Dean (wants gays executed, like in Iran), Michele and (oh-so-masculine husband) Marcus Bachmann, "Bishop" Eddie Long, Janet Porter (Faith2Action), fake historian David Barton, World Net Daily,

... and ALL of FOX News (with the exception of Shep Smith). 

What Prompted The Shift?

      "The move also shows the growing influence of gay-rights groups and their backers. Throughout 2012, the Scouts were lobbied by organizations that collected more than one million signatures asking it to overturn the ban. Amid the tumult, several major corporate donors pulled their support from scouting organizations."

One million signatures on a petition. The pullout of corporate donors. 

And the need for transparency? 

OpEdNews reported the cover-up in child abuse last September, a factor that may have led to the proposed revision in policy: the BSA needs more transparency than ever to regain those corporate donors.



Gay Scout Troops?

"BSA spokesman Deron Smith said "the Boy Scouts would not, under any circumstances, dictate a position to units, members, or parents. ... BSA members and parents would be able to choose a local unit which best meets the needs of their families,” the BSA told Fox News Latino in a statement."

Reaction to the news of the policy shift has been surprisingly optimistic on the local levels:

OMAHA:

• "I think we are missing out on a lot of kids who are gay that just want to have the Boy Scout experience and I don't think that's fair. As far as leaders, there are a lot more problems coming out about straight leaders who are pedophiles than any problems with gay leaders." -- Mikki Nagel, a Lincoln parent of a Boy Scout nearing Eagle Scout

It certainly seems there is plenty of "wiggle room" in the policy change: Christian Right groups can put pressure on troops locally to their heart's content and create "no gay no way" troops. Certainly states like Tennessee will not likely be known for any gay-inclusive troops (nor Texas, nor North Carolina, etc). Ditto sponsors like the Catholic Knights of Columbus, a mainstay of Catholic scouts. But many local congregations see active discrimination as another necessary evil and a chore: a blanket "no gay" policy was easier to site.

Also easier to litigate: local lawsuits are quite the possibility.

Parodies of the "gayness" of scout troops have existed for a long while (see below), but totally gay BSA units are certainly far off in the future. And another problem: how would a totally gay unit fare in national conventions and events dominated by "family oriented" Christian Right units? The Christian Right has a lot of ferocity to distribute. It just can't do it nationally anymore.

Intolerance in the BSA will still exist. After all, the Christian Right will not be far behind.

Rainbow Scouts? Maybe.

We'll see...

UNDER PRESSURE, BOY SCOUTS MAY EASE NO-GAYS POLICY

The Culture War Rages On: The Revisionaries

The Texas Board Of Education: def - collection of religious nitwits.

The Revisionaries is worth churning your stomach over only in the fact that it highlights the lengths to which some people will promote stupidity.

More later.

The Trigger-Happy Have Spoken

The impassioned pleas of Newtown parents for gun control were drowned out by NRA wingnuts at Hartford Connecticut's General Assembly meeting concerning the banning of assault weapons. 

In other words, PARANOIA REIGNED

The Vatican's Golden Toilet Flush: Mussolini's Millions Point To Greater Secret Papal Wealth

The newest Vatican financial revelation brings about one very important point: no one knows just how much the Vatican is worth except the pontiff himself and some very close-lipped minions.
The Guardian, London:

        "Behind a disguised offshore company structure, the church's international portfolio has been built up over the years, using cash originally handed over by Mussolini in return for papal recognition of the Italian fascist regime in 1929.

Since then the international value of Mussolini's nest-egg has mounted until it now exceeds £500m. In 2006, at the height of the recent property bubble, the Vatican spent £15m of those funds to buy 30 St James's Square. Other UK properties are at 168 New Bond Street and in the city of Coventry. It also owns blocks of flats in Paris and Switzerland."

A widely-read OpEdNews article (The Vatican's Fake Occupy Implodes: Documents Evoke A History Of Money Laundering, Sexual Terrorism, And Even ... Murder) focused on the financial wrong-doings of the papacy, but only featured the Banco Ambrosiano scandal and its history in relation to John Paul I and his untimely death. This latest revelation, however, demonstrates the extent of holdings of the Vatican: secret holdings which may only be the tip of the iceberg. Holdings which maintain an extravagant lifestyle that John Paul discovered to his horror.

Pope John Paul I:

      “. . . this morning, I flushed my toilet with a solid gold lever edged with diamonds and at this very moment, bishops and cardinals are using a bathroom on the second floor of the papal palace which trappings, I am told, would draw more than fifty million dollars at auction . . . Believe me, one day, we who live in opulence, while so many are dying because they have nothing, will have to answer to Jesus as to why we have not carried out His instruction, ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself.’ We, the clergy of the Church together with our congregations, who substitute gold and pomp and ceremony in place of Christ’s instruction, who judge our masquerade of singing His praises to be more precious than human life, will have the most to explain.”

Bernadino Nogara - The Man Behind The Vatican Empire




To understand the complex and secretive roots of the Vatican's financial empire, it's necessary to look back to 1929, when the papacy's finances were less than stellar. Financial advisor Bernadino Nogara had been a good friend of several papacies (of his many siblings, two were archbishops, another was superintendent of the Vatican Museums, and his sister the mother superior of a nunnery), it was he who, as Director of the Special Administration of the Holy See, engineered the vast financial settlement of the Lateran Treaties with Mussolini.

Astronomical

$92 million may not seem to be a significant amount of money, but in the context of Depression Era Italy, the sum is staggering and could have accounted for a huge chunk out of Italy's impoverished economy. Seeding the Vatican's finances with that amount (almost half of it in cash, the remainder in government bonds) was akin to bankrolling a small country. Indeed, that was the purpose: the Vatican acquired a measure of independence with its recognition of Fascism.

And Nogara made the most of the Mussolini millions in his 35-year tenure as chief financier:

     "Under Pius XI, Nogara made large investments in firms contrary to Catholic social teaching and made direct loans to Mussolini's government prior to Mussolini's 1935 invasion of Ethiopia.[6][7] Under Pius XII, Nogara routinely invested in firms that profited from and enabled the war effort of the Axis powers during World War II. Though these investments were hidden from the Allies (with whom Nogara also transacted), through the use of holding companies and offshore banking centers, under Nogara "like water finding a downhill path, Vatican money found its way to the grisly side of the Holocaust".

Nogara's anti-Semitic dealings under Pius XII were only brought about years later: all of his personal meetings with the Pope were in private and no notes were taken.

Secrecy reigned.

Just as it does now.

The Guardian asked the Vatican's representative in London, the papal nuncio, archbishop Antonio Mennini, why the papacy continued with such secrecy over the identity of its property investments in London. We also asked what the pope spent the income on. True to its tradition of silence on the subject, the Roman Catholic church's spokesman said that the nuncio had no comment.

More Money Than God

Forget the stories of the value of the Vatican's porn library. Or of its art collection. Those are pittances: the known holdings of the Catholic Church in the U.S. tops $500 billion. Combine it with holdings in Catholic Countries such as Italy (now the 8th strongest economy in the world), Mexico, Brazil, and the Filipines, companies and industrial complexes and in secret secular real estate, the worth of the Church reaches into the trillion$. It could be argued that the Vatican controls an economy larger than the U.S.

And what of more secret holdings? 

God only knows.

And maybe He's pissed. He may tipped off the Guardian.

Lack of Energy Or Negative Energy: Which Has The More Profound Effect On Everyone Else?

The lack of energy can be just as destructive as negative energy.

My roommate left today. He's worse off than when he first came to be my roommate. He did nothing to put himself in the current situation.

He did nothing. 

Ten months ago, S came in with his cat, Baby, and little else. He was on unemployment and had some money from his parents and assured me he could make the rent. He was over 300 pounds (6'1"), smoked and couldn't move any of his belongings down the one flight of stairs of his rat-infested SRO (Single Room Occupancy) without wheezing and looking as if he would expire the next minute. 

He was 42 years old. 

He moved into a very large room with bath, large walk-in closet and a view of the ocean. The room was painted a hunter's green complimenting the view, had an IKEA corner wall unit, beautiful sliding window panels and a just-varithaned teak parquet floor. The building is the best-situated in serene Park Merced (San Francisco), has a laundry facility ... and a gym. 

Ten months consisted of eight trips to the neighborhood mall with a single friend, one birthday dinner (thrown by me, complete with double chocolate truffle cake), one attempt to stop smoking (the patch wouldn't stick), one attempt to start an on-line jewelry distributorship, a hundred episode repeats of Golden Girls, hacking, wheezing and snoring. 

He was very good at snoring.

Ten months did not consist of  10-minute workouts on a treadmill, forms of socializing (mall treks excepted), visits to a doctor, or visits to any form of therapy. Nor any introspection whatsoever.

His unemployment ran out and his parents refused to give him any more money. His one follow-up for employment was so slow that the security guard company stopped calling. 

Yesterday, Baby was taken to animal control and thankfully picked up by an animal rescue team. Today, S settled into a homeless shelter.

PLD: Post Lump Depression

I'm now suffering from PLD - Post Lump Depression: the lack of energy and initiative in my roommate has effected my health. After putting my apartment, my space, in jeopardy for a long time. After hearing him snore while I was trying to accomplish things. After trying to energize a negative energy mass. After all these things and more, I'm not quite sure I have the requisite energy to get back to productive daily living. I know I will eventually gather myself up and produce again, but I resent the hole in time he produced - as if he inadvertently sucked out a small but critical part of my life. 

Negative Energy

When you deal with religion and politics, you deal with negative energy all the time: the righteous arrogance of people creates a formidable vacuum in one's soul. And when people tell you what you MUST do with your life, who you MUST love or MUST hate, who you MUST donate your energy to, who you MUST war against and destroy, the negative energy is toxic beyond belief. 

So which is MORE toxic? Lack of energy that saps more than the strength of the one who has no energy, or the negative energy of righteous politicians and religious figures? 

It depends on which one you can recover from. I can recover from the disaster of a roommate who didn't pay the rent and was depressing as hell in his sedentary life. Recovering from the machinations of righteous arrogance takes more persistence and determination.

I hope I'll survive.

Hypocrisy Hits The Skids: NRA Targets Protection Of President's Daughters

Media Matters 
Blog ››› January 16, 2013 3:09 PM EST ››› TIMOTHY JOHNSON
The National Rifle Association has released a four-and-a-half minute video in response to the proposals to curb gun violence unveiled by the Obama administration. Chock-full of fast cuts and given a heart-pounding soundtrack, the ad attacks members of the media for criticizing the NRA and calls Obama a hypocrite for protecting his children with armed guards.

In the Great Gun Debate, the NRA stands ...small: it's new efforts to engender more guns in schools has sparked a national furor and backfired against the organization.

We hope. But in all the furor over the NRA's criticism of Obama's Secret Service security for his two daughters Sasha and Malia, one factor has not yet been addressed: President Barack Obama has received more death threats than any other president and his family has received them as well.:

"...a woman who knew the Obamas' Hawaii vacation itinerary and threatened to "blow away" the First Lady was arrested a mile from where the First Family was staying. Others have threatened the Obama girls, Sasha and Malia."

Numerous death threats may be one reason why the President renewed a lifetime protection plan for himself and future presidents - a benefit that was stripped in 1994. Former President Bush now has more protection as well. 

Protection From Whom?

Ever since the assassination of President McKinley, the Secret Service has had the responsibility of protecting Presidents and their families from harm. Part of its duties is to monitor any threats against the families. There is no doubt, however, that the source of a majority of the threats against the lives of the current President and his family is racially and "survivalist" motivated: the paranoia of America has reached fever pitch and that has resulted in a greater number of threats.

From Imprecatory Prayers to Gun Site ads to Glenn Beck

Since 2008, Barack Obama has been called "demonspawn" and the "Anti-Christ" by Right wing pastors across the country. "Imprecatory prayers" (praying for the death or harm to come to someone) were voiced from pulpits (Faithful Word Baptist Church comes to mind) and more pastors have been pictured with guns as a statement of the Second Amendment than ever before.





Paranoia has hit the streets of America with pastors like Gary Cass ("You can't be Christian and not own a gun") and it is to pastors like Cass and Hagee that the President's protection of his family can be seen as a kind of reverse paranoia. In fact, with the likes of gun-toting pastors, it is surprising that the President is not even more suspicious of the Christian Right and its vehement adherence to the Second Amendment.

As well, Christian Right darlings like Sarah Palin have used gun sites and sharp-shooting promotions to foster animosity towards other politicians. The now infamous ad against Gabrielle Giffords using gun sites and a "hit list" sparked other ads against hated "liberal" politicians calling for stricter gun control laws.




The heated rhetoric of Right wing media such as Glenn Beck is also under scrutiny: the incident of an armed man about to blast away the ACLU and the Tides Foundation certainly indicated that President Obama was just as much as target in the minds of the Rowen Williamses of America.

Hypocrite?

The NRA as enabler for paranoia has been substantial. and well-documented. It's inability to correlate incidents such as the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, the arrest of Rowan Williams and the death threats to President Obama to its own demonizing is oddly pernicious to its own image, but also shows that it is slowly divorcing itself from reality:

the President and his family need protection from adherents of the NRA.

"F*ck Non-Believers! We'll Keep The Healing Medicines To Ourselves"

This is unbelievable! The hatred of The Christian Right extends to withholding life-saving medical technology from everyone else.

WWJD? Probably tell them to go f*ck themselves!



Evangelist Lance Wallnau announced on the Trinity Broadcasting Network’s Praise the Lord that God is giving Christians "technology that can heal diabetes" within months, along with technology “that is going to revolutionize our dependence on oil and energy.” However, Wallnau shared that these new discoveries will only be “given to Kingdom-minded believers” and not sold to benefit the general public.

We're Not As Free As We Think: Perhaps Religion Has Something To Do With It

Religion and Quality of Life: The Two Just Can't Seem To Come Together
The Fraser Institute and Glen Beck's The Blaze nail it: America is not # 1 in freedom and religion may have a lot to do with it.

The Fraser Institute just released an index of world freedom (Towards A Worldwide Index Of Human Freedom), which countries have more freedom than other countries. We're not #1. We're not #2. Actually, we're #7, just behind Ireland: Here are the top twenty (l-r in order of rank):

1. New Zealand, 2. Netherlands, 3. Hong Kong, 4. Australia, 5. Canada, 6. Ireland, 7. United States, 8. Denmark, 9. Japan, 10. Estonia, 11. Switzerland, 12. Norway, 13. Finland, 14. Austria, 15. Luxembourg, 16. Chile, 17. Iceland, 18. United Kingdom, 19. Slovakia, 20. Costa Rica.

Fraser's "freedoms" were divided into 2 main groups: "Personal Freedoms" and "Economic Freedoms." The subsets are below. Religious freedom (or more accurately, antipathy towards religion) was placed under the subset of "Relationship Freedoms," so the countries with the most freedoms were the ones with the least amount of persecution of religion or suppression of religious beliefs.

Of course, the Christian Right might have a field day with the fact that we're not #1 in religious freedom, but they'll have a sacred cow over the fact that other subsets included: women's freedom of movement, male-to-male relationships, female-to-female relationships, age of consent for homosexual couples, and adoption by homosexuals.
The Christian Right may also have trouble with a corresponding study published by Glen Beck's The Blaze: The Ten Most Atheistic Countries.

The Opiate Of The Masses Or The Suppression Of Freedom?

Leave it to Glen Beck to divulge more through inane statistics: in this case, much more than he would want. First off, some of the countries with the highest level of atheism have the highest levels of freedom, and while the Christian Right would argue that those freedoms include sins and "perversions" like homosexuality, most of the freedoms of the Fraser index are ones which it enjoys and proclaims sacrosanct. Furthermore, countries like Cameroon and Nigeria have the highest religious populations while having the lowest levels of freedoms. More complete indexes of over 120 countries show that poor nations with the lowest of levels of freedom tend to have higher religious populations. Indicative: Uganda, the stronghold of Pastor Rick Warren, "Prophet" Lou Engle and "Kill the Gays Bill" Scott Lively ranks 94th in level of freedoms. "Religious" countries like Greece and Romania also fare ill.

The parallel is fairly distinct: where religion is predominant, the level of personal and economic freedom is low. Of course, one might argue that Islam-dominated countries must account for a great deal of the world population in the lower strata of freedom, but overall numbers spread religious dominance across the board. It would seem that religion has a hand in suppressing more than just freedom for gays and lesbians. In many countries, it suppresses the media. In our own country, it suppresses democracy in that it opposes liberalism and demonizes it to an extreme degree.



The Revolt Against Religious Suppression

The rise of atheism is indicative of a reactions to religion. Witness Czech Republic: Prague was once known as "The Golden City" for the many gilded church spires dominating its skies. It was the site of the first Protestants (Hussites) and the event that jump-started the Thirty Years War (Protestants against Catholics). It is the home of The Infant of Prague and St. Vitus Cathedral, one of the world's most important gothic cathedrals. It houses the Monstrance of Loreto, a jewel of immense proportions consisting of 6200 diamonds. The rising rate of atheism in Ireland also indicates that country's reaction to the Catholic clergy's stranglehold on the public: shocking scandals involving priests, nuns, and whole organizations have rocked the Catholic Church in Ireland to its very core. And in the wake of those scandals, Ireland is discovering freedoms it never had before.

The Bottom Line
Actually there are two bottom lines:

#1 The United States May not be the greatest country on earth - at least as far as freedom is concerned (for a wonderful statement about the "We're #1" hubris of the U.S., see the video below).

#2.In which of the countries would you rather live?

It may come down to quality of life rather than quantity of religion.
(From "an index of freedom in the world"):

Personal Freedom

Security and Safety:
Government’s threat to a person
Society’s threat to a person
Threat to private property
Threat to foreigners

Movement:
Forcibly displaced populations
Freedom of foreign movement
Freedom of domestic movement
Women’s freedom of movement

Expression:
Press killing
Freedom of speech
Laws and regulations that influence media content
Political pressures and controls on media content
Dress code in public

Relationship freedoms:
Freedom of assembly and association
Parental authority
Government restrictions on religion
Social hostility toward religion
Male-to-male relationships
Female-to-female relationships
Age of consent for homosexual couples
Adoption by homosexuals

Economic freedom:
Personal choice
Voluntary exchange coordinate by markets
Freedom to enter and compete in markets
Protection of persons and their property from aggression by others

The Eviction Chronicles

Pt 1

He walked past my bedroom door.

“Hi.” I said, head turned only slightly in his direction.

“Hi” he said, breathlessly.

I thought I detected his wearing a jacket, but wasn’t quite sure if it was a sports coat or dark zip-up.

The difference would be huge – almost as huge as his bulk.

S. is 6’1” and 285 lbs of pure Sedentary (hence the “S”). As in immovable. As in motionless. Jabba-the-Hut motionless.

And S is the reason I am being evicted out a wonderful space in San Francisco.

The sports coat? If it was a sports coat, that meant that he actually got a job working as a sedentary security guard. If it was a zip up, that meant that he had only gone out for cigarettes. If it was a sports coat, that meant I might get paid a pittance of his back rent. If it was a zip-up, that meant another day of using up gas and electricity on my bill. If it was a sports coat, that meant that three visits to Goodwill searching for the right size finally paid off. If it was a zip-up, that meant he probably gave up looking for the sports coat.  

Today my day was filled with angst, anger and advice: “You’re going to face eviction eventually, but in the meantime, you have to get S. out of there so you can get another roommate and save up enough to move out.” Before that stern lecture, I spent four hours writing, cleaning the kitchen, writing, prepping for my stint at the Eviction Defense Collaborative, and doing sit-ups – all to the sounds of snoring. 

Eviction in San Francisco is an exhilarating experience fraught with legalese, intrigue and what Glen Beck terms as “social justice.” Eviction means months of the aforementioned angst, with the possibility of settling into something else (with new roommates), homelessness, or living in an SRO (Single Room Occupancy). SROs range from rat-infested rooms to clean boxes with shared baths – all filled with people who, to some, are teetering on the brink of irrelevance. Oh, some make it out, but most spiral down into near non-entities whose only goal is to get their cigarettes/beer/chips/frozen dinner at the corner market without feeling totally ripped off.

To me: S-R-O = D-I-E

I live in an anachronistically serene, antiseptic, mid-century modern section of San Francisco – Park Merced. Populated by the old (retirees) and the young (students from San Francisco State University next door), it is 108 acres of ocean-view property managed by a new, hard-assed company keeping to PM’s roots.

You see, Park Merced was once owned by Leona Helmsly.

The new company was installed to make sure everyone toed the line: “Pay or Quit” notices are handed out when your rent is only minutes overdue. Late fees are gleefully added to your account and legal shenanigans (“let’s work out a payment plan with a SLIGHT fee”) are common. Everything is designed to keep[ you in line, even their facebook page.

Part II: “Don’t post it on facebook, dimwit!”

"I'm Gonna Start Killing People": Tactical Response "Patriot" Video Warns America.

Inviting the FBI to investigate you for threatening bodily harm to American citizens may not be the smartest thing to do.

Then again, nobody expects "Patriot Movement" or "survivalists" to be smart. Lock-and-load mentalities are what they are. And in the video below, we get to see a lock-and-load mentality at its most brutal and its most irrational: James Yeager, "CEO" of Tactical Response blatantly states that if President Obama tries to take away his assault weapons, he will act as a "patriot" and "start killing people."

The video has sparked a furor. "Unhinged" "Nutjob" "Anarchist" "Far too many fries short of a Happy Meal." but for all the response, it is REAL, and everyone must deal with it. The YouTube Channel for Tactical Response has since taken down the video and replaced it with "gonna start killing people" edited out, but the force of the video has shaken Americans to their very core.

It All Started With...

A FOX News Headline:

Biden to meet with NRA after suggestion White House could act on gun control 

without Congress

Which devolved into A Drudge Report headline featuring Hitler and Stalin:



Nice going, Drudge. Nazis, Commies, Dictators are all piled in a convoluted mess for the lock-and-load mind.

What FOX and Drudge failed to point out was that Biden's suggestion was in small attempts by the White House in gun control and that the White House does not have the power to exert executive orders concerning higher gun control (such as banning assault weapons). The WH might make a suggestion to the Congress on that matter, but James Yeager's representatives would have to vote on it: a far cry from "dictator".

The Old Paranoia Renewed

We began to see the results of the paranoia that struck after Sandy Hook. Yeager, a weapons salesman and trainer, is now the extreme result: "patriot movement" and "survivalist" hate groups have sprung up all over the country at an alarming rate in the past four years, with people like Yeager ready to blow at the slightest mention of curtailing Second Amendment rights.

And he followed on the tails of another ranter, Alex Jones. Jones and his tirade on Piers Morgan's CNN program and on Piers Morgan himself (he wants to have Piers deported for supporting gun control) went viral - but in the wrong direction, displaying the NRA as completely unhinged. What Yeager and Jones may have done, in fact,, is to sway the public away from the tenets of the NRA and more towards Obama's plans for greater gun control:

     "I can't think of a better advertisement for gun control than Alex Jones' interview last night," Morgan told CNN on Tuesday. "It was startling, it was terrifying in parts, it was completely deluded. It was based on a premise of making Americans so fearful that they all rush out to buy even more guns ... the kind of twisted way that he turned everything into this assault on the Second Amendment is exactly what the gun rights lobby people do."

It also drowns out NRA chief Wayne LaPierre's proposal that there should be more guns in schools: can you see a James Yeager standing guard at your local school with a "stand your ground" attitude? The image is one of frightening paranoia resulting in bloodshed. Greater if the school happens to be in an inner city. 

What of Yeager?

If James Yeager is questioned by the FBI, cries of Ruby Ridge will undoubtedly surface and he will become a "patriot" hero. If the NRA decides to take the quiet road, Yeager will be dismissed as a "nutjob" and "renegade". Sides will be taken, for sure and perhaps the ultimate loss will be sanity.

In an ironic promo for a Tactical Response gun training DVD:

"FINALLY - a DVD training system that trains the brain before the body!" 

 Right.

Are Atheists More Christian Than Christians?

Listen to this dialogue on Atheist Experience. Even the "piece of shit" comment is something we've all been itching to say to a Christofascist.

Rabid for Guns: Alex Jones Gives Piers Morgan Reason To Have A Bodyguard

Right Wing talk show host Alex Jones wants Piers Morgan out of the country and gave Morgan good reason to have a bodyguard. 

When someone as rabid-for-guns as Alex Jones - "More Guns Less Crime" - goes on to "debate" Piers Morgan, the result is a one-man tirade that is, at times, incomprehensible. Witness the spewing of "facts and figures" that Jones thinks will help him in his cause to get Morgan deported for daring to take on the issue of gun control. 

Q.: If Jones had a gun at this precise moment, do you think Morgan would be alive? 

Hope to Survive? Or... Survive To Hope?

View from my window out to the ocean

Philosophies emerge at such times. 

Survival: it's not just a state of existence or a state of mind, but a state of grace - a reason for being that is given by the Creator and a reason for helping others achieve that same state. For what were we put on earth for but to survive? 

And survive well - to the best of our abilities, to help those who have less means of survival to survive well, so that they in turn can help others. 

That's it. 

Simplistic, but that's my take. Sounds rather religion-less too, but it's not: even if your religion purports to "save" your soul, it must first save the entire being, body AND soul, for to save one and not the other is certainly not what a created being is destined for. Saving one and not the other is wasteful and renders the one unsaved meaningless. 

So where does that leave Hope? In the continuum of body and soul saving, Hope for ourselves should be placed before survival. Then Hope for others' survival can follow. Hope is a tool, not an end. 

Again, simplistic. Some would say too simplistic because this interplay of hope and survival, both body and soul does not involve religious ritual or formal prayer. It does not involve churches and saints. Indeed, it does not even involve Scripture or hymns of praise. 

Pity.

Bishop Desmond Tutu Has Just Stepped Into Deep, Deep Doo-Doo

The Christian Right will discount the meanderings of the Dalai Lama because, of course, he is not a CHRISTIAN!!! But they will go ape with Bishop Desmond Tutu's latest discussion with His Holiness.

“And you have to remember that religion is of itself neither good nor bad. Christianity has produced the Ku Klux Klan. Christianity has produced those who killed doctors that perform abortions. Religion is a morally neutral thing. It is what you do with it. It is like a knife, a knife is good when you use it for cutting up bread for sandwiches. A knife is bad when you stick it in somebody’s gut. Religion is good when it produces a Dalai Lama, a Mother Teresa, a Martin Luther King.”

The entire banter between the two is really, really worth the read, and it's in the Dalai' Lama's new book, The Wisdom of Compassion, which I will read as soon as possible. The title alone is worth it. 

While Tutu may not have to get body guards to protect him from rifle-wielding trailer trash, it is safe to say that he will be criticized as NOT Christian in any way. He will eb excoriated from every pulpit imaginable - or merely discounted as "demonic, liberal, immoral trash."

Proselytizing Death On Trial: Scott Lively Goes To Court Today For Crimes Against Uganda's Gays. Will Anybody Follow?

No one has done more to orchestrate this situation than Scott Lively. Since 2002, he has worked systematically to strip away human rights protections from LGBT people in Uganda and elsewhere around the world, to silence them and make it impossible for them to organize and defend their rights. While he peddles the usual, age-old lie that LGBT people are pedophiles in order to deliberately provoke the rage that feeds the growing repression and violence, he combines that myth with a new twist, that gays were also responsible for the Holocaust and that Hitler’s Germany is what can happen when a gay movement grows unchecked.- Vince Warren, Washington Post.

WHEN YOU COME DOWN TO IT, IT'S STILL KILL A QUEER FOR CHRIST

The career of Scott Lively is based upon two things: a lousy, dysfunctional childhood and the most homophobic book ever written. Homosexuality was a scapegoat for one and a sadistic boon for the other. Mistreated by a mentally ill father, Lively descended into alcohol at an early age and was basically homeless by the time he was 19. After having "found Jesus Christ" he went on to become the president of the California Chapter of the American Family Association and to author,with Holocaust revisionist Kevin Abram, The Pink Swastika.

Homosexuals Founded The Nazi Party and Were Enlisted For Their Extreme Cruelty.

So says the Pink Swastika. It also posited that Hitler was gay* and that homosexuals were NOT persecuted and exterminated in the Holocaust. The Pink Triangle barely, if ever, existed. Needless to say, the book (some of it based upon an earlier work in 1945 - Germany's National Vice) was roundly criticized by many historians as a "pernicious myth" and a "flat-out lie". Needless to say, it embraced by Christian Right churches and organizations as ... the gospel truth.

"I know more about this subject than anyone else in the world."

Lively:

"While we cannot say that homosexuals caused the Holocaust, we must not ignore their central role in Nazism," write Lively and Abrams. "To the myth of the 'pink triangle' — the notion that all homosexuals in Nazi Germany were persecuted — we must respond with the reality of the 'pink swastika.'"

Since it's publication, Lively has become one of the world's leading holocaust revisionists. and has billed himself as an "expert" in homosexuality and its causes, traveling to ill-educated and third world countries among them Latvia, Russia, Moldova and Uganda. He founded Latvia's Watchmen on the Walls, a rabidly anti-gay group. One incident is telling:

When in Latvia, Lively described the killing of an alleged gay man by members of Watchmen on the Walls, (in Sacramento, CA) his Latvian audience cheered. Lively decried the cheering and applause with a wimpy "now, now."

Kampala

In 2009, Lively and a group of evangelical Christians held a widely-attended conference focusing on the evils of homosexuality, the "gay agenda" and how homosexuality must be criminalized in order to stop its evil rise:

       “when [homosexuals] see a child that’s from a broken home, it’s like they have a flashing neon sign over their head.”

Uganda's First Lady, Madame Mouseveni, Minister David Bahati, clergy and legislators became incensed that anything like homosexuality could ever take over their nation. One month later, the infamous "Kill the Gays" bill was born.

Uganda On Trial

While Human Rights organizations, activists and the United Nations were aghast and the U.S. Congress mentioned sanctions against Uganda, Christian Right groups were quick to come to its defense with the reasoning that no entity had a right to tell Uganda how to control their societal affairs - especially if it was based upon (the Christian) religion. Nationally known Pastor Rick warren was silent on the affair and was pressured for months to speak out against the bill.

In the meantime, gays and lesbians were persecuted, people started going house-to-house trying to "expose homosexuals" (part of the proposed bill calls for sentences up to three years for not reporting homosexual activity), a prominent gay-friendly bishop's life was threatened and David Kato, one of Uganda's leading activists, was murdered. It is these actions for which Lively is being sued by Sexual Minorities of Uganda (SMUG) under the the U.S.'s Alien Torte Statute. Lively's defense will be handled by Liberty Counsel, Jerry Falwell's legal arm from Liberty University.

@theCCR will be live tweeting the event using the hashtag #StoptheHate

Allies in Hate, Allies in Death

Cloaked under "free speech" and "freedom of religion", Lively's allies have been promoting his "ministry" (Abiding Truth Ministries) and The Pink Swastika for years. Chief among them are Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, labeled a hate group by the SPLC for its promotion of lies against the LGBT community.** Also in line for Lively's admiration society is Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and another "Kill the Gays" instigator, "prophet" Lou Engle. Reactions to the proceedings from these and other anti-gay leaders should be quite interesting.

The Humor In It All

If anyone can find humor in Lively's machinations and assertions, it is The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Lively agreed to be interviewed for the program and its hilarious segment. Indeed, the stupidity of ANYONE such as Lively acquiescing to a feature on The Daily Show is monumental...as well as hilarious. 

At the same time, however, the stupidity of Lively, his assertions, his dealings with Uganda have been serious - deadly serious.

There will be no laughter during the the day's proceedings - only shock at the results of Lively's deadly proselytizing. 

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

*Quite an unusual take since Hitler "authorized an edict in 1941 prescribing the death penalty—yes, the death penalty—for SS and police members found guilty of gay activity." Also:

In 1942, the death penalty was instituted for homosexuality. Offenders in the German military were routinely shot. "That wasn't a punishment," Himmler explained, "but simply the extinguishing of abnormal life. It had to be got rid of, just as we pull out weeds, throw them on a heap, and burn them."

** Fischer himself has been a one-man hate group against gays, Native Americans and, of course, Muslims.

Intelligence For Sale: Why Andrew Sullivan's Decision To Go Subscription Was Sad ... But Sensible

Why on earth would anyone pay $19.99 to read the bitchy
whines of @sullydish ? Hilariously deluded vanity flight
into obscurity. - Tweet from Piers Morgan

Andrew Sullivan does not bitch (much) nor does he whine. No one would ever call the waaambulance on him. Few would ever dare to debate him. Andrew Sullivan is an anomaly, to be sure: he is a conservative with a mind and (most importantly) a soul. He is a gay Catholic who abhors the machinations of Rat-zinger. He is a man who overcame an addiction (Sarah's Palin's pregnancy/birth story), although he still struggles from time-to-time with anti-Palin impulses.

The moment Andrew Sullivan announced that he was leaving The Daily Beast and "going subscription" the WTF police came after him, spawning a bitch slap from the likes of Piers Morgan, even though his greatest detractors also despise Piers Morgan (esp. dead Breitbarters). You can read some of the reactions here at Twitchy Media. But with the success of his first foray into subscription journalism (he's already garnered 30% of his goal - $900k - in less than two days), Sullivan does not have to defend himself: his fans (like Dan Savage) have spoken.

I'm saddened by his move, however, not because his decision was in any way a slap in the face to me, one of his ardent readers, but simply because at this time I can't afford it: the $20 has to go to the feeding of my cats this month, and I'm staring eventual eviction in the face (so dire are my straits right now). I'm saddened, but also heartened to know that Sullivan is a practical, reasoning, as well as gifted writer. I like knowing that the writer I admire most is practical and reasoning.

Intelligence

Unlike a lily of the field, intelligence (in all its glory) is forced to toil and spin. At times, it is even forced to become a tiny bit capitalistic for it knows that in order to help others survive it must survive. Dickens knew that. Einstein knew that. Neither lived on bread and water. Andrew Sullivan lives in New York and anything less than $150k a year is bread and water - in New York.

So why is anyone begrudging Andrew Sullivan's move to subscription? Why is anyone calling the move "selling out"? "egotistical"? or "deluded vanity"?

Why is intelligence - like some college professor - held down to the ranks of the financial lower middle class?

Jealous insecurity, I think.

To Andrew Sullivan: I have always admired, quoted, linked your work. I will re-read, re-quote, re-link your work until such time as I can afford to subscribe. You deserve that much.

Vandalism: Emotional and Otherwise

(Note: This was cross-posted as a diary for OpEdNews)

Blogs are places to rant. They are places to discuss. They are places to emote feelings - and reason. All these things can be done separately, but if they come together in one blog, it can be an awesome/fearful place to be.

Today, someone vandalized a garden I've grown for the community, the back of my building. It has a design made of ornamental cabbages, kale, various flowers and plants and acrylic rock. I know the vandalism is deliberate since it was done after I had posted a sign about previous vandalism. I've now posted a sign to the effect that if it happens again, I will plow the entire garden under since I am not about to learn a lesson in futility.

Below are some pics I must share in my rant against senseless destruction.

But this post has something else to reflect upon: the emotional vandalism that tried to take place in Maryland and failed ... miserably.

The Westboro Baptist clan has tried its hand at emotional vandalism before, but the last two times have been met with extraordinary opposition: in Newtown, the official hate group was forced to abandon it's protest after witnessing the "wall" amassed outside their hotel room window. In Maryland - where it picketed against same-sex marriages beginning - it met with counter-protesters organized by a local church:

Fortunately for the state's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, more than 250 demonstrators participated in a counter-protest staged by St. Anne's Episcopal Church, which is located not far from the courthouse.

The satisfaction of seeing Westboro foiled - again - lies not in the protest itself, but in its organization by a church. True, St. Anne's will now be forever labeled a "demonic, progressive" church not only by Phelps but also by the rabidly homophobic Christian Right crowd, but it is a Christian Church helping to set the trend that even Newt Gingrich admitted was inevitable.

The latest protests have also sparked a petition to the White House, asking it to revoke Westboro's tax-exempt status and declare it a hate group.

This year may be the year that we can get the vandals off the streets and our of our minds.

I wish we could get them out of our gardens.

The 50 Chumasero Memorial Garden, the heart, its placement, my vandal rants.

David Barton's Latest Virtue: Hatred. All He Needs To Do Now Is To Team Up With The NRA and Gary Cass

So we've got to get to the point where tolerance is seen as a sin because we're tolerating a lot stuff that destroys our families, that destroys our own character and we can't tolerate that stuff. We have to get back to the point where hate is a virtue, at least certain kinds of hate. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil and we need to have a hatred of things and get off this fence of having no passion about anything. You know, I tolerate anything, I'm not going to have a passion good or bad, I'm not going to hate anything ... We just can't do that and we've got to get back to that same type of intolerance, that we're going to be intolerant of liberalism. - DAVID BARTON

David Barton has said (ad nauseum) that America is a Christian nation. However, between Barton's lines (as well as lies - as in his book, The Jefferson Lies), it's evident that he has long been an advocate of a Christian ONLY nation. His Dominionism is so obvious it reeks. He also insists that EVERYTHING is mentioned in the Bible (somehow my computer got left out, but there you go). What has been lacking in Barton's ideology - until now - is the means for carrying out his Dominionism.

Let's hate liberalism is an open invitation to hate liberals (i.e. gays, feminists, pro-choice, etc.), but Barton's adherents may be too dense to get it. Let's hope that none of them listen to him and Gary "You-can't be Christian and not own a gun" Cass.

Looking Forward To The Hate: Getting Back To Work In 2013. Will Christian Right Hate Finally Implode?

THE HOPES AND DREAMS OF

25 FAITH-BASED HATE GROUPS

Dealing With The Past To Combat The Future

In the Bring-It-On fashion of Pat Robertson during his "700 Club" broadcasts, bloggers on religion and politics like myself have to gird ourselves for the intense and the ridiculous. Unlike Pat Robertson, however, we can't afford to be righteously arrogant in our dealings with hypocrisy.

Nor can we afford to be senile.

It would be a relief to think that Robertson represents the "social conservative" movement: a doddering mass of self-righteousness, hypocrisy and delusions of grandeur bestowed by God on his way out of the mainstream, but the moment we think that, we've lost a battle with a ferocious tiger that's been wounded but is not dead by any means.

And when one looks at the ferocity of the Christian Right's attacks on America's progressive society in 2012, any wounds inflicted on it come off as minimal: from Pastor Dennis Terry's famous exhortation to "Get Out!" to Pastor Gary Cass' canon law of "You can't be a Christian and not own a gun," animosity and aggression were rampant. Pitiful cries of persecution coming from broadcasters and news henchmen who fulminated against the building of mosques, supported the idea of "legitimate rape", railed against same-sex marriage as the downfall of civilization, and called President Obama the Anti-Christ brought WTF's from the more rational and reality-based among us.

But they persisted ... and grew. 

The Hopes and Dreams of Hate Groups for 2013

The number of hate groups rose in 2013 as well as the number of crimes ... and hate crime enablers. And to view the intensity - the worst of the worst - we must look at some of the largest groups who concentrate on hating one of the smaller groups in society: faith-based organizations and their fixation on all things homosexual.

According to the SPLC, the follwing groups are faith-based anti-gay hate groups The wikipedia entries are accompanied by their website links and - if applicable - their own "One Man Hate Group" designee)

Abiding Truth Ministries - One Man Hate Group: Scott Lively. After building a minor reputation as a debunked author/researcher, Lively's continuing focus is on inculcating foreign (nee third world) countries. He was instrumental in Uganda's "Kill The Gays" bill.

American Family Association (website) - One Man Hate Group: Bryan Fischer. The AFA is joined at the hip to the Family Research Council and between the two, garner over $50 million of donations per year.

American Vision (website)- One Man Hate Group: Gary DeMar. While actively touting creation science (Adam and Eve cavorted dinosaurs, Pebbles and Bam Bam), it also strenuously promotes the death penalty for all homosexuals.

Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (website) - One Man Hate Group: Matt Barber - "Countering The Truth About The Homosexual Activist Agenda" is a study in convoluted reasoning and interviews with other hate group leaders. Another One Man Hate Group, Peter LaBarbera (aka "Porno Pete"***) is linked to other organizations.

Bethesda Christian Institute (website) - a pseudo intellectual church run by a pseudo-rational thinker, J.V. Foster.

Chalcedon Foundation (website) - For a while, the Chalcedon Foundation was the most dreaded affiliate because of its Reconstructionist views: absolutely no one wanted to be connected with it. Founded by the "Father of Reconstructionism" R.J Rushdooney, the concept of Reconstructionism (as Dominionism or Seven Mountains Theology) is making a comeback and is probably the most theocratic organization of the bunch.

Dove World Outreach Center (website) - One Man Hate Group: Terry Jones. Too much publicity has been given to the Quran-burning pastor who was kicked out of Germany by his own cult. And that publicity has been deadly.

Faithful Word Baptist Church (website) - One Man Hate Group (literally, since there are not many who follow his strip mall church): Pastor Steven Anderson

Family Research Council (website) - One Man Hate Group: Tony Perkins. Even with ties to white separatists, this group (Founded by Focus On Th Family) continues to influence politics with its anti-gay political hate-fest, the Values Voters Summit.

Family Research Institute (website) - One Man Hate Group: Paul Cameron. Being debunked and kicked out of professional institutions on a regular basis has never stopped Cameron from spreading the lies that are used by the likes of the Family Research Council. E.G: according to Cameron, I'm a medical wonder, since I'm over 65 and the average age of homosexuals (according to his "research"**) is 42.

Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (website) - Besides having the dumbest looking website featuring animated doves, this organization with it's "peace" symbolism is probably the most disingenuous.

Illinois Family Institute (website) - Connected with American Family Association and Americans For Truth About Homosexuality. Enough said.

Jewish Political Action Committee (website - inactive)

MassResistance (website) - Rabidly "pro-family" and rabidly anti-gay, their site takes an "American Patriot" stance and looks to be connected with the Patriot Movement itself but supposedly is not.

Mission: America (website) - One Man Hate Group: Linda Harvey. Harvey's main target is parents: children must not be exposed to homosexuality, gay teachers oir doctors.

Parents Action League (website) - Concentrating on the Anoka-Hennepin School District in Minnesota, the irony of which is not lost to people following gay teen suicides and bullying.

National Organization for Marriage (website) - Along with American Family Association and One Million Moms (not designated a hate group but decidedly anti-gay), this organization's campaign against same-sex marriage has exploded with boycotts of retailers across the country. It's boycott of Starbuck's attempted to go global but fizzled within the first weeks.

Public Advocate of the United States (website) - One Man Hate Group: Eugene Delgaudio.

SaveCalifornia.com (website) - This organization attempts to save California children from "Sexual Brainwashing"


Sons of Thundr (Faith Baptist Church) (website) - With graphic depictions of aborted fetuses and auto accidents (due to alcoholism), you don't want to see what they think of gays and AIDS.

Tom Brown Ministries (website)

Traditional Values Coalition (website) - One Man Hate Group: Lou Sheldon. This organization and its founder can best be termed as the granddaddy of anti-gay faith-based hate groups, going back to 1984. Although tarnished considerably during the Jack Abramoff scandal, it continues to tout over 43,000 affiliated churches.

True Light Pentecost Church (website) - When you don't believe in Christmas or Easter and dress like a demented Mennonite or Mother Theresa you're a cult.

United Families International (website)

Westboro Baptist Church (website) - One Man Hate Group: Fred Phelps. Volumes have been written about the Man Addicted To Hate who catapulted to the Hate Hall of Fame by picketing Matthew Sheperd's Funeral.

Windsor Hills Baptist Church (website)

You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International (website) - One Man Hate Group: Bradlee Dean. When you play rock hate music at school assemblies under the guise of "education" you are a fraud. When you state that "on average, they [homosexuals] molest 117 people before they’re found out" you're a hate group.
As you can see, the groups run from the highly organized (Family Research Council), to the hopelessly inept (Faithful Word Baptist Church*) and just plain weird (True Light Pentecostal), but it is their intensity across the board that provoke discrimination, violence, bullying and suicide. All in the name of God, of course.

Reading their websites can be a confusing amalgam of "we-hate-them-but-we-love-them" platitudes, faulty (if not outwardly fake) research, junk science, cherry-picked quotes from Scripture, rages against a "Homosexual Agenda" that never was, and ubiquitous family portraits (sometimes unintentionally hilarious) Some tout a great deal of books (inspirational or otherwise) by their pastors and spiritual leaders, few published by any mainstream publisher.

But confusing as they might seem, the hopes and dreams of their hate groups can be read between the lines:

Family Research Council:

     "To make matters worse, President Obama's fiscal cliff deal would impose a marriage penalty on many American families. For real, long term solutions to our nation's fiscal problems, the government should not be working to further dissuade couples from getting married."

IOW (In other words): we're losing the battle for same-sex marriage, but we will continue to attack Obama, if even from an oddly tangential standpoint. Our 2013 goal will be to go after the legislators who even think of giving in to the dreaded :homosexual agenda."

Linda Harvey, Mission America:

"Our hearts should be torn apart by the schoolroom lies that spawn callous disregard for God and each other, embedded in lessons on evolution (“you are just a higher animal”), lessons covering every loony worldview except Western civilization (“white male racism and patriarchy”) and “anti-bullying” programs that are often hijacked as vehicles for children to embrace or applaud homosexuality."

IOW: Since schools are evil spawns of secular humanist homosexuals our goal in 2013 (barring home schooling) is to root them out and sack them. They are un-Christian and certainly un-American. Note: Linda Harvey has said previously that there is no "proof that homosexuals exist."Other One Man Hate Groups To Watch Out For

Being listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center has, for some, become a badge of honor - and indication that they are true Christian Right zealots and proud of it. And while some others have not made the grade, they are certainly worth mentioning as One Man Hate Groups (links to related articles)

David Barton

Cindy Japan-Is Shaped like A Dragon Jacobs

Martin Ssempe, the "Eat Da Poo-Poo Pastor"

Ken Hutcherson

Franklin Graham

San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

Shattering Those Hopes And Dreams: Back To The Wounded Tiger

Although hate is on the rise, and enablers are on the attack, many people have been lulled into a sense of complacency: after all, marriage equality is making strides and given time ... The problem is that such complacency masks what is currently happening and will continue: organizations such as the Family Research Council will continue to demonize gays to the point of suicide (esp. gay teen suicide****). Pastors will continue to make inane comments about putting homosexuals behind barbed wire fences. Christian broadcasters will continue to excoriate gays as Nazi-driven perverts.

And Pat Robertson will continue to maintain that gays are demonically possessed.

The Hopes and Dreams of Hate Groups are ready to reap the benefits of the intensity. But they will be shattered if we counter that intensity with these weapons:

Vigilance   Determination   Education   Activism

*Pastor Anderson's claim to fame, you will recall, was praying for the death of Obama. In statements that would make a rock look intelligent, he said that homosexuals recruit through molestation and should be executed.
** Cameron still sticks to his research - which was garnered during the Age of AIDS from reading gay newspaper obituaries.
*** LaBarbera is known to attend events such as the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco in order to take pictures and collect "material" (note: his collection of sex toys is said to be FABULOUS!
**** Or as Dan Savage put it: "Tony Perkins sits every day on a pile of dead gay kids ... and h,e calls himself a Christian."