Month: November 2010

NOM Approved my Comment

· 2 Comments ·

Imagine my shock. I noticed this on my blog statistics page:

Blog Statistics
Blog Statistics

Note that second log, a referral from the NOM Blog? So I had to go and check and sure enough my comment is now missing the awaiting approval tag.

Comment Approved
Comment Approved

Some guy who goes by the name of Don on there tries saying we’re not persecuted. I have to bring this up.

I once worked for the state’s top law enforcement agency. I had dealings with the FBI’s CJIS division and here’s what I can tell you. A lot goes unreported or under-reported by local police so the FBI doesn’t catch EVERYTHING.

And persecution includes the statements made by NOM, FRC, AFA et al.

Look at the young LGBT folks committing suicide because they feel persecuted. Look at the violence committed against LGBT people on a regular basis yet Don won’t listen to any of that. Oh no, he’d rather push falsehoods. Just like Tony Perkins of the FRC with his falsehood about the American College of Pediatricians. If you didn’t know, the ACP is comprised of religiously bigoted pediatricians. The actual group is the American Academy of Pediatricians.

But by using a similar sounding name, Perkins is trying to lean the public AGAINST we LGBT people. So I’d love for Don to comment here and try to counter this. But he won’t because he’s a coward who blots out his email and contact info.

DADT, what the hell is the problem?

· 1 Comment ·

This whole study, then debate, then bury in peat, wait six months, etc. to let openly LGB soldiers serve is ridiculous.

Other countries let LGB people serve and they didn’t do months of study and debate. No they just said “This is out policy.” They didn’t let their military vote on it.

But then there’s this little factoid. The U.S. military is loaded with fundie Christians, particularly the Air Force.

And then of course we the Marine Commandant saying he doesn’t want LGB to be able to serve openly. Honey, if any of the branches were to be known for it’s bottoms, it’s the Marines. They seem to have a steady supply of them.

So explain to me why our men in arms cannot serve openly and why there’s ever so much hand wringing and grimacing going on about it? We’re here, we’re queer, get used to it.

NOM Blog calls the SPLC rating an “absurd distraction”

· 4 Comments ·

If one wants to talk about the absurd, perhaps we should talk about NOM a bit.

Here is the comment I posted on that NOM Blog. I wonder how long it’ll stay up but I’ve already replicated it across facebook and here on my blog:

It irks me that I have to state the obvious; but you are a HATE Group. SPLC is just giving you enough rope to hang yourself.

You just don’t understand that civil rights cut both ways. It allows you to spout your religious bovine effluent that influences your views, and it allows me to marry the person of my choice. Pretty simple in a civil society. The thing is, you want an unbalanced society where the rights of one group trump those of another.

But I’ve noted NOM’s central tenet is the children. All of you at NOM are fearful that if kids find out that there are in fact gay people around and that those gay people are really no different other than who they love, that we LGBT people will become more acceptable.

You abhor that fact so much that you’ll all make the most ridiculous statements concerning the consequences for the children but yet you won’t address Maggie Gallagher having a child out of wedlock, or better yet that you will not comment on childless couples be it age or other.

It shows your hypocrisy regarding marriage and children. In essence it boils to the fact that you HATE LGBT people. That’s right you hate us. You can put on your smarmy sweet smile and offer us drinks on a hot summer day, but at the base of it all, you’re all haters. Every last one of you.

And yes, I did call out Gallagher on her child out of wedlock. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander!

TSA At The ‘Tipping Point’: Passenger Anger At Airport Pat-Downs Threatens To Boil Over

· 4 Comments ·


You know TSA is so concerned with the aircraft it is almost as though the terminal or even the entry point to the airport is a secondary concern.

The aim of terrorism is to shake peoples beliefs in their safety thereby having an economic impact on the intended area. So what’s to stop a terrorist bombing the entry point of an airport while people are standing in line waiting to be scanned or frisked? On a good day you might get a couple hundred people that are prime targets.

Yet TSA seems to completely miss this aspect. It’s security theater, nothing more.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Another incredible stretch by the Republicans

· 3 Comments ·

I’m just sitting here stunned after reading that one of the Republican priorities is to eliminate birthright citizenship. Wait, what?

It’s sponsored by Republican Representative Steve King of Iowa. This guy is a serious asshole.

He wants to focus on the “subject to the jurisdiction” part. Need I mention that even illegal aliens are also subject to the jurisdiction or maybe Mr. King’s logic doesn’t extend that far.

I can see the chilling effect this would have even here in RI. Our newly elected mayor in Providence would have to vacate the seat because he wouldn’t have citizenship. Several of our elected councilmen, representatives and senators might also be in serious jeopardy if such a hateful bill passes in the U.S. Congress.

It’s all bluster though since Republicans do not control the Senate. So we’re in for a couple of years of political bluster. Thing is, the Democrats would do well to record and utilize everything the Republicans in the house are doing, because I’m sure it’ll play well with their constituencies, a large part of which might be Latino.

This relates to another post I wrote a little while back which made the supposition that white America has lost it’s mind over the fact that a black man was elected President. It’s really become interesting to see the asinine spouting of Republicans lately.

Another of their pet issues is the 14th Amendment. Yeah, I can see how repealing that would be a very bad precedent but there is on silver lining should they manage to do so. Not only do people of color lose their rights if the 14th is repealed, but so too corporations.

Yeah, that would get VERY interesting.

Another day in Boston

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This time around just Keyron and I. Had to hit the Haymarket because I’ve been charged with making the Thanksgiving lasagna this year. And I want the sauce to be good so I’ve got 9lbs of plum tomatoes, a whole mess of basil, and that peeled garlic again.

I think when all is processed out I’ll get about 8 to 10 cups which is PLENTY of tomato sauce to make a lasagna. To put it into perspective it’s more than a half gallon of sauce. It’s so easy to do too though this time I’m going to have to do it in two batches.

I usually start by chopping up the tomatoes into little chunks. Then I chiffonade the basil. Mix it all together in my big 6qt. stainless steel bowl with a few tablespoons of olive oil, about 1/2 tablespoon of salt per pound of tomatoes, pepper to taste, and even a little garlic powder.

Mix it all up and then lay it out on a baking sheet pan. Into a 350F oven for at least an hour, if not more. What you’re looking for here is that the tomatoes have exuded their juice and the juices are starting to condense. It’ll look similar to that below. You have to watch this one. Here’s what it looks like prior to being placed in the oven:

Before the Oven
Before the Oven

When you remove it from the oven it should look a bit like this:

Roasted
Roasted

When it reaches the stage shown above it’ ready to process. Plum tomatoes don’t seem to have a lot of seeds so I just run it all through the food processor using the chopper blade. You’ll end up with something like this:

The Finished Sauce
The Finished Sauce

Enjoy! And you have to admit, doesn’t this look better than the stuff you buy in a jar?

And yes I’ve posted these pix before but they’re total food porn and deserve to be shared again.

Fuck you Brian Brown

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I mean it, fuck you and your little dog Christopher Plante too. Saying that economic issues trump civil rights issues, really???

You can listen to Brown and Plante wax on about the children, and about how our rights aren’t an issue. I seem to recall hearing the same from openly gay Speaker of the House in RI, Gordon Fox that civil rights were trumped by the states economic crisis.

Civil rights should NEVER be put to a vote. Ever. If in fact we could we’d see things against gay people, immigrants etc.

I am tired of the shit put forth by NOM and other groups like the AFA and FRC. I want us to raise enough money so that we can shout down these bigots. I’d love for a group to have the money to dog NOM’s little bigot bus with own buses that put forth true equality.

As to changing RI’s constitution, good fucking luck! It’s a very elaborate process that makes it deliberately difficult to get a ballot measure up let alone a vote to repeal our rights.

As to the African American community overwhelmingly against gay marriage is bullshit. How do I know? Because my SO is black. His family accepts me as one of their own. Imagine that. In their eyes we are already married.

It’s the African American pastors like that idiot Bishop Harry Jackson in DC spouting on about it. To him I’d say don’t you have anything better to rail against when there is still rampant discrimination against people of color in this country.

And Chris Plante – if you didn’t use fear tactics in your campaigns against the LGBT community maybe your measures wouldn’t have so easily passed. And the margins with which you got your agenda forward, well lets just say it’s statistically very interesting.

Consider the confusion on Prop 8 in California. Same in Maine. It makes me so happy that putting up a ballot issue is incredibly difficult here in RI.

And another note, the callers in support of the NOM position were interesting. You could tell which side they were on when they opened their mouth for the first time. It’s amazing how easy it is to spot the bigots.

And while I’m on a tear, the name of the group NOM expands to the National Organization FOR Marriage. But yet they’re against giving the right of marriage to LGBT people. Completely oxymoronic.

NOM doesn’t have a valid argument

· 3 Comments ·

So it seems Brian S. Brown and Christopher Plante (Both from NOM) went on former mayor of Providence Buddy Cianci’s radio show on WPRO.

The callers John, Midge and Mark made some VERY good points in our defense of full marriage equality.

You can listen to the show here.

What astounds me is that Brian Brown keeps banging his head on the “It’s all about the children” bit.

It is and it isn’t about the children Brian. Sure, some kids might just find out that there are in fact gay people out there and that we are really no different from everyone else. And yes, some of those kids may challenge the religious beliefs held by their parents. It isn’t called evolution for nothing!

Then of course there are the children of gay couples. They deserve every right and privilege that their cohort deserves from their straight parents. But according to Brown, there will be consequences!

But we also have the move by Brown and NOM to put marriage equality on the ballot in Rhode Island. Absolutely NOT! Every time our rights have been put to a PUBLIC referendum we’ve had our rights stripped away from us.

At least in Rhode Island getting the question on the ballot pretty much takes an act of the legislature. So like they say in the program, call and write your representatives. Tell them that gay people deserve the full and same measure of rights that straight people take for granted.

If you’d like to find out who your representatives are visit the RI Secretary Of State’s Voter Information Center. Then go to the Legislature web site and find your Representatives and Senators. They have contact information on their Constituent Services links.

Tell them we want equality. Nothing else will do.