Advice

      Dick Smothers: What could President Johnson do to encourage people to stay in the U.S.?
      Tom Smothers: He could quit.

The John on the Rhode Island Avenue Cesspool (and the effect – if any – that Joe Solmonese regenerating into Chad Griffin will have):

I’m at the age where I’m just not sure they can be any better than they are.

Its called math.

Zero is greater than a negative number.

HRC can be better than it is now (and better than it ever has been) by going away.

Ah Yes, Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear…

or, perhaps, even just last week. 

Remember?

AFA spokeshater Bryan Fischer was giddy with excitement today over the resignation of gay Romney spokesman Richard Grenell, Right Wing Watch reports, calling it a “huge win” for the “pro-family” community .

So…

It was just last week that many (if not all) of the same people who are now praising Obama for ‘giving in’ (for lack of a better term) on same-sex marriage  to Gay Marriage, Inc., were ridiculing Mitt the Flip for giving in to the christianist right on the Grenell de facto firing?

James ‘perpetual Sling Blade impersonation’ Carville has issues, but he isn’t, well, actually Sling Blade.  It might be worthwhile to listen to what he has to say regarding the ongoing 2012 campaign:

A long time ago a great three-time governor of Louisiana, Earl Long, said about Jimmie Davis, the two-time not very good governor of Louisiana, “You couldn’t wake up Jimmie Davis with an earthquake.”

As I go around the country and see various Democrats and talk to them on the phone, honestly I’m beginning to think that we have become the party of Jimmie Davis.

My message is simple: WTFU. Translated — wake the you-know-what up, there is an earthquake.

…

Newsflash: Nothing is in the bag. Nothing can be taken for granted. Everybody from the precinct door-knocker, to the Chicago high command, to the White House, to the halls of Congress, to the Senate and House committees, to congressional leadership, here is a simple message: If we don’t get on the offense, reconnect with the American people, talk about how the middle class is in a struggle for its very existence, hold the Republicans accountable and fight like the dickens, we are going to lose.

You can shoot five Bin Ladens, you can save 10,000 banks and 20 car companies, even pass the most sweeping legislation in modern American history; if people don’t think that you are connected to their lives and are fighting for their interests they will vote your tush out of office in a nano-second. For historical reference see Winston Churchill election of 1945 and President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Let me do some editing on that last paragraph, James:

You can shoot five Bin Ladens, you can save 10,000 banks and 20 car companies, even pass the most sweeping legislation in modern American history, even go farther than any president has on same-sex marriage; if people don’t think that you are connected to their lives and are fighting for their interests they will vote your tush out of office in a nano-second. For historical reference see Winston Churchill election of 1945 and President George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Now I pose a question: Assuming that President Obama’s in-the-wake-of-the-North-Carolina-amendment-passing endorsement of same-sex marriage does tip the scale against him in November and we end up with President Romney and three more christianist Supreme Court justices, who among Gay, Inc. will accept the blame for not being able to wait until after the election to force the issue?

In Praise of Jeff Epperly

Really.

[Hilary] Rosen, a longtime fixture on the LGBT scene, has come to represent the worst of that peculiar and annoying segment of the pundit-lobbyist class for whom you can’t really understand why they’ve attained the high position they have in that milieu.

After all, Rosen was a catastrophe at the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the lobbying group for the nation’s largest record companies. As head of that group from 1987-2003, it was under her watch that the recording industry began its disastrous policy of taking file sharers to court—also known as suing the pants off your future customers.

…

From there Rosen went on to such illustrious jobs as representing British Petroleum after the Gulf oil spill. In other words, if you’re looking for someone who understands the plight of America’s everywoman, Rosen is a terrible choice because her perspective appears to be a lot closer to the Romneys than she would likely admit. Yet she still manages time-after-time to get gigs as an allegedly progressive pundit, a job she still can’t manage to get right despite its ridiculously low bar for being considered a success.

But hey – even Fred Gladding got one hit, right?

Oh The Irony….

Yesterday at Crooks and Liars:

News for this day in 1940 was all about the deteriorating situation in Norway and the reaction on both sides of the Atlantic to what was becoming an ominous tide to the war. It was also around this day the world got a new word to mull around; Quisling

Today at MSNBC:

If you have to ask….

ESPA: Its Not Just Transphobic Anymore

Would you like fries with that?

No?

How about some anti-semitism?

With neither Ross Levi nor the Empire State Pride Agenda board that fired him last week having much, if anything, to say publicly about the events leading to the former executive director’s March 5 dismissal….

…

Andrew Stern, a critic who is the chief operating officer at NARAL Pro-Choice New York, has stepped forward to say he withdrew from consideration for the post Levi assumed in May 2010 after being told by ESPA’s search firm that some board members were concerned about how well his “shticky Jewish humor” would serve the organization.

…

[N]o element is more disturbing that the story NARAL’s Stern tells about his experiences seeking the top job at ESPA in 2010. He first became concerned with the process, he said, when he read in the New York Post that a gay leader at the pro-choice group was among the top contenders for the position. The Post didn’t quite have the story right –– reporting that Kelli Conlin, the out lesbian who then led the group, was that candidate. Stern said it was apparent to his bosses at NARAL that he, in fact, was the gay person seeking the job, and he told the search firm he was unhappy with the breach of his confidentiality.

According to Stern, he soon after heard from an individual close to the board that search committee members expressed the view that he might be “too ethnic” to serve a statewide group effectively. When he raised that with the search firm, he said, he was told several board members thought his “shticky Jewish humor” might not go over with every audience. Offended that an ethnic slur was part of the discussion about his candidacy, Stern withdrew from contention.

Hassner and another board member, he said, left him a voicemail message to emphasize that the comments did not reflect “the values” of the ESPA board, but Stern said he did not return the call.

He acknowledged that in coming forward with the allegations, he runs the risk of looking bitter for not having gotten the job, and explained that that consideration and his unwillingness to sully either Ellner or Levi led him to remain silent in 2010. After learning of Levi’s dismissal, however, he decided that “the board’s behavior is both so despicable and emblematic of an endemic problem that I genuinely felt I had no choice but to come forward.”

One board member, speaking off the record, noting that Van Capelle, Levi, and Ellner are Jewish, cast doubt on Stern’s story, asking why he did not speak out at the time and wondering if his account weren’t simply sour grapes.

So what if they’re Jews?

Remember what the complaint actually was: He was “told by ESPA’s search firm that some board members were concerned about how well his ‘shticky Jewish humor’ would serve the organization.”

It sounds as if the translation of this is: ‘You’re too Jewish’ – which is no  less bigoted or discriminatory than an entity who says it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation allowing a hiring committee consisting of Hillary Rosen clones to collectively say, as part of a hiring search, “They’re both equally qualified, but we want Will.  Jack is too much of a fag.”

Implicit, of course, is the “Oh…that woman who was better qualified than either of them?  Our investigators learned that she’s a transsexual.  Don’t even bother calling her back.  We don’t have to anyway.   Remember?  SONDA?  Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”

Ever Notice… – Part 2: I Hate the Smell of Marriage Derangement Syndrome in the Spring

I generally like Michelangelo Signorile.  His OutQ show is the only thing on that ridiculous channel that I can stand in the least. (And that’s not a backhanded compliment to him.  His show really is good.  Derek and Romaine?  Not so much…or even at all.)

However…

Michelangelo Signorile, Sirius OutQ radio host and Huffington Post Gay Voices editor-at-large, said Thursday that President Barack Obama seemed to fear the political repercussions of fully supporting same sex marriage.

“Why can’t he simply be with the rest of the country with this?” he wondered during an appearance on The Young Turks. “I think there’s an irrational fear in the campaign and the White House.”

Seen recently on Facebook:

Seen a few minutes after that:

A good question.

My question, however, is this: If President Obama is a “political homophobe” for not willing to callously and carelessly negate the current anti-RepubliRush tidal wave by going whole hog in for something that may cause some or even many of the Independent/Republican women who are currently itching to vote against Republicans over the RepubliRush’s War on Women to vote against an incumbent Democratic president over, are all of the Democrats who have caved over the years on trans-inclusion on ENDA, SONDA, whatever the hell Maryland calls its gay-only actrocity, whatever the hell New Hampshire calls its gay-only actrocity, whatever the hell Delaware calls its gay-only actrocity, and whatever the hell Massachusetts calls its new-Jim Crow actrocity political transphobes?

No, not just St. Barney.

All of them.

Or does that only run in one direction?

Inquirin’ minds want to already know, but we’d like to hear all of you say it anyway…

just for the record.

This blog post is peaceable activity intended to express a political view and/or to provide information to others.

Ever Notice…

Re: the demanded re-election suicide gay marriage plank in the 2012 Democratic Party platform:

Several Democratic sources working with the committee have acknowledged that conversations were already underway about how to placate the pro-same-sex marriage majority inside the party without alienating culturally conservative Democrats in states like Ohio and North Carolina, where the convention is being held.

The usual apologists are giving the usual excuses. The DNC’s LGBT caucus isn’t even on board yet. Pathetic. Read the full article by Sam Stein and Amanda Terkel. They did some very good reporting on this one.

This could all be solved if the President would just evolve already. Instead, it’s clear we can expect more political kabuki as the DNC and OFA try to avoid doing what everyone knows should be done.

And, in case the DNC forgot, there’s an anti-gay referendum on the May 8th ballot in North Carolina, with which we could use some help. It’s called Amendment 1. I think the convention will be a lot more fun for people if Amendment 1 loses

Ever notice how unlikely it is that you’ll ever see non-trans gays and lesbians deploy, much less accept, phrases such as “incremental progress” and “the politics of the possible” and “more education is necessary” when it comes to expecting that everyone – from President Obama down to Dog Catcher Dave in Doofusville – accept gay marriage now and nothing less than gay marriage now?

In November, gay marriage will be on the ballots of Washington (12 electoral votes), Minnesota (10), Maine (4) – and in all likelihood Maryland (10).

In all but Minnesota, the issue will be there not solely because of anti-constitutionist theocrats forcing the issue.  In Washington there will be an anti-marriage ballot question in response to the pro-marriage law that the state’s legislature passed.  In Maryland there will be (in all likelihood) an anti-marriage ballot question in response to the pro-marriage law that the state’s legislature immorally ramrodded through without making any legitimate effort to address the far more basic civil rights needs of people who all who stand to benefit from Maryland gay marriage currently (and will continue to) have the legal right to discriminate against.

And in Maine, it will be on the ballot solely because gays forced a pro-marriage ballot question…

during a presidential election year.

If Rick Santorum is elected president in November by an electoral college margin traceable to any combination of those states going Republican via anti-marriage turnout, what will the “incremental progress for thee, but not for we” crowd do?

Blame black voters in California?

Well, What Else Would You Expect From a Corporation Whose Logo is Three Faux-Patriotic HRC Logos Configured in the Rough Shape of a Warped Enron Logo?

Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:

At least Bank of America got its name right. The ultimate Too Big to Fail bank really is America, a hypergluttonous ward of the state whose limitless fraud and criminal conspiracies we’ll all be paying for until the end of time.

So I guess it got its logo right as well:

Illumination:

They’re out of control, yet they’ll never do time or go out of business, because the government remains creepily committed to their survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their 40-year-old live-at-home son could possibly be responsible for those dead hookers in the backyard.

Okay, so the comparison isn’t perfect.  Enron went out of business – sort of – but as to the other, no one connected with it will ever do time (for the consistent pattern of fraudulently soliciting donations for ‘work’ on ‘goals’ it not only has no desire to accomplish but in fact has a long history of actively working against) and it will never go out of business, because Gay, Inc. remains creepily committed to its survival, like overindulgent parents who refuse to believe their toothless 40-year-old live-at-home son who likes to collect matchsticks and sudafed pills could possibly be responsible for the pungent cat urine-ish stench in the basement or those dead teenaged boys in the boat shed.

_he Advoca_e

Advocate’s 45-year anny Hall of Fame….

The first nine to be announced…

Hmmmmm…

What’s missing?

Hmmmmm…

1971 – Jack Baker & Mike McConnell.  Worthy, yes but I have to note: gay marriage.   I’m just sayin’….

1972 – Madeline Davis:

Madeline Davis founded the Western New York Mattachine Society in 1970, positioning her to become an important figure for LGBT rights in the region. In 1972 she taught the United States’ first course on lesbianism and became the first openly lesbian delegate ever elected to a major political convention when she was chosen for the Democratic National Convention in Miami. At that convention, she gave the first noted stump speech encouraging the Democrats to include gay rights in the party’s platform, reminding delegates and leaders that an estimated 20 million gay people would be voting that November.

I truly don’t know her position on T matters, but I’d bet a substantial portion of Joe Solmonese’s golden parachue that T wasn’t an “important” part of the aforenoted.

1977 – Harvey Milk.  I’m cool with that (despite the San Francisco ordinance that he engineered not including trans people.)

1982 – Henry Waxman.  So…no claim that the HOF is only for gays, right? 

1987 – Larry Kramer.  1980s, AIDS…I have no issue with this one.

1992 – k.d. Lang.  While I have nothing against this per se, I’m, curious as to what the rationalizing will be if Dana International is not the HOFer for 1998.

1997 – Ellen.  This makes sense.

2002 – Rosie.  Rosie.  Okay, I guess – but ultimately  Ineither approve nor disapprove.

2007 – Hilary. (1) Repeat my observation re: Waxman; (2) I’m unclear as to why 2007 is special for her.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign for president was a sign of the character she would later prove again as secretary of State…

So…no chance of a collective HOF nod for the entire trans world not only for standing up to the entrenched, diseased, stagnancy of HRC’s corrupt existence but for unting pretty much the entirety of the civil rights world (not counting HRC, of course – and, also of course, not counting crypto-Raymondists) against HRC’s duplicity and con-artistry.  Shit, I think an HOF nod would be appropriate solely for the force of will that caused even the consistently-in-the-tank-for-anything-that-exludes-trans-people-from-actual-equality Queer Channel Media to acknowledge that some of the propaganda HRC was using to justify its transphobic ENDA dstance was more full of holes than the Swiss cheese on the buffet table at the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre.

I’m smelling a creature that would be quite fond of the Swiss cheese, particularly if the token attempt at putting T on the list ends up being RuPaul.  And considering that the complaints already being made have more to do with the whiteness of the list than its trans-erasiveness…

 

…I suspect that will be the impetus not only for RuPaul to be on the list – but for him to do double token duty.

After all, we wouldn’t want hetero honorary LGBs such as Betty DeGeneres, Eric McCormack, Judy Shepherd, Debra Messing, Madonna, Megan Mullally, Bette Midler, Cher, Sean Penn, Elizabeth Taylor, or Barbra Streisand to lose their spots on the list to any Creepy Tranny Scum™ like Anne Mayes, Renee Richards (make no mistake, I’m not endorsing anything in particular that she’s ever said, but for 1976? C’mon…oh wait…I guess there’s always the then-still-closeted Greg Louganis – for his silver at Montreal, silly me…), Sandy Stone, Shannon Minter, Christie Lee Littleton, J’Noel Gardiner, Michael Kantaras, Dana International or Gwen Araujo, would we?

Of course, for the record, despite my Ru-based cynicism above, my actual money will be on Chaz Bono being the sole token T – also as double duty, but that being (1) ensuring the non-legitimacy of trans women and (2) perpetuating the narrative that trans people/stuff showed up five minutes ago.

What? No Speculation That Her Pre-Transition Name Might Have Been Big Pussy?

I’m shocked! Shocked, I say!

I mean…

We are supposed to be the trans mafia, aren’t we?

Queerty: Has a clear agenda. That transphobic one.

At least we now know that – technically at least – its not all gay marriage, all the time.

[Cross-posted at TransAdvocate]