Sally Kern, Ambulatory Fecontainer

If you didn't already know who Sally Kern is, feel free to look her up right here, which is where we pinched this horrifying photo.

Sally Kern's bigotry doesn't just aim itself at Teh Ghey. She is also no fan of women or minorities (no, she doesn't belong in either category), as she evinced by this speech. So why should it even be news that this dreadful cackling cow is making yet another gay-themed grab at headlines? She's got a book out. It's titled The Stoning of Sally Kern. Regrettably, it's not an instruction manual. Stupid twat, I mean, twit. Can you imagine having anything at all to do with this fetid ambulatory pigshit canister? No? Neither can we. Yet, somehow, she managed to find something that would join loins with her long enough to spawn. There's a persistent rumour in blogtopia that her husband, Southern Baptist minister Steven D. Kern, was once a member of the KKK. There's also the little matter of her gay son. Srsly. Click that link to read an interview with him. If your gaydar doesn't hit 12 out of a maximum of 10, let us know. These people just make us hork a big fat fucking hairball, OK? Srsly. And then there are people like this in the universe, who renew our faith in humanity and make it clear that the Kerns of this world are not a reason to give up on all its beauty, wonder, and awe:

The reason you have to "deal with" homosexuality is because these men and women are our fellow citizens. America is the people who show up. The show up for work, school, volunteer. They show up in the military, the police, the fire department (and the fire department calendars). They raise their kids and watch out for their neighbors.

The lesson I choose to take from 9/11 is not the paranoid fantasy that "they" are destroying us. It's that people are good. On that day, they called home to say "I love you". They helped strangers escape the danger -- sometimes dying in the effort. They fought back and made God work like the devil to take their lives. And they didn't check each other's religion, sexual preference, political party or immigration status.

Wonkette commenter JustPixelz

Yeah. That. Also, kittehz. We at this blog don't take our responsibilities lightly.

Too, FUCK YOU Sally Kerns! FUCK YOU very, very much, you horrendous bitch. Why can't all the people who have a problem with their GAY FAMILY just deal with it and leave the rest of us alone?

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The Right Value Is Truth

The right value is honesty.



La Casa de Los Gatos don't know about you, and how you might feel about homophobia, but we can tell you how we feel. We here are goddamn sick and fucking tired of all these closeted dickheads fucking around with OUR lives.

Just this month, we've had closeted homophobe Roberto Arango* posting pictures of his rectum to a hookup site. A fucking HOOKUP site! Where gay/bi men post for quickie casual fucks. If you're gonna bully other men for supposedly being gay, Roberto, you shouldn't be posting your starfish as an invitation to any swingin' dick within ten miles, know what I'm sayin'? Is that too much to ask, you arrogant asshole? Nobody really cares, Roberto, that you like to have another man's throbbing cock in your ass. Just don't fucking rub our faces in it after REPEATEDLY voting against our rights, you miserable piece of shit.

And look, what have we here? ANOTHER fucking Republican legislator caught with his dick hanging out? With a teenage boy?

His defense? "I'm not gay. I don't know why I did what I did."

I'll tell you why, you dumb fuck. Because you are gaygaygayer than a flock of fucking larks. You were so hungry for that pretty boy's 18-year-old body, his slender shoulders, muscular thighs, bubble butt, beautiful satiny dark skin. That's why. You were dying to stick your cock in him and his cock in you and to fuck until you both lost your minds. That's why.

Phil Hinkle's constituents think he should resign -- for being gay? For lying about it? For working so hard against the rights of gay people? This is the guy, incidentally, who is responsible for the "In God We Trust" license plate legislation in his home state. So, Phil, "In God We Trust" for what? For keeping anyone else from finding out that our cock throbs for teenage boys? Sounds like you spent all your time in the legislature on bogus legislation like this, and keeping gays from marrying. Have a good time on the unemployment line, you dumb fuck.

Phil says he's not running again. We say, "Not unless it's from his constituents."

So, homophobic Republican legislators? It's OK for you to fuck us, literally, and then fuck us virtually by denying us equal rights? Because, you know, all that shit y'all are continually spouting about "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal," in the Declaration of Independence that you fucking claim to fucking worship? And all that crap in the Constitution about equality? You're not applying it to us, are you, when you vote against our right to marry and have families?

It's time for war on your hypocritical asses, y'all. Just come out of the fucking closet, admit who and what you are, and start acting like people, not ignorant fucking homophobes, OK? Because if you don't? It will be the civic duty of each and every one of us to do our best to expose you.

You hear that, girlzNboyz? If you've been schtupping a Republican legislator, it's time to let the whole world know. Start with the newspapers.

And now, to take the edge off, the gorgeous and brilliant Sara Benincasa sticks it to MishMash BatShitKrayZMann. Enjoy!

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Rick Santorum Wins

TWO awards!

World's Biggest Fucking Crybaby WHINER
Dan Savage's PayAttentionToYourName Slapfest

YAY, DAN!

Dan Savage's New Threat to Rick Santorum from Dan Savage

Now, Rick, don't get all huffy and LIE and pretend you don't know why the gay community is upset with you, you smarmy little shit. You know damn well your nasty, homophobic, closeted little mind has been squeaking forever about how much you HATE the gay. Judging from the number of gayhaters who have been exposed as complete and total fucking SISSYMARY QUEENS, it's probably time you shut up about that already, before Dan takes you out, or your boyfriend finally speaks up.

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OUT Of The Closets and Into The STREETS!!!!

Yay! New York just signed the Gay Marriage Bill, people, so what are you waiting for? Time to PAR-TAY DOWN!

FTA: "Republican Sen. Stephen Saland, who had been undecided about the bill and was one of the legislators who led the negotiations, announced during the debate on the Senate floor that he would support the bill, effectively giving it the 32 votes it needed to pass."

Everybody be sure to send a thank-you note to Rep. Saland, who will be targeted by homophobes for his support. He did the right thing, and it will cost him unless we all translate our thankyous into support at the polls. Thank you, Rep. Saland, for making this day happen!

TalkingPointsMemo has the details. And be sure to check out their pic of the celebrations at STONEWALL!!! Hai-yaah!

A great big huge gigantinormous thank you to Joshua Micah Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo who brought us this wonderful reportage.

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Indians Need To Ask "How Hateful Can American Conservatives Get?"

My, my, my. It would appear that the Wall Street Journal, under Rupert Murdoch's guidance, is determined to alienate any Indian readers thereof. Since a substantial number of Indians in America, especially those born and raised in India, tend to be very conservative, pro-Republican readers of the Wall Street Journal, I sincerely hope any of you reading this, who might have friends or in-laws or neighbours of the Indian persuasion, take this issue up with those benighted souls. I'm well aware that many Indians, especially of the educated class and wealthier class, did not much care for Gandhi (I, personally, have plenty of issues with the guy). But something this outrageous cannot be allowed to pass.

Unless, of course, Indians revel in the thought of being spat on by the likes of Andrew Roberts. In which case, what can we say, except "Carry on, doods."

As for Roberts himself, sheesh, the guy is a closet case if ever there was. What IS the conservative fascination with other people's sex lives, anyway? Doods, aren't you getting any? Because if you are, it's either not enough, or not kinky enough. Normal people don't sit around fantasizing about other people's sex lives, honest. Because normal people are too busy, as a rule, indulging in some healthy slap-and-tickle themselves to worry about whether anyone else is getting it on.

Normal people with normal sex lives and friends and families and jobs and homes to look after barely have enough time to brush their teeth and match their socks, on a given day. Most of the people I know who have partners and healthy rolls in the hay are too exhausted after a good healthy bout of sweaty rogering to give a shit whether someone else is getting any, and if so, of what variety. Shit! Fuck me blind if I give a good goddamn about whether anyone else is knocking boots, as long as I'm getting some sweet, hot, slippery between-the-sheets action.

So, Mr. Roberts? Your fellow conservatives are pretty damn kinky, whyn't you ask *them* for some pointers on getting your knob nibbled? You could try George "Rentboy" Rekers, for some hot young purchasable action. Mark Foley can give you some tips on staying out of jail if you cross the line between "young" and "actionably young." If you'd rather blame it on "teh CULLUD," try FL Republican Bob Allen. If you'd prefer to assault children of the female persuasion, upstanding Republican congressman, whoops, ex-congressman and felon, Ted Klaudt can give you some, uh, tips.

No? Too tame? Don't worry! Former conservative candidate for Republican governor of Georgia, Neal Horseley might be just the thing for you! Neal doesn't deny charges of bestiality, and is quick to point out that "everybody did it," while eying the closest mule. Then there's David "ShittyVitty" Vitter, the Republican Senator with a diaper fetish whose Madam mysteriously "committed suicide" after threatening to reveal her client list. You, too, could probably find a prostitute to powder your freshly diapered bottom, if you just want to swim in shit for a bit. If you'd rather dress up and cavort around with teenagers, contact this bright and shining Young Republican star.

But for the love of deity, you worthless fecking eejit, keep your grubby, shitstained paws off the people who have done *some* good for the world, unlike yourself. You know, as in, more good than you will ever do, you worthless flaccid rump-pumper.

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World: Uganda Wants Death Penalty For LGBTQ

The Huffington Post is reporting that, following visits by conservative American Christians, lawmaker David Bahati of Uganda is proposing a sweeping law aimed at LGBTQ Ugandans that includes life imprisonment or the death penalty for being gay, as well as severe penalties for those who rent homes to, employ, or fail to report homosexuals to the authorities:

The Ugandan legislation in its current form would mandate a death sentence for active homosexuals living with HIV or in cases of same-sex rape. "Serial offenders" also could face capital punishment, but the legislation does not define the term. Anyone convicted of a homosexual act faces life imprisonment.

Anyone who "aids, abets, counsels or procures another to engage of acts of homosexuality" faces seven years in prison if convicted. Landlords who rent rooms or homes to homosexuals also could get seven years and anyone with "religious, political, economic or social authority" who fails to report anyone violating the act faces three years.

While some African journalists and bloggers are characterizing the proposed legislation as aimed at those who knowingly infect others, especially children, with HIV, it is not clear that they are referring to the same legislation as the bill sponsored by Bahati. A request for clarification has not received a response.

Although Bloomberg has since reported in an update from its Kampala bureau that both the proposed death penalty and life imprisonment have been dropped from the bill, this might well be a reaction to the outcry in other countries against this hideous legislation.

Peter Kent, Canadian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, has characterized the bill as "vile and hateful," and has stated that Canada would raise the issue with its Ugandan counterparts at a Commonwealth summit held in Trinidad and Tobago this weekend.

This blog agrees. The proposed legislation is against all ethics and all human rights laws, nationally and internationally. You simply *cannot* execute people for being who/what they are. Science has shown that homosexuality is genetically determined.

What You Can Do

The United States currently gives Uganda approximately $60 million annually in aid. Please contact your legislator and request that such aid be made contingent upon Uganda's observation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Please also contact the Ugandan Embassy in your country and voice your opposition to this law *politely*. You can reach the Ugandan Embassy in the U.S. here. You can also contact the Uganda Human Rights Commission to urge them to act on this. According to AllAfrica.com, Uganda is a signatory to the UDHR. Thank you.

Under Article 51 of the Constitution of Uganda, the UHRC, among other functions is mandated to monitor the government's compliance with Constitutional provisions and international human rights instruments on human rights. It is their duty to ensure that Mr. Bahati and President Museveni adhere to human rights standards.

Gay Americans are taxpayers, and we resent our taxes paying for the oppression and murder of our brothers and sisters anywhere in the world.

Christians, if you believe what Your Teacher taught, now is the time to speak up and stand with your gay brothers and sisters. Jesus would not have condoned the killing of people who have committed no wrong. If you feel it is wrong for a person to love someone of the same gender, remember that it is for your God, and not you, to judge. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I shall repay.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone, said your Jesus. Do not let your brethren in the fundamentalist church drag you all into opprobrium by condemning others to death.

In case you haven't seen it, Rachel Maddow has done a yeoman job of reportage on the event.

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Politics: Republican "Fambly Values"

Today's dose of Republican Fambly Values is brought to you by California Assemblymember Michael Duvall of Orange County. Duvall, who earned himself a 100 per cent rating for Repuglican Fambly Values, aka hatin' on teh ghey, was caught on tape talking about fucking two married female lobbyists. Apparently, the sex also involved spankings. Apparently, he has a habit of discussing his sexual adventures with other people in that deeply disturbing and creepy way that pervs usually have.



Apparently, the Assembly has no "zero tolerance" policy in place for such creepy perviness. In the commercial workplace if you corner your colleagues and start talking about scoring hot booty points the previous evening, you can be fired immediately for actions "contributing to a hostile workplace environment." But not in our Legislative bodies, where these slimy old hypocrites sit to pass the laws that regulate our lives.

Incidentally, both the fuckees were lobbying for industries that are regulated by the fucker. Ain't that sweet? Orange County, y'all need to get rid of this asshole. If it hasn't dawned on you by now that he sure as fuck ain't representing your interests, man, do y'awl need the trademarked Golden Bat o'Clue whumped upside your heads!



The OC Weekly has named the lobbyist Duvall is porking. FTA:

"Their relationship is the worst-kept secret in Sacramento," a capitol staffer recently told me. "He's old and fat. She's hot, blonde and about 20
 years younger. He could have never gotten a woman like that before he got
 this job.'"

[...]

"Assemblyman Duvall has been a consistent trooper for the conservative causes," CRI president Karen England announced in March. "For the last two years, he has voted time and time again to protect and preserve family values in California. We are grateful for his support of California
 families.'"

Acknowledging the CRI award, Duvall observed in a press release that as long as he is in office, he would work to protect "California families" from "constant assault in Sacramento."

Somebody should tell that to the families of the TWO women he is cheating on his wife with. Oh, yeah, and what about his two kids and wife? Apparently, he's content to "constantly assault" family values, he just doesn't want the rest of Sac'to joining in. Or something.

Is anybody surprised that this schmuck is an outspoken supporter of Prop 8? Or that he's voted against "Domestic Violence Protection," whatever that is?

Oh, and guess what? The creepy old perv sits on the Ethics Committee. Time to get him off that one, fersure. Also the Utilities and Commerce Committee, where he gets to decide on things that affect all our lives.

If you're disgusted by the gross, vulgar, unbelievably stupid and hypocritical "Fambly Values" displayed by this idiot, feel free to check out his Democratic opponent, John MacMurray. You can donate to his campaign here.

Update: Duvall has resigned. Naturally, he has not apologized or expressed any regret for being a scum-sucking scumbag. Let's hope the wife and both mistresses confront him and ensure that he spends the rest of his life panhandling on the streets of Yorba Linda. Yes, he's from there. Nixon is spinning in his grave.

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LGBTQ: Teh Effect of Teh H8

Good God Almighty! This is so revolting, it has me, an atheist, calling on a deity in which I do not believe.

What, you ask, has my knickers in a wad? Me, wot tolerates anything short of someone actually crapping on my living room floor and has friends with a wide variety of, um, interesting paraphilias or interest in paraphilias, including the very sexy Sirenita Lake who gladdens my heart with her detailed descriptions of adventurous sex?

Hate, that's what. I don't have a problem with people doing anything to each other, as long as I don't have to watch the parts I don't like and, more importantly, as long as it's consensual between adults. (Animals cannot consent, and neither can children under an age as defined by law in their community; nor can the mentally disabled, the mentally ill, and the unconscious, regardless of whether their unconscious state is self-inflicted.)

But here we have what we used to quaintly call "shock-jocks" broadcasting from a Sacramento radio station. And they're using their bully — and I mean bully — pulpit to hate on children, and recommend violence against them. The station is KRXQ 98.5 FM in Sacramento. The show is called Rob, Arnie, & Dawn in the Morning. Here's a little of what they had to say on the issue of transgender, or gender-dysphoric, behaviour in children:

"Allowing transgenders to exist, pretty soon it becomes normal to fall in love with the animals," they said.

For his part, [Arnie] States bragged that if his own son were to ever dare put on a pair of high heels, States would beat his son with one of his own shoes. He urged parents whose own little boys expressed a desire to wear a dress to verbally abuse and degrade them as a viable response. "Because you know what? Boys don't wear high heel shoes. And in my house, they definitely don't wear high heels.

"I'm going to go, 'You know what? You're a little idiot! You little dumbass!'" States sneered, adding later, "I look forward to when [the transgender children] go out into society and society beats them down. And they wind up in therapy."

What kind of bullshit is that? You want to beat a child with a shoe? Pick on someone your own size, you walking shit-receptacle. If, by all I hold dear, you ever hit a kid with a shoe in front of me, I'll break both your legs off and stick them down your throat. You puke-sucking anus on legs.

What the fuck is this? We allow people like this to say these things on air? Some idiot hears this and decides his kid is not "masculine" enough and hits the kid, and then what?

Mind you, these two assholes have long spread this kind of vitriolic hate on the air. Their attitude towards women is just as reprehensible and disgusting. You can read about it here in a decision from the FCC to penalize the motherfuckers for their creative ideas on sexual intercourse with women. No, fuck it, it's not sexual intercourse because there's nothing consensual about it. This is their diatribe on how to rape women in the most humiliating and degrading way.

As nasty and misogynistic as they are, I suppose it's no surprise that they should turn from attacking women to attacking children. Do they have any idea how much harrassment children already face from their peers? Especially gender and gender-identity related harrassment? Have they ever heard of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover? Carl, a sweet-faced eleven-year-old, hanged himself recently because of homophobic harrassment by his classmates. The saddest thing is, Carl wasn't gay. He was just a child, a child who happened to be less than macho enough for his classmates. Or maybe his classmates had daddies who listened to the kind of shit that Arnie and Rob spout. Thus, for instance, Jaheem Herrera, who hanged himself because he couldn't take the antigay taunting and slurs. An eleven-year-old boy. And the murder of Lawrence King.

Jill, over at Feministe, has posted a list of Arnie and Rob's advertisers. She thinks you should contact these people and tell them to pull their advertising.

CARLS”S JR. (CKE RESTAURANTS):
pr@ckr.com Press Room

HOME DEPOT
public_relations@homedepot.com

TOBACCO REPUBLIC:
trcigar@aol.com

ALBERTSON”S:
Alicia Rockwell
arockwell@savemart.com

FLEX YOUR POWER
enewswire@fypower.org Editor
info@fypower.org

NISSAN:
Darryl Harrison - Media
Darryll.harrison@nissan-usa.com

BANK OF AMERICA:
joseph.l.goode@bankofamerica.com
AT&T
John Britton
E-Mail: john.britton@att.com

VERIZON:
Debra Lewis
908-559-7512
Debra.Lewis@VerizonWireless.com

McDONALDS:
Walt Riker
Vice President, Corporate Media Relations
walt.riker@us.mcd.com
Heidi Barker
Sr. Director, Corporate Media Relations
heidi.barker@us.mcd.com

WELLS FARGO:
Media Relations: corpcsf@wellsfargo.com

GRIFFIN & REED EYECARE:
info@LASIKworld.com

PRO CITY MORTGAGE:
procity@procitymortgage.com

Thanks to William for the link.

I couldn't agree more. What kind of sick fucks are we letting on our public airwaves? For the love of Mike, get these fuckers off the air. Nobody should deny them their freedom of speech, but that does not include this kind of hate speech. Moreover, they're free to set up soapboxes at the local park and spout whatever they like. What they're not free to do is use public resources, such as the airwaves, to make themselves tons of money by advocating beating one's children with shoes.

Please do your part by writing the sponsors of these lowlife scum. Booting them off the air should be the least to be done to them.

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Politics: There's Dawgs

And then there's ... OMG, WTF, LOL? I'm sorry. Please feel free to laugh your fucking ass off because otherwise you might have to do vast quantities of drugs to forget that you ever saw this:



Is this, what, like young white conservatives are taking Michael Steele seriously about the hip-hop revolution in the Republican Party or what? OMG. Can you say "we ain't got no style?" Jesus wept.

Or he would if he was still around to see this.

Your regular Caturday programming will return — as soon as we at La Casa de Los Gatos recover from the hideousness that is teh Young Cons (I do believe that is their name). Lawdy!

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Entertainment: I Can't Take No More

First the teabagging.

Then the RIMjobs.

Now it's 2M4M:



It's obvious that the Republican Party has been infiltrated by GAY, GAY, GAY activists with their own agenda: to make a hideous mockery of the fight against gay marriage.

Who knew (except, of course, for anybody who has ever read the dead-tree personal ads, or used the Internet, or tried to hook up with a date through a dating service) that 2M4M meant "Two men looking for a third man for a GAY GAY GAY threesome"?

WARNING: Decidedly and absolutely NSFW.

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Entertainment? Say WHAT?

First the teabaggers.

Now the RIMjobs.

Get yourself one here:



Found over at Watertiger's, home of LGBTQ amusement for the gay and straight masses.

Admit it, you actually wondered if it was for real, for just a minnit, din'tchu?

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David Letterman: You're an Asshole and a Bigot!

And, James Franco, you're a wimp!

Did you see James Franco being interviewed by David Letterman last night? The interview was about Franco's involvement with the movie Milk. He plays Harvey Milk's lover. So, of course, the asshole interviewer has to pull out those old tired jokes: "So, how drunk did you have to be to kiss Sean Penn?'

Old? Tired? YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

I am so sick of those kinds of jokes. We lesbiqueerTrans folk have had to endure these stupid questions our whole lives. Bigots, do you get it? It is homophobic to ask those kinds of questions. You're all trying to act so liberal because you're actually talking about queers ... but you really think that we are literally Q-U-E-E-R. The whole dialog is about your discomfort with our sexuality -- it has nothing to do with us and our magnificent sexuality.

I mean really, James Franco, the whole point of the movie is liberation from homophobia so how come you couldn't say something strong about this issue to David Letterman?

Be an ally. A true ally. Not some fake Hollywood "Oh-I-voted-against-Prop-8" kinda ally. Be real. Put yourself on the line .... like we have to in our jobs sometimes. Good golly -- grow a backbone!!!

Another thing: YOU ARE ACTORS!!! You act all kinds of things that are not about you as a person. Stick up for yourself as an actor ... don't get all kinds of squirmy when people ask "How could you kiss Sean Penn?" I'm a lesbian and I don't think it would be a big deal to kiss Sean Penn if I were acting!!!! So, that's why I think this entire line of questioning is homophobic.

Have some class like Susan Sarandon when someone asked that stupid question of her ... in The Hunger she kissed Catherine Deneuve: "Who wouldn't want to kiss Catherine Deneuve?"

I've always really respected Susan Sarandon for that.

[Also posted on our sisterblog -- TPC-CultureVultures.]

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LGBTQ: Teh Effect of Teh H8

OK, having been laid off a couple of jobs, your humble blogger would be the last person on the planet to experience, oh, schadenfreude, maybe? Or inappropriate laughter? Or any kind of positive reaction to hearing about how someone lost their job.

Except, maybe, in this case. Because, y'know, it's just too fucking laugh-your-guts-out rich that these monstrous assholes should be losing their jobs BECAUSE they spent so much of their assets pushing hate.

No, seriously. We were thinking irony had up 'n died a lingeringly slow and painful death with the nomination of Sarah Failin' for possible accidental Veep. We are so glad to hear it was only in its last throes but managed to pull off a miracle cure. Oh yes.

What, you ask? What the hell happened? Only this: The Colorado Independent is reporting (via the Huffington Post) that Focus on the Family, James Dobson's oleaginous little band of maroons, as Bugs Bunny might term them, spent so much money trying to convince the yokels to vote for Prop. Hate (the California proposition which passed with a slight margin recently and will strip gay couples of the right to marry, marooning, as it were, those who might already have married in a legal no-man's-land) that they're now laying off 20 per cent of the workforce.

Just two months ago, they had laid off a bunch of people. The half a million dollars they pumped into propping up Prop. Hate ate right through their coffers. Good. It couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of bigots. Hey, y'all who tithe or donate to FoF? You could have pooled your dollars and kept, oh, some 20 people in the workforce furthering some real Christian aims or some family-oriented positive stuff instead of, you know, worrying about other people's naughty bits.

Because Prop. Hate is going down to defeat sooner or later. You coulda just lit that money on fire and used it to, I dunno, heat your home? Light your cigar? Or given it to some people who do some REAL good, instead of this bunch of podunk panty-sniffers.

And check out who sits on the board of this hateful organization: None other than Elsa Prince, mother of Erik Prince (yes! The guy who started Blackwater, your friendly neighbourhood mercenary corps!) and Betsy DeVos, who is married to that Amway dude. Momma Prince has buckets of money from her first husband's auto parts company and has used it to fund so-called "socially conservative" issues. Daughter Betsy Boo was the chairman of the Michigan Repulsive party. Momma Prince threw in nearly half a million of her own money to make sure that you and your same-gender partner can't get married.

So, boycott Amway seems to be the first conclusion to draw. And if you get a resume from one of these laid-off FoFers, be sure to put it in the circular file. Don't forget to participate in any action(s) against Blackwater, the Princes, the DeVoses, or Amway.



In other, happy news, the Christian right appears to be losing the battle for the minds and wallets of the people. Apparently, they've consistently failed to meet their fundraising goals of late, have been forced to scale back repeatedly since 2005, and at their last Rally for Hate, drew a mere 10,000 mindwashed morons instead of the 70,000 they announced would turn up.

How about a new book for the new era? We're thinking of a title along the lines of "Dobson Bashing for Queers." Is that a YES?

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Politics: Barack Obama and Racism

On November 5th of the year 2008, 52 per cent of America's voting populace heaved a huge sigh of relief amid cries of "Yes, We Did!" (OK, November 4th for those of us who just had to stay up till the last possible minute to enjoy that early victory.)

But what is it that we just did? Did we overcome racism, hatred, discrimination? Did we set an example for the whole world that in America, if you work hard enough, your dreams can come true?

No. All we did was elect a biracial man to the highest office of the land. He probably could not have won if he were not half white. And even though his mother was a white American, and he was raised by his white grandparents, we still heard, for two years, about how he was a Muslim, born in Kenya, an Arab, a Manchurian candidate, a friend of PLO terrorists and cousin to an African despot, et cetera ad infinitum ad nauseam. And if you were not nauseated by the endless drivel spouted by the hatemeisters of right-wing blogs, it's because you were not reading them or exposed to the almost psychotic reality-refuting venom they were disseminating.

Today, the Christian Science Monitor reports (via the Huffington Post) that some 200 racist incidents have already occurred as documented by the Southern Poverty Law Center. To put this in perspective, consider, if you will, that exactly 13 days have passed since the election. That's roughly 15 incidents of racism per day.

Interestingly, the CSM refers to President Obama as "black." Many white and biracial people consider him biracial, not black. But in the U.S., thanks to the ugly legacy of slavery, there is something called the "one-drop" rule: If you have a single ancestor who is black, regardless how attenuated that ancestral tie, you are black. Even if your skin is whiter than most, your hair straighter and blonder, your eyes bluer or greener, the fact that your great-great-great lost-in-time ancestor was a black person makes you a black person also.

It reminds us of that brilliant film, Monsieur Klein, in which Alain Delon plays Robert Klein, a Parisian art-dealer who is exploiting Jews trying to flee the German invasion of France. When Klein is suspected of being a Jew (due to the existence of another Klein with the same first name living in the same area who is, apparently, Jewish), he goes to see his father to ask if there is, indeed, any Jewish blood in the family. His father replies, enraged, "We've been French and Catholic since Louis the Fourteenth!" An ambiguous statement, at best, given the many years of French history preceding the reign of that king. Did Papa Klein mean only to suggest that the family had German roots? Or was there, indeed, a Jewish ancestor lost in the mists of time?

How do we overcome the hate, the racism, the prejudice? How do we overcome the sentiment that causes believing Christians (whose teacher taught that we must love all as we love ourselves, that judgment is reserved to god alone, that perfect love casteth out fear) to vote to take away the rights of others? How do we change the minds of people who think burning a cross on someone's lawn is an appropriate response to someone whose skin colour, eye shape, religion, or sexual preference is different than their own?

In the coming months, we will have to join together to work even harder than we worked over the past two years. We're all exhausted from what has gone before, but don't rest too long. Our new President sets a good example. The man has taken less than one day off so far, and he worked harder than any one of us the past two years.

This blog returns to its original mission of searching out actionable items of interest everywhere and begs your indulgence for our past months of election fever. It's not easy to blog when laced to the gills with strong pain meds, but La Casa de Los Gatos thanks you for your support and interest over the past year or two. Please let us know what you think about anything we write.

Special thanks to our fine fellow-bloggers Ms. Manitoba, FoTPC, and Milagrito aka The Feline Pope-in-Exile.

As a warning against the detrimental effects of bigotry we post this photograph:


This fine specimen is currently facing charges in the death of a recruit to his particular Conehead branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Lest we end up with people like him leading, or more likely, chivvying us from behind, let us return anew to the fight against bigotry.

We leave you with this ditty:

"You've got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You've got to be taught
From year to year,
It's got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
You've got to be carefully taught.

You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught "

Rodgers and Hammerstein, South Pacific.

In closing, HuffPo commenter SurferKit would like you all to know:

This is a good time to remind bloggers here at HP that if you see a threatening post made against Obama, Michelle, or his daughters, use the links below to send an email to the appropriate government agencies and let them know.

FBI

Secret Service

As this topic indicates, the threats to Obama should NOT be taken lightly. Be assured the FBI and the Secret Service will take your email seriously.

Thanks.

On the plus side, we do want to point out that the majority of people have graciously accepted victory or conceded defeat, as the case may be. And we're not thrilled with the idea of turning in people for "thought crimes." On the minus side, Columbine, and, you know, all those loons posting their plans for dismembering other folks all violent-like all over teh InnerTubes, and then actually going out and doing it. "Who'd'a thunk?" we all cried afterwards. Well, clearly, some of us would'a. And did'a.

Stumble It!

Human Rights: CA. Proposition 8

The election results made us so joyful with Obama's win that we couldn't bear to tarnish the excitement with thoughts of the passage of California Proposition 8 or, as the voters here now refer to it, Proposition Hate.

However, we've been seething about it ever since it passed and sooner or later we have to share the seethe. California, hello? Excuse me? What the fuck did Arnie put in the water that people actually marched to the polls and voted against their LGBTQ brothers and sisters?

La Casa de Los Gatos is well aware that not all of California is progressive. SF, LA, Berkeley, Oakland, Palo Alto, Monterey, Carmel, Mendocino, maybe a few other small towns here and there, are pretty forward-thinking and have a significant population of LGBTQ people. Orange County has a fair number of pinheads, and military areas like San Diego are pretty fucking hopeless. But still, people! Why you wanna do this for? What business is it of yours who does what with their naughty bits? You want people checking around in your bedroom? No? Then get the hell out of our bedrooms!

This is ridiculous, and we're not going to put up with it. Civil rights should never be left to the will of the majority because the majority tends to oppose civil rights for minorities (of any ilk). Imagine if we had asked the people to vote on slavery. There were only a few people brave enough to oppose it at the time. The majority would have happily permitted it to continue or merely ignored the issue.

In the same way we cannot leave the right of LGBTQ folks to love and marry who they will in the hands of those who have no understanding or empathy on this issue. Straight people say, "Well we don't care who you have sex with, just don't flaunt it in our faces. You can have civil unions. You'll have the same rights. Leave us marriage." (No, we don't personally know anyone who actually says such things because we strive not to associate with troglodytes. However, such things and much worse can be found in a few minutes of perusing teh InnerTubes.)

Unfortunately, this is a myth. It's simply not true that gay people have all the rights that straight people have through a civil union. For one thing, in community property states, married people who own property in common cannot sell or give away any part of that property without their spouse's explicit consent. Upon one spouse's death, the other spouse inherits the entire property as a whole — no part of it can be alienated without the surviving spouse's consent, and no probate is required for the property to pass intact from one spouse to the other.

A civil union confers some benefits on the partners thereto, but consider the case of Lisa Pond who was traveling with her partner and children when she suffered a brain aneurysm. Her partner and family were not permitted to see her on her deathbed. Would that happen to a straight couple? No. Consider the case of a gay couple who spent twenty years or more building a home and family, acquiring property together. Should one partner die, regardless of any contract or property arrangement to the contrary, the same biological relations who kicked the dead partner out of their home for being gay could descend upon the couple's property and contest the will and boot the survivor out of the home in which they had invested a lifetime of earnings and hopes. Could that happen to a straight couple? The family could try it, but the courts would most likely rule for the survivor.


Well, the time has come to insist on the same spousal rights for gay couples, and quite frankly we don't care what the hell you call it — civil union, marriage, schtuppenpupik — if it will allow a partner at their dying partner's bedside in any state in the country; if it will guarantee that two people in a loving relationship can legally inherit one from the other to no less an extent than any other people in such a relationship despite their sexual preference; if it will give LGBTQ partners the same tax breaks and family rates on health care and child care and family matters, then call it what you will but give us our rights.

Today is the day that LGBTQ people all over this country march in support of gay rights, and against such antigay legislation as California's shameful Proposition 8. They'll be marching in Portland; InTheNameOf8 lists groups that will be working against Prop 8 nationwide; JoinTheImpact gives pointers on how to organize yourselves, including a site that tells you how to find your local protest.

Fellow digger and gay activist Scoyboy of OnTopmag has a fine piece on the spontaneous marches erupting across the nation.

In good news, many Mormons are disgusted enough by their church's shameful support of this equality-denying proposition to up 'n leave. Thank you to those of our Mormon brothers and sisters who stand with us.

We urge our Catholic brothers and sisters to take a stand against the hate being perpetrated by their religion. Jesus did not teach hatred and discrimination. He taught love and acceptance. He sat with beggars and prostitutes and dined with publicans and outcasts. He did not, as the fathers of today's church do, wine and dine on gold and silver with the wealthy and powerful while turning his back on the poor who starve among us. If you profess to believe in him, then you must act in support of his message and stand up for the rights of your LGBTQ brothers and sisters and not permit Proposition 8 to take away the rights of a loving couple to marry and raise a family — a right that you yourselves possess and take for granted.

To do something about this shameful and discriminatory proposition, you can go here and sign the pledge.

Be sure to write the gubernator, who will be getting an earful from the bigots and haters who poured millions into this campaign.


Finally, for those who think that the record numbers of Black American voters who turned out for Obama were responsible for the passing of Proposition 8, stop it, OK? Just quit. Go read this first, and then come back and flap your gums if you still can. To imply that Black Americans are responsible for this hateful proposition passing is to hold all White Americans, gay and straight, harmless on the issue. And how could that be, when Black Americans comprise a whole six fucking per cent of the California electorate? Do you think if even half the White churchgoing population had voted against this proposition, it would have passed even if every single Black voter voted for it? And, furthermore, are there no LGBTQ Black Americans, or people of Tint among the ranks of the various LGBTQ folks? Is it not a clear manifestation of prejudice to assume that all LGBTQ persons are White, that White is the default colour of LGBTQ people?

Prop 8 passed because of gullibility and misinformation. The religious churchgoers were told that if it did not pass, their churches might be shut down, their preachers jailed. We don't find that a compelling argument, but religious people we're not. So we understand that they voted out of ignorance and fear. Such ignorance and fear must not dictate our lives though. Already the forces of provocateurism are at work, with "unknown individuals" mailing packets of white powder to various religious factions. We doubt that LGBTQ people were behind that, but if they were, we urge them to remember to whose detriment such actions redound.

Much as we may dislike it, we have to reach out to our churchgoing religious friends and neighbours and engage them in discourse. For a perfect love casteth out fear. And quite frankly, it's time everybody got over this fucking fear hangover that's been chewing our hineys to ribbons for nearly a decade.

So get out there, people, and wave a flag or a banner or a poster for those of us who can't stand up. We're with you in spirit. This fight ain't over, but we all have to fight it.

Stumble It!

LGBTQ: National Coming-Out Day

Hey, everybody, it's National Coming-Out Day! Time to celebrate your queerness. We'd like to link to celebrating queer and straight bloggers out there whether you're on our blogroll or not, so join us as we sashay down the street, y'all.

• Benny, over at Benny's World, has a cool post on the origin and meaning of the Rainbow Flag, go check it out!
  
  
• Over at Penguin Central, BadTux reminds us that the face of hate is not always easily recognizable, that a huge effort is underway in California to repeal the right to marriage for the LGBTQ community, and that you can, and should, grow a pair and tell the bigots to fuck themselves.
  
  
• Alan, over at Blogging Out Loud, makes us pee our pants laughing, as usual, with his commemorative post. Warning: Keep fresh, dry pantalones handy.
  
  
• VJack, over at Atheist Revolution, wishes our whole community a happy National Coming-Out Day, thanks, VJack!
  
  
• Steven, over at Heterosexually Challenged, acknowledges the day, reminds us it's the tenth anniversary of Matthew Shepard's death (gads, it feels like it only happened yesterday), and celebrates with football;
  
  
• The Bilerico Project is celebrating Queer History Month with lots of posts from lots of posters. Checkidout;
  
  
• Over at Pam's House Blend (note new URL), a couple of posters talk about coming out and coming out. Please to read;
  
  
• Kathy, over at If I Ran the Zoo, has a nice reminder for all the straight allies — equality for LGBTQ people will only happen if you join us in the struggle;
  
  
• A funny story about figuring out your sexuality, from Mockingbird's Medley;
  
  
• caliberal has a post about marriage equality up on My Left Wing;
  
  
• Nelson has his usual biting posts on the homophobes among us, over at NGblog;
  
  
• QueersUnited has a slew of celebratory posts, check 'em out!
  
  
• quenchzine has plenty to say too!

Did we miss anybody? Give us a shriek and we'll fix the error post-haste.

From ICHC, your source of LOLcattitude

Happy Coming-Out Day! If you're not out yet, consider doing it now. Yeah, it'll hurt and people might say shitty things, but you might find support where you least expect it.

Update: Missing link to Badtux' post fixed.

Stumble It!

Stupid People

La Casa de Los Gatos might have to start a new category for posts: Stupid People. We admit to being curmudgeonly and misanthropic by nature (you know that old line, "I love humanity, it's people I can't stand"? We said it first. In utero.).

We believe (los gatos included) in fairness and freedom, rights and responsibilities, equity and social justice. But we also would really, really, really like to part some people's hair with the trademarked Golden Bat o'Clue. You know, the kind of people who don't believe other people have, or should have, rights? The Taliban types? The fundie wingnuts? The AFA?

Here, for example, we present today this fine specimen, one JoAn Karkos of Lewiston, Maine. Ms. Karkos got her knickers in a big ole knot about sex education on account of a book titled "It's Perfectly Normal." Interestingly, several of her fellow citizens, including a Catholic parent who is homeschooling her youngsters, found this book so tasteful and informative that they have purchased it for their own sproggen. But not Ms. Knickerwads, oh no.

This pathetic walking colostomy bag claims she was "horrified" by the book. Fine. Everybody has a right to be offended, even if some people, like Ms. Knickerwads, are just offense kleptomaniacs, taking it wherever they can find it. So, it's offensive? Don't read it, or look at it, keep your sprog away from it, and like that.

But that's not enough for Knickerbags. Oh, no. She has to go check out every copy she can get her dimwitted paws on, and refuse to give them back. From the pertinent articles on this infuriating twit:

JoAn Karkos made her feelings known in letters to the Lewiston and Auburn public libraries. Each letter was accompanied by a check for $20.95 to cover the cost of the book, "It's Perfectly Normal: Changing Bodies, Growing Up, Sex and Sexual Health."

In one letter, Karkos wrote, “I have been sufficiently horrified of the illustrations and sexually graphic, amoral, abnormal contents. I will not be returning the books.”

Hey, ignoramus — one is not horrified "of" something, one is terrified of or horrified by something. Obviously, reading is not something you do a whole lot.

Now, the nice library director sends her check back, and encloses a form to request that the book be removed from the shelves. Does she fill in the form? Hell, no. So the library board addresses the controversy at its regular meeting and Knickerwads shows up to defend herself. On the plus side, the library has received email and phone calls from people wanting to donate money or copies of the book. On the minus side, Ms. Knickerbockermop defends herself, claiming she's done nothing wrong, and brags about how she's getting interview requests from media outlets all the way to New York City. Yeah, they just can't believe anyone as dumb, bigoted, and narrow as you can actually breathe without assistance, honey.

The book itself has been translated into many languages and is sold around the world. The author, when interviewed, said:

“Our kids already know about 99.9 percent of this stuff. What concerned me is that they have a lot of misinformation, no matter how much they tell us, and I wanted them to get accurate information. So I think the litmus test for me was, ‘What’s in the best interest of the child? What’s going to help a child stay healthy?’”

Sounds good.

The library told Knickerbogs it would file a complaint against her with the local flatfoots if Knickerbags didn't forthwith hand back their book. But, of course, Miss "The Media is More Important To Me" has blown them off, and actually had the unmitigated gall to file a complaint against them for obscenity.

She's been summoned to court. Teh judge sez return teh book, pay a $100 fine for wasting the court's time, you're in contempt, and if this shit ain't done by Friday, lady, you're in the hoosegow, too.

Now here's the part that really, really will make your head explode: Karkos maintains she didn't commit a crime. Excuse me, lady? You did. When you take something paid for by our tax dollars and refuse to return it? That's called stealing, you pathetic biological miscarriage. If the library says they want the book back, the book is what you have to give them. Not your lousy check. They said they want the goods, not your money, and since you committed a crime against them, they can specify the restitution of their choice.

We really, really hope she does go to jail. Why do these horrible Aunt Noseys think it is their right to censor what the rest of us may see, hear, read, or see? What business is it of hers? If she doesn't want to see it, or have her children see it, she can always request that the librarian shelve the book in the adult section. To which, no doubt, she never goes. Geez, what a fucking pinheaded Nosey Parker.

And, before you ask, yes, we have cut down our meds. They make us too happy but also too spazzed out to do anything.

Stumble It!

Politics: The Police State

And you don't even have to be a police to enforce it. Of course, AssPress describes this as a story about a woman wearing a tee shirt that "promotes lesbianism." Lots of people we know would really like to find out how to "promote lesbianism." We ourselves believe that some are born lesbian, some achieve lesbianism, but nobody has lesbianism thrust upon them.In the event, Page Q is reporting that some woman goes to a Federal building to pick up a social security card for her son and a petty little tinpot tyrant employee of DHS (that's the Department of Homeland Security to youse) decides that her tee shirt is "inappropriate" and boots her out.

What did her tee shirt say, you might ask? Simply this: lesbian.com.

Now, the Supreme Court has held that tee shirt slogans represent a form of free speech entitled to the protections of the Constitution:

In Tinker v. Des Moines, the Court recognized the right of public school students to wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. [...] Other examples of protected symbolic speech include works of art, T-shirt slogans, political buttons, music lyrics and theatrical performances.

You know what that means, you DHS employees and contractors? It means that, even if she wore a tee that said "Dip me in honey and throw me to the lesbians," y'all are shit outa luck trying to boot her off federal property. Like any other citizen, she has the Constitutional right to free speech.

Damn, what's happened to this country, land of the free and home of the brave?

Stumble It!

Politics: No on Prop 8

ChinoBlanco dropped by this AM to extend this invitation for anyone supporting marriage equality:

The Irvine PR company that runs the “Yes on 8” media campaign is holding an Open House on:

Thursday, August 14th, 2008
5:30 p.m - 8:30 p.m.

2020 Main Street
Irvine, CA 92614

All those opposed to Prop 8 are invited to attend and/or rally at 2020 Main on August 14th.

Details here:

Or here:

And here:

Mormons and other misogynists from outside the State of California are attempting to influence the vote on this issue. Folks, seeing two people who love each other able to attain universal recognition of their love by getting married is hella better in our eyes than watching Oldy McMoldy pimp his wife to a crowd of drunk bikers.

Those who tout the heterosexual marriage as a symbol of their "family values" might show a little more respect for the institution itself and a little less hatred of other folks' desire to legitimize (and gain all the advantages of) their love. We refer you to such eminent proponents of heterosexual marriage as Newt Gingrich (multiple affairs while married; dumped one wife while she was in hospital battling cancer; multiple divorces and remarriages); John McCain (multiple liaisons with various women while married to first wife, including ongoing affair with a woman two decades younger; divorced first wife to marry wealthy "sugar mommy"); and this fine list of "family values" Republicans whose "peccadilloes" are too numerous and extreme to list at this modest blog.

We don't even want to discuss the Baptist minister who was discovered hogtied and asphyxiated while his family was away at some "family values" camp.

Stumble It!

2008 Elections: Wheels Flying Off

The Crooked Talk Express.

Story o'the morning: Raw Story tells us that Dan Abrams (unlike so many of the other Lickspittles of the Press Corpse) called attention to the rather sad condition of Jaws McAncient's bus recently (click the link to see the video clip).

Apparently, after promising no new taxes, McAncient announced that he was prepared to raise Social Security taxes, and "nothing is off the table." He seems to be channeling the current Wastrel-in-Office's father — remember old "read my lips" George Teh First?

Of course, his campaign spokesidiot, one Tucker Bounds (was your mama high on somethin' when she named ya?) has rushed to reassure the conservatives of America that just because John McCain said he was going to raise taxes doesn't mean that John McCain speaks for the campaign of John McCain. Or something confusing of that nature. It's kind of sad, really, when the campaign spokesman disavows the views of the campaigner on the grounds that he doesn't speak for the campaign. Really, who speaks for the campaign of John McCain, if not John McCain?

"He may be practical," responded Democratic analyst Tanya Acker, "but a straight talker he is not." She suggested it was time to be "done with this myth of the straight-talking maverick who says one thing and holds fast to it for 35 years. That's just not true."

"He's gotten in the habit of even denying that he said something the day after," Sekoff agreed.

Mark Halperin illustrates some of McAncient's remarkable yet unremarked flip-flopping in Time magazine.

The National Journal has also noticed that the "straight talk" isn't quite as straight as pictured.

Just last week McCain found himself pushing back against his own campaign when his communications director, Jill Hazelbaker, went on cable television twice in one day to criticize Barack Obama's overseas trip as "political."

[...]

"Well, I can only give you my opinion -- and I will talk to her -- but the fact is I'm glad that he's going to Iraq, and I'm glad that he's going to Afghanistan, and it's long, long overdue," McCain said.

Speaking to reporters just hours later in Grand Haven, Mich., McCain attempted to clarify his statements from the bus: "We just had a discussion about whether his trip was political or not -- to Afghanistan and Iraq. I offered to be with him. And I'll look forward to his conclusions when he finishes that part of his trip. If he has political rallies in other places, obviously then it's a political trip."

Meanwhile, the WaPoo, normally given to fawning adulation of McAncient and stern-toned queries or dismissals of Obama, finds the courage to smack the oldster upside the head with a dead fish for his blatant lies about his younger rival. The NYT (registration required) agrees. And Ben Smith, over at Politico, notes that McAncient and his Rovian myrmidons have backed off the false charges in that ad.

It's kind of sad, really. McCain used to be a quirky individual with a sharp wit (and sharper tongue, which was amusing as long as one was not the intended target). Once upon a time, he had the courage to call Jerry Falwell what he was, a hatemonger. Now it seems he can't tell his arse from a hole in the ground.

Ms. Manitoba has accused me of unrepentant ageism in my depiction of McCain. It's not his age, per se, that is drawing mockery. It's his incapacitation. He's showing the effects of old age (or perhaps something else, say PTSD, or Alzheimer's, or the many medications he ingests) despite being relatively young.

Bertrand Russell was physically and intellectually far superior in function to McCain well into his nineties. George Bernard Shaw was productive and active till a fall incurred by pruning a tree knocked his kidneys out and put him in his grave at the age of 94. Grandma Moses published her autobiography at the age of 92 after beginning a new career in her seventies.

McCain, on the other hand, suffers from lapses of memory, confusion, belligerence, changes his positions oftener than a weathervane, contradicts himself, claims he never said or did things when there are records of him saying and doing exactly such things — it's sad. If he really is suffering from some sort of mental disorder, it's cruel to let him swing in the public eye. On the other hand, it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that the Bushies have just left McCain to twist in the wind to take our attention away from whichever revolting unprincipled shmuck they plan to replace him with right before the elections. At which time, they'll put all the pressure they can on the poor old warhorse to step down.

Stumble It!