Respectfully, Mr. President: Thank You! -- ("Obama has not done anything?") CHECK THIS OUT!!!

There are lots and lots of Progressives(?) clamoring "Barack Obama has not done anything", No, I'm not exaggerating, that's what many, many are saying -- while some of them may be parroting Republican Operatives' 'Talking Points", some of these voices are actually Republican Operatives in our midst, including many who infiltrated or sold out in the pro-immigrant rights movement; their goal? Well, not to difficult to figure out, isn't? Bottom line is, many gullible folk are believing them.

So, after reading "ThisIsMyTime" Post with a list of some of President Obama and Dems' accomplishments in spite of vicious attacks and blatant obstructionism, do you think these voices are telling the truth to us all?

Most of us know someone who is repeating the Right Wing lies, send them this information, ask them to read it and then ask them to repeat what they've been saying.

Millions of us worked very hard to elect President Obama and we accomplished this historic and revolutionary act, take credit for your hard work and foresight, but let's not slip into complacency, the work is far from done, there is so much that needs to be corrected/changed, let's continue with our pledge to work for change, to pressure our Representatives to act, after all, this is the bargain we entered with then Candidate Barack Obama, just to be clear, this is what we agreed on "That we were going to help/make him do it", for,

"WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR" And,

That "YES, WE CAN - SI SE PUEDE"

Aurora

Obama Will Triumph -- So Will America by Frank Schaeffer

---

by ThisIsMyTime [Daily Kos]
Wed Oct 13, 2010 at 08:56:57 AM PDT

As the battle for control of Congress has tightened and the so called enthusiasm gap is evaporating, we must continue speaking to voter about what Democrats in Congress have accomplished.

If you are a democrat and you have an enthusiasm gap, I am hoping that this could change your lack of enthusiasm.

The facts are in the last 23 months, the following are things that I think are worth keeping scores about what President Obama and the Democratic congress have accomplished that get over looked without an ounce of credit by some who are always disappointed about something.

More below the fold...
ThisIsMyTime's diary :: ::

Crossposted at The People's View

I think it is important to not only speak to voters about the fact we are moving forward together but remind activists to see what they have been resisting.

I don't know about you but I am ready to go and these are the reasons why I have more Enthusiasm than ever:

Health Care Reform:
Coverage can't be denied to children with pre-existing conditions.
Adults up to age 26 can stay on their parents' health plans.
Freepreventive care.
Rescinding coverage is now illegal.
Eliminating lifetime limits on insurance coverage.
Restricting annual limits on insurance coverage.
More options to appeal coverage decisions.
$5 billion in immediate federal support to affordable Coverage for the Uninsured with Pre-existing Conditions.
$10 billion investment in Community Health Centers.
Create immediate access to re-insurance for employer health plans providing coverage for early retirees.
Made an $80 billion deal with the pharmaceutical industry to contribute to cut prescription drug costs for the nation's seniors reduce the size of the "donut hole" in the Medicare (Part D) Drug Benefit.

Economy:
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) has worked. The Economy Has Been Growing - take a look at the graph of GDP growth between 2007 thru 2010.
US auto industry rescue plan -- Detroit making profits again and at least 1 million jobs saved.
Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 that extended Unemployment benefits up to 20 weeks and more.
Provided $14.7 billion in small business loans increasing minority access to capital.
The $26 billion aid to states package preventing large-scale layoffs of teachers and public employees.

Banking and Financial Reform
Signed a sweeping bank-reform bill (the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act)into law
Managed the $700 Billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) that Banks have repaid 75% of TARP funds, bringing the cost down to $89B as of June 2010.
Cuts Salaries For 65 Bailout Executives
Closed offshore tax safe havens, tax credit loopholes on companies that use the tax laws to ship American Jobs oversees. HR 4213.
Signed into law the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act to fight fraud in the use of TARP and recovery funds, and to increase accountability for corporate and mortgage frauds.
Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act

VETOED Big Banks' notarization sweetheart deal

Education
Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act of 2010 that increased the amount of federal Pell Grant awards and enabled the stripping of banks privileges as intermediaries for student loan servicing.
Created the Race to the Top Fund, a $4.35 billion program to reward States that submit the best proposals for change.
As part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, funded over $100 Billion for reforms to strengthen Elementary and Secondary education, early learning programs, college affordability and improve access to higher education, and to close the achievement gap.

Jobs
The $787 billion economic stimulus package has created or saved nearly 2 million jobs slowing the bleeding
Jobs for Main Street Act (2010)injected $27.5 Billion for Highways, $8.4 Billion for Transit into the country's transportation system to create jobs and spur economic activity.
A $33 Billion Jobs Package that will allow Small businesses to get $5,000 tax credit for new hires.
A $26 billion State Aid Package Jobs Bill saving 300,000 teachers and public workers jobs from unemployment.
The Auto bailout saved 1 million jobs.

Green Energy
Implemented renewable fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022, four times what we currently consume.
Automakers will be required to meet a fleet-wide average of New Gas Mileage Standards at 35.5 MPH by 2016.
A $60 billion investment in renewable and clean energy.

Housing
$275 billion dollar housing plan - $75 billion dollars to prevent at-risk mortgage debtors already fallen victim to foreclosures and $200 billion to bring about confidence to offer affordable mortgages and to stability the housing market.
Established "Opening Doors" to end the homelessness of 640,000 men, women, and children in the United States in 10 years.
Provided $510 Million for the rehabilitation of Native American housing. ref
Provided $2 billion for Neighborhood Stabilization Program to rehab, resell, or demolish in order to stabilize neighborhoods.
Provided $5 billion for Weatherization Assistance Program for low income families to weatherize 1 million homes per year for the next decade.
Provided grants to encourage states and localities to take the first steps in implementing new building codes that prioritize energy efficiency.

Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security
giving $250 economic stimulus check to 55 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients in 2009.
Cutting prescription drug costs for Medicare recipients by 50% and began eliminating the plan's gap ("donut hole") in coverage.
Passing as part of H.R.3962 (Preservation of Access to Care for Medicare Beneficiaries and Pension Relief Act of 2010) a $6.4 billion measure reversing a 21 percent cut in physician payments that would have started a flood of rejections by some doctors of seniors covered by Medicare.
Expanded eligibility for Medicaid to all individuals under age 65 with incomes up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level ($14,400 per year for an individual).

Military Veterans and Families
Implemented a strategic plan to increase the hiring of Veterans and Military spouses throughout the Federal civil service.
Provided for the expenses of families of to be at Dover AFB when fallen soldiers arrive.
Passed the Veterans' Compensation Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009 increasing the rates of compensation for veterans with service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain disabled veterans.
Declared the end of the war in Iraqi bringing back nearly 100,000 U.S. troops home to their families.
Donated 250K of Nobel prize money to Fisher House, a group that helps provide housing for families of patients receiving medical care at military and Veterans Affairs medical centers

LBGT
Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees
Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act
Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation's largest employer)
Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover Gay employees taking unpaid leave to care for their children of same-sex partners
Lifted the HIV Entry Ban.
Implemented HUD Policies that Would Ban Discrimination Based On Gender Identity

Well, there is more but you see we have done a lot. We have the tools to shape the message. We need to move forward together and focus on what we will accomplish forward in the coming years. That is why we have to work hard for the next three weeks to GOTV.

These are my kids at the One Nation March about a week ago. They are fired up as I am. Are you?

Yes indeed, there is more, check out this list:

Accomplishments by the Administration and Congress on LGBT Equality

No one should rest until we have full LGBT equality. But after eight years of Republican disrespect, progress is being made. In its first 20 months, the Obama Administration has...

By Andrew Tobias | Contact DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias is the author of several books, including The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need and The Best Little Boy in the World.

1. Reversed an inexcusable US position by signing the UN Declaration on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
2. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees in 2009 and, further, in 2010
3. Endorsed the Baldwin-Lieberman bill, The Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act of 2009, to provide FULL partnership benefits to federal employees
4. Signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act
5. Lifted the HIV Entry Ban effective January 2010
6. Released the first Presidential PRIDE proclamations since 2000
7. Hosted the first LGBT Pride Month Celebration in White House history
8. Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Harvey Milk and Billie Jean King, joining past recipients such as Rosa Parks
9. Appointed the first ever transgender DNC member
10. Issued diplomatic passports, and provided other benefits, to the partners of same-sex foreign service employees
11. Committed to ensuring that HUD's core housing programs are open to all, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity
12. Conceived a National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Elders -- the nation's first ever -- funded by a three-year HHS grant to SAGE
13. Testified in favor of ENDA, the first time any official of any administration has testified in the Senate on ENDA
14. Signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which expanded existing United States federal hate crime law to include crimes motivated by a victim's actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability -- the first positive federal LGBT legislation in the nation's history
15. Hired and appointed a record number of qualified LGBT Americans (like these), including more than 20 Senate-confirmed appointments
16. Sworn in Ambassador David Huebner
17. Changed the culture of government everywhere from – among others – HUD and HHS to the Export-Import Bank, the State Department, and the Department of Education

18. Appointed Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, instead of conservatives who would have tilted the Court even further to the right and virtually doomed our rights for a generation. To wit (quoting McCain): "I've said a thousand times on this campaign trail, I've said as often as I can, that I want to find clones of Alito and Roberts. I worked as hard as anybody to get them confirmed. I look you in the eye and tell you I've said a thousand times that I wanted Alito and Roberts. I have told anybody who will listen. I flat-out tell you I will have people as close to Roberts and Alito [as possible]."

19. Named open transgender appointees (the first President ever to do so)

20. Banned job discrimination based on gender identity throughout the Federal government (the nation's largest employer)

21. Emphasized LGBT inclusion in everything from the President's historic NAACP address ("The pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and a different gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion simply because they kneel down to pray to their God. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.") . . . to the first paragraph of his Family Day proclamation ("Whether children are raised by two parents, a single parent, grandparents, a same-sex couple, or a guardian, families encourage us to do our best and enable us to accomplish great things") and his Mothers Day proclamation ("Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by two parents, a single mother, two mothers, a step-mom, a grandmother, or a guardian. Mother's Day gives us an opportunity to celebrate these extraordinary caretakers") . . . to creating the chance for an adorable 10-year-old at the White House Easter Egg roll to tell ABC World News how cool it is to have two mommies . . . to including the chair of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce along with the Secretary of the Treasury and the President of Goldman Sachs in the small audience for the President's economic address at the New York Stock Exchange . . . to welcoming four gay couples to its first State Dinner
22. Recommitted, in a televised address, to passing ENDA . . . repealing Don't Ask/Don't Tell . . . repealing the so-called Defense of Marriage Act
23. Spoken out against discrimination at the National Prayer Breakfast ("We may disagree about gay marriage, but surely we can agree that it is unconscionable to target gays and lesbians for who they are -- whether it's here in the United States or, as Hillary mentioned, more extremely in odious laws that are being proposed most recently in Uganda.")
24. Dispatched the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to call on the Senate to repeal Don't Ask / Don't Tell, in the meantime dialing back on discharges
25. Launched a website to gather public comment on first-ever federal LGBT housing discrimination study
26. Appointed long-time equality champion Chai Feldblum one of the four Commissioners of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
27. Eliminated the discriminatory Census Bureau policy that kept our relationships from being counted, encouraging couples who consider themselves married to file that way, even if their state of residence does not yet permit legal marriage
28. Produced U.S. Census Bureau PSAs featuring gay, lesbian, and transgender spokespersons.
29. Instructed HHS to require any hospital receiving Medicare or Medicaid funds (virtually all hospitals) to allow LGBT visitation rights.
30. Appointed Retired Colonel Margarethe Cammermeyer, an early public champion of open service in the military, to the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services
31. Required all grant applicants seeking HUD funding to comply with state and local anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT individuals.
32. Adopted transgender recommendations on the issuance of gender-appropriate passports that will ease barriers to safe travel and that will provide government-issued ID that avoids involuntary "outing" in situations requiring ID, like hiring, where a gender-appropriate driver's license or birth certificate is not available
33. Extended domestic violence protections to LGBT victims
34. Publicly invited shunned MIssissippi high school prom student to the White House
35. Extended the Family and Medical Leave Act to cover employees taking unpaid leave to care for the children of same-sex partners
36. Issued guidance specifically to assist LGBT tenants denied housing on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity
37. Issued a National HIV/AIDS Strategy praised as "long-overdue" by the Task Force, Lambda and others
38. Successfully fought for UN accreditation of IGLHRC (the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) -- against Republican attempts to block it
39. Convened the first-ever anti-bullying summit to craft a national strategy to reduce bullying in schools.
40. Awarded $13.3 million to the LA Gay & Lesbian Center to create a model program for LGBTQ youth in the foster care system.

The Administration will continue to make steady progress on our issues whether we help strengthen its hand or not. But the stronger it is, the faster that progress will come.

Obama era begins

SOURCE:

‘All are equal, all are free,’ new president tells massive inaugural crowd

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
JAN. 23, 2009

Just seconds after President Barack Obama was sworn in Tuesday, the official White House web site was updated to include his commitments on a range of gay rights initiatives. (Photo by AP)

Gay people from across the country joined more than a million people Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol and on the National Mall to witness Barack Obama take the oath of office as the 44th president and become, in the minds of many activists, the nation’s most gay-supportive president.

In his inaugural address, Obama called on the country to strive for equal rights and justice for all, but did not specifically mention his longstanding support for gay civil rights as he did in many campaign speeches.

The omission of gays and other constituency groups from the inaugural address did not appear to bother gay rights supporters who braved the frigid weather to attend the inauguration.

For many activists, especially black gays, Obama’s precedent-setting role as the nation’s first African-American president — along with his strong support for the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans — elicited deep, personal feelings about their outlook on the country.

“I think that at this moment, I am more proud to be an American than I have ever been,” said Michael Crawford, a black gay activist and Obama campaign volunteer.

“And when I say that, I don’t mean to say that I have ever not been proud to be an American,” Crawford said. “But watching Barack Obama be sworn into the presidency as the first African American ever, and not only watching him but seeing the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people of all races, all sexual orientations, all ages, all economic classes together celebrating that fact was absolutely amazing.”

Crawford and other activists noted that while Obama did not mention gays in his inaugural address, his new administration acted quickly to include gays in its first White House actions.

Seconds after Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath of office to Obama, a detailed narrative describing Obama’s support for gay rights legislation popped up on the White House web site, www.whitehouse.gov.

On the site’s “Civil Rights” page, which includes the official White House logo, Obama’s support for a gay and trans-inclusive hate crimes prevention bill, an employment non-discrimination bill covering gays and transgender people, and overturning “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” among other gay-related issues, are discussed under a section titled “Support for the LGBT Community.”

The section also mentions Obama’s call for the repeal of the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act and his support for new legislation that would provide full marriage-related rights and benefits for same-sex couples joined in civil unions or domestic partnerships.

While praised by gay groups, the web site’s changes were quickly denounced by the anti-gay Liberty Alliance, which called the changes a signal that Obama has adopted the “homosexual agenda.”

‘ALL EQUAL, ALL FREE’

In his inaugural address, Obama discussed themes of national unity at home and improved relations with the global community.

“The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit, to choose our better history, to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness,” he said.

In a reference to his foreign policy initiatives, Obama noted that “America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.”

The night he won the presidency, Obama told a crowd in Chicago that his victory was an answer to the question of whether America remained a place “where all things are possible.”

“It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled, Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states,” he said on that November night. “We are, and always will be, the United States of America.”

During a pre-inaugural concert on Sunday at the Lincoln Memorial, Obama made a similar call for unity by listing the same groups, including “gay and straight,” in a speech on the memorial’s steps.

The Lincoln Memorial event drew criticism from some gay activists when the opening prayer delivered by gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson was omitted from the televised coverage of the concert. (See related story, Page 10.)

Many activists considered Obama’s decision to invite the openly gay Robinson to participate in the Lincoln Memorial event as a way of offsetting Obama’s earlier decision to invite Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church in California and ...

continued on next page

1 | 2

The debate continues over homophobia in the black community

SOURCE:

AMERICAblog.com

John Aravosis (DC) · 1/09/2009 03:37:00 PM ET
Friday, January 09, 2009

The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force just released a study showing, they say, that black voters in California did not disproportionately support the anti-gay initiative, Prop 8, as compared to other ethnic groups in the state (exit polls showed 70% of blacks supporting Prop 8 versus 50% or so of other major ethnic groups, including Latinos). Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin, a site that deals with gay issues, but also focuses a lot on race, disagrees with the NGLTF study.

You can wade through both analyses yourself, but one point struck me. Reasonable observers have long acknowledged that there is a problem of homophobia in the black community. Barack Obama himself acknowledged this, and (much to Obama's credit) went so far as to speak out against it at Martin Luther King's church on MLK day a year ago. Obama said at the time:

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man. And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays - on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system.

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean. If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community.

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community. For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity.

Was Obama wrong? We know, for example, that the Jewish community tends to be very supportive, as a whole, of the civil rights of gays and lesbians. We know that Evangelicals, as a community, are not. Different communities have different religions, different cultures, and different experiences that affect their views on every issue, including gay civil rights. Why is it so anathema to discuss homophobia in the black community? Especially after Obama himself has acknowledged it?

Rick Warren Saddleback Church Covers Up Extremist Ideology

SOURCE:

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

Rick Warren Saddleback Church Covers Up Extremist Ideology Filed under Barack Obama, Religion by jclifford at 8:12 am

The controversy over the plan to have right wing preacher Rick Warren give an official religious invocation to introduce Barack Obama’s Inauguration just grew another kink. It seems that Rick Warren’s church, the Saddleback Church, is engaged in a coverup designed to hide Rick Warren’s extremist ideology.

Soon after it was announced that its leader, Rick Warren, would be giving an invocation at the Inauguration, the Saddleback Church began taking down parts of its web site in an attempt to prevent people from seeing the kind of weird ideas that the church actually preaches. For example, on December 16th, the Saddleback Church web site had a page of questions and answers about its beliefs. Here’s what it looked like then:

Why the coverup if, as Rick Warren claims, truth is eternal? If Rick Warren is happy to preach these weird ideas to people at his church, then how come he isn’t willing to share them all with the rest of us? Come on, preacher Warren - let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! Truth is eternal, online. I discovered this coverup by looking at Google’s cache, and now, thanks to that, I’ve been able to save the page as a PDF, which you can see for yourself here. I’ve put it on the IrregularTimes.com server, where Rick Warren won’t be able to make it disappear.

What really tickles me is that this page is the Saddleback Church’s page of frequently asked questions. It’s right there in the name of the file: faqs_saddleback.asp - FAQs stands for frequently asked questions. But now, this page has been erased. What does that tell us about how Rick Warren and the Saddleback Church feel about questions?

Apparently, there are no frequently asked questions at the Saddleback Church. It’s not the kind of church where questions are appreciated. Rather, it seems that when church members bring up questions, they’re erased.

Actually, its not just the questions that are deleted from the Saddleback Church web site. Rick Warren’s answers to the questions are deleted too. Amongst those answers are the following nuggets:

- If you’re in debt, you shouldn’t stop giving money to the Saddleback Church, because you’re more likely to get out of debt if you give Rick Warren money.
- Stopping embryonic stem cell research is more important than curing grave and fatal illnesses. Rick Warren urges his followers to “speak out against overzealous stem cell research, even though you know it slows down the process of finding a possible cure for someone you love.”
- Jews should convert to Christianity, because the only sin for which we can go to Hell is “rejecting God’s saving solution in his son Jesus Christ.”
- Homosexuality is a sin, and so the Saddleback Church won’t accept homosexual couples as members. Church members ought to confront homosexuals and tell them that they’re sinners.
- Belief in evolution and belief in the Bible are incompatible.
- God gave human beings dominion over dinosaurs, which were around at the birth of human civilization - “Man and dinosaurs lived at the same time.”
- Plesiosaurs might not be extinct at all.

But this isn’t all - there’s a lot more to Rick Warren and Saddleback Church than just this one web page. A further search for other coverup materials seems to be called for.

ALSO AT "IRREGULAR TIMES"

Upcoming Activist Events

Light Up the Night for Equality
2008-12-20, various times in Cities Across the Nation, Nationwide

Minneapolis Anti-DOMA Protest
2009-01-10, 12:30pm - 2:00pm in Minneapolis, MN

Senator Obama, STOP GOVERNMENT SPYING at DC Inauguration Parade
2009-01-20, 6:00am - 2:00pm in Washington, DC

Independent Dissent at the DC Inaugural Parade
2009-01-20, 12 Noon - 6 PM in Washington, DC

January 20, 2009 Pro-Constitution Demonstration in Washington, DC
2009-01-20, 12 noon to 6 pm, but you have to get there early! in Washington, DC

Grab the RSS feed for this list and put it on your website.

OBAMA, RICK WARREN, PROGRESSIVES, GAY RIGHTS, AND SOME PROVOCATIVE INSIGHTS FROM DON CHARLES

SOURCE: christianglbtrights.blogspot.com

A CHRISTIAN VOICE FOR GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENDER RIGHTS

"A Church that doesn't provoke any crisis, a gospel that doesn't unsettle, a word of God that doesn't get under anyone's skin, a word of God that doesn't touch the real sin of society in which it is being proclaimed, what gospel is that? Archbishop Oscar Romero (1917-1980)

"Never let other people define your reality or put you into bondage to their ways of thinking." Jerry Maneker.

Monday, December 22, 2008

As you undoubtedly know by now, President-Elect Obama is having Rick Warren give the inaugural prayer at his inauguration.

Rick Warren has said that "...homosexuality is a sin and Jews will go to hell...."

He also shows himself to be clueless regarding Gay identity, using such a bizarre perceived correlate of same-sex love as marrying a pizza because one loves it.

Believe me, I couldn't make this stuff up!

In John Cloud's December 18th article, he states the following:

[Rick] Warren did have a message of hope for gays: they can magically become heterosexuals. (He didn't explain how, but I suspect he thinks praying really hard would do it, as if most of us who grew up gay and evangelical hadn't tried that every night as teenagers.) Homosexuality, Pastor Warren explained in the virtually content-free language of the dogmatist, is "not the natural way." And then he went right for the ick factor, the way middle-school boys do: "Certain body parts are meant to fit together."

More recently, Warren told Beliefnet that he thinks allowing a gay couple to marry is similar to allowing "a brother and sister to be together and call that marriage." He then helpfully added that he's also "opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage." The reporter, who may have been a little surprised, asked, "Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?" "Oh, I do," Warren immediately answered.

I've never considered Obama as anything but a political chameleon; a political opportunist, much like Bill Clinton, an avowed "liberal," who signed DOMA and DADT. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

I do confess to voting for Obama as the lesser of the two evils, as I couldn't see another term of a Bush Presidency in the personage of John McCain; the specter of Sarah Palin being a heartbeat away from the Presidency and, perhaps, the next President, was an intolerable nightmare to me.

Regarding Obama, I wrote the following in an email to my friend Don Charles:

With a straight face [Obama] touts equality for Gay people, but is against them marrying. How that double think was believed by so many people is remarkable in itself; the "Obamamania" that was expressed by so many liberals was disheartening when it was expressed prior to the election, and his betrayal of Gay people by his selection of Warren to give the inaugural prayer cuts to the quick for all those who thought he was any different than any other political opportunist.

So, Obama's a "friend" of Gays but also a friend of Warren's who lies about Gays and seeks to prevent their equal rights! All things to all people! That's the mantra of people who have no integrity, commitment, loyalties, or decency!

In this connection, I'm reminded of Jesus' saying: "Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets." (Luke 6:26)

To seek common ground with those who, despite sanctimonious, and "spiritually" and politically correct, rhetoric, do no want full and equal rights for all people is questionable enough. However, to honor that person by choosing him to give the inaugural prayer upon your assuming the Presidency of the United States is quite another thing altogether.

By placing Rick Warren in this position, Obama is giving him legitimacy and credibility that promises to likely color the tenor of his Presidency! In the name of "building bridges" and "seeking common ground," Obama, and even some progressive activists, by placing on an equal moral footing those who seek to deprive Gay people of full and equal civil rights with those who believe that Gay people are deserving of full and equal civil rights, do a terrible injustice to all Gay people. They miss the mark regarding what is at stake in the fight for full and equal rights for LGBT people.

As stated in the Washington Blade:

You can't speak about "common ground" when a group of people's rights are being stripped away. And let's hear what in-limbo same-sex couples married in California think about calling [Rick]Warren "vital to the pursuit of social justice."

It must be noted that Rick Warren was solidly behind Prop. 8, stating the need to to preserve the biblical definition of marriage."

In conclusion, in an exchange of emails, Don Charles sent me the following email that he was kind enough to allow me to post today. It's right on the money, and deserves to be widely read and disseminated.

Here is what he wrote to me, and it certainly provides food for thought:

Jasmyne Cannick is known for putting her “Black concerns” ahead of her “Gay concerns”, but this time, she’s lost all sense of perspective. How could she defend Barack Obama’s showcasing of Rick Warren? It’s the exact equivalent of Franklin Roosevelt showcasing Father Coughlin, if Roosevelt had ever been so stupid as do it. She’s one of these Gay Democrats [who] are so enamored of Obama, he’d almost have to pull out a gun and shoot a Gay person before they’d criticize him.

Obama’s “coming together” justification for his Rick Warren invite is the most bogus thing I’ve yet heard him say. It’s so bogus, in fact, it insults your intelligence to even talk about it! If you legitimately want to bring people with conflicting views together, you have to lay a groundwork for that. You have to establish that the two sides even want to meet. You can’t just toss enemies together as if you were tossing ingredients for a salad!

But this isn’t a case of enemies being brought together. Gay people aren’t even in the salad mix here. There will be no Gay clergy on the inauguration stage. There’ll only be Joseph Lowery, a man whose support of marriage equality is suspect; I once heard him say on the radio that he didn’t think Gay couples should be allowed to marry. You already know, of course, that Jesse Jackson is also against Gay weddings in church?

Obama would never have a Lesbian or Gay clergyman blessing him, because that would piss off the Right Wing evangelicals he’s been courting since the primaries. He wants fundies as part of his re-election base, and he’s going after them aggressively; he doesn’t care if he disrespects us, because he believes we don’t have any choice but to support him. In other words, LGBT folk are being used as a carpet for him to walk on as he heads to the Oval Office. If you think Straight Black/Gay White relations are strained now, just you wait . . . things could get incredibly ugly.

How “fierce” a Gay Rights advocate is Barack Obama? So fierce that he’d give last-minute lip service to opposing Proposition 8 even while making it known that he agrees with Prop 8 supporters. So fierce that he would deny our constitutional right to marry the adult person of our choice. So fierce that he dares to characterize appalling anti-Gay hate speech as a mere difference of opinion that should be overlooked. I knew he had issues with Gay people as soon as I saw his macho “don’t-doubt-my-heterosexuality” reaction to a debate question about AIDS testing.

My opinion is this: Obama’s name should’ve been overlooked when progressive citizens voted last November 4. He lacks sufficient experience to lead this nation, his rhetoric is empty, and he’s ethically challenged. I’m afraid more and more people will share my opinion as his administration advances its agenda. We haven’t elected a leader, we’ve seated another craven politician in the mold of George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. If that Lesbian or Gay Martin Luther King we’ve all been hoping for should appear on the scene right now, it wouldn’t be a second too soon!

Not Another Word on Gay Marriage Until They Execute an Adulterer

SOURCE: THE HUFFINGTON POST

Cenk Uygur

Posted December 19, 2008 | 03:29 AM (EST)

The religious right picks and chooses which parts of the Bible they want to apply. And they choose based on which outsider group they would like to hate next. First, they emphasized slavery in the Bible when they wanted to hate black people. Now, they emphasize the parts condemning homosexuality so they can hate gay people.

They are completely and utterly disingenuous. They don't mean a word of it. They don't give a damn what the Bible says. They just want to use it as an instrument of hate.

The Bible says eating shellfish is an abomination. Yet there are no Red Lobster Amendments. The Bible says you shall not wear two different types of cloths at the same time. Yet there are no Propositions against cotton and wool combos.

The Bible says you should leave your family and join Jesus Christ. The religious right pretends that Jesus was about family values. He wanted you to abandon your family. Read the Bible.

The religious right pretends that the Bible says marriage is between one man and one woman. But that is a bald faced lie. Have any of these people ever read the Bible? The Bible is full of men taking on second wives, servants, prostitutes and concubines. And all the while, God heartily approves. How many wives did King David have? Eight? Twelve? Let alone his possibly gay lover, Jonathan.

Now the Bible says that a man shall not lie with another man. That is true. But it also says, in the same exact book, that adultery is an abomination. And the just punishment for this sin is execution. So, who will execute the first adulterer? Please step on up. May the one without any Biblical sin cast the first stone.

Here is a question no one can answer -- and lucky for the right wing, the media never bothers to ask -- why do you only focus on the part of the Bible against homosexuality but not on the part against adultery? It's one thing to say you're against adultery; it's another to take away their rights. How come no religious figure in this country has mounted a campaign to take away the rights of adulterers? Let alone execute them.

I'll tell you why. Because there are too many of them. Their followers are adulterers. They don't make for good scapegoats. They are not an easy target to ostracize and focus your hatred on. Gays are perfect. They are a small enough percentage of the population and different enough from the rest of us to be able to get people to focus their negative, barbaric instincts on them. The Bible is only a tool for this tribal, ugly tactic.

But I am tired of hearing people saying that homosexuality is a sin in the Bible when they never quote the rest of the Bible (probably because a great majority of church goers have never independently read the Bible or they have built up a reservoir of excuses for the parts they find inconvenient). So, from now, I would like to tell the Rick Warrens of the world, you are perfectly allowed to say how much you would like to take gay people's rights away from them based on the Bible so long as you agree to do one thing first -- execute an adulterer.

If you can do that for me, then I'll believe that you actually believe in the Bible literally and will accept your literal argument against homosexuality. Fair is fair. Step on up.

Watch The Young Turks Here

PS -- In case anyone is a maniacal literalist, please do not actually attempt to execute any adulterers or anyone else. Check yourself into a mental hospital instead because the seven headed dragon in Revelations could be out to get you.