(NOTE: But John McCain will take gay money -- in fact, he took $2300 from the owner of the #1 online man-on-man cruising site. Read about that here. Will he give it back? Will the squishy-in-love-with-McCain MSM even cover this? Do pigs fly?)
You know, I'm glad that disabilities rights activists are drawing attention to the "retard" scene in Tropic Thunder. It's one of the funniest moments in the film, and what convinced me to go see it. Yes, I'm that guy.
So, I'm tearing around my condo, being a bad feminist and cleaning stuff,* and thinking about the McCain campaign against Obama.** It's kind of confounding, how so much of the negative campaigning is focused on how Obama thinks he's so cool and that everyone likes him. That seems like a bad way to attack someone's popularity in what is something of a popularity contest. I'm not oblivious to the racism of the negative campaign or anything like that, of course, and I'm aware that people can maintain a lot of supposedly conflicting ideas in their heads at once, if they're focusing those ideas on hating on someone. Still, it seems like a bad idea to go with this "Obama is too cool and popular" strategy.
I can't believe I hadn't heard of this profile of Leslee Unruh---the woman who can take more credit than anyone for both the repeated attempts to ban abortion in South Dakota and for the "purity ball" branch of the abstinence-only movement---until Kay Steiger told me about it. And Kay's right that the journalist Amanda Robb does a remarkable job of humanizing this demonic force of misogyny, especially since Robb's very own uncle was a doctor who performed abortions and was murdered by some of Unruh's more fanatical and violent comrades. Unruh herself isn't a gun-toting misogynist, and Robb seems to think that Unruh sincerely believes that she's out to take away women's rights to abortion and contraception to help women. There's two competing views in the anti-choice community on women who control their fertility in order to have sex for bonding and pleasure. Diabolical sluts is the usual view, and while most anti-choicers at this point know they're supposed to have compassion for the wayward sluts, the sense that 95% of women are daughters of Eve out to dismantle society pokes through the fake compassion. The P.R. people realized at some point that they would do better with a "compassionate" view of women, which is to say that you frame women as creatures that are injured by freedom, because we're congenitally incapable of thinking for ourselves, and need strict guidance and restricting roles lest we injure ourselves by running around with scissors or hopping on random cocks. In this view, abortion and birth control have to be banned for women's own good, because we are too stupid to realize that we don't really want to have sex without having babies. Only by being forced to procreate against our wills will we realize that's what we wanted all along.
From: "Human Events"Date: Wed, 13 Aug 2008 11:48:20 -0700
To: ----
Subject: A Special Message from Rick Santorum
Below please find a special message from one of our advertisers, National Organization for Marriage. From time to time, we receive opportunities we believe you as a valued customer may want to know about. Please note that the following message does not necessarily reflect the editorial positions of Human Events.
An Important Message from Rick Santorum August 13, 2008
Dear Friend of Marriage, My friend, I've never come to you with a more urgent message: Unless we act today, we will lose the battle for marriage--not a decade from now, not "someday," but quite possibly in the next few months. How? Just weeks ago, a handful of out-of-touch judges overturned the will of the people in California by repealing Proposition 22, which defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman and was overwhelmingly approved by the voters in 2000. Four California judges endorsed two big, very bad ideas. First, they extended the internationally recognized human right to marry to include same-sex marriage. Not even in Massachusetts or in New Jersey could the courts stomach the idea that same-sex marriage is deeply rooted in our foundational American traditions of human rights. The second big idea endorsed by the California court is even less promising: sexual orientation should be treated just like race under the California equal protection amendment, subject to "strict scrutiny."
This is a ruling which, if left undisturbed, means that Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Muslims who see marriage as the union of husband and wife, and view sexual activity as best confined to marriage so defined, are in the exact position as racists under California law.
Hollywood, academia and some in the medical profession launched a huge offensive over the past decade to change the attitude of Americans about the homosexual community. They have succeeded in shaping the minds of young people against traditional marriage and intimidating and punishing anyone who offers a defense of marriage. A sophisticated network of wealthy gay activists are now trying to exploit this change in attitudes by spending millions on stealth campaigns to defeat pro-family state legislators and pass gay marriage laws. They are pushing the battle first where the secular left is the strongest: deep in "blue states" including New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maryland and now even in my home commonwealth, Pennsylvania.
That's why I need you to act today. Use this hyperlink to help launch the National Organization for Marriage's 2008 State Action Plan, including a sophisticated issue ad campaign--radio, TV, and print ads to drive home the point: don't mess with marriage.
If we don't fight back, our children and grandchildren will get harmful and confusing messages about marriage, including this one: there's no difference between same-sex and opposite-sex unions and anyone who defends marriage is a bigot. Make no mistake, gay marriage is not about letting Adam visit Steve in the hospital or letting them do what they want in private. Gay marriage is about using the power of government to propagate a new faith: Individuals who oppose gay marriage are hateful bigots and they and their faith community should be punished.
The insanity continues below the fold. The right wing really amps up the wingnuttery in order to try to squeeze some cash out of the economy-dropkicked faithful.
Why are they pushing so hard to push gay marriage laws through state legislatures? Because, they want to drive a nail into the coffin of any possibility of a federal marriage amendment. Because, once it is "normalized" in this way, they are counting on the courts and the culture to then spread gay marriage throughout the country. Because they know that once they get government committed to the idea that traditional marriage is bigotry, like racism, they can use the power of big government to marginalize, stigmatize and repress people of faith in American life. And because they believe people of faith like you and me have no way to fight back. Their strategy is simple: Use the big money power of high-tech billionaires to get politicians to ignore the values and voices of regular Americans. That means, folks like you and me who:
* Know marriage is the union of husband and wife;
* Don't want their hard-earned tax dollars used to subsidize novel family forms, and;
* Certainly do not wish their public schools to teach captive children that their parents and grandparents are evil discriminators for opposing gay marriage.
That's right, while we are tending to our jobs, going to church, and raising our families, a handful of wealthy gay men are plotting ways to use their giant fortunes to reshape the entire American political landscape in their own image. Sound a little hard to believe? I thought so too, until I read the March 1, 2007 Atlantic Monthly article that documents the detailed plans and huge influence these men are having, led by one gay billionaire activist named Tim Gill. The article is called "They Won't Know What Hit Them," and the subtitle pretty much says it all:
"Tim Gill has a mission: stop the Rick Santorums of tomorrow before they get started. How a network of gay political donors is stealthily ... reshaping American politics."
That grabbed my attention, how about yours? If so, I need your help to fight back. And the best way I know is to help launch the National Organization for Marriage's 2008 State Action Plan, so that we can send a clear message to politicians: don't mess with marriage.
Graphic: Mike Tidmus.Use this hyperlink to make a generous donation of $35, $50, or even $100 today.
These gay marriage activists know the marriage battle will be won or lost in state legislatures. And because they know that state legislatures are our farm team for the next generation of passionate pro-family leaders that's who the gay donors are targeting.
"[I]t's often just a handful of people, two or three, who introduce the most outrageous legislation and force the rest of their colleagues to vote on it," says Gill. "If you could reach these few people or neutralize them by flipping the chamber to leaders who would block bad legislation, you'd have a dramatic effect."
Their goal? "[P]unish the wicked," as Gill puts it. Or, "snuff out rising politicians who were building their careers on antigay policies, before they . . . achieve national influence." Their chief cautionary example of such a villain is . . . --Yes, there I am again!-- "Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.
Let's be clear here: by "punish the wicked" Gill means people like you and me who adhere to God's vision of what marriage is and what it is for. By "outrageous legislation" he means laws that protect marriage as the union of husband and wife, and incidentally also protect faith groups from persecution by the government for our views of marriage. In the last election cycle Gill pumped $15 million into defeating the good guys. According to the Atlantic Monthly he succeeded seventy percent of the time. "In 2000, he gave $300,000 in political donations, which grew to $800,000 in 2002, $5 million in 2004, and a staggering $15 million last year, almost all of it to state and local campaigns." Danny Carroll, for example, used to be speaker pro tem of the Iowa House, a rising pro-family star who had guided a state marriage amendment to passage in the Iowa House (the first step to putting it on the ballot). Then he was targeted by rich gay activists for his leadership on marriage. Carroll never even knew why he lost, until the Atlantic Monthly reporter pointed out to him all the $1,000 out of state checks: "I'll be darned," said Carroll. "Denver ... Dallas ... Los Angeles ... Malibu ... there's New York again ... San Francisco! I can't--I just cannot believe this," he said, finally. "Who is this guy again?" Who is this guy? Can we afford to let Malibu, Beverly Hills, Manhattan, and San Francisco control our country and our children and grandchildren's minds? That's why I need you to support NOM's 2008 State Action Plan immediately.
...In Pennsylvania, Gill money helped the Democrats gain control of the House by only one vote. What happens if we permit this tiny minority to reshape marriage? The next step is to use the new law to suppress the liberties of Christians. Already:
* A Christian adoption agency--Catholic Charities!--has been shut down by the government because it will not do adoptions for gay married couples
* A volunteer fireman, who risked his life to rescue friends and neighbors in need, was told his services were no longer wanted--because he signed a petition supporting marriage as the union of husband and wife.
* A father was arrested for trying to prevent a public school from teaching his son that gay marriage is normal.
* In New Jersey, a Methodist organization just lost part of its state tax exemption because it refused to permit civil union ceremonies on church-owned property.
How can this happen in the United States of America? One thing I've learned to trust after 15 years on the front lines: When things look the darkest, God raises up new reasons to hope. For those of us who are Christians, despair is a vice, and for us hope is not only a natural emotion, it's a theological virtue. We are each called to "faith, hope and love." It is the fuel for our battles with the forces of hate who seek (in the name of tolerance!) to silence God's own truth. And so with great hope and excitement, I learned about the launch of The National Organization for Marriage's 2008 State Action Plan. Will you give a generous donation today to help ensure the plan succeeds?
...But don't take my word for it alone: Dr. James Dobson personally donated $25,000 to the National Organization for Marriage. Why?, "It's not just marriage that is at stake, it's absolutely everything," Dr. Dobson said on a recent Focus on the Family broadcast in which he invited Maggie Gallagher and Prof. George to speak about the National Organization for Marriage. On the October 10 Focus on the Family radio broadcast, Dr. James C. Dobson urged pro-family Americans to do something about it.
"This has been an ongoing struggle that burns in our hearts," Dr. Dobson says. "And now, marriage is really on the brink, and I don't know how to emphasize that more."
Let's get the good fight going! Gay marriage activists have to depend on a handful of very wealthy men, because they cannot count on the broad support of the American people. They know politicians who listen to your views and values will vote for marriage as the union of husband and wife. Together, with God's help, there is no limit on what we can accomplish.
Enough, enough, you get the picture. If you can believe it, this crap goes on and on beyond this, asking people to launch billboard campaigns, create TV ads in order to "let the American people know the real consequences of gay marriage." Gee, I'm sure a lot of folks in Massachusetts can speak to the consequences...uh, happy couples and tourism dollars flowing into the state's coffers.
Ricky also shills his dreadful tome, It Takes a Family in this email. He's asking $35 for it.
My favorite line later on this crap appeal for buxxx -- "$5 or $10 a month (think: one less Big Mac a month!)"
Wait -- aren't these people supposed to be boycotting the Golden Arches?
