Meet tea partier Ginni Thomas - supreme court justice Clarence Thomas's wife

If you're with AT&T, you should know that they're the top contributor to members of the House Tea Party Caucus, who oppose nearly every environmental safety and consumer protection law on the books.

If you pay your bill to Verizon Wireless, you should know they recently donated to Senator David Vitter (R-La.), who later urged President Obama to expand offshore oil drilling even after the devastating spill in the Gulf.

Always interesting that besides Target.....

http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2010...s-major-r.html

Oh no! Not my beloved iPhone carrier!

Paedophile priests still play active church role

More than half of the Catholic clergy jailed for paedophile activity in England and Wales remain in the priesthood – with several receiving financial support from church authorities, raising serious questions about depth of church commitment to child protection and overshadowing the start of the papal visit.

I pray there soon is a place parents can find out where they are and their names like the other soul collectors.

This is 30 minutes west of where my kids live
 

and yet another youth
 

When will people get that bullying is a very serious act of violence and degradation! All I have to do is think back to my teen years and how ultra sensitive those yeras are and I see how a kid gets to this place. Look at the rate of teen depression!

Then there are the adult models of bullying and school administrations that don't take complaints seriously.

This is a direct product of all the shuffling and denial of a very male patriarchal structure that was allowed (by outside non-church related institutions) to act outside the law.

To me, there is a hell of a lot of blame not only for the Catholic church but outside of it. I also hope that people realize that child sexual abuse in religious organizations takes place all over and certainly not just in the Catholic church. They all need to be investigated.

Transman is Murdered
 

http://www.nj.com/news/local/index.s...dg_smoref_face

Cries with sadness and anger.

HELENA, Montana....Making gays illegal
 

By MATT VOLZ, Associated Press

HELENA, Mont. Ð At a time when gays have been gaining victories across the country, the Republican Party in Montana still wants to make homosexuality illegal.

The party adopted an official platform in June that keeps a long-held position in support of making homosexual acts illegal, a policy adopted after the Montana Supreme Court struck down such laws in 1997.

The fact that it's still the official party policy more than 12 years later, despite a tidal shift in public attitudes since then and the party's own pledge of support for individual freedoms, has exasperated some GOP members.

"I looked at that and said, 'You've got to be kidding me,'" state Sen. John Brueggeman, R-Polson, said last week. "Should it get taken out? Absolutely. Does anybody think we should be arresting homosexual people? If you take that stand, you really probably shouldn't be in the Republican Party."

Gay rights have been rapidly advancing nationwide since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Texas' sodomy law in 2003's Lawrence v. Texas decision. Gay marriage is now allowed in five states and Washington, D.C., a federal court recently ruled the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy unconstitutional, and even a conservative tea party group in Montana ousted its president over an anti-gay exchange in Facebook.

But going against the grain is the Montana GOP statement, which falls under the "Crime" section of the GOP platform. It states: "We support the clear will of the people of Montana expressed by legislation to keep homosexual acts illegal."

Montana GOP executive director Bowen Greenwood said that has been the position of the party since the state Supreme Court struck down state laws criminalizing homosexuality in 1997 in the case of Gryczan v. Montana.

Nobody has ever taken the initiative to change it and so it's remained in the party platform, Greenwood said. The matter has never even come up for discussion, he said.
"There had been at the time, and still is, a substantial portion of Republican legislators that believe it is more important for the Legislature to make the law instead of the Supreme Court," Greenwood said.

Critics say the policy is a toothless statement, the effect of which is simply to make gays feel excluded. A University of Montana law professor says Montana's 1997 case and the U.S. Supreme Court's Lawrence decision means there's no real chance for the state GOP to act on its position.

"To me, that statement legally is hollow," said constitutional specialist Jack Tuholske. "The principle under Gryczan and under Lawrence, that's the fundamental law of the land and the Legislature can't override the Constitution. It might express their view, but as far as a legal reality, it's a hollow view and can't come to pass."

Montana Human Rights Network organizer Kim Abbott said the GOP platform statement does not represent the attitudes of most Montanans, and it shows that the party is out of touch with the prevalent view of the people they are supposed to represent.

"It speaks volumes to the lesbian and gay community how they are perceived by the Republican Party," Abbott said. "It would be nice if Republicans that understand that gay people are human beings would stand up and say they don't agree with that. But I don't know how likely that is."

Brueggeman suspects that the vast majority of the party believes, as he does, that the Republican party should remove statement. It's against every conservative principle for limited government and issues like this exemplify how a political party can interfere with the relationship between lawmakers and their constituents.
"I just hope it's something that's so sensitive that people don't want to touch it," he said. "Even if there wasn't a Supreme Court decision, does anyone really believe that it should be illegal?"

That's upsetting

Obama Administration comes out in favor of repeal

By Jennifer Vanasco, editor in chief, 365gay.com
09.21.2010 2:03pm EDT


This just in from the White House Media Affairs office, as part of a press release commenting on different aspects of the National Defense Authorization Act, due for a vote within an hour:



Policy Concerning Homosexuality in the Armed Forces: The Administration supports section 591 as it would allow for completion of the Comprehensive Review, enable the Department of Defense to assess the results of the review, and ensure that the implementation of the repeal is consistent with the standards of military readiness, effectiveness, unit cohesion, recruiting and retention. Such an approach recognizes the critical need to allow our military and their families the full opportunity to inform and shape the implementation process through a thorough understanding of their concerns, insights and suggestions.
Readers? Is this too little, too late?

It is still giving the military say over rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights. There doesn't need to be a consensus on our rights. It is too little and much too late for real and effective repeal of this discriminatory law. I am hoping that the President will be running against another democrat next cycle, cause I've about had it with his luke warm "fierce advocate" on LGBTQQIA issues. Fail Mr. President total fail.

*shaking my head in disgust*