as I live a few more questions

Why I Think Rod Bruinooge Is An Idiot

Yesterday I received a piece of mail from my Member of Parliament, Ron Bruinooge  (for whom, I hasten to add, I did not vote in the most recent election).  What I read, and how it was written, made me very angry.   

Canada's ruling Conservative party has halted a pilot program to provide safe-tattoo supplies to prison inmates, the purpose of which was to reduce the transmission of diseases such as Hepatitis C and HIV/AIDS within the prison system.   

It has been suggested in the newsmedia that the cost of the program would be covered, if it stops the spread of Hep C or HIV to as few as five other inmates per institution (thereby saving the government from paying associated healthcare costs later on when inmates become ill).

So Rod Bruinooge, my Conservative member of parliament, says in his mailing (reproduced above, the item I'm holding in my hand in the foreground): "I was against free tattoos for convicts and am proud our government ended this Liberal program." So he's proud that his government short-sightedly cut this pilot project, even before it could even be properly evaluated by the government's own public health department?   

Dear Rod:

You are a political opportunist, pandering to the lowest common denominator using Fox-News-scare-bites devoid of any meaningful context.  If you were indeed serious about ensuring my tax dollars were spent wisely, you could do a cost-benefit analysis and share the results with us, rather than simplistically  paint the issue as an example of the previous Liberal government's misspending.  And you're NOT getting my vote next time around, for exactly this sort of nonsense.

For God's sake, give the public some credit for being smart enough to figure out issues for themselves, instead of feeding them this pablum, you idiot.

More on this issue:

The Canadian Medical Association Journal article displayed on-screen above (PDF from CMAJ website, Jan. 24, 2007).

Prison tattoo parlours get the axe (from CBC website, Dec. 4, 2006)

Give prison tattoo parlours a chance: activist (from the CBC website, Jan. 11, 2007)

Here We Go Again...

A second Denver-area evangelical megachurch pastor steps down after admitting he cheated on his wife with other men:

A month ago, the Rev. Paul Barnes of Grace Chapel in Douglas County preached to his 2,100-member congregation about integrity and grace in the aftermath of the Ted Haggard drugs-and-gay-sex scandal.

Now, the 54-year-old Barnes joins Haggard as a fallen evangelical minister who preached that homosexuality was a sin but grappled with a hidden life.

"I have struggled with homosexuality since I was a 5-year-old boy," Barnes said in the 32- minute video, which church leaders permitted The Denver Post to view. "... I can't tell you the number of nights I have cried myself to sleep, begging God to take this away."

...

Sitting cross-legged in jeans and an open-collar shirt, Barnes spoke in his video about evolving feelings growing up in a firm moral family: from confused little boy to adolescent racked with self-loathing and guilt.

In their only talk about sex, Barnes said his father took him on a drive and talked about what he would do if a "fag" approached him.

Barnes thought, "'Is that how you'd feel about me?' It was like a knife in my heart, and it made me feel even more closed."

Heartbreaking.  And unfortunately, his story is not unusual among gays and lesbians.  The pressure to conform and the fear of rejection can twist a life beyond recognition.  I feel sorry for Rev. Barnes, not scorn. 

Hell hath no fury...

...as this woman (warning: language probably NSFW).

Hallelujah, Dan Savage!

Dan Savage is a columnist who happens to be gay, and who writes a love and sex advice column called "Savage Love".  And he just wrote a column that sums up how I feel about the whole "ex-gay" movement exactly.  So, I'll give a link to it, but it's so good I'm just gonna quote the whole thing here. 

I consider Rev. Ted Haggard a beaten-to-death topic, and I am now retiring it from Ryan's Rant list :-)

I live in Colorado Springs, home to the right-wing conservative evangelical movement. As the nation recently learned, the founder of New Life Church, Ted Haggard, was fired after a male prostitute revealed that Haggard bought sex and drugs from him. It's hard not to feel a bit sorry for him, even though I have always hated everything Haggard stood for. How do you view all of this? Does Haggard deserve our sympathy? Or do we point our fingers and laugh?

Confused Coloradoan

 

[Dan Savage's response]

We should make a joyful noise, CC, whenever a powerful hypocrite is exposed. God should bless Mike Jones, the male prostitute who exposed Ted Haggard, and you should balance whatever sympathy you feel for Haggard against the misery he inflicted on the countless numbers of gay young people his church has "counseled." If you want to feel bad for someone, feel bad for Haggard's kids, not Haggard himself.

Now, I realize Haggard is ancient fucking history at this point—there was an election last week, huh?—but there's something I just gotta get off my chest: For more than a decade, the religious right has insisted that homosexuality can be cured. Just give your heart to Jesus, and—poof!—you're straight! If there is any justice in the world—and there seems to be, judging from last week's election returns—Haggard's downfall should be the death of the "ex-gay" movement. No more ex-gay ad campaigns, no more credulous stories about "successful" ex-gays in daily papers or on cable news.

Arguing with religious people about the futility of giving your heart to Jesus—at least where "cures" for homosexual orientation are concerned—can be maddening. As with evolution, they aren't moved by science, data, or irksome facts. Not even the existence of ex-ex-gays gives them pause. Anything is possible through Christ, they blandly insist, and if you're sincere enough in your devotion to Christ, if you invite him into your heart, he will cure you.

Hello, fundies? I know you're reading this, because every week I get e-mails from concerned Christians who just happened to chance upon my column—cough, cough—and write to share the wonderful news: I don't have to be gay! If I give my heart to Jesus—if I have faith—he will cure me!

Well, my fundie friends, did you see that letter of apology Haggard wrote to his congregation? I'd like to wrap it around a brick and shove it up all of your fat asses. But since I can't do that, I'll just quote from it. In his mea gulpa (Haggard gives lousy head, according to Jones), Haggard copped to "sexual immorality" and described himself as "a deceiver and a liar." Those details made it into most of the headlines. These details didn't:

"Describing a lifelong battle against temptations that were contrary to his teachings," says the Denver Post, "[Haggard] had sought assistance 'in a variety of ways,' and while he had stretches of 'freedom,' nothing proved effective. 'There is a part of my life that is so repulsive and dark that I've been warring against it all of my adult life,' Haggard wrote." [Emphasis added.]

If you believe that Jesus Christ can change the sexual orientation of a believer, why on earth did he refuse to cure Haggard? Haggard founded a church that has 14,000 members! Thousands were brought to Christ by Haggard's preaching. Mixed in with Ted's meth-fueled gay-sex romps and hypocritical gay-bashings were, without a doubt, thousands of good works.

Did Jesus help Haggard out? No. Haggard struggled with temptation all his life. He tried to battle off his "dark" desires, but nothing proved effective. There was no cure for Haggard, no miracle. No matter how long he struggled, no matter how much faith he had, Haggard's sexual orientation remained unchanged. Nothing helped. Not prayer, not Jesus H. Christ on his cross.

Nothing.

If giving his heart to Jesus couldn't cure Haggard, what hope is there for the likes of me? If Jesus can't be bothered to work a miracle for the most powerful evangelical minister in the country, what "hope" is there for the average dyke?

None.

The ex-gay thing is over. It's dead. It was bullshit from the start, and it's bullshit now. And I will personally track down and bitch-slap the next fundie douche who sends me an e-mail explaining how Jesus can cure me. And I will personally track down and shit in the mouth of the next cable-news anchor who entertains—even for an instant—the notion of a miracle cure for homosexuality.

Consider yourself warned, Paula Zahn.

(Source: Dan Savage, Savage Love column, Nov. 15, 2006)

The Flip Side of the Chinese Economic Miracle

I can't believe it, but for once I am in agreement with Stephen Harper's government: I'm happy that they are raising the issue of human rights with the Chinese.  The video below comes from another one of the "new YouTubes", called metacafé, and it shows how disenfranchised the poor in China really are:

Underground Video Of Tyranny In China - video powered by Metacafe
 

Now think about this: If I were posting this video in China, I could probably expect a visit from the police and a quick escort into the Chinese prison system. Kind of puts our problems with our various levels of governments into perspective.

Ted Haggard: the Blogosphere Responds

I'm again on Technorati this morning (where the graph on the right came from), my pancakes and maple syrup and coffee right here in front of the keyboard, reading some of the commentary written in various people's blogs.  And, amidst the blather, there's actually some thoughtful comments.  Some more good entries:

• Now that Haggard has been outed by a gay prostitute for having sex with him and buying meth, and has resigned as president of the National Association of Evangelicals,
  I wonder what it will take for the good people in the pews to call leaders like Haggard, Jerry Fallwell, and James Dobson to account for their mean-spirited hypocrisy. And maybe even to approach the world with more forgiveness and less vindictiveness...It's might be too much to hope, but maybe this is an opportunity for the rest of us to reach out to those who call themselves born again Christians and  challenge them to listen a bit more closely to the Jewish preacher whose vision men like Haggard, Fallwell and Dobson reoutinely profane. Maybe they could even find some other lessons in those Biblical texts to set their course by, lessons that  genuinely prophetic voices like Desmond Tutu, Jim Wallis and Martin Luther King have made the core of a vision that actually promotes human dignity, instead of trampling it. (PaulLoeb)



• Here’s my thought about the meth.  Haggard says, “I was tempted but I never used it…”
  He was tempted to buy and use meth?? I don’t know about you, but I don’t go around fighting my meth temptations. Let me be honest, I’ve done my fair share of experimenting. But the typical person doesn’t just jump into speed without some past drug use. I’m sure it happens, but if a person is tempted to use meth, odds are they smoke a little bit of pot, or do a little coke, before asking to get hooked up with a “$100 or $200 supply.” (The Atheist Mama)


• As such, this could be another case of Jimmy Swaggart syndrome, for which the cure is to appear in front of the multitudes and cry for hours on end, begging Jehovah and church members for forgiveness—all on camera, of course. In other words, instead passing yourself off as a model of virtue, go ahead and embrace the role of repentant sinner. It worked for Swaggart. His television audience still sends him millions.
  
  But not every man can cry like Jimmy Swaggart; it’s a special skill. So before Haggart proceeds with the standard cure, he’ll definitely need training. He can start right here. Through the magic of the Internet, we can all watch a small portion of the Rev. Swaggart’s initial 1988 on-screen tearful confession after he got caught soliciting prostitutes and collecting pornography—minor league stuff compared to the Rev. Haggard, who has admitted to taking illegal drugs and getting a gay massage. And it’s still early. God only knows what else will come to light. (Ohio River Life)

• My problem this morning is with Haggard's critics who say he should have "practiced what he preached."
  
  See, I think that's backwards. Telling him to practice what he preaches says that being a homosexual is wrong and that he should have kept those urges buried and prayed for hetero urges.
  
  Here's the thing: I think he should have preached what he practiced. Imagine an evangelical preacher actually reaching out to the gay community and inviting them to worship.
  
  Would a fundamentalist church that was open to all, regardless of "life-style choices" survive? I'm not gay, and I'm not a Christian, but I bet there would be a market for such a church.
  
  "Practice what you preach" is pure hypocrisy. Go ahead and preach what you practice.  (The13thStory)


• Somehow, all of this is just going to make gay people, and homosexuality, look bad, when the real wickedness here is denial, lies, warmongering and anti-gay theology that twists people into doing things that destroy their own lives and the lives of others.(Living In The Bonus Round)


• Their total denial of the FACT of homosexual persons is what drives men like Ted Haggard into a marriage, and then, subsequently, into the arms of a male hustler. The drugs, IMO, were not only about enhancing the sex act itself, but they also enabled him, in those hours alone with the muscle guy, to forget the wife and kids and career as a gay-hatin' leading light of the evangelical movement. (Living In The Bonus Round)


• Worshipping Supply Side Jesus has allowed the evangelical right to embrace the worst aspects of capitalism and life in middle-class comfort, but I don't think it'll be Supply Side Jesus sitting in that judgement chair.
  
  To put it another way, I'll happily put up with evangelical anti-gay bigotry as soon as they start taking the majority of the Bible they claim guides thier lives seriously. Feed the poor. Care for the sick. Welcome the immigrant. Judge not lest you be judged. Turn the other cheek, even in international politics. Act like Jesus, maybe even just a little, maybe just 1%, and maybe then what you say about what God does and does approve of will carry some weight with me. (eustacescrubb, from the inevitable MetaFilter thread the story has provoked)


• Think about this for a second - the problem here is not that these guys are being gay and hypocritical (okay, that is a problem, but not the BIG problem), the problem is that they are in the public eye, they know people are watching and they do it anyway.
  
  How colossally arrogant is it to think that you can be a congressman and hit on underage pages and not think you are going to get busted? How arrogant is it to be the head of the organization that has made ant-gay preaching a foundational principle and then go hire a male prostitute on a monthly basiss and not expect to get caught?
  
  It's addict mentality. They know they shouldn't do it, but they can't stop themselves, like the drunk who can't say no to the next drink. Weak, pathetic losers, just like their congregations - soft, comfy, middle-class weakness. Unable to sacrifice, unable to deny themselves even when it's in their best interest, unable to resist their appetites.
  
  That's why you evangelicals need such a literal rules-based religion, because you're too weak willed to do it youselves. But don't project that onto the rest of the country. I can control my appetites, most people can. We can control our drinking, our eating, etc.
  
  We can control our tempers and our feelings, and we don't need fairy stories of gods and demons and prophets and wizards and unicorns and whatever the hell else is in the Bible or Book of Mormon or the Urantia book or Battlefield Earth. We don't need magic when we have self control and compassion.
  
  That where American chruches went wrong - you took love thy neighbor to mean that you should keep blacks and gays and jews and catholics out of your neighborhoods. Love thy neighbor is the only part of the Bible that any christian should take to heart, because that is the point that jesus hammered home time after time.
  
  Love everyone, your enemy, the weak, the diseased, the whores, everybody. Love them because you are no better. That's the NT (New Testament) for you. Not rules about who can touch a penis or under what conditions women are allowed to have sex. If you think the Bible is a guide to daily living, I'm sorry, you are in all scientific sense of the word, a moron. Your IQ is low. You missed the point.
  
  The point of the Iliad is the danger of hubris, it's pride goeth before the fall. It's not about sneaky greeks or cool battles between gods and mortals. Frankenstein is not about a mad scientists, it's about how man can be a monster when faced with fear. Learn how to read, and then read between the lines. Even when the Bible mentions sex literally it's not really about sex.   
  
  The new testament is in absolutely no way about sex. Not straight sex, not gay sex, not any kind of sex. If you are so obssesed with sex that you turn a great work of moral philosophy into fuck manual, then you don't need a priest, you need a therapist. You need a university faculty analyzing you around the clock.
  
  In summary, new testament not about sex. (Pastabagel, from the same MetaFilter thread)

Ted Haggard, the Rentboy, and some Meth = De-NIII-al

It's not often you burst out laughing before you even finish the first paragraph of a Reuters news report:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Reuters) - Embattled evangelist Ted Haggard admitted on Friday to buying the drug methamphetamine and seeking a massage from a gay male prostitute but denied he had sex with the man or used the stimulant.

I mean, just how stupid can this minister be?  He's going to rentboy for a massage?  Must not be that picky about what kind of massage he gets--or maybe he's very, very picky :-) ooh that was evil. 

I mean, honestly, according to Global national news just on (yes, it made Canadian news too!), this man is apparently a key link between Bush and his conservative, homophobic Christian base. 

How appallingly bad does your judgment have to be, just days before a key mid-term election already embroiled in a gay scandal or two, to go buy crystal meth from a gay prostitute?  I can only assume that Rev. Haggard is a secret spy from the Meth Mothers of America (*rolls on the floor in laughter*) and the... the... the Rentboy Republican Values Coalition.  Yeah, that's the ticket.

I'm just surfing through the blogs via Technorati, seeing that the blogosphere has to say.  Here's a sample of good ones:

• Okay, we get it, he didn't inhale. And, of course, a man who made a career out of preaching discrimination against gays is going to make sure that the massage he receives is from a male prostitute. It all makes perfect sense. (scootmandubious)
  


• The fact that he was seeing a gay prostitute isn't the issue. That's just a symptom of the problem. No, the issue is this toxic faith that reeks havoc in so many lives. It's toxic faith that pushed him into cumpulsory heterosexuality, it's toxic faith that pushed him to preach that gay people are going to hell (while getting fucked on the side). It's a faith that places utmost importance on appearance rather than action.  It's a faith that gives a sense of pride, self-importance, and entitlement. 
  
  It's true that Christ forgives us. But forgiveness doesn't mean that we won't face earthly consequences. These things needed to be brought to light. Maybe this will encourage Evangelicals to look more closely at their positions on homosexuality. (lizzypaul)



• I find it very funny that the people who are for banning gay marriage and gay rights - let me rephrase that... People behind denying anyone their rights as human beings just because of a difference in appearance, lifestyle, culture or religion are the same people who have these hidden lives that they are ashamed of.

  Shame on you for projecting your self loathing onto the rest of us. We are all residents of society and as such we should all be treated the same way and have the option of getting married. (Andy)




• So here is the thing for me Ted, can I call you Ted? I am happy for you if you are "steady" with your wife. I hope that you two have a strong, happy marriage. I hope that the two of you go on to have a really wonderful life together into ripe old age and that the current drama you are embroiled in doesn't adversely effect your relationship. I don't think that dabbling with a prostitute, or even using meth* NECESSARILY makes you a bad person, a bad husband or a bad father.

  I am not going to judge you for the things you have done, I have not walked in your shoes, I don't know why you may have done any of this - as long as you own them, take responsibility and make amends where necessary. I have no problem with you getting a little back door action from Mr Jones if that was the case.

  Where I do have a problem is you getting up and denouncing me and mine. Saying that my life, the loves that I have found, are not of equal value to yours is not your place or your right. Particularly if its a cover for your own guilt as it appears to be.

  Time and again it seems the most rabid fag haters turn out to actually be hiding some inclinations of their own; Mr Foley, the onetime chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children and accused peadophile, is a sad case in point; and as you appear to be Ted. (robert)

And of course, the digging begins.  Channel 9 News in Denver (NBC I believe) has a report on voicemail messages Haggard left for his "massage buddy".  Here's an example:

Jones provided two voice messages to 9NEWS he claims are Haggard calling him.

The voice mails are from a man who calls himself "Art."

It should be noted Haggard's middle name is Arthur.

The first voice message, left on August 4 at 2:18 p.m., says:

"Hi Mike, this is Art. Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply. And I could pick it up really anytime. I could get it tomorrow or we could wait till next week sometime and so I also wanted to get your address. I could send you some money for inventory but that's probably not working, so if you have it then go ahead and get what you can and I may buzz up there later today, but I doubt your schedule would allow that unless you have some in the house. Okay, I'll check in with you later. Thanks a lot, bye."

The second voice message, left on August 4 at 5:10 p.m., says:

"Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I'll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever. I will call though you early next week to see what's most convenient for you. Okay? Thanks a lot, bye."

Jones claims Art is referring to methamphetamine in the messages.

9NEWS had a nationally known voice recognition expert, Richard Sanders, listen to the voice mails to determine if it is Haggard.

Sanders has previously worked on such high profile cases as the Oklahoma City bombing trial, the Columbine High School shootings, the JonBenet Ramsey murder investigation and the Kobe Bryant case.

"This certainly sounds like the same person," said Sanders.

Ted, you are SO busted.

Anti-Gay Idaho Senator Outed as Homosexual

Mike Rogers, the gay activist blogger who outs those closeted gay men who vote in favour of anti-gay proposals, has just outed Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho. 

I fully support the outing of closeted queer people who use their position of power to support anti-gay causes and block equal rights legislation.  In the case of Larry Craig, he has voted in favour of a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage, as well as voting against expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation (for more details see here).  Larry Craig has had this coming for a while.  Reap what you sow, baby.

It's not about the sex; it's about the goddamn hypocrisy.

I look at the almost unimaginable mess going on down in the U.S. federal government, and the growing tide of dissent with respect to the war in Iraq, and I think that it's very possible that voters are going to use the mid-term elections to "throw the bums out".

read more | digg story

Let the dominoes fall

And now the man who promised ABC News an exclusive on Mark Foley's resignation, if they didn’t run the instant message transcripts, has himself resigned. 

Let the dominoes fall.

UPDATE OCT. 5: Turns out that the man says the deal-making accusation is false, AND that he told the House Speaker about Mark FOley's predilictions three years ago.  Watching the American Republicans throw each other to the wolves is getting to be quite entertaining. 

"It's not my fault! the priest made me do it/I was drunk/I'm gay!"

I am so angry, and I have so much to say about the Mark Foley scandal down in the U.S., that I hardly know where to begin.

Lawyers acting for Mark Foley, the Republican congressman who resigned after it was revealed he had sent sexually charged emails to teenage boys, said yesterday that the politician had been abused by a member of the clergy as a teenager.

No details of the alleged abuse were given, other than that Mr Foley, who is a Roman Catholic, was between 13 and 15 years old at the time of the abuse. One lawyer, David Roth, acknowledged for the first time that the congressman, 52, is gay. "Mark Foley wants you to know he is a gay man," Mr Roth told a news conference in Florida, adding that the admission was part of a "recovery" programme. He also insisted that Mr Foley was "absolutely, positively not a paedophile". Mr Foley said in a statement on Monday that he was an alcoholic and that he was entering a recovery programme to treat his condition. (Glaister, Dan. "Republican who sent indecent emails was abused ", The Guardian, October   4, 2006)

Oh, so now he finally decides to come out of the closet, several years after he was already outed by The Advocate newsmagazine for hypocritcally voting in favour of the "Defence of Marriage" act. 

And of course, now he checks himself into rehab, whimpering: "I did because I was drunk.";  "I did it because of that priest." 

Entering a "recovery" program?  Recovery from what?  Being gay?  Being drunk?  Getting caught??

I find it beyond pathetic that Foley finally plays the gay card, only when he thinks it will help him.  How can it help him, you ask?  By not-so-subtly using the "I'm gay so I molest children" charge which the Religious Right likes to keep throwing at us God-damned sodomites.  That way, perhaps he can cast his sexual orientation as more of a "sin" that needs "recovery".   This man is a disgrace to honest queer people everywhere, and I comfort myself with the thought that he's gonna be one helluva popular bitch at whatever prison he lands up in.

Oh, and he says he's not a paedophile?!?  Well, I guess that depends on the law, but really.  As more word leaks out about the content of those IM messages between him and one or more teenagers, one has to ask just how Mark Foel defines the term. 

Apparently he is now saying (via his lawyer) that since no physical (i.e. face-to-face) acts took place, he is not a paedophile.  This defence falls intro the category of "I never has sex with that woman!"   Clinton learned a blow job is sex.  Foley is going to soon learn that cybersex is sex.

And to make matters even worse, until his resignation he was a co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, and a backer of new legislation, the 2006 Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, which he may well now be charged under.  HE WAS IN A POSITION OF TRUST.  (I wonder what Joe Walsh, Adam's father and host of America's Most Wanted, is thinking now.)

I got news for Mr. Foley: Being gay does NOT excuse what you did.  Being a drunk does NOT excuse what you did.  Being a victim of child sex abuse does NOT excuse what you did.  Being ANY COMBINATION OF a diddled-with, drunken faggot does NOT excuse what you did, in any way, shape or form.  That you even TRY to use these as excuses or defenses makes you even viler, if that is possible.

I hope Foley gets the book thrown at him.  His grasping, gawping response by checking into rehab and blaming booze/sexual abuse/being gay is absolutely, utterly, completely vile and reprehensible. Thankfully, most people can already see through that "rehab" act pretty easily; it's getting old. 

And ANYBODY in the U.S. federal or state govenments who is found to have kept his secrets hidden deserves to be tossed out on his ass and go down in flames along with Foley. 
  

UPDATE: Now Newt Gingrich has said that one reason why the Republicans in power didn't act on Mark Foley sooner was that they were afraid of being accused of "gaybashing".  What the...?!  As John Stewart said in response on The Today Show, assuming that all homosexuals are child sex offenders IS gaybashing.