DADT REPEALED!

DADT REPEALED!

Following the historic repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell", Bi veteran leader Cliff Arnesen wrote an amazing letter you might be interested in reading.  To learn more about the New England GLBT Vets Inc, please visit http://www.newengland-glbt-vets.org/

Don't forget to read Cliff Arnesen's personal history on the BiNet USA website too.

"As a bisexual in the military, there is no distinction in terms of
punishment, no refuge in being bisexual. You get the same consequences;
you don't get half a discharge."--Cliff Arnesen: Quote from Lesbian News, October 2001

Aww...

YAY OBAMA, And now for his funniest quote

From Newsweek's Special Election Project,

-- The debates unnerved both candidates. When he was preparing for the Democratic primary debates, Obama was recorded saying, "I don't consider this to be a good format for me, which makes me more cautious. I often find myself trapped by the questions and thinking to myself, 'You know, this is a stupid question, but let me ... answer it.' So when Brian Williams is asking me about what's a personal thing that you've done [that's green], and I say, you know, 'Well, I planted a bunch of trees.' And he says, 'I'm talking about personal.' What I'm thinking in my head is, 'Well, the truth is, Brian, we can't solve global warming because I f---ing changed light bulbs in my house. It's because of something collective'."

The Many Faces of Obama

2 photos caught my eye this week Obama wise.

First, this atrocity.


Second, this sweet photo of Obama buying roses for his wedding anniversary.

Obama World Tour

Obama's on a world tour with stops in Europe, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. I am intrigued.

It's a really good move, like the best it is both obvious and original at the same time.

(Al Jazeera has comments on their website, quite a few of them American. )
<----Tension much? QUIT w/the lean in Karzai!


Perhaps less original, a People story. Still nice tho.

(Also on People.com, Patrick Swayze, the man who may refuse to die)

Fist Bump of Hope

Keeping it Real, that was awesome. Still holding out for Madame Clinton, women live longer than men you know.

Fine, the Black Man Can Be On Top: Obama/Clinton 08

"She is tireless, she is smart. She is capable. And so obviously she'd be on anybody's short list to be a potential vice presidential candidate," said Obama, who inched closer to winning the nomination by routing Clinton in North Carolina and almost defeating her in Indiana on Tuesday.

Some Democrats are saying Obama and Clinton would be a formidable team against Republican John McCain in the race to the November election.

According to a CBS News/New York Times poll released last week, a majority of both Obama and Clinton voters say they would favor a so-called "Dream Ticket" involving both candidates. -Reuters

Yes, that's an inflammatory statement from a radical black bisexual woman who rejoices in all sexualities and laments the obvious statement liberal America has made to women. It's no wonder, the only people of note even vaguely still in favor of Clinton are women, we who wanted a chance too. A split ticket becomes our damn chance, not just yours or mine; I'll continue to fight for this possibility. It might fucking save the world, and I'm almost positive it's what Al Gore wants (or sees as the best possible outcome). The dismissive statements from Obamafawnia* had indicated a snowball chance in hell, and on the other side--firmly entrenched in the Clinton camp are women, queers and scientists. I think one of the only variances between the two is Clinton's push for increased space spending.

As a black woman, I beg of you. I know it might not make a difference, but I wanted to try.

As I've remarked before, it's not unprecedented this level of veracity and it does indicate growth in our democracy. And I think she'll take it, and I think he'll ask. Whether or not it was planned this way from the beginning, I'd hate to speculate. NOT!

*Whiteboy and girl fandom that reeks of possible Uncle Tom ignorance, a'la some of what made Morgan Freeman so popular in Driving Miss Daisy (e.g. redemption from white guilt, salt and pepper hair, sharp but seemingly cheap suits...)

Obama Wright Your Wrongs

We've all been lying to each other every day right to our faces, we do care deeply for party and color lines.

It's either, Blacks walk in protest of Obama or Whites flee from Obama's Wrighteousness. My issue with Obama is simple: he must align with many pieces in a very obvious failed bid. Just another could have been, crushed by simple reality: racism exists and it dictates how people act and reacts towards each other. It's getting better all the time, but why in the heck did Barry Obama choose now as his moment? Why must he be a sacrifice on yet another altar? As VP with an viable older White female candidate, married to a well loved president it would have been a righteous ticket and a globe changing lock for 16 years. He would have fought with her every step of the way, and that's how it works best sometimes. For all their faults and fights, Kennedy and Johnson definitely enhanced each other. That he wouldn't deign? That he would basically bitchslap the biggest DNC fundraisers, take advantage of Clinton fatigue and collect castoffs like flies to his honey, says something to me of this man. I knew him before, and dreamed what his father dreamed for him. Something is off for him to be angered by Wright's most recent comments, ones you actually HEARD in the movie Barbershop. He's caught in the spin, and has been and is losing him.

Mend the Rift!

Hey NY Times, I just wanted to tell you Black People Love Clintons! That's my grandfather, may he rest in peace, with my grandmother and Bill Clinton. He came over and sat at our table for close to half an hour, just chatting about life, history and his wife. Jan, 2001: my grandfather's 75th birthday at Kincaid's in Redondo Beach, CA. He told me about visiting Hillary at UCLA, where I was currently enrolled, asked about Westwood and traded jazz favorites with my gramps. Till the day he died, it remained one of the best nights of my grandfather's life.

My grandmother, Clara (above) supported Clinton all the way to the California primary, till the desire to contribute to her generation's dream overrode her natural inclination to pick the most experienced candidate. It's my dream too, for blacks, for womens and for varying orientations, religions and cultures. But with both candidates being similar on so many issues, Obama's missteps with gays coupled with his mantle of "deserving the candidacy" in a most distasteful way. It reminds me of the last days of the Gore campaign in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania. Volunteer coordinating in the LGBT rich districts, I worked the streets and all it was then? I vote my heart, Nader is better on the environment, education, for people, for queers' And I'd argue back, hasn't a shot in hell to win dude. And sure enough, Gore could have used even the smallest percentage of those votes to become the most environmentally friendly leader of the free world. His policies would have been based in free market reality while introducing solutions only revealed with experience in the long struggle. The president of America is a "decider" for good or ill, I don't want an inexperienced candidate advised by the best. Not in this time, and not in this particular war.

To play the race card aka Black Voters are irrevocably broken with Clinton? Well that's fine, if I can call back BULLSHIT! I love the Clintons and believe the both of them contributed their lives to making our world better, and each made lasting contributions to racial equality in this country. Obama wouldn't be the candidate he is today without Bill Clinton's term. There are some Blacks, myself included, who love both Obama and Clinton. I dont understand why he's run on his own road at the expense of the many unmended rifts. A very young thing to do, dontcha think? (ducks).

Michael Dawson, a political science professor at the University of Chicago, posited last week at TheRoot.com that if Mr. Obama is not the nominee: “The Democratic Party will face the Herculean task of trying to mobilize its most loyal constituency — black voters — in the face of deep and widespread black bitterness and active campaigns in the black community encouraging black voters to defect or abstain. You can already hear the angry comparisons. Just like in 2000, the protests will go, an election will have been ‘stolen.’ ” - Rifts Mend, Unless Identity Politics is a Different Stripe

Clinton Visits Stonewall Democrats

"...Clinton promised to extend benefits to all same-sex couples who work for the federal government with an executive order, end "don't ask, don't tell" and use the bully pulpit to advocate for a fully inclusive ENDA and a fully inclusive hate-crimes bill.

Clinton also discussed how adamant she is about allowing everyone in America to adopt children if they are a qualified couple. "It was like she was indignant," Teresa Herrin of Houston's Stonewall chapter said of Clinton's manner while talking about same-sex couples' adoption rights. "Her voice just really changed, and that was the part that surprised us -- her passion..." -Clinton Visits Stonewall Democrats! (Gay.com 03/04/08)


Comic by Mr. Fish

That Obama declined last minute doesn't surprise me, as a blaQue queer I'm still upset with him for the McClurkin fiasco.


Our Dear Donnie

BlaQues have been fighting the insidious molestation=gay=ex-gay stereotypes for many years, especially in our churches. It's always seemed to me that Clinton has the best record if one was going to vote strictly on LGBT rights, as I often do.


I don't like "don't ask, don't tell" but at the time it was revolutionary, and decreased serious persecution of our people; imagine, just as awareness of the AIDS crisis was finally emerging, a small political masterstroke of the gays AND Clintons got gay safety & discrimination issues on the table. I might remind you of President Johnson marshaling through the Civil Rights Act on the back of a beloved dead President, whose previous champion was actually quite slight when all things were considered. For now I'll remain a Clinton supporter. She has a passion for LGBT rights, not just an interest in "maintaining" the gay vote!

More spew from McClurkin:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A42982-2004Aug28.html

The REAL link between "homosexuality and molestation": http://www.apahelpcenter.org/articles/article.php?id=31
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html#cameron

Dont Click Unless You Have To, HERE LIE EVILDOERS, The Family Research Institute of lovely Colorado Springs. I love how they source their material, footnotes all linking back to a tiny image box of citations. Most prevalent? Psychological Reports! A paid psych journal? Some people are truly stupid, yet there are even stupider people who listen to them.

Additionally according to University of California Davis, they are full of shit.
http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/rainbow/html/facts_molestation.html#cameron

What is to be thought of a nation boasting of its liberty, boasting of its humanity, boasting of its Christianity, boasting of its love of justice and purity, and yet having within its own borders three millions of persons denied by law the right of marriage?—what must be the condition of that people? - Frederick Douglass

Obama on Immigration

Best Obama Story Yet!

Early this month, at the invitation of Rick Warren, Obama spoke to a hall full of conservative Christian evangelical activists gathered at Saddleback Church in Orange County. Warren, author of the bestseller "The Purpose Driven Life," is among the most successful and popular preachers in the world. Saddleback is his city on a hill, a sprawling campus set above the smooth, clean boulevards of the most suburban of places. His is the kind of congregation where Warren's joke about the authoritarian rule of suburban homeowners associations brings a knowing laugh.

It is definitely not the sort of place you would expect a liberal big-city Democrat to feel at home.

Warren has an aphoristic style of preaching. Remarking on opposing political inclinations, he said: "People ask, 'Pastor Rick, are you right-wing or left-wing?' I'm for the whole bird. One-winged birds fly in circles."

To keep the bird flying straight, Warren had also invited one of Obama's Senate colleagues, Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas. Brownback is one of the most conservative members of the Senate, and a favorite of the folks who fill Warren's church.

This day, the right wing of the bird flew first. Brownback has a boyish, plain-country countenance. He knew the crowd and the place and was winning in his talk.

Brownback teased Obama about straying beyond his natural habitat. He recalled that he and Obama had spoken together previously in front of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People. Just the mention of the NAACP drew a nervous chuckle from the crowd. Brownback might as well have said he had parachuted in behind enemy lines. He said he had been given a polite reception, then had yielded the stage to Obama, who received a raucous welcome, as if Elvis had come on stage.

Brownback then turned toward Obama and told him today would be different. "Welcome to my house," he said; the crowd roared.

When Obama followed Brownback to the Saddleback lectern, he thanked him, but added that he had to correct one thing the Kansan had said: Obama said he felt very much at home in Pastor Rick's church.

"Sam," he said, "this is my house too. This is God's house."

That simply and quickly, Obama was again completely at home in a room full of strangers, and they with him. - DO READ ALL OF 'WHAT IS IT ABOUT OBAMA?' FROM THE LA TIMES

Bayh says bye to '08 bid

not getting political here....
Originally uploaded by your pal Matt.

"There's obviously room to the right of both Clinton and Obama, but who that will be isn't clear," Jordan said. "Today is a good day for everyone else in the field because Sen. Bayh would have been a formidable candidate." - LA Times

Interesting that the Dem crowd is thinning so quick, maybe the party's got it together and realizes a lesser filled field only increases the overall chances of Our Champion? Onwards LEFT!

CLINTON/OBAMA 08!!!!!!!!!!!!

Senator Hillary Clinton is officially considering a run for the White House in 2008. One of Clinton's top advisors says she has personally asked some fellow Democrats for their support in the event that she does begin a presidential campaign.

READ A LIL ABOUT IT

IT'S NO SMALL SECRET THAT HILARY RAISED THE MONEY FOR THE DEM TAKEOVER OF '06. SHE RAISED A LOT OF POLITICAL CAPITAL WITH THAT, AND IF OBAMA JOINS HER TICKET WHO WOULDN'T VOTE FOR THAT?