Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Barney Frank completely OWNS person comparing Obama to Hitler

I have to put this late post in because I want to give kudos to U.S. Representative Barney Frank for doing what many should have done at these town hall meetings:



Some folks may not agree with his tone but he was right on. How can you have a coherent conversation with someone who so determined to paint President Obama as a Nazi?

Now watch how soon before Hannity and company attack Frank. How long will it be before One News Now and the rest of the religious right links his words to his lgbt sexual orientation?

While you're at it, count how many columns will be written at Town Hall attacking Frank for telling it like it is.

And lastly, if these things come to pass, note the strange dynamic of how some folks think it is alright to carry a loaded gun to an event where the President is speaking but somehow think that it's wrong to rightfully call someone out for being an idiot.




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Deconstructing the way the right-wing tries to dominate arguments

Now the following blog entry is just merely from something I have observed regarding how the right-wing (i.e. religious right, conservatives) sometimes dominate arguments. Don't quote me on this, but if I am wrong, by all means, let me know.

The Supreme Court rules for against a law the religious right and other conservatives favor. Let's say the ruling is a victory for the lgbt community.

What happens next is the following:

One News Now, owned by the American Family Association, prints an article (biased, of course) against the ruling, and quoting only so-called “pro-family” leaders such as Gary Bauer, who claim that the ruling is a travesty on the country.

• Other talking heads such as Pete LaBarbera and Matt Barber write columns falsely claiming that the Supreme Court ruled against conservatives because of alleged biases of the justices. These columns are filtered to other right-wing publications and blogs.

• James Dobson (Focus on the Family) criticizes the ruling on his radio program, as does Tony Perkins (Family Research Council). Other articles are written trying to prove how the ruling will hurt America. More articles are written digging up speeches that the judges made, hinting on flimsy correlations between their ruling
and so-called personal biases.

• The think tanks emanating from conservative circles smear the reputations of the judges. The phrase “activist judges” is used over and over again in columns, articles, and books. Specifically these books will be written by think tank "experts" and will be driven up the New York Times best seller list by organizations such as the conservative Town Hall buying a bulk number. This way, the books can be referred to as best sellers, giving a false impression that a majority of Americans feel the same as the authors.

• Meanwhile, The Traditional Values Coalition, the Family Research Council, and other so-called “pro-family” groups solicit donations making the claim that either the ruling will doom Christians and will lead to homosexuality being taught “as normal” to children or it will lead to criticizing homosexuality as being designated as a hate crime. They get people of faith who are gullible enough to believe their lies to write letters to Congress and their local newspapers (using a script of anti-gay industry talking points.)

• So-called news programs (such as those on Fox News) and conservative commentators (i.e. Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly, Mike Huckabee, Glenn Beck) begin debating whether or not judges have a bias against people of faith, making sure to invite only folks like Matt Staver of the Liberty Counsel or Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.

•Right-wing bloggers (i.e. Michelle Malkin) and columnists on webpages like Town Hall will write piece after piece after piece about “activist judges.”

•Conservative leaning Congressmen will be begin using the phrase "activist judges."

And boom, conservatives have control of the argument before the lgbt community has an opportunity to get our teeth into the discussion.

If I didn't despise it so much, I would give the conservative/religious right machine huge points for ingenuity, technique, and planning.

What gets me is that they like to accuse lgbts of these things, but we aren't nearly coordinated as they are.

Maybe one day we will be.




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Donald Wildmon hospitalized, President Obama finally pisses off the right people, and other Tuesday midday news briefs

First, in my post, The Christian Medical & Dental Associations - another group, another batch of lies, I mixed up the American Academy of Pediatrics (a legitimate group) with the American College of Pediatricians (a phony medical group) in one paragraph.

I have corrected the error and hope that it proves my point about how hard it is to distinguish a legitimate medical group from a phony one when both have "official sounding" names.


Don Wildmon Hospitalized with Meningitis - I don't like Donald Wildmon but I don't have to like him to pray for his recovery.

Celebrate Marriage and Family Day in Warwick draws protests - Because this day didn't mean ALL families. That's why there were protests.

ESPN: Half of College Football Players Know a Gay Teammate - Works for me. I wish at least one of them knew my number.

Obama follows through, files to repeal DOMA - It's nice to see the President piss someone else off other than us liberals.

The right wing's latest insane conspiracy theory: an email enemies list - What's wrong with having an enemy's list? I have an enemies list and number one on it is the guy who invented cellphones.

NC: Durham City Council votes unanimously for marriage equality resolution - Big props for the Durham City Council!




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Why won't the gay community 'study' the other team?

'WWJD' - about healthcare reform?

Home invasions would occur under Obamacare

Illegal aliens trump veterans at U.S. medical offices

Obama tack on NKorea wrong, misguided

Democrats' 'bait-and-switch'

These are the headlines to this morning's edition of the phony news service One News Now. As you can see, One News Now is waging a huge war against President Obama.

Subsequently the lgbt community, a reliable victim of One News Now's campaign of misinformation, has been pushed to the side for the time being.

It's the same way on the conservative site Town Hall. And even the Family Research Council and its head, Tony Perkins has gotten into the act.

I venture to say that almost every right-wing news site and blog are trying to engage in a Barack Obama feeding frenzy.

Now far be it from me to spin conspiracy theories but a case can be made that there is a coordinated effort to give President Obama as much hell as possible.

And I hope that the lgbt community is paying attention to what's being done.

I like the fact that we are singleminded and determined to grab what belongs to us.

But sometimes we miss out on a lot.

When I read these articles and columns and see how those town hall meeting protests were coordinated via astroturfing, I have to wonder if the lgbt community gets what we are up against.

These same entities that are now focused on President Obama have been fighting us for years and will continue to do so after this situation with health care passes. And with some of the same methods they are now using to try and make President Obama's life a living hell.

This is a perfect opportunity to study their methods. All good battle plans involves studying "the other team." But for some reason, the lgbt community will not do this. Instead, a lot of us minimize the power of the religious right and the right-wing in general.

We tell ourselves that they are "prejudiced" or "ignorant" so as to make ourselves feel superior towards them.

We think that hurtling the words "haters" and "bigots" or marching in angry crowds are going to get us over.

And we miss the big picture because we need to embark on more than these lazy efforts.

While we are name-calling or marching and chanting, people like Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity will be distorting our viewpoints from coast to coast.

People like Peter LaBarbera will be filming our actions with misrepresentations in mind.

And right-wing bloggers, columnists at Town Hall, and phony news articles on sites like One News Now will take incidents out of context to spin the image of "angry, pushy homosexuals."

The right-wing noise machine is so ingrained that until we attack it at the roots, all of our actions (i.e. marches, protests) will be used against us.

President Obama will survive this feeding frenzy. But I just hope that the lgbt community will learn as much as he does about the "nature of the enemy."



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