According to the BBC, a senior rabbi from a party within Israel’s coalition government has called for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to “vanish from our world”.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef expressed the wish that “all the nasty people who hate Israel, like Abu Mazen (Abbas), vanish from our world”. He went on to say: “May God strike them down with the plague along with all the nasty Palestinians who persecute Israel.”
Of course, what everyone really wants to know, is why the Rabbi is dressed like the late pop singer Michael Jackson in the picture used by the BBC today?
To no ones surprise, this guy has issues with all kinds of people.
The 89-year-old former chief rabbi of Israel has been at the centre of controversy before, with comments about Arabs, secular Jews, liberals, women and gays. In 2001, during a Palestinian uprising, he called for the annihilation of Arabs and said it was forbidden to be merciful to them. He later said he was referring only to “terrorists” who attacked Israelis.
Rabbi Yosef does a pretty good impression of a nutty imam offering up fatwas, doesn’t he? How about this gem:
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former chief rabbi and the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas movement, once said that Hurricane Katrina was God’s punishment for U.S. President George W. Bush’s support for Israel’s Gaza pullout.
“It was God’s retribution. God does not shortchange anyone,” Yosef said during his weekly sermon.
And how about the rabbi’s thoughts on Gay Pride?
A leaflet published by the ultra-Orthodox community titled “Jerusalem is on fire” included statements by leading rabbis against the parade. The leaflet said plans are being made for a mass rally in protest of the “abomination parade in Jerusalem.”The leaflet quoted Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv, leader of the ultra-Orthodox Lithuanian community, as saying “This (parade) will not take place. We must do everything to banish this disgrace from the Holy city.”
The ultra-Orthodox community fears that holding the Gay Pride Parade in the capital would expose religious youth and children to homosexuality. Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch, head of the ultra-Orthodox community’s religious court, said “this parade poses a real threat to the citizens of Israel,” while leading haredi Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky suggested holding the parade in Sodom. His metaphoric suggestion was backed by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
As for this week’s comments, the lovely rabbi spoke out as Middle East talks are poised to begin in Washington. The United States condemned the remarks as “deeply offensive”. Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu distanced himself from the comments with a statement saying that his government wanted peace with the Palestinians.
What bothers me more than the offensive remarks is the fact that mainstream Israeli political parties have given this nut and his religious right party a platform. By selfishly doing so, for the sake of political power, they are responsible for the damage caused by Yosef’s comments. This reminds me of the way the Republican Party in the United States has elevated extremists, such as the late Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Rick Warren and Doug Coe (The Family) to positions of influence and power — at a great cost to America.
It is time that mainstream political parties across the world stop giving the veneer of credibility and respectability to violent and irrational religious leaders or parties. When they make common cause with such dangerous groups or individuals, they bring down the level of dialogue, serve as barriers to peace, and divide societies.
For the world to progress in the 21st Century, responsible politics must prevail, and this means avoiding coalitions with people and parties that dogmatically adhere to inflammatory and divisive ideologies.
A new ultra-nationalistic group, Zaitokukai, is shocking mainstream Japanese society with its extreme racist tactics and outrageous antics. According to a story, “New Dissent in Japan Is Loudly Anti-Foreign”, by Martin Fackler in today’s New York Times:
The demonstrators appeared one day in December, just as children at an elementary school for ethnic Koreans were cleaning up for lunch. The group of about a dozen Japanese men gathered in front of the school gate, using bullhorns to call the students cockroaches and Korean spies. Inside, the panicked students and teachers huddled in their classrooms, singing loudly to drown out the insults, as parents and eventually police officers blocked the protesters’ entry.
The organization also had another lovely protest terrorizing a child:
The Zaitokukai gained notoriety last year when it staged noisy protests at the home and junior high school of a 14-year-old Philippine girl, demanding her deportation after her parents were sent home for overstaying their visas. More recently, the Zaitokukai picketed theaters showing “The Cove,” an American documentary about dolphin hunting here that rightists branded as anti-Japanese.
Zaitokukai was founded by Makoto Sakurai and is following the lead of a well-known American movement:
Mr. Sakurai says the group is not racist, and rejected the comparison with neo-Nazis. Instead, he said he had modeled his group after another overseas political movement, the Tea Party in the United States. He said he had studied videos of Tea Party protests, and shared with the Tea Party an angry sense that his nation had gone in the wrong direction because it had fallen into the hands of leftist politicians, liberal media as well as foreigners.
Isn’t it amazing that the homegrown Tea Party and its Japanese knock-off are never racist or xenophobic, yet keep saying things that sound, well, racist and xenophobic?
Meanwhile, the Tea Baggers held a massive rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial featuring Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin. The event, according to Peter at Right Wing Watch and Adele Stan of AlterNet, had an unusually religious tone for a Tea Party event. Indeed, at a FreedomWorks (this is Dick Armey’s outfit) gathering the night before the big rally , Beck appeared to sport a brand new God-complex. He told the packed house at Constitution Hall:
“My role, as I see it, is to wake America up to the backsliding of principles and values and most of all God,” said Beck. “We are a country of God. As I look at the problems in our country, quite honestly, I think the hot breath of destruction is breathing on our necks and to fix it poltically is a figure that I don’t see anywhere.”
Perhaps, the hot breath is that of Satan trying to pull Beck into hell before he can further screw up this country?
How much do you want to bet that Beck, an ego-maniac with a messiah condition, will eventually declare himself the grand political figure who is destined to be America’s magic savior?
I think if partners want to have the opportunity to live together, I don’t have a problem with that…
Trois…
And I think that’s where most of America is.
Quatre…
So I think that you know, you have to speak from the heart about these issues.
Cinq…
They are very personal.
Six…
They have a significant impact on an awful lot of people…
Sept…
…and the less the government is telling people what to do, the better off we’re all going to be.
Huit…
….partners living together, I don’t have a problem with.
Neuf…
Question: Now that you’re trying to occupy the political center, are you still in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage? Governor Crist: I feel the same way, yes, because I feel that marriage is a sacred institution, if you will.
Today, Frank Rich took on the evil Koch brothers, who essentially control the Tea Party. If the Democrats cannot exploit this information to destroy the so-called Tea Party, they are incompetent and deserve to lose. Really, this should be easy. I hope the Democrats have operatives that are tough enough to act and not allow this opportunity to slip away.
Long rumored to be a homosexual, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, an independent seeking a U.S. Senate seat, told CNN’s Ed Henry today that he would support a federal constitutional amendment prohibiting individual states from allowing same-sex couples to marry.
“When it comes to marriage, I think it is a sacred institution, I believe it is between a man and a woman,” Crist said, “but partners living together, you know, I don’t have a problem with it.”
“It’s just how I feel,” Crist added.
UPDATE: Crist issued the following clarification tonight:
“In an interview that aired today, I was not discussing an amendment to the U.S. Constitution banning same-sex marriage, which I do not support, but rather reaffirming my position regarding Florida’s constitutional ban that I articulated while running for Governor. In fact, the interviewer’s question reflected just that. I am fully supportive of civil unions and will continue to be as a United States Senator, but believe marriage is a sacred institution between a man and a woman.”
Wow, that was a quick reversal. If the rumors are true, now is the time for one of his past trysts to step forward and out this alleged hypocrite.
New York times op-ed editor Tobin Harshaw had an extremely irritating piece in today’s New York Times, where Ken Mehlman was portrayed as a victim of harsh, unforgiving LGBT bloggers. According to the op-ed:
Until this week,Mehlman was mostly known for being the wonkish young man who managed George. W. Bush’s re-election campaign and then ran the Republican National Committee. Now, he’s mostly known for what he shared with The Atlantic’s Mark Aminder: “Ken Mehlman, President Bush’s campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay.”
Well, it’d be tough enough for most of us to have that conversation with Mom and Dad — imagine it with Karl Rove.
Maybe Harshaw hadn’t noticed, but Karl Rove is not Mehlman’s father. He was Mehlman’s boss — and one that made his political reputation through dirty tricks, particularly gay baiting opponents. In other words, Mehlman carefully and willfully chose his dubious career and association with this known, political gay bashing Republican hack. Mehlman was an adult at this time, so he knew exactly what he was doing when he teamed up with Rove. Together, these cynical men chose power, fame, and riches by exploiting the prejudices of social conservatives, at the expense of LGBT people, particualrly youth, some of whom surely blew out their brains after they were rejected by their churches and families.
Instead of focusing on the damage created by Mehalman and his power-hungry cohorts, Harshaw demonizes bloggers who want to hold the former RNC chairman accountable, as mean and unreasonable. After upholding apologists, such as Gay Patriot B. Daniel Blatt, as voices of moderation, the author concludes that, “given the commentary of the last two days, that [forgiveness by liberals] doesn’t seem to likely.”
Harshaw is just flat out wrong.
As I wrote on this site and The Huffington Post, LGBT people will forgive Mehlman, if only for the sake of pragmatically bringing out other Closet Ken’s. We need conservatives on our side — such as Ted Olson and Laura Bush — to win this culture war. However, we will not be treated like tools by writers like Harshaw, who demand we have amnesia about Mehlman’s ignoble history. We will also not have our intelligence insulted by pundits who want to infantilize Mehlman, by pretending that he was not able to “figure things out” until his mid-40′s.
Mehlman did not just realize he was gay — in the same way he might suddenly discover he likes pistachio ice cream. It doesn’t work that way.
So, highly paid spin doctors or media outlets who sell their souls for access should stop dutifully regurgitating this lie. Unless there was something physically wrong with Mehlman’s equipment — and there has been no indication their was — he knew he was gay for decades. This is a very sophisticated, politically powerful individual. Unlike former Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID), Mehlman grew up in a time where there were gay role models, LGBT people were represented in the media and there were countless activist groups. An astute individual possessing his high level of intelligence, knew exactly who he was and what he was doing. Mehlman was aware of the gay rights movement. He had likely had sex or romantic relationships with men. He had certainly heard of Ellen, Rosie and Will and Grace.
Yet, while millions of gay people chose to live with integrity and self-respect, Mehlman chose to profit from the virulent vestiges of anti-gay animus that remain a force in the hinterlands. He teamed up with Rove to win infulence, power and riches at the expense of his own people.
What Mehlman did was detestable. His behavior was despicable. His decisions were damnable.
While countless people — including terrified teens — made the right choices, he made the wrong ones. As a result, anti-gay laws were written into state constitutions, helpless teenagers were thrown onto the mean streets, some LGBT people were cruelly written out of wills, partners from different countries could not be together, brave veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were drummed out of the military, and long-term partners had their hearts broken because they could not visit each other in the hospital because they were not married.
Yet Harshaw breezily dismisses this reprehensible record and paints those — such as Pam Spaulding and Joe Jervis — who have embraced an honest version of history, as the “bad guys.” This is incredibly insulting and outrageous.
As I stated in The Huffington Post, Mehlman has three steps to take before he is warmly welcomed:
1) Repent for past sins (Hasn’t happened yet) 2) Be honest with the LGBT community (Hasn’t happened yet) 3) Work tirelessly to undo the damage and propel the LGBT movement towards equality (There has been a pledge to help. Good.)
What could Mehlman say to begin this process and satisfy critics? How about something like this:
“I was wrong and I am truly sorry for harming my own community — and by extension myself. The Republican Party had decided to exploit fears about marriage equality and the lives of LGBT people as a wedge issue to win elections. I could have spoken out against this strategy and demanded an end to the anti-gay rhetoric and actions of my Party. And, had they not heeded my advice, I should have resigned. Unfortunately, the desire to win at all costs — and enjoy the spoils of victory — seduced me into making poor, self-serving decisions. I acted in a way that was greedy and cowardly for personal gain. While I cannot take back the past, I can spend the rest of my life trying to make brave decisions to undo some of the damage that I am responsible for. Please find it in your heart to try to forgive me and offer me the opportunity to contribute to the LGBT movement and end discrimination for future generations.”
A little bit of contrition would go a long way. Mehlman will find that people will move on – but one can’t truly be forgiven and embraced, unless they first offer a sincere apology.
Would it be a sin for me to hoist a counter-banner that reads, “Antigay tracts are a sin”? Or how about, “You’re a sinner for reading this. WATCH THE ROAD!”
Why are dumb white male yokels never willing to embrace the fact that if gays, racial minorities or women do better than them in life, it’s probably because they’re more qualified and/or smarter in some way?
I know guys like the one in this video at the World’s Largest Weight Watchers’ Meeting in Washington (the Glenn Beck Rally), and it never ceases to amaze me when they start bitching about how all the minorities are conspiring to keep them down. It would be pitiable if they weren’t so rancid.
An unidentified man who said he was a federal worker said that “homosexuals” and “affirmative-action” were keeping him from moving up at his job. The man got into an argument with an African-American man at the site of Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally on Saturday.
“Why you punishing me for something I didn’t do?” the man said. “Oh, I’m being punished, I’m being held back. I work for the federal government. I have a job, but I can’t move up,” he added.
“Why can’t you move up, because of a black man?” the other man asks.
“No, no, a lot of it’s homosexuals,” the federal worker says. “Nepotism, okay, favorite boyfriends and girlfriends, and affirmative action.”
Dude, I watched the video and survey says: “Dumb teabagger is probably not qualified to mow my lawn.” Decide for yourself:
No new information to report, but I just realized I’ve been listening to Nina Simone all day today, and Nina could tell that dillweed up there to STFU better than I ever could, so here’s Nina:
If we asked the guy who’s so concerned about the homosexuals and the affirmative action to respond to that, he might reply with something like this:
Exodus International approves of schism in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America this week.
Spokesman Randy Thomas said:
I’ve said it a million times, homosexuality is just the manifestation of much deeper theological and moral disagreements. While separation is viewed as a last resort and only approached slowly and with wisdom …sometimes separation is inevitable and must be done.
Separation is not inevitable. It is engineered:
Engineered by well-funded Christian Rightist outsiders and by political groups such as the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which since the 1980s has purposely disrupted mainline Christianity. While posing as a voice for renewal and reform, IRD became infamous for supporting far-right terrorism against liberal churches in Latin America. Most notably, IRD sought to fomentU.S. government disruption and contra violence against the Nicaraguan Council of Protestant Churches (Consejo de Iglesias Pro-Alianza Denominacional, or CEPAD). Back in the United States, IRD simultaneously fomented miscommunication and ultraconservative heresy in order to disable mainstream Christian churches, disrupt their efforts on behalf of human rights, and enrich then-nascent Christian Rightist megachurches — and the social-conservative wing of the Republican Party, which sought to subsidize the growth of the Christian Right.
Like Exodus International, the new Lutheran spinoff will exist not as a champion of Biblical values, butrather as a monument to antigay bigotry and spiritual egotism.
For at least six years, Family Research Council president Tony Perkins lied to the public about Ken Mehlman, the gay chairman of the Republican National Committee.
Mehlman’s homosexuality was well-known among Republicans, and he was outed to the general public by blogger Mike Rogers in 2004.
Perkins wasn’t alone in covering up Mehlman’s homosexuality, of course; CNN edited its news coverage to cover up Mehlman’s orientation.
Perkins danced around his own organization’s half-decade of lies this week, when he declared that he was “saddened” that Mehlman is now being honest. Instead of apologizing for the deception, Perkins
criticizes Mehlman for having “chosen to identify himself”
makes the unsupported and unsupportable claims that sexual honesty harms society and that safer sex has “negative physical and mental health consequences”
scapegoats Mehlman’s resistance to the GOP’s worst antigay hatemongers for the GOP’s war- and economy-related election losses in 2006 and 2008
lies about the percentage of the population that is gay, lesbian, or bisexual, offering an absurd estimate of “two percent” that is not exclusively heterosexual
Perkins concludes that it would be foolish for the GOP to adopt policies reflecting fiscal and social responsibility, policies that support real families, “thereby alienating the majority of conservative voters.”
According to the BBC, a senior rabbi from a party within Israel’s coalition government has called for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to “vanish from our world”.
