Wayne wrote this morning about last night’s victories for openly gay candidates around the country, which is fantastic. It was even more than that, though. Last night there were several crucial victories, messages sent to the whackjobs who have taken over the Republican party that “we are sorry, but the American people aren’t like you and won’t let you ruin our country.” Mississippi voted its infamous “personhood amendment” down, and in Ohio, voters told Republican governor John Kasich exactly where he could put his union-busting SB5 law. In this clip, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz [D-FL] discuss the results.
In the clip, O’Donnell mentions that Ohio voters also rejected the individual mandate in the healthcare law passed under this administration, but Schultz also points out that a very conservative Republican judge upheld the HCR law as constitutional yesterday, which is another smackdown to extremists.
Eight horses – one just a week old and another ready to give birth – died in a raging barn fire in Ohio that lawmen think was set because of hatred for gays.
Brent Whitehouse of McConnelsville said an orange glow outside his home on Easter night drew him to the horror.
“I ran out there, but the doors of my barn wouldn’t open and suddenly, flames were shooting up through the roof. That barn was gone in five minutes,” he told the Zanesville Times Recorder.
[...]
Still visible on the remains of the gutted barn’s walls Tuesday were spray-painted epithets such as “f-gs are freaks” and “burn in hell,” the newspaper reported.
[...]
he value of the horses was said to be in hundreds of thousands of dollars but Whitehouse, who owns an insurance company in the tiny village in southeastern Ohio, was hurt far more by the loss of Elvis, Barney, Love, Bella and Ethel, Floyd and Princess and her week-old foal, Buddy.
“The barn I can rebuild, but the bond I had with those horses can’t be replaced,” said Whitehouse.
Absolutely awful. But again, not surprising. The kind of mentally disturbed person who would commit a hate crime against a gay person would likely have no problem brutally killing animals.
A fetus has been scheduled as a legislative witness in Ohio on a unique bill that proposes outlawing abortions after the first heartbeat can be medically detected.
Faith2Action, the anti-abortion group that has targeted Ohio to pilot the measure, called the in-utero witness the youngest to ever come before the House Health Committee at 9 weeks old.
Faith2Action president Janet Folger Porter said the intent is to show lawmakers who will be affected by the bill, which abortion rights groups oppose.
My only question is what kind of ventriloquist puppet gymnastics Porter’s going to pull to make it answer questions, because Janet, that’s just not polite.
For a little background on Janet Folger Porter’s insane anti-gay activities, click here.
Also, Truth Wins Out sadly said goodbye to actor and board member Glenn Shadix, who passed away this week.
As for music this week, I think it was about two weekends ago when I literally, out of nowhere, listened to Nina Simone, and nothing but Nina Simone, for about forty-eight hours. I needed it. I still remember being a freshman in high school, when a friend handed me a Nina Simone CD, the debut from Portishead, and Fugees’ The Score, and simply said, “these are things you need in your life.” She was correct. The first song I ever heard was “I Want A Little Sugar In My Bowl,” which remains one of my very favorites. A close second is “Love Me Or Leave Me.” So we’ll listen to those, then hit shuffle on the iTunes machine, and see where we end up.
1. Tori Amos – “Beauty Queen/Horses”
2. Prana – “The Dream”
3. Phoebe Killdeer & The Short Straws – “Let Me”
4. jj – “My Love”
5. Das Racist – “One Dollar Can” [this is actually an ode to Arizona Iced Tea, no lie]
6. Toad the Wet Sprocket – “All I Want”
7. Primary 1 – “Clicks Like That”
8. Tricky – “My Evil Is Strong”
9. Beck – “Readymade”
10. Xiu Xiu – “Dear God, I Hate Myself”
You can, by the way, download the Das Racist mixtape completely legally and for free here, and let me assure you that if you like really freaking smart Hip-Hop type things, you will enjoy.
At a Dayton/Cincinnati-area church, efforts are afoot to rebuild a 62-foot idol of Jesus at Solid Rock Church in Monroe.
For years, the steel, styrofoam, and fiberglass structure — situated along Interstate 75 — drew the stares of gawking motorists. It also drew tourists and churchgoers from Kentucky and Tennessee who apparently didn’t have enough kitsch to admire back in their own communities. The idol drew money from visitors’ tithes, and those tithes were spent on an ex-gay ministry that was co-founded by current PFOX president Greg Quinlan, who used this and other Ohio ministries to launch his national culture war against gay youth, marriage equality, and family unity.
After the statue was destroyed by lightning last week, a few protesters pointed out to the church that it was worshiping a graven image in violation of the commandments of Moses. A churchgoer allegedly responded by shoving and threatening one of the protesters, and charges were filed.
Church leaders nevertheless vowed to rebuild. Southwest Ohio lies at the eastern border of America’s Tornado Alley, and it is commonplace for random bolts of lightning to destroy tall, highly flammable objects. Yet a supportive neighbor, Pastor Deborah Hooks, blamed the incident on magic sent by God: “We don’t know the mind of God, but I say God’ hand is in everything and everything happens for a reason.”
The pastor of Solid Rock, Lawrence Bishop, is seemingly suffering from even greater egomania, characterizing the statue as a resurrected god. “The first Jesus was resurrected in three days. It’s going to take us a little longer than three days but he will be back. He’s like the Terminator. He’s coming back.”
Gannett News reported today that a flood of donations and ample insurance money may allow the statue to be fully rebuilt by the end of the year.
But when you’re a Christian Rightist, the rules of prayer change. A new rule applies: That of smiting the people whom you don’ t like.
Says Schultz:
Religion has become the weapon of choice for many people in this country, particularly the far right, and it’s alienating a growing number of Americans. A lot of us don’t buy into a version of God who picks sides, not between good and evil, but between Democrats and Republicans. We don’t believe God cherry-picks religions, either.
In 2004, Exodus International board member Phil Burress put an anti-marriage constitutional amendment on the Ohio ballot and drew thousands of Ohioans to the polls to support the re-election of George W. Bush for president.
Until recently, Burress — the powerful leader of Ohio’s anti-family organization Citizens for Community Values, an affiliate of Focus on the Family — has withheld support from 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Just a month ago, Burress had told the Los Angeles Times that while he might vote for McCain,
he will not work directly for McCain, and he suspects that many conservatives will stay home on election day.
“They think we have no place to go [other than the Republican Party], and in some respects, that’s true,” Burress said. “But it’s going to take a whole lot more than that for him to win.”
Last week, however, the Los Angeles Times reported that McCain met with Burress in a bid to secure far-right votes as McCain’s rival, Democratic candidate Barack Obama, wins over religious centrists and the religious left.
“We told [McCain] that if he didn’t come out and share his pro-family stances on these issues, then he can kiss Ohio goodbye,” said influential anti-gay Ohio activist Phil Burress, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Instead of pursuing a moderate presidential course that might unite Americans behind shared family, community, and national values, McCain pandered to the forces of paranoia and division: He announced his support for an initiative in California to ban same-sex marriage, even though a similar initiative in his home state of Arizona failed.
Burress was impressed:
“It was obvious there were a lot of changed hearts in the room,” said Burress. “We realized that he’s with us on the majority of the issues we care about.”
McCain still hopes to meet with James Dobson, the leader of Focus on the Family. Dobson has said he would not vote for McCain and claimed that neither candidate gives “a hoot about the family.”
Meanwhile, Burress — along with other social conservatives — is pressuring McCain to recruit Southern Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as his vice-presidential running mate.
Burress characterized the Huckabee overture as a “suggestion, not a demand.”
“This is a man you don’t threaten,” Burress said of McCain. “His principles are his principles. The last thing you want to do is try to force him to do something he doesn’t want to do because he’d probably do the opposite.”
Burress said that while Huckabee is a favorite of Christian conservatives, the most important thing is that McCain’s running mate be “pro-life and pro-family.” Huckabee isn’t a favorite of all evangelical leaders, either; some dislike his populist message, emphasis on the environment and economic positions.
The leaders meeting in Denver included Phyllis Schlafly, head of the Eagle Forum; “Left Behind” co-author Tim LaHaye and his wife, Beverly, founder of Concerned Women for America; David Barton, founder of WallBuilders; Rick Scarborough of Vision America; and Don Hodel, a former interior secretary and former president of Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family, according to [Liberty Counsel chairman Mat] Staver.
Burress asserts that the Bible commands evangelicals not to vote for Obama:
“The only evangelicals that will support Obama are the ones who haven’t read their Bible,” Burress said. “The more and more we learn about Obama, the closer and closer we get to McCain.”
Does this Exodus board member feel sufficiently holy that God has permitted him to rewrite the Bible? Or does this Exodus leader feel that merely saying the word “Bible” in a sentence makes the sentence true?
I’m just pointing it out because anti-gay wingnuts are always 
For years, the steel, styrofoam, and fiberglass structure — situated along Interstate 75 — drew the stares of gawking motorists. It also drew tourists and churchgoers from Kentucky and Tennessee who apparently didn’t have enough kitsch to admire back in their own communities. The idol drew money from visitors’ tithes, and those tithes were spent on an ex-gay ministry that was 
