Another hypocritical “protect the family” politician has been outed by their own inept actions. This time, instead of a disingenuous denial of his orientation we get pathetic excuses for his actions which were directly opposed to the best interests of those like him.

A conservative US state senator who has voted against gay rights measures during his 14 years in office has confessed he is gay.

Republican Roy Ashburn came out during a radio interview in California, where he sits on the state legislature.

Roy Ashburn (Associated Press)

He has been on leave since his arrest last week on suspicion of driving under the influence.

Mr Ashburn said his votes reflected the way his constituents wanted him to vote, not his own “internal conflict”.

“I am gay… those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long,” the 55-year-old divorced father-of-four told KERN radio.

Mr Ashburn said he felt the need to address rumours that he had visited a gay nightclub before his arrest on suspicion of drinking and driving in Sacramento on 3 March.

Last year, Mr Ashburn opposed a bill to establish a day of recognition to honour murdered gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

He has also voted in the statehouse against efforts to expand anti-discrimination laws and recognise out-of-state gay marriages.

Que the exuberant queer cheers, “Another anti-gay gay politician gone”, “One less enemy in government”.

Mr Ashburn, who represents California’s 18th district, said he does not plan to run for any public office after his term ends later this year.

Outed and ousted, another victory for truth and justice.

But hold on a minute. Isn’t this counter-productive to the goal of having gay representation in the government? By applauding Ashburn’s decision to leave government service, we are essentially agreeing with the anti-gay crowd that anyone who is open and honest about their homosexuality like Ashburn is now shouldn’t be a politician. It’s reasonable to chastise him for his prior dishonesty and the harm he’s done the gay community. But now that he’s being honest about himself, shouldn’t we be the first to encourage him to stay in politics and to vote for him when he runs again?

We deserve representation; the same percentage of LGBT citizens of the population should be represented by an equal percentage in the Congress and most California legislatures.

1.51% of the total U.S. population identifies themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual, or 4.3 total million Americans. These numbers are based on figures provided by a broad-based coalition of gay rights organizations and homosexual advocacy groups. The primary source cited was the The National Health and Social Life Survey (NHSLS), published in the book The Social Organization of Sex: Sexual Practices in the United States (1994), by Laumann, Gagnon, Michael and Michaels. (Source-U.S. Census 2000)

Most likely there’s one LGBT person in hiding for every one that was identified as such, so let’s double the percentage to 3%. Not exactly a threatening number. 3 people out of a hundred.

One advantage to electing and supporting gay politicians is that they also represent other minorities. A senator could be a woman who used to be a Black man, a congressman could be a gay Hispanic. The LGBT community embraces men and women of all races and national origin. There are gay millionaires and homeless lesbians. There are members of the clergy, those of all faiths and those with no religious faith at all who are also members of the LGBT community.  Yes, as hard as it is to believe, there are even gay republicans.

Whether they are dragged kicking and screaming out of the closet or openly disclose their orientation, we owe it to ourselves to judge the fitness to serve of these individuals by more than with whom they prefer to have sex.

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• Roy Ashburn: ‘I’m Gay’ (huffingtonpost.com)
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• Ashburn Confirms He is Gay – Dan Savage Weighs In (lezgetreal.com)
• US anti-gay rights senator comes out (news.bbc.co.uk)

Today’s the day to Get Religion! The more hungover and nearly incoherent you are this morning, the more sense religion will make. That way, no matter how bad 2009 becomes, no matter if the Middle East erupts into nuclear war, no matter if America suffers a depression sever enough to steal the title “Great” from the depression of 1929, no matter if the governments of England and America undermine human rights through unwarranted eavesdropping and the deployment of troops on their own soil, the matter if the world descends into anarchy, chaos and unprecedented holy war between Christians, Jews and Muslims, none of that will affect you because you’ll have your own personal relationship with the guy responsible for all that…according to your new beliefs.

And theists, go ahead and do your usual “I’m offended” routine. It’s so much easier and garners so much more sympathy to feign offense than it is to actually counter, with reason and substantiation, the exposure of your beliefs for what they are.

I keep running across news stories and commentaries (like this one) that mention the outpouring of hatred from gays and their friends over the passage of Prop. 8 in California.

I hear about those opposed to 8 vandalizing churches and assaulting proponents of the proposition, though I have yet to see any corroboration of these claims. Since these stories originate from the Christians, who perpetually perceive the slightest disagreement as persecution, I’m skeptical. But a lie repeated frequently enough will become indistinguishable from truth. I’ve also read about gays making racist remarks to Blacks over their support for 8, again unsupported with cited cases or specifics.

Whether or not these activities are actually happening, we need to take a firm and consistent stand against expressions of hate no matter their source or motivation. Hatred is not a healthy emotion nor is it an effective way to impress others with the validity of your beliefs. It’s letting the emotions overrule common sense and human decency.

If we want to counter the hatred and intolerance shown by those who chose to vote yes on 8, the least effective and most unconvincing way to do that is to threaten to or condone threats to vandalize their property, assault believers or commit any other act that’s out of proportion and contrary to the intent of those of us who support equal rights.

We are disappointed that so many Blacks decided to vote their religious beliefs rather than their social conscience. I have met very few in the gay community who dismiss the concerns of other minorities. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to the women and Blacks who fought for their rights against huge odds and prevailed. Both groups are minorities to this day, yet look how far they’ve come in taking advantage of equality.

Now gays are asking for the same legal recognition other minority groups enjoy and the request is denied. Not just denied but effectively made illegal. Society has decided being a homosexual is not a crime, only another expression of humanity, like being female, Black or handicapped. Society has made illegal discriminating against people in those groups based solely on their minority status. Yet society isn’t ready to yet grant the same protection to members of the homosexual minority. They are willing to tell a group of people that a particular expression of their humanity, though legal for any other pair of consenting adults, is illegal for them. If anyone ever asks me for evidence that religion is an oppressive mindset, this debate would qualify.

Anti-social behavior on the part of gays will only prove to be self-defeating and a disservice to the gay community. We needn’t reinforce the religious bias against gays. If we’re demanding equal rights, we ought be determined to argue and reason our way to success. We are civil people. Let’s not forget our civility in the face of incivility.

We want to change their minds. Being physically offensive only closes their minds to any further input, reasonable or not. Let’s commit ourselves to only offending them philosophically and legally by continuing to peacefully protest, speak out, blog and join together in solidarity. We need to educate and enlighten, not threaten and assault. Leave that shit to the KKK and White Supremists, both fine Christian organizations.

Memo to the gays: wake up. The most depressing aspect in the gay community has been the apathy of so many, as well as the energy and determination of so few. So many straight people seem to be doing more for this issue than many gay people. That’s unacceptable. It’s perfectly legitimate to expose the LDS campaign against civil rights; but the Mormons are working the system. The right response is to work it back. Donate here. But better still: call your family and friends in California and tell them why this matters. If you live there, get organized. Canvass; campaign; volunteer; spread the word on the web. This is our Gettysburg. And we’re losing it.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/10/prop-8s-chances.html

Self-abuse is just having a sexual encounter with the person you love most in the world.

Still, self-molestation is close to self-rape. One shouldn’t take advantage of one’s self when you aren’t a willing participant. Nor can I support young children who become self-pedophiles.

Just because it’s you doesn’t excuse you from being considerate and mindful of your feelings. Woo yourself. Take yourself out to dinner. Just don’t get too frisky with yourself in public. Some people don’t understand.

 Tip of the hat to bellman8or for the image

I knew as soon as I saw this image what the caption had to be, and I wasn’t wrong.

I also had to laugh. I’ve been there.

I used to stop for a couple of beers at a topless bar in Maryland about 2 in the afternoon. The girls had to be there but weren’t doing anything since I was almost always the only guy there at that hour. I liked that bar because it had one of the first bartop electronic poker machines. I was an addict for those things. Since I was a regular and no one else was there, the bartender would let me have all the tokens I wanted while I drank my two beers and talked with the topless babes.

I was dating a girl at the time, my heterosexuality taking the lead as it has several times before. So I could claim that I never took the situation too seriously was because even then it was well understood; you do not mess around with the girls during working hours.

Or I could just admit to the truth of that poster.

Either way, that picture is funny and the caption damned witty.

It’s almost painful to read the endorsement of the McCain-Palin ticket by the Log Cabin Republicans.

“Log Cabin Republicans is a grassroots organization and our membership overwhelmingly supports endorsing Sen. McCain,” said Log Cabin Board Chairman Pete Kingma. “Our board and staff members have spent recent months getting input and feedback from our members. The consensus among our members is strongly in favor of an endorsement because of his inclusive record. Our members also support him because he’s a maverick; a trait most recently on display with his decision to select Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate.”

(Note: this single mention of Palin gives no indication of approval or disapproval)

I felt a little better reading Andrew Sullivan trying to make the best out of what even he has to admit is a ticket that guarantees the rights of homosexuals will not just be a low priority. They’ll be off the radar.

What we have learned about John McCain from his selection of Sarah Palin is that he is as impulsive and reckless a decision-maker as George W. Bush. We know this not because of what we have learned about this Pentecostalist populist since she exploded on the scene last Friday morning (and God knows we have learned more than we ever wanted). We know it because of how McCain made the decision. He wanted his best friend, Joe Lieberman, the former Democratic vice-presidential candidate for Al Gore. That pick would have been remarkable for its bipartisan nature, would have impressed independents, and signaled a centrist presidency centered on foreign policy. It would have been bold while not being rash.

But McCain is in charge of a party that is now, at its core, religiously motivated. Joe Lieberman, for all his political talents, is Jewish, pro-choice on abortion, gay-inclusive, and domestically liberal. McCain faced an insurrection in his party base if he picked him. Without the evangelical base, he wasn’t going to win.

So last week, McCain picked someone he had only met once before. I repeat: he picked someone he had only met once before. His vetting chief sat Palin down for a face-to-face interview the Wednesday before last. It’s very hard to overstate how nutty and irresponsible this is. Would any corporate chieftain pick a number two on those grounds and not be dismissed by his board for recklessness?

The recklessness was much more fatal in the new media world than in the old one. In the old media world, the Republicans could try to control the flow of information, browbeat the press and prevent the entire weird family background and series of scandals and rumors of quite incredible events from getting into the mainstream. But those days are over. Within minutes of the announcement, everyone reached for Google. I recommend for starters the two following stories that appeared in the Anchorage Daily News last March and April. Story 1 / Story 2

WIthin hours, the McCain campaign was under siege, as the vetting process the professionals didn’t do was done by thousands of bloggers and citizen journalists. Palin’s reality show family life, her vendetta against her ex brother-in-law, her endorsement of a mayoral candidate who ran against her own mother-in-law, her attempt to ban books in her local library, her friendship with one of her husband’s former business partners, and on and on: this was the first major campaign event that was covered by the underground media before it reached the mainstream. The American mainstream press spent a large part of last week wondering how much truth the public could bear to hear.

Who does John McCain think he’s kidding? And what on earth was he thinking? This was a rash, impulsive, reckless pick. We have no idea where it’s headed – and i wouldn’t hazard a wild guess what we will have found out about Palin in a week’s time. Maybe it will win some votes from evangelicals. Maybe Palin will reveal herself as something more than a former sportscaster who can deliver a speech. But it shows a deep unseriousness about governing the most powerful nation on earth at a time of great peril.

If you thought a president who went to war on flawed intelligence with no plan for the aftermath was reckless, then I have news for you. You haven’t seen anything yet. Imagine the kind of decision-making McCain has just demonstrated applied to ife-and-death decisions with respect to Iran and Russia.

Yes, you have permission to be afraid.

Too much of an issue has been made in this election of faith. All the attention paid to fundamentalist Christian interests has bestowed upon it a credibility it doesn’t deserve.

For the same reason I wonder how gays can be Christians (Muslims, whichever theistic hate group you can name) I wonder how any self-respecting gay person can vote for McCain/Palin. Hell yeah, we want to be treated like dirty perverts. We want everyone to think we all have AIDS and molest kids. We enjoy being less than human. Perhaps Palin can get gay-bashing accepted as an Olympic sport.

I’m not saying all gays should vote Democratic. This is not an endorsement of Obama. It’s a well-considered, passionately intentioned unendorsement of McCain/Palin. If you’re a member of, family to or friend of the LGBT community, consider well what that ticket would mean to you or the ones you love.

No, I’m not talking about how I spent my weekend, it’s the Israeli ambassador.

As an Israeli ambassador, Tsuriel Raphael was accomplished at putting a gloss on delicate subjects, be it Tel Aviv’s nuclear programme, the treatment of Palestinians or the invasion of Lebanon.

When San Salvador police discovered him in his official embassy residence yard in the capital San Salvador, however, smooth talk was not really an option. For starters there was the gag and the rubber ball in his mouth. There was also the matter of being drunk. And naked. And bound. And surrounded by sex toys.

Once he was untied and the gag and ball were removed Mr Raphael identified himself as the ambassador but for perhaps the first time in his diplomatic career, this was a crisis he could not explain away.

“The ministry sees his behaviour as unbecoming of a diplomat,” Zehavit Ben-Hillel, an Israeli foreign ministry spokeswoman, said yesterday. It was, she added, an unprecedented embarrassment. Mr Raphael was recalled home two weeks ago when the ministry first learned of the incident but the news became public only yesterday, when reports surfaced in the Israeli media. “He is going to remain in Israel,” said the spokeswoman.

The ambassador did not break any law so for the Salvadorean police the case is closed. The Israeli government must wish it could say the same; the incident raises questions not just about Mr Raphael but about the foreign ministry’s system of appointments.  (Source)

If I’d have known the diplomatic corps was so much fun I might have selected a different majpor in college.

Here’s a perfect example of the Christian lack of not just a sense of humor but even the ability to detect humor.  Their ignorance of what humor is makes them incapable of realizing what nearly every halfway intelligent person on the internet knows; Landover Baptist Church is a parody site! Anyone who cannot appreciate that fact has either never really read anything beyond the headlines or is humor impaired.  That’s not a disability that will let you park in the handicapped zone, but it’s still a serious character defect.

Anyway, this I’m-embarrassed-to-admit-is-a-person writes to Landover:

you people really suk, i noticed you have 28 paid pastors and a bunch of paid decons and boy how you love to beg for money,but correct me if i am wrong but i thought we were not supposed to build churches as jesus taught,nor were we to come to some supposed – false prophets self proclaimed christian pastor for help i think jesus said for us to ask god not some money hungry tithe stealing useuing the money to gloryify his own flesh hireling pastor who serves you not god , you being the man that cuts his check,oh what a sad ripoff platinum tithers? got news for you canninites you cant buy or tithe your way to heaven, as for any sembelince of preetching the gospel of jesus christ witch is what all belivers are suppose to do i dont see it ,,no where on your sight as defined buy the apostles —— and so since you preech some other gospel something half old testement half new you are as galitians says accursed i say again accursed .every thing else i read was so retarded and fucked up i cant say anything to you it be like trying to reason with a steamy pile of shit, oh and i never in a millon years thought i would go to a “christian web site and see porno on it wtf? the immaculate hymen? man you suk ,a pussy pic on a christian web site and you think you are saved ? the only thing you do is lead people to hell because you are a greedy mammon loveing apostate fale jesus preeching guy you steal tithes and pay pastors befor you remember to give to the needy dont you u shitball? i bet more money goes to paying u and you hirlings than it does to those that need it , you say you dont care bout the unsaved –well i am glad to hear some truth out of you mouth but again as jesus teaches us True Christians not you nazis that as apostles our duty is to proclaim the gospel to the what fartheads? the World thats right and that we will be judged on that and weather we bare good fruit or bad the good fruit is the saving of souls asswhipes, how by proclaiming the message jesus told us to proclaim —— you know the whole gospel thing ,we proclaim they either accept or reject, we dont convet, the gosepl does that. 1 more thing i noticed you have a golf coarse pga style hmmm and 18 hughe pools and the largest “christian shopping mall ; jesus said we should deny ourselfs and take up our cross and follow him daily but you guys are dening the word, the people that give you money all to get rich i hope GOD shows you your wrong and gives you time to repent befor its to late signed ub4war@—.com

As Larry the Cable Guy would say, “Now I don’t care who you are, that there’s funny”.

Here’s one of those little facts that often go unnoticed in the larger debate over the validity of the Bible (it has none) and the reality of theism (reality is not an element of theism)…

God and Jesus are both real sourpusses, according to their own, no doubt dour, biographers.

Nowhere in the Bible will you find a passage that states, “God laughed”.  This is the closest thing to it:

Psalm 2

Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers gather together against the LORD
and against his Anointed One.

“Let us break their chains,” they say,
“and throw off their fetters.”

The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.
Then he rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath

It sounds to me like that would be more a “muahahaha” laugh than the kind of laugh I’m talking about.  Scoffing is a haughty and egotistic reaction.

I’m talking about a laugh that indicates pleasure, amusement, wonder.  The kind of laugh that indicates a sense of humor.  The kind of laugh a child would utter.

While the god of the Bible exhibits a warped sense of “humor” (”Hey kid, go down there and die for their sins.  Joke is they’ll still have their sins and you get to come back in 3 days, so I ain’t askin’ for all that much), at least he has a semblance of one.  Jesus, on the other hand, never seemed to exhibit the slightest bit of folly.  Serious dude, all the time about everything.  We all probably know someone like that.  Don’t we all consider them a pain in the ass to be around for very long?

I mean, can anyone imagine Jesus at the last supper or Muhammad sitting on his ass donkey telling those gathered around them a joke?  “Hey, one time a Jew, a Roman and an Indian merchant walk into a bar and the bartender says, “Is this a joke?”  Magic tricks?  Sure, that’s consistent with their love of mystery, but cracking a joke?  Way too out of character for most gods.

Christians, Muslims and the rest especially don’t appreciate humor at their expense.  A healthy ego can handle mockery, but not god’s kids.  Theists have displayed a particularly nasty attitude toward those who mock them.  No religion embraces its critics.  Faith is too weak against reason and logic.  Those who practice reasoning will find no commonality with those who treat reason with contempt.

Is there anything I can say about the followers of Muhammad and their extreme lack of anything even remotely resembling a sense of humor that won’t cause them to call down the wrath of their loving god on my head?  They want to kill cartoonists.  In the West, comics are known to commit suicide all too often, but they don’t do it by strapping a bomb around themselves and taking 50 people with them.  That ain’t funny.  But what Islam believes?  That’s funny.  Nearly Scientology funny.

Humor is one of the most mysterious emotions we have.  We’re only now beginning to understand we aren’t the only species that experiences humor.  For all we know earthworms tell each other knee-slapping jokes all the time, except they can’t slap their knees due to no hands and no knees, but they would if they could.

If anything in our natural world approaches the level of a “religious” experience that all people besides those afflicted theists can experience it’s humor.  You’d think religion would try to appropriate it for its own, like it tries to lay claim to so many perfectly natural traits of humans.  Instead, a sense of humor is just one more sacrifice theists are expected to make in service to their imaginary lord and master.

The American Indians and the Romans, just to toss out a couple of examples, believed in gods that were mischievous, jokesters, tricksters.  Gods with a healthy sense of humor.  I could almost believe in a god that loved to fuck with our minds and took open and honest delight in our discomfort and frustration.