Sanity Pills

This made me sick this morning:

Targeting gay rights

By Randy Sharp | July 31, 2005

Back in 1977, our founder, Donald Wildmon, was flipping through the channels of his television and he was shocked by what he saw. Each of the three networks (remember, this was before cable) was showing scenes of sex, violence, or promiscuity. He thought the content entirely inappropriate for families.

When Wildmon complained to the networks and got no response, he decided the best way to gain their attention was through their pocketbooks. He had monitors watch television for 28 prime time nights. They were told to record every offensive scene and then note the show’s sponsor.

When the results came in, we discovered that Sears and Roebuck topped the list of advertisers who sponsored offensive programming. So Wildmon announced that he and his congregants in Tupelo, Miss., would boycott Sears. The media got hold of it, and Sears realized it had a public relations problem on its hands. Wildmon led a protest march in front of Sears Tower in Chicago, and within hours Sears announced it was changing its sponsorship of several questionable programs (I remember ”Three’s Company” was one of them.)

Nowadays, the Internet makes it easy for any group to organize a boycott. At any given time, probably every company in America has somebody boycotting it. But there’s still power in numbers, and our organization, in concert with other conservative groups, can still generate an enormous number of complaints–anywhere from 100,000 to one million. When that happens, corporations pay attention.

Since Sears, we’ve boycotted Disney to protest their Gay Days and Procter & Gamble for contributing to a campaign in support of homosexual rights, which we believe would lead to an endorsement of gay marriage.

In May of this year, we announced a boycott of the Ford Motor Company — it was donating cars to gay causes. Within three days, the Ford Dealers Association called and asked us to suspend the boycott for six months. They said they’d look into our complaints. So we did.

Right now we’re looking at Kraft Foods. They’ve donated $25,000 to support the Gay Games, a kind of gay Olympics, and we’ve let them know we’re not pleased. Kraft says it won’t back down, it won’t negotiate or compromise. So, yes, it’s very possible that within the next year we’ll announce a Kraft boycott.

These companies have got to understand that there’s power in the consumer. People will go out of their way not to buy a product that supports causes they don’t believe in. That’s one thing about the American public: Our values are not for sale.

Randy Sharp is director of Special Projects for American Family Association.

What pisses me off more than Randy Sharp’s idiotic and hateful reasoning, is the Globe’s willingness to publish this in a section called Thinking Big. Unfortunately, I don’t have a subscription to cancel.

John Bolton is an asshole and a liar, but we already knew that. Now we know that the State Department interviewed him as part of an investigation about how badly we fucked up intelligence leading to the war in Iraq.

It makes sense that the State Department would interview him about this topic, but it came as a surprise to Senators, who were never told about this interview:

Bolton was interviewed by the State Department inspector general in 2003 as part of a joint investigation with the CIA into prewar Iraqi attempts to buy nuclear materials from Niger, State Department spokesman Noel Clay said Thursday.

His statement came hours after another State Department official said Bolton had correctly answered a Senate questionnaire when he wrote that he had not testified to a grand jury or been interviewed by investigators in any inquiry over the past five years.

Clay said Bolton “didn’t recall being interviewed by the State Department’s inspector general” when he filled out the form. “Therefore, his form, as submitted, was inaccurate,” Clay said. “He will correct it.”

Did he really forget? Or did he choose to forget an interview about that biggest intelligence blunder in recent history, which he was part of? It’s really unbelievable.

And now we’re hearing reports that Bush is ready to give a recess appointment to the scumbag. The Bushies will have to justify this move in the press, so next Sunday we will see Bill Frist, Ken Mehlman, and a host of other ditto-heads saying that Bush had to make a bold move like this because the Dems were playing politics and obstructing an eminently qualified candidate. It’s a huge lie, and I’m not sure the Democratic response will be strong enough to counter it.

The Democrats are obstructing things, but what they are obstructing is a dangerous and regressive agenda by the Bush Administration. The White House, on the other hand, is obstructing democracy, progress, and common sense.

If the White House gave the Senate all of the relevant documents on Bolton, which they haven’t despite numerous requests from the Democrats, or allowed for a fair questioning of Bolton, he would never get confirmed. He’s too much of a freak for the Senate to support him as a representative to the world.

About 300 fall ill from heat at Boy Scout Jamboree.

All of the jokes to be made are too obvious.

Wayne Madsen has the story:

Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, announced that his committee will be “reviewing” the criminal probe by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald of the White House leak of the identities of covert CIA agents. If Roberts is serious and not just grandstanding, this may indicate that the White House is looking to give Fitzgerald’s targets (Karl Rove, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, and others) congressional general immunity from prosecution in return for their testimony before Roberts’ committee. This was the method by which John Poindexter and Oliver North were able to avoid jail time for their roles in Iran-contra, their convictions being overturned by a federal appeals court because of their previously granted congressional immunity.

I’m not sure how much this would help Republicans politically but it would probably keep Rove and Libby out of jail.

George Pataki has decided not to run for reelection. I’m heartened by this. It’s only a matter of time before Mitt Romney makes a similar announcement. NY and MA have seen more than enough Repug governors. It’s time for the Governor to be representative of the voters. I can’t imagine Pataki just going into retirement.

Is he considering a higher office? Surely he can’t be considering the White House, he’s too boring and too moderate. Maybe he wants to give Hillary some competition next year? If he’s smart, he’ll follow Guiliani’s example, start a consulting firm in NYC, and make shitloads of money. That’s the pasth I hope Romney follows, he can go back to work for the raiders at Bain. Although, I doubt that’s Mitt’s plan.

It’s pretty clear that Romney plans to run in 2008, actually it’s obvious. Especially after he vetoed the emergency contraception legislation and wrote a moronic letter to the Globe to explain his reasoning. I don’t think he can come back from that stance in this state. Moderate mothers, charmed by his good looks in 2002, won’t support the man after taking such an anti-woman stance.

Kerry Healey as the Repug gubernatorial nominee would be a laugh riot, I can’t wait. Check out the links between her husband’s company (just look at all that fucking money) and the Massachusetts Repug party. Surprisingly, Beverly Farms, MA is the power center of Massachusetts Repugs. The Healeys live at 10 Curtis Point (nice huh?), her husband’s company is just down the road (the big building on the hill), the Mass GOP chairman Darrell Crate is further down the road, and Crate’s parents just moved to nearby Oak St.

The question is, how creepy can I get with Google maps?

Looks like Bill Maher is the only one left who actually cares about belitttling the right. Jon Stewart loves to make his jokes but when Zen Miller and Rick Santorum are on his show, all he does is kiss ass.

Rick Santorum on the Daily Show

Apparently, during an informal meeting with some senators, Roberts said that he would recuse himself from cases where the law was in conflict with his Catholic faith. Light of Reason goes into the many reasons why this should disqualify him.

Democrats should hammer at this constantly. But they won’t, for fear of pissing of the “values voters.”

Santorum says that Mrs. Roberts’ work for an anti-choice organization should have no bearing on John Roberts’ confirmation hearing. That’s true, in a way, but I think his wife’s work for the Feminists for Life just adds more evidence to the belief that Roberts is no moderate, especially on issues like abortion. I really think this guy is going to be much worse than we expect. I don’t think we are going to see another Souter or even an O’Connor at all, but rather another justice that will regularly align with Scalia and Thomas.

Patricia Heaton is the honorary chair of Feminists for Life. Anyone associated with that pile of dogshit known as the shitcom Everybody Loves Raymond is a horrible human being and any organization they are involved in should be boycotted and fought against.

I don’t know much about Feminists for Life, but from what little I know, I’ve been able to conclude that they are a disgusting organization that is both against life and against feminism.

I’m ecstatic that some of the largest and most active unions will be leaving the AFL-CIO. I don’t think this is a blow to Labor in the slightest, what Unions need is activity and willpower, things the AFL-CIO hasn’t offered. Labor’s been beat up by corporations and the government over the last 30 years, and the AFL-CIO has done little.

Thankfully, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and the Hospitality and Garment workers of UNITE-HERE are finally going to do something about it. Best of luck to the Change to Win Coalition. With the likes of the Bush Administration and anti-Labor (actually anti-people) and much too powerful corporations like Wal-mart, they are going to need all the luck and support they can get.

Plainclothes police chased a man in a thick coat through a subway station, wrestled him to the floor and shot him to death in front of stunned commuters Friday

What no reading of rights?

London Police shoot

Maybe US cops aren’t that bad. They only give you a beat down.