When Politics Comes Up At Thanksgiving - Some Conversational Help

posted by: Robin Marty 

Do you find that your turkey time tends to turn into an awkward stilted conversation of the weather or, even worse, how poorly your local football team is doing?  No need to worry, the following are a few conversation starters that can be used in any tight situation.

First, Alternet offers Five Ways to Deal with Your Conservative Relatives.  From "Keeping the infighting on the right" to "Talk about TSA gropings," you've got sure fire ways to defuse any potential awkwardness at the dinner table. 

Brush up on Obama conspiracy theories. There’s a good chance you’ll need to defend the president against some of the more outrageous claims being circulated by Fox News--especially the claim that he hasn’t done anything useful for the country. Now, if your relatives are of the “Obama is a Marxist, Satanist, Islamic fundamentalist who wants to put our children in re-education camps”persuasion, you should probably just invest in a hip flask or three and plan on getting out of there ASAP. But assuming you’re dining with nominally reasonable human beings, you should brush up on what the heck Obama has done so far. Conveniently, you can gather some key facts and stats at the Web site What the Heck Has Obama Done So Far (or its raunchier cousin, if that’s more your style). “Yes, cousin Billy, Obama does support our troops; he’s helped provide crucial services like transportation for families of fallen soldiers to Dover air base and counseling for veterans,” you might say. And don’t forget to remember credible sources in case they don’t believe you.

Slate also has ways to prep for any potential political arguments, providing a Cliff Notes primer of top debates with both the for and against positions.  Like this one, on the Bush Tax cuts.

Extending the Bush tax cutsExtend all of them forever: If Democrats allow taxes to increase, we're going to have our next Thanksgiving at Burger King. The fluttering recovery would plummet into a freefall. You can't just extend the tax rates for "middle income" families as President Obama would like because that's unfair. Plus, raising the upper rate would unfairly hit small-business owners, and small business accounts for 70 percent of the net new jobs in an economy. Having Lower marginal rates means people have more money they can invest, which boosts growth, which shrinks deficits. It's win-win-win!

Don't extend any of them at all: Let's remember why we are in this fix: Republicans couldn't win the tax-cut debate on the merits of the magical no-deficits argument 10 years ago, so they had to use a gimmick to pass the cuts temporarily, assuming that no one would have the guts to let them expire. Let's have the guts and stop these kinds of gimmicks. A balanced budget is important, because deficits lead to higher interest rates, which will kill growth as borrowing becomes more expensive. Ending the Bush tax cuts would bring in $3.3 trillion. As for job creation and economic stimulus, CBO saysextending the tax cuts would not give you much bang for the buck. We could spend some of the money saved from letting the tax cuts expire on true job-creating stimulus (which voters say they want more than tax cuts anyway). Money could better be used on aid for the states, extending unemployment insurance benefits, or creating tax credits that favor job creation.

Meanwhile, I wish that we could stop having this debate and start a real one over tax simplification, with lower rates and fewer loopholes.

Extend them temporarily: Higher taxes would kill consumer spending and probably the recovery. Raising the top rates might not kill the recovery, but that's not a certainty—and it certainly wouldn't help improve things. Plus, it is politically impossible with moderateDemocrats voting against only a partial extension. So, let the tax cuts stay, permanently, for everyone making under $250,000 and extend them temporarily for those in the highest bracket. Let's remember that lowering the rates for those making less than $250,000 benefits everyone, including the wealthy. And let's not buy into the small-business myth: Fewer than 2 percent of small businesses pay the higher rate for those making more than $250,000 (or $170,000 for individuals).

Meanwhile, I wish that we could stop having this debate and start a real one over tax simplification, with lower rates and fewer loopholes. To make this happen we should follow Kent Conrad's proposal for tying any extension of the tax cuts to fundamental reform. If reform isn't passed in 18 months, rates start to inch up or revert to the Clinton-era levels. When politicians can't find courage to act, they should write it into law.

Ok, but what if that super-tough abortion topic comes up?  NARAL has you covered there.

Given this particular political season, your relatives might have some questions about John Boehner, the incoming speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Uncle Marv might try to tell you that Boehner isn't focused on attacking choice. That's when you can jump in with the facts about Boehner's anti-choice agenda.
Since entering the House in 1991, Boehner has cast 142 votes on abortion and other reproductive-rights issues. All 142 were anti-choice! WhileBoehner's bad record on choice is miles long, most people just don't know that much about him yet. Now's the time to let your friends and family know about how the new Congress will attack a woman's right choose.


Still not sure what to say?  Maybe it's time to stop all political talk, and just ask your family to pass you the stuffing.

Family Research Council A Hate Group

posted by: Jessica Pieklo 

The Southern Poverty Law Center has always been a leader in fighting back against groups that espouse hate as a motivating and unifying philosophy.  So when it placed the Family Research Council, one of the most prominent voices in conservative social politics on its list of hate groups, the designation should cause Republicans to take pause as the FRC now finds itself sharing a dubious distinction with the likes of the Ku Klux Klan.

The designation was a result of an anti-gay speech from its leaders that included calls for gay men and lesbians to be imprisoned.  To be placed on the hate group list a group must have "beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics."

According to the SPLC, the main offender and what triggered the designation is the work of Peter Sprigg, the FRC's senior researcher and a vocal opponent of the gay rights movement.  In May Sprigg went on record saying that an end to Don't Ask Don't Tell would lead to more American servicemen receiving "unwelcome same-sex fellatio in their sleep" among other claims.

The FRC hosts the annual Values Voter Summit in Washington and the event is seen as a right of passage for any Republican presidential hopeful.  According to the SPLC the FRC is part of a growing list of anti-gay groups that mask themselves under the guise of conservatism or Christianity.  It also marks an important step of the SPLC placing attacks against gays and lesbians squarely in the same vein as white racism.

The designation will no doubt rankle many Republicans.  Some will dismiss the designation as a progressive smear campaign, but to do so will make reaching out to gay and lesbian Republicans very tricky.  It will also place an unwelcome spotlight on the rhetoric tossed around at the Values Voter Summit and really, for once, force national Republican leaders to confront the bigotry in their ranks.

On Release of Study 1 day early-NYTimes: No Time to Wait for Justice

It is only a day’s difference, but the Pentagon’s decision to release its report on gays in the military next Tuesday instead of Wednesday lends a significant sense of urgency to a Congressional vote on the verge of collapse. If there is any hope of repealing the military’s discriminatory “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, legislative action must begin immediately. Even an extra day can mean a great deal.

The incoming Republican leaders of the House have made it clear that allowing gay men and lesbians the justice of serving openly in the military is not a priority for them, meaning that the chances of repeal in the next Congress are very slim or none.

That vote, then, must take place in the current lame-duck session of Congress, where Democrats still predominate. The House has already approved repeal as an amendment to the overall defense bill, and Senate Democrats say they have lined up enough Republicans to get past the 60-vote threshold.

But those Republican votes are contingent upon having a full Senate floor debate on the defense bill for as long as two weeks, a setting where even a few recalcitrant Republican senators can create days of delaying mischief. To schedule a vote before time runs out, the process really needs to start next week.

First, though, senators need to have in hand the Pentagon report on the impact of repeal.Those familiar with the report say it will show that the effect would be minimal, and that most service members have no problem with gay and lesbian colleagues serving openly. The Pentagon has been working on this for months, and even though the conclusions will no longer be a surprise, the impact of the report will carry a great deal of weight.

Getting the report on Tuesday means that the Senate Armed Services Committee might be able to begin hearings on the issue next week. It also sends a message from the military to Congress that justice is a matter that cannot wait.

HIV epidemic 'halted', says UN

The number of new HIV infections and deaths from Aids are falling globally, according to new statistics from the UN's programme on HIV/Aids.

There are now signs the epidemic is declining, it says, however, stigma and discrimination continue to cause problems for the estimated 33m people living with HIV.

Last year there were 2.6m new HIV infections.

This is down almost 20% since the peak of the Aids epidemic in 1999.

In 2009, 1.8m died from Aids-related illnesses, down from 2.1m in 2004.

Mixed progress

The report says rates of treatment using anti-retroviral drugs have risen from 700,000 in 2004 to over 5m people in 2009.

Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected by the epidemic, with around 70% of all new HIV infections occurring here.

But infection rates are falling, particularly in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.

Click to play

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Michel Sidibe says the statistics show the spread of HIV has halted in some places

There is a mixed picture in other parts of the world.

Eastern Europe and central Asia show sharp rises in new infections and Aids-related deaths.

And the UN says bad laws and discrimination, particularly in respect to drug users and homosexuals, continue to hamper the fight against Aids.

"We are breaking the trajectory of the Aids epidemic with bold actions and smart choices," said Mr Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAids.

"Investments in the Aids response are paying off, but gains are fragile - the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."

bbc.co.uk/

Follow up: Apple approves ‘anti-gay’ iPhone app

Apple has approved an iPhone app which calls on users to sign up to a declaration against LGBT rights and gay marriage.

The app is based on the Manhattan Declaration, a manifesto released in 2009 by Christian and Catholic leaders which rails against the “erosion” of marriage.

Apple has given the app a 4+ rating, meaning that it contains “no objectionable content”.

The app asks users whether they agree with four statements on abortion and same-sex marriage and those who answer that they are pro-choice and pro-gay marriage are told that they are incorrect.

It also has links to read and sign up to the full declaration, which says that gay relationships are “immoral” and that same-sex marriages are equivalent to sanctioning incest.

The declaration says that signatories act out of “love and “concern for the comment good” rather than prejudice.

One US gay rights group is calling for people to sign a petition to ask Apple to remove the app.

Change.org said: “Apple, for their part, has given the app a rating of 4+. What does that means? According to their rating system, it means that the app contains ‘no objectionable material’. Say what?

“Because it sure seems like if you’re going to call same-sex relationships ‘immoral sexual partnerships’, or if you’re going to accuse gay people of ‘eroding marriage’,or if you say that gay people don’t deserve basic civil rights, that should at least fall into the category of ‘objectionable’.”

Apple could not be reached for comment and a return email said the company’s offices were closed for Thanksgiving.

by Jessica Geen

'A Large Proportion of Catholic Clerics and Trainee Priests Are Homosexual'

Photo Gallery: 3 Photos

DPA

David Berger, a gay theologian who has written a book about his experiences as a senior theologian in the Catholic Church, speaks to SPIEGEL about homophobia and the church's shift to the right.

SPIEGEL: Mr. Berger, you describe the Catholic Church as a homophobic organization. Why did it take you, a homosexual theologian, so long to resign from your offices in the church?

Berger: Because such an exit isn't a question of days. Even as a child I wanted to be a priest, but by the time I had finished high school it was clear to me that I would not be able to live a life of celibacy.

SPIEGEL: And you became a theologian anyway?

Berger: Yes, because the church never lost its attraction for me. The Tridentine Mass was like a gateway drug for me. When I was 17, I was with the Pius Brothers in Lower Bavaria. What I saw there was a fascinatingly aesthetic baroque dream of leaf gold and Brussels Bobbin lace. I couldn't get away from it. It only became clear to me later what I had got involved in, and the dream turned more and more into a nightmare.

SPIEGEL: Why?

Berger: Because my own life, my life with a partner, increasingly contradicted what was said and demanded in my church environment. Through my enthusiasm for the traditional mass and for conservative theology, I became increasingly involved with conservative Catholic networks of young aristocrats, industrialists and reputable academics. They utterly condemned homosexuality.

SPIEGEL: How did that manifest itself?

Berger: I kept having to listen to inhuman views. For example, Hitler was praised for having interned and murdered homosexuals in concentration camps. The point came when I couldn't remain silent any longer ...

SPIEGEL: ... after you and your career had profited for a long time from contact with these right-wing circles.

Berger: Ever since Pope Benedict XVI, at the latest, you have to be anti-modern to have a career in the Catholic Church. I criticized the relatively progressive theology and left-wing church policy of Karl Rahner. That is how people noticed me. Because I was an expert on the medieval thinker Thomas Aquinas, I was invited by almost all right-wing conservative groups to give lectures. I was in touch with the Sedevacantists, the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter, the Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, Una Voce, Opus Dei and the Servants of Jesus and Mary.

SPIEGEL: What went on at the meetings?

Berger: These groups are very careful about who they invite. They meet in very high-class venues, sometimes in former aristocratic residences or in luxury hotels. Old men smoke fat cigars, drink expensive red wine and eat well. It is a parallel world whose inhabitants seek to defy the modern world.

SPIEGEL: And what do they discuss?

Berger: They talk about a supposed Jewish global conspiracy or about how to keep emancipators, freemasons and gays out of the church. For many years, there were "gentlemen's evenings" in Düsseldorf that were organized by a tax consultant. They increasingly became a focal point for a right-wing Catholic network. At one of the meetings, which were regularly visited by senior clerics, the man sitting next to me, a retired university professor, was railing against the gay parades on Christopher Street Day (in Germany): "Instead of standing in a corner, being ashamed of themselves and just shutting up, they behave like pigs gone wild."

SPIEGEL: Why didn't you turn your back on the church at that point?

Berger: Many gays are attracted by the clear hierarchies of the male world of Catholic rituals. Among clerics I discovered extremely effeminate behavior of the sort I knew well from certain gay scenes. People give each other women's names and attach very high importance to clerical robes in all colors. Just think of the nicknames Bishop Walter Mixa (who recently stepped down amid accusations of violence and financial irregularities) and his housemaster friend gave each other: "Hasi," or "bunny," and "Monsi," short for monsignore.

SPIEGEL: Did you get the impression that your homosexuality may even have helped your career?

Berger: In clerical circles I kept getting shown through unmistakeable looks, hugs, stroking of my upper arms and excessively long handshakes that one didn't just appreciate my work a lot. The fact that many prelates had homosexual tendencies is certain to have made them more ready to help me get positions.

SPIEGEL: And these gentlemen weren't homophobic?

Berger: The contradiction between evident homosexual inclinations and homophobic statements is one way in which people in the church deal with their own, usually suppressed inclination.

SPIEGEL: You must explain that to us.

Berger: Evidently those who succumb to their desires are rejected particularly vehemently by those who painfully suppress such leanings in themselves. In the course of my own close cooperation with clerics, something I had long disavowed suddenly became clear to me: The fiercest homophobia in the Catholic Church comes from homophile clerics who desperately suppress their own sexuality.

http://www.spiegel.de/international

by

DAVID BERGER

Jim Carrey, Rodrigo Santoro Attend 'Phillip Morris' NY Premiere

PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Actors Jim Carrey and Rodrigo Santoro joined the real life Phillip Morris

 at the New York City premiere of the gay-themed film I Love You Phillip

 Morris, which opens nationwide on December 3.

Also at the Monday screening were directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa.

The film is based on the true story of Steven Russell (played by Carrey, 

Liar Liar) and his improbable transformation from small-town

 businessman, father and former cop to gay white-collar criminal and

 ingenious jailbreaker. While in prison, Russell falls in love with his

 cellmate Phillip Morris (played by Ewan McGregor, Star Wars). 

Thirty-five-year-old Brazilian hunk Santoro (Charlie's Angels: Full 

Throttle, 300) plays Jimmy, Russell's first boyfriend. (The film's trailer is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

The movie premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival in Utah. It has

 already been released in major markets around the globe and has reached

 DVD in some regions. But its U.S. premiere has been postponed four 

times since February.

In an appearance on CBS' the Late Show with David Letterman, Carrey 

ribbed Letterman for asking if he worried that playing a gay character 

would tarnish his leading man image.

BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF 

On 'Ellen DeGeneres,' Gay Teen Graeme Taylor Says Knowing Yourself Is 'Beautiful'

 
PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 24, 2010

Appearing Monday on the Ellen DeGeneres Show, gay 14-year-old

 Graeme Taylor says knowing yourself is “beautiful.”

Taylor attracted nationwide attention when he came to the defense 

of a school teacher suspended for booting an anti-gay student from his classroom.

Speaking to her guest, DeGeneres said she was amazed at the strength 

of Taylor's convictions.

“For you to be that confident and to be openly gay at this age is pretty 

amazing, and that you're so comfortable with yourself,” she said.

When Taylor responded, in a very matter-of-fact tone, “It takes time to get comfortable with yourself,” DeGeneres quickly interjected, “Yeah, I know.”

“I went through some very tough times learning to accept myself but once

 I did I just realized what a beautiful thing that is.”

Taylor went on to relive his first coming out experience at age 13.

“I walked into a closet and, without really thinking about it, as I left the 

closet I went 'Guys, I'm gay,'” he said. “I literally came out of the closet.”

 (The video is embedded in the right panel of this page.)

DeGeneres also presented Taylor with a $10,000 scholarship.

BY ON TOP MAGAZINE STAFF

First Ever Female Ca Attorney General: I'll 'Never' Defend Gay Marriage Ban Prop 8

 

PUBLISHED: NOVEMBER 24, 2010

San Francisco District Attorney General Kamala Harris has beaten her

 Republican rival to become California's next attorney general, the 

San Francisco Chroniclereported.

The narrow race dragged on for three weeks after the November 2 

election.

Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley declared victory on election 

night. But the race turned to Harris' favor as officials added in results from

 mail-in and provisional ballots. On Wednesday morning, Cooley 

conceded the race to Harris.

The candidates differed on whether to defend the state's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8, which Governor-elect Jerry Brown, as attorney general,

 declined to defend.

Cooley said he would defend the ban in court because the “proper

 role of an attorney general is to enforce and defend the will of the

 people as manifested through the initiative or legislative process.”

In a statement released on the day a federal judge ruled the law

 unconstitutional, Cooley said the ruling needed to be appealed.

“Today's decision by a federal judge overturning Proposition 8 should 

be appealed and tested at a higher level of our legal system,” Cooley 

said in a statement. “The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition

 8 by a 6 to 1 vote and declared it to be constitutional. Likewise, if the 

voters had approved an initiative legalizing same-sex marriage and

 a federal judge had ruled against it, I would also support an appeal 

of that decision.”

Saying that Cooley either “does not understand the law or he is

 deliberately misleading people about its content,” Tobias Wolff, a 

University of Pennsylvania Law School Professor, disagreed with the

 Los Angeles County district attorney.

“In that first round of legal challenges to Proposition 8, the California

 Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Prop 8 under 

any provision of the U.S. Constitution. It was asked to decide only one 

question — whether state law permits a ballot initiative to be used 

in putting the fundamental rights of a protected minority up for 

popular vote,” Wolff told the Courage Campaign, a gay rights group

 that has been closely monitoring the case.

Harris, who enjoyed the endorsement of Equality California (EQCA), 

the state's largest gay rights advocate, promised to “never defend the

 anti-LGBT Proposition 8 in federal court.”

Harris will become the state's first female attorney general.

BY CARLOS SANTOSCOY 

Brian Betts' Killer Gets 40-Year Sentence For Shooting Beloved Principal

Alante Saunders, the 19-year-old who was among four teens suspected in the April slaying of D.C. area middle school principal Brian Betts, received a 40-year prison term after pleading guilty earlier this month to felony murder charges. But was it a hate crime?

Prosecutors say there's no evidence of a hate crime, but Gloria Allred — the attorney who loves hearing herself talk, and is representing Betts' family — says Betts was shot to death because he is gay, and plans on demanding prosecutors treat the murder as a hate crime.

But does killing a man who happens to be gay, who you happened to have met through a gay sex line, mean you targeted the person because he's gay? Police initially suspected the slaying was a random robbery before tying more pieces together, none of which, apparently, indicate Betts was specifically hit because of his sexuality. Except the investigation did reveal Saunders was the one who set up Betts as a robbery target, exchanging messages that would eventually lead to Betts agreeing to leave his door unlocked so Saunders could come over. If Betts was targeted for robbery because he is gay, doesn't that count? And if the murder was "accidental," as Saunders claims, does that matter? It shouldn't; crimes committed during the course of other crimes (like killing a bank teller during a heist) are attached to the original motive, and prosecuted as such. Except John McCarthy, Montgomery County's prosecutor, insists the hate crime element doesn't apply. "If we had seen evidence of a hate crime, we would have charged it," he says. "And we have an advantage. We've seen the evidence. . . . You can only go where the evidence leads you."

During his sentencing, Saunders — whose attorney insisted the gun went off by accident — apologized to Betts' family and acknowledged a 40-year sentence might not be enough: "I didn't go there meaning to harm him in any way. And it was just over basically getting money for drugs. Drugs was the powerful force in this situation and I am very sorry. I understand how y'all feel about it's not really enough justice. Because I'd want more if I was in y'all's shoes too, say, if someone took my mom, because that's the most important person in my life." (The Washington Post reports, "Montgomery County Circuit Judge John Debelius imposed the sentence, but he was bound to the 40-year term by an earlier agreement between prosecutors and Saunders's attorney." Since when are judges "bound" by deals worked out by prosecutors?)

Saunder's co-suspect Sharif Lancaster, also 19 and whose girlfriend's phone Saunders used to make the calls, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to the far less serious charges of robbery and using a gun in a violent crime; he faces up to 35 years. The cases against Joel Johnson and Deontra Gray, both 19, have yet to conclude.

www.queerty.com