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The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Last Thursday, the SC House of Representatives did something so wrong that words cannot convey how I feel about it:
The South Carolina House voted Thursday to cut all HIV/AIDS funding from the budget, a funding issue that could affect thousands of South Carolinians.
The South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force reports there are more than 14,000 people living in the state who have tested positive for HIV or AIDS. About 3,000 people rely on government funds for medications.
. . . Dr. Bambi Gaddist of the South Carolina HIV/AIDS Care Crisis Task Force says when state funding began in 2006, more than 600 people were on a waiting list for medicine. Four of those people died.
Currently South Carolina ranks 8th in newly diagnosed HIV cases and that is up from last year when it ranked number nine. And new infections are hitting young black and bisexual gay men at an ugly rate. But none of these things seem to be a matter of concern to the South Carolina Legislature.
We are now entering territory where thing aren't funny anymore. I sincerely doubt that The Daily Show can find anything funny about this dereliction of duty by South Carolina's government to its constituents.
Let's be honest here. The elimination of HIV funding is the culmination of piss poor management by South Carolina's governing body. And worse, it shows where the state's priorities are. It's an ugly indictment on the hypocrisy of the supposed Bible belt region.
It is written that Jesus healed the sick, but I guess things have changed to the point that those who claim to be his followers have no problems with ignoring the sick.
The governor and attorney general think they can revoke our rights without paying a price. They hope to step on our backs and take away our freedom for their personal political careers. If we allow them to proceed without disruption, paying no price for such actions and continuing with business as usual, then we can expect others to follow in their footsteps and we should get ready to find enjoyment in being second class citizens.
-- David Mixner, on the leadership in Virginia turning the civil rights clock back on higher public education institutions
Over at his blog Live From Hell's Kitchen, social justice activist David Mixner is outraged, like many of us, at the situation in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which has been taken over by the fringe bigotry of the right wing, led by Governor Bob McDonnell and his agent of legal discrimination, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Rarely have we ever seen such a systematic effort to re-establish discrimination against the LGBT community as official policy since the Republicans took over Virginia in the last election. If the new generation of activists created by Proposition 8 ever needed a target, this is it.
Not only does the AG's letter rescinding non-discrimination protections for LGBT employees raise the stakes for equal rights activism, this move effectively draws a fat red target on the backs of LGBT faculty and staff who felt it was safe to come out under the executive orders of former Govs. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine. Now they are out of the closet, completely exposed to any bigot with an ax to grind.
Mixner says this is probably just the beginning, with the next brazen step likely to be an effort in the state legislature to create a "Solomon" type amendment. This would slap back any campus that defies the letter's decree, cutting off funds to them.
This is a showdown. David suggests some specific action items:
-Our legal teams must immediately work with such institutions as the University of Virginia and other to take legal action against the Attorney General's actions.
-Alumni from any Virginia higher public education institution should mobilize and take action.
-Massive protests must take place at any university that rolls back those protections.
-Our best organizers from around the country must descend on Virginia and create the 'civil rights' movement that they have so energetically been proposing. They should even consider a 'one day strike' by students on Virginia campuses to protest the rules.
-A massive march on Richmond with our national organizations giving us their best and brightest to make this one a huge success. We should bring tens of thousands to Richmond to protest.
-Our brothers and sisters in the Log Cabin Republicans should organize a statement from other Republicans condemning these actions.
-Religious leaders across the state should sign a "State of Conscience" saying despite any personal views not protecting the civil rights of LGBT citizens is morally wrong.
-A National Statement of Conscience by our leading Nobel Prize winners, educators and professors should be created and signed by thousands urging people to avoid accepting offers to teach in Virginia.
-A National Statement of Conscience by Student Leaders from around the country should be signed urging students not to apply to Virginia schools until the policy is changed.
-The East Coast major cities such as Boston, Washington, DC, Baltimore and New York must mobilize resources, money and volunteers to help in such a "Virginia Campaign."
-Demand that Congress pass ENDA immediately to offer those who teach in Virginia protections and dignity that any citizen of this nation should have.
What do you think about these suggestions? Will we see some of our orgs jump into this fight? Personally, we need to research what companies that Virginia is trying to woo into its borders and put the word out that Commonwealth-sanctioned bigotry has just been implemented -- does the Chamber of Commerce endorse this? Is Virginia a 21st century growth environment with this move? There certainly aren't any stats to back up institutionalized discrimination by public or private entities against LGBTs is good for business. Hit the state where it hurts.
Granite Staters, be sure to attend your Town Meeting so you can vote for equality! Most are happening on Tuesday, March 9th. If only the anti-equality activists show up to vote, it'll send the erroneous message that New Hampshire opposes marriage equality. Here is what's at stake:
As of the beginning of this month, 734 of our fellow New Hampshire gay and lesbian friends, neighbors, and family members have been able to be married since the beginning of this year. That has been possible because of passage by our State Legislature of House Bill 436, which provides for marriage equality.
They have been allowed to make legal commitments to share their love and caring for one another as couples. What a wonderful gift to them all. Their commitments as couples to their loved ones makes our state, and the institution of marriage and all that it represents, even stronger.
On Town Meeting Day this Tuesday, a number of communities have warrant questions on their ballots about marriage equality. The wording of the question in most towns considering this matter sounds "innocent" enough: "The citizens of New Hampshire should be allowed to vote on an amendment to the New Hampshire Constitution that defines 'marriage.'"
We should not vote to write discrimination into our Constitution. It is a document that provides for governmental structure and for guarantees of our citizen rights, not for discrimination. I urge the good people of our towns to vote "no" on the question. I hope readers of BlueHampshire.com will go to their town meetings and speak out in opposition.
This whole warrant article business is a ploy by a small group of republicans hoping to increase their name recognition by trying to make marriage equality a wedge issue in November. The warrants are advisory only and don't have any legal effect, but if they pass they will bolster the efforts of marriage equality opponents in the legislature by creating the illusion that marriage inequality is a priority for most Granite Staters.
According to the Union Leader, 133 of the New Hampshire's 221 towns will vote on this warrant on Tuesday. During earlier deliberative sessions, 15 towns demonstrated their commitment to marriage equality by amending their proposed anti-equality warrants, rendering them meaningless. This is an excellent sign of the pro-equality mood in the state, but again, if people don't show up to their Town Meeting and stick around long enough to vote "no" on the warrant, a different message will be sent.
"As Roman Catholics, we differentiate between sacramental marriage and civil marriage. Therefore, we perceive that same-sex civil marriage poses no threat to our Church. While we respect the authority and integrity of the Church in matters of faith, our prayers and discernment have brought us to a new openness on this issue. We do not ask the Church to perform same-sex marriages. We do implore the Church to honor the States’ prerogative to authorize civil marriages for our gay and lesbian family and friends."
This is exactly the messaging that is needed to counteract the hateful, bigoted and ignorant behavior of the leadership of the Catholic Church, which has taken a hardline stance that is arguably more damaging to the civil rights of LGBTs than the Mormon Church (there are 5.5 million in the U.S.).
With 70 million Catholics in the U.S. (representing 24% of the overall US population), and still-full coffers despite millions, if not upwards of a billion dollars in payouts as a result of its criminal pedophile priest protection enterprise, the Church has forged partnerships with fundamentalist churches and anti-gay causes.
There has not been an equally massive organized pro-LGBT Catholic opposition to the messaging and actions of Benedict's machine, but Catholics for Marriage Equality (C4ME) has launched a web site that hopes to bring faithful members of the flock together to challenge the incessant conflation of church and state that has been used to abandon the Church's long record social justice when it comes to the rights LGBT Americans.
It’s time to dispel the notion the incessant bigotry being brazenly perpetrated by church hierarchy goes unchallenged by others in the flock.
The Catholics for Marriage Equality Declaration
As faithful Roman Catholics we believe that the constitutional right to practice freedom of religion is based on respect for the dignity of each individual.
The American principle of the separation of Church and State was enshrined in the Constitution to ensure that no particular religious perspective would be imposed on our pluralistic society.
Catholic teaching on social justice has been central to the building of a just society, creating awareness of diversity in the human family, calling us to lives of respect, not simply tolerance, for one another.
We remember that Roman Catholics were once denied civil rights, treated with suspicion, ridiculed because of our sacred rituals, and questioned as to our allegiance to “foreign authorities.” Memory challenges us to remain vigilant whenever bigotry and injustice enters into public discourse.
Same-sex civil marriage does not in any way coerce any religious faith or tradition to change its beliefs or doctrine or alter its traditional marriage practices.
We know that God is a most gracious and wonderful Creator. Many of us have gay and lesbian relatives and friends.
As Roman Catholics, we differentiate between sacramental marriage and civil marriage.
"I am gay. Those are the words that have been so difficult for me for so long. It is something that is personal, and I don't believe I felt with my heart that being gay would affect how I do my job."
-- California State Sen. Roy Ashburn (R-Bakersfield)
This is the funniest and most pathetic story of the day. I think Roy forgot that the news broke last week, and a whole lot of people already knew.
That said, his official coming out on a Bakersfield radio show reveals that he's still unapologetically politically homophobic, reassuring his Bakersfield constituents he's not like those radical nasty gays who want civil rights, I presume. (GayPolitics):
Radio talk show host Inga Barks wanted assurances that Ashburn would continue to vote in a conservative manner on LGBT rights issues. Ashburn responded, "I believe firmly that my responsibility is to my constituents. I will take a careful look at each measure and apply that standard. How would they vote on this? How would they want me to vote on this," adding that most people understood what that means.
"I don't know how else to ask this, but are you going to live this lifestyle now in the district?" Barks asked. Ashburn, who announced he is not running for public office again, said, "I pray to God I can find peace. I want to go back to the senate and work hard for the people of my district...Now you know everything about me."
"No person shall be admitted as a student in any Catholic school unless that person and his/her parent(s) subscribe to the school's philosophy and agree to abide by the educational policies and regulations of the school and Archdiocese. Homosexual couples living together as a couple are in disaccord with Catholic teaching... "Parents living in open discord with Catholic teaching in areas of faith and morals unfortunately choose by their actions to disqualify their children from enrollment."
-- statements made by the Archdiocese of Denver. Archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette R. De Melo didn't return calls or e-mails inquiring whether students whose parents are divorced, non-Catholic or used fertility medication also are not allowed to attend the preschool.
And the church and school, Sacred Heart of Jesus preschool in Boulder, have the constitutional right to do this -- they have the religious freedom to discriminate against an innocent child. Parents are outraged and starting a petition against this decision.
"I grew up Catholic in a strong Catholic family with six kids, and I'm just deeply, deeply disappointed by the decision of Sacred Heart," she said.
Another protestor said she believes barring the student goes against the teachings of the Bible.
"I have a daughter that goes to school at Sacred Heart," Colleen Scanlan Lyons said. "I've had 16 years of Catholic education, and this just reached the core of my being as completely wrong and against the teachings of Jesus."
Some parents are considering taking a full-page ad out in a local paper to blast the Archdiocese's decision. Others say they might pull their kids from Sacred Heart school.
Inside the church, Father Bill Breslin explained his decision to his congregation. While he didn't want to speak to reporters, he encouraged people to visit his blog to learn about why he decided bar the student.
On his blog, Breslin said, "This past week we implemented a policy that has been the most difficult decision of my life." Breslin also said he "chose to protect the faith over doing what would have looked like the loving thing to do."
"These actions by the Denver Archdiocese harm the student by taking the child away from friends, teachers and community," said Jarrett Barrios, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). "It's deeply troubling to see any school remove a child from their educational program simply as the means of rejecting that child's parents."
GLAAD is in close contact with local advocates who are on the ground in Boulder working to help community members organize around this situation. GLAAD will also continue to conduct outreach to local and national media to spotlight this story and raise awareness of the harms faced by LGBT families.
"[Friday] night, in conjunction with Wesley Chapel, Boulder Pride held a community forum about the situation, to provide people a space to talk about their feelings and plan action going forward. We have heard loud and clear from the LGBTQ community, as well as from allies, that this situation has stirred feelings of anger, pain and frustration," wrote Boulder Pride's Board President, Dave Ensign and Executive Director, AicilaLewis. "While this situation has been incredibly difficult and reminded us all of vital work that remains to be done, it also has highlighted our strengths as a community. We are grateful to live in Boulder County with engaged, passionate community members like you."
As Boulder community leaders continue to help constituents deal with the hurt caused by this decision, GLAAD calls on the nation's media to elevate the story to larger platforms and show the American public the concrete harms facing the children of gay and lesbian parents across the country. "The media has a responsibility to spotlight how this type of exclusion damages families and creates roadblocks to children's future achievements," said Barrios.
Just when you think Karl Rove would stay away from a camera, Turdblossom lands on the Today Show to drop a few gems.
Rove: I don't think my father was gay
In an exclusive interview, former Bush advisor Karl Rove tells TODAY's Matt Lauer that he never discussed sexuality with his adopted father and that he is not convinced that homosexuality was the reason for his adoptive mother's suicide.
And he incredibly, he tries to rewrite history with more damn lies. He knows perfectly well that if you repeat lies in media over and over, way too many Americans will take it as the truth. Well if negative campaigning doesn't work, why was he the king of that crap?Rove talks fear and smear
In an exclusive interview with TODAY's Matt Lauer, Republican strategist Karl Rove discusses and defends tactics used during his tenure as an adviser to President Bush, saying the American public is not misled by negative campaigning.
Friends of Lisa Miller say they don't know where she and her seven-year-old daughter are, but they say they support her decision to leave.
A Vermont court ordered Miller's ex-partner Janet Jenkins custody of their daughter in May, and now it's been six months since Miller's friends say they've had any contact with her.
It was January 1 when Linda Wall said she knew for sure her friend Miller and her seven-year-old daughter Isabella had gone into hiding.
"Unbeknowing to any of us... she was doing something behind the scene," Wall said.
She says about two years ago, she began talking to Lisa Miller about what would happen, if she was ordered to give up custody of Isabella. "Just knowing Virginia law wasn't going to defend her."
That school year Miller taught at Liberty Christian Academy. Wall says, while offers came in from as far away as Israel to hide Miller and Isabella, friends say Thomas Road Baptist church didn't play a part.
"I am supposed to be the number one suspect because I was so involved in this and I don't know where she is," Wall said.
The last time Wall says she had contact with Miller was in late September. Up to that point, she believes Miller was working behind the scenes on her escape. It's a decision they support.
"I do support what she's done," Wall said. "When the law is wrong, what's a person to do?"
Likening the situation to the underground railroad during slavery, "Was it Harriet Tubman who risked her life for the underground railroad for the black community? Maybe I am committed to this for the children I might be that one voice."
BRISTOL, Va. - Nineteen-year-old Keshia Canter handed three burgers, fries and milkshakes to a car-load of Tuesday afternoon customers at the Hi-Lo Burger's drive-though window. A lady sitting in the backseat leaned forward, between the two men in front, and handed her a leaflet: "Women & Girls" it said across the top.
"Even though nothing is showing, you're being ungodly," Canter recalled the woman telling her. "You make men want to be sinful."
Keshia Canter was then handed a pamphlet by the woman.
"You may have been given this leaflet because of the way you are dressed," it begins. "Have you thought about standing before the true and living God to be judged?"
It continues with one essential theme: The sins of men are, in part, the fault of women, specifically women in tight-fitting clothing. Yates was annoyed. Then she got to a section on page two:
"Scripture tells us that when a man looks on a woman to lust for her he has already committed adultery in his heart. If you are dressed in a way that tempts a men to do this secret (or not so secret) sin, you are a participant in the sin," the leaflet states. "By the way, some rape victims would not have been raped if they had dressed properly. So can we really say they were innocent victims?"
A broad coalition of pro-family groups recommends that parents keep their children home on the deceptive, pro-homosexual "Day of Silence," to be observed this year on April 16, 2010, but one "gay"-affirming counselor started what he calls the "Golden Rule Pledge" instead.
Yet, the "Golden Rule Pledge" actually functions as a disinformation tool and a divisive wedge in schools and among Christians. It is insidiously misleading and would bring harm to kids. It grieves me to take this position, but there's no choice, because lives are at stake.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a self-labeled "christian" counselor at Grove City College [contact GCC HERE], has indicated on a radio show he does not object to homosexuality when a person feels comfort with the lifestyle. My concern is that he may be communicating this to youth and college students whom he counsels, because his "Golden Rule" project takes a stand tolerant of this destructive and sinful behavior by encouraging student "respect."
...This is completely upside down. Throckmorton doesn't get it, or doesn't want to get it, or loves the approval of "gay" and "transgendered" blogs and activists, or he has an as-yet-undisclosed motive. [Editor's note: Americans For Truth has asked Throckmorton for his views on "same-sex marriage," "civil unions," homosexual "special rights" ("sexual orientation") laws, etc., but he has not answered our queries.]
This is not Christian and is a heretical use of the Golden Rule.
Please join me in praying for Warren Throckmorton, for his repentance, and also for his duplicitous dealings to be revealed so no further harm is done to our precious and impressionable kids...
See, this is why we call folk like Peter LaBarbera and Linda Harvey "haters" -- for them, following the concept of love in the golden rule is subject to whether or not they approve of the others. You know, the others of which their own scriptures say this of: "Treat others the same way you want them to treat you."
To quote Tina Turner: "What's love got to do with it?"
The story comes out of Maine, with a state proposal that would grant boys claiming to be female the right to use the aforementioned girls' facilities. It may even give such boys the right to compete on girls' sports teams.
...Why has the word "gender" been redefined? A major reason involves, no doubt, an effort to legitimize homosexuality. After all, if you want to normalize something, it helps to lump it in with that which is normal. But you couldn't very well convince people that homosexuality was a third sex, as it is already cemented in people's minds that there are only two sexes. But, gender, now, that's a different story. Remember, the dictionary definition stated that it referred to multiple categories, such as masculine, feminine, and neuter. All you had to do was apply it to people.
We should completely reject the concept of gender. And we can start by saving the word for grammar. Remember, the side that defines the vocabulary of a debate, wins the debate. You cannot combat an agenda if you use its language.
The comment I left for the article:
Then, in accordance with your last paragraphs, I will continue using the terms and phrases related to gender and gender identity.
Former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is opening a consignment store in West Palm Beach about four years after he resigned from Congress following a lurid scandal.
Foley says Celebrity Consignment sells items from furniture to chandeliers to paintings. Much of the shop is filled with Foley's belongings from his former Washington home.
...Foley says he hasn't completely ruled out another run for public office.
Of course he hasn't.
• Our Wiener Story Of The Day: Minneapolis Star Tribune's We'll have a wiener once Twins reveal new hot dog today; The Hormel Dome Dog is out, and today the Twins unveil the replacement that will be sold at the new Target Field:
Once the Minnesota Twins announce Monday their new brand of hot dog to be sold at the yet-to-be-inaugurated Target Field, fans can then focus all of their attention on when the team will announce a new contract with Joe Mauer.
The Twins said late last month that Dome Dogs, made by Austin-based Hormel, were going the way of the Metrodome. Late Monday morning, Twins officials will reveal whose hot dog will be sold by the hundreds of thousands at the new stadium.
Of the 1.1 million sausages sold at Twins games last year, nearly 400,000 were Dome Dogs, more than any other single sausage product...
So anywho...It's an open thread! What are you thinking about today, or what books or articles have you been reading the past few days? Wanna share?
And again, please feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread because...it's an open thread! Woo-hoo!
I'd like to interrupt my regularly scheduled deconstruction of religious right lies for a moment to talk about this situation which has been on my mind for a few days. Please indulge me.
Recently, Fox News pundit, the perpetually inaccurate Bill Kristol admitted that he didn’t watch President Obama’s healthcare summit with Republicans claiming that “he has a life.”
However, this didn’t preclude him from giving his opinion in regards to the effectiveness of the summit.
And none of his colleagues had the temerity to ask “if you didn’t watch the summit, then how can you comment on it?” Rather they took what I thought to be an egregious error in journalistic etiquette in stride.
This little observed incident just brings into focus the fact that while all of the rage seems to be giving hell to Washington politicians, the Washington media is escaping a much deserved scathing.
Every time I switch (very briefly) to cable news, I can’t help thinking that true journalism is dead. Or to turn a phrase in order to better emphasize my point, the Washington media is slowly being tortured to death due by a constant immersion into a self-sustaining cesspool populated by think-tank sycophants and trust fund babies so secure in their jobs that they don’t even attempt to have the decency to disguise the brand of phony goods they are trying to sell to the American people
And let's not forget the self-important newscasters who rarely call out either of these groups on their deceptions.
The problem is not all of these folks have something to say about the state of affairs in Washington but the fact that all of them seem to have an “angle” and nothing remotely looking like the truth is contained in that angle.
I was taking a deposition this morning, early, from an Orthodox prelate at least tangentially involved in the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia.
"We cannot both exist. What is freedom to us offends them(Muslims) and what is freedom to them offends us. Ours is the way of God and Christ. They must be eliminated or we can have no freedom to be Christian"
He had no shame; he spoke and expounded without any thought that he could possibly be in the wrong.
His testimony was the best example and most honest exposition of the literallist Christian viewpoint towards dissent that I have likely ever heard.
He was unfailingly polite, spoke flawless German in addition to his native tongue,nodded each time that he referred to me directly as Freiin, and would have been a courtly, pleasant prelate in any dinner discussion. Except that he was discussing the rationale of a genocide through those smiling lips and with that dulcet toned diction.
They, in the end, do not believe that they can co-exist with us. They intend to destroy us.
Air Force Reserve Maj. Margaret Witt has always been a personal hero of mine. She is an operating room nurse, and a decorated flight nurse. In 2003 she was awarded the Air Medal for her support to combat operations evacuating wounded troops. She was awarded the Air Force Commendation Medal for saving a Department of Defense civilian. She was featured in an Air Force brochure recruiting nurses in 1993. She was the perfect Air Force officer.
She's also a casualty of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
Maj. Witt was never asked, and she never told. Her outing was every LGBT servicemember's nightmare. Maj. Witt and her civilian partner of six years lived quietly in their home, 250 miles from McChord AFB, where Maj. Witt was a Reservist with the 446th Aeromedical Evacuation Squadron. In 2004, their neighbor called base authorities and said that there were two lesbians living near her, that one of them was in the Air Force, and she thought the Air Force should know that. The investigation began. Maj Witt was suspended from the service only two years short of retirement with full pension and veteran's benefits. In March 2006 she was given her final discharge papers. At the time of her dismissal, the Air Force was in need of 121 flight nurses.
Maj. Witt fought back. On April 12, 2006, represented by the ACLU, she sued the Department of the Air Force and then-SECDEF Rumsfeld over her discharge in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. The most recent ruling in her case may change the discourse of DADT, and possibly all LGBT civil rights.
As someone who isn't watching tonight and hasn't seen any of the nominees for Best Picture (when do I have time to go to the movies anymore), it's hard to get excited this year, but I know many of you out there will probably want to dish and gab, so feel free to do so in this thread...
Bill James and I have a sort of digital love/hate thing going on, because I've been blogging about his anti-gay, frequently race-baiting activities as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioner for years. While the Charlotte area has made some progress on LGBT issues, no thanks to him. Last December his fellow County Commissioners approved same-sex domestic partner benefits in a 6-3 vote.
One of the disturbing things about James is that his views are so far over the edge that you can't believe he hasn't been toppled from office, yet this is what he just wrote me this evening.
From: William James <meckcommish@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Mar 6, 2010 at 8:59 PM
Subject: another 2 years
To: tips@phblend.net I see BJames got re-elected again. No D or R opponent........
He's crowing again that no one in District 6 (the southeast county region) dared run against him. I think that's revealing a bit more about his constituents than we'd like to know. Guess those folks don't get out much. He's been re-elected in this manner over and over again, so they think he's doing something right. What exactly, I don't know.
I had no doubt you'd return to your seat unopposed. After all, who would be left to represent the far-right wing of CharMeck politics?
I look forward to seeing you send out fresh gay-obsessed and color-aroused missives and statements to the press in the future. We'll be happy to run them on the Blend. In fact, I offer you an invitation to participate in a live blog at my blog to take questions from my readers to explain the rationale behind your point of view. :)
--Pam Spaulding
You think he has the guts to participate in a coffeehouse discussion? Anyway, here's to Bill James, a man losing the culture war who's going to go down swinging. Here's a classic from the man:
From: Commissioner Bill James
To: =emails deleted=
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2005 8:56 AM
Subject: Perversity is not diversity
You really think that a pool of people (homosexuals) where 45% of them eat feces from the rear end of another male is "normal"? If you do, you are frankly nuts.
A lifestyle where one of their past times is buying gerbils and hamsters from the pet store and cramming them up their rears in an activity called feltching? A group of people who like to urinate on their partners and call them "golden showers"? Where one of the honored members of the Gay Alliance is an organization called the "Man-Boy Love Association" that promotes sex with underage boys?
That behavior is worthy of protection? That behavior is worthy to be taught in our schools? to our children? You are one sick "Independent, white, married-heterosexual, presbyterian" if you do.
The stat's below are unimpeachable. I intend on talking about each and every one of these "behaviors" if this sorted subject comes up. I am lining up speakers including Doctors and Nurses to talk about these in gruesome detail. And these are the behaviors that Parks Helms wants to "insure"?
Attached is a wav file with a Charlotte news account of one of those "feltching" accounts gone wrong. I will play it from the BOCC dais if this comes up.
Just a few weeks ago, the likelihood of Congress and the White House tackling comprehensive immigration reform seemed to be in question. Following the defeat of a Democratic candidate in the Massachusetts Senate election, and growing doubts about a successful healthcare reform effort in both chambers, the prospects for a truly comprehensive reform effort that would fix our country's broken immigration system was called into question by many.
Now, however, there is renewed energy and focus on the issue. And that, in turn, must be a wake-up call, and a rallying cry, for the LGBT community, too.
Yesterday, both the Los Angeles Times and Associated Press reported that President Obama had called two key lawmakers - Senators Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) - to the White House to discuss moving immigration reform forward. The Times also noted that Obama has begun conversations with Administration staff about the best path forward for the legislation, which Obama pledged during his campaign would be a major piece of his first-term agenda.
"Obama took up the issue privately with his staff Monday," The Times reported, "in a bid to advance a bill through Congress before lawmakers become too distracted by approaching midterm elections."
A White House spokesperson characterized the President's commitment to the issue as "unwavering."
The governor and attorney general think they can revoke our rights without paying a price. They hope to step on our backs and take away our freedom for their personal political careers. If we allow them to proceed without disruption, paying no price for such actions and continuing with business as usual, then we can expect others to follow in their footsteps and we should get ready to find enjoyment in being second class citizens.
This is a showdown. David suggests some specific action items:
Bill James and I have a sort of digital love/hate thing going on, because I've been blogging about his anti-gay, frequently race-baiting activities as a Charlotte-Mecklenburg County Commissioner 
