Prop 8 flak compares defeating gays to Hitler

I seriously wish I could live in California right now so I could vote against Prop 8, conceived by the scum of the Earth, all in the name of hate religion.

Yesterday at a rally in Sacramento, Brad Dacus, an official Prop 8 spokesperson (in the video above) went there, reasoning that defeating gays is like defeating Hitler. He is the President of the Pacific Justice Institute, a religious-right lawyers 501c3 organization.

Here is the transcript, courtesy of Crooks & Liars:

There was another time in history when people, when the bell tolled. And the question was whether or not they were going to hear it. The time was during Nazi Germany with Adolf Hitler. You see he brought crowds of clergy together to assure them that he was going to look after the church.

And one of the members, bold and courageous, Reverend Martin Niemöller, made his way to the front and (inaudible) said, "Hitler, we are not concerned about the church. Jesus Christ will take care of the church. We are concerned about the soul of Germany."

Embarrassed and chagrined, his peers quickly shuffled him to the back.

And as they did Adolf Hitler said, "The soul of Germany, you can leave that to me." And they did, and because they did bombs did not only fall upon the nation of Germany, but also upon the church and their testimony to this very day.

Let us not make that mistake folks. Let us hear the bell! Vote on Proposition 8!

What a despicable human being. Care to tell Brad just that yourself? Drop him an e-mail at: pji@pacificjustice.org, or call the organization at (916) 857-6900. Please, be courteous, but that aside, let the wonderful, warm-hearted folks at the Pacific Justice Institute just how you feel about their brand of hate.

Incidentally, there ought to be some sort of law that you cannot invoke Hitler and the Nazis during any political discussion. I'm sure there are instances where doing so is perfectly valid, but seriously, Hitler and the Nazis are quickly joining the
Titanic and We can send a man to the moon, but we can't _______ clichés.

By the way, Niemöller was the author of the famous First They Came... poem.

Dems pass Hate Crime Bill; W might veto

What a surprise...

Bush is threatening to get out his veto pen once again - this time for a bill that would expand the definition of federal hate crimes to include those against gays and gender-related offenses.

I'm not shocked, but no less angry that Bush would veto something like this. After all, he did propose amending the Constitution to define marriage as between a man and a woman. All in the name of religion. I'm working on a much larger piece about theology and its role in our government - I'll publish it over the weekend.

This is reason 1,001 why I vehemently distrust organized religion. Faith has always been a private thing to me - I don't like discussing it with people, for the most part, except close friends and family. I'm a Christian, and I believe in Jesus Christ, but I don't believe in pushing it on other people, but Bush and his cabal have made doing just that a matter of governmental policy.

Quite frankly, it's my belief that Jesus would view criminals who commit crimes against gays as infinitely more reprehensible than a gay person who lives a good life and respects people for their differences.

In the wake of the Matthew Shepard tragedy (which is nearly 10 years ago), I'd think we could make more progress than this. Instead, we have a president who's eager to veto legislation that would provide harsher penalties for such atrocious hate crimes.

I guess we'll have to wait for a Democratic president to get it done.

Below is a video about the Matthew Shepard Foundation, which is run by his mother. I'm getting one of these bracelets.

GOP voters: can we see the dessert menu?

I read a very interesting AP story this morning on HuffPo, and in so many words, it sums up what seems to be the prevailing mood among GOP voters: we aren't happy with what's on the menu.

The three alleged front runners (at one time or another) - Rudy Giuliani, varMint Romney and Judas John McCain, are all tanking, or under-performing, to say the least.

Is McCain guy dead in the water right now or what? He's had an embarrassing two weeks, to be kind. His comments before his trip to Baghdad (which in my mind brought about his trip to Iraq in the first place - click here for the embarrassing CNN exchange); his disastrous stroll through a Baghdad market with more security than President Bush; and his lackluster first quarter of fundraising - at $12.5 million.

One under reported aspect of his trip were the boot-licking sycophants that McCain had in tow. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told reporters "I bought five rugs for five bucks!" and Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, likened the scene in the Baghdad market to "a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime." Nice job, guys.

Of course, McCain is trying to put the best spin possible on his Iraqi trip. The beleaguered candidate will appear on 60 Minutes tonight, and according to excerpts released by CBS, McCain is a bit contrite, sort of.

"Of course I am going to misspeak, and I've done it on numerous occasions, and I probably will do it in the future," according to excerpts released by the network.

But McCain also says, according to excerpts, "I believe we can succeed." And he urges viewers to "support this new strategy, let's support this new general and let's give it everything we can to have it succeed."

I'm not buying it, and I really don't believe the American people will either, Senator. How can he still cling to this delusion that we can win in Iraq? It's ridiculous. Polls show that Americans want out now, but that doesn't seem to stop McCain. Unfortunately, the killing in Iraq doesn't stop, either, and it doesn't even seem to be slowing down across the country. Yes, Baghdad may be a little more safe now, but if you look at news reports coming in from around the country, things are worse, not better.

On Friday, a suicide bomber drove a truck loaded with TNT and toxic chlorine gas into a police checkpoint in western Ramadi, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens, police in the Anbar provincial capital said.

In the southernmost part of the country, the Basra police commander said the type of IED used to kill four British soldiers on Thursday had not been seen in the region previously.

The more things stay the same in Iraq, the more McCain's poll numbers will sink. He has no one to blame but himself - he's tied his candidacy to success in Iraq, and he's been unapologetic about it all along the way.

"My credibility gap is THIS BIG!" It seems that Romney is the latest version of the flip-flopping candidate, who is trying to be all things to all people, which can be a big turn-off to voters. His latest gaffe, answering questions about hunting as it related to gun control, was pretty entertaining. Every candidate will make errors and commit gaffes, on both sides of the political divide during this campaign, but historically he has shown a penchant for switching sides on issues when it's politically convenient. Roll the tape...



Like Rudy, the abortion issue will really hurt him with conservative voters.

"I'm fighting the next reporter who brings up Bernie Kerik!"

Rudy also faces an uphill fight on a number of issues in his battle to woo conservative voters, most notably his stance on gay rights and abortion (both of which I really like about him).

I just can't see conservatives voting for a guy who is pro-choice and pro-gay rights. I love Rudy's positions on these matters, but he has plenty of other problems that would prevent me from voting for him.

For instance, drop 9-11 and what has he done? I'm sorry, but I'm just not buying the whole "September 11" campaign. What's more, once you pick the scab of the feel-good 9-11 pics, you uncover a lot of puss. More on that in a separate post. Actually, I'll be writing about this a lot going forward.

At the top of my book stack is a book on Rudy, specifically about 9-11, that I'm going to read next. Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 should be a good read. I want to know if it's just another Swiftboating hit-job, or if the allegations of incompetence before, during and after 9-11 have merit. I'll be writing plenty more about this book in the weeks ahead.

When looking at the GOP's "Big 3," at first blush, there's a lot to like, considering their stances on some of the issues. Okay, scratch McCain - there's little to like about him. But, Rudy and Mitt do have their pluses; but not enough for me to vote for them - both have big credibility problems, in my book.

However, I'd much rather see Mitt or Rudy be the nominee over the likes of McCain, or heaven forbid, Newt Gingrich.

It makes no difference, though - '08 is a Democratic year.

Top Photo: AP/AFP via HuffPo; Second Photo: WSJ