Rehberg Can’t Even Make A Veiled Threat

by D Gregory Smith

It’s arrogant, overt- and dangerous. From Cowgirl:

It has been one month since six people where gunned down and killed in Tuscon including Federal Judge John Roll and while Cong. Gabby Gifford recovers in a rehab facility, her colleague  Republican Congressman Denny Rehberg of Montana takes this whole civility thing I think to a new low, a new level.
In a prepared speech to the Montana Legilsature, a prespare speech Rehberg questions a federal judges decision to put the gray wolf on the endangered species list.
(Rehberg)“When I first heart this decision like many of you, I wanted to take action immediately.
I asked ‘How can we put some of these judicial activists on the endangered species act.’
Im still working on that.”
[loud laughter from GOP legislators]

Read the rest and see the video here.

Now a YouTube video: 

MT Legislator Janna Taylor Fears Blowdart-brandishing HIV+ Inmates

by D Gregory Smith

This has got to be seen to be believed.

Via Intelligent Discontent, one ignorant legislator’s fear-mongering and ignorance about HIV:

Just to be clear she is WRONG.
HIV is a very fragile virus that dies within seconds outside the body. It is only spread by blood, semen, vaginal fluid and breast milk- and there has to be enough virus to enter the bloodstream- it cannot penetrate healthy skin. An excellent resource is here.

On second thought, why don’t we all mail her the link?
Her email: jannataylor@montana.com
And if you’d like to call to register your displeasure at her shameless behavior, 406-849-6096

Update: My letter:

Dear Ms Taylor,

The information you casually threw out on the floor of the Senate today regarding HIV is completely and utterly wrong.
HIV could not be transmitted that way, and it is irresponsible of you to further that ignorant myth.
Some excellent information about HIV transmission is here if you’d care to read it: http://www.thebody.com/content/art30024.html
As an HIV educator and as an HIV+ person, I find your words ridiculous and reprehensible- and I believe you owe the people of Montana an apology.
Sincerely,
D Gregory Smith

Totally feel free to copy, embellish, etc.

 

Tired of the Montana Legislature?

by D Gregory Smith

So am I.
I’m waiting for them to outlaw the internet.

But if you want some hope-renewing perspective, Matt Singer has it. Excerpt:

There’s a really funny dynamic setting up in Helena that can be seen from afar (a 30,000 foot perspective really can be useful at times). The tea party Republicans, having run and won on a platform of limited government and economic development, are largely dedicating themselves toinvasions of personal freedom and the advancement of pre-Civil War legal theories. That’s when they’re not undertaking full-fledged assaults on the U.S. Constitution.

Full heartwarming story here -and explanation of the graphic.
I heart Matt Singer.

And, of course, Cowgirl’s stirring the shit as always. I heart her, too.

 

Wherein I Become A Twit

by D Gregory Smith

Yes. It’s true. I joined The Twitter.

There are way too many easy jokes to make about it- especially the amount of uncouth words containing “t” “w” and, again, “t”.

Not to mention the fun with vowels.

We’ll see. If there are any experienced Twits out there, I would appreciate the help….

When Was The Last Time A Christian’s House Was Burned Down?

by D Gregory Smith

I know. Provocative question.

But I can’t help asking it when I see stories of deliberate arson evicting LGBT’s from the safety of their homes. I also ask the question (appropriately modified) when I see ant-queer graffiti, read about harassment and beatings involving people who are too much like me to make me feel beyond it.

This house, owned by a gay couple in Clayton, North Carolina was destroyed early Friday morning. The story is here.

There was a history of anti-gay messages, graffiti, harassment and vandalism before the blaze. The couple is not identified for “fear of their safety”. The neighbor who talked to the reporter also did so only anonymously. We are afraid.

And the Christianists call us a threat- among other nasty things.

So for the purposes of argument I will ask the following questions to those who believe equality only applies to white, heterosexual, cis-gendered, procreating, (&etc) Christians:

  • When was the last time a group of LGBTIQ persons beat up a straight person?
  • When did Graffiti with the word “Breeders” adorn the house of a straight family?
  • When did a gay terrorist group burn down a Christian house just because they were Christian?
  • When did an LGBT Pastor make the news for slandering and approving of violence against straights?
  • Etc, etc.

But the reverse? Happens all the time. And we take it. Mostly, we do.

Fucked, ain’t it?

And I can’t help but feeling if we don’t get our act together and start acting like a community instead of picking little fights all over the place, squabbling over minutiae that, in the final analysis makes little difference (check the comments section of any LGBT blog), it’s going to continue to get worse.

I am not advocating that we become terrorists, or engage in any similar behavior, only that we be radically truthful. Self-defensive, if you will.

I know. Go ahead. That’s what the comments section is for.

“Wiggling Around In Excrement”

by D Gregory Smith

From Cowgirl:

Whoa! Remember the New Hampshire Legislator-turned-lobbyist that Rep. Greg Hinkle is barnstorming the state with to help stop seniors from making their own end-of-life decisions? Turns out she is a crazy homophobe, as is evident from this video. Montanans don’t want people prying into their personal lives and decisions, peeping through our windows, and rummaging through our trash.

Click for the video. It’s crazy. And please note, I made no heterophobic remarks about wiggling around in anything else….

Here’s Me

by D Gregory Smith

Here’s me,
With all the things that don’t look to match,
Glaring socks- red, purple, black, yellow, blue.
Wanting to find the mate,
But whatever keeps the feet warm, right?

Inside it’s all the same anyway-
But they wouldn’t like it if
We all knew that all the differences
Are created and maintained by
People who make money on difference.

The outside gets to be the billboard
Or the post-it. You decide, you know.
Whether to believe the voices and the texts
And the strange rustling of yourself
Under the sheets of paper and old, torn cotton.

That wind is blowing again, from the south
This time, bringing a smell of old cannons
And resentment for my freedom from those
Leaves of words that have been worked into
The rat-tailed chains prisoners don’t even try to lift.

But I have the idea that it’s all paper and
Mismatched socks, and thoughts and
Sometimes hearts that have been twisted
through disappointment and fear to give
up ever beating for any other, and so can’t love.

Here’s me, and maybe you. Just maybe,
Untangling and untwisting and looking hard
At words and things and noises that are the lights
Of some contrary star. Wreckage ahead,
Not home. Avoided, maybe. Again.

And those cold, cold feet get to keep watch,
Because I can’t have socks telling me
What to do all the time. I only need
One hat, though, and one map, beating-
And one soul. Quiet and strong and warm.

~D Gregory Smith

Follow-up On “Daphne’s” Mom

by D Gregory Smith

Remember the kid whose mom let him dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo for Halloween?

Her Pastor’s thrown her out. I couldn’t believe it either. Read it here.

Strong Words

by D Gregory Smith

Excellent (and short) homily. Wish I’d given it. Read it here.

 

Scott Lively’s Delusions Continue

by D Gregory Smith

Pastor(?) Scott Lively’s self-loathing-fueled rants against LGBT persons continues with him minimizing the role of hate in the murder of David Kato in Uganda and, more incredibly still, inflating the fears of God-fearing people with histrionic inducing rhetoric. To wit:

There is indeed evil in Uganda today, but it is not the reaction of Christian and Moslem citizens to the rape of their culture. It is the pink-gloved hand of western powers that are cutting the throat of Africa’s most God-fearing country, and one of the world‘s most promising Christian democracies.

…The murderers are the lavender Marxists, the now-global network of sexual revolutionaries bent on remaking the entire world in their own perverted image, whose juggernaut has toppled even once mighty Britain, crushing under their lavender boots after eight centuries the symbol of its Christian power: the Magna Charta, whose first principle had proclaimed “The English church must be free!” These revolutionists of Sodom, who march triumphantly through all the major cities of the western world to flaunt their defeat of moral law, and who hold both Hollywood and the heart of America’s president in their iron grip: These very same zealots have fixed their malevolent gaze on Christian Uganda.

Disgusting. He is a terrorist, plain and simple.
He is promoting terror and fear- and through it, violence in the name of the Gospel- and most of us know that the Jesus of scripture would never countenance this.

Hold your nose and read the rest here.
And then tell everyone you know about this ignorant bigot- who in my opinion is no different than any other radical fundamentalist advocating violence….

Oh, and Mr Lively- if you’re reading this, I have one thing to say to you: You have blood on your hands.

Update: Kathy Baldock’s response here.