Obama's Open Letter to the LGBT Community

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Some of us with a little mileage on us bitterly remember how readily politicians say one thing and conveniently do another thing after being elected. Especially regarding gay rights.

When campaigning before his successful election in 1991, California Governor Pete Wilson garnered a lot of attention from his pledge to support a broad-reaching gay rights bill. He was widely lauded in the gay and progressive press for his courageous stance.

However, after his election, when it came time to "put the pedal to the metal," he VETOED the bill.

I clearly remember that evening in 1991 when I was in West Hollywood attending a meeting, when news came out that Governor Wilson had reneged on his campaign promise.

An impromptu but, thankfully, civilized protest broke out in West Hollywood. People were literally standing out on the sidewalk bawling bitter tears of rejection and abandonment; others were bellowing their frustration and outrage. Gays and lesbians began marching down the sidewalk chanting protests. Which all got about 10 seconds of air time on the nightly news, of course, and then it was blithely forgotten by the public and the mass media who moved on to other issues.

Frankly, I smell the same scent in the wind with Obama and all his promises to support gay rights.

A politician is a politician is a politician.
 
A politician is a politician is...

I lived in San Francisco at the beginning of the Aids epidemic, I lost nearly everyone I knew to the disease. I don't need a lecture on how politicians are, I need a clear plan to prevent four more years of what we have gone through since 2000.
The luxury of turning up one's nose and sneering at politics and politicians is how the world ended up with the current mess.
I submit that we no longer enjoy this luxury.
We aren't voting for somebody, we are voting against a really bad group of people. Principles and high values are wonderful, but while some of us rest upon them, the christianists are out voting.
Hold your nose when you vote, if you must, but remember: The wingnuts and whackjobs always vote. If the last seven years have taught us anything, it is that there is a difference.
 
Panthera

Though I may not agree with your point of view, I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'm also curious. You list your homes as Colorado and Germany. Are you a U.S. citizen and are you eligible to vote here in the U.S.?
 
Mike,

I'm curious as to where we disagree - do write more, please.
My parents are US citizens, I grew up in the US. My citizenship is German. I am fortunate in being able to occasionally spend time in the US to visit family.
Like all interested Europeans - perhaps more so, because I know and like the US so well - I am following the current political discourse closely.
 
Clinton, Obama Tussle Over Blackwater (Updated)
By Noah Shachtman EmailFebruary 29, 2008 | 10:42:00 AMCategories: Mercs, Politricks

Just as Blackwater had finally fallen from the headlines and the boys in Moyock thought their State Department contract would be quietly renewed, their worst nightmare has hit: Blackwater is a campaign issue. In an ironic twist of politics, Blackwater head honcho Erik Prince is now on the same side of the contractor issue as Senator Barack Obama -- more or less.

Senator Hillary Clinton broke her longstanding silence on private security contractors in Iraq. Her senate office announced late Thursday that she is co-sponsoring a bill to ban "Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq."

The timing of the announcement is particularly curious. It comes less than a day after the investigative journalist and Blackwater critic Jeremy Scahill published a piece in The Nation reporting that, if elected, "Obama will not 'rule out' using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq." The campaign also informed Scahill that Obama would not be signing on to legislation banning the use of contractors in war zones by 2009. [Obama previously pushed in the Senate a bill to force some transparency into the private military contractor business -- ed.]

The campaign also informed Scahill that Obama would increase State Department funding so that State could build their own ranks and eventually replace contractors. Scahill noted the difficulty of the position:

The senior adviser acknowledged that Obama could find himself in a situation where, as President, he continues using forces he himself has identified as "unaccountable." The Obama campaign, in other words, may have painted itself into a corner.

It appears that Clinton's campaign realized the risk Obama was taking and picked up the issue in an attempt to outflank Obama on the left and pick up the vote of Blackwater opponents.

I spoke with Scahill about the coincidental timing. "For over a week I tried to get Hillary Clinton's campaign and Senate staff to issue a policy statement reflecting her position on her potential future use of PMCs in Iraq if she won the presidency. Silence. Then, the day after my story comes out revealing that Obama will not "rule out" using them, all of a sudden Hillary Clinton becomes the most important political figure in the US to call for a "ban" on Blackwater et al." Scahill said. "Where was her call for a ban after [Blackwater's controversial shooting of civilians at] Nisour Square?"

Maybe somewhere underneath the Oval Office drapery measurements?

Senator Clinton targeted what has become America's most hated company with unusually strong rhetoric, clearly intended for emotional appeal, something her campaign has sorely lacked:

"From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable. These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq. The time to show these contractors the door is long past due. We need to stop filling the coffers of contractors in Iraq, and make sure that armed personnel in Iraq are fully accountable to the U.S. government and follow the chain of command," said Senator Clinton.

Clinton, Obama Tussle Over Blackwater (Updated)
By Noah Shachtman EmailFebruary 29, 2008 | 10:42:00 AMCategories: Mercs, Politricks

Just as Blackwater had finally fallen from the headlines and the boys in Moyock thought their State Department contract would be quietly renewed, their worst nightmare has hit: Blackwater is a campaign issue. In an ironic twist of politics, Blackwater head honcho Erik Prince is now on the same side of the contractor issue as Senator Barack Obama -- more or less.

Senator Hillary Clinton broke her longstanding silence on private security contractors in Iraq. Her senate office announced late Thursday that she is co-sponsoring a bill to ban "Blackwater and other private mercenary firms in Iraq."

The timing of the announcement is particularly curious. It comes less than a day after the investigative journalist and Blackwater critic Jeremy Scahill published a piece in The Nation reporting that, if elected, "Obama will not 'rule out' using private security companies like Blackwater Worldwide in Iraq." The campaign also informed Scahill that Obama would not be signing on to legislation banning the use of contractors in war zones by 2009. [Obama previously pushed in the Senate a bill to force some transparency into the private military contractor business -- ed.]

The campaign also informed Scahill that Obama would increase State Department funding so that State could build their own ranks and eventually replace contractors. Scahill noted the difficulty of the position:

The senior adviser acknowledged that Obama could find himself in a situation where, as President, he continues using forces he himself has identified as "unaccountable." The Obama campaign, in other words, may have painted itself into a corner.

It appears that Clinton's campaign realized the risk Obama was taking and picked up the issue in an attempt to outflank Obama on the left and pick up the vote of Blackwater opponents.

I spoke with Scahill about the coincidental timing. "For over a week I tried to get Hillary Clinton's campaign and Senate staff to issue a policy statement reflecting her position on her potential future use of PMCs in Iraq if she won the presidency. Silence. Then, the day after my story comes out revealing that Obama will not "rule out" using them, all of a sudden Hillary Clinton becomes the most important political figure in the US to call for a "ban" on Blackwater et al." Scahill said. "Where was her call for a ban after [Blackwater's controversial shooting of civilians at] Nisour Square?"

Maybe somewhere underneath the Oval Office drapery measurements?

Senator Clinton targeted what has become America's most hated company with unusually strong rhetoric, clearly intended for emotional appeal, something her campaign has sorely lacked:

"From this war's very beginning, this administration has permitted thousands of heavily-armed military contractors to march through Iraq without any law or court to rein them in or hold them accountable. These private security contractors have been reckless and have compromised our mission in Iraq. The time to show these contractors the door is long past due. We need to stop filling the coffers of contractors in Iraq, and make sure that armed personnel in Iraq are fully accountable to the U.S. government and follow the chain of command," said Senator Clinton.

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/just-as-blackwa.html
 
It's not like there wasn't any opposition to extending gay rights and real gay marriage in Canada. There was plenty of Bible-thumpers, Christian orgs etc all against it. It didn't all happen in one fell swoop either. Individual provinces started legislating equality into their own charters much as some states have done which began to put pressure on the holdouts. The federal govt also began extending benefits but was nervous about doing anything to amend the marriage act to include same-sex couples. It actually was the Supreme Court of Canada that made the decision for them when they told the Federal Govt that the Canadian Charter of Rights while not explicitly stating against discrimination on the basis of sexual-orientation (only the word "sex" is written) that it must be "read into it" as including "sexual orientiation". That was the end of the matter and everyone ran off to church to get married LOL I'm glad that we got the real marriage deal and not a phony "civil union" type like in the UK which in itself is discriminatory still.
My partner and I have been together 25 years but we have no plans on getting married, that would probably jinx it.
 
The Blackwater issue is extremely tawdry------

there is much we civilians have not been privy to. Very dark and very very nasty secrets of the worst kind of abuses------all in the name of the US. Stuff the government will NEVER allow us to know.Stuff the government never even knew about, and can now claim to be innocent of such knowledge.

Out of necessity they became just as dark and nasty as some of the other groups in the middle east. Hizbollah, Hamas, etc.
When you get down and dirty over there you have to play the game like everyone else to survive.

Both Hillary and Obama are well aware of what has been going on. They will take the tid-bits of information that are allowed to be fed to us public and try to turn as much of the stuff into their advantage. McCain, of course, will say very little on the topic.

All the contestants are part of the system of feeding us "public" just certain parts of the puzzle. The internet and other media are so fast and powerful no they can "spin" a story 'round the world in seconds and people will believe it.

The hotbed story in the Middle East for weeks concerns the tiny town of Sderot in Israel. For months now the Palestinians in Gaza have been lobbing HUNDREDS of rockets at the Israeli village----day and night, day after day. They indescriminatly hit schools, hospitals, shopping areas, homes, etc. (Mind you, the Bush administration has donated over $50M of our tax money this year alone for "aid" to the Palestianians.)

Can you imagine what Texans would do if day after day, night after night,week after week, rockets launched from Mexico kept raining down on the citizens of Houston?!!!!!!!

Well, as usual, the citizens of Israel have had enough!
Any moment now Israel is going to attack the Palestinians and "clean out the threat from within".Just like the Palestinian terrorists know they will have to do.

The Petro-Oil Dollar funded Palestinian Propaganda Machine will be front and center showing their women holding their bloody babies and slapping their heads in grief for the world to see and sympathize with.

BUT WHERE IS THE MEDIA SHOWING ALL OF THE BLOODY JEWISH BABIES????????? The media NEVER, EVER shows the world the horrors that the Palestinians have incurred on the simple, hardworking folks in Israel. NEVER, EVER, EVER!
Start paying attention to it and you will see----Israel is ALWAYS portrayed at the "evil agressor". NBC, The N.Y.Times, The London Daily Telegraph, doesn't matter what you read Israel is ALWAYS the "evil one".

Instead when Israel responds to the constant terrorizing of their citizens, the Palestinian sympathizers scream bloody murder about what a monstorous "killing machine" Israel is, and all kinds propaganda about the Israeli military, etc.

Last night there was an article in the London Daily Telegraph about the Israeli army preparing to take action to clear out the terrorists who have been sending all those hundreds of rockets into Sderot.
Sure enough----there was the standard propaganda photo showing the Palestinian women in black chador holding up a bloody child and wailing at the heavens.
No where was the first mention of all the hundreds of Israeli citizens who have been injured or killed in the last year or so by those constant rocket attacks.
The Petro-Dollar funded Palestinian Propaganda Machine is VERY powerful and spred-our 'round the world. Especially helped by their friends "Al-Jazeera" the Islamic equivalent to the US's Fox News, (who ironically can be sympathetic towards Israel when it suits them!)

So from this you can imagine what a vicious little web our government can "spin" for us with events we are allowed to know about concerning those private security firms in Iraq.
Nevermind the gazillions of our tax dollars that have passed through those companies----I'm sure all their owners live in Texas and drive Hummers to and from from their ranch's on the way to W's Bar-B-Ques.

Our tax dollars have poured through this Iraqi invasion like water through a sieve. It is still pouring and ALL of our potential Presidential wanabees are clearly aware of it----amongs other things.

Why don't they answer some real questions:

Who will their cabinet be?
What do they propose to do to begin turning around the damage the Bush administration has inflicted on Washington and the World at large-----both militarily and economically?
Just how do they propose to do it.

What will they do to reign in "big business" and try to re-instate some of the safeguards meant to protect "We the People" from their ravages of greed? Capitalism is good with proper controls in place. We have seen what happens when it is allowed to run amok as it has the last seven years.

If Bush's Medicare "Part D" Supplement program is not "socialism" than I don't know what is. So all the GOP anti-socialists out there wailing about the Democrats health plans being the devil in disguise--need to just shut up.
We do need a comprehensive national health system. Period, end. It won't be perfect, but we must start somewhere.
The trillions of our tax monies spent pouring through the sieve of Iraq would do much for the citizens of the US.

What policies are they going to either keep or modify concerning our National Security?
And if the don't get control of our borders, how will they ever know who is really crossing them and invading our country?

What will they do about the many millions of Illegal Mexican Invaders. The statistics are out----1 in every 36 Mexicans are in our jails right now---costing us even more tax money----and we don't even know who they really are! No ID whatsoever. Whatever name they "tell" the courts clerk is what they have to go by. Ridiculous! Can't even do a back-ground check on them!
What about the rampant level of crime sweeping the US?
When I left the south-side of Atlanta last fall our neighborhood jails were overflowing with thousands of Illegal Mexican Invaders. Clogging the judicial system and grinding the process to a halt. No one even knows the names of most of them.
Crime in our major cities is out of control and going "over the top". Every day we hear about some terrible crime more horrendous then the last. Its awful!
We better get a grip and fast! Our jails are full of millions of criminals and once inside THEY run the system. They completely overwhelm the people who are trying to run the prisons. Scary, scary, scary! A disaster waiting to happen!
The politicains never mention a word of it but know how bad a threat it is getting to be.

Oh, there are many questions
"We the People" deserve to have answered by these Presidential hopefuls. But they will always take the easy way out. If the want my vote they better get some meat on the bone. I don't want to even hear about their Gay-Baiting.
Neither their laws nor being Gay EVER stopped me from doing what I wanted to do. So they need to stick to the real issues that effect us all in this country to get my vote.

Anything less that talk about "We the People" will do nothing more than anger me further.
Doesn't it anger you?

O.K. I'm off my soapbox now------wow, I must have had the caffienated tea this morning.........
 
"...he sounds like the "teacher" to Charlie Brown on a Peanuts cartoon - "WauWa Wau WauWa Wau Wau"..."

Too funny, Bob!

Although, Hillary is no slouch either, when she gets into that whole caterwauling thing she lapses into on occasion...OY!

I still think McCain's limited mobility works against him. It may well be that he sustained the injuries from torture, but it still makes him seem vulnerable and aged in the camera's eye.

I guess the main thing is the words they speak are at least coherent and in recognizable English, which is a far cry from what we have right now....
 
"The Petro-Dollar funded Palestinian Propaganda Machine is VERY powerful and spred-our 'round the world."

And the corresponding Israeli propaganda machine and AIPAC isn't?

Gyrafoam, I'm aware of the Sderot situation, but painting the Palestinian people as the aggressors in their own rape and Israel as the pristine snowflake strains credulity.
 
I teach

students from Israel, Palestinians, Iran and various Arabian countries.
I have had good and bad students from each group, friendly and unfriendly students.
But never, ever, has an Israeli threatened to kill me or another student.
No doubt there has been injustice and unfairness in dealing with the Palestinians.
But we need to be very clear about the history, the post WWII United Nations decisions and, finally, the question of who attacked whom. It is very easy to be critical of Israel - a democracy and an open state.
But speaking as a gay man, speaking as someone who is routinely considered to be an 'American' by foreign students (I have an American English accent), the violence and hatred shown towards me and towards all open homosexuals by the Islamic world makes me doubt their peaceful intentions.
I don't want to start a flame war here, but I suspect there is a strong anti-Jewish sentiment behind the knee-jerk sympathy so many people express for the Palestinians. When they start treating gays and women as human beings, start holding democratic elections and stop attacking, resp. cease their terrorist activities, then I will be more than happy to change my opinion of them.
Sure, Israel has made some serious mistakes. For me, it's personal. I was in Frankfurt in 1987, at the airport. I have had Palestinians try to kill me, the worst I have suffered at the hands of the Jews was being beaten at Chess by Danny Kelmann in seventh grade. Come live in Europe for awhile and you will find out just exactly how 'oppressed' and 'noble' the Islamic world really is...not.
 
Panthera-------

it is called the "new anti-semitism" and it is growing rampantly around the world-----fed by the Islamic Petro-Dollar Funded Propaganda Machine.

When walking the mall in Washington,D.C. a year ago, I was acosted by a group of plain-clothed Palestinian "lobbyists" who thought I must have been in D.C. for political business. They went on a rant trying to convince me what a
"Satan" the state of Israel is! Who knew? I was just enjoying a walk sightseeing around town!
Imagine what is going on in the halls of Congress with this stuff! It is a very evil game, and every time we fill our gas tanks with fuel we are helping to pay for this kind of sinister stuff.

Oh yes, the "Nation of Islam" is very good at being the "great decievers".
 
Brent,

That is soooo good! Gosh, the sad part is that the manipulation is not only a humorous fantasy, but a reality.
Do the ends really justify the means? Is that what democracy in the US really means to conservatives?
I find myself more and more missing Richard Nixon...by today's standards, Eisenhower would be considered a leftist, knee-jerk, anti-Christ-commie-pinko-fag and Goldwater a raving socialist.
It's troubling, very troubling.
 
Oxy; as for "not married" couples the same standard applies to all couples regardless in that they fall into the "common-law" relationship which I think means having lived together representing themselves as a couple for at least one year. It is close to a marriage but still there are a few pitfalls I believe. I have to re-do my homework on those. It doesn't affect my company pension or govt SS benefits going to my partner upon my demise though and vice versa. The partner is still entitled to them.
 
Anyone but a GOP

I still say ANY Democrat in the White House is a win as far as I'm concerned, but I'm loving reading the information from this thread.

Slightly off topic, does anyone (in the world, apparently) besides myself get "Manchurian Candidate" jitters when they think of John McCain in the White House. What's with the mother all over the place? Does anyone know if he plays solitaire alot?
 
Oxy------

Compared to what the Palestinian terrorists have done to the Israeli's FOR YEARS it actually DOES make the Israeli's look pure as the freshy fallen snow.

But, hey we are both entitled to our opinions.
Now,if someone wants to start a thread on the Middle East ------I'm ready to go!
 
Oxy, here is another one....

One of the radio hosts around here, Fred Honsberger on KDKA, says that Hillary sounds like Laughing Sal at Kennywood. He is no fan of Hillary, but I have to admit, they do sound a lot alike.

Still, I cannot bring myself to vote for Mr. Snory and Stinky. Oh, these are tough choices!

As for domestic partner benefits, why does no one here want a national single payer health program that would make this issue disappear (oh, cvynr I know you will be mad!)?

I may end up voting for - oh no, - McCain, at least he might use a cologne.

 
Ironic, since Gaza is now the world's largest concentration camp.

How many died in Sderot in the last twenty-four hours?

And did the residents of Sderot not beg for defense systems first, then finally relocation assistance from Olmert and Company, only to be denied?

This sort of savagery from within and media manipulation was made all too clear when Amir Peretz, Israeli minister and Sderot, went on television to declare that Sderot was completely safe, when his own next-door neighbor's house was leveled by a Kassam rocket the night before...

It would seem the Israeli government NEEDS Sderot to justify the impending slaughter of Palestinian civilians, but perhaps America is just a bit too politically correct to admit this to themselves.

Just about any media source you check right now, with the exception of Arutz Sheva, the New York Sun, and World Nut Daily is forced to acknowledge the continuing and escalating genocide of the Palestinian people on their own land, including sizable numbers of Coptic and Orthodox Christians caught in the crossfire, but treated nonetheless to the same air raids, bulldozers, electric and gas cuts, and food blockades as the Palestinian Arabs are....and for this we thank you, John Hagee.

And, yes, Gyrafoam, this is my final salvo and my last reference to this subject, lest I provoke uncomfortable questions for comfortable Americans.

Remember, folks, this carnage is supported by your tax dollars.

America has no allies in the Middle East. And never will.
 
"As for domestic partner benefits, why does no one here want a national single payer health program that would make this issue disappear (oh, cvynr I know you will be mad!)?"

I do...in fact, it is the only sort of healthcare plan that will work in this country (as it has in many other lands).

I just recognize the stranglehold that the corporatists still have on our economy and our legislators, even though conservatism has fallen out of favor.

The insurance industry and giant pharmaceutical concerns have not yet been sufficiently weakened in influence, and too many Americans consider them integral to the our economy.

So we have to be satisfied with baby steps for now, and hope the situation deterioriates to a point where it is universally agreed that a drastic solution (and for them, single-payer seems drastic) is required.

Baby steps.
 
Oh, and Oxy------

The Palestinians had a choice of what government they wanted---------- and they voted Hamas. Stupid choice.
So as long as they are lobbing those hundreds of rockets into Israel I don't blame the Israeli's one bit for retaliating.
 
Thank you, G, and even though it may not seem like it, I DO respect yours...I'm simply in a different position.

But, thank you, it means a lot.
 
But if hawkish Israelis consider Hamas and Fatah are the same animal, what is the point of killing Palestinians and reoccupying Gaza simply to "liberate" it from Hamas, only to hand it over to Fatah again?

I still continue to support the Palestinians' right to self-determination and right to return, by any means deemed necessary.
 
Return to what? Over 22 Arab fifedoms rejected the Palestinians years before the State of Israel existed. And in any event, it is the land in the southwest of what was the Trans-Jordan that the Palestinians last occupied----until the late King Hussein of modern day Jordan massacred them by the thousands and threw them all out.

The British offered the Palestinians a very large and fertile chunk of property at the same time they offered the Jewish people a small and arid piece of desert.The Jews accepted and this land became the State of Israel. But the Palestinians rejected the offer because the surrounding Arab countries convinced them that they would eventually "drive the Jews into the sea" and then all the Arabs could partake in the spoils. Well, as history has proven the Palestinians "bet on the wrong horse".

Since that time the Arabs have used the Palestinians as a wedge to use against Israel. By keeping the Palestinians in a state of abject poverty, they have an endless supply of young males willing to give their lives to end up in that paradise in the sky. In the meantime, the Arab powers that be continue to lavish themselves in unspeakable wealth, building huge palaces and breathtaking new cities. Yet none of them are willing to take the Palestinians in. None of them are willing to spend some of that immense wealth to eliminate the poverty and provide education and a future to the Palestinians.

It is a very sad situation indeed.
 
"It is a very sad situation indeed."

Yep, and there's no reason to believe it'll be sorted out any time soon.

Trying to figure out political machinations can get addictive.

I just polished off half a container of Haagen-Dazs Chocolate, trying to figure out if a veto-proof majority in the Senate is possible.

Oh, and the matter of those court appointments...

Mind you, this is only March!

I wonder if Hillary will bow out quietly if Texas and Ohio don't prove to be her salvation, or if she'll choose to petition the court for Florida's and votes, try to weather the distance. She doesn't exactly seem to have a bountiful war chest....
 
While McCain definitely seems line Bush III, I certainly prefer that to Clinton II. Honestly, McCain's laugh and voice reminds me too much like Bush. In and of itself, that could ruin his chance. Hillary's faux tears and her baggage that is her husband should handily take care of her.

Maybe Obama will be the clear winner, but maybe he will be hamstrung by Republicans that win the House and the Senate. I can hope.

With all the problems we have now, we have to worry about gay "marriage"? The States will take care of partnerships one step at a time, just as Greg has stated. Until then, the Federal Govt needs to worry about the bigger fishes -- not the fish that Pelosi's grand (failure) achievement of revamping the menu in the Capital.
 
"In and of itself, that could ruin his chance."

Who knows? McCain MIGHT be able to woo reluctant conservatives back if he chooses his running mate wisely.
 
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