Biffster’s World

Never under-estimate the vileness of a homophobe: Drives to ban gay adoption heat up in 16 states.

Efforts to ban gays and lesbians from adopting children are emerging across the USA as a second front in the culture wars that began during the 2004 elections over same-sex marriage.

Steps to pass laws or secure November ballot initiatives are underway in at least 16 states, adoption, gay rights and conservative groups say. Some - such as Ohio, Georgia and Kentucky - approved constitutional amendments in 2004 banning gay marriage. (Related story: Both sides cite concern for children)

“Now that we’ve defined what marriage is, we need to take that further and say children deserve to be in that relationship,” says Greg Quinlan of Ohio’s Pro-Family Network, a conservative Christian group.

Let me make my feelings very clear on this issue: It is evil to restrict a devoted and responsible couple the opportunity to adopt a child. It doesn’t matter what sex the members of the couple are. Studies have proven over and over again that homosexual couples make just as good parents as heterosexual couples. This type of ban hurts prospective parents, and it hurts children who have a chance to go to a great home.

It’s evil to stop this!

I’m pretty sick and tired of hearing about the lunatic - alleged lunatic? - known as the Reverend Fred Phelps. Phelps is an extreme, radical homophobe who enjoys staging anti-gay rallies at the funerals of people who’ve died of AIDS. Unfortunately, while he was doing this, the rest of the nation didn’t really get upset about it.

However, Phelps changed gears recently, and has started having his rallies at military funerals for soldiers who were killed in Iraq. The reason? Some incoherent babble about the soldiers being killled by God as punishment for America harboring homosexuals. Doesn’t make sense to me, either.

There is a little bit of good news in this story, though: it appears that Phelps has earned himself a group of dedicated protesters, a group of motorcycle riders who are driving around the country, setting up counter-protests for Phelps’s rallies. The goal: give the grieving families some privacy as they bury their loved ones.

Wearing vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls around the country from one soldier’s funeral to another, cheering respectfully to overshadow jeers from church protesters.

They call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, and they are more than 5,000 strong, forming to counter anti-gay protests held by the Rev. Fred Phelps at military funerals.

Phelps believes American deaths in Iraq are divine punishment for a country that he says harbors homosexuals. His protesters carry signs thanking God for so-called IEDs — explosives that are a major killer of soldiers in Iraq.

The bikers shield the families of dead soldiers from the protesters, and overshadow the jeers with patriotic chants and a sea of red, white and blue flags.

It looks like everyone in the state knows that Gary Lindstrom doesn’t have a chance at winning the Democratic nomination for Colorado Governor. Well, everyone but Gary Lindstrom, that is. Lindstrom is staying in the race ’til he’s knocked out, and as ColoradoPols.com points out, that’s not necessarily a good thing.

That’s the word from state Rep. Gary Lindstrom, of Breckenridge, who said he’s in the race to stay and believes he can get the requisite 30 percent of the votes at the party’s May 20 state convention to make it onto the primary ballot. “I’m in it for the long haul, unless something changes,” Lindstrom said. “I can’t imagine what that might be.

“I made a commitment three months ago when I filed my papers with the secretary of state to stay in it at least through the primary.”

Lindstrom has no chance of being the Democratic nominee for governor, but his inclusion in the race does matter…for control of the State House. If Lindstrom continues to chase his tail running for governor and does not run for re-election to his seat in Summit County, his seat becomes a risk to turn Republican.

I admire Mr. Lindstrom wanting to stand on principle. I really do. But I also think there’s a point where one has to recognize one is fighting a losing battle. Lindstrom has no shot at toppling Ritter, but he has a good shot at keeping his state House seat. That’s where he should be concentrating his efforts.

There’s at least an outside chance that the 2008 Democratic National Convention could be here in Denver!

“One hundred years ago - in 1908 - the nation looked to Denver as Democrats nominated one of America’s greatest orators, William Jennings Bryan,” the official letter of intent reads. “It would be a great honor - and an historic event - for Denver to host the Democratic National Convention again a century later.”
Click here to find out more!

New national interest in Colorado as political battleground and regional interest in a Western-states primary has local officials enthused.

“There has been a lot of talk about this Western states primary, so if we take more of a regional approach we really think it will be a strong application,” said City Councilwoman Elbra Wedgeworth, who is co-chairwoman of a committee in charge of courting the Democrats. “I’m excited.”

If we do get the convention, count me in! I don’t care who I have to finagle, I’m there!

Looks like either Alice Madden wanted to throw us a curve with her appearance on the Jay Marvin Show last week, or something happened over the weekend to make her change her mind. Madden announced today that she will not run for governor, leaving Bill Ritter as pretty much a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination. (No disrespect is meant towards Gary Lindstrom. But seriously; there’s no way that Lindstrom is going to compete with Ritter in a primary.)

So instead of an intense primary to determine who the best candidate for governor is, we get Mr. Ritter by default. On the plus side, Ritter can now concentrate on raising money and bulding a platform, while Beauprez and Holtzman slug it out for the Republican nomination.

Ritter’s looking pretty good from where I sit.

According to the Denver Post, Colorado House Majority Leader Alice Madden will tell us this week whether or not she’s going to run for Guv. Though this is probably academic. Madden was on AM760 with Jay Marvin last week (a podcast of the the interview is still available). And while she said she hadn’t made up her mind, she also made more than a few statements about being the only person in the race that did X. Sounds to me like her mind is made up!

As for her chances? Well, Colorado votes Republican for Guv more times than not, but I think she would actually be a stronger candidate than Bill Ritter. Madden can pull in women and minorities, groups that Ritter has alienated because of his anti-choice stance and actions as D.A.

The Democratic primary is going to be much more interesting than expected, I think.

It wasn’t easy, but I decided it was time to leave the Green party. I’ve been a member of the Denver Green Party since 2000. I joined up when Ralph Nader still sounded sane. Being part of a third party seemed like a good idea to me. And I don’t regret my choice. The local Greens have been working to make a lot of changes locally. That’s a very good thing, and is exactly what the Green Party should be focussing on.

But things have changed a lot over the last six years. And it’s now time for me to change back to the Democratic party.

Below is the text of the email I sent to the local Greens, announcing my decision:

From: Michael Fierro To: discuss-DenverGreens@yahoogroups.com
Date: Feb 2, 2006 2:55 PM

Subject: resigning as moderator of this list

Greetings! As of yesterday, I am no longer a moderator on this list. I have decided to temporarily leave the Green party and join up with the Democratic party. I know that whoever replaces me as a moderator will do a great job. For the most part, members of this list are intelligent and respectful, a combination which makes moderation a breeze.

I wanted to let everyone know my reason for leaving the Green Party. It was not an easy decision. However, I had to go with my conscience. My conscience led me to the Green Party in 2000, and I am thankful for that. As small as my contributions have been over the last five years, I still feel like I’ve done something good. Like we’ve made a difference, on a small scale.

But I also feel like I’ve lost track of the big picture. There’s a president in office who has entagled our nation in an illegal war against a country that did not attack us, a president who seems intent on stripping our civil liberties and funnelling money from the lower and middle classes, giving it all to the uber-wealthy. Even worse, we have a Congress who seems more than willing to allow him to do this. And we now have a Supreme Court that is tailored to rubber-stamp anything that the president asks them to.

Our nation and our form of government is in danger. Major changes are needed on a national level to right these wrongs. And unfortunately, the Green Party isn’t going to be able to drive these changes. We are not a national force, we are a local, grassroots organization. We can make large changes on a community level, but our influence on a national level is nil.

The Democratic party, on the other hand, has the power and money to make changes on the national level. I know that the Democratic party has its problems. It has its share of corrupt officials and corporate influence. But it also has a lot of people within it who can drive change on a large-scale. And my conscience tells me that I need to be dedicating whatever resources I can towards their effort.

And so that’s what I am going to do. I’m going to join up with the Highlands Ranch Dems, do whatever I can to help Bill Winter win Tom Tancredo’s seat in the House, and try to pressure Senator Salazar into voting with the Dems instead of the Republicans.

Assuming that the political environment stabilizes back towards center (or better yet, left-of-center), I’ll be back! Hopefully that won’t take a couple of decades. Until then, it’s been great! I am sure I’ll run into at least some of you from time to time.

Cheers!

–
Michael Fierro biffster@gmail.com
Y! Messenger: miguelito_fierro AIM: mfierro1
http://biffster.org http://weightjournal.com
—
“As long as the prerequisite for that shining Paradise is
ignorance, bigotry, and hate…I say the Hell with it.”
–Inherit the Wind (kingubu)

Ugh. Doublespeak is alive and well here in Colorado. Coloradans for Marriage, a group of homophobes who don’t have the courage to admit that they are homophobes, have come up with a unique justification to try to pass an anti-gay marriage amendment: love.

Saying they were motivated by love, a coalition of religious and family groups formally kicked off a drive Wednesday for an amendment to the state constitution that would bar gay marriage.

Coloradans for Marriage submitted the proposed wording of the amendment to the Legislative Council office at the state Capitol, the first step toward getting it on the ballot this fall.

The group’s president, Bishop Phillip H. Porter Jr., said the group was acting with “the love of a mother, the gentle guidance of a caring father” to preserve marriage and protect children.

He said the proposed amendment was not about hatred toward gay people.

These types of people are amazing to me. I actually have more respect for someone who comes out and says, “I don’t like gays,” instead of someone who says, “oh, no, I have nothing against gay people. I just don’t want them to have any rights.” Don’t try to hide your prejudices behind pleasantries and double-speak.

Bush actually says something worthwhile of a standing ovation, so the Democrats give hime one. And Crooks and Liars has the video!

The relevant section:

By 2030, spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid alone will be almost 60 percent of the entire Federal budget. And that will present future Congresses with impossible choices - staggering tax increases, immense deficits, or deep cuts in every category of spending.

Congress did not act last year on my proposal to save Social Security,.. [cue standing ovation by the Dems]

Brilliance, pure brilliance.

Those who don’t study history are doomed to repeat it. Looks like this goes for a nation, as well as for individuals. Yahoo! News details that much of the debate over President Bush’s illegal wiretapping goes back a couple of decades:

“We strongly believe it is unwise for the president to concede any lack of constitutional power to authorize electronic surveillance for foreign intelligence purposes,” Robert Ingersoll, then-deputy secretary of state, wrote in a 1976 memorandum to President Ford about the proposed bill on electronic surveillance.

[...]

George H.W. Bush, then director of the
CIA, wanted to ensure “no unnecessary diminution of collection of important foreign intelligence” occurred under the proposal to require judges to approve terror wiretaps, according to a March 1976 memorandum he wrote to the Justice Department.

And it’s unsurprising that the Bush Sr. was involved in trying to keep this power for the president. Still doesn’t change the fact that the FISA rules and the 4th Amendment make it illegal for the president to order warrantless wiretaps.