McCain’s weekend plans.
By on Feb 17th, 2007 at 11:07 am
McCain’s weekend plans.
Though he is blowing off today’s Senate vote on Iraq, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has made time for two important events on Sunday in South Carolina: “The first is an ‘old fashioned’ ice cream and hotdog social at 4 p.m. at Sugar ‘n Spice. … Later in the day, McCain will speak in favor of abstinence-only education at the Carolina Pregnancy Center’s Life in the City.”
UPDATE: AmericaBlog has much more.
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so, what’s he doing TODAY???
and how long can it take to get to carolina from d.c.???
you can run but you can’t hide, mccave…
February 17th, 2007 at 11:13 amI think it’s a great idea to advocate abstinence. Who in the hell wants more of McCain’s genetic code wandering the planet? Choke on your hotdog, Chipmunk-face.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:14 am#1- Good point, Katy. I guess good ‘ole John doesn’t feel his presence is needed for the vote today. He is such a dedicated public servant and a loyal friend of the people. Unfortunately, the only people HE cares about are HIS people, the neo-fascists. Bon appetit, on that hotdog and ice cream social, mutton-chop-boy.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:20 am“Who in the hell wants more of McCain’s genetic code wandering the planet?”
Good one. But I’m afraid it’s too late. The poor man is the pee in the nation’s gene pool.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:21 amTop Ten Reasons Why You Might Vote Democrat in 2008
1. Everything changed on 9/11
2. Republicans are evil
3. You’re picky about which lies you opt to believe
4. If we don’t vote, we have no right to complain…right?
5. Republicans are mean
6. Voting for Hillary or Obama would prove once and for all that you are
truly more liberal and open-minded than your Republican brother-in-law
7. Republicans are stupid
8. Ralph Nader is still an egomaniac
9. Republicans hate us because we’re free
10. You’re certifiably insane
Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at
http://www.mickeyz.net.
Ten Reasons Why Militarism is
Bad for Queer People
http://popdev.hampshire.edu/projects/dt/pdfs/DifferenTakes_21.pdf
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and
queer (lgbtq) people cut across race, class,
gender, and nationality lines and represent a
full spectrum of political opinions.There
are queer people in the military and a
visible queer presence at almost every
recent peace rally. Queer organizations,
listserves, and communities have been rife
with debates about what position to take on
a war with Iraq. Meanwhile, lgbtq people
remain under attack by military and
fundamentalist governments around the
world, including the U.S.While some might
argue that war is not a queer issue, the fact
of the matter is that state violence has been
a central theme in the history and lives of
lgbtq people for centuries. No matter what your politics, here are
some basic facts to keep in mind about war’s effect on queer
people’s lives:
1.War decreases civil liberties,freedom of expression,and dissent.
In times of crisis, already marginalized groups and under-resourced
populations are blamed and attacked. Jerry Falwell, Religious Right
figurehead, accused queer people and feminists for the 9.11
terrorists attacks two days after they took place:“I really believe
that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the
gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an
alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way — all
of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger
in their face and say ‘you helped this happen.’â€
In the wake of 9.11, progressive social justice organizations who
speak out against military action are often criticized for being un-
American or paving the way for more terrorist attacks. In addition
lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender anti-war activists are
frequently targeted by the police at protests, marches, and rallies
and face harassment and physical violence if put in prison.
2.Hate crimes increase during periods of militarism.
Since the attacks of 9.11, the number of hate crimes has risen
dramatically across the board in the U.S. Attacks against Muslims,
South Asians, and those of Middle Eastern descent skyrocketed, and
hate crimes based on sexual orientation rose 7.2% from 2000.
Hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation ranked
fourth highest category in 2001.The rise in hate crimes since 9.11
suggests that queer people are among the
first to be victimized in a climate of
militarism, violence, and fear. Queer people
of color are doubly impacted, facing
harassment and violence not only on the
basis of their racial identity, but also
because of their sexual orientation. In the
name of national security, the Bush
administration has turned a blind eye to
violence against queer people and people of
color since 9.11
at the hands of the military.
Sexual orientation is often used as a way to
criminalize social justice activists who are
working for peace. Bolan Aleksov, a gay
man from Yugoslavia, was arrested by the
State Secret Service in 2000 because of his
involvement with the anti-war group,
Women in Black. During the course of his
interrogation he was beaten and endured
anti-gay epithets by the police. In Uganda
in 1999, five gay, human rights activists
were held and tortured in military detention
centers and forced to flee the country.
4.The military discriminates against
lgbtq service people.
The military has always been hostile to
queer people. As a result of the “Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell†policy, set in place by the
Clinton administration, queer service people
are required to keep their sexuality a secret
or face discharge. In this atmosphere of
secrecy, discrimination and harassment are
state-sanctioned. In 2001, as attention and
spending on the military increased and the
U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan
was at its height, 1250 service people
where discharged for being lesbian, gay, or
bisexual, the highest number of discharges
since 1987.The Conduct Unbecoming
report, issued by the Service Members
Legal Defense Network, also found 1075
cases of harassment and intimidation of lgbtq servicepeople, up
from 871 in 2000.
Discrimination against queer people seems to be one of the
military’s top priorities. At a time when the ability to communicate
with a wide range of people across the world is extremely
important, the U.S. military has fired service people with valuable
translation and language skills because of their sexual orientation.
In the fall of 2002, as an extensive military build-up was taking
place in the Middle East, the Army discharged nine student
linguists, including students of Arabic and Korean, for violating the
“don’t ask, don’t tell†policy.
5.Militarism threatens lgbtq immigrants.
Queer immigrants and asylum seekers face significant challenges to
immigrating even in peacetime. Because homosexuality is considered
a crime and/or disease in many countries, lgbtq immigrants are
often fleeing state-sanctioned torture, forced psychiatric treatment,
persecution, rape, and imprisonment on the basis of their sexual
orientation. Few immigration officers are trained to solicit
information about past abuses in ways that are sensitive, and queer
asylum-seekers are often reluctant to tell officials about their sexual
orientation for fear of further persecution.While one partner of a
heterosexual married couple can sponsor the other partner for
immigration, because same-sex couples are not legally recognized as
family in most of the world, couples often have to immigrate alone,
cannot sponsor their partners, and cannot receive the rights that
immigrating families receive.
Since 9.11 many countries, including the U.S. and several European
countries, have used national security and the threat of terrorism to
justify restrictive immigration policies and the crackdown on illegal
immigration. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people who
have fled persecution in their own countries now risk being arrested
as illegal immigrants and deported back to those countries
6.War is divisive for the lgbtq community.
As the government wages war on Iraq, heated debates have broken
out in lgbtq communities about whether to publically oppose the
war. Large organizations fear being labeled as unpatriotic and
losing funding if they speak out against the war.There have been
widespread accusations of racism in the lgbtq community, and even
calls to boycott or withdraw membership from lgbtq advocacy and
support groups who have not made public statements in opposition
to the war.
7.Militarism and war diverts support
for lgbtq people.
The focus of the U.S. government on the
“War On Terrorism†has come at the
expense of basic support services for lgbtq
people. Community organizations that
provide support for queer youth, HIV/AIDS
counseling, and referrals have experienced
extreme budget cutbacks, while government
spending on the military has skyrocketed. In
February 2002, President Bush proposed a
national budget for FY 2003 that would
raise defense spending by nearly 13%, the
greatest increase since the Reagan
Administration’s Cold War era budget. In
2004, President Bush hopes to increase the
US military budget to $399.1 billion, while
funding to social services would be
sacrificed in order to support this increase
in military spending. Recently, Illinois cut
$2.5 million designated for AIDS/HIV
support services and Massachusetts cut
funding for its Safe Schools Program that
provides support for lgbtq students and
youth.
8.Militarism encourages a climate
of fundamentalism.
In the past months, the fundamentalist
government of Egypt has made mass
arrests of anti-war activists and queer
people. Egypt has long been criticized for
its human rights abuses against its lgbtq
citizens, and is currently notorious for the
arrest of 52 gay men charged with
“debauchery.â€Two days before
international anti-war demonstrations in
February 2003, Egyptian State Security
Police also arrested 11 antiwar activists in
Cairo.The Bush Administration considers
Egypt a major ally in the Middle East. Not
only has the U.S. not spoken out against
the Egyptian government’s human rights
abuses, in 2002 it pledged $10.3 billion in
aid along with the European Union and
World Bank.The heightening tension in the Middle East and U.S.
military action in Iraq have allowed the recent arrests of gay men
and antiwar activists in Egypt to go unchallenged.
Five months after the 9.11 attacks, as the U.S. was engaged in
bombing Afghanistan, Pat Robertson, a religious fundamentalist
leader notorious for his anti-gay agenda, attacked Islam and
Muslims.“[Islam] is not a peaceful religion that wants to coexist,â€
Robertson said.“They want to coexist until they can control,
dominate and then if need be destroy.†It seems that many
fundamentalists make no distinctions in their hatred of peace
activists, queers, or people of different ethnicities and religions.
9.Militarism perpetuates rigid gender norms.
At its most basic level, militarism is rooted in traditional,
heterosexist ideas of gender that define masculinity as physically
powerful and aggressive and feminity as meek and passive.This was
made clear in debates about whether or not to allow women to fight
in front-line combat during the first Gulf War.These gender norms
have historically been used to marginalize and criminalize queer
people who often challenge the legitimacy of these norms.
Increasing our dependence on the military and making war a
priority strengthens the heterosexist, patriarchal culture that
promotes war, intensifying the stigmatization of those who defy that
culture.
10.War kills queer people.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:23 amThere is no question that war kills innocent people. It is estimated
that 1 in every 10 people is queer.This means that out of the 1.5
million Iraqis who have died in the last decade because of sanctions
and bombings, 150,000 where queer. 15,000 queer people where
sent to concentration camps during the Holocaust, the global
North’s most famous example of genocide and militarism. It is
estimated that over 300 lgbtq people died in the attacks on the
World Trade Center and Pentagon. From queer servicemen to
civilians, to political prisoners and prisoners of war, war threatens
everyone’s life.
Ryn Gluckman is a queer activist and writer. S/he is the Program
Coordinator for the Population and Development Program at
Hampshire College and sits on the Board of Directors for Children
of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere
He is pandering for religious Right. South Carolina cost him the nomination against Bush in his last run against Bush. The Pat Robertsons the Jerry Falwells derailed his political campaign.
Remember when Pat Robertson left messages on telephones calling McCain a ‘liberal’….it worked well for Bush.
Now he is back to show how religious he is and a man of values. The problem here is he is losng the ‘center’ by keep moving to the far right.
If he has any chance, he should look exactly what he really is…and not to play the pandering game. And he has been shifing back and forth looking to position himself. That will fail
Unfortunatley, they are all playing it now.
Americans should be very wise next time to choose the real candidate instead of the masked ones,and the backed by special interests money.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:26 amAt least he can remain a hypocrite with forked tongue as he was quite the ladies man as a young navy pilot who did not practice abstinence.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:26 amSomeone ought to ask McCain if he was a virgin when he first married, and if was celibate between the first and the second marriage…
February 17th, 2007 at 11:33 amlol
February 17th, 2007 at 11:35 amSo McCain would rather eat a hot-dog instead of voting in the Senate? He has become the number 2 worst Senator after Traitor Joe Lieberman.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:46 amComment by Corporal Punishment
Too much information,and irrelevant to the topic.
February 17th, 2007 at 11:50 amIf there is a next time,tighten it up,please.
you know, liberal in nm… if it weren’t for the fact that his cheeks have been damaged from the effects of cancer and treatment, i wouldn’t give much thought to the comments about his funny looking cheeks… but… well… just sayin’…
February 17th, 2007 at 11:51 amManhattanite — February 17, 2007 @ 11:33 am
wouldn’t THAT exchange make a great soundbite!?!
February 17th, 2007 at 11:53 amcorppun is dumping elsewhere…
February 17th, 2007 at 11:56 amTP should be notified… that’s all …
Cutting Funds For Iraq War Means Bringing The Soldiers Home Alive!
Saturday 17th of February 2007
by Jay Randal
It’s very strange how issues get twisted into pretzels in Washington, DC, then end up going off in the opposite directions, so ending the Iraq quagmire is one of them.
Cutting off further funding for the Iraq fiasco means to end the war, so to bring the soldiers home alive, and NOT leave them in Iraq with no armor or equipment.
The GOP supporters of Pres. Bush, in the Congress, are sinister at using “Straw-man” arguments to twist facts, so they willingly lie to obscure truth about Iraq.
DC Democrats are gullible to fall for GOPer tactics, such as their claim that cutting funding harms troops, when actually leaving them there in Iraq harms them.
Bush and his hard-core backers of his debacle in Iraq are harming the soldiers, by forcing them to remain in that cesspool of violence, to fight a war they can’t win.
Majority of Americans want the war ended PERIOD.
( Jay Randal, political activist and writer in Georgia, USA.)
PS: Contact Dems in DC and demand they end Iraq fiasco!
February 17th, 2007 at 12:00 pmAnd he is a canidate? I womder if he knows that we have military forces in Iraq?
February 17th, 2007 at 12:04 pm#1-Katy, he’s back in Iowa today, stinkin’ up the state, and campaigning instead of doing his job.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:16 pmFor Republicans doing your job is ancillary.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:28 pm#13- Well, feel sorry for him – I don’t. I’ve had cancer , too.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:29 pmi certainly never said anything about feeling sorry for him…
just expressing the “progressive” notion of empathy and good nature…
February 17th, 2007 at 12:33 pm#21- I’ll extend my empathy to the troops and other disadvantaged people that have been abused and neglected by this adminstration and all who support it.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:38 pmWhat did any liberal ever see in that whore?
February 17th, 2007 at 12:46 pmAs Fibber McInsane (McCain) “blows off plans to return for a vote”, the rest of America “blows him off as a credible candidate”. John had better use that campaign money for another project!
February 17th, 2007 at 12:55 pmTHIS IS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE FLIPPER MCINSANE HAS EVER MADE! I cannot believe that if his handlers have his best interests at heart, they would possibly recommend something so visibly self-destructive.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:56 pmThe repugs are perversely turning this Senate debate into one between abandonment of the troops or standing behind them. They are not talking about rejecting the surge of 21,000+ troops and the support troops necessary to back them up, no, they are talking about THEY want the public to hear — more lies, more disinformation, more of the same we have heard from them since Bush&Co invaded the White House.
February 17th, 2007 at 12:58 pmPut McDisdain in a old folks home already, PUL-EEEZE!
February 17th, 2007 at 1:17 pmWhat happened to the conservative philosophy of personal responsibility? The responsibility to know as much as possible about a subject, and then to hold oneself accountable for actions taken under such advisement? I think that abstinence-only education would be anathema to true conservatives.
February 17th, 2007 at 1:34 pmMcCain has no honor , just like Lieberman the guy is a joke and any who supports them with their votes are shameless and without conscience.
February 17th, 2007 at 1:36 pmThe idea that if Bush does not have the money,which most of it going to contractors,then the mission will fail,is yet to proven.
The money that is spent on this war now is exceeding what has been spent on Viet Nam war, the war now also exceeds the time we spent fighting in WWII.
Over 457 billion dollars already spent on this war….but yet we are moving backwards in both wars ..in Afghanstan and Iraq. We were better off 3 years ago than we are now in both countries.
So, the question is ..how long this will go on,before someone asks for good results for the money,the lives of Americans and Iraqis lost in this war?!!. .
The issue here is not supporting the troops, just a quick look at the dollars spent on this war..one can see that the issue here is the policy and the planners of this war and not the dollar and support this war got.
People voted last November to put the brakes on all of this, but Bush and this administration are choosing the accelerator instead,and if they don’t get their money…they will use the ’soldiers support’ as a defence and accuse people who are questioning the policy as ‘not supporting the troops’, to escape the scrutiny and the examination of the policies themselves.
February 17th, 2007 at 1:47 pmIf McCain is avoiding the vote, because he thinks the whole idea of a non-binding resolution, that only provides self-serving cover for those that aren’t courageous enough to cut the funding (if they really disagree with the war); I support his decision.
This pathetic joke of a resolution would be funny, if it didn’t have real consequences in terms of emboldening the insurgents and demoralizing the American soldiers. Nice work, 110th Congress!
February 17th, 2007 at 2:16 pmYou’re right, Captain Video (#32). But don’t you know that Repug politicians don’t think the same rules apply to them, or else what they did before they got religion or became neo-cons doesn’t count?
February 17th, 2007 at 7:08 pm#31 Sorry Paul, at this point McCain is all for the Iraq war so he should show up and vote. But he isn’t courageous enough to do that, is he?
February 17th, 2007 at 11:22 pmNot every senator makes every vote. Actually, many miss a great deal of the time. Do you guys check into every vote every senator misses? Or just the ones of republican presidential candidates? Hillary Clinton had the same roll call percentage (94.87%) in January as McCain, while the other deomocratic senator in New York, Charles Schumer only had a 87.18%, did anybody complain about them not doing their job?
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