"I have no problem with homosexuality. I have a problem with homosexual acts."
"We have laws in states, like the one at the Supreme Court right now, that has sodomy laws and they were there for a purpose. Because, again, I would argue, they undermine the basic tenets of our society and the family. And if the Supreme Court says that you have the right to consensual sex within your home, then you have the right to bigamy, you have the right to polygamy, you have the right to incest, you have the right to adultery. You have the right to anything."
"In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be."
When asked whether President Bush defends the homophobic remarks made by Senator Rick Santorum, Ari Fleischer said, "The President judges people by who they are, as individual souls."
Some conservatives feel compelled to ask, "Have Republican leaders been so intimidated by the smear tactics of the homosexual lobby and its Democratic attack dogs that they are cowering in silence?" I was unaware that there even was a homosexual lobby, but they now have my support.
What is Rick Santorum so afraid of? And does he really think that homosexuality has anything to do with bigamy, polygamy, incest or adultery? That just sounds ignorant and intolerant to me.
If you disagree with Santorum, write Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist a letter reminding him that we know that Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter is gay and that's okay. Tell him that homophobic speech made by a Senator holding the No. 3 position in the Republican Party reflects poorly on the president and the GOP. An appeal to reason might work. Otherwise, we'll have to embarrass Santorum and his party by exposing them as idiots. That shouldn't be too difficult.
Did anyone else notice that Santorum's remarks coincided with the Supreme Court considering the legality of state sodomy, i.e. gay-discrimination laws?
Sailors Return Home
The USS Mobile Bay and Shiloh made an emotional return to their home port of San Diego today, and two lucky sailors won a lottery to get the first kiss, i.e. the sailors were first off the boat, and their wives were first across the gangway to greet and kiss them. It was a great photo moment, and even included kids and other relatives. After one kiss went on for more than just a few seconds, one CNN Anchor said, "I'm blushing."
Conservatives Want US Out of UN
The Federalist, "the most widely read conservative e-journal on the Internet," is asking its readers, "fellow American patriots, especially families and friends of our armed forces," to:
"terminate all participation by the United States in the United Nations, terminate any and all U.S. taxpayer-funded support for the UN, and prohibit American Armed Forces from serving under the command of the United Nations anywhere in the world." The U.S. should remove itself from this "mother of all" -- "entangling alliances."
We're hearing more and more of this nonsense since President Bush began criticizing the international body for not supporting his invasion of Iraq. Bush may not appreciate this, but an American president coined the phrase "United Nations."
The Media Research Center, a right-wing 501 (c)(3) non-profit research and education foundation founded in 1987 to expose the "liberal" media bias, gave Fox News and David Bloom the highest grades in its media "War Report Card" - the Bill O'Reilly network and the guy who died because he didn't get out of the tank to stretch his legs.
The MRC, without any sense of irony that I could detect, had this to say about Santorum's comments and the media's coverage:
"With this, the media show not only liberal bias, but contempt for free speech and open debate on crucial social issues. This isn't Saddam Hussein's Baghdad. This isn't a George Orwell novel. This is still a democracy, and legislators ought to be free to talk about the law without the media acting as publicity agents for gay groups as they try to pick off conservative Republican leaders."
Ted Turner, BBC Director Criticize Fox News
Ted Turner called Rupert Murdoch a "warmonger," for using jingoistic war packaging to boost his network's ratings.
Greg Dyke, Director General of the BBC, criticized the US Media, namely Fox News, for its propagandistic reporting of the Anglo-American invasion:
"And we must never allow political influences to colour our reporting or cloud our judgement.
"Commercial pressures may tempt others to follow the Fox News formula of gung-ho patriotism but for the BBC this would be a terrible mistake."
Powell Defends Attacks on Journalists
In a letter to Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio, Colin Powell defended the US bombing of journalist sites which struck three known locations for journalists in a one hour period, killing two Spanish journalists. Powell said:
"Our review of the April 8 incident indicates that the use of force was justified and the amount of force was proportionate to the threat against United States forces."
The Pentagon and Powell claim that the Palestine Hotel was fired upon in self-defense, but eyewitnesses say there was no gunfire heard coming from the Hotel. I have not come across any statements that the hits on the offices of Al-Jazeera and Abu Dhabi TV were unintentional.
Castro Cracks Down on Dissent
It looks like Castro is using our war as a distraction to crack down on political dissidents and human rights activists in his country. Colin Powell, referring to the arrests of 75 dissidents, journalists and activists, had this to say:
"We call on Castro to end this despicable repression and free these prisoners of conscience. The United States and the international community will be unrelenting in our insistence that Cubans who seek peaceful change be permitted to do so."
