Head Banger Suing Maddow For Airing Video of His Hatespeech

By now it's obvious that I hold Rachel Maddow in the very highest regard so here's the real deal. Attention starved Michele Bachmann supporter Bradlee Dean is attempting to sue Rachel and MSNBC for $50 million in connection with a segment she did on him on her show last year. Today right wing blogs were aglow thinking this "Christian" heavy metal, brain dead rocker, homophobe is going to take her down. Here's the rub, they're all just posting the story and conveniently not linking the video so I will below. They've also done some pretty damn creative editing of the segment to paint the thin-skinned wingnut as a victim. He's suing her for defamation because she reported on his "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide" group and reported that he has called for the incarceration of gay people and seemingly supported the part of Muslim Sharia law that calls for the execution of homosexuals. Here's the beauty of it. She didn't just say it baselessly, she played a video and in fairness even read his lame little disclaimer.

Rachel is on vacation this week, but here's the statement from MSNBC: "This suit is baseless and we stand by our reporting." Isn't America awesome! You can attempt to sue someone for defamation because you don't like that there's audio/video of your hatespeech and a cable news host actually played it! Watch the video. This will get dismissed in a heartbeat. Personally I don't even think he'll pursue it. I believe this is entirely a publicity stunt to lead him to be booked on Faux Newz and right wing radio. Look at him, he's a talentless Axl Rose wannabee who's music career failed so he's decided on a frivolous lawsuit career. When will conservatives ever learn that video and audio are forever! One more thing, I wonder if he's ever read Leviticus 19.28 from his glass house?

The Last American Hero

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is a true statesman. Not beholden to special interests as he doesn't take their money, but a true American hero fighting the good fight. When I read derogatory comments about this man on various blogs, it's not just upsetting, it's frightening. This man is fighting for us in the 98%. How folks that are in the same income range as myself (middle class), can still support supply side economics based solely on our corporate media teaching them that greed is good and "they're gonna be rich some day" is mind boggling. This isn't about punishing the rich, this is about getting them to pay their fair share.  We haven't seen taxes this low since the 50's yet right wing media complain Washington has a spending problem. Here's the problem, enough Democrats have bought into this plutocratic idea that we're now stuck, and Americans are intellectually lazy so they won't read The Guardian or BBC or even Al Jazeera English. It's easier to be told what to think. They rely on a corporate owned American media. The oligrarchs make sure we have enough money for an Xbox or an iPod to keep us entertained while they totally screw us as we play Angry Birds. I wonder if Bernie can awaken anyone?

Will Republicans Regret Blocking Warren's Appointment to the CFPB?

Since President Obama decided to look in another direction for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, speculation is that Elizabeth Warren has an eye on Scott Brown's (R-MA) senate seat. The Progressive Change Campaign Committee has already launched a "Draft Warren for Senate" campaign and is raising money in case she decides to run.

It could get really, really awkward in the Senate dining room come 2013. RepublicOns in both chambers think it's OK to berate Elizabeth Warren, once the leading contender to run the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The bureau was Warren's idea and is part of a sweeping reform package passed in the wake of the Wall Street screw-ups that caused the recession. Warren has been running the operation without the title, and now she won't get that, since Republicans vowed to stop her nomination if President Obama appointed her to the job.

Wall Street doesn't like Warren, which under the circumstances, should hardly be a barrier. Then there are the Republicans who don't like the consumer protection board at all. Why would they want anything to protect consumers when the cash flows directly from Wall St. to their coffers. Holding up any nomination to force changes in a law already passed by officials elected to office by voters is nothing other than extortion and a brazen effort to rewrite history.

In the end, Obama decided to nominate former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the bureau. Maybe he will be confirmed or more likely, the GOP will hold up any nomination to thwart the enforcement of a law they don't like. Warren is being encouraged by Democrats to run for Brown's U.S. Senate seat. While Brown has a strong war chest thanks to the Koch Brothers, any Democrat in deep-blue Massachusetts would present a strong challenge to Brown, particularly in a presidential election year. If Warren runs and wins, Senate RepublicOns should hope she has a short memory or a very forgiving nature. Dealing with Warren as a colleague is much more delicate than dealing with her as head of a consumer protection board. Somehow I don't get the feeling she has a short memory!

Elizabeth Warren joins Rachel Maddow to discuss the nomination of Cordray and the ongoing RepublicOn obstruction leading to her not being able to lead the agency she assembled.

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Opening a Door to a Closet Full of Skeletons

As gaydar all across the country is blowing off the charts since we all got a glimpse of Marcus Bachmann, then even better, heard him speak, comedians and even some evening hosts have had some fun. Here's an amusing youtube video from The Second City Network taking advantage of this gift from the comedy Gods!

Marcus and Michele Bachmann Explain Marriage



Thank you to The Second City Network

Pray the Gay Away? Oops!

Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen explains to Lawrence O'Donnell why they launched an undercover investigation into Marcus Bachmann's so-called clinic. Linked is the story John M. Becker writes of his experience.Read about it here.

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Rhode Island Governor Signs Civil Union Law, But...

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, an independent who supports gay marriage, said this does not go far enough toward legalizing gay marriage, nonetheless signed the Civil Union measure with the promise that it would move Rhode Island closer to the ultimate goal of legalizing gay marriage. Chafee had urged the General Assembly to consider same-sex marriage this legislative session. But some legislators felt it would be doomed in a state populated by many elderly and Catholic voters, and a civil unions bill was passed instead.

Chafee said he signed the civil unions bill with "reservations" because it "brings tangible rights and benefits to thousands of Rhode Islanders. He had two major criticisms of the civil union bill: that it failed to provide full marriage equality to same-sex couples and that it allowed religious entities to choose to not recognize civil unions. Describing the proposal that passed the tiny New England state's Senate this week as "a step forward," he said it did not fully achieve its goals of giving same gender pairs the same rights, benefits, protections and responsibilities as married couples.

The new law includes a section that says no religious organization -- including some hospitals, cemeteries, schools and community centers -- or its employees may be required to treat as valid any civil union, providing a religious exemption "of unparalleled and alarming scope," Chafee said in a statement. As a result, a civil union spouse could be denied the right to make medical decisions for his or her partner, access to health insurance benefits, property rights in adjoining burial plots or family memberships at some community centers. That could cause partners significant harm at critical moments in their lives, the governor said. "This extraordinary exemption eviscerates the important rights that enacting a civil union law was meant to guarantee for same sex couples in the first place," Chafee said.

Rhode Island and Maine have not joined their four New England neighbors - Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut -- in legalizing same-sex nuptials. Same sex marriage is also now legal in Iowa, the District of Columbia and, most recently, New York. Civil unions are also approved in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois and New Jersey.

But as Think Progress reports, this could be a loaded weapon against marriage equality:

Yesterday, the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee approved a civil unions bill that marriage equality advocates oppose, but not before making a subtle revision. In regards to reciprocity (recognizing unions from other states and countries), the language that allowed for recognizing “substantially similar legal relationships” was removed. It now reads:

15-3.1-8. Reciprocity. — A civil union legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Rhode Island as a civil union; provided, that the relationship meets the eligibility requirements of this chapter.

This means that the bill would only recognize “civil unions” from other states, leaving the question of same-sex marriages and domestic partnerships up in the air, and possibly severely at risk.

Currently, the status of imported same-sex marriages in Rhode Island is considered inconsistently on a case-by-case basis. In 2007, Attorney General Patrick Lynch released a legal opinion stating that the state did not explicitly prohibit same-sex marriage and so should recognize such marriages performed elsewhere. That same year, however, the Rhode Island Supreme Court ruled that a same-sex couple could not get a divorce in the state. Until the legislature or courts specifically weigh in on the matter, same-sex couples married elsewhere face some uncertainty, but certainly some potential in Rhode Island.

Both the civil union bill itself and the change made to it yesterday could seriously jeopardize that potential. Should the civil unions bill become law and then be challenged by a married couple, the courts could look to the bill and this change as evidence of the legislature’s intentions. In other words, if it looks like the legislature specifically did not want to recognize marriages, the courts may be inclined to follow suit.

While civil unions seemingly afford the same protections as marriage on paper, they do not live up to “separate but equal” in reality, as a review commission in New Jersey found. In the case of Rhode Island, not only would they not live up to the marriage equality a significant majority support, they could very well endanger the expansion of marriage equality in the future.

Pro-Choice Cause Finally Scores A Few Victories

This has been a rough year for reproductive rights in this country, and anti-choice legislators around the country won't be letting up anytime soon. But there have been at least a few pro-choice victories lately, as Rachel Maddow noted last night on MSNBC. A jury has found a North Carolina anti-choice leader guilty of stalking abortion providers in the state, and the man is now forbidden from, among other things, publishing any more "Wanted" signs. Also, in Topeka, Kansas, a federal judge blocked Sam Brownback from instituting new regulations that nearly shut down every abortion provider in the state. Also struck down was South Dakota's law that would've required a woman seeking an abortion to wait three days and be forced to sit through a lecture by an anti-abortion activist. This brought scorn from the judge who said forcing a woman to divulge to a stranger that's she's chosen to undergo an abortion humiliates and degrades her as it suggests she hasn't thought it through, but has made the wrong decision.

Where are all the anti-abortion activists after the child is born? Oh, that's right, once they've forced a woman to go through with the unwanted pregnancy, they move from the anti-choice demonstrations to the teabagger rallies where they bitch about their taxes helping pay for unwanted kids and single parents. These people are the worst representation of Christianity ever, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

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The Strange Affairs of Uncle Bruce*

Potential first couple...a crazed woman who hates gays, yet married one?!

Listen to the audio below and tell me your gaydar isn't going off the charts complete with bells and whistles, and what the heck, let's throw in gun shots just to appease Sarah Palin fans. Go ahead, tell me!!!



This audio of him speaking out against gays in a high, lisping voice has lead to a whole lot of speculation on the interwebs. The Stephanie Miller Show this week was hilarious as they played this audio and did their own impressions. Wonder where he goes to "dithipline hith barbarianths." I'm sorry, I'm cleary a gay rights supporter, but I have zero tolerance for any gay person speaking out against gay people while hiding deeply in the closet, and while picking out his wife's clothes. Seriously, I'm not making that up, he picks out her clothes. This guy is as gay as the sun is hot. Looks like some serious, internalized self-loathing by Marcus, not Mark, Marcus. Bachmann supporters are calling out other bloggers who've questioned his sexuality and effiminant mannerisms as being homophobic. I've explained the difference above. The motivation behind the animus is the Bachmann’s own hateful statements about gay people. A so-called “Christian” psychotherapist (by the way, ex-gay reparative therapy, a practice found to be fraudulent and dangerous by every single medical, psychiatric and psychological organization in the country) who uses the Bible to treat his patients, Bachmann’s attitude toward LGBT people stands in sharp contrast to what many would consider his stereotypically gay behavior. In an interview Bachmann gave last year to a syndicated Christian radio program, he compared gays to barbarians and said they need to be disciplined:

“We have to understand: Barbarians need to be educated. They need to be disciplined. Just because someone feels it or thinks it doesn’t mean that we are supposed to go down that road. That’s what is called the sinful nature. We have a responsibility as parents and as authority figures not to encourage such thoughts and feelings from moving into the action steps. And let’s face it: what is our culture, what is our public education system doing today? They are giving full, wide-open doors to children, not only giving encouragement to think it but to encourage action steps. That’s why when we understand what truly is the percentage of homosexuals in this country, it is small. But by these open doors, I can see and we are experiencing, that it is starting to increase.”

Truth Wins Out Looking For Victims of Quackmann

It's now apparent why Michele Bachmann nearly sucked George W. Bush's teeth out of his mouth after a State of the Union. I guess it's been a while!

Marcus Bachmann’s public statements are consistent with those of his wife, who represents a right-wing district of Minnesota in Congress and recently announced that she’s seeking the GOP presidential nomination. Michele Bachmann has made her opposition to equality a cornerstone of her political career. She has said that homosexuality is “from Satan” and that encouraging young people to be tolerant of gays amounts to “child abuse.” She is also estranged from her lesbian step-sister because, well, she's a lesbian. Although you have to know that she's curious about "the gay" as she was caught hiding in some bushes spying on a a pro-gay-rights rally. You can see some of her memorable moments here although it needs updating from 10/21/08. She's the founder of the congressional Tea Party caucus (or as I call them, Teabaggers). It's amazing how a bunch of crazy, rich, white politicians can convince average working people that giving more to the well-to-do while slashing programs that benefit them is salubrious. Bachmann has also made her opposition to government spending a key issue in her public life. However, she’s come under fire in recently for hypocrisy on that front amid revelations that she and Marcuth accepted money from both the federal and state government for a farm subsidy ($260,000) and that Quackmann's "clinic" accepted $30,000 from Medicaid. Hypocrisy?

We’ve watched one married fundamentalist Christian "family values" man after another caught up in a same-sex extramarital scandal. There seems to be a pattern, a right-winger's level of animus toward gay people has become an indicator of how much he's trying to hide about his private life. I've got the popcorn ready. I have no doubt this is going to explode. Somewhere, Anthony Weiner is smiling.

*Uncle Bruce definition from Urban Dictionary - a closeted gay man who betrays his own people.