The Official Site of Philosopher Cats for Peeing on Bushes

The Reverend Michael Ellard speaks to us about the dangers of polarization and playing the blame game. He notes that many on the Yes on 8 campaign want us to blame African-Americans as scapegoats for the proposition's victory. Even though we are angry and hurt over the passage of Prop 8, we must remember that we have to reach out to the churches whether we like it or not. It is my hope that we will pursue a 50-state-like strategy that will sway the hearts and minds of at least some in those congregations which urged them to vote Yes.

I think there is a fear factor going on in our places of worship. There is unbelievable pressure put upon any voter, especially the youth to toe the churches' or temples' or mosques' line. As a Catholic, I saw a few voter guides sent out by the Council of Bishops that said that in order to "support the sacred institution of marriage," you had to vote YES ON PROP 8. It is ironic, because one would think that the abortion issue would be far greater but Prop 4 (parental notification for minors having an abortion) did not get much scrutiny as Prop 8 did. 

I truly think that pastors and people of the cloth should just stick to asking voters to vote their conscience in the voting booth. Father Paul Rospond of St. Mark's University Parish at UCSB said it best during the 2004 elections when he asked us to examine our faith and make our decisions for ourselves. In order to be fair, he gave a list of the problems of both major parties by saying, "Perhaps you are offended by X Party's stance on Y," and then followed that with another issue with another party. While yes I realize that this might still be toeing the line, it sure beats proclaiming that "John Kerry doesn't deserve communion because he supports abortion rights" because it demonizes the candidate in the minds of the voter. If our institutions of faith urged us to make our decisions for ourselves, perhaps we wouldn't have intimidated voters feeling that they HAVE to choose between their faith and what's right. I don't know, Am I being too optimistic?

 "Not everyone was as jubilant about the gains for marriage as (the) Family Research Council and our supporters. This morning, FOX News posted photo after photo of the anti-family rioting in Los Angeles..." -- Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council, a powerful right-wing religious think tank that helped lead the campaign to pass Proposition 8.

Dear dan,

"Anti-family rioting."

That is how the religious extremists behind Prop 8 are characterizing the protests that have spread across California in the aftermath of Tuesday's passage of the ballot measure that eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry.

I was at the heart of one of these amazing marches in Los Angeles on Wednesday night. And it was anything but "anti-family rioting."

It was history in the making -- thousands of passionate Americans spontaneously speaking out against enshrining discrimination into the California state constitution.

We are witnessing the birth of a new Marriage Equality Movement -- the civil rights movement of the 21st Century. Organized from the bottom-up by thousands of ordinary people just like you in the last 48 hours, this people-powered phenomenon is exponentially growing by the minute, online and offline.

You are at ground zero in this movement. And we need to take it to the next level -- a new initiative campaign to repeal Prop 8 and restore marriage equality to California. Please pledge your support now to repeal Prop 8 -- then forward this message to your friends:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

California had the chance to do what no other state has done and uphold equality for all. Instead, a slim majority decided to strip fundamental human rights from a minority. As Jonathan Stein writes at Mother Jones:

"The decision violates, violently, the image of my state that I have held with such pride my entire life. California is a wonderful place for a lot of reasons, but foremost among them is the way in which it welcomes people."

Movements are visceral and popular, often borne of outrage and anger. What we are witnessing on the streets and online is a community of people who have come together to say: "These are our lives. This is our time. This is unacceptable."

This is our moment to stand strong together -- gay and straight -- and say that we refuse to accept a California that enshrines bigotry into our state constitution. Please pledge your support now to repeal Prop 8 and restore marriage equality to California -- then forward this message to your friends:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

Thank you for mobilizing your friends to fight the religious right and restore marriage equality to California.

Rick Jacobs
Chair

P.S. My friends Zach Shepard and Geoffrey Murry helped spark Wednesday and Thursday night's marches in Los Angeles, activating their social networks via email and Facebook. These two young lawyers have never led a protest in their lives, but they decided to take matters into their own hands, along with thousands of other concerned citizens shocked at the passage of Prop 8.

Like Zach and Geoffrey, you can help build California's new Marriage Equality Movement today by taking action in your own community. Will you start by pledging your support to repeal Prop 8 and then forward this message to your friends?

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

..............

The Courage Campaign Issues Committee is part of the Courage Campaign's online organizing network that empowers over 100,000 grassroots and netroots activists to bring progressive change to California. 

To support this action, please contribute to the Courage Campaign today:

 

I have created a community in support of the efforts to repeal Prop 8. Please go to this link if you wish to join.

If I had known that the  Democrats would have allowed this administration's shit to accumulate in the litterbox without cleaning it up, I wouldn't have voted for them in 2006...

Worse than useless...would CATS take crap from anyone? Hell no, they'll scratch and bite you until you desist. A lesson that the Democrats should learn and quickly.

Then again, even if they won a few more Senate seats, they would probably say that they can't cram legislation down the Republicans' throats because it would be partisan...



 Many things to say FFT about...

1. The media has extended what Jon Stewart calls the "Festival of Wrights." Can we have a media frenzy called HAGEEFEST? This guy demonizes the GLBT community, which I consider myself a card-carrying member, Catholics, believes that Jews must convert or DIE in the second coming, encourages Armeggedon in the form of going to war against Iran to fulfill Biblical prophecy...

2. The media won't ask John McCain the hard questions because they don't want to lose access to his fabulous BBQs. (I hear he fires up a mean grill...)

3. Senator Clinton is using tactics straight out of the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy.

4. The fact that the Pentagon is using illegal propaganda to influence public opinion about the war in Iraq, yet what Reverend Wright said is much more important. What next?

5. Senator McFlipflop is flip-flopping on almost every issue, but the Media won't do anything about it.

6. The Democrats can do nothing more than to send stern letters to this criminal administration, letters that either get pissed on, used as toilet paper, or laughed at, at best.

7. McCain can call Obama an elitist, but he and his wife are worth over $100 million, have 8 homes, and well votes in favor of his rich constituents.

8. McCain can have a reputation of being a maverick, but he's just one more establishment candidate.

Hey Y'all! Of course MY TRUE candidate is Pumpkin, but since we lowly humans are running for president, we have to endorse a candidate. I'm not saying we should do it as a group, because as CATS or people who wish to be CATS or just plain CAT lovers, we realize that CATS cannot be herded. Thus, we cannot be herded either because we should follow their ideal...so I'm only telling you my endorsement.

It is Dennis Kucinich, a TRUE MAN of Peace. His idea of the Department of Peace won me over, except that we have Cody as the Secretary...in our FELINE cabinet.

This post is a response to Tuesday Topic #2 in which I am trying to argue that we suffer from a dangerous empathy-deficit...

the problem with us aMEricans is that we do not have empathy for the "other." We have been raised to believe that America is and always will be right, that we always have the best intentions for the world, and that we have only altruistic intentions for the rest of the world. What history book covers the CIA coup in Iran in 1953? What history book covers the brutality in which we suppressed the Filipino independence movement right after the Spanish-AMERICAN War? Besides the universities, our students are not being told of the darker side of our history. It's not all to be proud of, but our students would not know that.

Take for example, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. How many of us think that it was a glorious show of might makes right and a justified action to save American lives? Do we ever think that there could have been another option? Perhaps we could have bombed an isolated atoll in the Pacific to impress the Japanese. Perhaps if we might have allowed the emperor of Japan to keep his throne as a ceremonial figure such as the monarch of England and had expressed our willingness to make this concession if you may to the Japanese, perhaps the lives snuffed out by the incinerating pillar of death and sorrow might have been spared. As Dong Long points out, the doves would have cast their lots with the most fanatical of hawks if the Americans had insisted on disposing the emperor. Perhaps if we had not spent the whole war dehumanizing the Japanese who appeared as monstrous vampire bats flying over to suck out the vitality of our country, we might see the other side and have empathy for them.

We see this dehumanization of the enemy or the other throughout our history, especially when it comes to war. Who can forget Colonel John Chivington's infamous words when he ordered his men to massacre the Cheyenne and Arapahoe at Sand Creek, "kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice." Who can forget the dehumanization of the Koreans and Vietnamese when we could not distinguish between the "friendlies" and the enemy (which would tragically lead to our troops massacring innocent civilians caught in the crossfire)? Who can forget the countless numbers of victims whose lives were destroyed in our everlasting quest for Manifest Destiny?

This is the tragedy of this war today as it seems like we are doomed to repeat the terrible decisions we have made in the past instead of atoning for our actions. Can anyone tell me the difference between what we are saying about the people of the Middle East to what Chivington said about the innocent women, men, and children his troops were about to massacre? Can anyone point out the difference about how we brutally dealt with the Filipinos who wanted us out of the Philippines just as the Iraqis desperately want us out of Iraq? We are bombarded with stereotypes of the people of the Middle East as vicious terrorists, suicide bombers, radical fanatics, "ragheads," "towelheads," etc. that we cannot see them as humans. This is why you can have ignorant and unfeeling cowards advocating for turning the whole Middle East into a concrete parking lot or whatever the phrase is. We cannot see that the Iraqis might WANT a democracy, but that they don't want it imposed at the point of a gun barrel. We cannot see that the Iraqis do NOT want their oil in the hands of multinational corporations and that they like any other country would want control of their own natural resources. We cannot see that the Iraqis who have lost children, fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, etc. are turning against us because we promised them that things would be better than it was under Saddam.

It is pointless to ask us Americans how we would feel if another country invaded our country. Would we be not in arms becoming the freedom fighters we so despise in Iraq right now? You can't ask that question, because the answer will be, "No one has the strength to invade America. No one would dare invade." No, we can only see the Iraqis as an ungrateful childlike-people who much like a lion cub we are raising would someday turn on us, ungrateful and oblivious to the fact that we are "helping" them and "liberating" them. We cannot see that we are the aggressors and occupiers of an occupied country. If we did not condemn the French for establishing a resistance movement against the Nazis, then why do we not extend the Iraqis the same courtesy? Yes, that's right, because they are resisting us. Sympathy for the French Resistance or the Prague Spring rings hollow when we do not extend the sympathy for those whom we have been oppressing.

You cats have no idea how bad Bush really is! You've never had to live with the creep like I have to. Just check out my profile page for the tale of what George did to our feline ex-family member Ernie.

"It is the first plausible thing I've heard in seven days."

- Dobson after he read that there were rumors about a possible prank perpetrated on Foley by the pages.

Dobson is no Man of God. He is dismissing the Mark Foley sex scandal as nothing more than a joke perpetrated by a bunch of mischievous, probably liberally-minded and biased teenage pages who were doing the bidding of the Party of Satan, I mean the Democratic Party. If Foley was a Democrat, Dobson would be up in arms sending out emails to his Focus on the Family subscribers and the churches, BEMOANING the fact that our poor children could be at prey from a child predator. He would be saying how inappropriate it was for a 52-year old man to be asking 16-year old boys for their pictures. He would still be blaming the homosexuals of course, but he would also blame the Democrats for being the “party of pedophilia.” (By the way, he has not condemned any Republican for molesting or raping small children, which must mean that he condones any type of behavior as long as you have the right Letter by your name. This folks, is a supposed so-called Man of God.) Maybe it'd be better to call the Republicans the party of pedophilia and prostitutes, instead of the party of family values, unless you count protecting your own political buddies over protecting children family values.

DOBSON: We condemn the Foley affair categorically, and we also believe that what Mr. Clinton did was one of the most embarrassing and wicked things ever done by a president in power. Let me remind you, sir, that it was not just James Dobson who found the Lewinsky affair reprehensible. More than 140 newspapers called for Clinton's resignation. But the president didn't do what Mr. Foley has done in leaving. He stayed in office, and he lied to the grand jury to obscure the facts. As it turns out, Mr. Foley has had illicit sex with no one that we know of, and the whole thing turned out to be what some people are now saying was a -- sort of a joke by the boy and some of the other pages.

If I were Clinton, I would have probably lied to the grand jury about having an affair too. It’s embarrassing and I would have wanted to cover it up. Yet Dobson remains silent at this latest episode, preferring to blame the victims. It must be the victims’ fault because they perpetrated the hoax even though the evidence against Foley is overwhelming. Then again, what ABCNews showed us with those disgusting online conversations must be an illusion of Satan meant to disgust the evangelicals so much so that they stay at home. What a joke.

If Foley was the victim of a joke as Dobson claims he was, then WHY in the world did he resign? Did he resign for being gullible? Yes, Dobson would like for you to believe that. But since Foley is a Republican, and Dobson WANTS the Republicans in power, he is doing his best to diffuse this scandal so that his evangelicals stay motivated to go to the polls this November 7th. He is trying to imply that Republicans would NEVER stoop down to such a level and this must be a vast left-wing conspiracy to discredit the party of family values.

Dobson is the same one who encouraged this a while back to protect your child from the evil mind-controlling homosexual agenda with this gem of a soundbite…and he calls himself a child psychologist of all things!

"Meanwhile, the boy's father has to do his part. He needs to mirror and affirm his son's maleness. He can play rough-and-tumble games with his son, in ways that are decidedly different from the games he would play with a little girl. He can help his son learn to throw and catch a ball. He can teach him to pound a square wooden peg into a square hole in a pegboard. He can even take his son with him into the shower, where the boy cannot help but notice that Dad has a penis, just like his, only bigger."

Me thinks it’s better for a parent not to follow this sick piece of advice.

Lastly for the ten millionth time, PEDOPHILIA does NOT EQUAL homosexuality.

Blaming GAYS for this scandal

As Rothbardian points out on this post, the Religious Right was quick to point to the real culprit in the Mark Foley case: homosexuals! :sarcasm: I would like to also add that the RR was slow to react to this because Foley is a Republican and a family values guy with a 84% rating from the Christian Coalition as recently as 2004.

They feel no sympathy for the victim but would rather want to use the scandal to further demonize homosexuals. They refuse to realize that pedophiles don't care as long as they target a CHILD, girl or boy. They refuse to recognize that because it's easier for them to see 52-year old man going after 16-Year old boy. OMG that must mean HOMOSEXUALS are to blame.

As I said pedophiles have NO PREFERENCE but let a renowned expert in the field of abnormal psychology tell you…

From Abnormal Psychology, 12th edition…(summary of the section on pedophiles)

According to (Marshall, 1997) almost 100% of all pedophiles are male but 67% of their victims are not boys but girls. Whereas the proportion of cases involving the same sex are proportionately higher than the rate of homosexuality in our population, the Religious Right refuses to see that this does not necessarily mean that homosexuality is connected to or causes pedophilia. This is just to show that pedophiles DON’T GIVE A DAMN whether their victims are boys or girls as long as they are prepubertal. ACCESSIBILITY is the key as Ex-gay Watch points out. Take for example the Catholic Church and the altar BOYS. Any pedophile priest would have easy access to these boys and look what happened. However Paul Cameron’s science “proving” that pedophiles are children (he once used a sample of 11 children to “prove” his claims, but he has a history of using small samples which cannot help but to have a large sampling error).

Source Abnormal Psychology, 12th edition. James Butcher et. Al (2004)

I must admit I am shocked that I am even surprised that Focus on the Family and its ilk would stoop too low as to exploit this tragedy for political gain in their war against homosexuals. They accuse the Democrats of being political opportunists but in this day of age, it seems that if you point out wrongdoing and criminal behavior by Republicans, it’s only a game of GOTCHA or taking advantage of it politically. In the world of the GOP, scandals by the GOP are transgressions that should be forgiven while Democrats should be pursued scandal or not and prosecuted like the hell-bound sinners they are. In this world, anyone who belongs to the GOP can beg God for forgiveness and everything will be alright while anyone who is a Democrat can never be forgiven and must be held accountable (which they should be without the double standard our Republicans are employing on Capitol Hill).

Instead of attacking homosexuals for this scandal, they should be attacking Representative Foley for his reprehensive behavior, but because there is a R next to his name, they are loathe to do that. It is easier to see him not as the victimizer but as the victim of the gay agenda that must have brainwashed him or anything. Notice how there is hardly any condemnation (perhaps they see Foley as a victim of this supposed PC game the GAY AGENDA is playing). It is easier to blame the gays because well this scandal and the cover-up dispels the myth that Republicans are the party of family values while Democrats are the party of child molesters. It is easier to shift blame away from Foley while condemning homosexuals because this scandal does not fit their world view. If Foley was a Democrat, Focus on the Family would be calling down brimstone and fireballs from heaven upon his house. Robertson would be calling down Holy Lightning from the skies above. Falwell would have an aneurysm just exploding over this scandal, but since Foley is a Republican, I guess as long as he expresses remorse, we shouldn’t really do anything about it. I guess family values means protecting your own before the well-being of children. I guess it means that since the GOP could be equated to a family, this just means that you hush up instead of turning a family member in. Family values GOP style.

Perhaps we should blame everything on the gays now. Jack Abramoff scandal? Blame the gays! War in Iraq a disaster? Blame the gays in the military! However, I wonder how you can blame the e.coli outbreak in our spinach on them. I'm sure the Republicans will find a way...

Folks, this is the Focus on the Family playbook…let us adapt to it and counter back as we should.

and the notion that Democrats are to blame for this scandal and that they knew of this scandal way back is just laughable. Wouldn't you think they would have brought the issue up in 2004 to counter the myth that Republicans were the best party that espoused our nation's "family values?"

It figures that two of my LJ friends would start CatsagainstBush. I just had to join! Who wouldn't? Albert and Victoria applaud your efforts.

Link

This is a small victory against the Litterbox Administration that must not be in vain. We may have won a small battle but we haven't won the war yet. The hotline may be saved yet, but the administration is still after it...

As stated here, what's to prevent employers from reading a blacklist of those who call the hotline and refusing to hire that someone because the employer doesn't want to pick up the cost for health care? A person who recovered from his/her ordeal would still be on the blacklist...We don't need to return to the days of the blacklist whether it was against supposed Communists or labor organizers.

Petition to keep suicide prevention Confidential and PRIVATE...