GOP leader: calling me gay is a "scurrilous" insult

I'm visiting my mother in North Carolina this week, so I thought I'd take a moment to show you that Republicans up here aren't very different from those in Florida -- or elsewhere -- when it comes to discrimination, hate, and bigotry.

One of the candidates to lead the North Carolina Republican Party is suing a radio talk show host and the host's employer for defamation, alleging that the host said the candidate was gay.

Tom Fetzer, a former Raleigh mayor, said Tuesday he filed the lawsuit late Monday in Wake County Superior Court seeking a jury trial and monetary damages to defend and protect his name. He accuses Curtis Wright, who hosts a morning drive-time show aired on two stations, of forwarding an anonymous letter about Fetzer that Wright knew to be false.

Fetzer, a former political consultant who once worked with the late Sen. Jesse Helms, is one of four announced candidates seeking to succeed Linda Daves as party leader at the state GOP convention June 13 in Raleigh.

"It is justice that I seek, not vengeance," Fetzer said in a statement.

Ah, so Fetzer worked for Jesse Helms. At least now I see that he comes by his redneck bigotry honestly.

Anyway, take a look at what Fetzer says in his lawsuit about the suggestion that he might be gay:

The statements in the anonymous letter are "false and defamatory" and "tend to charge Mr. Fetzer with a crime or offense involving moral turpitude" and "disgrace and degrade" him, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit didn't contain the letter, and Fetzer's attorney didn't immediately respond to a request seeking a copy.

But Fetzer wrote to supporters May 22 that "I am not gay - never have been - never will be. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to support any of the scurrilous allegations made in the anonymous attack on me."

You see, according to the Republican Party, being gay is a crime of moral turpitude, it's disgraceful, and it's scurrilous to "accuse" someone of being gay. And because the talk show host Wright is a wingnut and his employer likewise, they're likely going to defend the case not on the grounds that there's nothing wrong with being gay, but on some other basis like the words weren't uttered, or there was no intent to defame, or something like that.

And therein lies the disconnect between Republicans, especially their batshit crazy Christianist leaders, and normal society. Read the article again, but this time substitute "African-American" or "female" or "disabled" or any other immutable characteristic you like for the word "gay." Is it "scurrilous" to be a woman? Is saying someone isn't white defamatory? Can you imagine a lawsuit in 2009 claiming defamation because someone said the plaintiff was disabled? Even if you filed such a lawsuit, you'd be laughed out of court so fast, your head would spin.

Sadly, today's GOP is so tone-deaf about their own bigotry that they're willing to go to court to proclaim it. And they wonder why, in normal society (that is, everywhere but the mainstream corporate media), they're being marginalized ...

(cross-posted at Daily Kos)

Too stupid to breathe: Tim Henderson

Believe it or not, some Huggy Bear supporters are not completely insane. Indeed, some of them are my friends and my family members. They have their reasons for being Republicans, and while I may not agree with them, I respect their choices.

And then there's this guy in Gibsonville, N.C., who's just a fucking asshole. He posted signs on the parking lot he operates telling Obama supporters that they're not welcome there:

What an idiot this Tim Henderson is. He's the kind of guy whom I'd like to see after the Obama landslide victory on November 4, just so I can laugh right in his smug fucking face. Even if he did finally take the signs down at the behest of his friend (and Obama supporter), Gibsonville mayor Lenny Williams, Henderson's still a prick. It's a good thing the hood he undoubtedly wears hides his identity ...

UPDATE (12:28 pm 10/10/08): I was just reminded about the best quote of all from Henderson in that video. He "takes offense" to Obama running for president. Takes offense?! Jesus. I take offense that I have to share a planet with that fucking moron Tim Henderson.

(h/t commenter D.P., Clearwater WingNut, via email)

My mother, the wingnut

There's a reason one button on my laptop bag reads, "My parents are Republicans ... but I still love them."

My mother, a staunch Republican who will turn 76 next month, is a resident of North Carolina where, recent polls show, Barack Obama has moved into a flat-footed tie with Huggy Bear. Although I'm loath to discuss politics with her normally, due to the fact that we don't agree on, well, anything, I couldn't help but note Obama's recent success in Mom's home state.

"Why are you so surprised?" Mom asked. "There's all those blacks here!" Taken aback a bit, I sputtered, "I don't understand, Mom. Are you saying the African-American population there is voting Democratic more than usual?". "Of course," she replied matter-of-factly. "They're all turning out to vote for the first black candidate!" As though this should be a shock, I guess ...

She went on: "They're even using buses to get black teenagers -- since teenagers can vote now -- to the polling places!" I responded, "Well, yes, that's 'Get Out The Vote' efforts. Democrats historically are better at that than Republicans, but there's no reason Republicans can't do that, too."

"I still don't see why it's such a surprise," Mom finally muttered. "We have a large black population ..."

I love my mom, but boy, is she short-sighted.

Obama flips Dems fail on FISA while another American stands up for principle

What an odd juxtaposition.

On the same day that Sen. Barack Obama Democrats failed to stand up for freedom and justice, when he they voted to give telecommunications companies retroactive immunity for illegal surveillance of U.S. citizens, we get word that another American did what was right -- and lost his job for his efforts.

L.F. Eason III [(left)] gave up the only job he'd ever had rather than lower a flag to honor former U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms.

Eason, a 29-year veteran of the state Department of Agriculture, instructed his staff at a small Raleigh lab not to fly the U.S. or North Carolina flags at half-staff Monday, as called for in a directive to all state agencies by Gov. Mike Easley.

When a superior ordered the lab to follow the directive, Eason decided to retire rather than pay tribute to Helms. After several hours' delay, one of Eason's employees hung the flags at half-staff.

See, Sen. Obama Democrats -- it's not that hard to take a stand, even if it's an unpopular one. There may be short-term repercussions, it's true ... but I, for one, would rather lose my job than compromise my integrity. I'm glad that Mr. Eason feels the same way.

It's called a spine, Sen. Obama Democrats. Oh, how I wish you had one in this instance.

UPDATE (2:57 pm 7/9/08): Correction: apparently Sen. Obama voted to remove immunity from the bill. Still, the Dems overall caved -- including Florida's own Bill Nelson -- so I've changed the title and body of this post accordingly. I was under the impression that Obama supported immunity. I regret the error.

Tales from a Wingnut Family

I'm in North Carolina as we prepare for my stepfather's funeral on Tuesday. (I've been asked to sing "Amazing Grace" at the services, which should be interesting. If you hear of lightning striking a church in eastern North Carolina on Tuesday, now you'll know why.)

I knew it would be a challenge dealing with my wingnut family -- especially the Chief Wingnut, my aunt -- but it's happening far more quickly than I expected. First, the beach house where my kids and I are staying had every television tuned to Fox News when we arrived. I blame my aunt. Turns out she watches almost nothing but FNC ... like, that's the background noise in the house at all times. Now, we're not staying with her, but I'm worried the insanity will affect my kids by osmosis or something. Jeebus.

Then, just got off the phone with my mother. We were chatting about the record heat this area is experiencing, and I made a remark about global warming. I shouldn't have. Mom explained that, well, it's been hot before and will be hot again, and the earth is just going through a natural cycle. (Her bachelor's degree, I should note, is in speech, not anything scientific ... but I digress.) But here's what really got me: she said "it's like they were saying" [no idea who "they" are] "since volcanic ash cools the earth so much, what we really ought to do is create more smoke and soot and that will keep temperatures down."

[pause to let that sink in]

I think she was serious. My brain hurts.

UPDATE (11:06 pm 6/8/08): For the record, yes, I know that the so-called "global warming" phenomenon really should be termed something like "global climate change," since it involves extreme changes in weather beyond just warming. But I just didn't feel that pedantic today.

However, I did attract the attention of a global warming climate change denier, which is hilarious. Dude has a degree in electrical engineering, which I guess makes him think he's qualified to arrive at the "scientific" conclusion that greenhouse gases have no effect. Kind of like my mother's speech degree, I suppose ...

And by the way, not to cast too many aspersions on the guy who derisively linked me up, but how many people with graduate degrees do you know who still boast that they were a National Merit Scholar? That's a high school distinction, dude ...