The anti-gay marriagement amendment bill passed the Tennessee House last week and now goes before the TN voters in 2006. Shame on the Republican bigots for bashing gays to win votes in this state, and shame on the spineless Democrats who voted with them. Cheers for the few real Democrats in the Tennessee Legislature who voted against it, including Sen. Steve Cohen and Rep. Beverly Marrero (about the only two politicians in this state I have any respect for).

We can't count on the Tennessee Democratic Party to stand up for gay and lesbian civil rights, and we can't be too confident in some of our so-called "liberal" defenders. I was shocked to hear Leon Gray on the new Memphis "Progressive Talk Radio" 680 AM give one of his "gray matter" commentaries on gay marriage in which he tried to argue that gays should be treated like real people, but then qualified his own acceptance by saying he did not agree with the "gay lifestyle". This right-wing buzz word is totally unacceptable from a radio station that claims to be "progressive". The national personalities on Air America Radio are pretty gay-supportive and even inlcudes a few gays and lesbians! Why can't 680 AM include more gay supportive personalities locally? Leon Gray spouted out the same religious fundamentalist B.S. about the "gay lifestyle," and needs to get more educated.

In an email responding to my complaints, Leon Gray was initially very defensive and said "words will never hurt me." But then backed down a little and apologized if using the term "gay lifestyle" was offensive ( he claims ingorance on that.) I hope 680 AM is not going to make him the local radio personality to counter Mike Fleming, since they seem to share the same viewpoint about gays, and probably other things as well.

I'm tired of "liberals" who claim to support the civil rights of gays and lesbians (EXCEPT the right to marrry legally and have the same rights as hetero couples), but only becuase no one can or would want to "choose to be gay." First, I do choose to be gay, and I defend the right to CHOOSE to be gay if I want. Second, civil rights are not just something for people who cannot choose who they are or their own identity. The Constitution gaurantees us the freedom of conscience, including religious and political beliefs and identities, as well as assumed innate charteristics like sex and race (which are not totally biologically determined either!).

We have the right to choose our sexual and/or gender identity, regardless of the biological, pyshcological and sociological factors that shape those identities.
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I have had it with religious fanatics! Quit imposing your superstitions on me! The Catholic Church attacks the civil rights of gays to marry (The Pontiff calling gay marriage an "evil ideology), Christian fundamentalism threatens our Constitutional government from so many fronts I'm loosing count, and now the Republicans are winning over African-American as well as Catholic and fundamentalist white conservatives by opposing reproductive rights for women, gay marriage, and evolution! When will it end?

Bush and the Republicans in Congress have a new political wedge issue--they have intervened in the Terri Shiavo case just to appease the "Right to Life" fanatics who care more about zygotes and wasted sperm than they do about real living children and people targeted by U.S. bombs. How can "pro-life" people support the death penalty and an illegal unjust war that kills tens of thousands of innocent people???

The Republicans are using Terri Shiavo as a political weapon. George Bush is a two-faced hypocrite. As governor of Texas he signed legislation allowing hospitals to withdraw feeding tubes and life support from patients who did not have health insurance! Tom Delay has no right to be judging anyone's ethics and morality, since he is under investagions and ethical inquries.... This case is another attempt by the Republican Right to find a smokescrreen to cover their actions against the American people... (Social Security, Medicaid, bankruptcy laws for Credit card companies, fighting minium wage increases, etc.)

As for the Catholic Church and the Pope, I'm sick of them. I don't believe a cult that persecutes its opponents, opposes science and rational thinking, opposes birth control and women's reproductive rights, that teaches that a sperm is a human being, and which requires from its members the unquestioned acceptance the mumblings of a senile old man as the infallible word of god, has any moral authority.

And when will African-Americans quit being slaves to right-wing religious fundamentalism that threatens to tear the civil rights movement apart and undermine everything Dr. King was about.. rememeber "injustice against anyone is an injustice against us all" ???

Christo-Fascists are trying to eliminate the teachinng of SCIENTIFIC theories about the FACT of evolution not only from public schools, but from films. The Christo-Fascists in Memphis are trying to gete warning stamps on science textbooks challenging the teaching of evolution, and a new iMax film about evolution willl not be shown in many parts of the South because it contains theories about human evolution!

George W. Bush and the Republican Party are pandering to these fanatics, a minority of even Christian and Republicans, just to keep the Christian right base fired up and motiviated to vote for the GOP so they can continue their class war against the poor and working class. And religious fanatics seem to be willing to vote against their own economic interests to get the political support of the Republican party!

The greatest threat to our democracy is not in Iraq or the middle east.
Religious fundamentalism is the greatest threat to democracy.

Right-wing corporatists like to cry "class warfare" at anyone who tries to talk about economic inequality or the growing concentration of wealth in the United States, but who is really waging class warfare? The corporate rich!

This week the Republican Congress, with the help of some corporatist Democrats, supported legislation to make it more difficult for people to file bankruptcy and voted against amendments to help soldiers fighting in Iraq or Senior citizens! It was one of the most clearly pro-business (i.e., credit card company) sponsored pieces of legislation since Herbert Hoover! On top of that, they voted down legislation to raise the minium wage from $5.15 an hour (!)

Please read Greg Palasts book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" to understand what is happening to our government and our country...

The American people know that the wealthy and the corporate rich control our government and our media, and that money = power. So why can't politicians, especially Democrats, discuss this publicly without being accused of waging "class warfare"? Isn't that accusation from conservatives kind of like accusing slaves of slavery??

The Democratic Party MUST take up the issue of class warfare and contrasts progressive values of equality and social justice to the conservative values of greed and social darwinism. It is the winning ticket to take back this country...
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The same folks who brought us the "Swift Boat Veterans" attack ads on John Kerry are now attacking AARP. A group called "USA Next" which is a front organization of right-wingers who want to privatize (phase out) Social Security, is launching vicious ads that attack the AARP by trying to link the senior citizens organization to anti-American hatred of U.S. soldiers and to gay marriage! The ad claims that the AARP is just another anti-American "liberal" group that cares more about gay marriage than protecting Social Security. Never mind that the AARP has NEVER taken a position on gay marriage or the Iraq War. The ad also uses (steals) a wedding photo of a gay couple, illlegally, without their permission or compensation! Hopefully a lawsuit will be coming soon and this group will be exposed as another dirty right-wing attack dog for the Republican Party. It seems that attacking gays have become the Republican right-wing response to every issue, including Social Security!