September 10, 2009

Dear Hawaiians: Between the Mormons and “Beat Haole Day,” You Can Have Hawaii Back

Honest, Hawaiians, I used to be in favor of returning Hawaii to independent sovereignty because it was the right thing to do. These days, the more I hear about Hawaii, the more I want to give it back… for reasons that aren’t quite so positive. So, have at it — this is one less haole you’ll have to worry about. The Mormons, however, are still your problem.

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August 13, 2009

Karger Warns Maine of Money Laundering by NOM, Mormons, Dobson, & Others

LOS ANGELES, CA / AUGUSTA, ME — August 13, 2009 — Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger sent a letter today warning top Maine election officials of possible money laundering by opponents of same-sex marriage.

The organization trying to overturn Maine’s same-sex marriage law, Stand for Marriage PAC recently turned in 100,000 signatures to place the question on the November ballot. These gay marriage foes hope to repeal LD 1020 — the law passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor allowing same-sex marriage in Maine.

Of the $343,689.50 raised to pay the Brighton, Michigan-based National Petition Management, Inc. to collect the signatures, only $400, or a mere .001 of that total came from individuals. The remaining $343,289.50 was given by various religious organizations and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family. The National Organization for Marriage (NOM) gave nearly half of that total, $160,000. The remainder came from Catholic organizations ($150,000) and James Dobson’s Focus on the Family ($31,000).

“It sure looks like they are trying to hide the donors in their latest effort to strip away marriage equality,” said Fred Karger. “There is no way these organizations like NOM and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland had all this money sitting in their treasuries (except for possibly Focus on the Family). They went out and raised it expressly for this campaign. It’s very expensive to hire these signature gathering firms to collect 100,000 signatures in a short period of time.”

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August 12, 2009

Bruce Wilson: C Street Group Paid for Bipartisan Congressional Hawaii Trip

As shown on Congressional travel disclosure forms obtained through Legistorm.com, a nonprofit dedication to government transparency, in February 2000 a bipartisan pair of US congressional representatives, Frank Wolf (R-VA-10) and former Democratic Ohio Congressional representative Tony P. Hall, traveled with their wives to Hawaii on what the two described as official US government business but the trip was financed by two interconnected fundamentalist ministries, Youth With a Mission and “The Family”, which both advocate Christian theocratic rule.

Suggesting they confused the agenda of those ministries with US government interests, representatives Frank R. Wolf and Tony P. Hall, who is now a US ambassador working to foster a Middle East peace initiative, each signed their names to statements on their travel forms…

The stated destination of Tony Hall’s and Frank Wolf’s February 18-25, 2000 conjugal junkets was Kona, Hawaii, home of the international campus and headquarters of Youth With a Mission. YWAM is a global Christian ministry that owns the C Street House and whose founder Loren Cunningham proposes an ambitious plan for Christian domination in which believers achieve control of key societal sectors including government, business, media, and education: the 7 Mountains Mandate.

Much more, including document scans:

Related:
C Street / The Family / The Fellowship, Conservative Babylon

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August 1, 2009

U of Hawaii Head Coach Greg McMackin Suspension, Apology for “Faggot Dance” Remark Completely Meaningless

Video & more after the jump.

In short: McMackin described Notre Dame’s chant before last year’s Hawaii Bowl as a “faggot dance”:

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July 26, 2009

Just Unearthed: Hawaiian Homophobes: Donors to “Save Traditional Marriage ‘98″

Well, looky, looky here: A list of anti-gay bigots who contributed to killing marriage equality in Hawaii… in 1998.

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May 24, 2009

Ex-Los Altos, CA, Mayor, Incurably Anti-Gay Mormon Ron Packard Propagates Prop 8 Propaganda on PBS

Shame on you, Ron Packard.

Somebody’s in serious need of schoolin’, and there’s nobody else I see who’ll take him on, so… here I am. It won’t be the first time I’ve tried to get through to him, and it probably won’t be the last.

Settle in for a long one, friends — and if you’re not in the mood for a long one, bookmark this post and come back to it when you’ve got a bigger block of time to read — really read. This involves themes of power, denial, religious delusion, blame, accountability, and “ex-gay” suicide — themes far larger than any grudge I might hold against my homophobic hometown ex-mayor.

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May 28, 2003

49 & 50 = Smarter Than the Continental 48

Northern Revolt

Alaska Passes Anti-Patriot Act Resolution; Second State to Oppose Feds

Alaska has joined a growing national rebellion against the USA Patriot Act, voting to oppose the massive federal anti-terrorism law passed by Congress soon after Sept. 11, 2001.

The state Legislature used some of the strongest language yet in passing a resolution condemning USA Patriot, following the lead of Hawaii and 112 cities, towns and counties around the country that have passed similar resolutions against the law.

But Alaska’s measure goes further than most, advising police and other state agencies not to “initiate, participate in, or assist or cooperate with an inquiry, investigation, surveillance or detention” if there is not “reasonable suspicion of criminal activity under Alaska State law.”

“We have a concern that [the Patriot Act] could be abused. The potential for abuse is too great,” said Rep. David Guttenberg, a Democrat who co-sponsored the resolution. “America is an open state. There’s a cost to that. Where are we willing to sacrifice for that? Guys are dying on the battlefield to protect our freedoms. It’s up to us to protect those freedoms here at home.”

“We hope that a resolution like this, with the bipartisan support that it has, will urge Congress to re-examine the provisions of the USA Patriot Act that challenge the individual freedoms that make this country great,” said Rep. John Coghill, a Republican from North Pole who co-sponsored the resolution. “If we sacrifice our freedom, we let terrorism win.” …

Northern Revolt
ABC News
May 23, 2003

Read on, and you’ll see the expected rebuttal from “federal law enforcement sources,” who insist that that the civil-rights-gutting Patriot Act is essential for fighting the “war on terror,” yada, yada, yawn.

For some real doublethink, check out the last line of the last paragraph in the article:

Defending the Patriot Act, officials said the “hysteria” over reports that the FBI was watching libraries was stunning. The act does not specifically mention libraries, but library records would be considered business records, which are covered in the law. One senior official said surveilling libraries would be an “enormous waste of time and … would be an asinine use of FBI resources.”

Then why do you reserve the right to do just that — “surveilling” (which isn’t even a bloody word!) libraries — not to mention the plethora of ways the Act tramples the Bill of Rights?

Yeah, yeah, just another case of “Move along, nothing to see here.”

Well, hail, Alaska! I normally don’t dig on the Frozen State’s conservative politics, but the Patriot Act may turn out to be the one thing that really does unite liberals and traditional conservatives in the U.S. — at least temporarily. It goes completely against one of the most solid tenets of traditional conservatism and liberalism: keeping government small, and out of your private life.

The neocons running the country right now seem to know nothing of traditional conservatism. They’re so far off the scale that they’re actually pushing your average American lib and your average American con closer together, ideologically, than Joe American realizes.

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April 29, 2003

This Really IS Hawai’i’s Day!

Hawaii hate-crimes bill becomes law

An extension of Hawaii’s hate-crimes law to protect transgendered people and others whose gender identity might make them a target of abuse has become law without Gov. Linda Lingle’s signature. …

The bill, sent to Lingle on April 1, amends Hawaii’s hate-crimes law to impose longer sentences on convicts who intentionally victimize a person or their property “because of hostility toward the person’s actual or perceived gender identity or expression.” Three senate Republicans and eight house Republicans opposed the measure, which automatically became law without her signature 10 days after she received it for consideration. “It was just not something that I felt strongly about, but I know there was controversy on both sides,” Lingle said Monday when asked about the measure. …

The Advocate
April 30, 2003

Well, Governor Lingle, you might not feel strongly about it, but you can bet your muu-muu a lot of us feel very strongly indeed about recognizing the very real dangers faced by transgendered people, and doing everything in our power to protect the most invisible and maligned minority of all.

Perhaps if more states followed Hawai’i’s lead, Gwen Araujo and Brandon Teena might be alive today.

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Hawai’i No Ka Oi!

Ho, brah! Kama’aina akamai! Mahalo nui loa! Hawai’i, aloha au ia ‘oe!

HONOLULU — The American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii today applauded the state legislature for being the first in the nation to stand up for the rights of individuals by passing a joint resolution affirming and protecting the individual liberties of all the people of Hawaii and calling for the repeal of the most egregious provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act.

“The actions of the legislature truly represent the Aloha state — we are a diverse people, and we have a long, proud tradition of respecting human rights and upholding civil liberties,” said Vanessa Y. Chong, Executive Director of the ACLU of Hawaii. “We are proud to be the first state, hopefully of many, to recognize that our safety need not come at the expense of our individual rights and freedoms. This resolution sends a clear message to America — Hawaii want to remain both safe and free.”

The Hawaii House of Representatives adopted the “Reaffirming the State of Hawaii’s Commitment to Civil Liberties and the Bill of Rights” Resolution on Friday, on a 35 to 12 vote. The Hawaii Senate had approved the measure earlier this month.

The legislature’s action was a response to the USA PATRIOT Act, which was rushed through Congress with little deliberation in the immediate aftermath of September 11. The broad and overreaching bill contains many provisions that erode checks and balances on law enforcement and threaten personal privacy and civil liberties.

The resolution finds that many of the federal government’s recent actions “pose significant threats to Constitutional protections”; it further instructs aw enforcement in Hawaii to uphold the human rights, civil liberties and constitutional protections of Hawaii people. Furthermore, the state legislature calls upon the Hawaii Congressional delegation to work to repeal sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, other federal legislation, and Executive Orders that violate or place an undue burden on personal freedoms.

“In their attempt to make America safer, Washington also unnecessarily made America less free. Recent actions have granted the government too many powers; they went too far too fast,” said Chong. “Many of the powers can be used against innocent Americans, indeed, many of the powers are not specifically tied to anti-terrorism efforts. Hawaii proudly stands as the first state to demand that our civil liberties and personal freedoms not be eroded under the guise of national security.”

Ninety-three communities in 23 states across the country have passed similar resolutions. A similar resolution opposing the USA PATRIOT Act passed overwhelmingly with strong bipartisan support in the New Mexico House of Representatives, although it failed to reach the New Mexico Senate floor in time for a vote before the end of the legislative term. The city of Juneau, Alaska passed a similar resolution late Monday night.

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