April 17, 2008
Last October, I mentioned that The Bahamas was (were?) finally started to wake up to the reality that if you treat homos like garbage, homos won’t spend their vacation dollars in your island/country/town.
It ain’t rocket science.
Of course, not too many homo-haters in this country, the Grand Ol’ U.S. of A., are even close to rocket scientists. Sally Kern — about whom Buffy has written extensively on The Gaytheist Agenda — would be lucky to pass a course in the Science of Tying One’s Shoes.
Luckily, Oklahoma is not filled with Sally Kerns (although we do question the very humanity of the dipsticks stupid — or just hateful — enough to vote for her), and is beginning to understand that homophobic hatred could cost the Sooner State some serious money.
Not that we Sneaky Homosexual Agendaists were planning to descend en masse and rename the place Oklahomo; no, it’s this, via The Journal-Record:
OKC Chamber: Kern spooks big biz relocation consultant
OKLAHOMA CITY — A San Francisco Bay-area financial services company has not yet ruled out Oklahoma City for a major office relocation, a vice president of a real estate search firm confirmed. A decision is expected in three to four weeks.
But Tom Maloney, vice president of California-based Staubach Co., would neither confirm nor deny that the 1,000-employee, AAA-rated client company’s top executive is a lesbian who expressed concern over Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern’s recent anti-homosexual statements, as has been the topic circulating among local business leaders.
Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said the issue is a major concern the chamber is trying to address. He confirmed a Staubach consultant was troubled by Kern’s comments during a recent visit to the city.
“He told us straight up … ‘I cannot recommend to any of my clients that they should consider Oklahoma City because of that,’” Williams said. “When you have one of the nation’s premier relocation experts making those statements, you should pay attention to that and not dismiss it.
“And that’s immediately what happened: People said, ‘Well, then tell them not to come here.’ …”
At the Commerce Department, Business Services Deputy Director Sandy Pratt said … Kern’s comments have not been raised as a concern: “It did not come up in any of the governor’s economic development team meetings with consultants or discussions we’ve had with consultants,” Pratt said. …
As for Kern’s comments, “They no doubt send a message out there that no city wants to send, and that is one of divisiveness instead of unitedness,” [Williams] said. For the last five years, the chamber has made a greater effort “to embrace differences and embrace diversity, to build a community that is open and welcoming to anyone.”
Well, that’s a very nice sentiment, Mr. Williams, but while Oklahoma City may be “open and welcoming to anyone,” the state of Oklahoma is very much stuck in the Dark Ages, thanks to your constitutional ban on marriage equality.
Sally Kern aside — and seriously, who is Sally Kern but just another dunderheaded bigot who’s done us the favor of showing the public just how mean and stupid homophobes can be? Sally Kern is a flyspeck in the cosmos. It’s the people of Oklahoma — the ones who decided to legislate their own gay and lesbian neighbors into permanent second-class citizenship — who are the problem. It’s nearly impossible to comprehend that the marriage ban isn’t Staubach’s biggest concern: Staubach’s LGBT employees will have no rights in Oklahoma.
Interestingly, Indianapolis is also on Staubach’s list of potential new homes. Wake up, Staubach — Indiana is hardly better than Oklahoma; aside from the fact that Indiana refuses to recognize any same-sex marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership established in another state, and aside from the fact that a state constitutional ban on marriage equality failed in February, the issue is far from dead: Both houses of the state legislature favor a ban, and there’s an ongoing push to put the issue to the voters. And (especially when you consider that over the past seven years, only one state, Arizona, was able to beat back a marriage amendment) you know what that means; to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin (and mix in a little Ayn Rand), when you allow the majority to vote on the rights of a minority, you’ve got two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Staubach, you need to reconsider this move. I’m assuming you want to leave California because it would be cheaper to do business somewhere else.
But you’ve got to ask yourselves which is more important: money, or doing the right thing.
Meh, I know: It’s business. And money always trumps the right thing.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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Category:
Caribbean,
Employment/ENDA,
Hate Speech,
Indiana,
Marriage Equality,
Oklahoma,
United States
March 11, 2008
Republican (of course) Oklahoma state Representative Sally Kern — “representative” of no one but lying, delusional, gay-bashing bigots — got caught on tape bashing queers with her perverted brand of Christianity, repeating outright lies from the Paul Cameron School of Making Up Shit for Fun and Profit, and then claiming she’s not a lying, delusional, gay-bashing bigot.
Oh, and Muslims? She slammed you, too. Big-time.
Buffy’s got the audio, and Kern’s contact info should you care to share your reaction.
And here, out of Kern’s rambling style peppered with lots of “ums” and “ers” and “okays,” are the choicest bits of her vile spew:
The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation. ‘k? It’s just a fact. Not everybody’s lifestyle is equal, just like not all religions are equal. Y’know?
. . .
I’m not gay-bashing, but according to God’s word that is not the right kind of lifestyle. It has deadly consequences for those people involved in it, they have more suicides, uh, and they’re more discouraged, there’s more illness, they’re have — lifespans are shorter.
. . .
It’s not a lifestyle that is good for this nation. As a matter of fact, studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell of this country.
. . .
I honestly think it’s the biggest threat … that our nation has, even more so than terrorism. Or Islam, which I think is a big threat.
. . .
What’s happening now, they’re going after … in schools, two year-olds! You know why they’re trying to get early childhood education? They want to get our young children into the government schools so they can indoctrinate them.
. . .
They’re going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try to teach them that the homosexual lifestyle is the acceptable lifestyle.
. . .
Gays are infiltrating city councils. … Have you heard that the City Council of Eureka Springs is now controlled by gays? … There are some others … Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Tacoma … in Vermont, Oregon, West Palm Beach, Florida…
. . .
One of the things I did with in our legislature … a bill last year, that would notify parents … what clubs their students were involved in. And the reason I did that bill, primarily, was this: we have the gay-straight alliance coming into our schools. Kids are getting involved in these groups, their lives are being ruined, their parents don’t know about it! So I introduced a bill that said, you have to notify all clubs and things. And one of my colleagues said, “Well, you know we don’t have a gay problem in my county. So that’s why I’m voting against that bill.” Well you know what? To me that is so dumb. If you’ve got cancer or something in your little toe, do you say, “Well, I’m just gonna forget about it, ’cause the rest of you is fine”? It spreads! Okay? And this, this stuff is deadly and it’s spreading and it will destroy our young people and it will destroy this nation.
What a hateful, mean, stupid human being.
We’ll follow up on the fallout (which has already begun) shortly.
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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FRI/Paul Cameron,
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Republicans
October 26, 2007
ORU in debt $52.5 million
Oral Roberts University is $52.5 million in debt — an amount on the decline but a burden keeping the college from improving its campus, university representatives said Wednesday.
The debt accumulated from “years and years and years and years of . . . borrowing,” said board of regents Chairman George Pearsons, who still was gathering information on the sources of debt.
. . .
ORU is paying its bills on the debt and working on strategies to reduce the debt and increase income, he said Wednesday.
“We’re not crippled,” he said. “We could use more finances just like any university could use more finances.”
The board is adopting a more hands-on role at ORU and is investigating the school’s use of money and other practices after learning of allegations of misspending, misuse of power and inappropriate relationships that later were made public in a lawsuit filed Oct. 2 by three former professors alleging wrongful termination or forced resignation.
More from Tulsa World
“years and years and years and years of . . . borrowing” *snort*
Why doesn’t Brother Oral just go on TV and tell his flock God’s threatening to kill him again if he doesn’t come up with the cash?
Meanwhile, Brother Oral returns to the scene of the cri– er, the probe, blames Sonny Boy’s indiscretions on the devil, and swears Old Scratch is not going to steal ORU:
Oral Roberts back at ORU
Oral Roberts returned to his namesake university for the first time in three years Monday and told a chapel packed with ORU employees and students fresh off fall break that no one would take away ORU.
Students had heard rumors that Roberts had returned to campus, but when he slipped into the chapel as George Pearsons, ORU board of regents chairman, was speaking, students nearby recognized him and let out a roar of a cheer that became the first of many standing ovations.
Roberts told the crowd that every allegation raised by a lawsuit against ORU and his son, university President Richard Roberts, was false. He said he was proud of ORU and its accomplishments “for the word of God,” and he said “the devil has come in to steal it away.”
“The devil is not going to steal ORU,” he said.
Oral Roberts said the university was born out of a healing ministry, and so ORU would turn to mediation this week to resolve the lawsuit.
“This will be over and behind us, and my son will be back and be president of Oral Roberts University,” he said.
. . .
Pearsons said in a written statement from ORU that whether Richard Roberts will return as president is undetermined.
More from Tulsa World
Mind you, that’s Christian mediation Brother Oral’s talking about. Funny, innit, how religious folks rail against the interference of the state in church affairs — but when it comes time to face the music in a purely civil (or criminal) matter, they want it all settled through Christian means.
But, just in case God forces ORU through the court system:
ORU hires law firm for probe
Oral Roberts University has hired the Washington, D.C., law firm of Miller & Chevalier Chartered to investigate allegations of misspent money and more made in a lawsuit that three former professors filed Oct. 2 against ORU, its board of regents and four administrators.
. . .
The review will result in a report to ORU regents, “who will take appropriate action,” the statement said.
ORU regents Chairman George Pearsons said this week that the board looked for a law firm that was high-profile, out-of-state and had not worked for ORU.
Pearsons said last week that ORU President Richard Roberts’ leave of absence during the investigation would help assure the public of the independence of the review.
More from Tulsa World
See also:
Everything You Need to Know About the Oral Roberts Scandal… So Far
Oral Roberts U Scandal: Exit Richie, Enter “Convicted Sexual Deviant”
More discussions in the Lavender Liberal Forums:
Scandal hits TV preacher’s academy
Oral Roberts University facing huge scandal
University leader requests leave amid lawsuit
Posted by: Sapphocrat
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October 17, 2007
Richard Roberts — you know, the son of Oral Roberts, who says he saw his dad raise a child from the dead — is taking a leave of absence as president of Oral Roberts University… just days after telling Larry King he would do no such thing, ’cause “I’ve not done anything for which I should have to step aside.”
Well, nothing except maybe spend buttloads of university money to redecorate his house eleven times in fourteen years, fly his daughter and her friends (on the university jet, natch) to Orlando to the tune of twenty-nine grand, use university employees to do his kid’s homework, and his wife!– well, everything’s deliciously documented here.
Anyway, it’s no surprise to us that Richie’s stepping down “until such time as these matters can be resolved”; the latest wrinkle that pricks up our ears (eyes?) is this tidbit from CNN:
The lawsuit [filed earlier this month, (which) contends that the professors lost their jobs at the Tulsa, Oklahoma, university after reporting information indicating that Roberts and his family lavishly spent school money for personal expenses] was amended recently to accuse the school of giving a “convicted sexual deviant unrestricted access to students” and of shredding evidence three days after the suit was first filed.
Interessante, no?
Stay tuned.
See also:
Everything You Need to Know About the Oral Roberts Scandal… So Far
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Posted by: Sapphocrat
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October 9, 2007
Future home of Oral Roberts Ministries
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First, some background: Oral Roberts is the ex-Pentecostal (we suspect the terminally - slain - in - the - spirit Pentecostals weren’t radical enough for him) who started his own ministry in the late 1940s, and opened Oral Roberts University (PDF) in Tulsa, in 1963 — on a direct order from God.
God, it seems, spent a lot of time giving Oral direct orders; in 1977, a 900-foot-tall Jesus told Roberts to build the City of Faith Medical and Research Center. Of course, building a hospital takes some serious money — so, in 1987, God tried to extort $8 million dollars out of Roberts, or He’d kill him.
Well, OK — Roberts said that God would “call him home.” In any case, through a televised plea so anguished it rivaled Jimmy Swaggart’s award-worthy perfomance as he begged forgiveness for his “moral failure,” Roberts managed to raise more than $9 million — in part because a few of his followers were afraid God wasn’t going to “call him home,” but that Roberts was planning on committing suicide if his fundraising bid failed.
But Roberts’ God was a greedy god. A few years earlier earlier, Jesus had reappeared to commission Roberts personally to find a cure for cancer. Ol’ Oral let Jesus down, the medical school went bankrupt, and Oral had to sell off the hospital to cover its crushing debts, in 1989.
As a consolation prize, God began using Roberts’ ministry to raise the dead. In fact, Roberts himself brought a dead child back to life (his son Richard swears so — but more about Richard in a moment). Too bad Roberts’ God was also a cruel God; had he gifted Roberts with this ability earlier, Roberts could have resurrected his daughter and son-in-law, who died in a car wreck in 1977, and his eldest son Ronald, who committed suicide in 1982.
With that, we turn to today’s MO’Kelly Report, “Mrs. Dick Roberts Gettin’ Her Freak On” (which is really just a re-cap of the AP story, “Scandal brewing at Oral Roberts,” but far more entertaining):
Fast forwarding twenty years, it’s nice to see that Oral’s family is making good use of that money. This week, Oral’s son and president of Oral Roberts University Richard Roberts began answering to numerous allegations of financial misconduct and questionable behavior by himself and family members.
No…the word “questionable” doesn’t even begin to adequately describe the allegations. Mo’Kelly will just run them down for you quickly.
• According to a lawsuit, he asked a professor in 2005 to use his students and university resources to aid a county commissioner’s bid for Tulsa mayor. Such involvement would violate state and federal law because of the university’s non-profit status. Up to 50 students are alleged to have worked on the campaign.
• A longtime maintenance employee was fired so that an ahem…”underage” male “friend” of Mrs. Roberts could have his position. (Stone-cold freak alert! Flash the yellow light)
• Lindsay Roberts (Bob’s wife) — who is a member of the board of regents and is referred to as ORU’s “first lady” on the university’s website — frequently had cell-phone bills of more than $800 per month, with hundreds of text messages sent between 1 a.m. to 3 a.m. to, ahem… “underage” males who had been provided phones at university expense. (Sound the alarm! Stone-cold freak alert!)
• The university jet was used to take one daughter and several friends on a senior trip to Orlando, and the Bahamas. The $29,411 trip was billed to the ministry as an “evangelistic function of the president.” (Mo’Kelly got a “senior trip” to Disneyland which cost all of $40).
• Lindsay “Freakmama” Roberts spent more than $39,000 at one Chico’s clothing store alone in less than a year, and had other accounts in Texas and California. She also repeatedly said, “As long as I wear it once on TV, we can charge it off.” The document cites inconsistencies in clothing purchases and actual usage on TV. (With all the underage…ahem, “friends” it’s a wonder she had time to put/keep any of the clothes on.) …
Plus, notes the Christian Broadcasting Network (which is probably no great fan of Roberts’; we need a scorecard to keep track of which televangelist ministries are in bed together, and which hate one another, from moment to moment), that a lawsuit filed by three former ORU professors claims that “the Roberts’ home was remodeled 11 times in the last 14 years and had university employees doing his daughter’s homework.”
CBN also notes (with glee?) that using ORU “students and university resources in a local mayor’s race… could jeopardize the school’s tax exempt status.”
We can only hope.
Of course, Richard Roberts is denying everything, and whining like a little boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar: “I am not intimidated by blackmail and extortion. Make no mistake about it, this suit is about money.”
Oh? We can’t wait to hear who’s been blackmailing you, Richie. Was it a 900-foot-tall archangel acting as goomba for God’s hit squad?
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Posted by: Sapphocrat
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