Pedantic Political Ponderings: 2012-06-10

16 June 2012

Praise: President Barack Obama on Pride 2012

President Obama spoke on 15 June 2012 to some of the LGBTQ Community who were invited to a reception at the White House.

13 June 2012

FollowUp 5: Eugene Delgaudio Lies About Legislation Again

Some,

The Homosexual Lobby is ready to launch their next major push to seize control of the Republican Party:

Oh my. The dreaded "Homosexual Lobby". The catch is, there is no organized homosexual lobby. Yes, there are groups like the Human Rights Campaign and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, but no lobby in the sense that Mr. Delgaudio means.

A "conservative" Super PAC to buy Republican legislators.

The Homosexual Lobby has been infiltrating the once-conservative party for years.

New sham groups like GOProud and Log Cabin Republicans have tried to convince Republican legislators that it is okay to be conservative and pro-radical homosexualism.

Now this is funny. Many in the LGBTQ Community have been at odds with the Log Cabin Republicans and more recently GOProud for a long time. Since the Republican Party has had denial of equality to the LGBTQ Community as a Platform Plank for years, there are many who think that these folks should not endeavor to be in bed with the enemy. Their response is that if we do not engage the GOP, joining and attempting to influence them, then we will never make inroads and eventually achieve equality.

Still, aside from the gay squabbles, GOProud and the Log Cabin Republicans are fairly small organizations. Mr. Delgaudio is correct that they have been members of the Republicans (infiltrating) for years. But they cannot have been both doing so for years and be new groups. He has to choose one or the other. While many liberal gays think they are sham, the members of those two organizations are real and are quite serious about what they are doing.

And they’re doing it with their swollen bank accounts.

It’s no secret that the Homosexual Lobby has access to more funding than the pro-Family Movement.

Vast amounts more.

This exaggeration is because Mr. Delgaudio is referring to himself and his donors as if they are the entire so-called "pro-Family Movement". That the National Organization for Marriage has tens of millions of dollars in annual donations, including from the presumed Republican presidential nominee, does not count in Mr. Delgaudio's tallies. Neither do the resources of the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and their allies like the Witherspoon Institute.

And last summer, it was this unlimited funding that persuaded four NY state senators to betray the voters who elected them by voting for homosexual “marriage.”

So, according to Mr. Delgaudio none of these four Republican state senators had a thought about being fair to all of their constituents as they claimed. The gay lobby bought and paid for these state senators just like the National Organization for Marriage has pledged hundreds of thousands of dollars to those who would oppose them in the next election. But, money dedicated to bigotry is okay while money dedicated to equality is evil.

And the man who played an instrumental role in New York is leading this newest push.

Paul Singer is a billionaire who claims to be conservative, but he is fighting with his vast fortunes to institute homosexual “marriage” across this nation.

I don't know Mr. Singer so I can't speak to his individual politics other than to note that he does indeed appear to be pushing for equality among Republicans. What I do know is that there is more than one kind of conservatism. I am a fiscal conservative (albeit not one who screams socialism at any hint of new spending, just a citizen who appreciates a frugal government). Mr. Delgaudio is a "social conservative". These are hardly the same.

As part of the fight in New York last summer, Singer was responsible for more than $11 million being spent to push homosexual “marriage” through.

He openly gave each of the four Republican traitors a quarter of a million dollars for their vote!

If that were true then Mr. Singer and all four state senators would be in a state prison. I am certainly willing to believe that Mr. Singer donated generously to each of the four. But buying votes is illegal; I'm told it is still illegal even in New York.

And now he wants to repeat this strategy in the more than 30 states which outlaw homosexual “marriage.”

Singer has created a new radical pro-homosexual Super PAC specifically to infiltrate the Republican Party.

His “American Unity PAC” has only one purpose: Find conservative politicians who are weak on moral issues -- or just desperate for money -- and buy their votes.

Well, if one goes to the American Unity PAC webpage, there is only a Facebook link. Really. There is nothing there.

Slate Magazine ran a short article on this a few days ago. It does appear that Mr. Singer's goal is to sway Republicans to marriage equality.

Hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer is one of the country’s most important Republican donors. The 67-year-old is also a big supporter of gay rights, giving more than $10 million of his own money to equal rights causes across the country. Now Singer tells the New York Times’ Frank Bruni that he, along with some like-minded Republicans, will be putting forward $1 million to launch a new super PAC with the sole mission of encouraging GOP candidates to back marriage equality.

Back to the letter from Eugene Delgaudio.

Singer provided $1 million out of his own pocket to start this up, but he won’t stop there.

He is guaranteeing politicians that if they support homosexual “marriage,” he will keep the money flowing. It won’t matter if their own constituents reject them, Singer and his Super PAC will make the traitors rich.

The word traitors is entirely wrong and to be expected of Mr. Delgaudio. Supporting equality for all of one's constituents is far from being a traitor. It is being a small-c conservative. Perhaps a dictionary would help Mr. Delgaudio with that word (eleven meanings given at the link).

It is no coincidence that they announced the new radical Super PAC when they did.

Only weeks ago I had the pleasure of announcing that Public Advocate and its supporters were able to drive Sen. James Alesi from office.

Isn't it interesting that the National Organization for Marriage made the same pronouncement ... that they had driven Mr. Alesi from office.

Mr. Alesi was one of the four Republican traitors who received slush funds from Paul Singer.

But you and I still got to him.

And the pro-Homosexual “conservatives” realized that they would have to do even more to weather the pro-Family storm of fury.

So they are going to spend even more money than ever before to buy the Republican Party -- to add the Homosexual Agenda to the conservative platform.

Let's be realistic for a moment. Given that Willard "Mitt" Romney has donated to the National Organization for Marriage and signed a pledge to pass a Constitutional Amendment from the Family Leader or from the National Organization for Marriage to keep the LGBTQ Community as second class citizens. Given that the second and third and fourth place contenders for the Republican nomination, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and Ron Raul*, signed the same pledge. There is zero chance that the GOP Party Platform will be modified to include equality for all.

* I should note that Dr. Paul did not really sign the Marriage Pledge. He signed the Personhood Amendment Pledge. When it comes to marriage equality, Ron Paul favors letting each state decide, preferably to maintain the caste system.

My friend, this could be their most dangerous strategy.

You and I saw how they made it work in New York.

The only counter-strategy mainstream Americans have is dedicated grassroots lobbying.

Through phone calls, letters and public campaigns to expose them, you and I can fight back.

Public Advocate is the biggest threat to the Homosexual Agenda... you can be sure that this new Super PAC is going to target us in the near future.

Mr. Delgaudio should make sure that he tells this to Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, and Bryan Brown of the National Organization for Marriage. They each believe that they are the biggest threat.

For the Family,

Eugene Delgaudio
President, Public Advocate of the United States

And, of course, by "the Family" Mr. Delgaudio does not include my family. It is only families that meet a narrow definition of opposite gender spouses.

The letter was interesting in that it clearly demonstrates that Mr. Delgaudio, and likely many others among his fellow bigots, are scared of the impact that Paul Singer might have. In the short run, Mr. Delgaudio's letter goes on to a post script in which he begs for money as he always does. In the long run, equality will likely be the rule as it was for Blacks and for women. Perhaps Mr. Singer is tightening that timeline.

19 December 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
11 January 2012, FollowUp 1.
14 January 2012, FollowUp 2.
16 February 2012, FollowUp 3.
15 March 2012, FollowUp 4.

12 July 2012, FollowUp 6.

12 June 2012

FollowUp 3: Lost Drones

The AeroVironment Switchblade as seen at Stars and Stripes

The idea of having a drone in a war zone that weighs about five and a half pounds and can easily fit in a back pack and accurately take out enemy combatants is certainly appealing. The video, which appears to be pirated, of the Switchblade in action looks perfect for war environments.

The article at Stars and Stripes does not mention the range of the Switchblade. The official datasheet lists it as having a range of greater than five kilometers (a little over three miles). Would that limited range be enough to limit collateral damage (killing of innocent civilians)? Is it sufficient to attack hidden enemies in the field? Here's a little of the discussion from Stars and Stripes:

The Switchblade drone appears to be an improvement as an alternative to traditional drone strikes, in terms of minimizing civilian harm, but it also raises new concerns, said Naureen Shah, associate director of the Counterterrorism and Human Rights Project at Columbia Law School.

She pointed out that when a drone strike is being considered there are teams of lawyers, analysts and military personnel looking at the data to determine whether lethal force is necessary. But the Switchblade could shorten that "kill chain."

"It delegates full responsibility to a lower-level soldier on the ground," she said. "That delegation is worrisome. It's a situation that could end up in more mistakes being made."

Arms-control advocates also have concerns. As these small robotic weapons proliferate, they worry about what could happen if the drones end up in the hands of terrorists or other hostile forces.

The Switchblade "is symptomatic of a larger problem that U.S. military and aerospace companies are generating, which is producing various more exotic designs," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Assn. "This technology is not always going to be in the sole possession of the U.S. and its allies. We need to think about the rules of the road for when and how these should be used so we can mitigate against unintended consequences."

What happens when one of these is lost? Is there reason for more or less concern? Who will own these in ten years? We know that the Pentagon is purchasing fifty or more of these and is considering more than one hundred. How many will likely remain classified.

The really big questions are still out there: Have we really become the world's police service? Is that part of our designation now in the United Nations or in NATO? Is this Constitutional? Lots of questions with no clear answers.

14 December 2011, Original Pedantic Political Ponderings post.
1 January 2012, FollowUp 1.
4 January 2012, FollowUp 2.

1 July 2012, FollowUp 4.

11 June 2012

Praise: Silent March Against NYC Stop And Frisk

GLAAD produced the video. Their commentary on YouTube:

On June 5, 2012, at the historic Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, where a backlash against police harassment in June 1969 launched the modern LGBT rights movement, local, state and national LGBT organizations, convened by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, joined civil rights, labor, and elected leaders to announce support for the campaign against the NYPD's stop and frisk policy, and issue a call to action to for the LGBT community to participate in the June 17th Father's Day Silent March Against Racial Profiling.
http://silentmarchnyc.org/

Organizers of the Stonewall event unveiled an unprecedented and growing coalition of over 50 LGBT national, state, and local organizations standing together in support of the March.

The Silent March has been organized by the NAACP, National Action Network, and 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East.

For more information about the Stonewall event visit:
http://rwdsu.info/en/archives/6/historic-stonewall-inn-lgbt-groups-condemn-st...

Join the March and invite your freinds on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/events/341929132541010/

Join LGBT Against Stop and Frisk and Racial Profiling at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/307075602713658/

That the NAACP supports equality for the LGBTQ Community is not and should not be a one-way street. We do not improve our lot by stepping upon others, but by elevating all to equality. This is a powerful message from Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of Beit Simchat. It is an important message for all who treasure equality.

11 June 2012: Marriage News Watch

Various Direct Links