LiveBlog for Thursday, September 30, 2010

BTW...WTF with this "Ground Zero Mosque - Freedom of religion or spoils of war" ad at the bottom of the page? The pic making it look like Obama's saluting a Muslim religious leader?

"What happened to the other guy invovled in the Rutgers incident?"

Calling lawyers, hopefully.

Have a good day, People.

Only your compassion and your loving kindness are invincible, and without limit
Thich Nhat Hanh

Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair, but manifestations of strength and resolution.
Kahlil Gibran

Have a great day, everyone!

True, that's called "Saturdays at Rush's".

http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2010/09/wisconsin-man... then there's this. The righteous anger jerks are bringing us all down as a society.

What happened to the other guy invovled in the Rutgers incident?

Did he play apart in setting the kid up or is he upset too?

Wow, that is stunning hate-mail!

I got a lovely thank-you postcard from B-Box after just making a donation!

100. That would put Fox Hate Network in jail. Good start.

#95 - great movie!

Here's the simple reason why hate crime needs to be recognized: it indicates a possible pattern of escalating crime and is damaging to American society as a whole.

If a person or group is targeting an entire segment of our society (due to ethnicity, melanin, religion, gender, sexuality, etc.), then they are trying to pull apart the fabric which holds us together. It is a form of terrorism, as the targeted group is supposed to alter their behavior in response to the attacks, be the act an invasion of privacy, cruelty (physical and verbal), assault, or murder. It must therefore be carefully monitored and prosecuted as damaging not only to the individual(s) involved, but the group at which the behavior was targeted, and, by extension, American society. One assault based in hate against a group is likely indicative of numerous others; hate crime is not at an individual, but a group, so that the victim him- or herself is no longer human, but a symbol of the hated group, and the criminal is likely to take their hate out on repeated victims identified as part of that group.

We're not American due to a set of genetic codes like the French, or Italians, or Turks, or Japanese. We're held together by ideas, and are from all over the world, and from all backgrounds. We're everyone, and everything; that's part of what makes our country so wonderful, but also part of what makes it so difficult to ensure we stay a (semi-)cohesive whole. Any one person or group targeting a segment of our society is targeting the very cohesion of our nation, and their crimes must be recognized as such a danger, not just to that group (which means repeat or escalation in crime is more likely), but to America.

Sorry to rant (and the incoherence, and the belated post), but that caller's argument really infuriated me.

My response - It's funny until the lawyers gets involved.

I think a civil suit would have a better chance.

#88 - Am I the only one who would like to make up a list for Mama and the Mooks of things like this...the Lucy names from here show, for example...that they get wrong over and over again?

Indeed, Chris.

It was either that or a laurel and hardy handshake, Steph. ;)

"Has there been anyone else who’s been killed for being gay?!!!!"

Guess we've all forgotten the "Jenny Jones Show" case already?

BTW, hope this asshat with his web cam is studying something good in college...since every cent he's going to make for the rest of his natural life is going to not just the family of the suicide victim in lawsuits but to the other guy whose privacy was also violated...

Hope someone has thought about the other guy in this situation.

90. Try eating them instead of inserting them next time

Charlies, I definitely understand. Kids let bullied for being different.

The sad thing is that maybe he wasn't even sure he was gay and was just exploring his feelings.

87. "I tried shrooms and all I saw were farting unicorns".

Mama needs to bulk up to be the Barefoot Contessa. Maybe the Hammer-Toed Princess?

It was Mister Mooney, Chris. She was Lucy Carmichael.

84. Try shrooms. Just sayin'

#76 - yes, saw that on Rachel last night, also Sen Mary Landrieu. They need to be sent home except that they are not running this year so no worries! Only problem is....we will remember next time they run. This should and will come back to haunt them.

Rock, B-Box!

Damn, I wanted the unicorn that farts glitter!

Yow!

Should warn those senior men to hide their Viagra.

I like the sparkler analogy. We can tinkle on it!

Republicans are bullies who never got punished, and corporate media fosters violence and lack of empathy with Republican memes and violent programming.

Every time a rich person uses that excuse I always want to ask them how many people they are personally planning to hire if they get that tax cut, and for what.

Yeah they want to end it while benefiting from it. Here's a great article on the hypocrisy of the right:

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/17390/21...

#76 In his hair, no doubt. ;)

Did anyone see Sen Ben Nelson gave a speech at the Heritage Foundation that he wants to extend the tax cuts to millionaires?

Any guy that spends that much time and hairspray on his hair is hiding something.

If you don't think a hate crime is any different than any other murder, then why do we have the term "genocide." Hate crimes are a type of genocide but rather than rounding up a bunch of people, individuals from a certain religion, sexual orientation, nationality, etc. are killed one by one.

Also, don't forget to talk to Rep. Shakowsky about her SOS (Stop Outsourcing Security) bill which is trapped in committee. It targets the mercenary corporations like Blackwater who operated outside the law.

#71: Someone should do a study to investigate how well the UCRW did in High School English/Lit when it came to empathetic reasoning. None of these people show the simplest ability to walk in another's shoes.

Marilu can see it in your eyes days later Jim.

Yep, she's a Food Cop.

#68 My theory (having been bullied as a high school student) is that they don't want to admit that they have engaged in behavior that could contribute to harming another person. The line I heard from a classmate at a reunion was "We were just trying to toughen you up."

Intention is the most important factor in murder, if I acidentlly hit someone with my car, I would hope it was considered different than a pre-meditated school shooting. Are we simply trying to put osama in jail for murder? No we consider his attempt to terrorize our whole country as something worse than murder. The same is true with anti-gay bullies, their attempt to terrorize a group by terrorizing a person is worse than if they were just bullying for the sake of bullying.

Would you believe there are people joining the In Honor of Tyler Cleminti Facebook page to bash him?

Sometimes I wonder if the reason they cling to this attitude is that we don't hear about people being bullied, tortured, lynched or murdered for being homophobes.

There is a reason why we have 1st, 2nd degree murder, manslaughter, negligent homicide, etc....

IT'S BECAUSE MOTIVE AND FORETHOUGHT ARE TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION

Is he suggesting that we do away with all of that?

#57 Good point, NathnlEE.

In the same vein, why are there mandatory minimum sentences for conviction on some drug offenses and not others (i.e. crack v. cocaine.)

Conservatives and libertarians are so afraid of slippery slopes. WTF is up with that?

Hate crimes are a special circumstance because they are committed to instill fear in a specific group of people...that's what terrorists do.

Live and let live? The repugs?? More like we need to legislate what you do with your body and how you worship.

Has there been anyone else who's been killed for being gay?!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust#Homosexuals

Yeah, yeah, I know... Godwin's Law...