Today's Globe

• Horrifying. Racists burn down nearly finished mostly black congregation in Springfield, angry about Obama becoming President. Can we double or triple Obama's secret service, please?
  
• Renee Loth throws a fit. She's angry and outraged, mostly for good reasons, though more in the full-of-sound-and-fury, signifying-nothing kinda way, ie she offers no prescriptions. And did she really have to go into a video-games-are-evil meme at the end? So tired.
  
• Cape Wind is winning. Yay!
• Howard Dean's going into the private sector. Doesn't sound like he wants to. It's amazing to me that Obama didn't take Dean on. The 50 state plan, which wouldn't have happened without Dean, was a huge boon to the Democratic Party.
• The Globe editorializes that the state needs to step in to get schools to cut costs through measures like buying energy in bulk and the GIC, but in the end, the only way to really enforce large savings in budgets is to regionalize more schools. At the middle school and high school level, it's actually beneficial to kids, because it opens up more options, APs and other goodies. Then again, what would we do without all those wonderful Thanksgiving Day games?
• Varitek talks with Henry. Varitek was stupid to listen to Borass, who told Varitek to not accept arbitration, which would have assuredly granted V-tek $10 million or more next year. Now, no one wants the Captain, not even really the Sox, who seem more than content to trade for a young gun. That said, the 'Cap is going to have to take a pay cut and will almost certainly hit better than he did last year, a year in which he got divorced. If I got divorced, I think I'd play like horse manure too. So I hope he can suck it up, realize he made a mistake and pay the (admittedly stiff) price. For the right price, I'd love to have him back next year.
• Finally, don't forget to check out my first video blog, on Obama's inauguration and what it'll take to make sure his priorities match the progressive movement.
  

No Justice for Sean Kennedy, Killed for Being Gay

I'm so angry I could boil over. This is why we need a national hate crimes law that not only protects people on the basis of religion, age and ethnicity, but also sexual orientation.

That poor mother, who lost her child to a homophobic murderer, could see that murderer out on parole after a little over a year. He was only ever sentenced to 5, despite the fact that he chose to violently attack the kid because he was gay, leading to that kid's death.

Does anyone really think the person who committed such a heinous crime could have been rehabilitated in such short a time - or observed a just punishment for violently ending the life of another? No matter how you slice it, whatever your political perspective, this is disgusting. Yet it's the world we live in, because Republicans refuse to give gay people even basic protections or rights.

For Once, I Hate Being Right

Last month, I wrote a blog about how a Unitarian Universalist church in Tennessee was attacked by a loon who blamed liberal and gay people for his woes, including job loss, killing several peace-loving people. In his personal library was a copy of Michael Savage's book, "Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder," along with Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly's 'work.' While I wouldn't suggest it's their fault that this man went unhinged, certainly their work impacted who he decided to go all looney tunes against. Except, unlike the cartoons, these people don't come back when anvils are dropped on their heads in the form of a bullet through their heart.

Well, it's happened again.

A man barged into the Arkansas Democratic headquarters and opened fire Wednesday, fatally shooting the state party chairman before speeding off in his pickup. Police later shot and killed the suspect after a 30-mile chase.

Little Rock police spokesman Lt. Terry Hastings identified the suspect as Timothy Dale, 50, of Searcy. Police said they don't know a motive. However, they said that moments after the shooting he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager "I lost my job," said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official.

Right now, we have a lot of fanatics who are listening to the Michael Savage and Bill O'Reilly types. Many of these people are desperate, poor and unemployed. They're spurned on by a worsening economy and the buzz of an election. They're dangerous, quite frankly, especially when they're told (and believe) the hate speech that passes on the public airwaves every day as 'right-wing commentary.' They're told that liberals and gays are the cause of their problems and they're out to cleanse us.

Of course, most of the people who hear this speech and like it aren't quite so crazy as this most recent murdering scumbag. However, even in those cases there's still a major effect. It's effecting policy, it's effecting the intellectual curiosity of this country and it's effecting civil rights. The fact that the economy is going bad is only exacerbating these problems. A stronger economy will do a lot to solve these problems across the country, as will a purging of the hate speech over the public airwaves (hopefully by corporations that realize the damage they're doing to this country). However, unless we own this problem and realize that hate speech leads to hate-inspired attacks against groups of people, then these problems will get worse before they get better.

There will always be mentally unhinged people in this country, but the current policy setters aren't doing society any favors, and the current tone of this country and its corporate media owners are exacerbating the problems and feeding the hatred. Something's gotta give, or we're only going to see more examples of this Little Rock shooting - and those will only be the obvious examples.

My God: Unitarians Viciously Attacked in Hate Crime

I can't believe this.

An apparent stranger entered the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church Sunday and opened fire during a children's performance based on the musical “Annie,” killing two, according to published reports.

Jim D. Adkisson, 58, has been charged with first-degree murder and on Monday was being held on $1 million bail. Witnesses said some of the male parishioners present tackled Adkisson after he pulled a 12-gauge shotgun from a guitar case and fired at least three times. One of those killed was a burly usher who shielded others from the gunfire.

So, the big question: Why?

One witness said Adkisson shouted “hateful things” before opening fire. At a press conference Monday, the Knoxville police chief said that Adkisson was frustrated at his inability to find a job and blamed liberals and gays.

I wish conservatives could see these incidents and realize the consequences of their hatred and fears. This guy wasn't just an unhinged crackpot, he clearly had his influences.

"Inside the house, officers found Liberalism is a Mental Health Disorder by radio talk show host Michael Savage, Let Freedom Ring by talk show host Sean Hannity, and The O'Reilly Factor, by television talk show host Bill O'Reilly."

Here's the sad thing: while Republicans push for policies that harm the economy and make the working people of this country suffer, they prey (pray?) on the same-old social issues that don't effect anyone else, all to keep the populace in line. The result? There's a lot of poor people in this country looking for people to blame and end up targeting the wrong people - quite literally in this case.

Bent on attacking nearby liberals, Adikkson was suffering under decades of conservative influence on this country's policies. Adikkson shouldn't have tried to shoot all his local liberals and gays; he should have spent his time organizing against the nearest Republican candidate. If this country didn't waste so much time on hot button issues, instead focusing on policies that help the vast majority of Americans, maybe two more people would be alive today and Unitarians everywhere wouldn't feel under siege. Maybe the world would be a much better place.

More than a few incidents

Some people say hate crime laws can't be effective because it's really only people who are mentally imbalanced that commit the most heinous hate crimes, and obviously you can't stop them. Well, maybe we need to broaden our horizons.

Two ugly attacks on gay men, one fatal, have occurred in Fort Lauderdale in the last week.

Melbourne Brunner, the man I posted about yesterday who was brutally beaten after a late night meal outside a gay-friendly diner on Fort Lauderdale's Las Olas Blvd, thinks homophobic Mayor Jim Naugle bears some of the responsibility.

Naugle has been publicly demonizing gays for months. In July, Naugle proposed installing a timed, $250,000 robotic toilet in Fort Lauderdale public restrooms. Naugle, who claims he uses the word "homosexuals" to describe gay men rather than "gay" because gay people "are unhappy," has said that an added plus to having the toilets is that they would keep gay people from using the facilities. Last August, Naugle stood with right-wing religious leaders and held a news conference where the Rev. O'Neal Dozier said "We want the homosexual community to know that we love them and that God loves them also. But God hates the act of homosexuality."

Should it be any surprise that a city who's mayor has received national attention for his blatant homophobia, encouraging it in city policy, would also be a city where there's a hate-crimes eruption against glbt people? It's not a surprise at all: the hatred bubbling at the surface finally spilled over, with all the people riled up by a community disparaging gay people. Maybe we can't stop all murders from people who are unhinged, but there are certainly thousands of other hate crimes that happen every year that could be stopped - people who are beaten up and bullied for being gay, people who have their property targeted and vandalized and, yes, even people who are murdered for being gay, such as when an act of bullying goes wrong.

These are all crimes that are meant to target an entire community. A hate crimes law could help reduce all of them, as it has in the past for other minority and targeted communities that enjoy hate crimes protection. No minority or community should be targeted for a crime simply because they're a member of that community, and when it happens, those who commit the crime need to serve a time that's reflective of the fear they tried to instill on the entire community that they targeted.

Clinton, Obama on Lawrence King's Death

I have to say that few things have really pulled at me like Lawrence King's death. It seems like every time I think society's making great progress and is nearly ready to fully accept glbt people, some innocent kid or teen gets murdered for being gay. King should be a rallying cry for the country to pass the Matthew Shepard law, but the Republicans seem content to let more Lawrence Kings pass on. In any event, I'm glad the Obama and Clinton campaigns have finally weighed in, both calling for federal hate crime bills that extend to all glbt people.

Clinton sums it up:

We must finally enact a federal hate crimes law to ensure that gay, lesbian and transgender Americans are protected against violent, bias-motivated crimes. We must send a unified message that hate-based crime will not be tolerated.

Consider This a Warning for ConCon Voters

In the past year or so, we've had homophobic attacks in Lowell, New Bedford, UMASS Amherst and Worcester (just off the top of my head). Luckily, no one has died at any of those locations (though, the guy from New Bedford went on a national, murderous rampage while fleeing).

Could this happen in Massachusetts?

Two young men in Jackson County Indiana said they were so freaked out when 'propositioned' by Aaron Hall on April 12th, that they proceeded to beat the 100 pound, 5'4 man for hours, using their fists, boots, dragging him down a staircase while his head slammed into each step, and then throwing him in a ditch and leaving. Aaron managed to crawl out of the ditch and out into a nearby field, where he died, alone and naked.

Sadly, yes.

If we vote this amendment forward and put it on the ballot, with months of negative TV ads directed at glbt people, we will see more - not less - violence.

Will it take a murderous hate crime against a gay person to convince enough of the few, remaining anti-gay votes in the State House to vote the right way?

I'm not asking any legislator to suddenly like the idea of two men or two women sharing a bed together and getting married. I'm just asking that you protect one's right to do that. If we don't - if we continue to condone hatred toward gay people (and that's exactly what this kind of homophobic amendment does, whether supporters like it or not) we will see even more violence in the coming months. It's inevitable.

Tingly Feelings of Goodness

I have to say waking up and reading something like this sure makes me feel good.

WASHINGTON -- After more than a decade of government inaction, gay-rights proponents in Congress have gotten several major bills moving through the Democratic-controlled chambers, a development that could result in the greatest expansion of federal protections for gays and lesbians in US history.

For far too long, Democrats have just expected support from the gay community - with very little to show for it. Part of that fact was the Democrats were out of power, but there were still things they could have done, but weren't willing to do. For example, they could have stood up for gay people, instead of often joining in the neo-con fun and games. It's high past time to see Democrats advance gay rights - and good on them for finally doing it. It's more than a decade too late, but society has shifted position on gay rights and is now overwhelmingly in favor of it - so Dems have no more excuses. Thus, the sea change in D.C.

There are two bills that look to be fast tracked in DC: the first is a hate crimes expansion, the second is a bill that protects from workplace discrimination. Passing both bills is beyond obvious, so let's hope they win with overwhelming support and President Bush doesn't foolishly veto them. While some people say "a crime is a crime," the fact remains that many people in that camp - Christian Conservatives - didn't feel that way the last time hate crimes went through. Then, they demanded religious intolerance be deemed a hate crime - and for good reason. The fact that they then went and blocked a glbt addition to the hate crimes law was just that much more hypocritical.

The second piece of legislation is even more important. While hopefully increasing tolerance, education and a shifting attitude in society to a more welcoming, liberal place will have a huge impact on reducing hate crimes, workplace discrimination is a scary reality. Gay people only have workplace protections in states that deem it worthy to protect them. Currently, in many states - because of a lack of a federal statute - it's legal to fire someone just because they're glbt - a fact most people don't realize. How could discrimination of that magnitude be legal in this country? Hopefully, it won't be for much longer.

Kudos to the National Dems for being the change that they want. Protecting this country's vulnerable minorities is one of the most important things it can do.

America has a way to go...

I can't believe this happened. It's one of the saddest things I've ever read about. A lot of people like to say "why do we need bills against hate crimes?" Well, folks, this is why.

Andrew Anthos, 72, the gay senior citizen who waged a nearly-two-decade campaign to have the Michigan capitol dome lit in red, white, and blue, died yesterday from injuries sustained in a brutal hate attack.

Anthos, whom his niece says had a lifelong disability, was riding a bus home and a stranger, apparently offended that Anthos was singing, asked Anthos if he was gay, followed him off a bus, and beat him with a pipe. Anthos spent the last few days in a coma, paralyzed from the neck down, before dying yesterday.

It's now more important than ever that Massachusetts legislators stand up and do the right thing next Constitutional Convention. If they go and vote to put civil rights on the ballot, they're sending the message that gay people really are second class citizens. They're sending the message that gay people have no rights. People viewed as being less than human are much more likely to be savagely murdered or victimized, be it in the form of a lynching or tied to a fence to be brutally beaten before eventually dying, all alone in Laromie, WY.

So, what will our state leg do? I can't fathom the hate that will come from a campaign to ban marriage equality on the airwaves. I can't fathom the violence it could spark (we've already seen a small glimpse). I don't want to think about the tears, grief and sweat - all because a small minority in this country seeks equal rights. If just a dozen more state legislators come to that same realization, all of it could be avoided. Andrew Anthos should be a stark reminder to everyone about the very real dangers that exist when some people are viewed as less than others simply for their own feelings.