It's A Technical Foul....Anti GLBT Ballot Initiatives pass across the Nation

We Are Currently Experiencing A Verizon Migraine! Apparently they cant hear anyone now. Please be patient as this forum will return to production shortly. Please be patient and have a queertastic Wednesday!

Congratulations go to Senator Barack Hussein Obama of Illinois, the next black President elect of the United States of America!

He joins such other American heroes of yore with African lineage and heritage as, Presidents Warren G. Harding (29th), Andrew Jackson (7th), Thomas Jefferson (3rd), Abraham Lincoln (16th), Calvin Coolidge (30th), Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower (34th), Vice-President Hannibal Hamlin (15th, under Lincoln's first term) and the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, who also was the Founder of the New York Post. (SOURCES: Endiana, We Declare, Dr. LeRoy Vaughn, Jim Blair)

In other news concerning the election:

Libertarians in Indiana have left 'marks for distinction' on national, statewide and local political races. Thank you to all those whom put their honour on the line to make our State a beacon of Liberty! The fight doesnt end here it is just beginning. I have two questions for you all. Does this years results help or hurt us for 2010? What can we as a Party do to improve upon the presentation of our message? While we are still waiting for actual totals to be in, here are the basics so far from the Secretary of State's website:

Now for the latest RESULTS!

They are still tentative but please right click here and open the new chart into a new tab.If anyone knows of updates to these lists enclosed please let me know promptly.Again to the Citizens of Indiana, thank you for your vote and all the support of the party for the people!

No votes? What happened?

There are several contest which do not have data yet on the Secretary of States website among them are Districts 37, 41st, 99th, and 100, and the twenty Counties of Bartholomew, Crawford, Delaware, Hancock, Harrison, Jennings, Madison, Marion (INDY), Miami, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Noble, Parke, Posey, Putnam, Spencer, Tippecanoe, Vermilion, and Vigo. Folks this election may not be over we are still missing up to a third of the nationwide and statewide race results across the State.

CONCERNING NATIONWIDE
ANTI GLBTIQAS (Gay & Lesbian, etc.)
BALLOT INITIATIVES

Arizona Same Sex Marriage Ban Prop 102
passed, 99% reporting 56-44%

Florida Same Sex Marriage Ban Amendment 2
passed, 99% reporting 62-38%

Arkansas Initiive Act 1 Against Gay Couples
and Unmarried Persons Adoption of Children
passed, 99% reporting 57-43%

California Same Sex Marriage Ban Prop 8
passed, 99% reporting 52-48%

(SOURCE: CNN, H/t AB & WH @ BILERICO)

Fortunately I am told (still looking up the story) Connecticut voted down their Constitutional Convention. We wont have to worry for at least another twenty years, about an amendment in order to reverse the recent State Supreme Court ruling, legalizing Same Sex Unions which are slated to begin later this month. I will have more to add about this in a few hours....stay tuned!

this is worse than a divorce, I've lost half of my net worth, and I still have...

....without any further fanfare during these harsh economic times, these are my endorsements for the current general election cycle. I am going to start with the Federal side and then continue on through the State and then the Local but it will take me a few days to get them all written out so please be patient and check back every day to see this list below grow and the explanations written out. Being to the fact that this afternoon I am going to the dentist after twelve years I dont know how coherent I will be afterward so please bear with me as I separate my explanations out over the course of the next couple days. The full list and explanations will be done by Saturday. TEXT REMOVED (see below) Each of the office headers will forward to the post that explains the endorsement so you can bookmark this post to come back to in the next week.

President and Vice President of the United States
Robert Barr of Georgia (L) and Wayne Allyn Root of Nevada (L)

US Representative
3rd District William Larsen (L)
6th District Michael Pence (R) i

Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
Andrew Horning of Freedom (L) and Lisa Kelly of Indianapolis (L)

Attorney General
Linda Pence (D)

Superintendent of Public Instruction
Kevin Brown (Write In)

State Representative
District 83 Herbert Jack Evans (L) recent article from the News Sentinel
District 84 Mark Wehrle (D)

County Treasurer
Maria Para (D)

County Council At Large 3
Paul Moss (R) i, Robert Armstrong (R), Susan Hoot (D)

FWCS School Board of Trustees
District 2 John Peirce or Donald Schaab
District 3 Jon Olinger i
District 5 Evert Mol

Judicial Retention Allen Co. Superior Courts
SC Civil: Dan Heath, No;
SC Civil: Stanley Levine, Yes;
SC Criminal: Fran Gull, Yes;
SC Criminal: John Surbeck, No;
SC Family: Steven Sims, Yes

Local Public Question.
Should the assessing duties of the elected township assessor
in the township be transferred to the county assessor?
Yes

Supreme Court Justice Retentions
Brent E Dickson, Theodore R Boehm, Randall T Shepard,
Yes to All of Them

Judges Retention
Carr L Darden, Thomas J. Fisher
Yes To Both

EDITOR'S APOLOGY AND CLARIFICATION: The original text that was removed read "If you have already voted early I have been told that you can nullify that by still going to the polls on election day." This was inaccurate information that was communicated to me on the fly by an Election Board employee. There was probably a failure to communicate all the way around however I still take full responsibility for the misinformation. The actual information, provided to me by another blogger whom has my heart felt gratitude, is as follows:

If a ballot (absentee or early) has already been issued to a voter, (they) cannot just show up and vote. Early Voting: Once you vote early you may not vote again period. If you went and voted on a machine, there is no way to know which ballot or vote was yours, so they couldn't rescind your vote if they wanted to. Absentee Voting: (They) either have to bring (their) voided ballot to the polling location with (them) or (they) need to come down to the Election Board and fill out paperwork that voids that ballot. That paperwork cannot be completed at the polling location.

Stay Tuned...there is more to come...including the annual Hunk of Flesh voting....

Nationally Republicans continue to screw the pooch and get away scott free

They continue to live their fantasy while telling us queers and fags that we are the immoral ones. How self righteous and "holy" can you get without shooting your self for hypocrisy? I have been holding off on posting this until I read the following via TowleRoad:

Bet you almost forgot about him. An investigation has been ongoing since Foley stepped down over his inappropriate online communications with underage pages, and two federal law enforcement officials told the AP they were expecting no charges:

"The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case, said the results of a state investigation would be announced Friday. They said neither state nor federal charges were expected, although an FBI investigation has not been closed yet."

As a refresher, the Mark Foley scandal in seven minutes, click here.

Now for the rest of the post regarding the Republicans versus GLBT people at their National Convention:

Gay Sex At The Republican Convention
DNA Magazine, Australia

Those conservative Republican folks are winding up their convention, having nominated a man 7 years past retirement age as their presidential candidate, and a moose-hunting, ex-beauty queen as the vice presidential candidate. As this hilarious video from Jon Stewart's The Daily Show likes to point out, a lot of these Republican types are hypocritical closet-cases...

A new deck of cards portraying hypocritical US Republican politicians caught in gay trysts, one being in a public toilet, is bringing a whole new meaning to having a 'straight flush' or a 'queens full'. Some of the prominent hypocrites featured in the deck include Congressman Mark Foley, Senator Larry Craig and Washington State senator James West. Larry Craig was famously caught tapping toes with an undercover officer in a public toilet at a US airport terminal. Mark Foley brought disgrace to himself and his party when he was found to have had an improper relationship with an underage male page. All these men have in one way or another spoken out and voted against gay rights and pro-gay legislation, whilst hiding and even after (in Craig's case) having been discovered to have their own homosexual tendencies. You can buy a deck of the cards here.

GOP axes delegate guide over gay listings
PageOneQ

The Virginia delegation canceled an order of a publication it planned to hand out to visitors at the upcoming Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, because it included a six-page section for gays and lesbians, KSTP reported. 150 copies of the "Secrets of the City" guide, printed by The Rake, http://rakemag.com/ were ordered by the campaign for Virginia Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling to hand out to delegates as gifts on arrival at the convention, which starts on September 1.

"I am so terribly sorry to do this," Bolling's political director Melissa Busse wrote to The Rake, "especially when the both of you have been so 'out of your way' helpful, generous and easy to work with. But, we need to cancel the order for 150 of the 'Secrets of the City' guidebooks...having a section dedicated solely to GLBT (sic) will be a BIG problem for many of our folks. We simply can't hand them out."

A PDF copy of the guide in question can be viewed at this link, courtesy of KSTP.

Now aside from the fact that unequivocally I feel that they made the wrong decision by both McCain and Palin and while I am on record as saying if I were left with only two choices I would have to vote for them over Obama and Biden hands down. Fortunately I am not tied soley to those statements. Because we do have a third option, the best option, and that is Libertarians Robert Barr and Wayne Allyn Root our Party's candidates for President and Vice President of the United States. Unlike their traditional two party opponents, they are even willing to meet the gay community half way. I ask each of you, my courageous readers, to take an honest look as well.

Bob Barr is for the repeal of Dont Ask Dont Tell:

Dont Ask Dont Tell refers towards Gays and Lesbians serving openly in the military. He wrote an opinion editorial in the Wall Street Journal back on 13th of June regarding this exact subject following the widely broadcast Republican debates. Here is an excerpt:

First, true conservative political philosophy respects the principles of individual freedom and personal privacy, particularly when it comes to what people do in private. The invasive investigations required to discharge a service member are an unconscionable intrusion into the private lives of American citizens.... Second, and on a more practical level, the ban on gays openly serving in our armed forces is hurting a military that is stretched thin, putting further strain on an institution conservatives claim to love. The U.S. has fired over 11,000 people under the current policy, and in the process has lost over 1,000 service members with "mission-critical skills," including 58 Arabic linguists.... Third, the gay ban wastes money. According to a Blue Ribbon Commission made up of academics and prominent defense leaders including former Defense Secretary William Perry, the gay ban has cost taxpayers over $360 million, and even this figure did not include many of the actual costs of rounding up gays and lesbians, firing them and training their replacements....

Bob Barr is for repeal of the second part of the horrible Defense Of Marriage Act:

Even though he originally coauthored it, he stated the following during his acceptance speech at our National Convention "Standing before you, looking you in the eye, the Defense of Marriage Act, insofar as it provided the federal government a club to club down the rights of law-abiding, American citizens, has been abused, misused and should be repealed," (Source: SOUTHERN VOICE). In other words, the way it has been utilized is not the way it was intended by Congress. Bob Barr continued this thought process in another venue and as part of his official platform:

"The federal government should neither regulate personal relationships nor discriminate against individuals for their personal preferences. Laws regulating marriage should be left to the states, precisely where the Constitution places the issue. Regardless of whether one supports or opposes same sex marriage, the decision to recognize such unions ought to be made by each state rather than imposed as a one-size-fits-all mandate by the federal government. Any federal laws that prevent states from determining their own standards for marriage should be repealed; the federal government should not define marriage, whether by statute or constitutional amendment. In this way, every state would remain free to determine for its citizens the basis on which marriage would be recognized within its borders, and would not be forced to adopt a contrary determination legislated by another state."

I have stated this before and I will state this again: As a Gay American and a local Religious Leader, if former Congress member Bob Barr of Georgia is truthfully willing to meet my people half way, then I will do the same. That is the least I can ask from a candidate compared to the the other two saps on the political stump who aren't even willing to keep their answers, to my Community members' questions, straight.

To visit the OUTright Libertarians our (GLBT) Caucus Website or Blog, Click on the links.

The 4th of July, 1776 - The Declaration of Independence: We still havent been reading OUR LIBERTY its rights!

Obviously this is going to be a gratuitous male flesh, eer, cute bois in underwear post, since it is a holiday. And of course we need to pay homage to our Armed Service Members whom every day sacrifice their lives for our freedom. After all, when was the last time you pledged your life, fortunes and sacred honour, for an ideal as simple and as dificultly complex as liberty? With all jesting and drooling aside, let us seriously review these one thousand unanimous words that founded our freedom folks.

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We Hold These Truths To Be Self Evident:

That all men are created equal....

That they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights....

That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness....

That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed....

That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness....

That is five separate truths that we as Americans have a tendency to forgo for security; or obliterate based on civil societies assumption of "what is morally right", or at least in the moment - plausible defensible. It is time for us as a Country to return to these founding principles of our nation and hold ourselves and our current leadership to this organic law of the land (ip 4), and these standards and vote them out of office, while we still have the ability to do so.

Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Our founding fathers listed twenty eight grievances in general terms against the British Crown and Parliament, and then stated, "A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people." How many of these acts are our current government affecting on to the average citizen today?

Refused Assent To Laws, Interfered with the State passing laws through use of Federal Statutes (eg Medical Marajuana), (not quite the same as judges) but he removed without cause ninety plus Federal District Attorneys for political gains and to stifle on going prosecutions of big business, He established or erected a multitude of New Offices (Homeland Security), and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people,

On a side note the rest of that last grievance reads: "and eat out their substance." to which my mental cartoon trips an image of Uncle Sam asking if, "Anybody", in effect, "wants a rim job?", yucky-lol. Anyway I digress, back to the list. Here are some really big ones that have hit the press junkets in the recent three months:

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power, He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation, For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States, For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent, For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury, For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offenses.

With the addition of the illegal (now immune) wire tapping scandal, that brings a total to twelve out of twenty eight grievances listed in the DOI that the current administration of our government has similarly assailed the Citizens and People of this Country with. It is time for a change and not just from Republican to Democrat, but to a multiple party plank, like it used to be in this Country. When President Abraham Lincoln ran for office there were four different candidates each from different parties. If we were able to do it almost a hundred and fifty years ago, we can do it again!

Now is the perfect time for the LIBERTARIAN PARTY, a party of principles, and a party that's values are liberty from large obtrusive government and is for individual freedom! We have a wonderful candidate for President and Vice President, whom I may not agree with on everything, but dammit these gentlemen are a better choice then the same old Washington stoned to the hilt former maverick has been and the newcomer that has no business being in the U.S. Senate let alone the White House. If you would just accept your responsibility, YOUR DUTY, to make a clear and conscious vote for the best person and still instead vote for the lesser of two evils, you will have only yourself to blame when the Country gets flushed down the toilet with the Constitution leading the flow right behind Uncle Sam's touche.

As a Gay American and a local Religious Leader, if former Congress member Bob Barr of Georgia is truthfully willing to meet my people half way, then I will do the same. That is the least I can ask from a candidate compared to the the other two saps on the political stump who aren't even willing to keep their answers, to my Community members' questions, straight.