This is news, rating a huge color photo on page one of the Globe's second section: A candlelight vigil by a bunch of young people for the one-year anniversary of a crazy man's rampage in a New Bedford bar? All this hypercoverage just because it was a homosexual bar? What was the point of the vigil? Are we going to quell the incidence of insane outbursts by lighting candles?
Why didn't the Globe cover the dangerous sadomasochistic practices -- including cozying up to death and sometimes achieving murder -- being taught at the Sheraton Hotel in Danvers last weekend? Learning about this sick bunch of people reminded us that also just about a year ago a "professional dominatrix" got off scot free in court, though she had a "client" die during a bondage session! (She chopped his body into little pieces and disposed of it in Maine.)
Why weren't there vigils outside the Quincy condo where this hate crime happened -- to protest the increasing practice and acceptance of torture? (And the adoption by the Boston Globe of their twisted terminology: "professional dominatrix" and "bondage session"?) And why did no one have a vigil outside the BDSM conference last weekend in Danvers, where such practices were taught? There just might be fewer deaths of this sort if the BDSM culture couldn't exist so openly, advertise its conferences, and take over "respectable" suburban hotels.
Here's the report from just one year ago (Jan. 31, 2006):
Professional dominatrix Barbara Asher was acquitted yesterday of involuntary manslaughter in the death of a New Hampshire man who prosecutors said suffered a fatal heart attack while strapped to a bondage rack in her Quincy condominium.
Prosecutors had argued that Asher, 56, did nothing to help Michael Lord, 53, of North Hampton as he died during the July 2000 session, out of fear that calling authorities would have jeopardized her dominatrix business. The prosecutors said she and a boyfriend chopped up Lord's 275-pound body and dumped the parts in a trash bin behind a Chinese restaurant in Augusta, Maine....
The prosecution's case -- and the narrative about the fatal bondage session presented in court -- rested on an alleged confession by Asher. Several police investigators testified that Asher had admitted to watching Lord die on the bondage rack without calling for medical help and then dismembering his body the next day...
Friday, February 2, 2007
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
David Parker's Civil Rights Court Date Next Week
Lexington father David Parker's lawsuit against personnel in the Lexington Public Schools is coming up on Feb. 7 in federal court in Boston.
It's nice to hear that Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) will be there to support him too... Though we haven't heard much from MFI on Parker's story since we broke it in April 2005 (and as we continued to document its every twist and turn). They did secure his presence at a few of their fundraisers ... so we hope they've also contributed to his defense fund.
We're trying to recall if MFI testified for our parents' rights bill in the last legislative session. Hmm... This session, MassResistance has filed the only parents' rights bill that will be truly effective, informed as it is by our understanding of the Parker case. If MFI is sincere in its support of Parker, they should fully support our bill -- to prevent future similar scenarios.
From our Dec. 29, 2006 email alert:
David Parker's federal civil rights lawsuit - Oral arguments to take place Feb. 7 in US District Court in Boston! [Dec. 29, 2006]
After months of delay, the oral arguments for David Parker's federal civil rights lawsuit against school and town officials in Lexington is scheduled to take place Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 2 pm in the US District Court in South Boston, before Judge Marc Wolf. (A few days ago it had been announced that it would be Jan. 18, but apparently the defendants asked that it be pushed back even more.)
At this "oral arguments" session, the defendants (the Lexington public officials) will try to persuade the judge not to allow the case to continue. And David Parker's lawyers will be countering that - with arguments that the case MUST be allowed to be heard!
The Parkers, along with Rob and Robin Wirthlin, are suing the Lexington officials (including Superintendent Paul Ash) over the school system's refusal to notify parents of elementary school children when adults present topics homosexuality or transgenderism to the kids. Parents have been told that the schools will not notify them even after these things have taken place! David Parker was arrested and spent the night in jail in April, 2005, over his insistence that they notify him - as required by state law - regarding homosexuality being presented to his son in kindergarten. This lawsuit has gotten national attention, and major pro-homosexual groups such as Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC, as well as the ACLU have begun giving legal support to the school system against David Parker.
Here's our full report on the David Parker incident and federal lawsuit: http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/index.html
It's nice to hear that Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI) will be there to support him too... Though we haven't heard much from MFI on Parker's story since we broke it in April 2005 (and as we continued to document its every twist and turn). They did secure his presence at a few of their fundraisers ... so we hope they've also contributed to his defense fund.
We're trying to recall if MFI testified for our parents' rights bill in the last legislative session. Hmm... This session, MassResistance has filed the only parents' rights bill that will be truly effective, informed as it is by our understanding of the Parker case. If MFI is sincere in its support of Parker, they should fully support our bill -- to prevent future similar scenarios.
From our Dec. 29, 2006 email alert:
David Parker's federal civil rights lawsuit - Oral arguments to take place Feb. 7 in US District Court in Boston! [Dec. 29, 2006]
After months of delay, the oral arguments for David Parker's federal civil rights lawsuit against school and town officials in Lexington is scheduled to take place Wednesday, Feb. 7, at 2 pm in the US District Court in South Boston, before Judge Marc Wolf. (A few days ago it had been announced that it would be Jan. 18, but apparently the defendants asked that it be pushed back even more.)
At this "oral arguments" session, the defendants (the Lexington public officials) will try to persuade the judge not to allow the case to continue. And David Parker's lawyers will be countering that - with arguments that the case MUST be allowed to be heard!
The Parkers, along with Rob and Robin Wirthlin, are suing the Lexington officials (including Superintendent Paul Ash) over the school system's refusal to notify parents of elementary school children when adults present topics homosexuality or transgenderism to the kids. Parents have been told that the schools will not notify them even after these things have taken place! David Parker was arrested and spent the night in jail in April, 2005, over his insistence that they notify him - as required by state law - regarding homosexuality being presented to his son in kindergarten. This lawsuit has gotten national attention, and major pro-homosexual groups such as Human Rights Campaign in Washington, DC, as well as the ACLU have begun giving legal support to the school system against David Parker.
Here's our full report on the David Parker incident and federal lawsuit: http://www.massresistance.org/docs/parker/index.html
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Maine School Teaching Transgenderism
It's time for this to stop -- the trans madness being pushed on innocent children all over the country. This especially twisted form of child abuse is happening in Maine, too.
An Augusta high school just held a "diversity day" which included a transgender propaganda session. A young woman graduate of the school, now "identifying" as a male, spoke to the young teens (13 and 14 years old) about her experience. Note how the Kennebec Journal plays the willing fool, referring to her as "he" throughout the story, "Cony [high school] opens up" (1-30-07):
Transgendered people alter their appearance to that of the opposite sex.
Nazarkewycz, a 2006 Cony graduate, said even after he knew he identified himself as male, he struggled with his identity. He didn't like going to school much his senior year, in part because he wasn't even sure, himself, how he wanted his classmates to refer to him.
"My senior year, as far as Jen [her original name] and she, I was totally not wanting that at all," he said. "At the same time, I was not really ready to be Jeremiah [the new name she adopted] full-time either."
Nazarkewycz's compelling story about life as a transgendered person was one of several at the day-long annual event meant to instill Cony students with acceptance and tolerance of people who may be different in one or more ways. It also was a chance for students to learn about other cultures, religions and ways of life.
An earlier story, innocuously titled "Students to learn about different cultures" (1-27-07) previewed the day as a reasonable event ... except for that little inclusion of "life as a transgendered person":
Cony students will get a chance to learn about growing up French in Augusta, life with autism, life as a transgendered person, Pakistani dance, and civil rights in the 1960s. If that seems like an awfully diverse range of subjects, well, that's the whole point: Monday is the annual Cony Diversity Day.
The Christian Civic League of Maine covered the event. Rev. Dallas Henry, the League’s President of the Board of Directors, noted:
“The history of Maine’s 'Civil Rights Teams' [who organized Cony’s Diversity Day events] up to this point has clearly been that of promoting homosexuality. This Cony event has prominently broadened the field, however, to include teaching ‘transgendering.’ I am heartsick to hear of this promotion of sexual confusion.”
CCLMaine's Executive Director, Mike Heath, said of his high school alma mater:
“We live in bizarre times. Not too long ago every Mainer knew that sex change operations and witchcraft were as wrong as adultery and murder. It is impossible to understand what is happening because it is an inversion of reality. This is what makes it possible for deviant behavior and dark ideologies to be aggressively promoted as normal without effective resistance. It is irresponsible for adults to promote these ideas by presenting them without moral comment to impressionable young people who are maturing through puberty. Our Maine public school classrooms are looking more and more like the bar scene from Star Wars every day.”
CCL Maine reports that the Diversity Day also included a panel on different religions, and though invited, a Wicca representative did not show up:
The religious forum representatives were from various belief systems. Represented at the forum were Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and a number of groups who identify themselves as Christian including Mormons, Methodists, Spiritualists, Seventh-day Adventists, and the Apostolic faith. Absent from the panel were Baptists and Catholics, the two largest Christian denominations in Maine. The Christian Civic League of Maine, which has Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Advent Christian, Assembly of God, and several other denominations represented in its membership, was not asked to participate in the forum.
An Augusta high school just held a "diversity day" which included a transgender propaganda session. A young woman graduate of the school, now "identifying" as a male, spoke to the young teens (13 and 14 years old) about her experience. Note how the Kennebec Journal plays the willing fool, referring to her as "he" throughout the story, "Cony [high school] opens up" (1-30-07):
Transgendered people alter their appearance to that of the opposite sex.
Nazarkewycz, a 2006 Cony graduate, said even after he knew he identified himself as male, he struggled with his identity. He didn't like going to school much his senior year, in part because he wasn't even sure, himself, how he wanted his classmates to refer to him.
"My senior year, as far as Jen [her original name] and she, I was totally not wanting that at all," he said. "At the same time, I was not really ready to be Jeremiah [the new name she adopted] full-time either."
Nazarkewycz's compelling story about life as a transgendered person was one of several at the day-long annual event meant to instill Cony students with acceptance and tolerance of people who may be different in one or more ways. It also was a chance for students to learn about other cultures, religions and ways of life.
An earlier story, innocuously titled "Students to learn about different cultures" (1-27-07) previewed the day as a reasonable event ... except for that little inclusion of "life as a transgendered person":
Cony students will get a chance to learn about growing up French in Augusta, life with autism, life as a transgendered person, Pakistani dance, and civil rights in the 1960s. If that seems like an awfully diverse range of subjects, well, that's the whole point: Monday is the annual Cony Diversity Day.
The Christian Civic League of Maine covered the event. Rev. Dallas Henry, the League’s President of the Board of Directors, noted:
“The history of Maine’s 'Civil Rights Teams' [who organized Cony’s Diversity Day events] up to this point has clearly been that of promoting homosexuality. This Cony event has prominently broadened the field, however, to include teaching ‘transgendering.’ I am heartsick to hear of this promotion of sexual confusion.”
CCLMaine's Executive Director, Mike Heath, said of his high school alma mater:
“We live in bizarre times. Not too long ago every Mainer knew that sex change operations and witchcraft were as wrong as adultery and murder. It is impossible to understand what is happening because it is an inversion of reality. This is what makes it possible for deviant behavior and dark ideologies to be aggressively promoted as normal without effective resistance. It is irresponsible for adults to promote these ideas by presenting them without moral comment to impressionable young people who are maturing through puberty. Our Maine public school classrooms are looking more and more like the bar scene from Star Wars every day.”
CCL Maine reports that the Diversity Day also included a panel on different religions, and though invited, a Wicca representative did not show up:
The religious forum representatives were from various belief systems. Represented at the forum were Buddhists, Jews, Muslims, and a number of groups who identify themselves as Christian including Mormons, Methodists, Spiritualists, Seventh-day Adventists, and the Apostolic faith. Absent from the panel were Baptists and Catholics, the two largest Christian denominations in Maine. The Christian Civic League of Maine, which has Baptist, Nazarene, Pentecostal, Advent Christian, Assembly of God, and several other denominations represented in its membership, was not asked to participate in the forum.
Monday, January 29, 2007
Child Abuse in Germany -- and Massachusetts
Everyone's talking about the young German boy undergoing "sex-change" procedures. Today, it's in Germany; tomorrow, it will be in Massachusetts. In fact, it's already underway.
This blog and the MassResistance organization have been exposing "trans" propaganda already inundating our public schools for several years now. Organizations including Planned Parenthood, PFLAG, GLSEN and the transgender activists are gearing up, pushing young people, their parents, and school personnel into this brave new world. Kathleen Henry, director of the Mass. Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, has stated they will make a big effort to "protect" bisexual and transgender youth.
Proof of where this movement is going: PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People) joined with assorted GLBTIQ activists just this past October in their regional conference in Worcester, called "Transcending Boundaries" (for "bisexual/pansexual, trans/genderqueer, and intersex people and our allies"). Sponsors included MassEquality's education fund, Planned Parenthood, New England Leather Alliance (whips & chains; they gave a workshop, "SM 101"), GlaxoSmithKline (sex-change drugs?). One workshop was called "PFLAG and Transgender – Sharing a Future."
Bad enough there are doctors willing to perform such mutilations on their young (or adult) patients -- fiendish medical experiments reminiscent of the Nazis. What's more surprising is this young German boy's abuse at the hands of his own parents, who've bought into the hideous concepts of "transgenderism" and "gender identity"! Here in Massachusetts, PFLAG and Planned Parenthood jumped on that bandwagon quite a while ago. These groups have, after all, transcended all boundaries. Killing babies? No problem. Homosexual marriage? A civil right. So how can they say no to sadomasochism, polyamory, or sex changes for children?
This blog and the MassResistance organization have been exposing "trans" propaganda already inundating our public schools for several years now. Organizations including Planned Parenthood, PFLAG, GLSEN and the transgender activists are gearing up, pushing young people, their parents, and school personnel into this brave new world. Kathleen Henry, director of the Mass. Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, has stated they will make a big effort to "protect" bisexual and transgender youth.
Proof of where this movement is going: PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People) joined with assorted GLBTIQ activists just this past October in their regional conference in Worcester, called "Transcending Boundaries" (for "bisexual/pansexual, trans/genderqueer, and intersex people and our allies"). Sponsors included MassEquality's education fund, Planned Parenthood, New England Leather Alliance (whips & chains; they gave a workshop, "SM 101"), GlaxoSmithKline (sex-change drugs?). One workshop was called "PFLAG and Transgender – Sharing a Future."
Bad enough there are doctors willing to perform such mutilations on their young (or adult) patients -- fiendish medical experiments reminiscent of the Nazis. What's more surprising is this young German boy's abuse at the hands of his own parents, who've bought into the hideous concepts of "transgenderism" and "gender identity"! Here in Massachusetts, PFLAG and Planned Parenthood jumped on that bandwagon quite a while ago. These groups have, after all, transcended all boundaries. Killing babies? No problem. Homosexual marriage? A civil right. So how can they say no to sadomasochism, polyamory, or sex changes for children?
Right now, PFLAG and Planned Parenthood are busy holding seminars across Massachusetts (like those below), encouraging parents to accept and help their "trans" children, and schools to support "trans" students. And how scary is this: PFLAG has the largest representation of any group on the new Mass. Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth. Here are five workshops given at PFLAG's Transcending Boundaries conference last October:
Raising A Transgender Child/Compassionate Parenting
Using a combination of personal stories and exploring raising children through the lens of gender development, this workshop will provide a safe space in which to explore the myriad of emotions, beliefs, and ideas parents and other caregivers go through as children express their gender identification(s). A combination of presentation and discussion, the presenters will use their own experiences plus invite participants to share their journeys in the ongoing efforts to accept and nurture our children....
Supporting Gender Variant Youth in Today’s Schools
Is this child a boy or a girl or does it matter? Youth in today’s schools are increasingly fluid in their expression of gender, sometimes confusing adults and challenging those around them to think again about boy vs. girl. The workshop is designed to uncover the overlapping aspects of sexuality and clarify terminology related to gender expression and identity. Participants will also be provided with resources for transgender youth, transgender civil rights issues, recent school assessments, and available curriculum supplements for classroom use....
Coming out as a child or adolescent as transgendered or transsexual and the parents’ process of acceptance
This will be a panel presentation including parents and their transgendered children and teenagers. ... an experienced gender specialist will moderate this panel. The discussion will explore issues of coming out as a young transgendered individual to parents and their parents’ emotional process that led to eventual full acceptance. Crossgender expression at home, at school and in the community will be discussed. Non-medical and medical treatment of children and adolescents who are transgendered/transsexual will be discussed as well as other topics.
Lifelines for Trans Youth: Helping Transgender and Transsexual Youth Make Successful Transitions to Adulthood
This presentation examines the institutional resources and policies needed for transgender/transsexual youth to make successful transitions to adulthood. The formal talk segment combines clinical literature review with personal stories from trans youth and input from adult providers. This presentation offers cohesive strategies and guidelines to increase the cultural competency of educators, parents, physicians, therapists, administrators, policy makers, and other providers who may encounter trans youth. The interactive component of this workshop includes facilitated exercises to enable adult providers from diverse professions to serve as "lifelines" for transgender/transsexual youth....
Taking a Stand: Creating Safe Schools for All Students
This introductory workshop, designed for all school personnel, uses video clips and hands-on activities to examine the obvious and subtle ways that bias plays out in schools, and offers resources for creating schools that are safe for all students, regardless of sexual orientation and gender identity.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sadomasochism Celebrated at Sheraton Danvers Hotel
This weekend just witnessed a celebration of sadomasochism and assorted perversions at the New England Leather Alliance's "Fetish Fair Fleamarket". The host hotel was the Sheraton Ferncroft Resort in Danvers. How could the hotel management allow this event? And where are the town fathers who let this occur? Mansfield refused to let this event dirty their town. Salem News jauntily reported:
Having met resistance elsewhere, the New England Leather Alliance is bringing its "Fetish Fair Fleamarket" to the North Shore.The fair, featuring more than 100 exhibitors selling erotic merchandise, everything from "corsets and boots to dungeon furniture and restraints," is scheduled for three days - Jan. 26 through 28 - at the Sheraton Ferncroft. Organizers made a last-minute move here from Mansfield because of a dispute over a permit requirement.
A lucky geographical break - the Sheraton Ferncroft is in both Danvers and Middleton - could spare the New England Leather Alliance from similar headaches on the North Shore. Vendors will be setting up shop in the hotel's grand ballroom, which is in Middleton. And unlike Danvers, Middleton hasn't designated a section of town for adult businesses to operate. Building Commissioner Bob Camacho said yesterday he would take a closer look, but he didn't recall anything in Middleton's zoning regulations that would prevent the flea market. Danvers, on the other hand, has an adult zone bylaw restricting this type of activity to an area off Route 1 near the Peabody line....
In its 28th year, the event has previously been held at the Park Plaza and the Sheraton in Boston, as well as the Ramada in Andover - and would probably still be held there if the Andover hotel hadn't closed.... Flea market patrons have booked nearly all of the Sheraton Ferncroft's 350 rooms, and organizers have reserved all of the hotel's function rooms and meeting space. "We're going to accommodate them as we do all the groups that come into the hotel," said Edward Carey, director of sales and marketing for the Sheraton Ferncroft.
Consider the hotel taxes, the overflow of people staying at other area hotels and the business generated at local restaurants and shops, and [NELA] estimates the weekend-long event will pump at least $1 million into the local economy....
Numerous classes and demonstrations that address whips, role playing, bondage and other subjects will be offered on Saturday and Sunday.
The reporter doesn't tell you about the classes on fisting; canes and caning; flogging; BDSM and the law; etc. (See their listing.) And here's a description from NELA's webpage on an upcoming "lecture":
Having met resistance elsewhere, the New England Leather Alliance is bringing its "Fetish Fair Fleamarket" to the North Shore.The fair, featuring more than 100 exhibitors selling erotic merchandise, everything from "corsets and boots to dungeon furniture and restraints," is scheduled for three days - Jan. 26 through 28 - at the Sheraton Ferncroft. Organizers made a last-minute move here from Mansfield because of a dispute over a permit requirement.
A lucky geographical break - the Sheraton Ferncroft is in both Danvers and Middleton - could spare the New England Leather Alliance from similar headaches on the North Shore. Vendors will be setting up shop in the hotel's grand ballroom, which is in Middleton. And unlike Danvers, Middleton hasn't designated a section of town for adult businesses to operate. Building Commissioner Bob Camacho said yesterday he would take a closer look, but he didn't recall anything in Middleton's zoning regulations that would prevent the flea market. Danvers, on the other hand, has an adult zone bylaw restricting this type of activity to an area off Route 1 near the Peabody line....
In its 28th year, the event has previously been held at the Park Plaza and the Sheraton in Boston, as well as the Ramada in Andover - and would probably still be held there if the Andover hotel hadn't closed.... Flea market patrons have booked nearly all of the Sheraton Ferncroft's 350 rooms, and organizers have reserved all of the hotel's function rooms and meeting space. "We're going to accommodate them as we do all the groups that come into the hotel," said Edward Carey, director of sales and marketing for the Sheraton Ferncroft.
Consider the hotel taxes, the overflow of people staying at other area hotels and the business generated at local restaurants and shops, and [NELA] estimates the weekend-long event will pump at least $1 million into the local economy....
Numerous classes and demonstrations that address whips, role playing, bondage and other subjects will be offered on Saturday and Sunday.
The reporter doesn't tell you about the classes on fisting; canes and caning; flogging; BDSM and the law; etc. (See their listing.) And here's a description from NELA's webpage on an upcoming "lecture":
LAYERED PAIN: EXTREME TORTURE -- This presentation will explore and discuss various types of layered pain. This type of edge play requires using extreme safety precautions and seasoned bottoms. Often this type of play involves body fluids such as lymph and blood. It goes beyond the uni-sensation scene and explodes the possibilities....
We first encountered the New England Leather Alliance (NELA) as a participant at Boston Pride, then we ran into them as participants at the PFLAG/Transgender conference in Worcester recently. (Remember that PFLAG is the group with the largest representation on the new state "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth.") Part of the proceeds of last weekend's event were being donated to "National Coalition for Sexual Freedom" ("swingers" and perverts unite!).
Feedback opportunities:
Mr. Charlie Clist, General Manager; and Mr. Edward Carey, director of sales Sheraton Danvers, 50 Ferncroft Road, Danvers, MA 01923 http://www.sheratonferncroftresort.com/inforequest.html
978-777-2500
The Town of Danvers can be reached at:
Board of Selectmen (for names/contact info for individual selectmen)
Town Manager: Wayne P. Marquis, wmarquis@mail.danvers-ma.org 978-777-0001 Ext. 3069
The Town of Middleton can be reached at: http://www.townofmiddleton.org/contact.cfm
Board of Selectmen, Joseph Pascucci, Chairperson, 978-774-3589
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Does Romney Still Praise the New Media?
An interesting juxtaposition, in light of Romney's little altercation with MassResistance:
In December 2006, Mitt Romney told Kathryn Lopez of National Review that he gets nearly all of his news online now. Romney said:
"No longer can just a few newspapers or television stations control what information we have access to. The monopoly on news has been broken wide open. I trust the people and the power of ideas to triumph in the free and competitive information market that the new media provides."
On January 22, the Boston Globe published a story about an activist who successfully leveraged the new media to "rain on Romney's parade" [that would be Brian Camenker, head of MassResistance]:
The burst of attention has catapulted Camenker, a political agitator who has long protested gay rights in Massachusetts, into unlikely prominence in the nascent Republican presidential race. It has also underscored the startling power of the Internet to upset established political campaigns.
Some conservatives say Camenker's report, spiked with references to gay sex, has seriously damaged Romney's effort to woo conservative voters. Others dismiss the report as a joke. But Romney is not laughing.
Camenker said he called a few prominent conservatives ... to alert them to the report. But he has mostly e-mailed it to bloggers and activists, and let it spread on its own.... Camenker said, "All we're doing is spreading the truth."
"My goal is that the next president of the United States be a conservative," he said. Romney doesn't pass the test, he said. In a reference to the liberal gay state senator from Cambridge, Camenker said: "How's [Romney] going to stand up to the president of Iran if Jarrett Barrios scares him?"
In December 2006, Mitt Romney told Kathryn Lopez of National Review that he gets nearly all of his news online now. Romney said:
"No longer can just a few newspapers or television stations control what information we have access to. The monopoly on news has been broken wide open. I trust the people and the power of ideas to triumph in the free and competitive information market that the new media provides."
On January 22, the Boston Globe published a story about an activist who successfully leveraged the new media to "rain on Romney's parade" [that would be Brian Camenker, head of MassResistance]:
The burst of attention has catapulted Camenker, a political agitator who has long protested gay rights in Massachusetts, into unlikely prominence in the nascent Republican presidential race. It has also underscored the startling power of the Internet to upset established political campaigns.
Some conservatives say Camenker's report, spiked with references to gay sex, has seriously damaged Romney's effort to woo conservative voters. Others dismiss the report as a joke. But Romney is not laughing.
Camenker said he called a few prominent conservatives ... to alert them to the report. But he has mostly e-mailed it to bloggers and activists, and let it spread on its own.... Camenker said, "All we're doing is spreading the truth."
"My goal is that the next president of the United States be a conservative," he said. Romney doesn't pass the test, he said. In a reference to the liberal gay state senator from Cambridge, Camenker said: "How's [Romney] going to stand up to the president of Iran if Jarrett Barrios scares him?"
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Sen. Dianne Wilkerson just can't get it together
She's getting lots of help from the GLBT lobby, but she still can't get organized! The infamous State Senator Dianne Wilkerson, who had so much trouble getting re-elected -- because she couldn't get her signatures filed in time -- then had to run a sticker campaign in the primary -- but was rescued by MassEquality -- couldn't file her bills on time.
The Boston Globe reported that 26 of her 27 bills were late-filed, and an aide blamed a "glitch" in the system. "Other lawmakers didn't encounter similar glitches, according to House and Senate officials, who said that none of the state's 199 other legislators missed the deadline." Will the Judiciary Committee treat her bills as they usually do late-filed bills? Put them on a dusty shelf where they almost always die? Or will she get special consideration, again?
We can't understand how this happened, though, since she was reported to have hired one Jesse Sullivan as her legislative aide. Jesse used to be office manager and field organizer for MassEquality --should be a very efficient staffer. So what happened?! Sounded like there were big plans for the new session, but they've all fallen flat with the bills not getting in on time:
"Wilkerson’s top priorities for the upcoming legislative session include the environment and alternative energy, improving education funding and policy, CORI reform, rectifying Gov. Mitt Romney’s recent budget cuts, which slashed funds for some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens and an affirmative resolution on the marriage equality issue," reports Bay Windows. Wilkerson said, "first and foremost Jesse’s here because I needed a legislative director who would know how to get this job done. That he is gay, to me, is an added plus.”
The Boston Globe reported that 26 of her 27 bills were late-filed, and an aide blamed a "glitch" in the system. "Other lawmakers didn't encounter similar glitches, according to House and Senate officials, who said that none of the state's 199 other legislators missed the deadline." Will the Judiciary Committee treat her bills as they usually do late-filed bills? Put them on a dusty shelf where they almost always die? Or will she get special consideration, again?
We can't understand how this happened, though, since she was reported to have hired one Jesse Sullivan as her legislative aide. Jesse used to be office manager and field organizer for MassEquality --should be a very efficient staffer. So what happened?! Sounded like there were big plans for the new session, but they've all fallen flat with the bills not getting in on time:
"Wilkerson’s top priorities for the upcoming legislative session include the environment and alternative energy, improving education funding and policy, CORI reform, rectifying Gov. Mitt Romney’s recent budget cuts, which slashed funds for some of the state’s most vulnerable citizens and an affirmative resolution on the marriage equality issue," reports Bay Windows. Wilkerson said, "first and foremost Jesse’s here because I needed a legislative director who would know how to get this job done. That he is gay, to me, is an added plus.”
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