South Carolina Continues to Bat 1000

Sparing the Rod and Spoiling the Child

Savannah, GA. Just days after S.C. Rep. Dave Thomas became hysterical over "gays," some 49-year old father in Anderson, S.C. apparently took after his 18-year old son after the young man returned home from a gay pride parade. As reported in the Independent Mail and the blog Towleroad, daddy went batshit crazy and "tried to cast the demon of homosexuality out [of his son.]" Cussin' and screamin,' this poor excuse for a mature adult allegedly assaulted his son with a Louisville Slugger. According to Deputy S.C. Weymouth, the teenager told deputies his father--let's use the term lightly--"has a problem with him being gay and that is why he hit him with the baseball bat." Really? A problem?

As usual, the comments section of the story in the online version of the paper carry some real nuggets of enlightenment. Someone using the handle 'Mom2Shelties' [sic] referred to parts of the story as "sensationalism" and a "so-called crime." I'll wager ole Mom has those Shelties well in line. My favorite was "scmom" [sic] posting, "how do you know his son hadn't done anything before that? how do you know he wasn't defending himself? you don't." Well, that may be technically true, but we've a pretty good idea that, along with the teenager's father, you're a horse's ass.

South Carolina: The Hits Just Keep on Coming

Eeek! Gay Beaches in South Carolina?

Bad for David Thomas

Savannah, GA. "Somebody has to be responsible for this, and we'll demand responsibility." So said a breathless S.C. Republican State Senator David Thomas regarding the ad campaign shown above. "This is absolutely a subject matter that adheres to a social position and it's simply improper for the state to be going after one social position." Right. This from a state that peddles "In God We Trust" and "Shag" auto license plates. "From my own perspective, it's bad for the state to make such statements about the state, to assert that South Carolina has gay beaches." Nope. Just a state with more than its fair share of politicians in the closet. Oops.

As mentioned on Pam's House Blend and Towleroad, it turns out some hapless advertising agency manager in contract contact with the South Carolina Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department signed off on the campaign, which was tied to London's gay pride festivities. Besides shrieking--shrinking--away from the whole affair, South Carolina will also stiff the Amro Worldwide London Travel Agency's $5,000 fee to participate in the ad campaign.

South Carolina: Homophobic and classy, all at the same time.

African Vampire

Savannah, GA.  We are not going to give up our country for a mere 'X' on a ballot. How can a ball point pen fight with a gun? With those words, President-apparently-for-life Robert Mugabe today officially shut the door on any pretense of representative democracy in Zimbabwe. The Jesuit-trained racist homophobe has not finished his murderous blood meal of fellow countrymen, especially the Ndebele. Clearly, there are more opposition members to be shot, more printing presses to bomb, more journalists to be tortured.

The West (when not actively pouring accolades on his shoulders--this means you Edinburgh University, University of Massachusetts, Michigan State University--and all during the time when people were being raped, beaten, 'disappeared,' publicly executed, or burned alive in their huts.) will do its usual cluck and twitter, look askance, look away, and go back to worrying about $150 barrels of oil

Real Change

Savannah, GA. No, it wasn't sexism and misogyny that ended Senator Clinton's attempt at securing the Democratic Presidential nomination--she made choices establishing that on her own--but if people wish to be brutally honest about the discussion, then gender bias, chauvinism, and the hatred of women played a very, very, large role in her defeat. Racism remains America's open wound, but gender prejudice is the raging sepsis beneath our skin. As a society we are so quick to hold contemptuousness toward the feminine. One of the most damning accusations that can be made to a boy is to accuse him of being a girl. When some male sports coaches want to completely shame their teams, they denounce them as female. If they need fortitude on the field, they don't need 'guts' or a 'spine'--they need to 'grow a pair.' They must be men. (Homophobia is the ugly sibling to this execration and enmity.) When women do wrong or make mistakes they are witches, bitches, whores; skanks, twats, cunts, sluts. The comments sections of most political blogs are rife with such sneering descriptions of the junior Senator from N.Y.

I celebrate the fact that 43 years after the signing of the Voting Rights Act we now have a national presidential candidate who is Black. I also celebrate the fact that 88 years after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution we came very close to having a Woman do the same.