Screw or screw over: Republicans just don't know what to do with gays. So they do both. Add senior United States Senator Larry Craig from Idaho to the rooster of gay-bashing Republicans busted for illegal homosexual activity.
Like conservative evangelist Ted Haggard, Craig is not sure if stoning gays means beating them down or getting them high for a romp in the bathroom stalls.
That's where Senator Craig was arrested on June 11, in a busy bathroom in Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, trying to play footsies with an undercover cop.
Craig has been dodging rumors of being gay for at least 25 years, while all the time championing traditional values. Back in 1982 Craig had to deny reports that he had been getting high on cocaine and screwing male Congressional staffers. In 2006, Craig called allegations that he was gay "completely ridiculous." In 2007, he responded to similar allegations by saying that "I don't go around anywhere hitting on men, and by God, if I did, I wouldn't do it in Boise, Idaho!"
Craig said that he wrongly pled guilty to the misdemeanor charges and that the whole thing is just one big misunderstanding.
Which is what fellow Republican gay-basher Fla. Rep. Bob Allen is also claiming. The "Wicked Witch," as Allen was dubbed by the Florida-based Rainbow Democratic Club for his staunch anti-gay politics, was busted for offering an undercover cop $20 to let Allen fellate him in a park bathroom.
Titusville, Florida police said they saw a "disheveled, unshaven man" go in and out of the park bathroom three times. So they decided to send in a black undercover cop who went into a stall and Allen peeked twice over the closed door before propositioning the cop with a twenty. Gay-bashing Allen's defense?
"This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park." Allen feared that he "was about to be a statistic."
Forget macho Republican bravado. Let's talk about your basic drop-to-your-knees appeasement. Thank goodness Allen didn't encounter the Taliban or else Allen might still be setting the world's record for the longest train ever pulled.
Besides blaming it all on misunderstanding, Allen and Craig also both tried playing their get-out-of-jail-for-free cards. Allen asked "it would help" that he was a state legislator. Craig pulled out his Senate business card and asked if that made a difference. It didn't in either case. Must be a liberal conspiracy.
B. 1952, GA, USA. D. To Be Determined. Beloved husband, father, grandfather, lover, confidant and friend of many from bikers to Zen masters; American writer and speaker, known for his criticism of Mammon's unholy trinity of big business, big government and big religion; served the least of them professionally as psychologist and voluntarily as activist for decades; loved to shoot basketball, billiards and the bull; lived free, died game. (memorial sketch by davidhewsonart.com)
I rememeber hearing something in my youth that the only thing that really pissed off Jesus was hypocrites and money lenders. Bet that wherever he is now he's in full time anger management. Strange, but it seems to me that the stronger the religious climate the more violence there is. A change is gonna come . . . one way or another.
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 2:59:53 AM
I admit to being a bit conflicted here. On one hand, being a gay man who has found enjoyment in some of the seediest places on earth, I well understand the drive; that imperious urge to date, mate, or masturbate. I understand the drive to do the "nasty" in public places. And I have gone there...lots...in all kinds of places!
On the other hand, there is a part of me that considers the bitch-slap smackdown that has been delivered to the liars Larry Craig and Bob Allen to be a most potent and strangely serendipitous slap in the faces of the Religious Reich, and the rest of the too-anal-for-color-TV crowd. What makes it an even more precious and, dare I say it, FABULOUS bit of long-term instant karma is that it is proving the point I make over and over again...those who bash the hardest want it the most.
AND, if those assholes are now suffering, it is at their own hands that they suffer. It is they and other do-gooders like them that fucked everything up for the rest of us.
There was a time, looooong ago when public cruising and sex was not only tolerated in this society, it was even welcomed. I have a few older gay friends that have told me stories that sizzled my ears, and trust me, that's not easy to do. There were certain parks, public restrooms, and so on that were well known, well off the beaten path, and were only visited by men who wanted to have sex with other men. Everyone knew it, and for the most part, no one gave a shit. At the time, it was about personal choice, not about misplaced and/or false morality.
Because the Republicans started pandering to the Religious Reich, all of a sudden, a personal choice became a moral outrage...and that is how it continues to this day. Sad, really.
As much as we love to pretend it just ain't so, the truth is we are beasts, all of us, all humans. The animal is an indivisible part of who we are. We can no more escape our beastly reality than we can survive with our hearts removed. The harder we try to deny the urges within, the more they come out, and the more twisted they become.
Look at Mark Foley! Here he is, the supposed champion of abused kids, abusing kids. I have often wondered if he worked on the draft of his anti-play-with-kids-on-the-net law on the same computer he used to do his one-handed chatroom typing exercises with teen-aged pages.
What are these fucks thinking? Do they think if they put every gay man in jail, in a concentration camp, or in a grave that they themselves will stop having "impure" thoughts? Do they think they are so sly they can slide under the gaydar of folks like me? Are they so filled with self-loathing that they are willing to set the very traps that have snared them? Finally, are they really stupid enough to think they will be able to keep getting away with their shit?
These are some sick fucking people!
There is one thing about this story that doesn't conflict me in the least. That is the fact that those two assholes, and so many others just waiting to pop out of the closet (Are you listening, DUBYA??) will bear incredible shame; a shame they themselves created, nurtured, and brought into being.
It is a shame I do not carry! It is a shame I began removing from my reality at sixteen, when I came out. It is a shame I refuse to accept, even though there are so many out there who feel I should bear it because of who and what I am.
Fuck that shit!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 3:26:11 AM
...after I finish the comment I made, but I did it now.
There is one good thing about the busts of the naughty legislators, It is going to firmly cement into the minds of the younger generation just how hypocritical the Republican Party truly is. While it is certainly true that the Republicans don't have the market cornered on having uncontrollable naughty urges, they definitely have it cornered on hypocrisy. From Mark Foley to Ted Haggard to Newt Gingrich to the latest additions to the list of lustful legates, the last few years have proved to anyone with eyes and functional bullshit detectors that if you want to find professional-grade hypocrites, you need look no further than the Republican Party and the Religious Reich!
Blessed be! Pappy
PS, I think that's the last thing I wanted to say...:)
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 3:36:46 AM
One the one hand it is our hypocritical and conflicted society that forces such sexual activities into bathrooms and parks. On the other, of course, is the stupidity of such as this man who, in his professional life, castigates the homosexual lifestyle while, in his private life, engages in such activities. There is the real kernel of this issue.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 6:45:10 AM
Religious Reich is a wonderful term! Damn, Pappy, it ain't often that I get jealousy and wish that I had coined a phrase or turned a line a certain way but hot damn don't I wish I had originated religious reich. That simply and aptly tells it all. As to the beast part of us, if you ever have time check out a book by a psychologist at the University of Virginia called "The Happiness Hypothesis." In a nutshell, the brain is more than one brain. The older part is roughly analogous to the "beast" which most religions have attempted to "tame" by beating like a wild, dangerous beast. Sorry, but none of us want to be beaten down. We especially don't want to be beaten down by someone who pretends to be better than us when in reality they can't even acknowledge their own shortcomings. So, yes, the crucial issue is not cruising for sex but the hypocrisy of someone who acts like God Almighty castigating "sinners" in the spotlight but then slides off into the shadows to commit the very "sins" off which s/he has built their very careers condemning. As the religious reich, too bad they never learned from Jesus about love and tolerance.
by
Richard Mathis (130 articles, 108 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 7:20:42 AM
Nice one Pappy. EXACTLY ! My oldest friend, also a guardian angel for me is gay and he says exactly the same thing. I say WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF ANYONE ELSE. Another friends son is a Capt. in the Marine Corp and he wrote a rebuttal of Peter Pace's comments on gays in the military, it got posted in the Marine Corp Times and he came within a centimeter of being court martialed. He's not gay he just thinks. Google Josh Gibbs Capt MC you may find it interesting. Freedom of speech . . . hummm. I've enjoyed your writing, thanks. Davy X pat Scotland
by
davy (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 240 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 9:05:25 AM
One the one hand it is our hypocritical and conflicted society that forces such sexual activities into bathrooms and parks. On the other, of course, is the stupidity of such as this man who, in his professional life, castigates the homosexual lifestyle while, in his private life, engages in such activities. There is the real kernel of this issue.
I have often personally wondered just how horrid the AIDS crisis would have been had people not been so willing to turn gays from people who were different into amoral, craven "sinners", worthy of every drop of derision (or each retrovirus) received.
Imagine for one minute that the AIDS crisis had afflicted another social subgroup, like little old ladies, or people of German ancestry. There would have been no foot dragging on finding a cure, getting that cure out there, and finding out how to stop it from spreading. But no, it only affected gays, Haitians, and Africans; groups seen as "less than" by the average RepubliKKKan hypocrite. Nowhere in their twisted mindset did the ultimate reality of AIDS being a communicable disease that doesn't ask gender identity before infecting its victims come into being.
Nope, in standard short-sited fashion, the "powers that be" decided that a segment of the population was to be fated to die from a rather nasty disease. Not until good old straight as an arrow Rock Hudson showed up with "liver cancer" did anyone outside the gay community give a shit! And even then, the prevailing notion that he somehow deserved AIDS (as did others infected) because gays are immoral beings didn't fade, and has yet to even to this day.
The good thing about all this is the fact that now the Republican Party is synonymous with hypocrisy. They have been proved hypocrites on morality. They have been proved hypocrites on ethics. They have been proved hypocrites on every issue they push. While nothing can be done about the older fossils in the party, it's a surety that if they remain the party of hypocrites, few people will want anything to do with them.
That is a refreshing thought.
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 10:51:00 AM
Tens of thousands are infected in Africa and almost none are gay......it is simply a sexually transmitted disease and , due to the homosexual lifestyle iin which multiple partners are the rule ( which is certainly not exclusive to gays but did help with the concept of it as a gay plague), has spread among gays faster than among heterosexuals. But that is changing.......as we see in Africa.
You are of course correct in the fact that aids would certainly have received far more attention and attempts at cure had it been exclusively confined to a more accepted strata of society. We suck, actually.....I mean as a people not as a sexual act........
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2377 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 2:29:22 PM
Ronald Reagan had the chance to stop AIDS before it became epidemic but decided not to do so because he viewed AIDS as a gay disease and therefore caused by "immoral" actions. AIDS was - and is - unfortunately still viewed as God's punishment upon gays. If that is so then God must truly love lesbians as they have a remarkably low incident rate of AIDS, especially from female upon female sex.
by
Richard Mathis (130 articles, 108 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments)
on Sunday, September 2, 2007 at 4:35:06 PM
Even now, I am getting ready to visit with my lawyer to deal with a case pretty much like Larry Craig's. You can understand that gives me a rather unique perspective on the issue. You might also think that it would give me just enough empathy to be willing to defend his actions. That ain't happening.
First of all, it was he and do-gooders like him that brought this shit storm down on his pointed head. There is a certain satisfaction to be garnered from watching the jailer getting incarcerated for the sins he derides in the inmates over which he presides. If his predecessors would have just taken a big dose of shut the fuck up instead of acting like the self-righteous shits they were, the law which snared Larry Craig might have never found its way to the books. If it wasn't for the immoral brush with which the gay community has been painted, perhaps Mr. Craig would have had the balls to admit who and what he is instead of continuing to cry out in the wilderness like Mr Garrison from South Park, "I'm not gay!" From Craig, the words ring as hollow as they do from that cut-out animated character.
Secondly, after Ted Haggard's piecemeal confession, how can Larry Craig even think that anyone buys his bullshit? He may be living in denial, but he's the only one in the story that is. If Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart weren't on their two week vacations at the moment, you can rest assured that Larry Craig's name and antics would be being dragged through the mud for a laugh. I bet there are a few guys on the writing staff that are going nuts because some of the best jokes are being sacrificed to vacation time at Comedy Central. Oh well, at least Bill Maher is there to take up a bit of the slack! You just KNOW he's going to say something about it this week!
Third, I don't give one ounce of latitude to hypocrites. No one is perfect, and we all have our issues about which we are hypocrites. However, there is a difference between being a hypocrite and having hypocrisy turned into official government policy. Larry Craig, Bob Allen, and Mark Foley shaped public policy. Their hypocrisy has no place in law books. Because of their denial, and the actions of their do-gooder predecessors, the rest of us are now forced to suffer so that others that get off on self-flagellation can have their twisted psychoses distilled into legislation.
Personally, I am still waiting with baited breath for someone to come up with pictures or other irrefutable proof that Hot Karl, or other reputed gays in DUBYA's administration, up to DUBYA himself, are, in fact, gay. I know I have posted this link before, but I think it bears repeating, considering the fact that this is not just about hypocrisy, it's about official hypocrisy with a rainbow tint!
As to "Religious Reich", I have used that little phrase since I ran a computer BBS in Toledo...circa 1993-1995. I had debate message areas, not much unlike the comment areas here. I purposely set up a dozen or so topics specifically because they were controversial. Amazingly enough, the conversations became rather interesting. There were even some "neo-cons" such as they were at the time who became users just so they could fight for the "right". Until I closed the system down, my BBS had the most lively discussions in the immediate network.
Well, I think that's enough for today. I need to get ready for the rest of my day. Great topic!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 11:42:01 AM
when I received a 'Breaking News' emailed bulletin from ABC NEWS yesterday. The big "breaking news" was Craig's adamant disclaimer that he's not gay and only pleaded guilty to the lesser charge to avoid giving the democrats something to snipe at.
It was a pretty obvious bit of damage control... all of it bizarro worldish.
I don't feel sorry for him because of his support of the anti gay hysteria promoted by the GOP and his support of Mitt Romney who just lowers the bar on the level of political discourse.
He is a victim of his of own success. That he should be arrested for so stupid a charge is only a poetic justice which for anyone else would be an injustice.
With the GOP for all its boom and bluster about amorality having had a quite alot of revelations lately, first with Jeff Gannon, then Ted Haggard and now Craig ....it has me wondering how many other high profile anti gay demogogues have their dirty little secrets. Like how many of Pastor Fred Phelps' family/congregation lie awake at night unable to sleep lest the world or other family members know ...that they're only human and "humanity" includes all forms of love.
by
chariotdrvr14 (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 125 comments)
on Wednesday, August 29, 2007 at 1:25:09 PM
Just today, interview tapes made after he was busted pretty much prove he did it.
Firstly, he passes the cop a card stating he's a senator. When that fails to have its desired effect, then comes the interview. During the interview, Craig blows out such bullshit, only a moron would think he's innocent. He tries putting it off on the cop. Then he lies about everything, and gets called a liar by the cop. Finally, he then makes the most fatal and damning mistake: he uses the word "entrap". That word really clinches it!
But wait, there's more. Let's rewind a bit to 1983, to the first congressional page sex scandal. Apparently, Larry Craig's name came up at that time as well with the label gay attached to it. There have been other times where Craig has been labeled as gay, and has completely denied the charges. It seems that our hot-blooded friend from THE potato state can't seem to shake rumors that he's a cock smoker.
But still, he denies! I don't buy it. That man has definitely fallen on his knees before more than one man. It takes one to know one, and he R-1!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 4:54:01 AM
Your frankness and getting to the point of the matter are qualities much to be admired, Pappy. Consider yourself a national intellectual treasure in my eyes. Both Craig and the guy in Florida tried pulling the "I'm a big shot" to evade the treatment that they insist be inflicted upon others who do the same as they do. They remind me of the noblewoman who after her first orgasm gasped, "Oh, goodness, this is too good! I pray the peasants never find out about it." Needless to say, the common folk have and are tired of demagogues who want to reserve things like health care, sexual choice and personal freedom for themselves and not extend the same to us plebes. It's a shame that you are having to consult a lawyer because I know from personal experience that it sure ain't no crime for women to openly hit on me although I'm married. If tapping your foot is a crime then what is it when a woman comes up to me and tells me that she would like to do me? Not trying to be a braggart but that has happened many, many times over the years. I say it's her freedom of expression to proposition me and my choice to accept or decline. Damn if I'd go run get a cop and say she was lewd and disorderly unless she was a public figure who made a career out of condemning "promiscuity" then I sure would hope to have a video camera and a direct number to the tabloids. Geez, maybe a live web broadcast. Anyway, as a heterosexual allow me to clearly and loudly say that the standards are hypocritical for straight and gay cruising. What is ironic is that gays, liberals and ACLU may very well defend Craig's rights, although they detest his hypocrisy. Reminds me of Jesus saying that you must better than the hypocrites. In that vein, for the most part, gays have acted far more Christlike than has the religious reich in dealing with social and justice issues.
by
Richard Mathis (130 articles, 108 quicklinks, 5 diaries, 120 comments)
on Friday, August 31, 2007 at 9:57:31 AM
...I want to thank you for the kind words. I have always felt that honesty is the best policy. It is for this reason that I am in my present situation. I don't and won't lie just so others will be more comfortable. Trust me when I say that I have paid a heavy toll for my honesty.
Now, for my real feelings on Larry Craig. First of all, he's an asshole. He is paying a heavy karmic debt. I don't feel bad that he's reaping the results of his life of lies. As a matter of fact, as far as I am concerned, it couldn't happen to a bigger fuck-head.
That being said, I think it is BEYOND atrocious how willing the Republicans are to abandon him and to use a now really tired phrase, "throw his sorry ass under the bus." When you take a toll of what he actually did, it pales in comparison to some of the other crimes engaged in by members of the congress, and the White House. He just wanted to get some cock. Hell, I can relate to that! I feel that feeling a few times a week. Being single sucks, and not in the good way...:(
Also, I think that Mitt Romney should take a big does of shut the fuck up! Shame on him! What a shiity piece of work is he! He couldn't wait to, as Keith Olbermann said, "throw [Craig] under the bus, then back up and run him over again." Considering Mitt's reaction to this whole affair, I am starting to get the feeling that there was some foot tapping, or something quite similar in Mitt's past. He's yet another lady who protesteth a bit too much!
Now with all that said, I am glad that Craig is finally reaping the whirlwind. I really hope he does get to recind his guilty plea, and has to testify to what he did in open court. Further, I hope that the congressional page who recanted accusations against Craig in the 1983 page sex scandal is there to twist the knife a little more.
I get the strange feeling that all this is the tip of a rather fetid iceberg. In the past year, no less than four right-winged queens has been forced out of the closet. Mark Foley, the Revved up Reverend Haggard, Bob Allen, and now Larry Craig. There are also continuing rumors about Ken Mehlman, ex head of the RNC, Hot Karl Rove (supposedly another really randy bugger into S&M, and other kinky sex), and even DUBYA himself. If you also count Jeff Gannon, it starts to look as if it's a requirement to be Republican if you are a closet case. This tide isn't going to turn, and the way things are going, I am sure that within a month or two, some more gay Republicans are going to have their naughty bits shown.
It is a fact that repressed sexual desires find a way to get expressed. The problem is when these twisted desires hit the surface, they cause all manner of suffering. Ed Gein, one of the most famous mass murderers was clearly a case of twisted sexual desires (and an intense Oedipal Complex) that came out in a murderous rampage. Same for Jeffrey Dahmer, Arthur Shawcross, Ted Bundy, the Green River Killer, and even good old Chucky Manson.
We are human beings. We have needs and desires. It is much healthier for us to express these in constructive ways, than to force them into the dark where they can fester and distort. That is why I am up front about my life and my sexuality.
If there is anything about which I should feel shame, it's the fact that I wasted many good years beating myself up mentally because I find the male body infinitely more attractive than the female. I missed many opportunities to move ahead in my life. I missed many opportunities for rolls in the hay. I missed many opportunities to simply have a good day; a day not dominated by worrying about the stigma attached to my sexual identity.
Given my "drothers", I "drother" be heterosexual. If I could do it, I would. However, I can't lie to me. Further, I couldn't deal with the guilt of dragging some poor woman through a life as my "beard". It wouldn't have been fair to the woman, and it wouldn't have been fair to me, either.
In the final analysis, I have to be able to face myself. While I have no doubt that my life wouldn't have been half as shitty if I had played the game, found some woman dumb enough to believe I was straight, and lived a life of quiet desperation, it would have never been right. The desire for the touch of another man would have never left my reality.
Larry Craig has to live with himself. Somehow, I get the feeling that in those quiet moments, when he's all alone with himself, he can't escape that part of himself that tells him he made a big mistake by not coming out. As much as he carries on and protests his innocence, he simply has to know that he is as see through as glass. He has to know that NO ONE is buying his bullshit. If he'd just cop to it, I'd be willing to really empathize with him. I'd even be willing to defend him.
But as it is, even as much as I know that he's a tortured soul, and is really getting fucked harder over this situation than the situation demands, he's reaping the repugnant harvest of the vile seeds of hatred and dishonesty that he has sewn in his life's garden. Far be it from me to have the desire to pull anyone's ass out of the fire their own shitty karma ignited!
Blessed be! Pappy
by
Pappy (61 articles, 0 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 860 comments)
on Saturday, September 1, 2007 at 2:44:00 AM
14 comments
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