do not get between me and my ssh clients

solarbird is still not impressed by shoreline's it group
solarbird has found t3h OSX boxen
solarbird sends openly ** "You do not have the necessarily privileges to open
Terminal." yeah, sure, <fix>. **
solarbird ** now i can open terminal! ^_^ **

i have a similarly trivial technique for the windows boxen.

oh right I forgot

It's National Coming Out Day. So hi, if you're reading this, I'm a dyke. If you're not reading this, I'm still a dyke, and get out of my brain.

Cultural Warfare Update later.

Today's Cultural Warfare Update

The war against GOP GBLT picks up, as the Family Research Council (which never does anything without Focus on the Family approval) and the Traditional Values Coalition both demand the GOP purge itself of t3h gay. As part of this, the TVC really rolls out the good old-fashioned 'fags are child rapists who want to rape your children' rhetoric, and Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight rolls out the "deadly lifestyle" rhetoric in support. It's nasty out there.

Oh, and also interestingly, Focus on the Family's latest internal promotion of the "ex-gay" movement is entirely theological, and has apparently given up any pretense of psychology or science, which it has heretofore previously maintained. This is consistent with creationism/intelligent design; "and then a miracle occurred" being a valid step in science, it can be a "valid step" in psychology too, which is how you get things like the below, and is why fighting the whole creationism-is-a-science lie is so important to everybody.

And now, today's news:

Fundamentalist favourite Senator Brownback (R-KS) puts a block on a judicial nomination because she doesn't hate t3h queers presided in a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple a few years ago;

In an earlier post, I talked about a feminist blogger who tried to get emergency contraception after her partner's condom broke, but was judged unworthy as she wasn't married or raped; the follow-up here is that she's pregnant, and, in response to her post and in email, is reportedly getting death threats;

Courtesy Andrew Sullivan, the Texas GOP has sent out a letter condemning a Democratic contender as an atheist, and more importantly, stating that no atheist can uphold "the laws an Constitution of Texas"; incidentally, said office contender says he's not an atheist, but the state party says he's lying and really is;

Andrew's on a roll, linking to a refutation of theocon claims that gay men are t3h child rapists - as usual, it's all about lying about other people's data;

***** Focus on the Family releases an "ex-gay" example DVD. That's not such a big deal by itself, but give me a second; this instance is the kind of thing that feels like a bit of a watershed. Here's the sitch: the fundamentalist line for a long time has been trying to pretend that the "ex-gay" movement has something to do with psychology and science. They've gotten fundamentalist with doctorates saying that there's no scientific evidence for sexuality being anything other than pervy dupes of satan fixed, innate, or otherwise part of a person - unless, of course, you're straight, in which case it is. You know the deal. Anyway, to get to the point: Everything they're quoting here is theological conversion. The title of this "Love Won Out" DVD is "Testifying to God's Grace," and the entire article is about conversion to fundamentalist Christianity. This isn't even pretending to be about anything else. I think that's important;

Focus on the Family rails about Massachusetts's "exposure to homosexual propaganda in the classroom," which I'm pretty sure from other sources means "acknowledging that GBLT people can get married in the state and that some parents of children may be lesbian or gay"; they, of course, want it stopped. This is yet another example of the fundamentalist language filter: any mention of LBGT people which is not explicitly condemnational is 'promotion of homosexuality.'"

Focus on the Family publicises "Morality in Media's" upcoming "Protection from Pornography Week" action which includes "a model letter to the editor and sermon examples;"

Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney continues to recruit the fundamentalist vote; he's sent his wife Anne Romney to introduce his video presentation to "Liberty Sunday," a big theoconservative political rally coming up on the 15th. And given the chance, Focus again pushes the idea that equality for GBLT people destroys religious liberty;

FotF note saying that the Supreme Court turned down an appeal to overturn Roe v. Wade that even they admit had no legal standing;

FotF story celebrates the success in pressuring clinics which include abortion services out of business, notes that there used to be a lot more than there are now ("There were more than 2,000 abortion clinics in America in the 1990s — today there are a fewer than 750");

FotF update on various court rulings regarding DOMA; the most interesting part here is Focus on the Family blaming Lawrence v. Texas for making queers all uppity; regular readers will remember that Lawrence v. Texas (2003) was the Supreme Court decision which ruled that states could no longer make GBLT people illegal by fiat - of course, the theoconservatives want it overturned so regularly take opportunities to blame it for things they oppose, as part of building the thematic "story" that Lawrence v. Texas is evil - c.f. Roe v. Wade;

FotF worries that "born-again Christians" may not be as reliably Republican this year, thanks to the Congressional scandals which they call "relatively bipartisan," which is about as close as they'll come to criticising the Republican party as a whole. I'm also amused that it's "Media coverage of scandals" causing the problem - not the scandals themselves, which they don't mention because, well, I think you can figure it out;

FotF story on a lesbian Rhode Island couple getting married in Massachusetts; they were allowed because there's no specific RI law banning same-sex marriage, which means that the 1913 law being used to stop residents of other states from getting married in Massachusetts isn't triggered. The Massachusetts Family Institute, of course, condemns the 'activist judges' for, um, following the law;

FotF promotes the anti-abortion student action "Day of Silent Solidarity," which basically photocopies the GBLT-rights oriented "Day of Silence" protest playbook, and is happy that the ADF intervened against a school which had tried to ban the action. This is pretty much the same set of action as "Day of Silence," but remember kids: when queers do it, it destroys religious liberty and disrupts learning, and when fundamentalists do it, it's free speech;

Focus on the Family roughly once a week tells its readership that it's not an option to be political; it's a Biblical Mandate. This is this week's edition, pushing a book on the topic; the inside front cover has quotes from noted theocons as as the Southern Baptist Convention's Richard Land ("Tom lays out a mandate for Christian activism that will grip the readers' minds and stir their souls") and the American Family Association's Donald Wildmon ("Christians are mandated by the Gospel to speak up and step out... this book will challenge any preconceived ideas you may have that Christianity and political involvement do not mix.");

Human Events story has a whole boatload of theoconservatives urging fundamentalist voters not to sit out the election and to stick with the Republican party; Paul Weyrich said that Hastert should resign(!) but got whipped back onto the party line the next day and retracted his statement;

Faith and Freedom Network posts its Washington State endorsement/voter's guides for four districts (17, 26, 44, 48);

The Canada Family Action Coalition is well onboard the "lesbian and gay marriage destroys religious freedom and free speech" American theocon bandwagon at this point;

Traditional Values Coalition, always ready with the newtype blood libel, says that being gay is the same as being a pedophile, and asserts, "Republicans need to make a simple choice between the innocent children and radical homosexuals who prey on them," demanding the ouster of all GBLT people from the Republican party; I'm not sure what the sickest part of this is, but I'm putting my money on Rev. Sheldon quoting a NAMBLA co-founder as an authoritative source;

TVC blames Democrats for the Foley scandal, also George Soros; again equates gay and lesbian people with child molesters; "Predatory behavior is one of the end results of homosexuality. Plain and simple... This scandal has clearly brought into focus what lies at the very baseline of homosexuality - that it has a predatory component that is toxic, dangerous, and psychologically damaging to children" - and there's plenty more where that came from;

Third TVC article complains about Washington Post columnist's negative report on the TVC, reasserting again that queers are mostly pedophiles;

American Family Association reports Operation Rescue complaining about how persecuted fundamentalists are in America today, claiming that theocons are targeted by the IRS for "your views against child killing or even homosexuality"; I don't know whether that phrasing is significant or not, but strictly speaking, it implies that somebody thinks gayfolk are even worse than abortion rights;

AFA: Theocon favourite Senator Brownback (R-KS) wants a pornography crackdown and a new commission to investigate, um, pr0n;

AFA and Family Research Council worry about the GOP's chances in the fall; urges theocon voters to stick with the party;

AFA news report: "the secular world is stepping up efforts to force pluralism and tolerance on Evangelicals," urges "Christians to study God's Word so they can be ready to defend the exclusive claims of Christ"; a second story quotes Concerned Women for America's Robert Knight talking about the "deadly lifestyle" of GBLT people in their successful efforts to get Governor Schwarzenegger to veto a set of bills in California, at least two of which appeared to be mostly about preventing GBLT students from harassment at school;

Family Research Council ACTION ITEM to tell them how "your religious freedoms have been infringed by the homosexual agenda." This is one of the many elements of the theocon agenda: if they don't get to impose their religious beliefs upon you, then you're violating their "religious freedoms." From a libertarian, traditional conservative, or simple your-fist-my-nose standpoint, this is, of course, incoherent. But it makes sense if you're convinced there's only one legitimate way to live and you have it. The same arguments, of course, were made against racial equality movements specifically, but that's why they also try to pretend that there's no relationship ever between the civil rights movement and the GBLT rights movement;

Family Research Council's Tony Perkins blames a "network of gay staffers" for the Foley scandal; FRC joins TVC in demanding a Republican purge of queers from the party. "The GOP will have to decide whether it wants to be the party that defends the traditional moral and family values that our nation was built upon and directed by for two centuries. Put another way, does the party want to represent values voters or Mark Foley and friends?";

FRC press release advertising Ann Romney, wife of Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, will be introducing a video of her husband addressing the theoconservative confab "Liberty Sunday" on the 15th. As of this press release, Mitt Romney is the only Republican officeholder actually speaking; all the headliners are either preachers or heads of theocon organisations such as the FRC, Focus on the Family, the AFA, and so on.

( Articles and excerpts below )

Today's Cultural Warfare Update (Addendum)

I left a few stories out that I had sent to myself in email. Sorry about that. Here they are! They aren't any fun either.

The Laramie Project, a play about the murder gay Wyoming man, is "too controversial" for the Yakima (!) school board;

Sound Politics, a local political blog, supports the school board decision, calling the play too "pro-tolerance" - apparently, a play that suggests that murdering gay men for being queer is bad might be, you know, too soft on t3h fags; the "controversy" over the "real" causes of the murder mostly come from an ABC 20/20 story which has largely since been shown to be inaccurate, but hey, let's "teach the controversy," right?;

Another local blogger chips in a few cents on the play and Sound Politics reaction;

And one more link to the GOP struggle over whether to blame a mythical gay mafia for the Foley scandal and purge the party of GBLT people, courtesy Andrew Sullivan again, who has become quite aware of the dynamics of the theoconservatives who make up the biggest block of his party.

( Articles and excerpts below )