The Insanity of Hate

It never ceases to amaze me how obsessed some people are with hatred. Consider these two examples.

In the bilgewater town of Hazard, Kentucky, they have a public pool called The Pavillion. The organization Mending Hearts, Inc., is contracted with Medicaid to provide services to "individuals with mental retardation or developmental disabilities." Yes, they get government funding but they aren't using it to bomb the shit out peasants in some third world country.

Instead they give services to people who probably actually need it. They took some of their clients to The Pavilion, including two men who are also gay, but who are also mentally disabled. Shortly after they arrived staff from the pool approached the staff from Mending Hearts and told that they would have to leave because they "gay people" are not allowed to use the pool!According Shirlyn Perkins, Executive Director of Mending Hearts, "My staff told the man that what he was trying to do was discrimination. The man stated that what he was doing was in the Bible and he could do it." Gee, I guess it's a good thing the man didn't think they were witches and burned them to death, that in the Bible as well.

Perkins says her staff continued to argue but that they, and their clients, were forced to leave the pool. Please remember that the people forced to leave were mentally disabled and it was clear that they didn't even understand why they were being thrown out. Perkins said: "My clients, who already feel ridiculed and different, left the city-owned facility crying and embarrassed for trying to participate in 'normal' activities that everyday 'normal' people do."

Allegedly the City Manager, Carlos Combs, has offered an apology and said staff were spoken to about the issue. But really, do people honestly believe that the Bible tells them to do shit like this? My god! Okay, this is hillbilly territory that we're talking about but what excuse does Republican Congressvermin Allen West have?

You might remember that "comedian" Tracy Morgan went into a rant where he said that his sone turned out gay he would kill him. Apparently Morgan thought that was funny. An intern, working for Congressman Allen received a tweet from the band, Scissors Sisters which said: "Dear Tracy Morgan's son: if you are gay, you can TOTALLY come live with me. We'll read James Baldwin & watch Paris is Burning." An intern retweeted the message. West apologized for the tweet, said the intern "made an error" and then fired the young man for that offense alone. Surely this was a faux pas, but really, isn't termination a bit of overkill?

And, this brings up the question of why Congressman West was subscribed to the twitter account for an openly gay band like Scissor Sisters? I sure hope Congressman West doesn't have a "wide stance" problem?

Bonus lunacy: Yes, three for the price of two! Florida State Representative Dennis Baxley, a Republican, of course, was pushing for legislation to make it harder to vote in the state. He claimed this was necessary because he heard rumors about a "'pro-family' candidate" who "was favored to win until his opponent, 'a homosexual activist candidates,' bused in homosexuals from other parts of the state who showed up at the polls and claimed residency at an address occupied by a local Dunkin Donuts." Why, now they are passing legislation based on rumors they heard? And if this were a Dunkin Donuts wouldn't it be more likely that cops were bussed in from around the state?

Really, what kind of paranoid idiots are attracted to the Republican Party these days?

And, if you want a completely funny take on things, from the opposite view, here is the opening number from the Tony Awards. It's amusing! At least some people have a sense of humor, too bad they aren't Republicans. By the way, yesterday was a good day for libertarians at the Tony Awards. Congrats to libertarians Trey Parker and Matt Stone, whose comedic musical on Mormonism, The Book of Mormon, won nine Tonys. The libertarian duo between them won 7 Tony Awards. And libertarian John Larroquette won for best performer in a feature role in musical. I know conservatives whine that they don't get recognized in the entertainment fields, but maybe it's because they produce such crap. They try to drag libertarians into that mix as well, claiming they get no respect either, except for Stone, Parker, Larroquette, Drew Carey, Clint Eastwood, Kurt Russell, Raquel Welch, Orson Bean, Darcy Halsey (CSI), Dixie Carter (sadly gone now), Denis Leary, Penn and Teller, Jason Reitman, Tom Selleck, Wil Wheaton (though turned off to the label by bitchy libertarians), Marc Cherry (creator Desperate Housewives), Tracy Torme (produces and screenwrite).... well, you get my point. Enjoy the comedy, song and dance.