Author: Trish

Another Man Killed for Being Gay; Murderer Says He Was Serving God

Trish

We wish Ryan Skipper’s death were the last one we ever had to hear happened because someone was so threatened by the idea of homosexuality that they killed. But it wasn’t.

Mangum, who described himself as “definitely not a homosexual,” said God called on him to “carry out a code of retribution” by killing a gay man because “sexual perversion” is the “worst sin.”

A Texas man said he was doing God’s work when he randomly targeted and brutally murdered a 46-year-old Southwest Airlines flight attendant named Kenneth Cummings Jr. earlier this summer.

Terry Mark Mangum, 26, told [Brazoria County newspaper] The Facts in a jailhouse interview Friday that he had targeted and killed Cummings because he was homosexual and that he stabbed him in the head. He called his actions “God’s justice.”

…Mangum told The Facts he went to a known gay bar in Houston that night to specifically target a homosexual and said that Cummings, “just happened to be the one that I bumped into.”

…After 600 volunteers spent several days searching through high weeds, dense brush, dump sites and even an abandoned golf course, a bone was found in a dried-up pond. Searchers originally thought the bone belonged to a cow, but after looking at it again, searchers dug around it and found charcoal, Miller said. As they dug deeper, they found a burned body that later was confirmed to be Cummings, Miller said.

The murderer in this case was obviously not only hate-filled but deranged.

“I believe I’m Elijah, called by God to be a prophet,” said 26-year-old Terry Mark Mangum, charged with murder June 11. “…I believe with all my heart that I was doing the right thing.”

[…]

Why You Should Care About New Orleans

Trish

On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall near New Orleans, all the ink was about the progress, and lack thereof, in restoring the city and the rest of the Gulf coast.

We live in an era of failed leadership. Corrupt and incompetent politicians. Thieving CEOs. Priests as pedophiles. Media monopolies. A president’s unpopular, intractable war. Steroid-enhanced sluggers.

Two years later, Ron Fournier says it’s time to start learning the real lessons of Katrina, and they’re not about wind or water.

We need to wake up to the fact that we are all just one big storm or disaster away from being one of those people whose calls for help were answered by voice mail.

Katrina is old news, right? New Orleans — who cares? It’s just another big city with big problems, bad luck and bad weather. Get over it.

Actually, please don’t.

Don’t ever get over the tragedy of New Orleans. It’s your tragedy, too.

What happened to this historic city two years ago is more than the obvious cautionary tale of what might befall your community after a natural disaster or a terrorist strike. It’s also a sad reflection of what’s happening now — today, in your hometown and across an anxious and ailing nation…

If this country can’t help New Orleans rebound — if we and our leaders break the promises made to its citizens — what are the odds your health care will ever get cheaper? Your bridges safer? Your schools better?

“New Orleans is an incubator for all our nation’s ills,” said historian Douglas Brinkley, author of “The Great Deluge,” a book about Katrina.

“If you study what’s going on in New Orleans, it’s just an exaggerated version of what’s hitting us in many areas of the country,” he said. “Just pick your topic.”

OK, let’s start from the top.

[…]

Roll Call on Gonzalez Resignation

Trish

George, Laura, Al and Becky on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007

Sad. So sad. I might just cry.

George Bush: “After months of unfair treatment that has created a harmful distraction at the Justice Department, Judge Gonzales decided to resign his position, and I accept his decision. It’s sad that we live in a time when a talented and honorable person like Alberto Gonzales is impeded from doing important work because his good name was dragged through the mud for political reasons.”

Edwards: Gonzales “oversaw a political purge of U.S. Attorneys at the Justice Department, approved torture techniques at Guantanamo Bay and approved illegal spying on Americans. His leaving is a victory for all of us.”

Or not.

— The most concise reaction came from John Edwards: “Better late than never.”

Following the Bush press conference, Edwards expanded on that, saying Gonzales “oversaw a political purge of U.S. Attorneys at the Justice Department, approved torture techniques at Guantanamo Bay and approved illegal spying on Americans,” and his leaving “is a victory for all of us.”

— Hillary Clinton: “This resignation is long overdue, and so is the appointment of an Attorney General who will put the rule of law and our Constitution above partisan politics…Time and time again, [Gonzales] demonstrated that his loyalties lie with the President and his political agenda, not the American people or the evenhanded and impartial enforcement of our laws…from warrantless wiretaps to the firing of U.S. Attorneys.

— Barack Obama: “I have long believed that Alberto Gonzales subverted justice to promote a political agenda, and so I am pleased that he has finally resigned today. The President needs to nominate an Attorney General who will be the people’s lawyer, not the President’s lawyer, and in an Obama Administration that person will first and foremost defend and promote the rights and liberties enshrined in our Constitution.”

— Bill Richardson: “The resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is long overdue. The President must nominate an Attorney General who is a lawyer for the American people not a political arm of the White House.”

— Rudy Giuliani: “Judge Gonzales served his nation honorably and I wish him well in the next phase of his career.”

— Florida Sen. Mel Martinez (R): Gonzales “is an honorable man has conducted himself always with honesty, dedication and integrity. He is my friend and he is a good man. He and his family have my thanks for their sacrifice for serving during difficult times, and my best wishes for the future.”

Starting With No Exit Strategy Means No End in Sight

Trish

The question isn’t “Will we leave Iraq?” The question is, “When will we leave, and how do we begin that process?” Bush answers by insisting we can’t leave now. He never says when we can, and that’s because he never had an exit strategy beyond shock and awe and mission accomplished. After three months, he was out of ideas.

See this film. If your nearest theater isn’t listed here, email them. I did, and they answered immediately and told me it’s coming my way soon.

DNC Leaps Ever Closer to Irrelevancy as It Pledges to Stay the Course

Trish

Democrats in Florida today are of one voice: “Well here we are.”

The day we all dreaded has come and gone, when the DNC would decide what to do about the fact that Florida’s legislature mandated the state’s primary move ahead on the calendar. And the decision we’ve all been waiting for said, “We are rigid and terrified and if we act reasonably with Florida, all the other states will expect us to be reasonable with them. Mayhem will ensue. We must stay the course.”

The DNC said, “We are rigid and terrified and if we act reasonably with Florida, all the other states will expect us to be reasonable with them. Mayhem will ensue. We must stay the course.”

At least one DNC member seemed to understand why it’s not a good idea to cut Florida adrift.

“We have to enforce our rules, but we don’t want to shoot ourselves in the head trying to heal a little cut on the hand,” said former DNC chairman Don Fowler of South Carolina, worrying the move could have long-term consequences. “You put the Republicans down there for a couple of months just humming and drumming and shucking and jiving and there’s an absence of Democrats, that’s going to give them a great advantage.”

Probably so. But now that it’s happened, now that our silver-tongued state party chair has failed to persuade, now that the national Dems have turned their backs on us, I say, “Who needs ’em?”

Florida Democrats don’t. We will vote in our state primary, regardless of whether our votes translate into delegates for a convention whose only real purpose is the official kick-off of the general election campaign cycle.

After all, the convention is either a fun show to watch if you’re wonks like us at Pensito Review (and likely you, dear reader) or a big pain in the butt if you’re like most of the viewing public. Either way, its main value is in entertainment since the “nominee” is long known beforehand.

The drama being acted out now is that everyone has 30 days to think of a way for Florida to send delegates to the DNC’s miniseries. FDC Chair Karen Thurman is exploring pay-to-play caucus options, which the DNC will pretend to accept reluctantly rather than reveal its relief at not having to ax a main cast member in its lavish and irrelevant production.

We’re being asked to stay tuned with hints of a surprise ending. Given the state of DNC leadership, not to mention go along to get along types like Pelosi and Reid in Washington, I will probably reach for the remote.

Murder-Suicide Claims Prominent GOP Strategist; Gaydars Going Wild

Trish
The Gonzalez crime scene

Ralph Gonzalez, a former executive director of the Georgia GOP while Ralph Reed was its chair, was found shot to death yesterday with two other men in a home he with shared with one of them in Orlando.

Gonzalez was among the three people found inside the home, and their bodies may have been inside since Tuesday, authorities said.

“The third person was the shooter. He shot my son first and then shot David and then killed himself,” Eva Gonzalez said.

A prominent Republican Party consultant is one of three men found dead in a Central Florida home Thursday in an apparent double murder-suicide possibly sparked by a lovers’ quarrel, according to detectives

The home where the deaths occurred was also listed as the headquarters of the Strategum Group, a Republican consulting firm whose clients include Jack Abramoff-linked U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.).

The other victims were identified as David Abrami and Robert Drake. Gonzalez lived in the home with Abrami, and Drake was a former roommate who was visiting from out of town.

“(It was) horrible. I can’t believe he lied in there, and the more I see all that blood, it was sickening. Why would anybody want to shoot my boy?” Eva Gonzalez said.

The police have an answer for that, Mrs. G. but you might not like it.

A prominent Republican Party consultant is one of three men found dead in a Central Florida home Thursday in an apparent double murder-suicide possibly sparked by a lovers’ quarrel, according to detectives…

“We are working it as a homicide, but there is some early evidence to suggest that this may in fact be a murder-suicide,” Orange County sheriff’s Sgt. Allen Lee said.

An attack ad from the Strategum Group’s portfolio

Reed himself, the former head of the
Christian Coalition, also flies under
the gaydar in Republican
conservative circles. If he’s not gay,
he fooled me.

Our sympathy goes out to
family members of the three men,
along with our hope that you will have answers soon and that you will make your peace with whatever they turn out to be.

Florida Democrats Still Fighting to be Counted — But By Our Own This Time!

Trish

Florida Democrats are having that deja vu all over again feeling some more. But while being disenfranchised feels very familiar, having our own party do it to us is brand new.

Florida Democrats are over this whole, “Your vote doesn’t count but maybe next time,” thing.

Buck explained that the DNC is considering yanking our delegates if Florida holds its primary before Feb. 5, 2008 as the Republican-led legislature recently mandated. Maybe what he, as a registered Independent, didn’t tell you is how galling is this prospect.

Our own FDC Chair Karen Thurman actually summed it up well in a missive yesterday.

Our state has seen far too much of this in the past: the 2000 election debacle, eligible voters purged from the voting rolls based on race, Black voters intimidated at the polls, 18,000 votes vanishing because of touch screen machines in 2006, the list goes on and on.

The list does go on and on, since she didn’t even mention the shenanigans in 2000 in nearby Duval County that led to the ouster of the Jacksonville supervisor of elections and served as the impetus for establishing early voting sites there.

Florida Democrats truly have had it up to here (holds hand over head) with having zero representation at the local level, feeble representation in Tallahassee, and dwindling representation in Washington. If our own party takes away our voice in the 2008 election, I for one would — Jon please cover your eyes — consider leaving this trainwreck of a party and joining Buck in the land of purists, contrarians, and exiles.

Thurman did supply a link to a page where you can register your feelings on this subject, which the FDC will then use to bombard DNC Chair Howard Dean. The page doesn’t even ask for money after you hit “submit.”

Go tell Howie that Florida Democrats are over this whole, “Your vote doesn’t count but maybe next time,” thing. No more.

Just Like Iraq? On the Campaign Trail with the Romney Boys

Trish

The Romney Boys in Iowa: “Craig got the strawberry rhubarb, Josh and I got the cherry.”

From the Five Brothers blog: “Craig, Josh and I had about as much fun as allowed on a campaign last weekend in Iowa. Road trips and bike rides are very low key ways to get out and stump for the old man…We laughed a lot that weekend, especially when Craig started getting desperate for food halfway through the ride. At one point I remember turning to him and saying, “Isn’t this fun?” to which he gruffly replied: ‘I’m seriously grumpy right now. We have to get food NOW!!’ …we finally found a farm that was selling homemade cookies, pies and ice cream…Craig got the strawberry rhubarb, Josh and I got the cherry.”

What’s crashingly offensive about Romney’s response isn’t a small set of ill-chosen words but the entire universe of assumptions behind them.

Columnist Froma Harrop got right to the heart of what was wrong with Mitt Romney equating his sons’ participation in his campaign with serving in Iraq. Supporters of the former Massachusetts governor and forever Mormon later characterized the question about why his sons aren’t serving in Iraq as “rude.”

We know that the armed forces are all-volunteer (“the good news,” Mitt said) and that few children of the rich have much to do with it. If military service were a prerequisite for becoming president, most of the current contenders would be out of the running. The only candidates making the cut would be Arizona Sen. John McCain, California Rep. Duncan Hunter and Texas Rep. Ron Paul on the Republican side, and Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and former Alaska Sen. Mike Gravel on the Democratic.

What’s crashingly offensive about Romney’s response isn’t a small set of ill-chosen words but the entire universe of assumptions behind them. Throughout the campaign, Romney has showcased his athletic boys, ages 26 to 37, as all that is good about America and himself. It apparently never occurred to him that anyone in the audience would place his five princes in the same thought as Sadr City.

The official Romney Website even features a “Five Brothers” blog — a youthful jaunt across a cloudless America that seems solar systems away from the Sunni Triangle. Son Craig talks about how he and brothers Josh and Matt participated in the Annual Great Bicycle Ride across Iowa. (Two of them had trained on a hotel’s stationary bikes, we are told.) Photos show the clan boating in New Hampshire, bonding after a volleyball match and enjoying a game at Boston’s Fenway Park.

And the boys’ day jobs? Ben attends medical school in Boston, Craig works for an ad agency in New York, Josh develops real estate in Salt Lake City, and Matt manages commercial properties in San Diego.

Tagg helps run his father’s campaign and gets a bit political on his blog. He writes that New York Sen. Hillary Clinton, the Democratic candidate, wants to “raise taxes, grow government, take over health care and run away from Iraq.”

So while the “chickenhawk” label could stick to most of the candidates, there’s something especially jarring about the Romney family portrait: six hunky males, all untouched by military service. (During the Vietnam War, Mitt obtained a draft deferment to do missionary work in France.)

As part of his answer to the “rude” question, Romney called for a “surge of support” for the troops. A more politically astute response would have been to propose a national program requiring everyone’s children, including his own, to serve their country in some fashion.

It’s a good bet that the idea never crossed his mind.

Press One for English? Not in Central Florida!

Trish

Poor Adam Putnam. The third highest-ranking Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives has a constituency that is inflamed.

What are the residents of Lakeland and Central Florida so upset about? Is it the grinding violence in the occupation of Iraq? The lack of access to health care, causing middle class families to lose their savings? The impending housing market and mortgage lending collapse, which threatens the entire economy?

No, it’s much bigger than any of those things.

Their most frequent complaint is dialing a business and getting “Press one for English and two for Spanish,” he said.

That’s right. They are sick and tired of having a foreign language offered them by automated phone systems. Enough already! Someone needs to pass a law! Hey Adam Putnam!

“It is hotter than Iraq, hotter than abortion. I have never had an issue that so overwhelmingly overshadows everything else,” the Bartow Republican said. “I would say it is ahead of every other issue by 4 to 1.”

…The almost absolute opposition to immigration has a lot to do with a cultural concern as well as other issues of border security and a feeling of fairness to those who immigrated legally.

“What I am hearing from them is that we are losing our cultural identity. Instead of being the traditional melting pot, we are becoming factions,” he said. “Now all of these things are not necessarily government’s responsibility, but there is a growing concern that there is no assimilation anymore as there has been throughout our history.”

Something’s wrong here. Either Putman’s staff is throwing away the emails and letters from residents concerned about real — as opposed to Rovian manufactured — issues, or Central Florida is in big trouble. I tend to believe that Putnam, who continued to peddle the “Nancy Pelosi wants a bigger plane” story even after it was exposed as false, is ignoring the real issues in favor of the ones that appeal to the base.

Putnam is chair of the House Republican conference committee, which coordinates the party messages and manages media relations for House Republicans. It’s his job to make the Democratic House leadership look as bad as possible. If automated phone systems are the best he can do, like I said, poor Adam Putnam.

Mark Foley Doing Pretty Good in Fake Election

Trish

A poll being conducted by the Stuart (FL) News has some participants seeking career opportunities with the paper, since it is obvious employees are encouraged to drink on the job.

The question asked is, if an election were held today, would you vote for former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Ephebophile) or Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Palm Beach)? Although at one time disgraced page molester Foley led, the results are currently:

Mark Foley — 30% (83 votes)
Tim Mahoney — 69% (185 votes)
268 total votes

Who is that 30 percent? No doubt it’s the same 30 percent who would support George Bush, no matter what, even if he too were caught instant messaging teenage boys about what turns them on. And it’s that same 30 percent who think Bush is doing a helluva job, no matter how bad things are.

Some of the comments reflect this conclusion.

“Amazingly, the vote is split. This has to be either a haven for pedophiles or die-hard Republicans or both!”

“Is the 44% up there now for Foley voted by peodphiles? Do we have that many in our area?”

“No, they’re not pedophiles, they’re just dyed-in-the-wool Republicans. These are the same people who will vote for Rudy Giuliani. They’ll swallow their objections to his stands on abortion, gay rights etc. just because they think he is the only Republican who can beat Hillary Clinton. Hypocrites! All of them!”

There’s more. Take a moment and vote yourself, or just read the comments.