Sen. Craig Thomas (R-Wyoming) died yesterday. The cause of death was acute myeloid leukemia. Thomas was 74.
Even though Wyoming’s governor is a Democrat, state law provides that when a senator is replaced, his party retains the seat. The Wyoming Republican Party will submit the names of three nominees to Gov. David Freudenthal, who will choose the replacement from among the three.
In his book, “No Retreat, No Surrender,” Tom DeLay, the indicted former House Majority Leader, admits that in the days when he was drinking as many as 10 martinis a day, he engaged in extramarital affairs:
In this period, he earned the nickname Hot Tub Tom. Then he found Jesus and, he said, stopped sinning. In the book, he freely confesses to committing adultery. “I had put my needs first,” he told me. “I was on the throne, not God. I had pushed God from His throne.”
In the book, DeLay attacked his former colleague, then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for having an affair while he was leading the impeachment of Pres. Bill Clinton because he committed perjury when asked under oath about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. DeLay says Gingrich’s adultery was worse than his — due to the implicit hypocrisy:
[Gingrich was] conducting an affair with a Capitol Hill employee during the 1998 impeachment trial of Bill Clinton. (The woman later became Gingrich’s third wife.) “Yes, I don’t think that Newt could set a high moral standard, a high moral tone, during that moment,” DeLay said. “You can’t do that if you’re keeping secrets about your own adulterous affairs.”
A reasonable person might see this as splitting hairs, but so-called Christians always have an “out” when it comes to accountability:
“I was no longer committing adultery by that time, the impeachment trial. There’s a big difference … Also, I had returned to Christ and repented my sins by that time.”
But what about “Judge not, lest ye be judged,” Tom?
There are two events this weekend to commemorate Ryan Skipper’s birthday — a memorial today in Atlanta, and a fundraiser tomorrow in Auburndale, Fla., for the Ryan Keith Skipper Foundation.
Note: Check Georgia Equality website for last minute schedule changes.
1:00pm
First Metropolitan Community Church
1379 Tullie Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-325-4143
For more information on attending Ryan’s vigil and other ways you can help please contact Melinda Morgan by email or at (404) 327-9898.
Source: The Lakeland Ledger:
A fundraiser for the Ryan Keith Skipper Foundation will be Sunday at the Auburndale Civic Center. Admission is $10 for the benefit, at 115 W. Park St. in Auburndale.
At 3 p.m. Sunday, Harmonious Universe, an artists’ group that promotes peace and unity through artwork, will be on hand with blank canvases that can be painted by visitors in Skipper’s memory.
Canvas painting is free, and a silent auction and entertainment will begin at 7:30 p.m.
All money raised from the auction, food and drink will go toward the foundation, whose mission statement is to educate and promote the acceptance of diversity. Skipper was gay.
Skipper was found stabbed to death March 14. His killing has been classified as a hate crime.
Ryan would have been 26 today.
The newly formed Ryan Skipper Foundation is holding a silent auction fundraiser on Sunday, April 29, at the Auburndale Civic Center at 119 West Park St. in Auburndale, Florida.
Activities include a mural painting at 3:00 p.m., with Harmonious Universe, and entertainment and the auction at 7:30 p.m. Performers will include Katherine Novots, Amy De Milo, Stephanie Shippae, Summer and more.
Entry is a $10.00 donation that will go to a scholarship fund in in Ryan’s memory at Traviss Career Center.
Saturday would have been Ryan Skipper’s 26th birthday. His family and friends are holding a memorial in Atlanta:
Saturday, April 28, 2007
1:00pm
First Metropolitan Community Church
1379 Tullie Road NE
Atlanta, GA 30329
404-325-4143
For more information on attending Ryan’s vigil and other ways you can help please contact Melinda Morgan by email or at (404) 327-9898.
Ryan Skipper was viciously murdered on March 14, 2007. Two men, including one who had known Ryan for about six months, were arrested and charged with the murder as a hate crime.
Update: Check the Georgia Equality website for the latest info.
The day John McCain lost the 2008 presidential campaign:
O.K., the guy is obviously sick — blowing his nose and probably hopped up on antihistamines — but, come on. “Bomb Iran?”
Denver three: After GOP goons threw three people out of a 2005 taypayer-funded presidential event in Denver because they appeared to be liberals — under their coats, they wore anti-Bush T-shirts and one of them had an antiwar bumpersticker on her car.
The “Denver Three” sued, claiming the government violated their First Amendment rights. Now lawyers for Bush’s goons are arguing that the president’s right to free speech is more important than the rights of mere citizens:
“The president’s right to control his own message includes the right to exclude people expressing discordant viewpoints from the audience,” states the brief, filed by attorneys Sean Gallagher, Dugan Bliss and others representing [Michael] Casper and [Jay] Klinkerman.
Gallagher said the White House was not involved in developing this strategy.
A lawyer for the Denver Three said if the government is allowed to exclude people based on their views “it guts the First Amendment.”
The Ledger
To my pleasant surprise, the Lakeland Ledger covered the vigil for Ryan Skipper in Winter Haven yesterday. The newspaper had failed to cover preparations for the vigil until the morning of the event, and buried the announcement on its website by not linking to it from the homepage. But today’s story appeared on the homepage, with a photo.
The coverage was fine, except for this bit, which was a lost opportunity to set the record straight:
Damien Skipper said the lack of media coverage since his brother’s murder could be because of the account first released by authorities – that on the night he was killed, his brother was cruising for sex and picked up Bearden.
He feels that reinforcing such negative stereotypes marginalized the crime.
On March 17, the Ledger published a version of events leading up to the murder that it attributed to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. According to the sheriff, Skipper was seeking anonymous sex, picked up a stranger and took him home, where they smoked pot and conspired to forge checks.
What the sheriff failed to note was that this version of events came from a very suspicious source: the accused killers. The suspects’ negative spin was unwittingly reported in the local media, including the Ledger — where it was picked up by newspapers across the country. The misinformation about Ryan appeared to dampen interest in the story, however, especially in the mainstream press. Now there are strong indications that none of the allegations against Ryan are true.
On Friday, a sheriff’s department spokesperson acknowledged that Sheriff Judd was wrong when he claimed Skipper was involved in a check-forging scheme with the alleged murderers. The sheriff’s office has also admitted that Judd’s version of events was based largely on statements by the accused.
In an email to a reader earlier this month, Ledger managing editor Lenore Devore promised, “Everything we printed that you dispute has come from the Sheriff’s Office. If they change what they think happened at some point, we’ll report on that. But for now, that’s its official report.”
Today’s story would have been a good place to note that the sheriff’s “official report” had changed, and that Ryan didn’t pick up a stranger, take him home and conspire to forge checks with him.
Winter Have News Chief/Polkonline.com
The Winter Haven News Chief covered the story, with links and a photo on its homepage at polkonline.com:
Damien Skipper, brother to Ryan Skipper, read statements the [Equality Florida] and family have received from state Rep. Marty Bowen, Polk County Commissioner Bob English and Winter Haven Police Chief Mark LeVine. County Commissioner Jean Reed made a quick statement at the vigil.
“But we haven’t heard back from (U.S. Rep.) Adam Putnam or (Gov.) Charlie Christ,” Damien Skipper told the crowd.
Both Rep. Putnam and Gov. Crist are Republicans. (During his campaign for governor last year, Crist, who is in his 40s and unmarried, faced rumors he is gay.)
Rev. Phyllis Hunt from the Metropolitan Community Church in Tampa noted that one group in particular was under-represented at the vigil:
“It’s sad this park is not packed with ministers,” she said. “No one stepped up and said, ‘This is not OK.’ I believe as a person of faith it impacts us spiritually.”
Amen.
Winter Haven
1:00 PM
Central Park
Central Ave at 4th and 5th Streets, Winter Haven
Russell Patterson, 813-849-3919, russ@eqfl.orgDaytona Beach (CHANGED LOCATION)
7:00 PM
Home Metropolitan Church
Back Parking Lot
500 South Ridgewood Ave
Daytona Beach, FL 32118
David Perreault, 386-453-3089, david.perreault@earthlink.netTampa
7:00 PM
USF
Dream Pool, MLK Jr. Memorial Fountain
by the Student Union
Tamara Wasserman 941-626-2164, wasserman2001@yahoo.comJacksonville
1:00 PM
UU Church of Jacksonville,
7405 Arlington Expressway, Jacksonville, FL
32211uujax@bellsouth.net, churchoffice@uujax.org (904) 725-8133Clearwater
7:00 PM
On the shores of Peace Pond, Unity Church of Clearwater
2465 Nursery Road (on the south side of Nursery, between Belcher and US 19)
Leddy Hammock, Minister, Unity Church of Clearwater, 727 531 0992
leddy@unityofclearwater.orgPensacola
1:00 PM
Holy Cross Metropolitan Community Church
3130 W Fairfield Dr, Pensacola, 32505
Rev Sandy O’Steen, revsandy@holycrossmcc.com
(850) 469-9090 www.holycrossmcc.comWest Palm Beach Area
Downtown Lake Worth
6:30 PM
Gather at Town Hall
Dixie and Lake Ave
Three block vigil walk to park in center of Down Town
Allan Hendricks, 561.541.3700, eqflpbc@yahoo.comFort Lauderdale
1:00 PM
Gay and Lesbian Community Center
1717 N. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale
Rev. Frank Faine, frank@sunshinecathedral.orgPort Richey
Saturday, April 14th – 11:00 PM
Waterside Landing
www.watersidelanding.com
7737 Grand Blvd
Port Richey, FL 34668
(727) 841-7900Tallahassee
10:00 AM
Front steps of the old State Capitol Building
Jim Van Riper Alain Raymond, alain@eqfl.org , 904-807-5928Ocala
8:00 PM
Downtown Square, Ocala
Robert W. Poth III, homes@robpoth.com, 352-697-2522Key West
7:00 PM
Steps of the Old Custom House
Base of White Head Street, Key West
Sponsored by GLCC of Key West and NOW
John Andola, jandola@hotmail.com, 305-849-0379Miami
1:00 PM
Pridelines Youth Services, 180 NE 19th St, Miami
At he corner of NE 19th St and 2nd Ave
Tobias Packer, tobias@eqfl.org, 305-924-6237Washington, DC
6:30 PM
Dupont Circle Park
Lara Martin, lsm4u1982@hotmail.com
Better late than never: The Tampa Tribune reported on the hate crime vigils in memory of hate-crime murder victim Ryan Skipper set for today. A link to the article is prominently featured on the newpaper’s homepage.
The Lakeland Ledger also has posted an article about the vigils, but it is not linked from the paper’s homepage, and can only be found via the site’s search function.
The list of local newspapers that have covered the vigils now looks like this:
In the diplomatic ranks, trained professionals toil,
To keep the peace and tamp down foreign turmoil.
But for Greek ambassador,
Trump picked an artful dodger —
The grifting, drunken blackmailer Kimberly Guilfoyle.
