GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Is Hell Freezing Over?

by

So I get home late last night from a long day of interviewing prospective job candidates for positions I’m trying to fill, and I flip on our local radio news channel on my drive home from Dulles Airport.

I was absolutely shocked to hear that the United States Senate (as in the one that sits in Washington, DC) actually passed Tort Reform legislation. I nearly ran off the road.

Here is Scrappleface’s take: Senate Curbs Class Actions, Lawyers Shop New Senate

The House has passed it many times, and it was Item #9 of the original GOP Contract with America back in 1994.

The Democrats and Bill Clinton had stopped passage in the Senate using the Democrat’s favorite tool — the filibuster. Yet when it came time to vote, 18 Democrats joined every Republican Senator in voting for it (two GOP Senators did not cast a vote).

So the question I have to ask is… how many of President Bush’s judicial appointments would pass with a similar wide margin if the Senate Democrats didn’t use the UNCONSTITUTIONAL filibuster against judicial nominees?

-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Gordon Smith — Senate GOP Maverick

by

You wouldn’t know it from this press release by the Human Rights Campaign, but the Early Treatment for HIV Act was reintroduced this week by a *gasp* Republican United States Senator. None other than Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), who has come light years in his understanding of gay and HIV/AIDS issues. If you weren’t an astute political watcher, you would assume that since Hillary is the co-sponsor and all Republicans hate gays, that Senator Smith must be a Democrat.

Wrong.

Log Cabin Republicans got it right.

Isn’t it funny that when liberals go after something that Republicans are doing that they oppose, they make sure to identify them as Republicans in the media, press releases, etc. But you can bet they go out of their way to hide the truth when a Republican like Gordon Smith steps up to the plate.

He’s just another name without party identification according to the HRC, because all Republican Senators are evil, aren’t they?

-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Kerry Gay Rights Doctrine Continues To Be Implemented

by

Remember folks, the man who the gay community endorsed enthusiastically for President (mainly because of who he wasn’t) was John Kerry. Kerry endorsed state-by-state decisions on gay marriage. He opposed gay marriage, but supported civil unions. He said he would have voted in favor of the Missouri gay marriage ban…before later saying he would have voted against it.

Well, the Kerry Gay Rights Doctrine is certainly prevailing across the nation. And there’s more evidence of it this week…

First let’s head to Virginia,

Then it is off to Alabama,

Now finally we wil go to Indiana…

Yeeeeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!!!!

Huh…maybe it is really the Howard Dean Gay Rights Doctrine?

And speaking of which…. when a Republican opposes gay marriage they are branded by the gay left as undeniably evil. Yet, when the soon-to-be-new Democratic National Chairman opposes gay marriage he is given the full support of the Gay Street activist crowd. Go figure.

Hypocrisy, the other red meat of politics.

-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Movie Trivia–we have a winner

by

Movie Triva–we have a winner to the Movie Trivia contest. Loyal reader Dave of the Somewhere in the Middle blog got all 12 right. I’m impressed that someone else would recognize the quote in (3) from The Naked Gun. I now know that I am not the only one who remembers great lines from good, stupid movies.

(1) In Blazing Saddles, Rock Ridge sheriff Bart (Cleavon LIttle) offered fetching chanteuse Lili Von Shtupp (played by the late beyond great Madeline Kahn) what she described as a “wed wose.” Her feature film debut was as Eunice Burns in What’s Up Doc?
(2) We find the Omega 13 in Galaxy Quest. It’s a device that turns time back for 13 seconds and was used in the movie.
(3) Leslie Nielsen‘s Frank Drebin speaks the line, “This is our hill; these are our beans” in The Naked Gun in a bid to prevent Priscilla Presley‘s Jane Spencer from killing him (as she had been hypnotized by the machinations of the evil Vincent Ludwig played by Ricardo Montalban). Nielsen’s Drebin is successful.

Movie Trivia

by

I thought I’d take a break from the normal routine of blogging to offer a quiz to see how well-versed our readers are in movie trivia. Please e-mail your answers to me. I will acknowledge the first person who gets all 12 questions right in the post where I reveal the answers.

(1) In (a) what movie did the town sheriff offer a fetching chanteuse what she called a “wed wose.” (b) Who played the town sheriff? (c) Who played the fetching chanteuse? (d) What was that actress’s feature film debut?

(2) (a) In what 1990s movie do we find the Omega 13? (b) What does it do? (c) Is it used in the movie?

(3) (a) Who speaks the line, “This is our hill; these are our beans”? (b) In what movie? (c) To whom does he address these words? (d) What he is trying to accomplish? (e) Does he succeed?

-Dan (aka GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

Condi Rice in 2008?

by

I hate to take away from the “welcome post” today, but I just saw this posting from Roger L. Simon: America’s Black Queen.

Man, I would love for Condi to be on the ticket in 2008. My assumption is it would be stretch for her to make the VP slot, given the hard conservatives control of the primary/convention process.

I actually wonder if what Boxer is REALLY worried about is Condi running for US Senate in California at some point?

Now make sure you scroll down and read the “welcome post.” *grin*

-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Welcome to GayPatriot.org

by

I’m pleased to present the new format for the GayPatriot blog. Many thanks to Christian Grantham for his tireless efforts to make this look the way I think I want it to.

A lot of the inspiration for this new format comes from PatrickRuffini’s new site. I liked the ‘red state’ banner and some of the other graphic elements he used. Thanks, Patrick.

Some things to look out for…. You will note the jet plane crossing the banner… remember, Red State America is “flyover” country. Also, in response to readers requests, we have added Trackbacks.

I welcome comments and suggestions on how to improve and tweak the new look. I decided to launch today and worry about the minor glitches as we move along. So please comment!

Please note especially the new address — GayPatriot.org. We have moved off of Blogger.com (hallelujah!) but those who still go to the old URL are being redirected here.

Finally, the purchase of GayPatriot.org was intentional. I’d like this to be a community of gay and lesbian Americans who want to find a new way. A way to reach out to Red State America. A way to find common ground with the Republican majority in Washington and in our various state capitals. We have to raise our voices from within the Party and change people’s perceptions and minds one-at-a-time if we have to.

We will work with or without Log Cabin Republicans as appropriate. But I want this ‘virtual organization’ to truly represent the views of the million-plus gay voters and our friends and family who support President Bush — especially in this time of war that our nation will face for a long while. This is our start at an answer to MoveOn.org….. GetOverIt.org, you could say. (Thanks, PatriotPal in NJ for that.)

You will notice on the right-hand column a place to enter your email address. This will give GPW and I the ability to reach out to those of you who want extra postings, special bulletins, possible social gatherings in the future, etc. Think of it as free premium membership. And, I’d like to dub this group the “23 Percent Club” — in honor of the exit poll numbers of gay and lesbian voters for Bush in 2004. (Thanks to Bart from Indiana for the awesome name!)

So welcome again to GayPatriot.org. As always, it is a pleasure to write for you and have you visit.

-GayPatriot: gaypatriot2004@aol.com

When Hollywood Gets it Right

by

A couple weeks ago, after finishing up two research papers for my graduate program in Mythology, I returned home (from mailing them), fixed myself dinner and collapsed in front of a movie. Many of us know that experience. After a hard day’s — or week’s work — we look forward, either at home, or in the theater, to a good comedy or action flick which will remove us from the anxieities of our lives and help ease the woes of the day.

I think that’s why bad movies upset us so. We had expected something which would allow us a moment’s escape — or repose — and instead they remind us of the troubles of the day. It’s why conservatives bristle at leftist messages in movies. We’re looking to be entertained, not indoctrinated.

Well, after I mailed in my papers, I had the chance to see Hollywood at its best, one of those thoroughly entertaining movies which reminds me why I like this medium so much, why I moved to LA. Last month, I popped in the DVD of Sam Raimi‘s “SPIDER-MAN 2” and for two hours was entertained by the exploits and struggles of this very human superhero.

Not only is this movie entertaining and engaging, it also has a nice message, a message which it shares with us not by preaching or pontificating, not by forcing it down our throats, but my weaving it naturally into the story line. In this flick, Toby Maguire‘s Peter Parker decides to give up being a superhero so he can just be a regular guy with time to put into his studies and to spend with the girl of his dreams, the red-headed Mary Jane Watson (ably played by the gifted Kirsten Dunst).

Yet, when Parker abandons his Spider-man identity, crime soars in the city while young kids lose a role model. Perhaps knowing that her nephew is really Spider-man, Aunt May (played to perfection by the amazing Rosemary Harris) reminds him why we love heroes:

Kids like Henry need a hero, courage, self-sacrificing people, setting examples for all of us. Everybody loves a hero. People line up for ’em, cheer ’em, scream their names. And years later, they’ll tell how they stood in the rain for hours just to get a glimpse of the one who taught them to hold on a second longer. I believe there’s a hero in all of us that keeps us honest, gives us strength, makes us noble and finally allows us to die with pride even though sometimes we have to be steady and give up the thing we want the most. Even our dreams. Spider-man did that for Henry and he wonders where he’s gone. He needs him.

She reminds Peter — and through him, us — that sometimes to do what’s right, we have to give up something we most long for.

Her words do not fall on deaf ears and Peter once again dons his outfit and takes up his calling, preventing the tormented Doc Ock (Alfred Molina) from completing a project which could destroy the city.

When I had first seen the movie in a theater last May, Aunt May’s speech troubled me. And yet when I saw the flick last month, I knew she was right. Sometimes to do what’s right, to answer our calling, we do have to give up our dreams.

GayPatriot Exclusive Interview with Patrick Guerriero

by

As I mentioned here Friday afternoon, earlier that morning I sat down for an hour with Patrick Guerriero, Executive Director of Log Cabin Republicans. Due to the format and space constraints of this blog, I am going to publish the interview over the course of the next few days grouped by the topics we covered.

As many of the GayPatriot blog readers know, I have been a very harsh critic of Patrick and Log Cabin. Primarily for their decisions to run a $1M ad campaign challenging President Bush?s stance on gay marriage and their ?non-endorsement? of him last year. I also have been critical for Log Cabin not taking, in my view, a more public position of opposition to the outing campaign by Michael Rogers. Patrick addressed all three topics in the interview, but I wanted to start the series by first publishing his opening comments to me when we met for the first time.
[Read more…]