Pam Spaulding's Blog, page 16

Jurors told Lawrence King's slaying was carefully planned by McInerney

It's been a long while since this case was in the news. Fifteen-year-old Lawrence King was killed Feb. 12, 2008, and now the young man charged (as an adult) with his murder is Brian McInerney, now 17.

It happened at E.O. Green Junior High in Oxnard, California, and set off a rush of coverage over King's background - he had recently come out as gay, and had been targeted because of his gender non-conformity.

McInerney's back story was equally noteworthy, because he is claiming a variation of "gay panic," and allegedly had neo-Nazi sympathies. The prosecutor told the jury this week that King's execution was planned out ahead of time. Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve Fox (LA Times):

"Larry King for the first time in his life wasn't taking it anymore," Fox said. "And he started to give people what I prefer to call the proverbial chin. Only it was more profane. The proverbial 'f ... you.'"

The day before King was shot, the two boys had been bickering in a eighth-grade science class, she said. When King got up to get a drink of water, "Brandon said 'I am going to shoot him.' And this is what a student will testify to."

The next day McInerney pulled a .22-caliber handgun out of his backpack and shot King in the head, authorities have said.

...McInerney's lawyer, Scott Wippert, argued that King -- and not his client -- was the aggressor. He said King targeted McInerney for sexual harassment, making flirtatious remarks, and had humiliated him.

...McInerney was "a confused, emotionally torn 14-year-old from a violent home who saw no other way out than to shoot Larry," Wippert said. "It was a heat-of-the-moment decision."

And about the neo-Nazi sympathies? McInerney's attorney, who does not deny his client killed King, but is arguing for manslaughter, said that the young man was "working on a paper on Adolf Hitler for school and that is why he had white supremacist material in his room."

White House Twitter Town Hall live (2PM ET follow @whitehouse)

From the WH. Not sure how the "seasoned Twitter users" were selected.

THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                                                            

July 6, 2011

Background on the President's Twitter Town Hall Today

The Twitter Town Hall will be moderated by Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder and Executive Chairman.  The audience consists of 140 guests, including over 30 White House "Tweetup" participants from across the country that follow @whitehouse on Twitter.  Twitter users have been posting questions since last Thursday, and will continue to post questions throughout the Town Hall using the hashtag #AskObama.  As of noon, there were more than 60,000 tweets about the event using the hashtag #AskObama.

Twitter has partnered with Mass Relevance to curate, visualize and integrate conversations for the event. Mass Relevance data helps make the questions regionally and topically diverse and provides insight into the most popular topic areas.  Algorithms behind Twitter search will identify the Tweets that are most engaged via Retweets, Favorites and Replies.

A team of seasoned Twitter users will also help flag questions from their communities through retweets.

      ? Iowa - @willwilkinson.  Blogs about American politics for The Economist.

      ? Minnesota - @Kara_McGuire.  Personal finance columnist at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

      ? Illinois - @RamanChadha.  Professor at DePaul University's Coleman Entrepreneurship Center.

      ? North Carolina - @steven_norton.  Former @dailytarheel editor-in-chief. He will be a senior at UNC and this summer is a business intern at @theobserver.

      ? Louisiana - @KimQuillenTP. Business Editor at The Times-Picayune.

      ? California - @AssignmentDesk1. Online content producer for North County Times in California.

      ? New Hampshire - @DrewHampshire.  Editorial page editor at the NH Union Leader.

      ? At Large - @Modeledbehavior.  Karl Smith is an assistant professor of econ at UNC and an economics blogger.

A team from Twitter will use the inputs above to select questions during the event. Additionally, Twitter has selected questions in the hours prior to the event from the pool of questions posed since last Thursday.

Background on Graphics on Monitors

There will be two different visualization displays.  One will show the map of the United States with dots placed and appearing across the country. The dots represent Tweets that have been identified as questions on the economy in several categories, including jobs, education, budget and housing and taxes.  The other visualization will track the relative percentage of questions on different jobs, education, budget and housing and taxes.  Both visualizations will be updated in real-time during the event.

###

Questions mount about Marcus Bachmann's 'ex-gay' practice

Michele Bachmann is actually climbing in the polls (god knows why). Zogby:

Michele Bachmann has extended her lead over the announced Republican candidates, but she trails both Rick Perry and Chris Christie when both governors and Sarah Palin are included in a hypothetical preference poll of Republican primary voters.

Four Republicans (Christie, Mitt Romney, Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty) are each in a statistical tie with President Barack Obama when they are matched up against him. All other GOP contenders trail Obama.

Bachmann also led among announced candidates in a June 21 IBOPE Zogby interactive poll, and has now added 10 percentage points to her total of 34%, giving her a 19-point lead over second place Herman Cain.

And along with the Congresswoman, her husband and "therapist" Dr. Marcus Bachmann is getting a lot of press, and she readily boasts that together they work together as a political team. (WaPo):

Dr. Bachmann's strong anti-gay views would hardly be noteworthy outside of the suburban towns marked with water towers in the St. Croix Valley, except that his wife, Rep. Michele Bachmann, is suddenly the hottest commodity in the Republican presidential field. She has staffed up with professional consultants, but her husband of 32 years plays a central role. Dr. Bachmann, who recently called himself his wife's "strategist," has acted as her media planner, traveling assistant and even personal shopper. They share a bond born of a mutual religious awakening in high school and college, a deep faith in an especially conservative form of Lutheranism, and a common abhorrence of homosexuality.

"My husband and I," Bachmann told The Washington Post in March, "are a really good team."

He is a major focal point of the Dump Bachmann blog, created by the former head of a local gay Republican group that has become the go-to archive for all things negative about the congresswoman. In 2006, City Pages, a Minneapolis alternative weekly, reported on a 2005 presentation that Dr. Bachmann delivered at the Grace Church in Eden Prairie titled "The Truth About the Homosexual Agenda," during which he introduced three people as "former homosexuals" as proof that sexual orientation is a choice. That same article also reported that Bachmann & Associates, the Christian counseling center he runs, practiced "reparative therapy," a method of converting homosexuals to heterosexuality often called "praying away the gay."

Marcus Bachmann claims that reports of the aim of his practice has been falsely portrayed, stating " if someone comes in a homosexual and they want to stay homosexual, I don't have a problem with that ." But it's clear in the wide-ranging WaPo article, that both Bachmanns are "100% aligned" in their social conservative agenda, and that Michele truly believes that "The Lord says: Be submissive, wives. You are to be submissive to your husbands." And there's nothing stated that suggests he doesn't receive taxpayer dollars to "de-gay" clients.

Therefore, Marcus Bachmann and his practice deserve heightened scrutiny. Note these facts:

Inside Bachmann & Associates, a receptionist stacks books titled "Fighting for Your Marriage" near framed Bible verses and cards listing payment options. The center has received more than $100,000 in Medicaid payments over the years. On the registry of national Medicare and Medicaid providers, Dr. Bachmann is listed as a psychologist but without a license number. There are more than a dozen counselors working at the clinic's two locations whose certifications are included in the registry. Dr. Bachmann is not currently licensed by Minnesota's mental health or family therapy boards. Minnesota law allows unlicensed mental health professionals to practice.

The Blend has been contacted by a clinical psychologist who has been reading these stories about "Dr." Bachmann and his alleged "ex-gay" practice and stated these professional concerns:

Someone should publicly ask him to provide a copy of the informed consent that he has patients seeking to undergo "ex-gay" therapy sign. Informed consent is a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment. The elements of informed consents include informing the client of the nature of the treatment, possible alternative treatments, and the potential risks and benefits of the treatment.

In order for informed consent to be considered valid, the client must be competent and the consent should be given voluntarily. It is a signed document.

For ex-gay therapy, the informed consent should tell a patient that "ex-gay" therapy is not proven, is considered "experimental", is not supported by research, that no medical or mental health association endorses it, that it could have harmful side effects including depression and suicidal ideation, and that change to heterosexuality is not likely. A good informed consent should also list alternative treatments and options, including learning to live life as a celibate homosexual or seeking gay affirmative therapy.

A good informed consent would inform a potential client that she/he could spend years and tens of thousands of dollars seeking "change" but would most likely continue to experience homosexual attractions for the rest of his/her life.

If Michelle Bachman's husband has nothing to hide then he will release a copy of his informed consent, right? If he has no informed consent, then he is practicing unethically -- and recieving government money to do so, if in fact, his clinic recieves government money as it appears. If he has no informed consent, a complaint should be lodged with the liscensing board in his state to have his license suspended. You could also call for one of his clients to come forth and state whether he/she was given an informed consent.

More details below the fold.


Let's continue setting the table in questioning Marcus Bachmann's practice.

Here is the applicable section of the ethics code of the American Psychological Association:

"3.10 Informed Consent

(a) When psychologists conduct research or provide assessment, therapy, counseling, or consulting services in person or via electronic transmission or other forms of communication, they obtain the informed consent of the individual or individuals using language that is reasonably understandable to that person or persons except when conducting such activities without consent is mandated by law or governmental regulation or as otherwise provided in this Ethics Code"

Since he earned (on-line) a doctoral degree in clinical psychology from a university program that is not accredited by the American Psychological Association, and bills himself as a "christian counselor" rather than as a psychologist (you must be licensed to use the title psychogist), he must be operating under his masters degree as a "Christian Counselor".

According to the ethics code of the American Association of Christian Counselors:

"1-110 Avoidance of Client Harm, Intended or Not

Christian counselors strictly avoid all behavior or suggestion of practice that harms or reasonably could harm clients, client families, client social systems and representatives, students, trainees, supervisees, employees, colleagues, and third-party payors and authorizers"

As "ex-gay therapy" is known to be harmful, this part of the AACC code is in direct violation with the following:

"1-126 Application to Homosexual and Transgendered Behavior

Christian counselors refuse to condone or advocate for the pursuit of or active involvement in homosexual, transgendered, and cross-dressing behavior, and in the adoption gay & lesbian & transgendered lifestyles by clients. We may agree to and support the wish to work out issues of homosexual and transgendered identity and attractions, but will refuse to describe or reduce human identity and nature to sexual reference or orientation, and will encourage sexual celibacy or biblically proscribed sexual behavior while such issues are being addressed.

Christian counselors differ, on biblical, ethical, and legal grounds, with groups who abhor and condemn reparative therapy, willingly offering it to those who come into counseling with a genuine desire to be set free of homosexual attractions and leave homosexual behavior and lifestyles behind. Either goal of heterosexual relations and marriage or lifelong sexual celibacy is legitimate and a function of client choice in reparative therapy.

It is acknowledged that some persons engaged in same-sex change or reparative therapy will be able to change and become free of all homo-erotic behavior and attraction, some will change but will still struggle with homosexual attraction from time to time, and some will not change away from homosexual practices."

Nonetheless, when discussing informed consent, the AACC code includes the following about ex-gay therapy and informed consent:

"1-331 Special Consent for More Difficult Interventions

Close or special consent is obtained for more difficult and controversial practices. These include, but are not limited to: deliverance and spiritual warfare activities; cult de-programming work; recovering memories and treatment of past abuse or trauma; use of hypnosis and any kind of induction of altered states; authorizing (by MDs) medications, electro-convulsive therapy, or patient restraints; use of aversive, involuntary, or experimental therapies; engaging in reparative therapy with homosexual persons; and counseling around abortion and end-of-life issues. These interventions require a more detailed discussion with patient-clients or client representatives of the procedures, risks, and treatment alternatives, and we secure detailed written agreement for the procedure."

So even Christian Counselors have informed consent as a ethical requirement. Will Mr Bachmann release a copy of his informed consent?

NOM takes silly cheap shot at Gov. Cuomo's mother

crossposted on Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters

Some may disagree but I think this recent bit on NOM's blog is simply stupid:

Gov. Cuomo's Mom: Don't Redefine Lasagna

We love how Andrew Cuomo's Italian mom loves him no matter what, even for passing gay marriage. But we could not help noticing Mrs. Cuomo's firm belief that some things just cannot be redefined.

... no, not marriage, lasanga:

"I did not criticize her lasagna," [Matilda] Cuomo said. "All I said is it's not Italian. Cottage cheese and tomato soup might be low on calories, but it's not Italian lasagna."

The original article in question consisted of Gov. Cuomo's mother praising her son's persistence in getting marriage equality passed in New York, so maybe some folks would consider her "fair game."

But I still say that NOM's little cheap shot was dumb and unnecessary.

First NOM's president acts like a spoiled child when marriage equality is passed. And now the organization has taken to immature shots at Gov. Cuomo's mother.

What's next? Shooting spitballs at Governor Cuomo during his next public speech?

CNN's Ali Velshi calls BS on Santorum's jobs math #FAIL

Poor Little Ricky Santorum. He went on CNN this AM and tried to talk about his claim that the 240 million jobs created during the Obama Administration represented a loss. I love this part.

After his misstatement, he was warned by CNN host Ali Velshi that he shouldn't just go around saying things that are insanely wrong, for his own sake. "I know you've got a lot of interviews to do. You might want to check that math." Santorum did not back away from his claim. Watch it:

Philly Now hat tips Think Progress:

The entire American civilian labor force is about 153 million people. There are currently 13.9 million people unemployed. If the Obama administration had created 240 to 280 million jobs, the unemployment crisis would have been solved several times over, and America would have so many jobs that it would need to start employing workers from all over the world just to fill all the available positions.

There's nothing as stimulating as a Think Progress matter-of-fact, literary extended middle finger.

Open thread Tuesday (where's my head at)?

Just thought I'd put up a thread for people to gab. Some links I've posted on Facebook today...

Lambda Legal: DOJ Delivers Powerful Critique of DOMA in Lambda Legal Case - 'historic shift with enormous significance'.Rick Perry Talks Like He is Running: Gov Goodhair may be ready to hop into the Clown Car...

NOM Skating On Thin Ice: Republican Presidential candidate Fred Karger discusses NOM's status - under an active investigation for money laundering in Maine.

Daily Kos: Homophobic Bill Kristol Points & Laughs at Transgender TNR CoverYour State Can't Afford It: The Fiscal Impact of States' Anti-Immigrant Legislation. Think Progress shows the huge mistake states like AZ and GA are making.

I hear the Casey Anthony verdict is coming up soon. I haven't been following it closely other than to see the coverage on CNN (hard to avoid it!).

UPDATE: Well here it is...guess there was enough reasonable doubt; still no justice for Caylee.

Jury finds Casey Anthony not guilty of murder

Casey Anthony has been found not guilty of first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. She was also found not guilty of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter.

NOTE: Live chat window is below the fold.  

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Video lunch break: Marcus Bachmann - Gays Are Barbarians & Need To Be Educated & Disciplined

I just had to bring this up again because the GOP field is so full of WIN when it comes to entertainment value. Ex-gay proponent Marcus Bachmann, with his his missus running for Prez. You can't make this sh*t up.

 
On a more serious note, a reader emailed this in; Bachmann should probably answer a few questions about that practice.

Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann's husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann, runs a federally funded, Christian, anti-gay mental health clinic. Readers want to ask him . . .

1. Who licenses your clinic?
2. Who regulates (supervises) your clinic?
3. How many federal dollars did your clinic and clients spend so far?
4. Does spending federal funds this way violate the separation of church and state?
5. Who insures your clinic in the event that therapy fails, or that clients are harmed?
6. How many gay-to-straight conversion therapies succeeded vs. failed?
7. How many patients suffered?
8. Were any suicides successful, or attempted, or threatened?
9. What relapse rates are seen via your follow-up program?

Bachmann and Associates, Inc.
 8669 Eagle Point Boulevard \ Lake Elmo, MN 55042-8628
phone: 651-379-0444; facsimile: 651-379-0448
 e-mail: via http://www.BachmannCounseling.com/con...

So will David Duke bring his burning crosses along if he hops into the 2012 GOP Clown Car?

David Duke is planning a 26-state "listening tour" to test out the waters for a Presidential bid. I can't wait to add him to the 2012 GOP Clown Car.

This shows you how the Republicans have brought this outright racism and bigotry to the fore, and they have to answer to cultivating it. Now you conservatives own it - shoulder to shoulder with the xenophobes/"racial realists."

The current field of 2012 GOP presidential candidates is pretty boring. You've got several grouchy old men, a pizza magnate, and a walking anal sex joke. So why not a white supremacist? Sure, the GOP has noted xenophobes like Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, but they lack the panache of an openly racist candidate. But that could soon change, as 1990s throwback David Duke prepares to embark on a tour of 26 states to feel out his chances of putting the "white" back in the White House.

Besides Duke, several other "racial realists" - among them Neo-Confederates, Neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and other assorted "white nationalists" - have their eyes on government offices across the country. Don Black, who runs the Stormfront white power message board, told The Daily Beast that he likes the Tea Party, but bemoans the fact that they're little bitches when it comes to being tagged as racists:

Black says the Tea Party's influence spurred hopes among his ideological soulmates-but that the initial excitement has given way to a realpolitik sense that the Stormfront crowd will have to go it alone. "Many of our people are involved in the Tea Party," says Black. "But much of their leadership is skittish when it comes to talking about racial realities. The Tea Party is a healthy movement but many are too conditioned to run like scared rabbits when called racists."

Do you think anyone of note in the GOP will publicly denounce any of this garbage once and for all? I'm not holding my breath. It's sad that the party counts on the ignorant, low-info voter base that responds to the most base dog-whistle commercials and the bible-beaters who turn out to vote on their fears. Note this screengrab from Duke's site, portraying the President as a pimp:

UPDATE: While we're on this topic, Right Wing Watch has a nice piece that dovetails with this -- Tea Party Nation Condemns "Non-European" Immigration. It's completely unhinged, unvarnished racism by Eliana Benador, a neocon who wrote for Tea Party Nation...

In her column for the tea party group that once lamented that America is facing white "extinction," Benador blames immigrants from "non-European nations" for much of the country's social ills. She claims that such non-European immigration was responsible for President Obama's election and claims that the U.S. should consider revoking First Amendment protections for religions (most likely Islam) that she deems inherently violent:

Some may agree that we have forgotten the lessons taught by slavery -and may be prone to not identify it even if it knocks at our doors, when we see a silent invader roaming our streets and we don't dare call it as it is:

The invasion of America is taking place as we speak, but if we remove those blinders, we can still stop it.

U.S. Catholic bishops pitch a fit over Rhode Island civil unions

"The communion of husband and wife," is a unique reality that has no equivalent...The exclusive and permanent bond of a man and woman joined in marriage offers to the couple, and to society, a preeminent value that should not be eclipsed by governmental attempts to redesign fundamental realities by legal dictate.

-- Bishop Cordileone, speaking on behalf of the U.S. bishops about the pending civil unions law in Rhode Island

Do you ever wonder when members of the pedophile priest protection syndicate will turn back to more important issues like feeding and clothing the poor and helping the homeless during these tough economic times?

The U.S. Catholic bishops have expressed their disapproval with a civil unions bill likely to be signed into law after passing Rhode Island's state senate on June 29.

"In no way can civil union measures be considered a permissible compromise or a step in advancing the common good, said Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone, Chairman of the U.S. bishops' Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, in a July 1 statement.

"Instead, they directly violate principles of justice and accelerate the push to redefine marriage itself."

Governor Lincoln Chafee plans to sign the law signed the bill into law, which provides all of the rights and "benefits, protections, and responsibilities" as those of people who are married.

"The perpetual fixation on civil recognition of gay and lesbian couples is looking more and more desperate.

Fort Carson Soldiers Attacked In Possible Anti-Gay Attack

Sad. Infuriating.



From ABC affiliate KRDO-TV?in Colorado:

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. --Police are investigating a suspected hate crime after a group of men beat two gay Fort Carson soldiers and others while shouting anti-homosexual and racial slurs.



The victims told KRDO-TV they believe they were targeted at a fast food restaurant early Saturday because they're gay.

Two victims are Fort Carson soldiers, who asked to remain anonymous because being identified as homosexual could harm their military careers.

Another victim, called Ted, said that most of his Army peers know he is gay.

"But I don't need people higher up knowing," he told KRDO. "I still have to protect myself as far as on the military side."

"A lot of racial slurs," John told KRDO. "A lot of hatred slurs towards like homosexuals."

The men said it quickly escalated to physical violence.

"I ended up getting kicked in the head and in the ribs several times," John said. "I have six bruised ribs. And my right eye was completely swollen shut for about nine or 10 hours.

According to police, another victim was treated for a facial fracture. His jaw had to be wired shut.

Police said they are looking in to the possibility of hate crime charges if the assailants are arrested.

This is the reason to many are anxious to certify repeal.?

Outserve has released this statement:

"We're concerned that these soldiers may not get the support they need because of the ongoing impact of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell," said "JD Smith," OutServe's active-duty co-director, who is identified by a pseudonym while "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is still in effect. "Will they be investigated for reporting the crime? Or for seeking medical help? These soldiers will have to literally lie at work to hide what's occurred to them."

?

"We don't know the all the details yet, but it does appear that these guys were assaulted because they were believed to be gay. The simple fact is, no one should have to worry about being beaten for who they are, especially not someone who has put their life on the line to defend this country," said OutServe spokesperson and combat vet Jonathan Hopkins. ?"We look forward to a full investigation of the facts and, if warranted, prosecution under Hate Crimes legislation."

Unfortunately, as "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" is still law these men recognize they are still at risk for humiliating investigations by their superiors into their personal lives and ultimately at risk for discharge. This is why they are afraid to give their name.?

If they are unwilling to give their name, it is unlikely they will be especially cooperative to civilian investigators. We have seen in the past civilian investigators report LGB servicemember's orientation to their military commanders.?

This is why DADT has been a shameful failure from day one. Our men and women who serve are at increased risk and can expect no help from the chain of command, only to be victimized further by their own at times of crisis.?

Let them face their attackers, unafraid they will suffer more attacks on their person and dignity by the military. ?

Certify this repeal. End "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Put this nightmare behind us.?