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Tag: NOM Exposed
“American Taliban”: Markos Moulitsas joins Courage Campaign Conversation conference call on Thursday night
By Eden James
I don’t usually post Courage Campaign emails in full, but I’m running out the door and wanted you all to see this, in case you’re interested in joining us on the call, with Rick Jacobs moderating.
The subject of this new book by Markos Moulitsas dovetails directly with the mission of this web site — to cover the Prop 8 trial as it develops and hold the right-wing accountable across the spectrum of the LGBT rights movement.
If you can join us on Thursday night, we’d love to have you:
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With the religious right continuing to use marriage equality as a wedge issue as the November election looms, we thought it would be a good time for a “Courage Campaign Conversation” with Markos Moulitsas, founder of Daily Kos, one of America’s largest online political communities.
Markos has a written a new book called “American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right” and we’ve invited him to talk about it with you on a nationwide conference call this Thursday, Sept. 16, at 5:30 p.m. PST / 8:30 p.m. EST. Please read his message below and then RSVP for the call ASAP: http://www.couragecampaign.org/MarkosCall Rick Jacobs |
Dear Friend–
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Right-wingers say a lot of ridiculous things. But few were more ridiculous than the repeated claims that progressives were in league with Islamic terrorists.
Why would progressives make common cause with terrorists? After all, the values and tactics that make Jihadists so despicable are the same values and tactics embraced by our own homegrown fundamentalists — the American Taliban.
That’s why I wrote the book “American Taliban: How War, Sex, Sin, and Power Bind Jihadists and the Radical Right.” In the book, I show how the modern conservative movement has taken on the same attitudes and tactics of the Taliban, from their fetishization of violence and guns to their elevation of brute masculinity, love of theocracy, hatred of women and gays, fear of scientific progress and education, and disdain for popular culture.
Think about it. Both movements are dedicated to the unbridled pursuit of power at all costs, have little tolerance for the trappings of democracy, and quickly resort to violence when challenged… hardly the principles for which America stands.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MarkosCall
When I typed my first words on Daily Kos in 2002, Democrats were cowering to the bullying of the Bush Administration, instead of standing strong against the opposition. We’ve made some progress since then. But we’ve still got a lot of work to do.
That’s why I wrote “American Taliban” — to establish what we’re up against and what it will take to fight it this November and in the coming years. I’ve got to say, I think this is my best book yet.
http://www.couragecampaign.org/MarkosCall
This should be a very open discussion. If you know any friends who would like to join us, please forward this message to them.
Thank you for all you do to make this a better country.
Markos Moulitsas
Founder, Daily Kos
31 Comments September 15, 2010
Is Maggie Gallagher a bigot?
By Rob Tisinai
Maggie Gallagher loves to complain about being called a bigot. It’s a favorite talking point. She writes whole columns about it. In fact, I’d bet she hopes people call her a bigot, just so she can roll around some more in the broken glass of victimhood.
The problem with this pose is that she founded the National Organization for Marriage . And on that group’s website is a page called “SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: Answering the Toughest Questions.” I see much claptrap on that page, but one mild statement shines out as the most offensive of all. She suggests this answer to a frequent question (or so she claims):
5. Why do you want to interfere with love?
A: “Love is a great thing. But marriage isn’t just any kind of love; it’s the special love of husband and wife for each other and their children.”
Logically, this answer is easy enough to pick apart. Certainly we’d laugh at the idea that there is a specific kind of love common to every husband/wife couple. There’s not even a love requirement for marriage in the first place, much less a legal obligation to feel some vague, undefined “special love.” In fact, Maggie and her ideological kin would argue that lack of love is no reason for heading to divorce court.
But NOM’s offense to logic isn’t what pisses me off. It’s the implication that gay and lesbian couples aren’t capable of feeling the same sort of love that straight couples can. Even more outrageously, that we can’t feel the same love for our children that straight couples can.
No. No, no, and no.
Gays and lesbians are not lacking in our ability to love. It’s literally dehumanizing to claim such a thing — to argue that we’re missing some essential component of what makes people human.
Is Maggie Gallagher a bigot? I can’t claim the right to judge the whole of her character. But in this case, to be sure, the answer she gives is the answer of a bigot. So Maggie, if you want, cry victim and roll around in that broken glass. You’re the one who put it there.
105 Comments September 15, 2010
Hi Louis! “One Man, One Woman” stance on DADT exposes NOM’s duplicity and hypocrisy
(Cross-posted at Good As You)
By Jeremy Hooper
You know how we’ve told you a million times about that “One Man, One Woman” offshoot organization? The one run by National Organization For Marriage tour personality Louis Marinelli? The same OMOW group whose Facebook page NOM now claims as their own official site on both their own Twitter feed and their spinoff TwoMillionForMarriage.com site?
Yea, well check this out: In a surprising move, someone writing for OMOW (presumably Louis) has come out in favor of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal:
Also, presumably-Louis has even joined this site, Towleroad, and Americablog in asking the DOJ to not appeal the recent court decision:
Uhm, okay. So now just to remind you: This Twitter account (which was once called NOMUpdates) is the same Twitter account that, over the past year, has tweeted all kinds of targeted hits not just against marriage equality, but also against gays in general. There was the time that Louis, or whoever was writing for the account, declared all gays to be single. There was the time that the Twitter-er said that Peter LaBarbera and his fringe “Americans For Truth” group merely “tell the truth about homosexuality.” There were times when he or she flat-out called us an abomination, citing Leviticus. There was this one: “Deviance” describes actions or behaviours that violate cultural norms – homosexuality is far from a cultural norm. Therefore, it is deviant.” And this: “Homosexuality and gay marriage are wrong and harmful to society.” And this: “#iaintafraidtosay that there shouldn’t be any recognition of homosexual relationships because that is saying that homosexuality is OK.” There was this next one, accompanied by a smile: “What they do is blantantly [sic] immoral. 
” There were times when Mr. Marinelli or his ally compared our unions to that which might exist between a sterile brother and sister. And other times when our very character was assaulted, like this one: “#nevertrust activists of the homosexual agenda – they are deceitful people who care only about themselves and not what’s best for society.” And so on and so on.
Plus, as we’ve seen time and time again, the OMOW Facebook page (which, again, NOM claims as their own in multiple places) hosts some of the most incendiary, blanketed comments on the ‘net. Comments that often go well beyond marriage and right into gays’ mental health.
So to have this site now coming out in favor of repeal? It’s kind of – something. Sure, it might be a naked attempt to say, “See we don’t really hate gays — we support their right to fight and possibly die on the battlefield.” But regardless of motivation, it’s certainly not a position that will sit well with the vast majority of organized anti-equality activists, as most of the socially conservative personalities and groups see the LGBT community’s every gain as an interconnected step down a slippery slope. So if OMOW is sincere, then we celebrate the dual takeaway: (1) The further evidence that even some “pro-family” peeps are coming around on basic rights, and (2) the further dissension that this support for basic rights will cause among those whose anti-gay “culture war” is an all-out “us v. them” battle rather than a series of tiered skirmishes with varying shades of nuance.
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**True to form, OMOW is making yet another attempt to distance from NOM:
But here’s the deal: It is 100% impossible for an organization to embed a Facebook page…
(NOM’s TwoMillion For Marriage site, with “OMOW” Facebook embedded within)
…and for that same organization to list that same Facebook page on their branded Twitter account…
(NOM’s official Twitter sidebar, with “OMOW” listed as official Facebook)
…and still claim separation. IT. DOES. NOT. WORK. THAT. WAY.
98 Comments September 11, 2010
