General: December 2005 Archives

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., Dec. 19 (AScribe Newswire) -- The recent revelation that the U.S. military is spying on gay rights groups, say historians, evokes the Cold War crackdowns on gays during the McCarthy era. Then, as now, the government compiled lists of American citizens who were suspected of subversive activity by virtue of their association with critics of government policy. Targets included gays and members of gay or gay-friendly groups.

Last week, NBC News reported it had obtained sections of a secret Pentagon database with information about individuals linked to peaceful activist and protest groups that opposed certain U.S. military actions. According to the Advocate, the military has been monitoring meetings and events it deems “suspicious,” including gatherings of several student groups at the University of California, New York University and William Patterson College. Students were meeting to discuss and oppose the military’s policy excluding openly gay Americans from serving in uniform. At least one protest was classified as “possibly violent.” (source)

This is the world we live in today, and it’s all justified with laws put in place such as the Patriot Act and a President who doesn’t give a rats ass as to what is legal and not legal. He feels that he is entitled to do just about anything he wants, all to “protect our country”. All of this comes at the expense of personal freedoms that we assume are in place, such as the right to privacy.

You think I’m joking? Well, read the article above, then click on the link below. It is an image of my site statistics just this month to day, and is filtered on all the “.mil” sites that are taking a good close look at what I am saying about the crappy state of afairs in this country today. I’ve highighted some of the more interesting ones for you.

My site statistics on military monitoring of billandkent.com

And this is freedom? I also learned that the Pentagon has been spying on gay groups as well.

Pentagon officials have spied on student groups opposed to the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on openly gay military personnel, according to media reports.

A February protest at New York University was one of the events under government surveillance, NBC News reported last week.

The network reported that the law school’s gay advocacy group, OUTlaw, was classified as "potentially violent" by the Pentagon.

"I was shocked to read that OUTLaw was classified as a threat and investigated," OUTlaw Co-chair Rebecca Fisher said in a telephone interview on Monday. "Since we still don't know how the Pentagon went about investigating us, I'm wondering how far they went in invading our personal privacy to make their determination. Did they read our e-mail? Monitor our meetings?” (source)

“I don’t do that stuff anymore and probably shouldn’t have done it in the first place,” West, 54, told The Associated Press. “It’s an unusual episode in my life. I wish there was a rewind button. Basically, that’s what I’m asking the public for: a second chance.”

Forgiveness from the voters isn’t likely, said Lance LeLoup, a Washington State University political science professor.

Polls indicate 60 percent of registered city voters would vote to recall the once-powerful Republican state senate leader. (source)

People who know me know that I am a very forgiving person. Some people feel that I’m forgiving to a fault. I have a friend who used to be a gay basher. It’s not something I’m at liberty to talk about, but I’ve been heavily criticized in the gay community for this. People in the community have asked me how I can do this. In a word, it’s called COMPASSION.

I can even forgive Mayor West. It’s not the surfing for pornography on the job that I find hard to forgive. It’s ill advised and I believe the City of Spokane has ample reason to fire him just for that. And, I can see them being upset for offering a job to an 18 year old man, even though, as it turned out, the 18 year old never existed. That’s all very interesting to me. It reads like a tabloid.

But I can forgive all of that. We are all human after all. We have all done things that we have regretted. The one thing that I really have a problem with is the fact that time and time again Mayor West has championed very hurtful legislation against the gay community.

In more than 20 years in the Legislature, West had initiated legislation to outlaw sexual contact between consenting teenagers; supported a bill that would have barred gays and lesbians from working for schools, day care centers and some state agencies; voted to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman; and, as Senate majority leader, allowed a bill that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians to die in committee without a hearing.

As Spokane mayor, West threatened to veto a measure extending benefits to domestic partners of city employees.

“It’s a pretty egregious case of hypocrisy,” Washington State University political scientist Lance LeLoup told The Associated Press. (source)

Even with this mess he’s in, never once (to my knowledge) has he apologized to the gay community for his hypocrisy. Even I can’t forgive him for that.

Story Update
December 6, 2005 - Spokane mayor recalled from office after Internet sex scandal

Mayor James E. West was recalled from office Tuesday in a special election prompted by news accounts that he offered City Hall jobs and perks to young men he met in a gay Internet chat room.

West, 54, a Republican former state legislator who voted against gay-friendly bills, must leave office when the election results are certified Dec. 16.

Just over half of the 110,000 ballots mailed to city voters were counted in the first batch of results, released Tuesday night. Of those, 38,718, or 65 percent, voted to recall West, while 20,681, or 35 percent, voted to retain him.

It was unclear how many more ballots would be received; they had to be postmarked by Tuesday to be counted.

“I said I’d abide by the will of the voters, obviously, and they’ve spoken,” West told The Associated Press. “I’m at peace with their decision – and disappointed.”