He Should've Made It A Year

Oh boy, I bet this will create a lot of jobs!

Scott Walker is bringing his full weight of office to bear by issuing a proclamation that he wants all to participate in the openly bigoted, anti-homosexual "National Marriage Week."

Word is he is going to ask his good pals Charlie Sykes, Newt Gingrich, John McCain and Rush Limbaugh to be honorary spokesman for the special occasion.

If you gave each of them a week per marriage, you'd have most of the year covered.

NOH8

Proud Progressive, one of the hundreds of bloggers at Blogging Blue, takes on Vicki McKenna and her vitriol. McKenna was trying to downplay the hate crimes occurring lately in Whitewater, as well as many other places around the state and the country:

Vicki McKenna
i’m starting to smell a rat. 3 “hate crimes” in a month? something’s up.
i am going to bet $ on a couple of things: 1. there is no KKK in whitewater. 2. this is either a fake hate crime, or a dumb kid messing w/people he knows, but doesn’t like.

And thanks to PP, here is a great video from the NOH8 campaign:

Clear Channel: Pride Is OK As Long As It's Not Too Proud

Clear Channel has been censoring Pride advertisements in St. Petersburg, Florida:

Clear Channel refused to comment on the matter to local media, but I think the difference between the accepted and rejected ads is pretty clear. Gays are OK, as long as no sex is implied. The two women on the beach seem to be getting along quite nicely, and the two men, while looking right at the camera, are shirtless and touching in a really not-straight-bro way. The drag queen is barely showing any skin and the two men in the family are sitting a comfortable distance apart (wonder what Clear Channel would have thought if they were together and the kid was on the left?).

But I'm really wondering why Clear Channel gets to make this decision at all. Their business depends directly on public subsidies - if the government didn't build roads in a particular area there would be no people to look at a particular ad. People can't avoid looking at their ads while driving because people are attentive to the road, so people have an interest in and a right to determine what messages are presented, or not presented, along the roads they built.

Obviously no one's going to go forcing them to explain themselves or reverse their decision. St. Petersburg Pride has removed all of their ads, saying they "would not allow Clear Channel to dictate what message we could convey." As well they shouldn't.

H/T Dean Mundy on Twitter, who does not necessarily endorse what he tweets.

Pride In Prejudice

Sykes, Belling and others on the right have commented about the California Supreme Court's ruling finding the ban on same sex marriage to be unconstitutional. A good take on the meaning of the ruling is found here:

In a 4-3 120-page ruling issue, the justices wrote that "responsibly to care for and raise children does not depend upon the individual's sexual orientation."

"We therefore conclude that in view of the substance and significance of the fundamental constitutional right to form a family relationship, the California Constitution properly must be interpreted to guarantee this basic civil right to all Californians, whether gay or heterosexual, and to same-sex couples as well as to opposite-sex couples," Chief Justice Ronald George wrote for the majority.

Sykes and the others take comfort in the fact that Wisconsin passed a constitutional amendment two years ago making this illegal. They rationalize their comfort with blatherings about "activist judges".

But considering this country's long struggle in trying to bring equal rights to African Americans and to women, and also considering the Declaration of Independence , which reads:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness

it would seem to me that it is more shameful to embrace a position that is so prejudicial, that the only way to enforce it would be by tainting the Constitution, be it of a single state of the United States. But honest introspection from these people is probably asking too much.

For other good reads on the matter, I would refer the gentle reader to the Bubbly Barrister, who writes, in part:

And that's why Milwaukee medium-wave think tanker Charlie Sykes wants you to replace all judges committed to equal protection under the law with reliable GOP cronies and underachieving rubber stamps.

As if conservatives never go running to the courts to try and invalidate legislation they don't like. Mitch McConnell filed for an injunction against McCain-Feingold before the ink was even dry.

And the Blue Knight, Sir Zachary, presents us with his perspective, along with an interesting article that highlights the hypocrisy of those who hold to the strict religious reasonings for such prejudice.

Why Are They Leaving Wisconsin?

A recurring theme for our favorite MSJ columnist/blogger/squawker is that there is a brain drain going on in Wisconsin. McIlheran keeps stating that this is because of the poor economic incentives, the high taxes, or some such nonsense.

Now, let's re-enter the world of reality. Bruce Murphy, of Milwaukee Magazine, has a column highlighting the homophobic tendencies of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the way they chose to cover the passing of Governor Lee Sherman Dreyfus. MSJ was the only paper in the entire state not to mention that Governor Dreyfus did a lot to promote gay rights.

This story is an interesting read in itself. However, in the comments thread, we see two people who respond to this story, and coincidently steal some of McIlheran's thunder:

>> posted by Jay on 1/15/2008 12:11:22 PM

Hmmm. A homophobic paper in a homophobic city in a homophobic state. Hard to imagine. WI and MKE used to be able to call themselves progressive. Now we're just another embarrassing hate-state opposed to personal freedom. Count me as one of the MANY young, educated people here who are looking to leave, and leave this place to all the biggots.

Good riddance Milwaukee.

>> posted by Jake on 1/15/2008 2:18:27 PM

Hate to echo the pessimism, but I agree with Jay. I grew up here and, needless to say, Milwaukee ain't what it used to be. I'm outta here, too.

On a sidenote, a third commenter, and a friend of Whallah!'s, adds something that calls for further investigation:

>> posted by Michael Horne on 1/15/2008 2:59:56 PM

I am the only person who wrote regularly for the Sentinel who was openly gay, and I never found another from the Journal or the merged papers. I've been gone from there over 15 years and have yet to see another gay writer on the paper. Also note that now that Dr. Terry Boughner is dead, the paper has no go-to source on gay issues. They'd call on him 100 per cent of the time. Two of the largest gay sporting events in the United States -- one bowling, the other softball -- have taken place in this city for decades without a mention in the paper.
Michael Horne
milwaukeeworld com
P.S. You're pointing your finger in the right direction.