Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Turd two: money talks

The Boston Globe tells us that at the dinner honoring freedom of speech where Newt said we need a “different set of rules” and to “reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism” there’s one speech freedom he said he’d like to see further de-regulated:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Monday that First Amendment rights need to be expanded and cited the elimination of McCain-Feingold campaign finance reforms as one solution.

Gingrich, a Republican, suggested allowing people to give any amount to any candidate as long as the donation is reported online within 24 hours. [...]

Passed in 2002, the campaign finance law known as McCain-Feingold banned unrestricted donations from labor, corporations and the wealthy to the political parties. Gingrich said the reforms have failed and only led to more negative campaign ads via e-mail, television, direct mail and phone calls.

Via SusanG at Daily Kos, “Got that? Shut your mouth and let the rich and corporate donors open their wallets. It’s the American way. If this isn’t one of the sickest perversions of the original intent of the First Amendment, I don’t know what is.”

LATER: Playing the game Newt’s way, Salon reports, gay millionaires and their allies poured unprecedented sums into the 2006 election—and it worked. Said one, “I honestly think that federal campaigns should be publicly funded with identical dollars for every candidate. But this is the current system.”

The turd speaks

At a First Amendment awards dinner, Newt said we must reexamine freedom of speech:

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a “different set of rules” may be needed to reduce terrorists’ ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

“We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade,” said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP’s takeover of Congress in 1994.

RELATED: A movement or a turd?

UPDATE: Captain Ed’s take includes a quoted excerpt and link to full audio of the speech.

RIAA sues elderly hurricane Rita survivor

Recording Industry vs The People:

An elderly survivor of Hurricane Rita, Ms. Rhonda Crain, has been sued by the RIAA in Beaumont, Texas, in SONY v. Crain.

She is fighting back and has asserted a counterclaim against the plaintiffs, saying that the RIAA’s actions “amount to extortion, reciting a litany of other similar cases brought by the RIAA.

Ms. Crain has also asserted the defense, first raised in Arista v. Greubel, that the plaintiffs’ have been fully compensated by the $115 million settlement they received from Kazaa.

Take a stand: Support the NHL

This should probably be in my Stop Looking South! series; it’s from that bastion of Democratic liberalism, not!, San Diego, California.

There James Hartline is “fighting illegal porn stores [and] exposing the corruption within the homosexual agenda, James is being used to confront the powers of darkness” and is read by “over 6,000 concerned citizens everyday.”

So what’s he got to say about Breakfast With Scot, a film about a gay former-pro hockey player married to the hockey team’s lawyer and gaurdian of an effeminate 11-year-old boy?

In one of the most obscene betrayals of children in motion picture history, Miracle Pictures Inc. is now filming the gay-themed tale of two male homosexual lovers who take custody of an eleven year-old boy. The young boy is portrayed as a “budding” drag queen. While Breakfast With Scot is seeking to pervert society’s standardized views on family, the film does more to reveal how intent the radicalized homosexual movement is in creating an epidemic of gender confusion to justify the institutionalization of its beliefs on transsexualism and transvestitism.

As horrible and degrading for children and male role models as Breakfast With Scot is, there is an even darker aspect to this immoral escapade. The movie is also being sanctioned and approved of by the National Hockey League! ... the National Hockey League has now decided to join forces with the radicalized homosexual movement in their declared war on traditional family values and children. By issuing a licence [sic] to the producers of Breakfast With Scot to use the league logo in the movie, the NHL has said that it wants family dollars without family values.

Well not exactly, but it has indeed given the movie its full support. And you can give the NHL your full support for its sound decision. Pam points out that James has helpfully provided the contact info:

CONTACT INFORMATION

National Hockey League Fan’s Association
Jim Boone: email -
telephone: (613) 224-7661

Contact Form for the NHL Officials Association
http://www.nhlofficials.com/contact.asp

Contact Form for Affiliate Organization, U.S. Hockey League
http://www.ushl.com/contactform.cfm?id=26

Contact Form for the NHL Player’s Association
http://www.nhlpa.com/feedback/index.asp

JHR Action Center
The James Hartline Report
8,000 Daily Readers Strong!

I Am Making My Stand! Are You?

Nissan: Gay-friendly dream car

I just bought a Hyundai; I’ve long wanted an Infiniti G35. Just a few weeks ago neither company was deemed gay-friendly; now that’s changed:

“We are ecstatic that Nissan North America has rolled out their domestic-partner benefits to all of their U.S. employees,” said Joe LaMuraglia, publisher of Gaywheels.com and former employee of NNA.

“I was fortunate enough to be part of the team that got the ball rolling and began the campaign to push for domestic partner benefits for LGBT employees at Nissan. I commend the employees still there who kept the dream alive and followed this through to completion.”

Nissan will be offering domestic partner benefits to their US-based employees as of January 1, 2007. Employees in the sales and marketing division of the company have enjoyed domestic partnership health insurance and car benefits since January, 2006. The latest addition includes the manufacturing arm of the company, which employs the vast majority of Nissan’s US workers.

I can only assume it’s likely to be a while until such benefits are offered at the Hyundai Alabama plant.