Larry Craig: Still Stalling

Yesterday, Idaho Senator Larry Craig announced he would NOT resign his seat as promised.

His decision was made on the same day that a Minnesota judge decided NOT to throw out Craig's guilty plea to the misdemeanor crime of soliciting sex in a men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport.

The news that Craig broke his promise to the people of Idaho and his Senate colleagues was met with disbelief and indignation:

"He gave us his word that he would resign," said Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., who's in charge of the GOP's 2008 Senate election fundraising. "I'm calling on Senator Craig to keep his word. If he loves his party, and he loves the Senate, the honorable thing to do is to resign."

If Senator Ensign feels betrayed by Craig's brazen disregard to those he promised to honor and respect, think how his wife might feel!

A person like Craig who has spent his whole life living a lie must have no conscience -- no guilt -- about saying one thing and doing another. He has been rationalizing and justifying his betrayal of his marriage vows and his oath of office -- both of which required him to make a promise of duty and honor.

Keeping secrets from his wife and his constituents is a selfish act and although Craig appears full of righteous indignation -- even bravado -- his refusal to do the right thing and leave his marriage and the Senate is the act of a coward.

Craig's refusal to tell the truth about his sexuality not only hurts his family, it hurts the entire LGBTQ Community as we struggle for legal rights, protections and benefits for our families.

The Larry Craig fiasco just makes it that much harder for us to convince elected officials that LGBTQ people deserve legal protections.

How can the LGBTQ Community justify our demands to be treated with dignity and respect when people like Craig continue to sneak around, cheating and lying?

October 11, is National Coming Out Day.

On that day Rainbow Law will be in Jackson Mississippi -- at OUToberfest -- speaking about the need to protect the legal rights of LGBTQ families.

If you are unable to join us in Mississippi, we hope you will celebrate that day by telling the truth about your life to at least one person who does not already know.

We are in the midst of a Fall Fund Raising Drive -- a fight for the very life of Rainbow Law! We hope you will invest a few dollars so that we are able to continue to provide FREE legal documents, information and other services to and for the LGBTQ Community!

Mission Accomplished

Since we are doing our Fall fund-raising drive, we thought we'd share a little more about what we do here at Rainbow Law...

For those of you did not know, we've spent the last 3 years building a house out of recycled materials.

Today we are pleased to announce that the exterior shell -- poured walls made from papercrete (a mixture of pulped newspapers, sifted clay and Portland cement) is FINISHED!

The foundation was made from old tires, with the sidewall cut off and then tamped with clay until it is like a solid, 30 inch block. We laid the tires like bricks or blocks and then built forms in which to pour the papercrete on top of the tires.

The papercrete walls are 1 foot thick.

We scavenged some of the windows -- others we bought at a surplus store and the roof is made of surplus metal from a scrap yard.

We made an indoor greenhouse (on the south facing end) from old sliding glass doors.

Last week we installed the septic tank (we dug the pit by hand and bought the tank online) and are still digging (about 5 foot deep and 50 foot long through clay and rock) a trench for the French drain along the hill.

On the agenda for next year:

• solar panels to generate electricity we hope one day to get completely off the grid.

• use the excess windows to build a free standing greenhouse to extend the growing season.

• build a goat shed and chicken coop then get a couple of nanny goats for milking and chickens for eggs.
  

• put in a garden

• build a workshop

This Winter we will try to get as much of the interior done as possible. In fact, we just hooked up the toilet and had our first flush today!

We are literally doing everything ourselves so that we can show people that they can do it to.

Just the two of us -- no backhoes, no bulldozers and no MORTGAGE!

In the photo we are standing in front of the Rainbow Law office. Our desks are just inside the big window.

We wanted to build something that was eco-friendly and where we could operate Rainbow Law, do our activism and keep the costs low.

Next summer we will be offering classes here to teach others how to build out of materials that others just throw away.

In the meantime, check out the website, http://www.builtfromtrash.com for more photos and information about the project.

Let us know what you think and please, donate to Rainbow Law!

Did You Miss Us?

We haven't posted in a few days because we've been trying to figure out the best way to write a fund-raising appeal that will really inspire our readers, customers and other's who benefit from our services to donate.

So, we thought we'd ask -- have you noticed we haven't been here in a while?

Perhaps you like knowing that we are out here, somewhere, plugging along and you would like to see us continue to do so.

We also decided that we'd offer some cool gifts to those of you who do donate, so we hope you'll read on:

In order to sustain Rainbow Law we need to raise $30,000 by December 21, 2007!

Will you please help by making a donation to Rainbow Law?

Depending on the level of donation you choose, you will receive an autographed DVD"Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars" - a hand-painted 'Get All Your Ducks in a Row' T-Shirt (I am wearing one in our profile photo), a Rainbow Law Duck ornament, and a 'Get All Your Ducks in a Row' mug and bumper sticker.

Back in 1999, when we launched Rainbow Law, we were the first to offer free and affordable legal documents online exclusively to the LGBTQ Community. Within a year, we began seeing other, similar websites, most of which have since disappeared.

We survive where others fail -- because we are here to make a difference - not a profit.

Here are a few things Rainbow Law provides FREE to the LGBTQ Community:

• FREE Legal Documents: A state-specific package of Advance Directives (Living Will, Medical and Financial Power of Attorney, and supporting documents). We are proud to report that in 2006 we made over 10,000 free documents;
  

• FREE Telephone Consultation Service;

• FREE Rainbow Law Estate Planning Workbook;

• FREE Estate Planning Workshops;

• FREE online Marriage Equality Petition which is regularly sent to the President and Congress;

• FREE subscription to RainbowZine, Rainbow Law's progressive newsletter, updated daily and delivered upon request to your inbox each morning;

• FREE State and National Directory of LGBTQ (and friendly) Businesses, Services and Organizations;

• FREE Action Alerts, posted here and sent to our subscribers so that you can make your voice heard on issues that matter to all of us;

• FREE Civil Rights advocacy:

In support of LGBTQ civil rights and legal equality we write an article every day about relevant political and legal issues that impact our rights. These articles and op-ed pieces are published daily on RainbowZine and RAINBOWbLAWg as well as in other national journals, magazines and newspapers.

We tour the country speaking at events and programs that educate and provide information to counter the lies and stereotypes that stand in the way of our full citizenship rights. In 2003 & 2004 we rode our bicycles across America to advocate for Marriage Equality. A film, Lesbian Grandmothers from Mars: One Couple’s Journey for Marriage Equality was produced to document our efforts.

Other Services provided by Rainbow Law:

• We offer a variety of AFFORDABLE LEGAL DOCUMENT PACKAGES which provide State-specific legal protections, rights and benefits. If you are single or in a relationship, if you live in a State that does or does not legally recognize your relationship, if you do or do not have children, if you are young, old, mentally or physically challenged, we've designed a package of legal protections that will work for you. Rainbow Law document packages range in price from $75.00 to $295.00 and include documents for you, and if applicable, your partner and children.

To provide all of these services and more, Rainbow Law must have PHONES, COMPUTERS, PRINTERS, SOFTWARE PROGRAMS, INTERNET ACCESS, WEB HOSTING, PAPER, POSTAGE, OFFICE EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES AND UTILITIES.

We are able to keep costs down because we do not receive a salary, do not advertise and we keep our overhead as low as possible:

• 75% OF OUR BUDGET is covered by donations from people like you who have used and benefited from our services or because you believe that what we are doing is vitally important.

• Only 25% is paid for with proceeds from the sale of document packages.

Won't you PLEASE support our hard work?

The Underappreciated Power Of Ridicule

By Kirk Caraway -

All the tough talk about how Ahmadinejad is the next Hitler didn't have near the effect that being ridiculed for his buffoonery did. Makes you wonder why we didn't just crack jokes about his visit the whole time. "During his speech at Columbia University, [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad said his country 'doesn't have problems with gay people because they don't have homosexuals in Iran.' Which finally explains why Ahmadinejad gets away with wearing a windbreaker from 1983." - Conan O'Brien

Those in attendance for Ahmadinejad's speech couldn't help roaring in laughter at the ridiculous statement that his country has no homosexuals, and the bombastic leader from Iran has become the butt of jokes the world over. No gay people in Iran? Right. Hey, the anti-gay Republican Party can't even keep their closeted-gay elected ranks from chasing teenage boys and hanging out in airport men's rooms.

All the tough talk about how Ahmadinejad is the next Hitler didn't have near the effect that being ridiculed for his buffoonery did. Makes you wonder why we didn't just crack jokes about his visit the whole time.

Think about how ridicule has changed this country's politics. Picture Gerald Ford falling down the stairs, or Michael Dukakis riding in a tank. Think about Howard Dean's infamous scream. All became prime material for comedians, and all lost their next elections.

As the jokes about President George W. Bush become more numerous and pointed, his poll numbers keep dropping. His critics have tried beating him on the issues since Day One, but it wasn't until his foibles became so obvious and ridicule-worthy that his popularity diminished.

Demonizing enemies is an ancient practice that perhaps we should update to something more suitable for this century. It's great for starting wars and all, but it can be argued that it doesn't really help the situation.

Ahmadinejad's power comes from his demonization by the west, and particularly by the U.S. The more we criticize him and rattle the sabers of war, the stronger he gets.

But laugh at him and the Iranian people start figuring out what a moron they have for a president.

So many of America's opponents in the world are pumped up by the harsh words from the White House. Fidel Castro is a two-bit dictator of a third-world country, yet our attempts to portray him as a monster have given him far more standing in the world than he ever deserved. He would have been gone long ago if we had made him the butt of jokes instead of the great pariah of the Western Hemisphere.

Wouldn't it have been better to just make fun of him, to treat him as insignificant as he really is?

Leaders like Kim Jong-Il, Hugo Chavez, even Osama Bin Laden thrive on our demonization. It makes them look more important than they really are. When President Bush starts talking about what an evil threat Osama is, it's like a recruiting commercial for al-Qaida.

Instead of building up our enemies, shouldn't we be cutting them down, at least in the comedic sense?

How do you deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il? Tell him you can't take anyone seriously who has such a bad haircut, then send him some coupons for Supercuts.

Want to get Ahmadinejad's goat? Invite him to dinner with a bunch of drag queens. But don't tell him they are drag queens. Make sure to take plenty of photos.

Osama? Promise to send him a lifetime supply of Just for Men hair color, if he'll tell you where to deliver it.

We might find that laughter works better than bullets.

I keep hearing about an effort to create a Department of Peace as a way to end wars. I think a Department of Comedic Intervention might be more effective. Get Jon Stewart to run it.

And the next time the president addresses the United Nations, have him take Jay Leno along to get in some good shots while they have everyone in the same room.

And most of all, we need to try to put these antagonists in perspective. We don't have to treat every big-talking dictator like he's the next Hitler. It just inflates their egos. Stop giving them what they want, and instead give them some laughs, at their expense.

• Kirk Caraway is editor of http://nevadapolitics.com and also writes a blog on national issues at http://kirkcaraway.com Go to original post with comments

Shake Shake Shake Your Bow-Tie

What do these two men have in common? Apparently, more than just their choice of neck-wear.

Pictured on the bottom right, 19-year-old Philip Anderton Cooney, the son of former Bush aide and American Petroleum Institute oil lobbyist Phil Cooney, recently arrested for gay bashing in Washington DC.

In the top photo is 38 year old Tucker Carlson, host of MSNBC's Tucker with Tucker Carlson show, son of Richard Warner Carlson, a former banker, Los Angeles local news anchor, U.S. ambassador to the Seychelles, director of the U.S. Information Agency, and president of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, admitted that while in high school, he and another friend bashed a gay man who “bothered” him in a men’s room in Washington DC.

Could this be a copy-cat hate crime?

Carlson is a public figure and very likely a cultural icon for impressionable young White, wealthy conservative males like Cooney. Perhaps Cooney saw the show where Carlson described committing violence toward a so-called "gay" man and realized he might like to try it too. After all, in the video, you can see that the other White, straight, wealthy men thought Carlson's story was funny. It stands to reason then that a young man who relates to a celebrity like Carlson would want to emulate him. Happens all the time.

Unfortunately for Cooney, times have changed -- at least in some areas -- and laws were passed to punish those who would single out a person for violence based on his or her sexual orientation.

No wonder Carlson and his ilk rail against hate crimes legislation -- calling them "special rights." In their minds, queers have no sense of humor and are generally whiny party poopers who are spoiling all the fun.

It seems they prefer to have the opportunity to lash out violently against LGBTQ people whenever the mood strikes.

Yesterday, we asked that readers of this blog to send an email to Carlson demanding that – on the air – he explain the discrepancy between his calls for non-violence from Black teens in Jena Louisiana and his own violent crime against a supposedly gay man!

This guy has had it made in the shade his entire life. It would be great to see him squirm and take some semblance of responsibility for using his bully pulpit to make outrageous and inaccurate statements about gay people and our "agenda."

We must stop Carlson and his gang of bow-tie wearing thugs before another privileged, wealthy, White-male, conservative/predator sets out on a hunt for fresh gay red meat.

The Internet offers a great way to GO VIRAL by calling Carlson out for the hypocrite that he is! After you send your email, post a comment below to let us know what you said.

Pass this on to all of your friends and supporters and ask them to do the same.

Maybe you'll be saving your own ass -- or possibly ours.