Raise Your Hand If You're Sick of Dan Choi

Where does this guy get off?

On a day where there should be celebration after the passage of a same-sex marriage law in the State of New York, Dan Choi instead chose to yet again attack President Obama for perceived slights against him and the LGBT community. Check out this Twitter feed:



As my recent tweets show, I really don't care for Lt. Dan Choi. He came out knowing he would be the face of the gay military and has now shown that the limelight is to his liking. You know, sort of like Sarah Palin and in my opinion, equally annoying.

No one is saying you shouldn't advocate for what you believe in, but to cast blame solely on President Obama as Choi has done is myopic, opportunistic and egotistical, knowing he was going to continue to get attention in this vein. Hitching your wagon up to Jane Hamsher only solidifies my opinion of his ever-evolving narcissism.

Let's take his tweets one at a time, shall we?

1. "...sad that Barack Obama would have voted no."

Really? How could you possibly know that? We all know that personally, President Obama has stated that he is opposed to same-sex marriage. This is a personal choice based either on his religion or it may be purely a political stance. The same stance every other presidential candidate took at the time.  But what else has he said? He is opposed to a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, signed a repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, and his Justice Department will not fight appeals of the Defense of Marriage Act with the opinion that it's unconstitutional.

2. I wish Gov. Cuomo would run for President with Sen. Gillibrand on an 'equality ticket.'"

Instant new hero, that Andrew Cuomo. I suppose if you're a one issue voter, it doesn't matter that Cuomo has so far been anti-union and that Gillibrand had issues with being pro-gun. But hey, self avowed progressives like Choi don't care about issues like that, do they?  Don't get me wrong, I really don't have much of an issue with Cuomo or Gillibrand, but let's not get carried away with fantasies of a White House ticket.

3. Obama: "I have plenty of gay friends. Some of them work for me. I just feel they are inferior to me, and they don't deserve marriage."

Okay, this is flat out horse shit. This is the kind of drivel that makes me turn completely off to his side of the story, because he's just flat out putting words in the President's mouth that he obviously never said. In fact, he's said the exact opposite.

President Obama at an LGBT Fundraiser in New York (6/23/11): "...Last year, I received a letter from a teenager growing up in a small town, and he told me he was a senior in high school, and that he was proud to be the captain of a club at his school, and that he was gay. And he hadn’t told his parents. He hadn’t come out. He was worried about being mocked or being bullied. He didn’t think it was safe to, in his words, “openly be myself.” But this 17-year-old also looked towards the day when he didn’t have to be afraid; when he didn’t have to worry about walking down the hallway. And he closed his letter by saying, “Everyone else is considered equal in this country. Why shouldn’t we be?”

So, yes, we have more work to do. Yes, we have more progress to make. Yes, I expect continued impatience with me on occasion. But understand this — look, I think of teenagers like the one who wrote me, and they remind me that there should be impatience when it comes to the fight for basic equality. We’ve made enormous advances just in these last two and a half years. But there are still young people out there looking for us to do more, to help build a world in which they never have to feel afraid or alone to be themselves. And we know how important that is to not only tell them that it’s going to get better, but to also do everything in our power to ensure that things actually are better.

I’m confident that we will achieve the equality that this young person deserves. I’m confident that the future is bright for that teenager and others like him, and that he can have the life that he wants and that he imagines.

There will be setbacks along the way. There will be times where things aren’t moving as fast as folks would like. But I know that he’ll look back on his struggles, and the struggles of many in this room, as part of what made change possible; part of what it took to reach the day when every single American, gay or straight or lesbian or bisexual or transgender, was free to live and love as they see fit."

Yeah, that really sounds like a man who believes the LGBT community is inferior and doesn't deserve marriage, huh?

4. "I really appreciate the confidence and strength of NY Gov. Cuomo. He could teach Barack Obama. Or just primary him."

Cuomo's "confidence and strength?" Cuomo signing off on New York's legislation is a no brainer. Show me a bipartisan Congress willing to pass a bill repealing DOMA and I'll show you a President Obama signing the goddamn thing before the ink is dry.

There they go again with the "primary Obama" meme. But here's the thing: if these so called progressives really consider themselves the base, there has to be some kind of support involved. To call yourself Obama's base while not showing one ounce of support for the man and constantly shrieking "Primary Obama!" just shows you to be attention whores uninterested in progressing the discourse. Show me where progressives Jane Hamsher and Dan Choi have supported the president even once. Look for it, because I surely haven't seen anything resembling support from this duo.

And finally let's take a look at the Obama administration's record when it comes to progressing the LGBT agenda.  As has been stated in the past, President Obama has done more for the LGBT community than any other U.S. president, despite the ramblings of the attention seeking Choi.

What may have started as a good intention has now become a Frankenstein monster. Dan Choi comes off as a petulant whiner when chaining himself to the White House fence or ripping up a letter of support for Obama during Netroots Nation, but shows his hypocrisy by attending CPAC and calling GOProud "American heroes." The same GOProud that also opposes ENDA (which President Obama supports), opposes the DOMA repeal and opposes partnership inclusion in UAFA. Those "American heroes?" That's truly a WTF moment.

So can I please stop seeing Dan Choi on my television machine for a while? Or if you insist on putting him on the air, then at least challenge him on his hypocrisy.

UPDATE (11:45pm): It would seem that this post is making it's way around the blogosphere and the immediate reaction from the pro-Choi faction is that A) I have no credibility, B) I am obviously an anti-gay bigot for criticizing Choi and C) I mistook Choi's tweet in which he quotes Obama as a real quote and not satire, therefore I don't know what I'm talking about.

As to 'A', I have yet to find one of these responses refuting the myriad links to Choi's actions and words that helped form my opinion.

In response to 'B', those willing to dismiss my criticisms as the rantings of a homophobe obviously chose to ignore looking at anything else in my blog before reaching that conclusion, including the entry immediate preceding the Choi post in which I praised the passing of New York's same-sex marriage legislation. I suppose that's what gay bashers do, huh? Also by their logic, if I'm anti-gay for criticizing Choi, does that mean Choi is a racist because he's critical of Obama?

And finally, in response to the idea that I didn't understand the "satire" in Choi's tweet where he uses quotation marks for an Obama attribution, that's just silly. To be satirical, the subject matter should at least have a modicum of truth to it, making it all the more ironic. It just doesn't work that well when you're looked to as a leader (as Choi is to many) and you use quotes for something not even remotely close to how President Obama feels about LGBT equality, as shown by the actual quote I used in the post.

New York Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill

NY Times: Lawmakers voted late Friday to legalize same-sex marriage, making New York the largest state where gay and lesbian couples will be able to wed and giving the national gay-rights movement new momentum from the state where it was born.

The marriage bill, whose fate was uncertain until moments before the vote, was approved 33 to 29 in a packed but hushed Senate chamber. Four members of the Republican majority joined all but one Democrat in the Senate in supporting the measure after an intense and emotional campaign aimed at the handful of lawmakers wrestling with a decision that divided their friends, their constituents and sometimes their own homes.

With his position still undeclared, Senator Mark J. Grisanti, a Republican from Buffalo who had sought office promising to oppose same-sex marriage, told his colleagues he had agonized for months before concluding he had been wrong.

“I apologize for those who feel offended,” Mr. Grisanti said, adding, “I cannot deny a person, a human being, a taxpayer, a worker, the people of my district and across this state, the State of New York, and those people who make this the great state that it is the same rights that I have with my wife.”

Finally, a Republican who gets it. This is not about God, or a religious "sanctity." It never has been. It's about equal rights for all.

The passage of the bill followed the passage of an amendment exempting religious institutions participating in same-sax marriage from being sued for discrimination, which in my opinion is completely fine. No religion should be forced to adhere to something it is against, just as no religion should force it's doctrine on others. The separation of church and state is a protection that runs both ways.

Although I now live in the land of Christie, I'm proud to be a native New Yorker today.

Seriously, Harold Ford?

If you want to run for Senator of New York, being that you've lived here all of four years, wouldn't you think that the first thing you would do is make sure your tax records are in order? Not Harold Fold.

Ford claims to have moved to New York three years ago, and says paying "New York taxes" makes him a New Yorker. But his spokeswoman confirms to Gawker that he's never filed a New York tax return — meaning that he's never paid New York's income tax, despite keeping an office and a residence in New York City as a vice chairman of Merrill Lynch since 2007: "He pays New York taxes and will file a New York tax return in April for the first time," Ford's spokeswoman Tammy Sun told Gawker. "He will file all necessary personal disclosure and tax forms that candidates are required to file if he chooses to run." (According to Sun, Ford admitted to the tax dodge yesterday at a press availability in Albany, but we can't find any news accounts mentioning the remarks.)

Wouldn't this also mean that if he's filing Tennessee taxes and therefore claiming it as his "primary" residence, he's not eligible to run in New York? I suppose by filing in New York in April for the first time makes that point moot since there is no minimum time requirement one must live in a state for eligibility, but what does it say to the constituents whose votes Ford wants to garner?

Fuck You, Michael Bloomberg

Then:

“I support the Obama Administration’s decision to prosecute 9/11 terrorists here,” Bloomberg said. “It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered. We have hosted terrorism trials before, including the trial of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”

Bloomberg expressed no concerned that the trial will make the city a bigger target for terrorists.

“I have great confidence that the NYPD, with federal authorities, will handle security expertly. The NYPD is the best police department in the world and it has experience dealing with high-profile terrorism suspects and any logistical issues that may come up during the trials,” Bloomberg said.

Now:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg has changed his mind about holding terror trials in his city, saying they should be conducted in a more secure location.

..."It's going to cost an awful lot of money and disturb an awful lot of people," Bloomberg said at a news conference Wednesday. "My hope is that the attorney general and the president decide to change their mind."

You fucking coward.

You know what? I'm not even going to excuse Bloomberg with cowardice. This is political CYA right after this fuckball was elected to a third term (by changing the term limits law)  and spending $108 million on his re-election campaign when he has absolutely no real skin in the game. The cost of extra security will be completely forgotten once Khalid Sheik Mohammed is convicted and shows proof positive that our justice system works.

As a New Yorker, I want to see KSM tried at the scene of the crime. It would be an appropriate and  fitting end despite way 9/11 has been handled so far, with Osama Bin Laden "wanted dead or alive" debacles, invading a country that had nothing to do with the worst terrorist attack on US soil, interminable delays on the construction of a new complex at Ground Zero, and even the remains of 9/11 victims possibly being used to fill potholes because of the haphazard way the clean up took place, thanks to Rudy Giuliani.

So fuck you,  Mike Bloomberg for being a snivelling, little, poll watching coward.

Petro Sapien™ (Part Two)

posted by Armadillo Joe

NoWhereMan wrote the following comment on my last post, Petro Sapien™:

Great to have you back Joe but, as life long resident of the city who makes his living delivering goods to those stores that dot what was once Times Sq,it is so aggravating and ridiculous for me to have to park 5 or 6 blocks from my vehicle to my delivery point.Its time consuming which means less $ in my pocket.These past two dickheads weve had for mayor have reinvented Times Sq for thw worst.Giuliani made it into Disneyland now the present munchkin sized mayor has turned it into Oz.I don't see either version as an "improvement".

October 29, 2009 2:04:00 AM EDT

To which I responded:

I understand your difficulty as a delivery man in coping with a car-unfriendly arrangement. It most certainly would be better for you and for all delivery men if you could just drive right up to the door and roll your packages into the store through the front door. The same goes for cabbies with their passengers and for single-passenger vehicles driving in from the suburbs rolling right up to their destination.


But when we scale any one of these specific issues upward and apply it to city-life generally, we run into a NIMBY problem, applied to transportation resources.


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Petro Sapien™

posted by Armadillo Joe

Hey, Blog-O-Maniacs, Armadillo Joe here. I've been absent these parts for quite some time and hope to start working my way back over with a tad more frequency in the coming months. I've been crazy with work and then traveling for my anniversary and then trying to buy an apartment (first time!) and, (same as last year during the election season) I am in a deep, existential political fight with my parents, which is only intensified by the emerging contours of the looming health-care debacle and the political atmosphere surrounding it. I couldn't even bring myself to read HuffPost or watch Olbermann or Maddow. When I opened the Blogger editor, the words just wouldn't come. Though I did have a number of trains of thought pile up in my head and I'd like to get them out over the next few days.

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Steele: Obama Hates Black People!

Shorter Steele: "I'm not saying they're pressuring him because he's black, I'm saying it's strange that they're pressuring him because he's a black man."

Steele is sooooo fucking stupid. Keep it up, RNC!