MASS RESISTANCE E-mail: July 20, 2006
In this email update:
1. Three huge defeats (VICTORY IS OURS!) in House override votes yesterday. "Good" reps cave in left and right!
* One temporary win: We won the "gay commission" vote. (The ONLY Romney veto sustained!) But they forced a reconsideration vote, and key reps caved in and we lost!
* During debate: Rep. Philip Travis was the only hero in a building of cowards. No one else would speak up.
* This afternoon the fourth gay funding item will be taken up. Don't hold your breath. And starting today, they all go to the Senate for override votes there.
2. This should have been won. What should MassResistance do from here?
=== 1. Three huge defeats in House override votes yesterday. "Good" reps cave in left and right! ===
[As you know: Last month, the Legislature slipped three items into the Massachusetts 2007 state budget that would increase the taxpayer money for homosexual programs in the public schools to around $2,000,000! (This figure, like the others, is totally wrong. They are assuming all of the suicide prevention money is going to LGBT related work) And a fourth item that would create a second, super-charged "Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth" made up of gay activists that could spend that money in your schools. Luckily, we persuaded Gov. Romney to veto just about all of it.]
Yesterday the Massachusetts House of Representatives voted to override three of the four vetoes by Gov. Romney on huge funding increases in the public schools, and a new, very powerful and independent "Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth." (The fourth vote will probably take place today.)
It was a disgraceful scene. Even though we had personally visited the offices of all of them at least three times with the Little Black Book and other hideous horrors paid for with taxpayer money, many of the state reps we had counted on simply caved in. All of the others, except for Rep. Phil Travis (D-Rohoboth), refused to enter into the debate when it came up.
Each of these items needed at least a third of the votes present to sustain the veto. Here's what happened:
Click here to see how each rep voted on each item.
http://www.MassResistance.com/veto/house_vote.html
Vote on Item 4513-1130 (Dept. of Public Health).
They took this up first, about 4:35 pm. This was the budget item where the gays had stashed over a million dollars in open-ended funding. This one got steamrolled 133-21. I couldn't believe that so many of "our" reps would not vote to stop this.
Vote on Item 4590-0250 (Dept. of Education)
They took this up next, about 5:00. This gave the homosexual lobby another $100,000 directly for programs targeted at children in the schools. We came VERY close on this -- 104 to 50. But you'll see that a lot of so-called pro-family reps in groups 1 and 2 would not vote for us on this.
Vote on Section 4 - Commission of Gay and Lesbian Youth
This came next about 5:15, and it's where the real fireworks took place. This creates your biggest nightmare -- a new official Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth that's independent of all outside control, selected by specifically named homosexual groups, which has the power to influence all other state agencies, and can raise and spend its own money in addition to the millions it will get. It is the homosexual movement's dream. (Actually it is not enough!)
Before the vote, Rep. Philip Travis (D-Rehoboth) stood up and spoke. He gave a very reasoned argument that this was not good public policy. Then immediately, Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera (D-Springfield) came to the podium. She literally started screaming at Travis, calling him a bigot and a hater, (which he is, and so is anyone who signs the marriage petition in P-Town!) and said that as a lesbian she knows better than anyone else the need for this commission. It was an unbelievable, angry, emotional rant. Travis got back up and said he felt she was out of order making personal remarks. (What are personal remarks?)
Then the vote came. It was 99-52! We had won -- they didn't get the two-thirds. There was an immediate uproar in the hall, and the acting chairman (Rep. Paul Donato) had to gavel it quiet. (This was the only one of Romney's 200 vetoes that had won a vote.)
Suddenly Rep. Liz Malia (D-Boston), a self-identified lesbian, (I'm so glad your not just name calling Brian, you'd never do that!) moved for a reconsideration vote. There was more uproar in the hall, which continued for a few minutes. Then the chairman called a recess until 6:00 pm.
We're told by longtime observers that this is what the leadership does when they lose a key vote. They immediately call for a reconsideration vote, then get a recess and use that time to strong-arm enough reps to get the votes they need to prevail. And that's clearly what happened this time.
Around 6:10 they finally got back into session. They took a quorum roll-call. Someone demanded a roll-call vote on the request for reconsideration, so they took that (which won 122-25).
Then Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Somerset), a reliable gay supporter, got up and spoke, attempting to refute Rep. Travis' arguments. Then Rep. Marie St. Fleur (D-Boston) also got up and gave an emotional speech about the need for an "independent" gay commission. It was horrible to listen to. After that, Rep. Travis got up and gave another fairly eloquent speech, pointing out that if this so important it should be a real bill with a public hearing, not just slithered into the budget where it can be voted in quickly without proper public evaluation.
[Note - we now have all this on video. We may post it just so you can see it for yourself!]
Then the vote came. It was 104-44. We had lost. They had strong-armed the votes they needed.
Here are the reps who supported us the first time, then caved in. These people are disgraceful sellouts. (Maybe they need to hear from you): (They will receive a big thank you from me! I'm going to make packets!)
Rep. David Flynn - simply didn't vote the second time.
Rep. Thomas Kennedy - switched his vote.
Rep. Joyce Spiliotis - switched her vote.
Rep. Jennifer Callahan - switched her vote.
Rep. Robert Koczera - switched his vote.
Rep. Eugene O'Flaherty - didn't vote the second time.
Rep. Stephen Tobin - switched his vote.
Rep. James Welch - switched his vote.
Rep. Angelo Scaccia - didn't vote the second time.
Interestingly, on the other side, Rep. David Nangle didn't vote the second time, and Rep. Christopher Fallon (in group 3!) voted with us the second time after voting against us the first time (we can't explain that).
What really hurts is Joyce Spiliot is selling out. (awww Bri Bri had his feelings hurt)You may remember back in 2004, we put TREMENDOUS energy into her state rep campaign when a lesbian activist (Gasp! A Lesbian activist!) was challenging her in the primary. What a traitor! What also hurt us (You sure are sensitive Brian) was Rep. Emile Goguen's absence from all the votes. We spoke to him last evening - he said he had an important meeting with public officials he couldn't miss, didn't know those votes would be taken then, and said he felt very bad. He's a good guy. (I am sure he loves the stamp of approval from Article Hate)
NOTICE that in that entire building, only Rep. Philip Travis -- a DEMOCRAT (Can you believe it! A bigotted democrat?!) -- had the guts to get up and speak for what's right. All the other "good" (Hate gays, good. Love gays, Bad) reps just sat on their hands. And what about the Republicans? Good question. (Umm.. did you just say that your own rhetorical question was a good one? Wow Brian. Wow.)Rep. Travis is not running again this year, and will be missed. (by who?)
Vote on Item 7020-0005 (Dept. of Education)
Will probably happen today. It's another $150,000 directly to the homosexual activists for programs in the schools. I'm not holding my breath on this.
Today or tomorrow, the Senate will take up these override votes. As of now, that bunch is even more in the tank than the House. It would take a miracle to stop it there.
I am very proud of the people who took time out of their summer to go down to the State House and personally go to every office in our groups 1 and 2. They made their staffs actually look at the gory details of what's really being given to schoolchildren, and most of them were truly shocked and even disgusted. In many cases, our people got to talk to reps personally. (who are your peeps anyways?)
It's too bad that too many of these "good" reps let us down. We had been "told" (not to be confused with just plain old being told without quotation marks) by so many staff members that they "were with us" but it now seems a lot of that was just lip service. (OMG! Brian, it was totally you! It all makes sense. You're the guy from the glory hole! Your lip service was fabulous honey!) In the end, too many good people caved in to the homosexual lobby. (not to be confused with the lesbian lobby, queer lobby, bisexual or trans lobby - the homosexual lobby is sure to have sex all over the state house.)
And Unfortunately, I don't think there were enough of us, especially from the districts, who got engaged in this. We "showed" the reps, but we didn't make them "believe" that a lot of people were particularly angry. Until we can do that, we won't turn the corner.
Click here to see how each rep voted on each item.
http://www.MassResistance.com/veto/house_vote.html (Excellent resource for our side as well!)
=== 2. This should have been won. What should MassResistance do from here? === (Keep being crazy it works out really well for us!)
Back on January 31, four hundred people braved the winter weather to come to the State House and testify against H1641, a bill which would require teaching of homosexuality in schools as a requirement to graduate. Many people stayed until 9:00 pm waiting their turn to speak. As a result, we were able to get the bill killed in committee, even though its passage was a major goal of Planned Parenthood for 2006.
But over the past several days, despite pleas via email and with phone calls But these budget items passed yesterday are many, many times worse in their overall effect.only about a dozen people were willing to go to the State House and make their case. Most were mothers with school-aged kids. Two were teachers. One was a 14-year-old boy who came because of the homosexual agenda in his school. (A fourteen year old boy came because of the homosexual agenda? Hot!) A lot of people just plain turned us down (Oh Brian, I'm sure your used to that you big bottom!) - too busy.
We also hand-sent nearly 1000 emails to selected people in the districts of all the reps we felt we needed to target, with their office and home numbers. Our sense now is that only a small percentage of those people did anything with that. What's going on? (They think your crazy Brian and Amy, and they don't fucking care!)
In all, we calculate that a core group of about 80 people did the bulk work in this past week's effort. Eighty people isn't going to win any revolution. (Given that your numbers are always exaggerated by about 10 I'm guessing you are referring to 8 people including the fourteen year old boy who came for you.)
I guess what shocked me in this recent crucial fight was the apparent lack of anger, and the lack of any sense of urgency or distress, among the vast majority of people who receive this email. (maybe it is not so crucial after all?) Maybe a lot of people just don't want to believe that these things that were just passed will homosexualize the schools in a way that you cannot imagine (Can you enlighten me? How?), and it will effect states beyond Massachusetts. Well, believe it! I am baffled (as usual!) that so many people we contacted were so disinterested. It was eerie. It's as if the David Parker incident, or the Little Black Book, or "King and King, or any of the any many, many other things we have reported had never happened.
I've written about perseverance and my belief that this can be won with the right kind of attitude and dedication. But I'll be honest with you. If you don't care about this, why should I? (That my friend is an excellent question to ask yourself. Why should you?!)
There are two very clear schools of thought among pro-family groups on how this terrible battle should be waged. One is that we need to be polite and non-confrontational, and appear as moderate, loving, etc. The other is that we must demand our rights as citizens, and not taking no for an answer, even if it means being rude once in a while. I think you know which camp MassResistance is in. But far too many people are in the other camp. (The movie camp is so cute, you should rent it!)
From here, there are only two directions for a group like MassResistance. We can spend the next few months building up the organization to a great level, raise lots of money, and confront Legislature, state government, and the gay lobby head-on. Or we can fold. (but if you fold who will everyone laugh at?) There really is no in-between. Among other things, the gay lobby is raising enormous money and plans to use it to get even more seats in the Legislature this November. Should someone be there to counter them? (oh, what's the use?)
Right now, I'm sorry to say this but I don't have a lot of confidence that enough of the people who read this are committed to fighting back. (Brian begins to lose his marbles) I'm not sure what to do. (going) Is it worth continuing? This past week was not particularly enjoyable, to say the least. (going) Should we just concede all this and more to the homosexual movement? (gone!) How many of you are personally willing to do things? (The same 8 people as usual Brian, it's still them) We need to make some decisions quickly. If you have any thoughts on this, feel free to email me. update@massresistance.org
8 comments:
I think massequality has a budget much larger than 14,000 considering they have many staff members...
WAIT, we need Brian & Amy just as we need the Rev. Fred Phelps. Maybe it is time for the Gay Community to step up and provide funding to ArticleHate.
After all, let's be real this is all about money right, I mean Brian & Amy don't have real jobs do they. They make a living doing this. Which reminds me, what about that hundred and fifty grand they just raised a few months back. What did they do with it, are there public records they had to file.
Dammit I relied on Brian & Amy to start my day with a giggle.....
THe most recent radio show is a hoot...
MassEquality is a multi-million dollar organization. Check out their annual report.
http://massequality.org/pdfs/annualreport2005.pdf
The finacial figures:
Vote on Marriage has 29 million.
MassEquality has 3 million.
Something funny about this email is that Brain talks about Rep Spiliotis's re-election race in 2004 against a "lesbian activist". The woman who ran against Spiliotis was not even gay. That was a rumor spread by Brain! She had a boyfriend at the time. Rep Spiliotis herself even hinted at her opponent being a lesbian during a live debate. She was not a "lesbian activist" or even a lesbian. She was a straight woman who believed that everyone deserves the same rights.
Check out this article about Rep Spiliotis attacking her opponent. It is disgusting...http://www.mglpc.org/story.php?id=261
I suggested this over on hateresistance, but it would really be useful to have a snopes-type site for the mis-information MassResistance spreads.
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