Gil Week of Tortured Logic

On Gil's ever weakening, redundant and irrelevant blog, he's had an interesting assortment of topics in the past week. He's made over 45 different posted topics, with little variety and fewer comments. He got only 19 comments total. His biggest hit rate came on the topic of ME with 13 comments.

By far his biggest bugaboo this week was Torture. He had 11 different postings defending it, all filled with lies, half-truths and misrepresentations.
Cheney's calling for the declassification of two cherry picked memos claiming torture was a success. Yea, human rights violations!
This flies in the face of recent reports and conclusions that the most fruitful information came BEFORE the torture and that the information obtained through torture wasn't worth it.

Gil falls to "shock our conscience" with his attempts to defend and redefine torture. Gil tries to equate the "training" we give our soldiers with the experiences of a captured prisoner undergoing 183 waterboarding sessions in one month.

Gil defends the Bush lawyers that clearly violated the ethical standards of their profession in rubber stamping legally unsupported justifications for torture and violations of the Geneva Conventions and our own laws and Constitution. These ARE war crimes. We've prosecuted, convicted and executed for far less.

Gil even goes so far as to compare torture with abortion. If you aborted the same baby 183 times in one month, then Gil might have a point (besides the one on top of his head).

About having a reasonable definition of torture, "shock the conscious" is too vague, since Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, ... and Gil, haven't shown they have a shred of conscious.
First of all, some techniques have not only been designated as torture for centuries, but are frequently used as examples in the definition. Waterboarding is already defined as torture. Second, these actions violate our own Constitutional prohibitions against inflicting cruel or unusual punishments. Third, the United States has prosecuted or gone after foreign governments for using these techniques on US soldiers, or their own dissidents. Finally, is it acceptable to Gil if these techniques are applied to our captured soldiers without punishment to their captors? I would hope not (but Gil and the other armchair warriors were eager to sent them into harm's way without body armor and keep them there after their tour of duty).

The rest of Gil's postings covered his continuing denials of global warming and his misguided faith that nuclear power plants will solve everything (except if Iran has any). He got his panties in a bunch about the Tea Parties, but had me choking with laughter when he claimed: "Dems Scared of Tea Parties". Those weak-ass parties are the gift that keeps on giving by showing how the GOP idea machine threw a rod, just as it ran out of gas.

Gil's seems awfully defensive about Miss California and anyone else against gay marriage being portrayed as bigots. Gee, I wonder why. :-)

The rest was the usual rotation of anti-Obama, Clinton, Pelosi, Murtha and Sean Penn with a little anti-Sebelius and Napolitano thrown in for seasoning.

Most of Gil's posts are links to some far right-wing blog or opinion piece. No surprise there. Gil's intellectually lazy, seems incapable of genuine research, and treats opinion pieces as actual news.

It's no wonder Gil's site is such a deserted wasteland.

Diano Battles the UNGODs

I've been having fun on the Delco Times site debating the merits of my letter to the editor as I skewered the "Unknown Names: Gil's Obnoxious Defenders" (aka the UNGODs).

The UNGODs attacked me for calling Gil a bigot (completely missing the point that Gil is merely indistinguishable from a bigot). I had one person actually make the ridiculous "argument" that he was against gay marriage for purely selfish reasons: the gay spousal Social Security benefits would raise his taxes. He didn't seem to recognize the hypocrisy that he was okay with gays paying for his getting spousal benefits.

Away, as of this writing (less than one week from my letter), the Delco Times comment thread is over 40 posts (including 1/3 of them mine in rebuttal). This is more comments than Gil's blog has gotten all month, with dozens of posted topics (and a big link on the Delco Times online page and his own weekly column).

Gil Spencer Promotes Gay Discrimination over Tolerance

On Friday, April 10th, The Delco Times resident blowhard (Gil Spencer) published a piece of political and social tripe. His argument boils down to advocating that anti-gay bigotry taught in the home should not be undermined with tolerance taught in the schools.
Here is his article: Gil Gets a Failing Grade on Tolerance
This was a follow-up to his equally outrageous blog article that actually declared teaching tolerance to be liberal tyranny.

The Delco Times finally decided to print my letter to the editor: Is Gil Spencer a Bigot?

Editor-
I was quite surprised to see Gil Spencer's spirited defense of gay discrimination appearing in the print edition of the paper. Gil uses classic straw man arguments to divert from the real issues.

First, he pretends that gay rights are some left-wing social agenda, rather than a Constitutional equal protection issue.

Second, he falsely claims that the left is accusing everyone opposed to gay marriage of being a bigot and a homophobe. This is completely untrue. Gil's goal here is to mask the fact that large numbers of bigots and homophobes ARE opposed to all sorts of gay rights, including marriage. Bigotry has its heart in ignorance. Judge for yourself in which camp Gil can be found.

Third, when Gil was in school, gays were considered to be sexual deviates and pedophiles preying on children, and they were barred from jobs like teaching. Our military still classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder. Maybe Gil would prefer to live in Iran, where they claim there are no gays and homosexuality is the result of our Western culture. Or maybe Gil agrees with his blogger friends that you can "pray away the gay".

Fourth, Gil actually equates the question of a gay baby-sitter with a baby-sitter with HIV. This is Gil's not so subtle way to push the idea in people's minds that being gay is somehow the same as a disease.
Our children should be receiving a solid education based upon real medical science and facts, and not illusions, perceptions, out-dated myths, ideology and propaganda.

Finally, Gil PRAISES a private Catholic prep school teacher for believing there was nothing he could do to admonish a student that verbally expressed hatred for gays. What if the kid had said he hated Jesus instead?

Gil may go around proclaiming that people can't prove he is an anti-gay bigot, but actions speak louder than words. Gil is giving the bigots aid, comfort and material support with his columns. Therefore, even if Gil is not a card-carrying bigot, it's a distinction without a difference.


Feel free to contact editor@delcotimes.com and ask him why the Delco Times has someone like Gil Spencer in such a prominent opinion role.

Did Specter Just Commit Political Suicide?

Arlen Specter has survived a number of otherwise fatal wounds during his career. From his "magic bullet" theory to his attack-dog role against Anita Hill to rolling over and selling out for the Bush Administration, Specter has gone from foolish to vicious to irrelevant.

However, this week, Specter may have dealt himself a fatal blow. In return for his vote on the Employee Free Choice Act (card-check), the Pennsylvania unions offered to back Specter in his expected 2010 Primary fight against expected challenger: Pat Toomey. Specter rejected that offer with his announcement that he would not support the EFCA pro-union bill.

Flash back to 2004, Toomey gave Specter the fight of his life and Specter managed to win by only 2%. Much of this margin was on the strength of Dem/Ind voters switching to Republican to help Specter in the primary. This was based on their (shortsighted) fear that a Toomey primary victory could lead to a Senator Toomey, rather than the likelihood that Pennsylvania would reject Toomey and give us a Dem senator.

Flash forward to 2010, many moderate Republicans and Independents switched to Dem in 2008 to vote for Obama vs Hillary. Therefore, the remaining GOP registration base is far more lopsided with the right-wingers, neocons, Palin-worshipers, gun nuts and religious conservatives that dislike Specter and consider Toomey a GOP wet-dream.

There is NO WAY that Specter can get all the moderates that switched to Dem in 2008 to switch back to GOP to help him. Add to that, a hotly contested Dem Primary for Governor to keep Dems registered. Finally add in that this week he alienated the Unions who won't help him party-switch voters.

If the Unions are smart (for a change) they will realize that their fortunes and well-being don't lie in a washed-up political shell of a man like Specter in the minority party (no chairmanships). The Unions need to go "all-in" for the Democratic ticket. Toomey will be easier to beat than Specter in the General Election. The best strategy is to let Specter lose the Primary and let the GOP cut it's own throat, rather than expend Union resources to support Specter.

The ONLY possible rationale for Specter was if he cut a deal on the Union Bill in hopes of avoiding a primary fight. This is a typically Republican short-sighted strategy and a another typical Specter sellout.

First, the far-right GOP can't be trusted to hold a promise when Specter still has another year of votes to go.
Second, the Unions will leave Specter swinging in the wind come the Primary.
Third, if Specter survives the Primary, the Unions will crucify him for his anti-Union vote with the Dem voters.
Finally, Pennsylvanians are ready for some new blood and the young voters aren't interested in an octogenarian senator in 2010.

Did Specter commit political suicide this week? Let's hope.

UPDATE the latest Quinnipiac University poll (which I didn't see before my blog analysis) shows Specter trailing Toomey by 14 points in a match-up. This is despite Toomey having a significantly lower name recognition. My conclusion: the poll shows a strong anybody but Arlen sentiment.

Is Montco's Ex-DA DOA?

A little story from our neighbor to the north, Montgomery County.

Just like Delco has it's crybabies and sore losers, like Gil Spencer, Montco has former DA Bruce Castor.

Some background and comparison: Delco's GOP solidified their political power 30 years ago when they changed the county charter to remove the guarantee of minority party participation. Since then, the 5-member Delco County Council has been all-GOP and votes almost exclusively in 5-0 decisions that seem to have been made behind closed doors (and likely by GOP party bosses pulling the strings). The nepotism and corruption in Delco are infamous throughout the state.

In Montco, their County board has 3 members, with minority representation (often 2-Rep and 1-Dem). In 2007, something interesting happened...
Bruce Castor left his popular DA position to run for County Council. The result was Castor getting the most votes, then Chris Matthews' brother (Rep) and then Joe Hoeffel getting the most Dem votes.
But here's where it got interesting: it turned out that Matthews and Castor hated each other, and Hoeffel was able to work with Matthews, so Castor wound up being the odd-man out. After crying publicly about what a traitor Matthews was, Castor found himself on the perpetual losing end of 2-1 votes and the loss of whatever power he hoped to have, and basically left pouting in his office with nothing to do.
Matthews' decision to work in a bi-partisan manner with Hoeffel (rather than ignore the Democrats) makes sense because the Dems actually became the majority party in Montco.

Now, ex-DA Castor finds himself in some legal hot water. Testifying in the Vince Fumo trial, the tables got turned on him when he admitted conducting political campaign activities from his taxpayer funded government job/office and work email. (This was Castor's losing 2004 campaign against Tom Corbett.) There also seems to be some funny business with Christian Marrone, a former assistant district attorney who had worked on Castor's campaign and some timing on when he got hired/fired based on what was happening in the campaign.

Joe Hoeffel asked the current Montco DA to investigate Castor's admissions under oath. However, the current DA appears to be a protege of Castor, and will likely drag her heels on this. Given the court testimony, the State could step in if the DA doesn't.

I think the coroner should be able to sign the death certificate for Castor's political future.

----
Here in Delco for 2009, we have two of the five Council seats up for election. This is an opportunity to get some Dems on the Council since Obama won 60% of the county, and the GOP opposed him and are out-of-touch with the majority Delco voters.

Obama's First Week and the Crying GOP

What a great week is had been. It's like a giant albatross has been lifted from the collective citizenry of America.

The failed policies and philosophies of Bush are falling like dominoes, along with the foolish neocons that supported at promoted them. From the National media to the local Delco Times, the conservatives are pouting and whining like school children, unable to comprehend the fundamental change and awakening taking place around them.
At the national level, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill Kristol and others are delusional in their claims of success in Iraq and of conservative ideas in general, despite their overwhelming rejection in November, and current approval of their dismantling by Obama. Rush "American Last" Limbaugh is openly clamoring for Obama's failure.

At the local level, clueless fools like Gil Spencer and his ragtag bunch of ignorant followers are grasping at straws, misinformation, distortions and childishness in feeble attempts to knock Obama.
Some examples:
- pretending like there is no safe place to house Gitmo detainees (despite all the thousands of more dangerous prisoners already housed in US Federal prisons).
- criticizing Obama's missile strike in Pakistan as a continuation of Bush's policy (when in fact Bush was following the policy Obama put forth on the campaign trail)
- Claiming that that water boarding has never been considered a war crime (and this assertion was from a Spencer fanboy that claims to be a Delco lawyer). Spencer refused to post any counter-proof to this ridiculous position, which is easily found: Waterboarding Used to be a War Crime
Of course, such minimal research would be expected from an actual journalist, rather than a tired hack of a columnist like Gil.
- quoting Dick Morris on nonsense like Obama is going to bring about socialism (nothing like a defrocked political consultant that got caught with a toe-sucking prostitute to give your arguments credibility, even though he's right less often than a stopped clock).
- claiming that Dick Cheney is the most pro-gay VP in history (is it because he sodomized Uncle Sam?)
- racist postings about whether Obama cares about de-ghetto-ing the urban communities (ie blacks and their hip-hop culture are bad and does Obama want to make them less black)
Quote: "An African American columnist asks if Barack Obama can change the hip-hop culture that infects and ghetto-izes poor urban communities today.
We don't know. Does he really want to?

This is the level to which Gil and his ilk have stooped. Gil is an old white guy in the mold of Archie Bunker (but without the charm or conscience) who is rebelling against the multi-cultural blend that makes America truly great. Gil is happy to kick Muslims, Arabs, etc. off of planes if they pray or exhibit any behaviors of their culture because some ignorant, xenophobic or racist passengers feel discomforted. He's fine with torture, US run secret prisons, and holding people without trail. He's quick to trot out the sexual orientation of gay Dem Congressmen when he disagrees with their political choices, as though the two are related and gays are ill-suited for public service.

Gil's an arm-chair warrior that happily cheers on as young men (and innocent civilians) are killed in a war based on lies that was managed incompetently.

Why single out Gil? Because he is shill for the local GOP and represents them and their views as the lead opinion columnist for the county's main local paper.

This year, there will be an election for two of the five Delco County Council seats. All of the current all GOP members and any likely GOP candidates were all-in when McCain and Palin visited the Delco courthouse and acted like Palin was the Second-coming. Now, Alaska may be bigger than Texas, but the population is about the size of Delco's but with less infrastructure (not even public sewer system). A local Delco Council members is probably more qualified to run the country, and a local ward commission has MORE responsibility than Palin had as mayor. Yet, Gil and he local GOP considered her "Presidential" quality and likes her "ideas". What does that say about Delco?

Delaware County voters rejected McCain/Palin and picked Obama/Biden 60%-40%. Yet, somehow the Delco Times promotes Gil Spencer as he shills for the local out-of-touch GOP and plays to a diminishing audience of local rednecks and bigots.

In this era of newspapers going under, it's long past time that the Delco Times got a lead columnist that represents the view of the Delco majority and the future, instead of a horse's ass like Gil Spencer that should be on his way to the glue factory.

Why Gil Spencer Can Go Fuck Himself

Gil Spencer recently posted what I considered to be a final straw of gay bashing on his blog. In a posting, he went after Congressman Barney Frank on the recent financial crisis. However, Spencer devoted 1/3 of his posting to a 20-year old gay-sex story/scandal involving Frank's boyfriend at the time.

I called him on it, as it had nothing to do with the financial crisis, as Spencer is clearly pursuing an anti-gay agenda. There is NO other acceptable excuse to conflate the two stories.

I called him on it TWICE in his own blog. Unsatisfied with Spencer's response, I contacted his editor. Spencer, being the total pussy that he is, whined and cried, and then banned me from his blog and "explained" my banning with his own one-sided summary, that left out the key details.

Spencer then has the audacity (not of hope) to bar me until he gets an apology from me. Well, he can go fuck himself. He clearly prefers the racists and bigots that his blog attracts like flies to shit.


Gil Spencer's clearly bigoted comments, reprinted here (lest he delete/hide the evidence):
Frank, as a powerful member of the House Financial Services Committee, bears as much responsibility as any politician in Washington for this mess.

But he's showing even less shame about it than when his boyfriend, Steve Gobie, got caught running a gay prostitution ring out of his Washington D.C. apartment 20 years ago.

Back then Frank excused his behavior as naive. He said he was just trying to help Gobie.

"I thought I was going to be a liberal who got involved directly with an individual who needed help, that I had an individual who was going to get help and he took me."

No doubt when you answer an ad from a gay newspaper that says: "Exceptionally good-looking, personable, muscular athlete is available. Hot bottom plus large endowment equals a good time," you're looking to "HELP" someone.

Right. That story is 20 years old. And Barney Frank has changed. He's gotten even MORE shameless.

No wonder the word "liberal" has become an epithet.


Spencer tries to equate gay and liberal and epithet to bash and demean. Think of the way gays were viewed 20 years ago. Reagan was still in office and the AIDS crisis was ignored while people died. The religious right spread misinformation and treated it like a punishment from God. This is the era in which Gil Spencer's remarks would be welcomed.