Just A Thought

Funny Link

Another One: Joel Morales

Joel Morales did leave a note, but his family knows why he took his own life at age twelve.

He was bullied, at two different schools because he was short, and because he was smart, and because his father was dead.

Joel Morales, a fifth-grader from East Harlem, had recently moved to a new school because of the incessant taunting he endured for months at his old school. But the move didn't help.

Kids chased Joel, and threw sticks at him, and hurled pipes at him, and teased him because he was smart and was 4-foot-9. He seemed able to handle it, until the kids began taunting him about his father, who died when Joel was four years old.

And so, rather than face one more day, Joel's mother, Lisbeth Babilonia, found him hanging in their apartment at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, hours after she had organized a search party because he hadn't returned home on time from an after-school club.

Maria Ubiles, an occupational therapist who worked with Joel Morales at one of the schools because of his small stature, says Joel only reluctantly talked about his problems: "It was very difficult, especially with a child like Joel who wants so badly to please everyone, to see that he was really in pain, that he was struggling."

Arlene Gago, a youth minister from a church group, said spoke with Morales regularly, but said she had no idea what he was enduring: "I always asked him, 'How you doing? How's school? We talked but he'd never tell me what was going on."

A classmate told Joel Morales’ family that Joel had said he was tired of the bullying and told them the details of the remark about his father that sent him over the edge.

School officials declined to comment on the alleged bullying, citing privacy issues.

Privacy issues. A boy is dead; a once happy child took his own life and they can't speak because of privacy issues?

What about issues of saving a child's life? What about the issues of protecting a child from bullying while he's in your care?

What about trying to save these kids from hanging themselves and shooting themselves and swallowing pills to end it all?

What about that? Isn't that more important than privacy concerns?

Look at that face up there. That happy, smiling, smart boy's face. He may have been short; lotsa people are short. But he was smart. I wonder if Joel Morales, had he not been taunted to death, might have grown up to find a cure for cancer, or a way to end HIV. Maybe he could have been president.

Or maybe he'd just be another human being living his life the way he wanted.

We'll never know. Now.

via MSNBC

Sunday Funnies

I Ain't One Gossip But ....

Okay, so Amanda Bynes, AKA Lohan 2.0, is all sorts of hot messes, coming every single week it seems.

Let’s recap:

There was a DUI arrest in early April, during which she hit a police car, which was followed by the Texting And Driving Incident of late April when she backed her car up over a curb, and then we had a hit-and-run, followed by a police and helicopter chase, just this month.

So, how you gonna celebrate, Amanda?

Well, she’s gonna dodge the news that she committed another hit-and-run in early April, just four days after her DUI arrest.

Yes, she did. And she also ran a red light after striking the other car, so she is either the Worst Driver Ever—sorry Britney, there’s a new Queen in town—or she’s a Texting Driver, or she’s just a drunk a la Lohan.

Here’s the tale: Lohan 2.0  slammed into a car on the 101 Freeway in the San Fernando Valley on April 10, and then drove off. This is according to the victim, who called the police and identified Bynes as the culprit; and identified the Bynes' car as a 5 series BMW. The victim gave chase, got off the freeway, but Bynes, ALLEGEDLY the culprit, breezed through a red light and disappeared.

However, the victim got the BMW license number.

CHP officers ran the plate and determined it was a rental vehicle and told the victim it was an Enterprise rental. The victim contacted Enterprise who identified Lohan 2.0 as the person who rented the car.

The victim then showed up at a CHP substation and identified Bynes from a photo lineup—the photo being Lohan 2.0’s mugshot from her four-day-old DUI arrest--but, luckily for Bynes, the case was referred to a filing officer at the L.A. City Attorney’s Office who immediately rejected it because there was no independent witness fingering Amanda as the phantom driver.

Just the driver who got hit by Bynes.

Sounds like she’s right on track to be The New Lindsay because she’s getting away with, well, not murder, but being the worst driver in California, and quite a drunken party girl!

And speaking of Original Recipe Lohan, what’s new with her?

I mean all is quiet on the Liz-and-Dick Lifetime craptastic movie she’s making, so what’s to talk about?

Well, nothing from Lindsay, but loads from her media-whoring drunk-assed dad, Michael Lohan, who has gone on record as saying that Original Recipe Lohan’s spaced out, cue card reading, barely lucid “performance” on SNL was due to her taking prescription pills: "I have to say this… on SNL, Lindsay was not using any illicit drugs or drinking, but is still on the prescription drugs that they gave her…And the meds that they give her are meds that they say she needs, but she doesn’t need them. But they kind of make her flat. She’s not acting at a full potential. It’s like the screen is down over her.”

But, in his own alcohol-hazed mind,m he gives her props--yes, props--for her limp line readings on Glee: “And now when she did Glee I said, ‘Linds, get off the damn medication and let people see who you really are.’ And for a couple days before Glee, she went off this stuff. And there were tears in my eyes when I watched Glee. THAT was Lindsay. Yeah that was her acting. That is Lindsay Lohan at the Parent Trap, Freaky Friday and Mean Girls potential. That is what she was.”

So, that’s Lindsay. Barely able to string together two sentences and then not seen again? We haven’t been missing much.

And I will give Daddy Lohan that Original Recipe has a problem with prescription meds. I never really saw her trolling the streets of seedy downtown LA looking for a score, but I can see her doing a little doctor shopping, a la Michael Jackson.

Hopefully she won’t end up the same way.

Gosh, I don’t watch The X Factor, but I may have to change my ways now that they’ve replaced Crazy Paula Abdul with Certifiably Crazier Britney Spears.

FOX and Simon Cowell made a huge deal out of snagging Spears as a judge, hoping that, as a pop star and recovering hot mess, she might be just the Can’t Look Away From The Screen that the struggling show needs.

And, apparently, as part of her “deal” she gets to judge when she wants and walk off the stage when she feels like it. Which she did when a contestant ALLEGEDLY butchered a performance of Spears’ own song "Hold It Against Me."  Another source—probably her fiance, who is also on her payroll--denied that Spears was upset, claiming, "She was just taking a short break."

In the middle of the show.

And this might be just the beginning of a slow-motion freeway pile-up. See, Britney's contract allows for a lot of leeway. One source—and it might be a green with envy, drug-addled Paula Abdul—says, “X Factor wanted Britney so desperately, she was able to negotiate terms that are unheard of"--like walking off set when the mood strikes her, or there’s a lollipop offstage.

Or a kitten.

Or Doritos.

Britney slammed that story via Twitter, with someone typing for her: “Britney walks off??? LOL was just taking a little break people. I am having the BEST time!!!”

But she didn’t come back right away because four other contestants performed before the other judges and Britney’s empty chair. Which, I’m guessing, was far more eloquent and articulate in it’s assessments.

But, enough of Britney’s wackaddoodle walk-offs, let’s also delve into her contract, which will see her pocketing $15 million this year, and what she demands:

*34 Herve Leger dresses

*12 Snickers bars

*10 snack-size bags of Doritos

*six cases of Diet Coke containing 24 cans, which must be replenished every week

*12 vases of magnolia blossoms in her dressing room

*10 pieces of chicken

*four pints of potato salad every week.

*beauty team which includes a personal manicurist, a facialist and a massage therapist

It sounds like a hoedown. Or in Britney’s case, “Ho! Down!”

But, for audiences tuning in to see Britney--as a competent judge or a Paula Abdul-esque disaster-- her repeated absences could end up being a problem. If you promise me Spears, give me Spears, in all of her head-shaving, car-beating wackadoodleness.

Or, maybe give us a hologram. It’s all the rage, dontcha know.

Paris Hilton was all over the Cannes Film Festival because she’s an award winning actress or......maybe she's just never met a party she didn’;t want to snort.

And her former bestie, Kim Kash Kow Kardashian was there with her latest husband-to-be-whose-name-starts-with-a-K, Kanye Kwest.

And that’s where the ugly started, because most of the paparazzi were trailing Kim-n-Kanye and Paris wasn’t getting any attention at all. And that irks the heiress/reality star/mogul/singer/DJ/drug mule.

A source—and you know it’s Kris Jenner, who has suddenly taken to calling herself Kris Kardashian Jenner, which doesn’t bode well for her same-sex marriage to Bruce Jenner—says, “Kim will always be a sore spot for Paris because she believes that without her Kim wouldn’t have the success she has in her life. Paris thinks Kim wasn’t a loyal friend to her and only used her to gain fame and that she is ungrateful for everything Paris claimed to do for her.”

And KKJ continuers, because that mom-whore loves to talk about her offspring-for-cash, “Paris is extremely jealous of Kim’s success with her reality shows as Paris’ last foray in television was a complete flop. Her show on Oxygen was a ratings disaster and didn’t get renewed. Adding to Paris’ angst is that attention that Kim is getting from dating Kanye. Paris has been dating DJ Afrojack, but he’s nowhere near the fame league that Kanye is."

There's more, but the more I hear KKJ prattle on about her whored-out children, the more I find my life coming to a sad bitter end.

Still, the former besties, who once had sex tapes in common, are just not the same.

When last seen, Kim Kash Kow was jiggling her large ass in Kanye’s face, while he was writing a ‘song’ about it, and Paris was face down in pile of white powder a gas station bathroom.

ALLEGEDLY.

Okay, more on TravoltaGate.

There are still seven men who have accused Travolta of harassing and sexually abusing them. Two are currently suing him, and are represented by pitbull Gloria Allred, and the other five are waiting to see how this ‘pays’ off.

But now, comes news that one of the two Allred clients is “quietly” discussing a settlement with Travolta, one that will be sealed forever and will forbid the man from revealing details of his encounter with the predatory creep, under penalty of being sued.

And having Scientology Superman Tom Cruise swoop down on him....which, come to think of it, Tommy might like.

ALLEGEDLY.

The reason for the ALLEGED hush-hush, or, on the down low—Get it?—settelemnt talks are because this particular masseuse’s claims say the “incient” occurred within the last two years, which is within the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits.

So, Travolta’s attorney is currently in settlement talks.

And, you know, even if this man settles, and even if part of his settlement is that he never, ever discuss the Grope-a-thon again, doesn’t it make it seem like Travolta is really Hands On with his masseurs?

And, if he settles, what becomes of the other six? Will he settle with them, or, if their stories are too old to be taken seriously, might they just sell all the sordid details to every single tabloid out there?

He’s never going to escape it.

And, well, this is just so fun, that I’m giggling as I type.

Oprah is on the interview circuit. Oh, not out to interview, but out to be interviewed in  the hopes of pumping up the audience for her cash-bleeding network, OWN, which lost over $300 million last year.

And now Oprah is scrambling to save OWN, which has been a disaster from day one with terrible ratings and parent network Discovery quickly learning that their supposedly brilliant acquisition has quickly transformed into a money pit.

Just in the past year, the signs have been pointing towards OWN’s imminent demise:

First: Oprah begged Nielsen viewers to watch her flailing network.

Second: Oprah did battled with former Queen of Nice,Rosie O’Donnell, over Rosie’s now cancelled OWN d-i-saster.

Third:Oprah offered up Rosie’s old slot to Wynonna Judd, who told O to put it where the sun don’t shine.

Fourth: Oprah, desperate to do anything to save her OWN, has offered reality shows to serial groper, John Travolta, afraid of a man kiss, Will Smith, and, married with beard, Tom Cruise, all of whom told O to put it where the sun don’t shine.

Now, in a final indignity, O has been stripped of executive powers at her own OWN network. The chief financial backer decided to curtail her control over the network and now she’s just a big fat cheese-filled figure-head.

It’s not really OWN, is it, if you don’t ‘own’ it?

Good News Friday#2: SPLC Salutes Students Standing Up For Their Rights

from SPLC:

Another school year down, and so the Southern Poverty Law Center [SPLC] is taking a moment to salute just a few of the students this year who fought the good fight, challenging homophobia and gender discrimination in their schools. 

If it’s true that young people are our future, the future is looking pretty diverse, free and fabulous. We hope you are as inspired to read about them as we at the SPLC have been to work with them.

Kiera and Shay, Davidson High School, Mobile, Alabama
JROTC: Do ask, do tell
For JROTC cadets, the annual military ball is the highlight of the year--very much like the prom but with a heavy dose of military tradition and etiquette. Like any good cadet, Kiera, a graduating senior, went up her chain of command for permission to bring her girlfriend, Shay, who wanted to wear a tuxedo.

Kiera was surprised and disappointed when her commanders told her Shay would be required to wear a dress because that’s what girls wore. One commander also suggested that some students and parents would be so upset at seeing a girl wear a tuxedo that it would be like shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theater. 

Armed with knowledge that a federal court in Mississippi ruled that a lesbian student had the First Amendment right to wear gender non-conforming clothes to a prom, Kiera wrote us for help--just one day before the ball. 

We quickly sent a letter to the school explaining Kiera's and Shay's rights, and the school relented a few hours later.

The Students of Anoka-Hennepin School District
Baby, they were born to survive
When Kyle Rooker sang "Born This Way” to a packed studio audience of the Anderson Cooper show on CNN, it was hard to find a dry eye in the house. 

Kyle and his classmates had just finished describing the years of verbal and physical abuse they had endured because they identify as (or were perceived to be) LGBT. In July 2011, the SPLC and our co-counsel sued the school district for failing to take effective measures against anti-LGBT harassment, and for maintaining its mean-spirited "sexual orientation curriculum policy." 

Our lawsuit--and the bravery of these students--paid off when the district agreed to a five-year consent decree that includes comprehensive training programs for all students, teachers and school officials. The decree also requires the district to enact new policies mandating that all students are entitled to a respectful learning environment. 

As did all the students we represented, Kyle proved definitively, "No matter gay, straight, or bi, lesbian, transgendered life, I'm on the right track, baby. I was born to survive."

Sara Couvillon, Hoover High School, Birmingham, Ala.
Free speech? Fine by us
"Gay? Fine by me" seems like a pretty innocuous statement. But when Sara Couvillon, a sophomore, wore her T-shirt proclaiming that sentiment, school officials apparently found the message so distressing they pulled her out of class. 

The officials claimed they were fearful other students would be so enraged by Sara's message they would threaten her safety--even though Sara routinely had worn the same shirt the previous school year with nary a harsh word from her classmates. 

The SPLC explained to the school that the right to freedom of expression doesn't stop at the schoolhouse gates, and later the same afternoon, school officials agreed that Sara could wear her shirt. 

Maybe they finally got the point of her shirt?

Elizabeth Garrett, Brookwood High School, Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Warning: Students have free speech rights 
Earlier this year on a chilly winter day, sophomore Elizabeth Garrett decided to wear her new sweatshirt to school. On the front, the shirt humorously proclaimed, "Warning, This Individual Infected with ‘The Gay.’ Proceed With Caution." 

Elizabeth didn’t expect any trouble, so she was surprised when a school official told her to take it off or be punished. 

With the help of the Alabama Safe Schools Coalition, we told Elizabeth's school that students have a First Amendment right to peacefully express their support for LGBT people. 

The school responded with a statement affirming Elizabeth’s right to wear her sweatshirt and free speech rights for all students at school.

Hunter Mahaffey, Hueytown High School, Birmingham, Ala.
Studly behavior
One Friday after school, junior Hunter Mahaffey went to the mall to get his ears pierced and fitted with small, metal stud earrings. He didn't think it would be a big deal; after all, plenty of students at school wear jewelry. 

That Monday, though, school officials ordered him to take out the studs, citing a policy that says only girls can wear earrings. 

To Hunter, the rule sounded as silly--and as discriminatory--as mandating that only girls could wear the color pink. 

On Hunter's behalf, we explained that the school's policy reflects unlawful sex stereotyping about males and females and that we will file a lawsuit unless the district changes its policy. 

The district has until June 15 to respond.

Isabella Nuzzo, Hardin County High School, Savannah, Tenn.
Worth a parade
Savannah, a small town in Tennessee, lies between Florence, Alabama, and Jackson, Tennessee, and it's definitely not on the gay pride parade circuit. 

Isabella Nuzzo, a senior, and her friends wanted to change that. They organized a Week of Pride at school, during which students could peacefully express their support for LGBT rights through slogans and gay pride symbols, such as rainbows. 

Isabella, who is not gay, made a shirt that said, "Gay Pride. Speak Up, Speak Out, Be Proud." 

An assistant principal quickly put the brakes on the festivities, citing a school policy against speech that "promotes" or "advertises" sex. (As if rainbows equal sex). 

On Isabella's behalf, the SPLC demanded that school officials stop censoring students or face a federal lawsuit. 

The district has until June 12 to respond.

Good News Friday #1: Maverick Couch Can Wear His Shirt

Maverick Couch went to school one day wearing this T-shirt, emblazoned with the words 'Jesus Is Not A Homophobe' and all, well, hell broke loose.

I guess because Principal Randy Gebhardt of his school believed Jesus was, in fact, a homophobe. Or something. Gebhardt told Couch to turn the T-shirt inside out, and he complied. When he politely asked if he could wear the T-shirt another day, Gebhardt threatened him with suspension.

So, I thought we'd take a moment and track down Jesus--he's staying in a Holiday Inn on I-20 just outside Smallville--and ask him point-blank, in his face, how he feels about The Gays.

Jesus said, "                                              "

And then he said, "                      "

And he ended with "                                      "

See, Jesus never said a word about The Gays, so, I'm thinking, how can the principal at Maverick Couch's school say that Maverick's shirt was wrong?

He can't.

Lambda Legal sent Gebhardt a letter in January outlining the legal precedent supporting Maverick’s right to wear the shirt. The school district responded that “the message communicated by the student’s T-shirt is sexual in nature and therefore indecent and inappropriate in a school setting.” 

So, Lambda Legal sued the school district on Maverick’s behalf on April 3, and the very next day the school conceded that Couch could wear the shirt. The school district and principal agreed today to have a judgment entered against them.

Maverick says:"I just wanted to wear my shirt. The shirt is a statement of pride, and I hope other students like me know that they can be proud, too."

And when asked about it, Jesus set down his sweet tea, and said, "Way to go, Maverick, and thanks, Lambda Legal.”

via Lambda Legal

                                  

Just A Thought: Be A Panda

Funny Link

I Didn't Say It ....

Dan Savage, on the homophobic church hymn:

"The Apostolic Truth Tabernacle is in Greensburg, Indiana. That's the town where Billy Lucas was bullied to death for being perceived to be gay by his classmates. I wonder if they stood up and cheered at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle when Lucas died—hey, another homo in hell. I wonder if any of Lucas's tormenters attend services at Apostolic Truth Tabernacle. And remember: I'm an anti-Christian bully for pointing out the connection between what straight kids are taught about 'homos' in the shithole mega-churches they're dragged to by their parents and what they turn around and do to 'homos' they encounter in classrooms. And what if that precocious little four-year-old singer is gay? Praise the Lord and pass the barf bags."

I wonder how long until that church posts pictures of children with their “God Hates Fags” signs, because you know that’s where this is headed.

And bigots like those think the LGBT community is trying to indoctrinate children.

Pot.Kettle.STFU.

David Caton, head of the Florida Family Association, on Disney's Gay Days being a chance for "The Gays" to get their hands on your children:

"There will be perhaps as many as 18,000 same-sex revelers in the Magic Kingdom pretty much all day long. The event is pretty much a celebration of their lifestyle, and they target Disney on the first Saturday of summer because that's when they've known in the past that the most children are in the park."

Keep spinning the lies, Davey, until you get caught at Gay Days in a Men’s Room with your pants around your ankles.

Mitt Romney, presumptive GOP presidential nominee, on how he isn't good at sports so he'll run for president instead:

“I mean, you know, I can’t compete in competitive sports very well, but I can compete in politics, and there’s the—what was the old ABC ‘Wide World of Sports’ slogan? ‘The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat....The only difference is victory is still a thrill, but I don’t feel agony in loss.”

Well, then, I won’t feel so badly for you in November when you go crawling back to your pandering asshatted loser cave.

Tony Perkins, of Family Research Council, forgetting what he said last year about gays serving openly in the military and how all the soldiers would flee the armed services:

"Yesterday I was interviewed by a Voice of America reporter who obviously had a perspective on this that was different than mine and said ‘we heard all of this talk about this was going to be horrible for the military and the military was going to be decimated by this, and here we are 12 months later and we haven’t seen the military fall apart yet,’ and I said, excuse me, but adopting a policy and changing a policy of this nature, you don’t see the total effect of a 12 month period. Now, let’s talk in about, 10 years."

Here’s the deal, Tony.

Not everyone on the planet is as bigoted and homophobic and, well, obsessed with The Gays, as you.

Most people, in fact, and look at any number of polls showing increased support for equality, don’t have a problem with The Gays but they do have a problem with you.

Curtis Knapp, “pastor” of New Hope Baptist Church in Seneca, Kansas, on how the US government should Kill The Gays:

"They should be put to death. That's what happened in Israel. That's why homosexuality wouldn't have grown in Israel. It tends to limit conversions. It tends to limit people coming out of the closet. — 'Oh, so you're saying we should go out and start killing them, no?' — I'm saying the government should. They won't but they should. [You say], 'oh, I can't believe you you're horrible. You're a backwards Neanderthal of a person.' Is that what you're calling scripture? Is God a neanderthal backwards.. in his morality. Is it his word or not? If it's his word, he commanded it. It's his idea, not mine. And I'm not ashamed of it."

God isn’t a Neanderthal, Curtis; that would be you.

And don’t you love how he says “we shouldn’t Kill The Gays” but that the government should do it.

Scary part is, Curtis and Chucky Worley, have congregations filled with the anti-LGBT Kool Aid drinking morons.

Jerome Corsi, World Net Daily lead birther, from Hawaii, where he and Arizona's Sheriff Joe Arpaio are searching for evidence of the president's birth because a birth certificate is not enough:

"If Obama wins, we do not have a First Amendment, we won't have a Fourth Amendment, we won't have a Bill of Rights, people like you and me we'll be in thought education camps - if they allow us to live, our families will be destroyed, private property will be confiscated. People think this is radical. All the plans are laid out and signed in executive orders." 

Um, the idea of someone like Corsi being sent to an Education Camp, or any kind of school where he might receive an education, is appealing.

His blatant racism, and fruitless search for evidence that Obama is un-American, as well as his fearmongering, has no place in the national dialogue.

Dharun Ravi, former Rutgers student, apologizing for the first time as he begins his 30-day jail sentence for eavesdropping on Tyler Clementi which ended with Clementi’s suicide:

"I accept responsibility for and regret my thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices that I made on Sept. 19, 2010, and Sept. 21, 2010. My behavior and actions, which at no time were motivated by hate, bigotry, prejudice or desire to hurt, humiliate or embarrass anyone, were nonetheless the wrong choices and decisions. I apologize to everyone affected by those choices.”

Um, I might buy his apology, except for the fact that, to me, it’s a little late. And for the fact that he says he didn’t intend to embarrass Clementi, or humiliate him, or hurt him.

Why then, videotape anyone in a personal private moment and then stream it on the web if the idea wasn’t to humiliate, embarrass or hurt?