It's Now Official: Stacey Campfield Is A Loser

I’ve written about Tennessee Senator Stacey Campfield is quite the regular here at SBL; I’ve written about him so many times that it’s almost as if I know him personally … though I’d never want to do that.

The first time he appeared here was way back in March, 2009, when he proposed a bill that would have required teachers and school administrators to not say the word ‘Gay’ ever. You know, because if you say ‘Gay’ then people will talk about ‘Gay’ and might even become ‘Gay’—see post HERE.

It would be two years before Stacey next showed up, in March 2011, with his fellow wingnut, and ‘Don’t Say Gay’ co-author, Bill Dunn, when the bill was introduced as possible legislation. It would make it illegal to say the word gay or discuss anything about gay people in schools until the kids reached high school age—see that post HERE.

And strange as it seems, Stacey reappeared on ISBL in February 2012 when he wanted to take some friends to brunch at the Bistro at the Bijou in Knoxville, Tennessee and the owner told him to leave because she didn't like his views on the LGBT community. Now, it’s quite queer that I don’t like Stacey, but I also don’t like discrimination and I was annoyed not only at the Bistro but at those in the LGBT community who cheered this story; how can be ask to stop discrimination against us when we inflict it on others? I don’t know either—see that post HERE.

Like the proverbial Bad Penny, Stacey showed up again in February 2013, as his ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill was dying in the Tennessee legislature. But he had a new bill to push; his new proposed legislation would still ban teachers from discussing any facet of “non-heterosexual” sexuality with children elementary schools, but he tossed in a new wrinkle that included a provision requiring teachers or counselors to inform the parents of students who self-identified themselves as LGBT. Yes, teachers would out their student—see that post HERE.

And finally, the last time—until today—that Stacey Campfield arrived at ISBL was in April, 2013, shortly after the Boston Marathon bombings, when he included a photo of a pressure cooker—like the ones that exploded in Boston—in a blog post attacking US Sen. Dianne Feinstein. See that post HERE.

Stacey Campfield has also said this:

"Most people realize that AIDS came from the homosexual community. It was one guy screwing a monkey, if I recall correctly, and then having sex with men. It was an airline pilot, if I recall."

He’s also declared that ‘straight people don’t get AIDS.’  He also introduced a bill that would cut welfare benefits to parents whose children aren't doing well in school, and, most recently, he compared the federal health care law to the forced transportation of Jews to concentration camps during the Holocaust.

So, yes, he’s an ISBL Asshat of epic proportions. In fact, he’s such a delusional, Teabagging, goose-stepping, wingnutted tool that some members of his own party won’t have anything to do with him. So, why, you may ask, am I writing about Stacey Campfield again?

Last week he lost his reelection bid to return to the Tennessee statehouse by a margin of 66% to 28%. The people of Knoxville made it very clear that they neither want, nor need, fools like Stacey Campfield and their bigoted hate-speech in government.

Snap.

A happy ending.

Oh, as a Happy PS to this story …

Victoria Jackson, the former SNL cast member who has made a name for herself as a Teabagging, anti-Obama wingnut, also lost her election. She was hoping to win a spot on the Williamson County Commission but came in a distant, distant, third.

Sit down Vicki. You’re done.

source

Random Musings

Okay, so y'all know I'm no fan of Mittsy Romney, right? i mean, his campaign, between the gaffes, the lies and the flip-flops, was a blogger heaven. I relished every single Why Mittsy? post, and every The Height Of GOP Stupidity entry, but now?

I'm moving on.

There are a lot of posts about what he said in his concession speech and what he didn't say and how he said it or didn't say it and what he meant. A lot of nit-picking about the how and why he lost.

But not from me.

I'm'a take a page from our newly elected President, and I'm'a move....

Forward.

Well, you knew it would happen. You knew Mama Grizzly Bore™ would snow-shoe over to F**ksNews on election night to stir up her own brand of crazy.

But what you may not have known is what she would look like.

Mall hair, frosted lip gloss.

I couldn’t tell if she was auditioning for the touring company of Broadway’s Xanadu, or starring in a new version of that Fox classic: Married With Homophobic and Unwed pregnant Children.

Or maybe she was channeling her inner meth head.

Either way, could you imagine that as Veep?

Dodged.A.Bullet.

Is it me, or does anyone else think Michael Feinstein, Liza Minnelli and Carol Channing all have the same voice. Think about it—Google them if you have no idea who I’m talking about, though you should slap yourself first.

I want to throw a dinner party and invite these there just to listen to them speak. And to make sure they aren’t the same person.

Lizaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I spent a good deal of time yesterday reveling in the election results, especially the LGBT friendly results all across this country. So, today, I’d like to point out the asshat who, well, got their asses handed to them by the voters:

Tea Party freshman Representative Allen West, who has claimed that there are 80 communists posing as Democrats in the US House, won't have to worry about that a minute longer.

He’s out.

Former Hawaii Governor, Linda Lingle, is also out.

Lingle once compared same-sex marriage to incest, and once, while governor, invited a group of LGBT Hawaiians into her office so she could veto a civil union bill right in front of them, lost her bid to the US Senate.

Snap.

You be the judge:

Carlos and I watched the movie 50/50 the other night, where the absolutely adorkable, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt  plays a young man with cancer. During the film, there was a reference to Terms of Endearment, and later I noticed how much Angelica Huston—who played the mother—looked like MacLaine.

I drove Carlos insane every time Huston appeared onscreen, by pausing the movie and shrieking, “Isn’t that Shirley MacLaine?”

More great news from Election Day:

Alan Grayson, one loudest, smartest, and most progressive members of the US House is back, baby, winning his race in Florida on Tuesday night over his Republican challenger Todd Long.

Grayson was first elected in 2008, but lost in the Tea Party wave of 2010 by 18 points. This time, however, he bested his opponent by 25 points—a 43 point swing—one of the biggest records in history.

Tweets of The Week:

I Didn't Say It......

Matt Damon, on his kissing scenes with Michael Douglas in the upcoming Liberace movie:

"I never thought I would get to kiss Michael Douglas. I kind of think of it in algebra terms, back to my high-school days. It's like the transitive property - by kissing Michael Douglas, I am making out with Catherine. I was actually kind of upset that I never got to kiss Catherine. But now I get to kiss Michael. I thought it would have been better if I could have at least kissed them both."

I battle with this because the idea of kissing Michael Douglas or his granddaughter, CZJ, appals me.
Kissing Matt Damon on the other hand.....
Or, well, you knew I'd go there, %&^$ing Matt Damon.

Chris Hemsworth, on bulking up to play Thor:

"I got the part and immediately started looking at the comic books, and the guy is 500 pounds or something and looks like Schwarzenegger. And I thought, ‘OK, I’m not gonna get to that.’ But I have to get bigger...I came back before we started the movie and had a final camera test and I put the costume on and within a couple of minutes my hands started going numb...it doesn't fit."

Oh, Chris, you never, ever, have to go Schwarzenegger.
You're a couple of perfect handfuls just the way you are.

_____, trampling that Birther nonsense further into the ground: 

"Hey look, you have no doctors that remember. You have no nurses — this is the president of the United States! — that remember. That ad that was placed in the Houston paper — that was placed in the paper days after he was born. So he could have come into the country. You know what I get a kick out of? The governor of Hawaii says, 'Oh, I remember when Obama was born.' I doubt it! I think this guy should be investigated. He remembers when Obama was born? Give me a break! He’s just trying to do something for his party."

Hey Donald, you pandering fuckwad, um, remember, he wasn't the president on the day he was born; he was just another kid being born. In Hawaii. In America.
You'd think someone with all that money could hire some people to beat the stupid out of him.
And could get a good haircut, too.

Haley Barbour, on reinstating DADT if he's elected president--excuse me while I giggle at the idea that Haley Barbour thinks he has any chance of being president:

"Let's look at the best evidence that we have. They did research to see what military people thought about this idea. The closest to the ground, the soldier on the ground, was the most opposed to this. And it's not necessarily over homosexuality. Its over the fact that when you're under fire and people are living and dying of split-second decisions you don't need any kind of amorous mindset that can affect saving people's lives and killing bad guys. You look at the data and it is the foot-soldier that is the person who is out there, boots on the ground, who was most against this. And it's because they live or die with this and that's who we ought to be listening to, that's who we ought to be caring about and that's why I am against it. I think it ought to be rolled back. I just don't see how you can take any other position if the person you are trying to protect is the soldier who is actually in combat."

So, um, Haley, let me get this queer.
Two soldiers, one gay, one straight, are side-by-side in a gun battle with some enemy, and you think the straight guy is going to be upset that the gay guy might hit on him at that moment?
And you think a gay guy would think, 'Hmmm, let me set my rifle down and see if he wants to go for a cappuchino'?

Duff McKagen, ex-Guns N' Roses bassist, on the "road gay":

"You're away from your wife and whatever, and I don't fuck around – but there are no women on the bus. All of a sudden, well, your bass player's got long black hair, he's wearing his little sister's pants, and out of the corner of your eye he looks like a hot chick. We call it 'road gay'. We don't actually act on it…"

Yeah, keep telling yourself that, Duff.
And while you might not 'act' on it, there is probably a line for that little toilet on the bus, with all the guys grabbing ointments and tissues and spending a few minutes to long in there thinking about that rocker's ass.
Spanking little duff, you know.

Victoria Jackson, on homosexuality:

"Driving to the Atlanta airport, I thought about G, my lifelong college friend from Auburn. He drove with me cross country in my 1980 beat-up Toyota Starlet when I went to Hollywood to be an actress. He was the only person who believed in me. He knows all of my sins. I know a few of his. I always tell him I don't believe he is 'gay' – we went on a date once and even kissed. We wrote a screenplay together. He loves drama. I can picture him now laughing, 'Victoria, what are you doing?! Your career! You'll never work again in Hollywood! Oh, but Hollywood loves a scandal!' And, then the twinkle in his eye. I can see my best friend A, who I also tell is not 'gay,' saying in his British accent, 'Victoria, my shiny, shiny friend! I still love you!' and then the big hug!"

Oh, Victoria, a gay guy kissed you so he's not gay? Honey, he kissed you because he thought you were such a fruit loop that you'd never get kissed. It's the Pity Kiss From The Gay BFF.
And, as for your career, all you ever did was stand on your head and read moronic poems, or play the dumb bimbo, and.....oh, yeah, you're still doing that.
Quite a 'career'.

Victoria Jackson, on gay roles in Hollywood:

"Actors play murderers, robbers and gossips, but the gay lifestyle is always glorified. The other sins always seem to be punished or redeemed, but TV shows never show the downside to homosexuality: the loneliness, shame, broken families and marriages, diseases. The shame does not come from 'society' but from God. So, even if the gays get everyone in the world to accept their behavior as "normal," there will still be shame, because it goes against God. Unless sin numbs their soul and their heart turns to stone, they will hear the still, small voice of God saying, 'I have a better way.' I was asked to do a lesbian kiss in a show once, and I said no. But, I'm guilty of being part of a few movies that may have been a bad influence on young people. I'm very sorry to anyone I led away from God."

The gay lifestyle glorified?
What movies are you watching? Brokeback Mountain glorified the 'gay lifestyle'? One guy ended up alone and in the closet and the other ended up dead.
And for you to compare gay characters to murderers and robbers, as though they are the same, is just further evidence of your ignorance, bigotry, intolerance, stupidity, and utter lack of Christ-like behavior.
You're over, Victoria. Way over.

Mama Grizzly Bore™, on Bill Maher calling her a dumb twat:

"I'm through whining about a liberal press that holds particularly conservative women to a different standard, because it doesn't do any good to whine about it. Nobody ever promised life was going to be fair. And politics really isn't fair, the scrutiny, the double standards, and all that. I'm dealing with it I guess in a different way than others who want to bring more light to it and demand that Bill Maher apologize."

Oh, poor Sarah.
She can bash anyone she wants and all's fair, but anyone bashes her and it's poor me.
Narcissistic victim.
I cannot wait until she bombs big time in 2012. Maybe she'll go away for good.
Dumb twat. 

Leonard Pitts, Pulitzer Prize winning columnist, on the increased support for marriage equality:

"We are gathered here today to look a gift horse in the mouth. It seems a majority of the American people now favor allowing gay men and lesbians to wed. That majority, according to a Washington Post survey released last week, is slender, just 51 percent. But even at that, it represents a significant increase from just five years ago, when only 36 percent of Americans approved....But lurking at the edge of celebration there is, for me, at least, a nagging, impatient vexation. That vexation is based in what is arguably an esoteric question: In extolling the fact that the majority now approves same-sex marriage, do we not also tacitly accept the notion that the majority has the right to judge?....That’s the pebble in the shoe, the popcorn hull between the teeth, that nags at the conscience when one reads polls tracking how many of us approve of other people’s lives and decisions. It’s all well and good that 51 percent of us support the right of gay men and lesbians to tell it to the judge, but really, what hubris makes us think we have a right to say yea or nay in the first place?"

Well said.
We bitch and moan about the majority denying us the rights to marry, a la California and Prop H8, but then we also celebrate when the majority view shifts to something more favorable about us.
The majority shouldn't decide equality, whether for it or against it.
Equality should just be.

Trent Franks, Republican wingnut from Arizona, on Barack Obama:

"For the first time in my life, when Barack Obama became elected, for the first time in my life, I am actually afraid that America may diminish to a point where it's just unrecognizable. Not just on the economic front, but where he puts people on the Supreme Court that have no fealty or loyalty to the Constitution and weakening our country to the extent that we may see nuclear terrorism, not in our childrens' generation, but in ours, in the near future. And any one of those could destabilize our country to the extent that it would not be the great beacon of freedom for the planet."

America won't be diminished, Trent.
It just won't be the America you want, where the rich get richer and the poor, and the middle class, get pushed aside, where big business is in government, where one religion towers over the rest.
That America, the one that you tout, will never come to be.

Ed Kennedy, at AfterElton, on the Chris Brown and GMA incident:

"Let me get this straight: Adam Lambert snogs a dude on the American Music Awards, and spends months banned from ABC shows like Good Morning America and The View. Chris Brown breaks a window and storms out of Good Morning America when he’s asked about his felony assault of Rihanna, and he’s still welcome to perform on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars. So male-male kissing is worse than violence. Thanks for clearing that up ABC."

Does seem to be a double standard, doesn't it.

Just For Giggles: George Takei to Victoria Jackson

I Didn't Say It.......

Jason Patric [seriously?] on Lady Gaga:

"This Lady GaGa is absolutely preposterous. This is, what? You take a s*** in a Cuisinart and put [on] some pasties and get Auto-Tuned and look who I am. Well nothing, you've been marketed, that's all. If I was a magician maybe I'd get angry about it, but it's just like, what? Again, just turn the page."

Um, thanks Jason? I guess.
But why the anger?
What did Gaga ever do to you? Beat you to the Appear-In-An-Egg-At-The-Grammys title?
Wear a meat dress first?
Someone needs a nap.


amfAR, on the passing of Elizabeth Taylor:

"The board of trustees and staff of amfAR mourn the passing of our beloved Founding International Chairman, Dame Elizabeth Taylor. Dame Elizabeth was without doubt one of the most inspirational figures in the fight against AIDS. She was among the first to speak out on behalf of people living with HIV when others reacted with fear and often outright hostility. For 25 years, Dame Elizabeth has been a passionate advocate of AIDS research, treatment and care. She has testified eloquently on Capitol Hill, while raising millions of dollars for amfAR. Dame Elizabeth’s compassion, radiance, and generosity of spirit will be greatly missed by us all. She leaves a monumental legacy that has improved and extended millions of lives and will enrich countless more for generations to come."

Elizabeth Taylor was an AIDS activist almost before we knew what either of those things meant. And would she have done so if her good friend, Rock Hudson, hadn't died of complications of AIDS? I don't know. And I don't care.
See, that's how any of us become advocates for anything: we're touched by it, and moved by it, and want to change it.
And Elizabeth Taylor did that before anyone else.

Karen England, wingnut from California Research Institute, on transgendered people:"If you're born a male or a female, then you should remain a male or a female on your birth certificate. It's actually quite deceptive -- and it shouldn't be legal to be able to have a birth certificate that has you identified as one sex when you're really another sex altogether. I don't know why we need to have special privileges on something this radical and controversial for people who are wanting to go through a sex change, or for people who are saying they want to go through it but want to conceal their identity or want to -- quote, unquote -- 'get married' under Proposition 8. It's just radical, and I can't believe they're even discussing this at the state legislative level."

Wow, is there any LGBT issue this wackjob isn't against?
Transgender. Marriage equality.
Karen, honey, you clinking clanking clacking collection of calygenous junk, times are changing, and when the change is compete, you'll be that sad bag lady standing at the curb wondering where everyone went.
But, that's your choice.

Mike Huckabee, asshat and presidential wannabe, but neverwillbe, on reinstating DADT if elected:

"I would -- because that's really what the military wants. There's been some talk that the military is fine with having same-sex orientation people. But if you really surveyed the combat troops, that is not at all the case....I don't think that these are decisions that politicians should make. These are decisions that soldiers should make," he says emphatically. "And when the soldiers in the foxholes make the decisions, they choose something different -- and we should listen to them."

Gee, Mike, if you had half a brain--and one less chin--you might realize that members of the military do not make up the rules of the military.
That's for the leaders of the military, and the President, who've already spoken on this issue.
If you want to be taken seriously as a candidate for president--and not simply as some banjo strumming nutjob--why don't you talk about the issues that concern the American people, like, oh, maybe the economy, jobs, Iraq, Afghanistan, instead of pandering to your baseless nitwits.

Wendy Wright, of the Concerned Women For America, on the Respect For Marriage Act:

"The congressmen who introduced this bill are claiming rights that don't exist. There is no right to same-sex 'marriage,' and they seek to confuse people by using language like that. Every time that marriage has come up for a vote in a state, that state has protected marriages between one man and one woman. So when you look at how they operate, they are in fact the bullies. They're the ones who have massive amounts of money. When you look at the budgets of these groups, it's rather shocking the multimillions of dollars they have -- they bring in every year -- and with that, they're able to hire full-time lobbyists who then intimidate not only politicians but corporations."
Oh, Wendy.
There is same-sex marriage, honey. Iowa? Massachusetts?
Ever heard of those places?
And, soon enough, marriage equality will be everywhere so the Respect For Marriage ACT is a positive step towards change.
But, um, I'm guessing you'll be left on a curb somewhere with fellow wingnut hater Karen England.

Victoria Jackson, former SNL cast member and Tea Party wackjob, on al-Qaida and Glee:

"This new al-Qaida magazine for women has beauty tips and suicide-bomber tips! Gimme a break! That is as ridiculous as two men kissing on the mouth! And I don't care what is politically correct. Everyone knows that two men on a wedding cake is a comedy skit, not an 'alternate lifestyle'! There I said it! Ridiculous! Did you see Glee this week? Sickening! And, besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians – again! I wonder what their agenda is? Hey, producers of Glee – what's your agenda? One-way tolerance?"
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria. Al, those years of standing on your head on SNL have compressed your brain to the point that rational cogent thought doesn't exist.
And, if the idea of two men kissing is so repellent to you--and, really, honey, it's hot--then WTF are you doing watching the gayest show on TV.

Barney Frank, on the idea that gay rights is now a positive wedge issue for the Democrats:

"What do I say to the idea that this [DOMA] is a wedge issue? I say 'Hallelujah.' The fact that we've now evolved to the point where the Republicans are complaining about the fact that we introduced this bill because it causes them political problems is a great sign of progress. It used to be the other way around."

But let's not make everything about gay rights.
Many in the LGBT community are also concerned about the economy and jobs, wars, the environemtn.
Let's try to focus on those issues, too.
They matter to the LGBT community as well.


Bruce Vilanch, on James Franco's widely-panned Oscar performance and allegedly being high:

"No, he wasn't high. I was with him, and he wasn't high. And I asked him, 'Are you high, and can I have some?' And he said no to both....He has so many balls in the air, he didn't get to town till Thursday before the show on Sunday. And so we e-mailed a lot....He had a bunch of people who were writing for him, and if it had been him alone, it would have been different. But it was him and Anne Hathaway, and they both had to be serviced. So there was a lot of communication beforehand. But he didn't get there...I don't think he realized how big a deal it is to do it until he was actually confronted with it. I think he thought he would kind of ... I don't know what he thought. I thought maybe it was a performance-art prank, and then I realized he sincerely wanted to do it. But it's outside of those guys' comfort zones. The only people who know how to host those shows are people who get up onstage every night and say, 'Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. A funny thing happened ... ' Or people like Bette [Midler] who get up and sing all night and tell stories."

He looked high, he acted high. But maybe that's all it was, being out of his element and seriously not prepared. A few emails doesn't set you up for the Oscar host win, James.

Josh Flagg, of Bravo's Million Dollar Listing, has ome out of the closet:

"You know my sexuality does not define me, it is not who I am, but rather it is part of me, and I did not ever want people to think of me as "the gay real estate guy," I did not want that to be the only demographic that was watching me on TV or the only demographic to associate with me. I am very glad I did things the way I did because I feel I eased people into it and I made people comfortable with ME, and then kind of just dropped the fact that I like guys instead of girls. Many people knew, many had no idea."

Welcome out, Josh.
And I like the philosophy of not being the gay realtor but the realtor who is gay.
It's a subtle difference, but it is a difference.
Like me, I'm not the gay snarky bitch, I'm the snarky bitch who's gay.
Subtle.

Randy Forbes, Teabagger asshat, on his bill to force the placement of "In God We Trust" on all public buildings:

"This sends a clear message to all these government departments and agencies that it’s all right to put up the motto on our buildings and in our classrooms. And I think it will stop the tide of the chilling effect over the past several years. We’re not forcing anybody to do anything. But at the same time, we want to stand there to protect people who want to say God in a public building. And we don’t want some government agency telling them that they can’t put the national motto in their buildings or classrooms."
You might not be forcing people to do anything, but by putting up your little signs, you are ignoring people who are not members of your Christian faith, or even people who are non-believers.
And you can have your national motto, and make it the cornerstone of your life, but you are stepping on the toes of people who believe differently, and that's not very American.
Or Christian.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on her opposition to marriage equality:

"If I was in a different walk of life, if I'd continued in the law and was partner of a law firm now, I would express the same view, that I think for our culture, for our heritage, the Marriage Act and marriage being between a man and a woman has a special status. Now, I know people might look at me and think that's something that they wouldn't necessarily expect me to say, but that is what I believe."

But your beliefs are not necessarily the beliefs of everyone.
Nor are they especially equality oriented.
Believe what you choose, but the law is the law.