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Wayne Besen

  • A True American Hero
    20 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    7 comments

    by Wayne Besen
    Ellen DeGeneres strode up to the stage as this year’s Emmy host with the Herculean task of brightening the nation’s somber mood following the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina.
    "New Orleans is my hometown, and I have family in Mississippi," Ellen said, striking the right note at the awards ceremony. "It’s times like this we really, really need laughter."
    Ellen could just have easily been talking about her career, which was derailed by the storm of controversy that (…)

  • Bush’s Death Tax
    7 September 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    13 comments

    by Wayne Besen
    This may be politically incorrect, but I’m having serious qualms about writing a check for Hurricane relief. The way I see it, I already gave my fare share for the effort on April 15. This is Tax Day, the painful moment where we surrender a large chunk of our hard earned change to the federal government, so they can fix levees and plan for national emergencies.
    President George W. Bush, however, decided to squander this money on tax breaks for Cappuccino Conservatives and (…)

  • Newt’s Resurrection
    18 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    by Wayne Besen
    It is never easy being the second smartest person in the class. To be number two means that you get seductively close to the prize, before you inevitably plummet. This is what happened to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who consistently got outfoxed by President Bill Clinton.
    In 1995, for example, Gingrich forced an unpopular government shutdown, which played right into Clinton’s hands. Frustrated by the cunning of his wily nemesis, a petulant Gingrich threw a defining (…)

  • Important Military Affairs
    16 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    by Wayne Besen
    The death toll for U.S. forces in Iraq has surpassed 1,800, nearly 14,000 soldiers have been injured, there is no exit strategy and for all of our nation’s bloody sacrifice we have accomplished little more than transforming a secular Iraq into another Iran. With all things swell in sweltering Babylon, it is comforting to know that the Pentagon is paying close attention to military affairs.
    Just this week, for example, four-star general Kevin P. Byrnes was relieved of his (…)

  • A Gay Israel?
    15 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    2 comments

    by Wayne Besen
    In 2004, a group of gay activists took over Cato Island, a small sand bar in the Coral Sea off the northeast coast of Australia. They planted a rainbow flag on the beach and declared it the world’s first gay kingdom in protest of anti-gay legislation in Australia. When I originally read this news story I got a good laugh while I drank my morning coffee.
    After a recent spasm of anti-gay violence in several countries, I’m no longer chuckling. The merits of founding a nation (…)

  • The Higher Calling of the Low Road
    10 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    by Wayne Besen
    It is the 21st Century and the cover of Time Magazine has pictures of a chimpanzee and God under the bold headline, "Evolution Wars". I turn on the television and a non-descript talking head is promoting the bizarre idea that tax cuts for the rich lead to increased tax revenue. I flip the channel and an effeminate man is lisping about how he prayed away the gay.
    How did such weird and scientifically bankrupt ideas find their way into mainstream culture?
    The answer is at (…)

  • Frist On Right Side Of Stem Cell Fault Line
    2 August 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    Frist On Right Side Of Stem Cell Fault Line
    by Wayne Besen
    Embryonic stem cells show remarkable promise because they may be able to transform themselves into any human body part. Just last week, for example, they miraculously helped Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist grow a spine!
    Frist surprised colleagues and his benefactors on the extreme right by announcing his support for a House bill that would ease restrictions on federal spending on studies of stem cell colonies or lines derived (…)

  • LOVE IN ACTION CO-FOUNDER: "MY MINISTRY SHATTERS LIVES"
    31 July 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    5 comments

    LOVE IN ACTION CO-FOUNDER: "MY MINISTRY SHATTERS LIVES"
    by Wayne Besen
    CO-FOUNDER OF MINISTRY THAT RUNS TEEN ’EX-GAY’ BOOT CAMP SAYS GROUP SHATTERS LIVES AND CAN CAUSE SUICIDE
    Love In Action Co-Founder John Evans Unveils Powerful Letter Rebuking ’Ex-Gay’ Ministries
    NEW YORK - Author Wayne Besen released an explosive letter today by Love In Action’s co-Founder and former ex-gay John Evans, which rebukes gay conversion groups saying that they "shattered lives". The group he started has (…)

  • The Price of Victory
    28 July 2005 par (Open-Publishing)

    The Price of Victory
    by Wayne Besen
    Relentlessly promoting God in the public square is the centerpiece of the right wing’s dangerous political agenda. They fight to have The 10 Commandments placed in courthouses. Public schools are considered a battlefield for restoring sectarian prayer and teaching creationism. Congress is now an institution that often sounds more like a Pentecostal church than the seat of secular government.
    When defending their actions in the exploitation of Terri (…)

  • Zach Vs. Pat
    23 July 2005 par (Open-Publishing)
    1 comment

    Zach Vs. Pat
    by Wayne Besen
    In May, 16-year old Zach told his fundamentalist Christian parents that he is gay. Horrified by the news, they vowed to fix him by sending him to an "ex-gay" boot camp in Memphis to be reprogrammed. Like a modern day message in a bottle, Zach used his Internet blog to send an SOS. Miraculously, his desperate plea for help washed up on the shores of sanity and circulated in cyberspace at warp speed.
    "I told my parents I was gay," he wrote. "This didn’t go (…)