So, Bush IS Gay (and Most Everyone Else Around the Rethuglican Elite - Almost A Calling Card?) & Gates Foundation Funds Monsanto's Work (Surprise!)

"Who ya gonna get to do the dirty work, when all the slaves are free?" (Joni Mitchell - Passion Play) Listen to the tune of the ages while you read the following, please (and yes, this certainly qualifies as a "passion play"). So, now we understand much more completely all those fake reporter/founder of the extremely blue/gay website escort-service entrepreneur Jeff (Guckert) Gannon (or possibly someone mysterious named Johnny Gosch (courtesy of Sherman Skolnick whose information may seem even more unbelievable and yet strangely resonant) with the tendrils from this story extending to that historic Supreme Court interference in the 2000 Election, 9/11 connections madness and Katrina intentional slowups) visits to the White House and his being issued officially that suspicious Congressional press pass, which even Maureen Dowd of the New York Times said he had no qualifications to receive (and of which even I saw a copy at the time, but is reported to be missing now). But . . . maybe not. Maybe he was visiting Laura, or the girls, or someone else . . . could have been almost anyone if you believe even just this story. One thing we do now know is that Ken Mehlman, Bush/Cheney campaign manager has finally come OUT (as they say), and it's in the pages of The Atlantic's writer Marc Ambinder. Remember all those rumors about why every time a Rethuglican "leader" is exposed in a gay liaison entanglement they trot out the religious-dominated nonsensical "gays are bad" rant at the top of their lungs? And then deny. Both? You gotta give them props for consistency though. This time the hatchet's job already done on Obie, so they are free to come out for gay marriage now - as if that's what they've always been interested in. Being nondiscriminatory to everyone since time immemorial (as the saying goes). All history to the contrary. This has not been a very good blog for conspiracy theories without concrete foundation blocks upholding the reasoning of, say, physicists and engineers about the 9/11 accepted conspiracy story, but I may be rethinking that decision soon considering the importance of the next election and the huge conspiracy theories rampantly covered on Faux Snooze channels now concerning the current President, and the incredibly huge conspiracy theory about the Constitutional scholarship possessed by loudmouths resident on the right wing. Michael Rogers at BlogActive fills us in (be sure to click on the previous link to listen to Bill Maher on Larry King too) on the latest Bush gay guys concrete news (emphasis marks added - Ed.):

If I had to say what one thing really moved me to create this site it would be the 2004 reelection campaign of George W. Bush, the most homophobic national campaign in history. That campaign was run by one of the nation's worst closeted individuals, Ken Mehlman.

If I first started writing about Mehlman in 2004, why is Ken getting his Roy Cohn Award now? Because I am able to report – here for the first time – that Ken Mehlman, the former Chairman of the Republican National Committee is set to come out of the closet in a column by Atlantic writer Marc Ambinder Friday morning or early next week. This will be on the heels of his being included in a fundraising letter supporting marriage equality.

. . . Following a report about Mehlman, Bill Maher spoke about it on Larry King's show… until Larry's staff edited it out, that is. Here's a two-minute clip from Outrage about exactly that (click on link(s)).

The three people most responsible for the anti-gay actions of the Bush reelection campaign are Mehlman, Karl Rove and Bush. In addition to his role at the RNC, Mehlman served in the first Bush Administration as White House Political Director. In 2004 he was the general chairman of the Bush reelection campaign.

In 2004 Steve Schmidt (then the Republican National Convention spokesman and later the McCain campaign's senior strategist) lied to me when I asked him point blank about Mehlman. "Ken Mehlman is not gay," he proclaimed.

In 2006, Mehlman told the New York Daily News, "I am not gay, but those stories did a number on my dating life for six months."

If this move doesn't call for a Roy Cohn Award, I don't know what does. Ken Mehlman is horridly homophobic and no matter how orchestrated his coming out is, our community should hold him accountable for his past.

As we saw with Jim McGreevy, many gay leaders will attempt to elbow themselves to the front of the line to say on cable TV how wonderful it is that Ken is now being honest with the American people. Someone will be quoted in the New York Times saying something like, "After so many years of working for the Republicans, it's wonderful to see Ken be true to himself." Or perhaps you'll read a quote in the Washington Post about how "every gay person is on their own personal journey and we are happy Ken has decided to be so open about his personal struggle." Next up will come the book, then the TV shows, and of course the speaking tour.

So, how can Ken Mehlman redeem himself? I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for being the architect of the 2004 Bush reelection campaign. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for his role in developing strategy that resulted in George W. Bush threatening to veto ENDA or any bill containing hate crimes laws. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for the pressing of two Federal Marriage Amendments as political tools. I want to hear from Ken that he is sorry for developing the 72-hour strategy, using homophobic churches to become political arms of the GOP before Election Day.

And then there is one other little thing. . . Ken was out there laughing all the way to the bank. So, if Ken is really sorry, and he very well may be, then all he needs to do is sell his condo and donate the funds to the causes he worked against so hard for all those years. He's done a lot of damage to a lot of organizations, while making a lot of money. A LOT of money. It's time to put his money where his mouth is. Ken Mehlman is sitting in a $3,770,000.00 (that's $3.77 million) condo in Chelsea . . . .

And then there's teh partially documented past of GW and GHWB (although it's so vast that we can be pardoned if we can't believe half - or even a quarter? - of it: the admitted blow (in his nicely "forgotten but admitted past"), the well-reported continued drunkenness into his 40's, the fake religious conversion and his wife's favorite "animal-and-George" tete-a-tete stories to the various Press gatherings during his Presidency . . . and what was that about Jeff Gannon (again)?). As time passes and new actors hit the stage, it gets pretty hard to tell all the actors apart doesn't it? Matt Osborne at Crooks and Liars reveals a bit more about the fraudulent culture wars: designed to win elections and then be instantly forgotten until needed desperately again (to stir up the ignorant troops to win elections). (Emphasis marks added - Ed.)

What If They Had A Culture War And Nobody Came?

August 25, 2010 Culture wars are not meant to be won; they are meant to be continuous. A hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. Culture warriors constantly pick fights, ignore the needs of others, and install idiocrats to further that agenda. Over the last forty years, the Republican Party has learned to treat politics as the continuation of war by other means; and for a time, militant partisan discipline proved successful for them.

But the surges of Islamophobia, immigrant hysteria, and assorted fearmongering have reached fever pitch because the right has already lost so many battles. Nineteen years after history 'ended,' the right is arguing whether to stay still or go backwards.

. . . Those "religiously active groups" are still a big part of the Republican Party coalition, though a shadow of their former selves. Many of the biggest organizations in political Christianity (Family Research Council, the Christian Coalition, etc.) have dissolved or sunk to measures of irrelevance. Self-appointed candidates step into the savior-role. Newt, who began his 2012 bid by converting to Catholicism and whipping up anti-pagan hysteria, is even less popular than Sarah. Mike Huckabee has given his tepid endorsement of Islamophobia, but he doesn't excite FOX News the way Palin does.

Meanwhile, FOX attacks the Cordoba House for its ties to FOX's own second-largest shareholder. Meanwhile, young people are increasingly checking out of church. As the GOP is still a white southern party, Republicans have pandered to anti-immigrant hysteria. That has turned Hispanics and Latinos against the GOP, just as Muslims are increasingly wary of the Republican Party because of the Cordoba House nontroversy.

And then there's this item:

In several high-profile races where the small-government activists have been a factor, standard rules of political etiquette dictating primary losers to graciously throw their support behind the party nominee aren't being followed.

Sometimes, it's because conservative insurgents aren't willing to toe the party line. In others, party veterans haven't been able to swallow their disappointment over being elbowed aside.

Which brings me to the Alabama primary results. Almost no one in the video above (click on link) did well; Dale Peterson, the man in the cowboy hat, was a complete unknown who still finished third in a field of three. Tim James did his best pandering act and surged from third place in a field of four to almost-second, but still third. Despite his best impression of a tea party Republican, Parker Griffith lost his primary battle against a tea party candidate. Bradley Byrne - seen above marching in formation at shoulder arms with his sons - lost his runoff battle even though he pandered to creationists. Even Artur Davis, the only Democrat in the video, lost after running against Obama.

Only Young Boozer, advantaged by his namesake Alabama political dynasty, won a primary. You'll note that his ads included flags, people, and a sane-looking man WHO ISN'T HOLDING A GUN.

And as expected, the real reason for all that money - Warren Buffett's as well as Bill Gates - that has recently been donated to charity (after being stolen "fair and square" in the courts and out) is OUTED. For myself, I'm wondering if this is the clever scheme that convinced Warren Buffett to give his money to those Gates wunderkinds to manage. Reminiscences of India? Going worldwide soon no doubt! (Prepare yourself to read soon about more Asian and African unable-to-be-remedied starvation. Seems that these people want to end (right, END) sustainability.) As reported by Agra-Watch (emphasis marks added - Ed.):

Gates Foundation Invests in Monsanto

Both will profit at expense of small-scale African farmers

Seattle, WA

Farmers and civil society organizations around the world are outraged by the recent discovery of further connections between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and agribusiness titan Monsanto. Last week, a financial website published the Gates Foundation’s investment portfolio, including 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock with an estimated worth of $23.1 million purchased in the second quarter of 2010 (see the filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission). This marks a substantial increase from its previous holdings, valued at just over $360,000 (see the Foundation’s 2008 990 Form).

“The Foundation’s direct investment in Monsanto is problematic on twoprimary levels,” said Dr. Phil Bereano, University of Washington Professor Emeritus and recognized expert on genetic engineering. “First, Monsanto has a history of blatant disregard for the interests and well-being of small farmers around the world, as well as an appalling environmental track record. The strong connections to Monsanto cast serious doubt on the Foundation’s heavy funding of agricultural development in Africa and purported goal of alleviating poverty and hunger among small-scale farmers.

Second, this investment represents an enormous conflict of interests. ”Monsanto has already negatively impacted agriculture in African countries.

For example, in South Africa in 2009, Monsanto’s genetically modified maize failed to produce kernels and hundreds of farmers were devastated.

According to Mariam Mayet, environmental attorney and director of the Africa Centre for Biosafety in Johannesburg, some farmers suffered up to an 80% crop failure. While Monsanto compensated the large-scale farmers to whom it directly sold the faulty product, it gave nothing to the small-scale farmers to whom it had handed out free . . . seeds.

“When the economic power of Gates is coupled with the irresponsibility of Monsanto, the outlook for African smallholders is not very promising,” said Mayet. Monsanto’s aggressive patenting practices have also monopolized control over seed in ways that deny farmers control over their own harvest, going so far as to sue — and bankrupt — farmers for “patent infringement.

”News of the Foundation’s recent Monsanto investment has confirmed the misgivings of many farmers and sustainable agriculture advocates in Africa, among them the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, who commented, “We have long suspected that the founders of AGRA — the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — had a long and more intimate affair with Monsanto.”

Indeed, according to Travis English, researcher with AGRA Watch, “The Foundation’s ownership of Monsanto stock is emblematic of a deeper, more long-standinginvolvement with the corporation, particularly in Africa.” In 2008, AGRAWatch, a project of the Seattle-based organization Community Alliance for Global Justice, uncovered many linkages between the Foundation’s grantees and Monsanto.

For example, some grantees (in particular about 70% of grantees in Kenya) of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) — considered by the Foundation to be its “African face” — work directly with Monsanto on agricultural development projects. Other prominent links include high-level Foundation staff members who were once senior officials for Monsanto, such as Rob Horsch, formerly Monsanto Vice President of International Development Partnerships and current Senior Program Officer of the Gates Agricultural Development Program.

Transnational corporations like Monsanto have been key collaborators with the Foundation and AGRA’s grantees in promoting the spread of industrialagriculture on the continent. This model of production relies on expensive inputs such as chemical fertilizers, genetically modified seeds, and herbicides.

Though this package represents enticing market development opportunities for the private sector, many civil society organizations contend it will lead to further displacement of farmers from the land, anactual increase in hunger, and migration to already swollen cities unable toprovide employment opportunities.

In the words of a representative from the Kenya Biodiversity Coalition, “AGRA is poison for our farming systems and livelihoods. Under the philanthropic banner of greening agriculture, AGRA will eventually eat away what little is left of sustainable small-scale farming in Africa.”

Please read the whole article for even more insight into the "in- charge and raring to go" planners of our future. It's not enough, it appears that the future choices are difficult - they need to made impossible ASAP. Don't we love being Number One? Suzan ____________________