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Meet Mr. 1%
05/14/2012

Bigots Say Bigoted Things
05/14/2012

Today in the the Missouri Baptist Convention's Pathway rag:

The homosexual community has risen up in opposition to House Bill 2051 (HB 2051) and the 19 representatives who have signed onto it. They insist it would have a harmful effect on students struggling with their sexual identity...

Kerry Messer, legislative liaison for the Missouri Baptist Convention, said that all the bill does is to remove the social engineering regarding the homosexual agenda...

Messer said the homosexual network is doing everything it can to harass the 20 representatives who are in support of the bill. “They’re being beaten up with hundreds of harassing phone calls from around the state.”

Messer pointed out that the homosexual lobby is more than the homosexual community. It includes those who have empathy with them, and it is made up of groups who are affiliated based on the sexual fetishes that they hold in common, which may include criminal sexual behavior such as pedophilia, he said.

Speaker Tilley Waiting on Rush Limbaugh for Rush Bust Induction
05/14/2012

It would appear that Speaker Steve Tilley is waiting to induct rightwing blowhard Rush Limbaugh into the Hall of Famous Missourians until he can find a date that would work for Limbaugh himself to actually be present at the ceremony.

From Missouri News Horizon:

House Speaker Steven Tilley, who is inducting Limbaugh into the hall, says he doesn't know where the bust is, but he's itching to get Limbaugh to Jefferson city to help unveil it.

"You know, we don't have a date set. But at some point in time we'll get it done. You know, obviously his schedule...we'd like him to be here, so with his schedule we're having to work around that a little bit, but, yeah, I'm excited to have him up here too."

Talk about being tone deaf. Tens of thousands of Missourians have been moved to write Tilley and other legislative leaders asking that Limbaugh not be inducted into the Hall given his insulting remarks regarding virtually anyone who disagrees with him, though in light of this remark by the speaker himself, Tilley has clearly decided to ignore his constituents and the good people of Missouri.

Cartoon of the Day
05/14/2012

SEMO Bigot Places Ad in Support of Hateful %26quot;Don%92t Say Gay" Legislation
05/14/2012

When all else fails, the right-wing homophobes resort to outright lies and falsehoods to push their extreme views on people. The ad placed by Hardy Billington in support of the hateful legislation, HB 2051, the Don't Say Gay bill, in the Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic is no exception:

Hardy Billington is a Baptist Deacon and state committeeman of the 25^th Senatorial District as well as committeeman for the Butler County Republican Party, and until recently, Billington was also running for reelection to the Poplar Bluff School Board - more on that in a bit.

Above all, Hardy Billington is a bigot.

In his ad, he claims that "study after study reveals that homosexuality... can take anywhere from 10, 20 to 30 years off of someone's lifespan." Common sense rates this as FALSE. I know science is hard for some extremists, but bear with me: there is not one scientific study that shows being gay shortens your life by one single day, let alone 10, 20 or 30 years. The "studies" Billington is referencing all seem to come from religious based organizations that "estimate" but provide absolutely no scientific proof. Here's the thing, just because you say something, that doesn't make it true. Just because I say, "The sky is purple," does not, in fact, make the sky purple. Just because you say being gay takes 30 years off the life of a person does not make it a fact.

Another outlandish lie Billington includes in his "ad" says the "gay lifestyle" kills people at a rate "2 to 3 times the rate of smoking." Again, common sense rates this as FALSE, but I decided that science might have something to say on this too, and it does. A quick glance at CDC fact sheets tells us this:

Annual smoking related deaths: 443,000

Again, there's no scientific study that shows that over a million LGBT individuals are dying every year just because they're gay. Have any idea why? Because it's a patently false notion.

As for Billington's advocacy of "tough love," that seems to me to be encouragement to bully individuals who identify as LGBT. How Christian of him. How loving. Why, let's all bully people who happen to be different and see how that works out. Maybe these deaths of LGBT youth aren't because they've engaged in some destructive behavior because of their "gay lifestyle." Maybe, just maybe, there are increasing deaths of LGBT individuals because they've been bullied and take their own lives after they've been made to feel sub-human by the likes of Billington and his homophobic ilk.

Perhaps Billington should look to his Bible for guidance on how to approach people who happen to be different from him. I'd suggest starting with Matthew 7:1:

“Do not judge, or you too will be judged."

From there, I suggest that Billington head to Leviticus 18:19:

"You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."

I digress.

With regards to Billington's race for reelection to the Poplar Bluff School Board, there is some good news: on April 3, 2012, Billington lost. Not only did Billington lose, but he came in dead last. I'm very happy to report that Hardy Billington will not have a place in school leadership from which to bully LGBT youth and individuals. Kudos to the citizens of Poplar Bluff for refusing to give him an opportunity to foist his hate-filled ideas on the populace. Now if only the Poplar Bluff Daily American Republic would also refuse to give him a platform for his hate.

(H/T: Joe. My. God.)

It's a little difficult to read, so here's the text of the ad:

Study after study reveals that homosexuality, whether male or female, can take anywhere from 10, 20 to 30 years off of someone’s lifespan. With all the attention on smoking, which the National Cancer Institute says takes from 7 to 10 years off someone’s life, why not the same human outcry on homosexuality? Here’s a behavior that’s killing people 2 to 3 times the rate of smoking, yet nobody seems to care. In fact, we are encouraging and affirming individuals into the “gay” lifestyle. If you truly love someone, you would steer them away from self-destructive behaviors, rather than towards them, shouldn’t you? Homosexuals need our tough love, not blind love, the kind of love that is going to love them no matter what they say and do. We must extend that helping hand and say ” I think your worth saving, let’s work on it together.”

Quote of the Weekend
05/14/2012

"Considering that no one is able to cite examples of blundering by Missouri judges, it’s kind of pathetic that a legislative leader would consider fixing a problem that doesn’t exist to be one of the top accomplishments of his career."

The Star on Speaker Steve Tilley's excitement about a proposed constitutional amendment to change the state’s nonpartisan plan

Toynbee Tiles In New York City
05/07/2012

Park Avenue and 51st Street

The mystery and adventure of Toynbee Tiles continues. I photographed several in Philadelphia, seen on the blog last week. The creator of the original style of tiles (for example, this one in St. Louis) is thought to be one James Morasco of Philadelphia, who died in 2003.

There was a new kind in Philly. The top line of all of them is "House Of Hades." They criticize journalists and the rich. Some of them have a new feature. clever images on the side. I particularly like the martini glass above. There doesn't seem to be anything on the web yet about this new artist.

Interest in the subject has been so great that a documentary film was released last year, Resurrect Dead - The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles. You can get it on Amazon, at least in the U.S. My copy should arrive tomorrow.

It wouldn't surprise me if the new artist or artists scans the web for references to the work. If he or she does, please come to St. Louis. I will help you lay tile. I will keep your secrets.