HubbleBooks

New York Times foreign correspondent John Burns

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2146

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Rev. Jimmy Creech was once the president of Soulforce’s board of directors. Now, he runs his own organization called Faith in America. FIA stages media campaigns around the country drawing attention to religion-based bigotry… sometimes provoking the ire of evangelicals who accuse Creech of “church-bashing”…

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week1111/newsfeature.html

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“The Nation — Congressional democrats, civil rights groups and now the New York Times frame The Employment Non-Discrimination Act as an example of the politics of the possible generic cialis. But an almost-definite Presidential veto makes it look like a convoluted example online pharmacy.”

MORE

CYNICAL

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So, last week, I came across the following post by Ken Silverstein of Harper’s Magazine.

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001616

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It seems to me much more than a coincidence that this rumor is circulating so shortly after Sen. Obama’s “Embrace the Change” concert during which Rev. Donnie McClurkin headlined his anti-LGBT message…

http://harpers.org/archive/2007/11/hbc-90001616:

But it’s not just Republicans who are pushing the story. Will Folks, a well-known blogger in South Carolina, reported yesterday that he’d “heard from sources at rival Democratic presidential campaigns who claim that they ‘know it to be true’ that Hill and Huma are romantically-involved.” I called Folks, and he said that two different Democratic campaigns had told him about the alleged affair, but neither had “presented anything remotely resembling proof.”

Folks [a former press secretary of South Carolina’s Republican Governor Mark Sanford] said he couldn’t identify which campaigns were spreading the story, so I called Rod Shealy, a top GOP consultant. Shealy told me he had no idea of who was talking up the story—but that the only Democrats with active staffs and organizations in South Carolina were Barack Obama, John Edwards, and Bill Richardson.

ALSO…

“Shealy has worked for numerous African-American political candidates…” but why would a Republican operative work with Sen. Obama?

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11/08 Update: When it Comes to Hillary, People Have No Sense of Huma

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11/09 Update:

Rod Shealy’s son, Ross, blogs for Sen. Obama…

Things that make you go “hmm…”

The political intrigue underway in the Democratic primary campaign is mind-blowing.

I spent several hours last week reviewing the blog and media posts related to the McClurkin story. It is certainly clear that Sen. Obama’s campaign meant for “Embrace the Change” to appeal to the Christian subculture. It’s genius actually. No major Democratic candidate in decades has broken into the Christian press in a positive light. They may someday view this as their best idea that didn’t work.

The story first broke, actually, in the Christian press on the 17th. Then, the New York Times covered it on the 19th. Initially, McClurkin’s name was one of many on the ticket… apparently lost in the crowd.

Then, on the 20th, Washington D.C. attorney and political activist John Aravosis broke the negative ’spin’, lambasting Sen. Obama for including McClurkin on the tour. Thereafter, between the 20th and the 27th, there were nearly 2300 blog and media posts on the story… mostly negative.

It would not be accurate, however, to say that Aravosis supports Clinton outright. He was as tough on Clinton in February for her campaign tactics and about a month or so before the Logo debate went after both Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama for their tepid support of LGBT issues. After Gen. Pace’s March public comments about the immorality of homosexuality, Clinton gave an interview to Bloomberg News during which she publicly stated that she did not believe homosexuality is “immoral”. Since then, Aravosis seems to have warmed to Clinton, but I wouldn’t describe him as openly supportive. His comments have been decidedly less caustic, however.

Based on this research, it seems clear that Sen. Obama did NOT recruit McClurkin specifically to send an anti-LGBT message. As they admitted, he wasn’t vetted well at all. Their mistakes related to how they handled the situation after the story turned negative and spun out of control. I remain troubled, however, that Sen. Obama couldn’t do the right thing by taking the most sensible action and ask McClurkin to remove himself from the concert program.

As mentioned above, Harper’s Magazine last week reported that rumors have been circulating in South Carolina about a “lesbian affair” involving Hillary and one of her top aides. As reported by one source, there are only three campaigns in SC with active operations: Richardson, Edwards and Obama. And another source asserted that one of those campaigns is responsible for floating the rumor. Both sources are well known Republican operatives, so they certainly have an interest in stirring up rancor amongst the Democratic candidates and campaigns. Are they reliable sources? They were willing to be quoted.

The second son of one of those operatives, Ross Shealy, seems to be a well known Democratic operative in South Carolina, however… his name appears frequently in the SC press and blogs. And the entire family (Rod Sr, Rod Jr, and Ross) is well-connected politically.

Ross seems to be actively involved with Obama campaign, organizing events and blogging frequently about Obama. He also maintains a profile and blog on Sen. Obama’s website. How direct is the relationship? There’s no way of knowing.

Could Shealy be responsible for circulating the Hillary lesbian affair rumor? Has Sen. Obama had anything to do with it? Probably not but we’ll never know.

Most importantly, however, will it hurt Sen. Obama if it were to become public knowledge that an operative working on his behalf was directly involved in these types of smear tactics?

Absolutely.

Additional links:

http://palmettoramblings.blogspot.com/2007/07/so-whats-with-vouchers.html

http://doingthefirst.blogspot.com/2007/05/basics-of-barbecue.html

http://scbarbecue.blogspot.com/search?q=obama

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/rossshealy

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Local Gay Musician and Friends Visit Dobson’s Ministry Headquarters

Soulforce “Focus on the Facts” Campaign Pursues Dialogue and Reconciliation

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Soulforce Press Release: November 12, 2007
For Immediate Release

Contact(s):
James Roy, Blue Disco Records, Ltd, 303-906-4603, james@bluediscorecords.com

Christopher Hubble, Soulforce Colorado State Organizer, 303-241-3225, cahubble05@yahoo.com

Video and still photos available here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/exgaysurvivordan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQRh0Bf0MM

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(Colorado Springs CO) – In a low-key visit, Denver-based musician James Roy and a group of friends toured the Welcome Center of Dobson’s mega-organization Saturday in order to learn more about the operations of his ministry first-hand. The visit was intended to remind the partisan evangelical leader and his associates that Soulforce continues to observe the hurtful anti-LGBT rhetoric which emanates from America’s leading source of misinformation about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

In a personal letter to Dobson, James Roy wrote about his own commitment to being a positive impact in the lives of others. “I think it benefits us to reflect on what we have in common… I am here today to take a tour to better understand you and invite you to the possibility of dialogue.”

In the spirit of the nonviolent teachings of Gandhi and King, at the conclusion of the tour, each participant left a single yellow rose for Dobson to symbolize their desire for dialogue. Gandhi and King were the preeminent advocates of nonviolent conflict resolution in the twentieth century. They are best remembered not only for their desire to achieve justice for their respective constituencies but also to attain reconciliation with their adversaries.

Two of Saturday’s participants were a lesbian couple from Denver who have adopted children together. During the tour, they asked whether they would be welcome to bring their own children during a future visit to the campus, “I was surprised and gratified when our tour guide encouraged my partnered friends to return as a family so that their children may also enjoy the many recreational resources available on the lower level of the welcome center,” Lead Focus on the Facts Organizer Christopher Hubble observed.

This quiet, unannounced visit was part of FOCUS ON THE FACTS, an ongoing campaign of nonviolent direct action which Soulforce launched at the beginning of 2007. Beginning in 1994, Soulforce has repeatedly attempted to engage Dobson and his associates in dialogue and has been continually rebuffed. FOCUS ON THE FACTS seeks to end religion-based oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Coloradans and is modeled on Gandhi’s Satyagraha campaigns in South Africa and India. In the words of Nelson Mandela, Gandhi “rightly believed in the efficacy of pitting the soul force of Satyagraha against the brute force of the oppressor and in effect converting the oppressor to the right and moral point.”

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SOULFORCE is a national civil rights and social justice organization. Our vision is freedom for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people from religious and political oppression through the practice of relentless nonviolent resistance. To learn more about Soulforce and FOCUS ON THE FACTS, visit www.soulforce.org.

To learn more about JAMES ROY and his inspirational creative work, visit www.jamesroymusic.com. “It took a four-year electrical engineering degree and a taste of the corporate world before [James] realized that life is more about living than trying to meet the expectations of others. In the few years that followed, he built up a studio, founded the company Blue Disco Records, Ltd., and started capturing the world around him in high-energy songs with powerful lyrics.” Soulforce recently announced a new partnership with James Roy on his latest release, Rise Above. 10% of the proceeds of this CD will go to benefit the social justice work of Soulforce.

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