DOUBLE-BIAS ATTACK IN THE BOROUGH OF CHURCHES

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"GAY" ECUADORANS BRUTALLY BEATEN IN BROOKLYN BY ANTI-LATINO ANTI-GAY THUGS

BUSHWICK FAMILY STRICKEN AS THEY WITNESS UNPROVOKED ATTACK BY STRANGERS IN THEIR OWN NEIGHBORHOOD



Now, What Will Those Famous Churches Do About This?

Given the role of so many religious institutions in fear-mongering, scapegoating and focusing hatred on gays, one wonders what their reaction will be to the product of their labors. What, for God's sake, would Jesus do?

I'm no Biblical scholar, but I can't honestly recall any parables, epistles, sermons or psalms about gays, positive or negative. Maybe they were among the Apocrypha stricken out by post-Christ censors in Palestine, Greece, Rome or Byzantium. Maybe they skip over them today in Sunday school and catechism. Maybe those uncomfortable silences after children inquired about Mrs. Jesus or the lady apostles said it all. I'm not going to scour the bloody New Testament just to find out.

Christian attitudes toward sex and gender, sensuality and sexuality, love and friendship, marriage and divorce, abortion and birth control, women and gays, morality and individual rights, all pretty much turned me away from churches a long time ago. I've never felt any inclination to go back.

Lately though, I have begun to wonder what is going on in those curiously shaped buildings. We hear clerical boy-rapers squealing about "the homosexual agenda," mountain-man bigamists mounting campaigns to save "traditional" marriage, televangelist con-artists wishing hurricanes on gay paraders. Is the anti-Christ already here, under the assumed name of Billy-Bob? Or, in the case of Brooklyn, Vito, Shawn or Tyrone?

Is that a sign of my own prejudice? Maybe. But nobody's going to die for it. Somebody did just die for the same prejudices instilled and inflamed quite deliberately by "men of God," and "moral leaders." If there really were a God in Heaven, these people would have to answer, first among us, for all this hate. The irony is, neither victim in this case was actually gay. Just the perception that they were was enough to inspire a brutal attack. In fact, the two "gay" victims were brothers, and simply observing the custom common in most of the world, and among women even in this country, of walking arm-in-arm down the street. So, even if you are not gay, be very careful not to let anyone think you are. They might kill you.


NY1
"Police Investigate Hate Crime, Victim Remains On Life Support"
When crossing the street, look both ways. And then look straight.

' Police are calling an attack on a pair of Brooklyn brothers over the weekend a hate crime. Investigators said 31-year-old Jose Sucuzhanay was walking home with his brother Romel early Sunday morning when one of them stopped to give the other his coat at the intersection of Kossuth Place and Bushwick Avenue. That's when investigators said a group of men jumped out of an SUV and beat them with a glass bottle and baseball bat while yelling anti-gay and anti-Latino slurs. Romel was not seriously hurt, but Jose was taken to the hospital where he is on life support. "My brother is in critical condition. He has to go through brain surgery. He's okay there. But right now he's not moving, he's not talking, he's in very critical condition. And we hope he will recover," said Sucuzhanay. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said, "There's no indication that they had any previous contact with the victims. So it clearly appears to be a hate crime based on ethnicity and perceived sexual orientation." '

NY TIMES
"Family Keeps Vigil for Beaten Brooklyn Man "
Blacks attacking Hispanics because they think they are gay. Only in America, land of hate crimes of opportunity.

' Early Sunday, less than a mile from where Mr. Sucuzhanay worked, he and his brother Romel were set upon by men the police said they believed were strangers. The brothers were walking home from a bar, arms around each other, the police said. At the corner of Bushwick Avenue and Kossuth Place, three men riding in what a witness described as a maroon or red sport utility vehicle spied the brothers and shouted anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. One of the men hit Jose over the head with a bottle, and the driver of the car swung an aluminum baseball bat at his head, the police said. He fell to the floor as the three attackers, who were black, continued kicking and punching him, the police said. The beating ended only when Romel held up his cellphone and said he was calling the police. On Tuesday, the police released a description of one of the men, saying he is 6 feet tall and thin, and wore a black leather jacket, boots, dark jeans and a dark baseball cap during the attack. The authorities said they did not have the license number of the car. The reward for information was set at $22,000. Julia Osman, who worked with Mr. Sucuzhanay, visited him at the hospital on Monday. His face was so swollen that she could not see his eyes, and his head was wrapped in bandages. “He was kind, and cared about everyone who worked with him,” she said. '

EL DIARIO NY
"Another victim of hate"
If you're going to target someone, make it an immigrant, or an undocumented alien. They won't dare report you. Especially if you kill them. Unfortunately for the criminals, this victim was a citizen.

' Jose Sucuzhanay, a Bushwick business owner, was with his brother Romel on Sunday when he was beaten by a group of men using a bat. He was reportedly declared brain dead yesterday. Romel had come from Ecuador to visit his brother, not bury him. Witnesses heard the cowardly attackers shout anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs at the brothers, according to police. They mistook Jose and Romel cozing up in the extreme cold as a sign that they were gay. This hate and violence is anything but isolated. In 2005, the FBI documented more than 1,200 hate crimes against Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) persons. But this is a vast undercount, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. On top of inaccurate data tracking, hate crimes overall are under-reported. Undocumented immigrants are the least likely of all victims to report these crimes. '

NY NEWSDAY
"Cops: Bias crime attack victim dies"
So, now it's murder.

' Police have released a sketch of one of three assailants of an Ecuadorean man left brain dead after a savage beating in Brooklyn, where attackers hurled anti-gay and anti-Hispanic slurs. At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, the family of Jose Sucuzhanay, 31, said they still held out hope. "He's not dead," Diego Sucuzhanay, one of his five brothers, said at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, where Jose had been listed in critical condition yesterday after surgery. "There are some decisions that need to be taken," he continued. "We are brothers and we do not have the power to make that decision." Sucuzhanay's parents are in Ecuador. But a law enforcement source said the case is being investigated as a homicide and Sucuzhanay has been declared brain dead. The Associated Press said he had been taken off life support, according to a law enforcement source. Community leaders and city politicians called for the swift arrest of the attackers. Sucuzhanay suffered severe head trauma in the 3:30 a.m. beating Sunday in Bushwick. Police Tuesday asked for the public's help in locating one suspect, described as a male about 6 feet tall and between 18 and 20 years old, wearing a dark baseball cap, a black leather jacket, dark jeans and boots. A $22,000 reward is also being offered for information leading to the arrest of the attackers. Police asked the public to call 800-577-TIPS. '

[Cross-posted at CoffeeHouseStudio by cosanostradamus.]
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GAY REPUBLICAN NO LONGER APPEALING?

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WHEN WILL IDAHO SENATOR LARRY CRAIG GIVE IT UP!

CAN'T QUIT TRYING TO "CLEAR HIS NAME"

YOUTUBE: MSNBC



"Dragnet: Larry Craig"
It's hard out here for a pimp.



Apparently, He Still Thinks It's A Bad Thing To Be Gay

Or maybe it was just the footsie-with-a-cop, cruising-public-toilets, sex-at-the-airport, closeted-Republican-hypocrite, another-homophobe-for-Jesus thing? Hasn't he seen "Brokeback Mountain"? Wasn't that filmed in his home State? It's out on video, now, Lar'. Seriously, check it out, it won some award, I think. That guy from "Batman" is in it.

Larry, I think you need counseling. Not the kind that "makes" you straight. I don't think that's happening. Check out a reality-based therapist and see if you can't get in touch with your inner Heath Ledger. Not the Joker one, the gay cowboy. Otherwise, who knows what might happen in some lonely truck-stop toilet in the Tetons some day? They have these gay cruises now, you know. Real cruises, on a ship, in the ocean? Everybody on the boat is gay. Even you could find someone, if you just keep your opinions to yourself, maybe. You could get a make-over, use a nick-name. Gopper, maybe? Skeeter? Lonesome Cowboy Burt? Ask your staff. At least one of them is bound to know.

That's another thing: While you still have a staff, have somebody set up that make-over, and make over the old image, too. The Republican asshole thing is so 2008! I mean, the odds of of you actually hooking up with America's favorite GILF are less than zero, right, even if Sarah wanted to? Yeah. So let's try something else. (And good luck to "The Republicans' Next Top Spokesmodel!")

Get a publicist, hire a ghost-writer, go on tour for something like the "Closeted Republicans Extreme Emergency Publicity" thing, you know, C.R.E.E.P.? Has a nice ring to it, hunh? Worked for Nixon. Do Oprah, Leno, Springer, Colbert, Ellen, O'Reilly, Rachel, Sesame Street, the 700 Club, the whole nine yards. You don't have to do them, just their shows, OK, Larry? You could play it either way: as a sinner who has "refound" Christ, which you could really milk for the big bucks, dood. Or you could do it like a reformed bigot who now just wants to help other closeted conservatives to stay in or get out of the closet. Whatever. Get funding from the anti-Fundies, maybe. You could try both approaches, but you'd have to really subtle; and, well, Larry, subtlety is not your strong suit. Just Do It! Your fifteen minutes is almost up!

Call me.

This is not a come on. Keep your shoes in your own stall, please. And COURTESY FLUSH!!! Thanks.


THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
"Senator Larry Craig loses airport bathroom misconduct appeal"
Can't a white, over-privileged brother get a break in this country? Damn!

' And then there was today’s decision by a Minnesota appeals court not to allow U.S. Senator Larry Craig (R-ID) to withdraw his guilty plea to a charge of disorderly conduct at an airport restroom. Craig initially pleaded guilty to the charge after being arrested by an undercover police officer for solicitation. Although Craig didn’t verbally solicit an officer, he inappropriately tapped his foot and made hand signals which are apparently code for solicitation. After the case became public, Craig changed his mind and asked that his guilty plea (which he was allowed to mail to the court) be withdrawn. But the District Court judge wasn’t buying it and denied the request. So Craig appealed claiming that the Minnesota law violated his freedom of expression. To which the court replied today, “…foot-tapping and the movement of his foot toward the undercover officer’s stall are considered speech, they would be intrusive speech directed at a captive audience and the government may prohibit them.” He now has the option of keeping his name and the issue in the news cycle even longer by further appealing the decision to the Minnesota Supreme Court. “I maintain my innocence, and currently my attorneys and I are reviewing the decision and looking into the possibility of appealing,” Craig said in a statement. '

ONTHEISSUES.ORG
"Larry Craig On The Issues"
A stand-up guy on "family values" sits down to beg sex from cops in the toilet. Double-yeeech.

' Larry Craig on Civil Rights
* Voted YES on recommending Constitutional ban on flag desecration. (Jun 2006)
* Voted YES on constitutional ban of same-sex marriage. (Jun 2006)
* Voted NO on adding sexual orientation to definition of hate crimes. (Jun 2002)
* Voted YES on loosening restrictions on cell phone wiretapping. (Oct 2001)
* Voted NO on expanding hate crimes to include sexual orientation. (Jun 2000)
* Voted NO on setting aside 10% of highway funds for minorities & women. (Mar 1998)
* Voted YES on ending special funding for minority & women-owned business. (Oct 1997)
* Voted YES on prohibiting same-sex marriage. (Sep 1996)
* Voted NO on prohibiting job discrimination by sexual orientation. (Sep 1996)
* Voted YES on Amendment to prohibit flag burning. (Dec 1995)
* Voted YES on banning affirmative action hiring with federal funds. (Jul 1995)
* Supports anti-flag desecration amendment. (Mar 2001)
* Rated 25% by the ACLU, indicating an anti-civil rights voting record. (Dec 2002)
* Rated 0% by the HRC, indicating an anti-gay-rights stance. (Dec 2006)
* Rated 11% by the NAACP, indicating an anti-affirmative-action stance. (Dec 2006) '

CLASSIC SHORT STORIES: ANTON CHEKHOV
"A Slander"
You really should read this some time, Larry. It ain't the Bible or nuthin', but it's short, anyways.

' "Ah-ah! the sound of a passionate kiss. . . . Who is it you're kissing out there, little Marfa?" came a voice from the next room, and in the doorway there appeared the cropped head of the assistant usher, Vankin. "Who is it? A-a-h! . . . Delighted to meet you! Sergei Kapitonich! You're a fine grandfather, I must say!" "I'm not kissing," said Ahineev in confusion. "Who told you so, you fool? I was only . . . I smacked my lips . . . in reference to . . . as an indication of. . . pleasure . . . at the sight of the fish." Ahineev went timidly into the drawing room and looked stealthily round for Vankin. Vankin was standing by the piano, and, bending down with a jaunty air, was whispering something to the inspector's sister-in-law, who was laughing. "Talking about me!" thought Ahineev. "About me, blast him! And she believes it . . . believes it! She laughs! Mercy on us! No, I can't let it pass . . . I can't. I must do something to prevent his being believed. . . . I'll speak to them all, and he'll be shown up for a fool and a gossip." '

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