This qualifies as the Outrage of the Decade. Once again, the Democrats illustrate why they are more interested in power, for power’s sake… than actually helping the people they are always opining about. (Hat tip: Michelle Malkin)
Governor’s Office Steered Terror Aid – Newark Star-Ledger

The homeland security grants sparked controversy in July when The Star-Ledger reported that 93 percent of the $23 million handed out since 2002 had gone to districts controlled by Democrats. At the time, Codey spokeswoman Kelley Heck said the governor’s office “didn’t play a role in the awarding of those grants.”
More than $8 million was allocated for the program this year with 94 percent going to districts controlled by Democrats. The money was part of the 2005 budget approved six weeks before McGreevey announced his resignation last summer.
When the grants were distributed in April, more than $7.8 million went to Democratic legislative districts. Municipalities in Republican districts got $523,454, despite requesting a similar amount as Democrats.

By the way, this pattern of corruption began as policy under Jim McGreevey…. you know the one the gay community wants to hold up as a proud “gay American.” No thanks.
One final note…. the only winner in this outrage is the Star-Ledger. This is the kind of reporting, regardless of which party is doing it, that the media should concentrate on. Not silly conjecture over whether the most photographed “undercover” CIA agent had her cover blown by anyone other than her blowhard husband.
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

I think I saw this one before….on “Lifetime”…. with Jaclyn Smith….or was it Rob Lowe?
Scientists Drill Into San Andreas Fault – AP
Hat Tip — our friends over at GOP Vixen!
-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

South Korean Scientists Clone Man’s Best Friend — NY Times

How about that…. I was pretty sure it would have been named Helen Thomas.

-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Well, gang…. I never made it to Boise. Long story.. but I wound up in San Diego a day earlier than expected. Two words: United Airlines (see posting below).
Anyway, I haven’t had much sleep all week so I’m cranky. And though I’m supposed to be taking a vacation day today….. I’m not.
So the space here is all yours today. Just please be nice to each other. 🙂
Have a great weekend.
-Bruce (GayPatriot-Temporarily-West) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Does it count at all that I *know* one of the people on the list of “50 Most Beautiful in DC”?
That would be Jeff Kimball, a healthcare lobbyist, who is featured on Page 2. Who by the way, just for the record, is straight as an arrow. I woudn’t want any rumors to get started.

My personal preference is Dan Aranyosi, on Page 3. Yes, yes… I know… the uniform.

And, is “Lumberjack” upset that he is not on the list?

-Bruce (GayPatriot) – gaypatriot2004@aol.com

Gotta give my pal Dirty Harry credit for scooping me on this one. Barely twenty-four hours after joining Bridget Johnson on GOP Vixen, he’s proud to be a Republican because Republicans (and conservative pundits) have been among the most savage critics of the recently-released book out trashing Hillary Clinton. As Dirty Harry puts it, “Conservatives don’t like it when it happens to us and we don’t like it when it happens to them. Even when it’s (gasp!) Hillary.”
While many on the left lavished praise on Kitty Kelley for her fall book trashing President Bush, while prominent Democrats flocked to see Michael Moore’s mean-spirited and deceptive propaganda piece, barely a handful of Republicans have praised a Kitty Kelley-type book on the former First Lady. Indeed, so offended am I (a strong critic of Mrs. Clinton) by what I have read about the book, I refuse to dignify it by providing its title (or naming its author) on this blog.
Peggy Noonan notes this morning that the book “has been heavily dumped on by conservatives.” Having read the book, this great columnist who embodies the qualities of the Greek goddess Athena writes that it’s “poorly written, poorly thought, poorly sourced and full of the kind of loaded language that is appropriate to a polemic but not an investigative work, concluding that the book is “too over the top. It seems hard to believe.” (As always with Peggy’s works, I recommend you read the whole thing.)
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I have the privilege of being in the great city of Philadelphia this week, as I’m attending the Biotechnology trade association’s annual meeting. I’ve brought the camera along so I can do some photoblogging around Center City in case something strikes my fancy.
Any guess on what I had for lunch today?

Here’s a true patriot… or a facsimile thereof. And yes, it is obvious that all I had was my camera-phone last night at the National Constitution Center. Visit it! Great museum.

Oh, yeah….. and this is me. I think I take terrible pics, but this one isn’t too bad. You can somewhat see me, yet it is still somewhat mysterious, eh? *grin* I’m going to use this on our “About GayPatriot” page….when we get one.

-Bruce (GayPatriot) — gaypatriot2004@aol.com

I thought that was an earthquake which woke me up this morning.

As he did on the anniversary of the Gipper’s birth, Trey Jackson offers a tribute to Ronald Reagan today, June 5, 2005, the first anniversary of his passing.
I expect to have more to say later in the day and, as last year, will pause at his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and remember this great American.
Our thoughts go out to his widow Nancy who stood by our Ron for more than a half-century, especially at the end when he needed her the most. We know that she gave him the strength he needed to lead our great nation out of the morass of the 1970s and toward a better future for all of us.
Thank you, President Reagan and thank you, Mrs. Reagan. We still remember you and continue to be inspired by your vision, your humor, your optimism, your leadership and your ideas.
UPDATE: My friend Rick Sincere offers his tribute here with generous excerpts from the Gipper’s speeches and writings.

Today on Memorial Day, we remember those heroes who gave their lives so that we might be free. I know that I owe the freedom I enjoy to host this blog, to speak my mind, to those many brave men and women who, over the centuries, fought against those who would deprive us of our liberties — or whose actions threatened the security of this great nation. As the president said on Saturday in his radio address, we “live in freedom because patriots are willing to serve and sacrifice for our liberty.”
At Winds of Change, Joe links to a number of posts honoring our heroes and providing means to support our troops.
Both Powerline and Opinionjournal quote the credo of Sgt. Michael Carlson who was killed on January 24, 2005, in Iraq.
In the Boston Globe, Jeff Jacoby tells the story of another hero, Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who tucked a live grenade “into his gut” and so saved the lives of fellow Marines fighting with him to root terrorists out of the Iraqi city of Fallujah. (Hat tip: Chuck Muth.)
As the president said today at Arlington Cemetery:

The soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines we remember today answered the call of service in their nation’s hour of need. They stood to fight for America’s highest ideals. And when the sun came up this morning the flag flew at half-staff in solemn gratitude and in deep respect.
At our National Cemetery, we receive the fallen in sorrow, and we take them to an honored place to rest. Looking across this field, we see the scale of heroism and sacrifice. All who are buried here understood their duty. All stood to protect America. And all carried with them memories of a family that they hoped to keep safe by their sacrifice.

And we, who cherish our freedom, remember that sacrifice.

When I first reported that “WASHINGTON BLADE” Executive Editor Chris Crain was bashed in Amsterdam, a number of readers commented that I had failed to indicate that the assailants were “Morroccan-looking.” One reader noted that the “Dutch problem with tolerance is not a Dutch problem…it is a Muslim problem.” It looks like he may be right.
Another reader just e-mailed me this article from the London Times which reports “a disturbing rise of gay-bashing, as conservative Islamic culture clashes with Dutch liberalism.” “[I]ncreasingly fearful of holding hands in public,” many gays are “moving to rural areas for safety.”
Even as such harassment increases, some, including a number of gay activists, dismiss the problem. The “TIMES” reports:

Gay campaigners are outraged that sensitivity about intolerance towards Muslims is blinding people to intolerance from Muslims. Scott Long, the director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender programme at Human Rights Watch, the human rights group, caused outrage when he declared: “Gays often become the victims of this when immigrants retaliate for the inequalities they have to suffer.”
Mr Crain, who has been deluged with e-mails of support from Dutch citizens, thundered back: “Long’s ‘blame the society’ political correctness is a distraction from the very real cultural clashes happening in Holland and elsewhere.”

He’s right. We can’t excuse violent acts merely because they were perpetrated by minorities.

What a difference a week makes. Last weekend may have been “emotionally trying,” but this weekend makes me feel glad to be alive, even though I woke with a headache (coffee and Excedrin helped ease the pain) and even though the format of this radio talk show I was on did not allow me to present my ideas as I would have liked. Still, I had fun on Harrison’s show.
I took the day pretty easily, reading for class, checking blogs, tidying up a bit, then went out to a late afternoon barbecue hosted by a new friend (a man I met when dining with a blog-reader) and his partner. The food was great and the conversation was just as good. And no one called me names when I came out as a Republican, even though the guests were (as far as I could tell) all gay.
I regretted that I had to leave early for my radio appearance. While I had known Harrison before, I was not familiar with his program. I had assumed it would be like some of the conservative talk shows (albeit with a different angle) I have listened to, where the host asks pointed questions and then allows the guest to reply. If he was like Sean Hannity, he would cut me off before I could make my case and then repeat his talking points. If he was like Larry Elder, he would let me have my say and then tear apart my arguments.
Harrison was different, more an entertainer with a left-wing (he might say “progressive”) edge than a conversationalist. (At least on the air.) Oftentimes he would interrupt me with some sound effect, usually the chimes of a cash register.
Because they had billed me as a Log Cabin Republican, assuming that a Log Cabin Republican was merely a Republican who happened to be gay, I was able to distinguish Log Cabin from rank-and-file gay Republicans, noting that despite Log Cabin’s failure to endorse the president, an overwhelmingly majority of gay & lesbian Republicans voted for Mr. Bush, the Republican presidential nominee, in last fall’s election.
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The “SPOKESMAN-REVIEW,” the paper of record in Spokane, Washington, has broken a story that the city’s Republican Mayor Jim West has a secret gay life, chatting with 17- and 18-year-old boys on line–and with a “forensic computer expert” posing as a teenager.
I don’t have time right now to detail all that the “SPOKESMAN-REVIEW” has reported. You can access the full package of their stories here. They mayor said, “My private life is my private life.” I agree with the statment. I believe a person’s private life should remain private.
Under normal circumstances, I would wonder why a city’s main paper has put as much effort as the “SPOKESMAN-REVIEW” has on a story like this. The mayor claims there is a “strong wall between my public life and my private life.” As long as he maintains that wall, it isn’t the public’s business to know about his online conversations as long as they are on a private computer on his own time.
But, it appears that, in all this reporting, there may be two newsworthy issues, one of concern to the citizens of Spokane and the other for criminal prosecutors.
The first, for the citizens of Spokane who elected him in 2003, is whether or not the mayor used city computers or city time to access gay chat sites.
The second issue for criminal prosecutors is whether or not he was involved (as has been alleged) in child molestation in the 1970s. If so, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. West has denied the allegations. He should also be prosecuted if he used Internet chatrooms to solicit sex with minors.
Otherwise, this is a story of a man’s private life and should thus remain private.

There are evil people even in the most tolerant societies. A reader e-mailed me this post where Washington Blade Executive Editor Chris Crain tells how he was bashed in Amsterdam, “arguably the “gay-friendliest” place on the planet.
When Chris and his boyfriend were walking through central Amsterdam, a man spat in the face. He turned around and asked him why. Punches flew and before he knew it, seven men were kicking and punching him. While he got some nasty bruises, he suffered no broken bones. He wrote, “Standing up for yourself can have consequences, but not standing up for yourself can, too.” He concludes his post:

we all know that we cannot legislate away the hate some people feel about us for openly and honestly living our lives. For as long as I live, I will never forget the looks on the faces of our attackers. What I saw was more disgust than hate, but it was there, and it was chilling.
I hope our gay friends in Holland realize that it’s a bit too soon to declare victory and go home, now that they’ve won their legal battles. Winning the hearts and minds of the people will be a much more challenging task.

Read the whole thing and join me in wishing Chris a speedy recovery from the injuries he suffered.

For his homework, my second youngest nephew, a fourth grader, had to use each of the week’s spelling words in a sentence. Being a wise and precocious individual, this PatriotNephewWest was a bit more creative than the average ten-year old and used these words to craft a story, which I reprint with the permission of his father, the eldest PatriotBrotherWest:
1. Today the president gave the press a tour of what goes on in his OFFICE.
2. He was very GRACIOUS even with all the media.
3. He seemed to enjoy all the PUBLICITY.
4. But some of the media CRITICIZED him on how he did things.
5. He said he didn’t always like working in the cramped SPACE of the OFFICE, and liked to get outside to work sometimes.
6. The media did their job of being CRITICS and suggested that it might not be safe for him to work outside.
7. Apparently, half the journalists there were full of MALICE towards the president.
8. He also told the media that he planned to get closer to the PUBLIC.
9. He also planned to be one of the many presidents to PUBLICIZE his own book.
10. But after that day he wrote himself a letter in ITALIC to never invite the media over again.
I expect my nephew to soon join the blogosphere.

Today, this blog joins the world in mourning the passing of Pope John Paul II. Along with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, this great man helped raise the Iron Curtain and liberate tens of millions who had previously suffered under the yoke of Communism.
But, he did so much more than that. The Catholic pontiff built bridges to other religions. As a Jew, I was touched by his sensitivity to my faith. When his native land, Poland, was ravished by the Nazis, he witnessed the suffering — and extermination — of his Jewish fellow citizens. He was well aware of the plight of my people.
I read once that it is only a few thousand (or was it just a few hundred?) meters from Saint Peter’s to a prominent synagogue in Rome. Pope John Paul II was the first pope to traverse what is only a short distance in terms of physical measurement, but represented a huge symbolic step in building understanding between two faiths closely linked spiritually, but, over the centuries, often at odds, frequently brutally so.
When I flipped on the news and Fox showed Saint Peter’s Square, I heard mourners singing a Hebrew song, “Haveninu Shalom Aleichem.” It seemed a sign that at the one moment in a busy day when I would turn on the TV, I would be witness to fellow Jews in Rome singing to remember this great man.
I did not agree with all that he said or did. But, there is no doubt in my mind that he was a great man who did great things. He helped bring down the Berlin Wall by appealing to the yearning for freedom that beats in the heart of every human being. Through his faith, he brought hope to tens, perhaps, hundreds of millions of men, women and children. He reminded us all of the significance of our spiritual nature. And he reminded us of the incredible value of human life.
Rest in Peace, Karol Wojtyla, John Paul II. And thank you. Thank you.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com
UPDATE: Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein shares his thoughts here on Pope John Paul II.

The New York Times reports today that Mary Cheney, the daughter of Vice President Cheney, “has sold the rights to a memoir to Simon & Schuster for an advance.” According to the Times, Mary said

The first time I campaigned with my father I was 8 years old. . . . I’ve been involved with campaigns as a family member, a staffer, and though I certainly never intended it, as a political target for the other side. It’s been an amazing experience – uplifting, frustrating, educational and always entertaining.

I am looking forward to this book for a number of reasons, particularly to get the perspective this bright woman on campaigning and politics, but also because she will present “a portrait of the vice president different from his public persona.” A longtime fan of the Vice President (long before he became Vice President), I regret that he has gotten a bum rap in the media. Hopefully, this book will correct many of the misperceptions of this good and wise man.
Although he has been savaged by many on the left, including numerous gay activists, the Vice President loves his daughter even as he knows she’s a lesbian. He and his wife have welcomed Mary and her partner into the family, inviting both to sit in their box at the Republican National Convention, up on stage when the president declared victory last November and into VIP seats at the president’s second inaugural just two months ago.
The Times reports further

Mary Cheney’s memoir is first book planned in a new line of titles about conservative politics and current events, overseen by Mary Matalin, a political consultant and close adviser to the Cheney family. Ms. Matalin was not involved in making the book deal, she and others said.

Matalin commented “I am doing a handful of books that reflect the breadth of conservatism today . . . and I think she represents that, and she represents it beyond the narrow casting of ‘she is a gay Republican.'”
This blog welcomes anything which shows the true breadth — and I would add, depth — of American conservatism. Gay conservative bloggers know all too well about the “narrow casting” of those who reduce us to our political label, those who sneer at us when we come out as gay Republicans.
It seems Mary Cheney’s memoir will do much to advance the causes this blog has promoted as it presents a more accurate picture of the Vice President and his family.
I can’t wait until it comes out.
Hat tip: lgbt-politics listserv.
-Dan (AKA GayPatriotWest): GayPatriotWest@aol.com

I have to say that I am surprised at the hostility of some of the responses, largely in the comments, but also in e-mail, to my comments on Terri Schiavo. I acknowledge that it is not an easy case. Indeed, I didn’t have a strong opinion on this issue one way or the other until I started following it while in Cleveland to attend my nephew’s Bar Mitzvah. Then, I began to chance upon some facts which, while they changed me views, didn’t prevent me from understanding the other side.
As I have said before, I believe we should err on the side of life and reinsert the feeding tube. It seems beyond cruel to starve someone to death, far different from turning off a machine keeping a comatose person breathing or keeping her heart beating. (See, for example, this insightful piece by Rabbi Aryeh Spero.)
I wrote my last post on the topic because like Portia in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, I recognize that those who favor removing the feeding tube have a strong legal case. One of the things I remember from law school is the a trial court determines the facts while appellate courts review the law. As I understand it, in this case, the trial court established that were she to be in vegetative state, Terri Schiavo would not want machines to keep her alive.
Her parents and siblings, however, disagree. They believe she would have wanted to be kept alive in such circumstances. And they very much want her to live — even in this state. Powerline noted that Michael Schiavo had better legal representation at the trial court level, and her parents’ attorney was not well equipped to handle such a case. So, despite the parents’ claims, the law is clearly on the side of Michael Schiavo and those who want to remove the feeding tube.
But, given this difference between these two groups of people, each of whom claims to love Terry, I, like the president, believe we should err on the side of life. Like Portia’s plea to spare Antonio (even though the law was against him), I join countless others in asking Michael, as her legal guardian, to show some mercy and turn her over to her parents.
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