Wayne Besen - Author, Activist, Columnist, Public Speaker

Monday, July 07, 2008

I am Also Blogging At The Huffington Post

Dear Friends:

I just wanted to let you all know that I am also blogging at The Huffington Post. My first column was on James Dobson of Focus on the Family distorting research. Please visit the site and post comments.

Thanks

8 Comments:

Wayne, I don't know what's going on lately, but is someone trying to sabotage this blogsite and keep us away with these weird postings?
posted by Robert, NYC, at 7/08/2008 6:19 AM

Great aricle Wayne. Huffpo will give you a much wider audience. I'm waiting for you to be invited to start hosting tv shows like Rachel Maddow has on Olberman.
posted by Anonymous, at 7/08/2008 10:01 AM

Aww, thanks so much. I appreciate your kind and generous words.

MSNBC - are you listening?? :)
posted by Wayne Besen, at 7/08/2008 10:37 AM

I second that Wayne, you'd be a fantastic addition to Rachel Maddow.

Does anyone know what happened to Randi Rhodes of Air America as well as Lionel. They've been off the air for weeks. I miss them so much and Air America is not like it used to be without them.
posted by Robert, NYC, at 7/08/2008 11:40 AM

@Robert:

I hate Lionel and I don't know where he went. His voice was like nails on a chalk board.

Randi was suspended because of remarks she made about Senator Clinton during a comedy routine. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about being punished for something she did off the air so she terminated her contract with AAR.

Randi can now be found over at Nova M radio, reunited with her old friend Mike Malloy who was also previously booted off AAR:

http://www.novamradio.com/live/

I still listen to AAR, mostly Rachel Maddow, Sam Seder, Tom Hartman and Freethought Radio. Hal Sparks (you'll remember him as Michael on Queer as Folk) was a guest host for a week or two, and he did a great job. I also get Stephanie Miller and Ed Schultz on the station here in Madison that carries AAR, they add something unique, especially Ed who I think speaks more to people in the middle and liberals who grew up in conservative areas. Stephanie Miller's just a sassy bitch and she cracks me up.

I agree Wayne would be great on any of those shows, either as a guest or regular contributer. I'd sure rather see him there having worthwhile discussions than talking to the morons on Fox News (and thus giving them credibility as a news source that they don't deserve).

@Wayne:

I would actually like to hear you talk to someone like Ed Schultz once or twice, because his heart's in the right place but like a lot of people who grew up in the Midwest, he simply isn't equipped with a great understanding of queer issues.

I once saw him try to argue for abolishing Don't Ask, Don't Tell. It was good that he spoke out for gay rights, but he really didn't have an argument. I just wanted him to point out that gay soldiers have to actively lie and conceal their lives and loved ones, and the policy doesn't mean "homosexuality isn't a big deal as long as you don't bring it up", like so many people believe (including my army friends). It really means "if we somehow discover that you're gay your ass is fired".

A simple argument really, and there are others to be made, but many well-intentioned people are blind to queer issues because they simply haven't had a chance to study or talk about them.

I'd also like to see you on FFRF's Freethought Radio sometime. I think it would be a great dialogue, since you understand the evils of religion as they do, but unlike them (Dan Barker & Annie Laurie Gaylor) I'm not sure if you're prepared to criticize liberal people of faith who are tolerant of gays, at least not to the same degree. I tend to side with them on that - even a tolerant Christian is still someone who believes people can be born from a virgin and rise from the dead - better than an intolerant Christian of course, but no more reasonable in their beliefs, and I think on a fundamental level all superstition is dangerous even when it comes from nicer people.

It's a discussion worth having and I'm really interested to hear where you stand on it, and on what points you would agree with Dan and Annie, and where you guys would diverge.
posted by Eshto, at 7/08/2008 12:57 PM

If you have XM Radio, you can still hear Randi on the Air America channel (167) at 3pm and Lionel is on at 9am. And yes, she and Thom Hartman are the best. And Eshto, many liberal Christians read the virgin birth and resurrection stories as allegorical, not factual. I do. Only fundos take all of it as factual. In ancient times it was a given that 'truths' could be expressed as stories or myths. Since the Enlightenment, we have come to view things as either factually true or false, like binary, yes/no, 0 or 1 etc.. Many people dont know it, but this is the general way that it is taught now in many seminaries and theology classes (except for fundamentalists of course).
posted by Anonymous, at 7/08/2008 3:58 PM

Eshto and Anonymous, thanks for the info on Randi Rhodes. I agree that Ed Schultz can't articulate gay issues very well. Personally, I happened to like Lionel, he was one of the most articulate on gay-related issues and constantly defending our rights to serve openly in the military and to marry and took on the right wing religious zealots as well as refute the ex-gay claim. I'd rather have him than Ed Schultz if I had to choose. Thanks again.
posted by Robert, NYC., at 7/09/2008 6:30 AM