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The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend:
"a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."

He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior." (CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)

Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:

"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).

"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008

Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:

A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist."
(Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)

"A nutty lesbian blogger."
(MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)

Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.

--Impeach Bush

who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.

--"Joe"

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Pam Spaulding

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An Online Magazine in the Reality-Based Community.

Username: Lev Raphael

PersonId: 16

Created: Sun Nov 26, 2006 at 10:25:48 AM EST

Lev Raphael's RSS Feed

Web Page: <a href="http://www.levraphael.com">http://www.levraphael.com</a>
Email: levraphael@comcast.net

Bio:
Author, radio reviewer, former print reviewer and mystery columnist, escaped academic, former radio talk show host.

Diaries Comments Ratings

Recent // Recommended

The Color of Change

by: Lev Raphael

Thu Jun 12, 2008 at 22:24:47 PM EDT

The recent high school attack in Wayland High School on the west side of lower Michigan, and the rise in anti-gay violence clearly has its roots in the anti-gay ruling of the State Supreme Court. When a court gives its imprimatur to prejudice, the message it sends is deadly. But is change coming anyway?

There's More... :: (0 Comments, 430 words in story)

Brokeback Opera!

by: Lev Raphael

Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 09:25:08 AM EDT

Looks like we can't quit those guys on Brokeback Mountain. From an amazing short story to a world-changing movie to an opera. That's the next stage, pun intended.

There's More... :: (3 Comments, 63 words in story)

Reality Bites

by: Lev Raphael

Mon May 19, 2008 at 15:33:39 PM EDT

Like many Blenders, for eight years now I've been living in a state of cognitive dissonance. The press announces that Bush is charming, affable, cool; but I see his eyes are mean, piggy and nasty. They adore his nicknames; I find them arrogant and contemptuous. They rave that his cabinet meetings start on time and everyone wears a tie--as if this means anything. He claims war is a last resort and is dutifully reported as feeling that way: I am dead sure he's going to cause disaster. On and on. It never ends. Mission Accomplished. The Clean Skies Initiative. Fully service in the National Guard. The administration claims something and the press echoes it, for the most part, while the truth couldn't be plainer for those who're looking. And now comes McCain.

There's More... :: (1 Comments, 331 words in story)

King Statue

by: Lev Raphael

Fri May 09, 2008 at 07:35:31 AM EDT

There's renewed controversy about the made-in-China statue of Martin Luther King, Jr. meant to grace the Tidal Basin and memorialize this great man.

There's More... :: (6 Comments, 120 words in story)

McCain and the C-word

by: Lev Raphael

Sun May 04, 2008 at 11:57:37 AM EDT

Well, McCain was actually asked about the somewhat infamous incident in which he berated his wife and used the C-word. This wasn't in an interview, but in a town hall meeting:

http://www.desmoinesregister.c...

There's More... :: (2 Comments, 157 words in story)

The Race is Over!

by: Lev Raphael

Wed Apr 30, 2008 at 09:04:54 AM EDT

According to Politico, the race is over for super delegates. Clinton has lost, Obama has won. That would explain the shift in the Clinton campaign's rhetoric over the past month or so from emphasizing the role of the super delegates to pushing hard on the popular vote, even though that's not a determining factor in choosing the candidate, and never has been to my knowledge. I certainly haven't found it come up in my wide reading about FDR and TR. It's always the delegate count that matters.

http://www.politico.com/news/s...

Why aren't people coming out in public? Timing and caution. Insiders also say that lobbying for super delegates has slowed down, which indicates that most decisions have been made. That would help explain the continued drumbeat from Clintonistas about the Michigan and Florida rule-violating primaries; but even then, the talk is always about popular vote more than delegates.

Discuss :: (4 Comments)

Wrong on Rev. Wright

by: Lev Raphael

Sun Apr 27, 2008 at 07:31:41 AM EDT

Well, it was obvious from the beginning that Rev. Wright was being taken wildly out of context in those YouTube sound bites, but most of us don't know how wrong the general perception of Wright is. Few in the media have done much to investigate him and find out anything substantial about him and his church. Did you know, for instance, that the work he'd done at Trinity UCC was so significant that Frontline did a documentary about it in 1987? Of course not, because that would challenge the rush to judgment--besides, it takes a little research, which our pundits are now constitutionally opposed to. All they will do is quote each other, quote the polls, misquote the politicians, and act like they know more than we do.

So why did Frontline profile him? Because he was a dynamic, charismatic preacher who had turned his struggling church of about 90 members into a community of several thousand by 1987, and a real proactive community. Influenced by the famed University of Chicago scholar Martin Marty, he sought to make sure that what was taught in church didn't stay there--what were his congregation doing out there in the community to make it better? His church had an old age home, an HIV/AIDS ministry, mentoring projects and more. I don't want to say too much--watch this interview for yourself.

Everyone on The Blend and in America owes it to the spirit of truth and democracy to watch Bill Moyers' hour-long interview with Reverend Wright. Wright comes across as passionate, erudite, and sometimes very funny. What Moyers offers is an in-depth discussion about issues like race and anger and shame that is a rara avis on TV. You get to spend time with this man and you can see in his eyes and hear in his voice and see on his face that he is no "whackadoodle," as a NYT pundit stupidly called him.

And about those "infamous" quotations? Well, the "God Damn America" is set into the context of the blessing/the curse in Deuteronomy, and is deeply faith-based: that is, as Wright sees it, God blesses what we do that's good as a country, curses what is bad. His imprecation comes at the end of a list of historical outrages and makes complete emotional sense whether you agree with everything he says or not, whether you're religious or Christian or not. And the "chickens coming home to roost" isn't just a quote from Malcolm X--the context was quoting a white ambassador after 9/11 who said the same basic thing on Fox TV.

Those moments aren't the real highlights. What counts is listening to someone deeply reflective and exceptionally effective in galvanizing a community talk about his life mission. The hour flies by because you're hearing what you rarely hear on television any more: substance.

I urge you to take the time to watch (reading the interview transcript doesn't communicate enough) and send the link onwards. After the sand storm of stupidity in the media's Wright coverage (including George Stephanopoulos's despicable, weaselly, truth-perverting question at the debate about Wright's love for America, this interview is like an oasis.

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/jour...

Discuss :: (2 Comments)

Mad Hatter McCain?

by: Lev Raphael

Sun Apr 20, 2008 at 08:28:04 AM EDT

( - promoted by pam)

Anyone who thinks they could or should vote for McCain if their democratic candidate doesn't get the nomination should read this very scary profile of McCain's history of rage, going back to childhood, in the Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

Despite all the comments by supporters (some who were the target of his rage), he comes across as unstable, vindictive, mean-spirited, and even less trustworthy in a position of power than the current occupant of the White House. The only thing the article does not really explore is what effect the 5 1/2 years of imprisonment in Vietnam might have had on him, especially given the fact that, according to his own memoir, he supplied military information to his captors.

For me, this is the main disqualifier in terms of his temperament:

"I don't think that he forgets anyone who ever opposed him, that he can ever really respect or trust them again," said Karen Johnson, the targeted secretary-turned-state senator. "That goes for people here and overseas."

Let's see if this story goes anywhere, or just sinks below the surface of the inane media sea. But it's must-read journalism, and very important, solid given how worshipfully he's been treated by the press compared to Clinton and Obama.

Discuss :: (13 Comments)

Racist Memoir

by: Lev Raphael

Sat Apr 19, 2008 at 10:14:07 AM EDT

Remember that fake memoir by a white woman claiming to have been brought up in the world of LA gangs? It was called Love and Consequences, got rave reviews and lots of press coverage, but not as much as when it proved to be a complete fake. It's amazing that it got past an agent, an editor and even a proofreader because some of it was plainly unbelievable, like the author claiming that at 14 she bought a burial plot. Now, I've helped raise two sons and seen them through the perilous teens and met lots of their friends and parents and I don't know any parent who'd really buy that a 14-year-old would 1) believe in her own death and 2) would spend money on a burial plot.

I hadn't read the memoir, but the reviews didn't make it sound all that compelling, and something about the author photo really bugged me. It didn't seem to fit with the book's terrain. She seemed too unhaunted--her eyes didn't look like she'd survived a life so horrible and dangerous. That was just a fleeting impression. The more I've read about the book, the more incredulous I've become that it was so poorly vetted. It was filled with basic mistakes that natives of LA would have caught, like claiming the Santa Ana winds are cool (when they're hot), and other errors I've forgotten.

The book is back on my mind because it's been read by someone at alternet and turns out to be deeply, stupidly racist. Check out the review:

http://www.alternet.org/mediac...

The author in my has to add, not just racist, but badly, badly written, and failing at the main task of a memoir: reflection.

Discuss :: (1 Comments)

Take Back the Media

by: Lev Raphael

Fri Apr 18, 2008 at 13:42:13 PM EDT

( - promoted by pam)

We've lost a lot in the last eight years as lies and deception have pervaded public discussion of one issue after another. Every time it seems the administration was going to be nailed by the media for one transgression or another (like Abu Ghraib), the focus has shifted or faded. Even the scandal of a male prostitute having access to the White House press room eventually just fell off the radar screen. The problem hasn't just been the White House or Karl Rove or any of that gang of rhetorical hoods, it's been the media. The MSM has shifted so far to the right it's been utterly co-opted, whether the pundits know it or not. And so they serve the interests of the big media corporations and the GOP. It's been put beautifully by Bob Cesca on Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

Who are people like Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos? "They're really a freak show with serious haircuts and suits. They're a wing of the Republican corporatist conspiracy against America."

So do we just sit around and gripe? Like others on the Blend I've contacted ABC News, but we can do much more: sign a petition sponsored by moveon.org so they can say 100,00 citizens object to the shoddy and debasing debate:

http://pol.moveon.org/enoughdi...

It's the least we can do.

Discuss :: (31 Comments)

Ring-a-ding-ding!

by: Lev Raphael

Tue Jul 17, 2007 at 11:32:43 AM EDT

Chastity rings, worn marriage-style on the left ring finger, are supposed to be a sign that you'll be chaste (as opposed to chased) until your wedding night. They're a big deal in the US, and your tax dollars have even paid for some of them:

http://www.rutlandhe...

This lunacy doesn't just affect Americans, and recently in England a girl sued because her school wouldn't allow her to wear it, since it violated the uniform code. She claimed they were infringing on her right to be a Christian. In a decision that will likely enrage American fundies, she lost:

http://www.telegraph...

I guess this means Christianity is officially under attack in England. :-)

On a personal note (no, not that personal), as a novelist I continue to delight in the names these fundies have. Playfoot? Won-der-ful.

Discuss :: (5 Comments)

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The Washington Post's Blog Talk
Jose Antonio Vargas profiles Pam in August 28 edition of the WaPo while PHB was in Denver covering the Dem convetion.

NYT article on convention bloggers features Pam's House Blend
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"The Year of the Political Blogger Has Arrived" - interviews about the logistical and financial hurdles faced by bloggers to cover the event.