KnowThyNeighbor.org

Video: Gore Supports Same-Sex Marriage

What our presidential candidates should be saying when asked if they support gay marriage:

Aaron Toleos

Anti-Gay Amendment in Florida in Trouble

In Memory Of Pastor Gary Debusk, KnowThyNeighbor Florida Who Must Still Be Watching Out For Us

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Florida Anti-Gay Amendment In Trouble

365gay.com

(Miami, Florida) Backers of a proposed amendment to bar same-sex marriage in Florida are scrambling to find 20,000 signatures to get the measure on November's ballot after the Secretary of State announced Monday that a counting mistake put them well short of the required 611,000 signatures needed.

Last month the Secretary of State's office said that Florida4Marriage collected 612,192 names, a thousand more than was required.

Then questions arose about the state's electronic voter system and it was determined the system was miscounting petition signatures. Petition drives must submit signatures to counties which then verify, tabulate and send the totals electronically to Tallahassee.

Secretary of State Kurt Browning ordered counties to retabulate the results and send the results using paper forms to his office.

Monday Browning announced there had been a massive error in Dade County.

Browning, said the new count showed that election officials in Miami-Dade had ''double-counted'' some 27,000 paper petitions.

With two weeks until the deadline for submitting signatures it is unclear if Florida4Marriage will be able to make up the 20,000 name shortfall.

The amendment says, "Inasmuch as marriage is the legal union of only one man and one woman, no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized."

Florida4Marriage attempted to have the measure placed on the 2006 ballot but fell short of the required number of signatures. Under Florida law Florida4Marriage, was allowed to continue to add names to the petition in a bid to get it on the 2008 ballot.

Last year it was discovered that the state GOP was bankrolling Florida4Marriage. (story)

An investigation by the St. Petersburg Times into funding for the Florida4Marriage has found that of the $193,000 that had been raised by the group $150,000 came from a single donor - the Florida Republican Party.

Opponents of the amendment say it could be used to cancel domestic partner benefits throughout the state, for both gay and straight couples.

Joining LGBT rights groups in fighting the proposal is a straight ally, Florida Red & Blue.

The organization boasts both Democrats and Republicans among its members. It amassed more than $1 million to battle the proposed amendment in its first 60 days.

Florida Red and Blue spokesperson Stephen Gaskill said if passed by voters the amendment would nullify partnership laws in Broward County, Miami Beach, Key West and West Palm Beach that allow both same- and opposite-sex couples to receive hospital visitation rights and health insurance benefits.

Even if Florida4Marriage manages to make up the shortfall in signatures passing a constitutional amendment in Florida has a higher bar than in most states.  It must be approved by 60 percent of voters.

____________________________________________--

Tom Lang, Co-Director KnowThyNeighbor

MassEquality Jumps the Broom, Trips and Falls

The MassEquality Corporation's First Initiative, "Jumping the Broom" Garners Sharp Criticism From Members of African-American Community

According to a recent Boston Globe article, MassEquality's reach-out to explain gay marriage to the Black Community is being strongly criticized from not only the expected religious standpoint but from a point of view of the integrity (or lack there of) behind the initiative. 

The Reverend Irene Monroe, a very outspoken Black, lesbian minister and same-sex marriage advocate has called MassEquality's effort a "token gesture."  She said that MassEquality should have been speaking to the Black Community all along, tying same-sex marriage to the need to strengthen family bonds.  And she was quoted in the Boston Globe, "The tension around class is so sharp here in this community, this issue (same-sex marriage) is one more way in which it happens.  To think of us as an afterthought is not a perception, it's a reality."

BayWindows also published a letter from an African-American woman which sharply criticized MassEquality, "Jumping the Broom," and it's failure regarding minorities.  Though this letter was published in BayWindows "print" edition one week after MassEquality voted itself to continue, this very poignant letter failed to be posted on-line, Download thank_you_but_no_thank_you_mass_equality.pdf.htm .

KnowThyNeighbor has also criticized MassEquality for scrambling to find reasons to continue its existence and I believe "Jumping the Broom" to be one of them.  We all as LGBT leaders need to first look inwardly and own that we as a whole have not done a very good job in reach-out and inclusion of minorities even within our community itself.  And I am not talking in terms of same-sex marriage, though can anyone name the Black on Black Goodridge Plaintiff couple?   

But the point being here is that maybe we should ask members of the LGBT in the Black Community and other communities of color what they feel is important from our leadership instead of our leadership "reaching out" to explain the importance of same-sex marriage to them.  I am sorry this whole thing and even my phrasing in this blog feels condescending and patronizing to the Black Community and I apologize.  This is not my intent.  I think Reverend Monroe hits the nail right on the head in the Boston Globe article.  But on a more pragmatic note, I certainly hope that David Wilson and MassEquality are not thinking about bringing its message to the Black Community by asking the Black Community to pay for it.  That is my concern.

It is important to understand different perspectives and The Reverend Irene Monroe's webpage and articles found there are not only insightful but a very good read.  Check them out.  It is time to start thinking about our diverse community as a whole and our individual contributions to it before we continue to propose "initiatives" that may continue to divide us.

Tom Lang, Director

Greater Boston PFLAG President: Hillary Clinton Fails Gay Families

In An Email Sent Exclusively to KnowThyNeighbor, Greater Boston PFLAG President Stan Griffith Finds Hillary Clinton's Position on Same-Sex Parenting and Gay or Lesbian Run Households "Indistinguishable from Lexington Parent David Parker's" and Calls On LGBT Supporters of Clinton to Understand How "Dangerous" Clinton's Position Actually Is   

Stanley Griffith, Greater Boston PFLAG President sent the following important email to KnowThyNeighbor Director, Tom Lang.  Mr. Griffith cautioned me that these are his personal views and encouraged me to share them.  I have calls into PFLAG National for a statement and have yet to be issued one.  KnowThyNeighbor applauds Stan Griffith for his commitment to LGBT families and LGBT children.

The email:

Tom,

I thought you might add it to your list of problems that LGBT people ought to have with Hillary.  (You need to ignore the headline and note carefully the differences between the Edwards/Obama response and the response from Hillary.) You will note that Hillary's position is indistinguishable from Lexington parent David Parker's position and that it is a position right out of the Family Research Institute's long-term battle plan to wage war on anti-bias and diversity education and safe schools programs.  Her position was struck down by Judge Wolf in the Parker case.  (See attached press release.)  She should have said what Judge Wolf said, that it is up to the school department to decide on curriculum and, if parents disagree, they need to educate their children in private schools or at home.  But she did not.  If we allow parents to opt out of diversity curriculum or require parents to consent whenever a child is exposed to books that depict families headed by same sex couples or whenever a school invites a gay or lesbian parent to participate in classroom activities, we are marginalizing those families and implying something is wrong -- and that is exactly what the FRI and Camenker and his MassResistance crew want.  Apparently, that's okay by Hillary.

Our organization does not endorse or oppose specific candidates for office, but we do think that candidate positions should be carefully reviewed and discussed.   

I would like to be sure that folks in our community who are supporting Hillary understand just how dangerous this position is that she espouses.

Stan Griffith

President

Greater Boston PFLAG

_______________________________________________________________

In a follow-up email to KnowThyNeighbor, Stanley Griffith wrote:  "Hillary's glbt advisers need to help her get it right.  And if they don't get her to issue a clarification then they should resign." 

Links: 

FoxNews.com  Democratic Candidates Say They're OK With Second-Grade Teacher Reading Gay Prince Fairy Tale

Greater Boston PFLAG   

Tom Lang, Co-Director Know Thy Neighbor 

F#@! You, Kris Mineau, and Have a Merry Christmas

Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute Uses His Opposition Of Casino Gambling to Once Again Grandstand on Same-Sex Marriage

I was happy taking a well-deserved break from politics and trying to actually enjoy this Holiday Season, but something really got my dander up.  No, this isn't another "wake up and open your eyes" blog post about MassEquality and Marc Solomon (the wrong person to lead the new organization), this is about something that really matters.  And this "something" will keep LGBT people from achieving Full Equality unless we and our allies force society to recognize that regarding the LGBT community and these attacks that "enough is enough!"

Check out yesterday's MyFoxBoston Report, Religious Leaders unite Against Casino Gambling.  It seems that "Religious Leader" Kris Mineau has joined with some Massachusetts Clergy to oppose Governor Patrick's Casino Gambling Proposal.  But somehow, the Associated Press found it appropriate to make the "angle" of this story about gay marriage--how anti-gay clergy like Bishop Gilbert A. Thompson of the Black Ministerial Alliance have united with the pro-gay Reverend Aida Fernadez of the United Methodist Church and others to oppose these casinos.

Of course it just wouldn't be right to read an article that quotes commentary about "gambling, social ills, addictions, personal bankruptcy, spousal abuse, desertion and crime" without including something about gay marriage.  And of course, this article's angle quickly turned into a "spin" which pulled those pro-gay clergy right into its trap where they soon provided quotations that continue the demonization of LGBT people...

I was not surprised to read that Bishop Gilbert Thompson said, "to say there is such thing as a gay Christian is saying there's an honest thief" but I was surprised to read that Reverend Fernandez defended him with the old, "He is entitled to his opinion..."  Human beings, especially Americans have done a great job looking for excuses to explain away bigotry and "the right to one's opinion" is one of the lamest.  I may have the Constitutional right to be prejudiced and to voice my prejudice to any one of many different groups, ethnic, racial or class, but I also have a "social" responsibility not to.

We need to make sure that we all stop making excuses.  When pro-gay marriage Episcopal Minister William Bradbury spoke about casino gambling, he said, "the shared opposition to casino gambling has something in common with the sharp differences over gay marriage because it's all rooted in what clergy think is best for families." Once again, choosing a milktoast, equivocating posturing to confirm that our lives, our relationships, our loves, our families, our "salvation" and the morality of our existence are somehow open to debate and inevitable disagreement. 

I hope our pro-gay clergy take heed and be careful about whom they get in bed with.  These associations historically prove to usually discredit the "good" guys moreso than enlighten the bad ones.  I mean really...Kris Mineau ????  Didn't another group of pro-gays once join forces with him?   I can't remember...

Tom Lang, Co-Director KnowThyNeighbor

 

Marc Solomon of MassEquality Puts Finger in the Dyke

MassEquality Concedes To Spending Less Money By Searching For Lawyers Willing To Work For Free To Punish The Person or Persons Who Leaked That MassEquality Was Spending Too Much Money

With irony befitting the Classical Greek Theatre, BayWindows has reported that MassEquality's Campaign Director, Marc Solomon has instructed Board Chair David Wilson to seek outside counsel to determine whether an investigation into the recent leak to the Boston Globe of confidential information related to the organization's finances is warranted. 

According to BayWindows David Wilson and Marc Solomon are currently in talks with three law firms and Wilson expressed hope that the legal work could be done on a pro-bono or at a non-profit rate.  With a monthly burn rate of over $ 100,000, why does MassEquality not want to pay the lawyer that would be "investigating the leak?"  Because Wilson says, "We (MassEquality) need to be fiscally responsible."

Marc Solomon refused to provide BayWindows with an itemization of MassEquality's monthly expenses though he walked Laura Kiritsy through a list of "projects" being undertaken which he believes justifies MassEquality's controversial $ 100,000 plus a  month burn rate.  Most importantly, is the deployment of Amy Mello, Scott Gortikov and David Kent (from what I was told by an MEQ insider "on a voluntary basis") to assist Marriage Equality Rhode Island's push for marriage equality.  I am glad that BayWindows finally reported on this little secret which Know Thy Neighbor had been hearing about in the rumor mill for months.  Gortikov also told BayWindows that he was able to provide funding for Rhode Island through Freedom to Marry National.  So, am I reading this correctly that Rhode Island isn't part of the $ 100,000 a month burn rate?

Solomon told BayWindows that the other projects which should justify the half million dollar of spending since June include helping Rep. Angelo Puppolo remove an anti-Rep Angelo Puppolo billboard, the continued work on a "best practices manual," the "Jumping the Broom" initiative, "meetings in African-American churches," and planning "a big gala appreciation event" scheduled for Dec. 5th.  Solomon went on to say, "I think we've spent our money wisely."

But what isn't wise is this attempt at intimidation by MassEquality by allegedly planting a story in BayWindows that Solomon and Wilson are seeking legal assistance in punishing those who "leaked" information regarding the $ 100,000 a month burn rate of LGBT money.  I have a tough time understanding the difference between a "leak" and a "plant."  Often "plants" are calculated and manipulative, while "leaks" are a cry for help for positive change.  What ever way this information reached the LGBT community regarding a monthly burn rate of $ 100,000 of our money, I do think that we are due honest answers without the fear of reprisal.

But it seems that for now Marc Solomon will be putting his finger in that dyke, silencing all those who may or may not have "leaked" information as to where over 1/2 a million dollars of LGBT money went since June 14th.  How dare any of you question Mr. Solomon.

Tom Lang, Director

Bigot Wins Mayoral Race in Quincy -- Where was MassEquality?

Thomas P. Koch, Anti-Same-Sex Marriage Petition Signer, Wins Mayoral Race in Quincy by 2000 Votes

What was called the "most expensive mayoral race in Quincy history" ended Tuesday with Thomas Koch defeating incumbent mayor, William Phelan.  Phelan was known for organizing a Celebration of Diversity Festival while the Newly Elected Mayor Koch is best known for his signing of the VoteOnMarriage petition against marriage equality here in Massachusetts.

How did this bigot get elected in a town which was so strongly in support of marriage equality?  How could this happen?  My God, I would not order a pizza from or buy a car from a signer of the anti-gay petition, so I cannot even imagine what it must be like to live in a town which has a mayor who unashamedly signed onto that mean-spirited document.

I guess we all let our guard down on this one.  Didn't we, MassEquality??  I guess the standard answer would be once again that you "had your hands tied" by your board and contributors because your "mission" was not yet determined.  But it seems to me that opposing a mayoral candidate who is a signer against Equal Rights for LGBT people (ie marriage equality) as well as a spokesperson for the idea that his own signing was "just an opinion" would be well within your job description.

To the Quincy For Marriage Equality Organization's credit (as an MEQ affiliate), it did strongly oppose Koch's candidacy, but obviously did not have the strength to defeat Koch while our "MotherShip MassEquality" was planning its new purpose. 

The LGBT people in Quincy and at Quincy for Marriage should be able to celebrate all their hardwork (which I know this reads as sarcasm on my part--but it isn't, they did amazing work) and they should be able to attend MassEquality's ($ 5000, $ 2500, $ 1000 etc) Victory Gala on December 5th without having to worry about anti-LGBT issues, but they cannot...

Instead, they need to watch the newly elected, yet consistently bigoted Mayor Thomas P. Koch like a hawk...making sure that every move he makes, every press conference he gives, every staffer he hires and every policy he supports is not prejudiced by his already clear and present bias.

Tom Lang, Director Know Thy Neighbor

MassEquality: Let Them Eat Cake !

Boston Globe Reports That MassEquality Has Spent Over $ 100,000 Per Month Since June Without Any Clear Plan For Its Future

What could you do with $100,000 let alone $100,000 a month?  What could a non-profit do with that money?  Or the many Vulnerable Freshman Legislators who switched their vote on same-sex marriage and are seeking re-election?  Lisa Wangsness reported in the Boston Globe that while MassEquality is waiting "to discover what its mission is" that it costs the LGBT Community over $ 100,000 A MONTH.  (Half a Million Dollars Since June)

And I do mean that this is costing the LGBT Community.  Money from donors does have limits, it comes with demands, and often with loyalties.  I wonder if MassEquality will tell us how many large donors have been asked to contribute only to MassEquality at the expense of other LGBT organizations?  And while we are at it, we need to demand to know where this community money is going.  What are the rents, the salaries including Marc Solomon's, and we need to ask how much money the untouchable, insider consultants are being paid.  These are the media consultants and advertising consultants and website gurus albeit many from within the LGBT "connected" community. **(see "Clarification" below)

All of us who work on LGBT Equality are greatly offended to find that this $ 100,000 burn rate has occured since June while MassEquality is trying to "find itself", plan its big party, reach out to communities of color in such a way that one Globe reporter told me sounds like "Missionary Work," and re-do its website.  The Lobby Group which had such great success in raising money and winning legislative campaigns for the sole purpose of marriage equality needs to stop thinking about what is best for MassEquality and start thinking about what is best for the Massachusetts LGBT Community. 

We all remember those MassEquality pleas for money during the ConCons including this May 6, 2006 one which read, " $10,000 Down, but $ 190,000 to go.  The Constitutional Convention meets in just 8 days to consider a terrible new anti-gay Amendment.  The Right may well win the 50 votes they need - because we haven't raised enough money to fight them."   Ma$$Equality alright. 

Unfortunately, I was forwarded an email that Marc Solomon, MassEquality's Campaign Director had sent to David Wilson, it's Board Chair, which for me, sheds more than enough light on what is going on behind closed doors.  Marc seems more concerned with punishing those who he finds "disloyal" than correcting the situation of MassEquality's "cash suck" -- a situation for which he is more than a little responsible. 

________________________________________________________________________

From: Marc Solomon <MarcSolomon@MassEquality.org>
To: David Wilson <dwilson799@comcast.net>
Cc: Board <Board@MassEquality.org>
Sent: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 10:12 pm
Subject: Outrageous


Dear David:

Enough is enough. On Friday, I get a call from Lisa Wangsness, a
Boston Globe State House reporter. Here’s what she asks me. Is it
true that MassEquality has been spending $100,000 a month since the Con
Con? Why are you taking in less than you are spending? Is it true
your contributions are down a lot? Why haven’t you laid off more
staff? Why aren’t you conserving your money for the elections?

This is pure b.s. and I am furious. Someone (or someones) are trying
to take this organization down in the press by leaking sensitive and
proprietary financial information, information available only to board
members. Whomever is doing this needs to resign or be removed from the
board immediately. I checked with our MassEquality attorney, told her
what is going on, and she confirmed that this is a blatant violation of
a board member’s legal responsibility to the organization. That it is
illegal to leak this kind of information. That it abrogates “the duty
of care” and “the duty of loyalty” which are the basic legal
requirements of any board member to any organization.

This board must conduct an investigation and either secure the
resignation or file a cause of action against whomever is responsible.
This comes on the heels of Arline Isaacson’s on the record comments to
State House News, where she makes it look like she is speaking for the
organization and advances a one-staff-person MassEquality for the
future (for those who find this hard to believe, I’ve copied it
below). I have already had lawmakers call me wondering what the hell
is going on.

David, you know I’ve kept it together for two years. I have let way
too many things go by. But this is just outrageous. The board needs
to do something now.

Marc
___________________________________________________________________

We do all need to take a step back and think for ourselves what is really going on here.  Who is profitting, who is truly concerned with the LGBT Community, who is more concerned with his/her job or celebrity?  And what organizations have been doing the work for years before marriage equality was even a dream...  Read the Boston Globe article again and please think.  To question the players from within MassEquality is not somehow "disloyal" to the LGBT Community nor is it belittling to its Coalition Members or the work that we have ALL done in the successful fight for Equality here in Massachusetts.

Look, there is no doubt or reservation in anyone's mind that MassEquality should and will be around at least until the 2008 Elections--it has to be in order to support those legislators who supported marriage equality.  But as for what it should be doing if we allow it to become the New MassEquality Corporation, the jury is still out...

There is one thing for sure, however, and I think that a quote in the Globe from one of MassEquality's stakeholders says it best, "An organization shouldn't look for a mission to continue its existence."

Tom Lang, Director Know ThyNeighbor
________________________________________________________________________
Clarification (posted Nov.1st 4:30 EST)

I received an email from Ruthie BenDor, MassEquality's Web Designer in reference to my post asking to know the money MEQ paid to "the untouchable insider consultants" and that my post does in fact read that "website gurus" are part of this.  Ms. BenDor informed me that she is employed by MassEquality on an hourly basis, she is not one of the "insider consultants" and that my reference to "gurus" should be singular as she is the only web designer.  Also, Ms. BenDor provided the new website for MassEquality as "pro bono" and would like to make it perfectly clear, as she wrote in her email to me, "the redesign was NOT a major expense to MassEquality and has NOT significantly contributed to the $100,000/month burn rate."

Fred Phelps -- Not a Gay Problem Anymore

The Phelps Family Will Be Visiting Massachusetts Next Week and Delivering Their  Unique Message -- But Is it Really That Unique?? 

Fred Phelps and his vitriolic, anti-gay family will be in Massachusetts next week to protest the Acton-Boxborough High School production of The Laramie Project.  But that is just the beginning of his tour in the BayState.  From Phelps's own website of the Westboro (Kansas) Baptist Church, the November 4th itinerary includes Sunday morning protests at Boston's Park Street Church, The Cathedral of the Holy Cross (1400 Washington Street), and Trinity Episcopal Church (Copley Square).

It is Fred Phelps' stop at the Archdiocese of Boston's Cathedral of the Holy Cross which I believe sparked Larry Cirignano's telephone call to me asking that KnowThyNeighbor draft a letter of support which will be signed by LGBT groups and anti-gay organizations such as his former, Catholic Citizenship, pleading with Phelps to stay away from Massachusetts.  Larry even suggested an alliance with Brian Camenker and Amy Contrada of MassResistance to help fight Phelps.  Contrada's daughter Claudia actually has a lead role in the Acton-Boxborough production of The (to-be-protested) Laramie Project.

I explained to Larry that KnowThyNeighbor made an observation a while ago, actually it came from Co-Director Aaron Toleos, who said, " Fred Phelps, MassResistance, the Massachusetts Family Institute, Focus on the Family...it is ALL THE SAME MESSAGE, only different packaging." I would like to add to that list of anti-gay, anti-humanity specters...George Bush, Pope Benedict, General Pace, Mitt Romney, The Republican Party and any in the Democrat Party including 2008 Presidential Hopefuls who "just aren't there yet." They all nurture and breed hatred, bigotry, anti-human sentiments, "lesser than" status for groups of people, violence and murders.  This is not an over dramatization.  Within any community faced with this sort of negativity what is left to it is the unconscionable--self loathing, suicide, harmful and risky behaviors and a feeling of hopelessness and lessened or no self-worth.

So who is responsible for Fred Phelps coming to Massachusetts?  Who opened the door and allowed this vampire in?  And anyone who has ever watched any old Bella Lugosi movies knows that once you let the monster in your house, he becomes your problem.  Welcome to OUR reality.  Now it is yours...

I do feel sorry for the brave children and their families in Acton-Boxborough who will have to witness a very distasteful part of American culture when Phelps protests on Saturday--they will get a valuable life lesson and for many, their childhood will end as they get catapulted into this very adult situation.

But I do not feel sorry for the Catholic Church and in fairness, no other church order or denomination which has delayed accepting fellow human beings as equal and worthy of God's love but instead uses God as an excuse to continue the war on the soul's of LGBT people, their families and their children. 

Tom Lang, Director Know Thy Neighbor

 

Charges Against Sarah Loy Dropped -- Breaking News

Shari Worthington of the Massachusetts Family Institute On Friday Officially Drops Her Criminal Complaint Against Marriage Equality Supporter Sarah Loy

KnowThyNeighbor received a telephone call from former Catholic Citizenship Director Larry Cirignano, last evening to tell me that late Friday afternoon, Shari Worthington officially pulled the papers ending her criminal complaint which accused Sarah Loy of "Disturbing a Lawful Assembly."   By Cirignano's account, Worthington did this as an act of good grace on her way to bringing her teenage daughter to Children's Hospital for a serious back problem.

Cirignano as you will remember was recently aquitted by jury on charges of assault and battery against Sarah Loy which allegedly occurred at the Massachusetts Family Institute "Rally For Democracy" last December in Worcester.  Cirignano was also charged with a "Civil Rights Violation" as Loy was carrying a marriage equality sign at the rally, but that charge was dropped at the beginning of the trial this month.

Larry Cirignano called me in hopes that I would be able to contact Sarah Loy and tell her that not only were the charges dropped, but that in his words, "It's over, and it is time to move on."

There will be a time for healing in Massachusetts, but it is not for me to suggest to you that this is the time.  The LGBT Community went through too much at the hands of The Catholic Church, The Massachusetts Family Institute, Vote On Marriage and MassResistance for us to "forgive and forget" in such a blind way.  Even Shari Worthington's criminal complaint against Sarah Loy, in my opinion, speaks more to intimidation and her recent "retraction of charges" to political and social opportunism than Christian Altruism.  I will leave it up to Sarah Loy to forgive and forget if she chooses.

Larry Cirignano called me a second time last night to ask me for another favor.  That was to include (in my blog or prayer circle ??!!) a prayer for Shari Worthington's kindness and her daughter's back problem...but if I prayed to ask my God for anything which I don't, as I personally find it disingenuous to ask God "for" things, but if I did, one thing I would ask for is that Larry and people like him "get a grip on reality."

Tom Lang, Director of KnowThyNeighbor.org