How To Thwart Dubya

Here's how the Dems are preventing Bush II from appointing Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General during the congressional holiday recess:

Three senators have been tapped to remain in Washington: Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), and Jack Reed (D-RI). Twice a week they will go into the chamber. The gavel will be banged down, and the Senate declared open. Then they will leave. With no recess Bush would not be able to make a recess appointment.

Cheers to those three Senators. I love it.

(Via - 365gay.com.)

Recess Appointment For Holsinger

It appears that Dubya will appoint Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General while Congress is in its holiday recess. Holsinger's nomination has been stalled since he was grilled by Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) about the whackjob doctor's infamous 1991 paper on homosexuality in which he used a plumbing metaphor to describe gay sex.

Like male and female pipe fittings, certain male and female body parts are designed for each other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur.

Yesterday Holsinger resigned from the board of trustees of the Asbury Theological Seminary, presumably in preparation for his appointment as Surgeon General. Holsinger and his wife co-founded the Hope Springs Community Church which operates an "ex-gay" ministry. A recess appointment would be good until the end of 2008.

This is a typically sneaky move by Dubya and a profound disappointment to the legislators and activists who have strenuously objected to Holsinger.

(Via - Box Turtle Bulletin.)

Holsinger Renounces Anti-Gay Views

At his Senate confirmation hearing today, Surgeon General nominee Dr. James Holsinger renounced his previous anti-gay views, saying of his infamous "Pathophysiology of Homosexuals" paper, "The paper does not represent where I am today. It does not represent who I am today," and that he would never advocate a position contrary to his conscience and that he would resign rather than let politics trump his scientific opinions.

Anybody buying this?
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NY Times: Reject Holsinger

In an editorial called "A Nominee's Abnormal Views", today the NY Times Op-Ed page calls for Congress to reject Dr. James Holsinger as Surgeon General, saying, "The Senate should not confirm a surgeon general who considers practicing homosexuals abnormal and diseased."

An excerpt:

His [Holsinger's] strongest statement on homosexuality can be found in a murky, loosely reasoned paper that he wrote for a church committee in 1991. Titled “Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality,” the paper purported to be a scientific and medical review. It argued that gay sex was abnormal on anatomical and physiological grounds and unhealthy, in that anal sex can lead to rectal injuries and sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Holsinger did not brand the large number of heterosexual women who engage in anal sex as abnormal, failed to acknowledge the huge burden of disease spread heterosexually and implied that women are more likely than men to avoid injuries with generous lubrication.

The Times gets it.
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Holsinger Hearing Set For Next Week

Dr. James Ballcock Holsinger's nomination hearing for U.S. Surgeon General has been set for next week, where he will likely face strong questioning from Senate Health, Education, Welfare and Pensions Committee members Kennedy, Clinton, Obama and others. Most psychiatric and gay rights organizations have come out against Holsinger's nomination, as well as former Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders. You never know how these things will go, but I think Holsinger doesn't stand a chance. If you don't know about Holsinger's history, please click on the his category link on this post and you'll find my last half-dozen posts about this idiot.

Stop Holsinger

The Human Rights Campaign has set up one of their easy-peasy letter grids for you to voice your opposition to Dr. James Holsinger's nomination as Surgeon General. Click on the link and tell your Senators to vote "NO" on Holsinger.

Here's a few things Holsinger has done that proves his unsuitability to be the nation's top doctor:

• In 1991 used basic plumbing analogies to write a "scientific and medical" paper arguing that homosexuality is unnatural and dangerous.
• Founded the Hope Springs Community Church, which reportedly has a special program to "cure" gays from "that lifestyle."
• Past writings indicate that he views sexual orientation as a "lifestyle choice." This could not be further from the view held by mainstream medical or scientific organizations.

STOP HOLSINGER, WE CAN DO IT!
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Top Ten Gay Plumbing Terms

Since Surgeon General nominee Dr. James "Asshat" Holsinger likes to use plumbing analogies to illustrate his opposition to gay sex as dangerous and dirty, I'd like to provide him with my top ten favorite gay plumbing terms.

10. Back vent
9. Suction head
8. Blow bag
7. Hole saw
6. Discharge tube
5. Nipple clamp
4. Manhole
3. Rim hole
2. Reamer

And our #1 gay plumbing term: BALLCOCK.

You're welcome.

Anti-Holsinger Campaign Builds

More information is coming to light about the past of Surgeon General nominee James Holsinger as steam builds in the campaign to oppose his nomination. Kids, Dubya has really out-twatted himself with this homophobic, unscientific, Christer nutjob.

Kentucky.com: "In 1991, Dr. James W. Holsinger -- a University of Kentucky professor who is President Bush's nominee for U.S. surgeon general -- wrote a paper arguing that gay sex is biologically unnatural and unhealthy.

Like male and female pipe fittings, certain male and female body parts are designed for each other, Holsinger wrote in a paper prepared for a United Methodist Church committee studying homosexuality. "When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur," Holsinger wrote in the paper, titled Pathophysiology of Male Homosexuality."

Gabrielle Rotello on Huffington Post: "I guess it's no big surprise that our lame duck, brain dead president would nominate an outspoken 'phobe to be the top doctor of a nation where gays and lesbians pay taxes like anybody else. And a nation still in the midst of an AIDS epidemic and a host of other health issues affecting lesbians and gay men."

Ronald Jackson, deputy director of AIDS Action: "Dr. Holsinger has a track record of anti-gay sentiments. We feel that his views on homosexuality will infuse and guide his policies and direction as surgeon general."

Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force: "With the nomination of Dr. Holsinger, the Bush administration is once again elevating ideology over public policy and once again throwing red meat to its ravenous anti-gay supporters. Dr. Holsinger's record shows that his own biases will not allow him to look objectively at scientific information. Consequently, he is not qualified to be Surgeon General and we call upon the Senate to promptly reject his nomination."

Bible Belt Blogger: Gay sex, he (Holsinger) warned, can lead to "lacerations, perforations and deaths...The anatomic and physiologic facts of alimentation and reproduction simply do not change based on any cultural setting. In fact, the logical complementarity of the human sexes has been so recognized in our culture that it has entered our vocabulary in the form of naming various pipe fittings either the male fitting or the female fitting depending upon which one interlocks within the other. When the complementarity of the sexes is breached, injuries and diseases may occur as noted above."
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HRC Blasts Holsinger Nom

The Human Rights Campaign has come out swinging against the nomination of Dr. James "Conversion Therapy" Holsinger for U.S. Surgeon General. HRC head Joe Solmonese: “Dr. Holsinger has a record that is unworthy of America’s doctor. His writings suggest a scientific view rooted in anti-gay beliefs that are incompatible with the job of serving the medical health of all Americans. It is essential that America’s top doctor value sound science over anti-gay ideology.”
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Anti-Gay Wingnut To Be Surgeon General

President Bush has nominated an anti-gay religious whack-job to be U.S. Surgeon General. Dr. James Holsinger, the man to be put in charge of the health of all Americans, runs a little side project with his wife called Hope Springs Community Church in Lexington, Kentucky, where in addition to helping those with alcohol and drug problems, he ministers to people he claims no longer wish to be gay or lesbian. A representative of the church says, "We see that as an issue not of orientation but of lifestyle. We have people who seek to walk out of that lifestyle."

James McDaniel, coordinator of Soulforce Lexington, a local chapter of the national LGBT group that opposes religion-based bigotry, says, "Dr. James Holsinger has demonstrated in the past that he harbors religious-based prejudice towards homosexuals. As a gay American, I am deeply concerned over any surgeon general nominee not being healed of such personal prejudice."

There will likely be an outcry from the major gay orgs regarding Holsinger. I will keep you advised. His Senate confirmation hearing should be scheduled shortly. Holsinger must appear before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which is chaired by Ted Kennedy, with other committee members including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.